What is it, you ask?

Some refer to it as an endless avenue in which one goes about finding a job.

Others may tell you that it provides a way out for the unwanted and dejected hopefuls of the currently unemployed who seem to be exponentially growing as we speak.

Well, whoever you are. I’m sure you can relate to a point in your job seeking days when you were anxiously waiting for some positive feedback only to receive that dreaded e-mail letting you know “you’re just not good enough.”

Or even worse, you make an excited phone call to your significant other telling them that “it’s not as bad as you thought it was going to be.”

Perhaps, you already have a job and are happy just window shopping.

I, unfortunately, had an appointment. I made an obligation to go and meet with a recruiter, a proud disciple of the staffing agency.

After filling out some paperwork which required my name, address, social security number, contact number, e-mail address, past employment, past employers, friends, relatives, first born, first pet, basically, your whole professional life.

As I was finishing up the necessary signatures, the robotic style of the receptionist who worked the many incoming telephone calls could be heard in the background.

Minutes went by and finally, I met with my personal recruiter; we shook hands and exchanged small talk. I have to warn you that I am slightly older than the average job seeker. For me, the whole experience convinced me that I had uncovered a part of humanity that was desperate, eager, and condescending.

Upon spilling my guts for some health benefits and a steady paycheck, the job opportunity that I was called in to speak about was unavailable. Let’s just say, I equate these turn of events with my experiences dealing with a real estate agent for the first time.

After being shown an apartment, loving the place, and immediately handing over the deposit; you receive a call. It’s the real estate agent, apologizing to say that the apartment had already been taken but they have others that might be of interest.

I guess it could have been worse; some poor sap didn’t even bring a resume.

Not until I turned down an opportunity to take a fifteen minute tutorial on the spot to test my expertise in Microsoft Excel and Word software programs, was I free to leave. The recruiter and his mentor encouraged me to dress accordingly at the interview and that timing was everything when finding the right job.

As for the staffing agency, they gave me a promise that they will refuse to recede and that they will reach out for the betterment of my interests.

Some experts feel the experience of looking for future employment is not for the squeamish. That even for the tender of heart who end up being shuffled from one disappointing interview to the next; need not apply.

But for the rest of us brave souls, I, included, will keep our heads up.

As today marks the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, attention has now been anxiously placed in the hands of the newly-formed Iraqi government and the overall responsibility concerning this conflict heavily lies with the United States.

The strong beliefs construed by the present administration to continue its occupation inside the region and successfully put an end to the “war on terror” has also brought more speculation to questions on what happened to those pesky weapons of mass destruction.

Americans have begun to move forward and are embracing for change. They are hoping that the incoming administration arriving at year’s end will grant some sort of closure on the situation.

Most recently, the conflict in Iraq has taken a back seat to President Bush’s contingency plan to stimulate a weakening economy.

Along with a six hundred dollar tax rebate for single residents near the end of June, Americans will be hit with inflation and rising unemployment.

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and violates my, or any, sense of right and wrong.”

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been called into question because of recent allegations that he allocated moneys to an exclusive prostitution ring, the Emperor’s Club VIP, for their services.

The particulars involved within the documented evidence, which was first reported by the New York Times, has the governor hours after meeting with the mayor of Niagara Falls and then completing a conference call about the state’s racing franchise proceeding with more important obligations.

He was called upon to reconcile his Emperor’s Club VIP account balance forcing him to scour Pennsylvania Avenue in hopes of retrieving $2,721.14 in cash, the balance owed.

Without that payment, Kristen, the prostitute involved, would not have been paid in full and the transfer of her exclusive services from New York to a posh Washington hotel room would have never come to fruition.

With the recent turn of events that have come to light, Mr. Spitzer’s impressive political career has been tarnished and now has his detractors awaiting a pending resignation.

Mr. Spitzer, in the past, has spoken with revulsion against the existence of high-end prostitution rings.

In 2004, after the breaking-up of one such ring in Staten Island, Mr. Spitzer, than attorney general, convicted, “this was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multi-tiered management structure.”

He also went on to state that “it was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”

Mr. Spitzer is currently married and possesses three children.

The United States of America again proved that they were undecided on who would be the best candidate to represent the Democratic Party in this up-coming Presidential election.

Huge victories for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Ohio and Texas evened out the playing field once again for both her and her opponent, Senator Barack Obama. The latest delegate count still has Obama in the lead.

In past elections, the candidate in the rear-view mirror, this being Clinton, would gracefully back out and concede the nomination.

Clinton did just the opposite, telling her constituency that she was “just warming up.”

The enthusiastic senator also professed that she had won Florida and Michigan, two states that possess delegates which were deemed ineligible by the DNC.

I (heart) Huckabee!

The strong showing administered by Mike Huckabee for the Republican presidential nomination was met with a predictable end.

His opponent, Senator John McCain, was officially given the nod to represent the Republicans come November. McCain, a senator from Arizona, was then endorsed by the Commander in Chief, George W. Bush.

Bush was confident that McCain could lead our country in “eliminating the enemy.”

He also reiterated that Mr. McCain possessed a “big heart.”

But inside the 103rd Precinct, located in Jamaica of south Queens, its residents recently were awoken by the squeal of bagpipes and the thumping of helicopters flying by.

The purpose of all this clamoring was to pay homage to a police department hero who died in the line of duty.

Twenty years ago, February twenty-six nineteen eighty-eight, the New York Police Department lost a young rookie cop by the name of Edward Byrne. The policeman, who was in his first month on the job, was shot and killed. His orders were to stand guard and protect a witness who was sought after by a local drug lord.

Since November of two thousand and six, the citizens of this precinct have grieved for the loss of one of their own, with the much-publicized trial in the murder of a young black man, Sean Bell, well on its way.

Early that November morning, Bell was ambushed by a special division of the NYPD who fired fifty separate shots, killing him and wounding two of his friends.

The suspects on trial are currently employed by New York City’s finest and prior to the events of that night, they were operating inside Club Kalua, a strip club. The premise was a department-approved sting that required its officers to arrest would-be criminals who were involved in illegal drugs and prostitution that took place in and around the club.

The defendants are presently carrying charges of first-and second-degree manslaughter and one of the detectives is facing two misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment.

As this predominantly black community awaits the outcome of this very sensitive trial, a perception that Mr. Bell’s killing could be justified by the problems of the past is being portrayed by a wounded police department.

The New York Knicks have their work cut for them.

With a seventeen and thirty-nine won-lost record so far this season, the Knicks have fallen second to last in the Eastern Conference and own the fifth worst record overall in the NBA.

Knicks head coach Isaiah Thomas now has only twenty-six games left in which he can salvage this most horrific season.

“It’s a slow phasing out of the big man, is what’s happening in this league, it seems like.”

Thomas was quoted when asked about his latest romance with supposed franchise player center Eddy Curry.

The last working rift cost James L. Dolan, the sole proprietor of the Knicks, ten million dollars.

Not to mention the enormous amount of negativity the National Basketball Association was forced to endure.

One positive for the New York Knicks; lottery pick.

In world news, former Cuban President Fidel Castro has decided to step down transferring the balance of power to his younger brother Raul.

Two thousand and nine would mark the fiftieth anniversary of the elder Castro’s socialist revolution. In nineteen fifty-nine, the world was introduced to plain-green fatigues and good cigars.

Cuba shares similar cultural novelties with another Communist country, North Korea, such as government-controlled media and inadequate public works. The citizens of these two nations have learned to compromise with their government’s concern on security while sacrificing a reasonable standard of living.

The latest “break down” for this current U.S. administration involves an ongoing investigation into the practice known as “waterboarding,” an early form of interrogation that was deemed ill by past American courts.

But since the president has declared war, the CIA among others have been given free reign over all terror suspects who find themselves inside a legal bind.

If you happen to fall victim to interrogation and decide not to “come clean,” then you will be subjected to a subtle form of torture. An unknown source of water being poured over your nose and mouth creating a feeling of drowning will ensue.

Most recently, the Justice Department’s internal ethics office, the Office of Professional Responsibility or OPR, is preparing an unclassified report that will detail the trail of findings that led this recent American government to allow this sort of practice.

In regards to another investigation, Republican Senator John McCain’s ethics were tested once again as one of the chairman on his presidential campaign, Rick Renzi, was indicted by a federal grand jury on thirty-five counts of corruption. The senator has alluded in the past that Representative Renzi exercised “honesty and integrity” towards his legion of voters.

The forty-nine year-old representative of Arizona found out the hard way in trying to compete with the big boys by embezzling funds from his own insurance company’s trust accounts to finance his first Congressional campaign in 2001.

There are reports coming out of the New York Times that Republican Senator John McCain was demanding more from a lobbyist than what was in the job description. As it turns out, the mysterious lobbyist was spotted numerous times with the senator during the two thousand presidential elections. In which case, she accompanied him at fundraisers and at times inside his office. The meetings became so common that Mr. McCain’s trusted aides had to commandeer a plan to deter her off course.

These subtle rendezvous’ were considered unethical and were quickly extinguished in hopes of prevented any further engagements between the two.

McCain, seventy-one and running for U.S. President, denies these accusations that he and a forty-year old lobbyist were romantically involved. Up until this point, Mr. McCain’s campaign was on cruise-control, he had just captured the Republican bid for president.

Reactions coming out of the McCain campaign centered mostly on the integrity of the New York Times. The publishers of this prominent New York news source reduced themselves to that of a political rag on a slow news day.

G.O.P. hopeful John McCain was left wondering, ‘doesn’t this story belong on Page Six of the New York Post.’

Recent additions made by the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Dallas Mavericks should make for an exciting end to this year’s NBA season.

Future Hall of Fame guard Jason Kidd took his business elsewhere with hopes of fulfilling his dream of winning an NBA championship. But a change in scenery does not always bring greener pastures. Kidd, who is averaging almost a triple-double a night, has placed his reputation on the line as a good team player.

The most intriguing revelation to come out of these recent wheeling and dealings would have to be the direction in which the New Jersey Nets are heading. With a chance at the post season and the lopsided nature of the Eastern Conference, some experts closer to the Meadowlands say this may be a rebuilding year.

We will have to wait and see, as the season for New Jersey Nets unfolds, with questions on the strength of their coaching and if and when they will be re-located to Brooklyn.

In world news, the sovereignty of a little known land, Kosovo, has finally gained its independence. This area located in Eastern Europe, was previously part of the now defunct Yugoslavia. Muslim-held Kosovo ditched its sullen ancestors for the promise of Western standards.

With strong backing from the United States, Kosovo has agreed to compete for a spot inside the all-powerful European Union. Serbia, Kosovo’s neighbors to the north, has taken major offense to these latest developments calling for Russia to add some muscle that would counter the West’s influence.

The most interesting revelation to come out of this recent campus school shooting would have to be that Steve Kazmierczak, NIU graduate, and Seung-Hui Cho, self proclaimed bearer of bad news, happen to purchase their guns and ammo from the same arms dealer.

By witnessing these random acts of violence you begin to gain a sense of clarity. Perhaps, your neighborhood sports and tackle shops aren’t paying the rent selling bobbins and lures.

Local gun runners stubbornly refuse to put a stranglehold on gun licensing applications that guarantee a swift possession earning the right to bear arms. Of course, you can’t blame them you wouldn’t want to lose the sale. As in the first lesson you learn in selling is quite simply, “close the deal.”

If Mr. Kazmierczak’s weapon had arrived a day later perhaps he could’ve slept on it instead of re-enacting a scene from the Matrix and becoming a major distraction on the evening news.

In determining how he went about his business, his main objective was to thwart his adversaries by removing their innocence.

On that cold and wintry day in northern Illinois, the pain and suffering laid upon those unsuspecting victims should be cause for concern.