1600km (993 miles)

My bro and I went on a 3 day whirlwind trip of Tunisia.  We drove a ton.  That's really what we did all 3 days.  We drove.  And drove.  We also did some of the following:

-went to the 3rd largest standing Roman coliseum, El Jem.  Scott stated that he hopes that they bring back gladiator fights for real because he wants to see one get killed.

-we stayed in a cockroach infested hotel room in the coastal town of Gabes.  I'll not be returning there anytime soon.

-drove a manual the whole time and did not get in an accident with any Tunisian psycho drivers, pedestrians or God-forsaken scooter drivers.  Scott drove too and managed to keep us alive.

-we went to multiple Star Wars filming locations.  The Lars Homestead, the Tuskan Raider canyons and the slave quarters from Phantom Menace.  Yes...I'm a geek.

-we definitely drove places that put us in a position where we totally could have been kidnapped and stolen.

-we did an overnight camel trek into the Sahara desert and spent the night under the AMAZING stars.  I saw 3 or 4 shooting stars.

-we used the line "Look at these assholes" from The Darjeeling Limited at least 100 times during the trip to describe any weird group of people we saw.

That's about all.  It was great trip except that I came back sick and had to work the next morning.

President McCain and Vice President Huckabee - A Winning Ticket?

I haven't really been able to make up my mind about the Presidential race.  So, here are a few thoughts:

1. I really like Mike Huckabee and it's sad that he wasn't able to make more of a run.  If he had the money of Mitt Romney and had entered the race a little earlier to get his name out he may have had a chance.  He was a good social conservative but somewhat liberal economically, which I think is a good fit currently.  My only concern was the lack of foreign policy experience that could lead to him being another Jimmy Carter.
2. I like McCain but I have no idea what he would do as the President.  I kind of feel as if right now we need an idealist who can inspire the country to change how it's always functioned and I don't see him doing that.  However, I really don't see anyone being able to change the way government works on the scale that is needed, much like FDR did during the Great Depression (our current debt situation, both trade and general, makes me depressed and is our country's priority issue.  A close second is restoring the country's reputation around the world).  His upside is without a doubt his experience, straight talking, military knowledge and his foreign policy experience.  Unfortunately, he may not be the one who can push the economy back on track.  Though that is more of Congress' problem and they're the ones who are going to have to fix spending issues.
3. Hilary Clinton is destroying the Democratic party, much to the republican party's delight. She is pretty much making it near impossible for the democrats to win in November because of how split everything currently is.  She needs to just drop out and shut up.  
4. Obama needs to start pushing issues instead of talking about other candidates.  He's such an inspiring guy that he needs to stay away from how most politicians campaign and only stick to the issues.  If he starts attacking the other candidates he'll make himself only look like everyone else, instead of being this radical person of "change" that he keeps talking about.  And after reading his book, I see what he means when he talks about change and a new kind of politics but he needs to vocalize it more in his campaign instead of just looking smooth in front of the camera.  
5. If Obama picks Clinton as a running mate I will not vote for them.
6. If McCain picks Huckabee as a running mate I most likely will vote for them, though it depends on who Obama runs with.

Well, that's basically it right now.  I've really been getting in to this whole politics thing. America needs some clear thinking right now and some willingness to compromise.  It also needs to reign in spending and most likely raise taxes a little bit.  Oh and we definitely need to focus on science and mathematics within our schools.  

I'll keep this blog better updated now that I'm back in Tunisia.  I'll post some pics of the brief time in London my brother and I had soon.

love, jack

Reading:  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Listening To:  Atmosphere

Watching:  Lost Season 4 and The West Wing Season 4