Inmates first

There is another huge controversy brewing in relation to the H1N1 vaccine. Now the issue is that convicts who are at high risk for swine flu are recieving the flu vaccine before some members of the general public. I understand that people are upset because they have to wait in line with their kids for the vaccine, while prison inmates are getting the vaccine. However I don't believe that just because someone is incarcerated they should be denied a necessary vaccine, if someone is immuno-compromised it shouldn't matter that they're in jail, they should be vaccinated like any other high risk American so they don't get sick and die.

National Opinion or National Buzz Kill?

Recently Americans have been developing more pessimistic attitudes. According to a poll from the Wall Street Journal/NBC News, 29% of Americans feel that the economy has "pretty much hit rock bottom", thats more than a handful of fairly fatalistic opinions.

As our world progresses into the 21st century, capitalism is increasingly the economic system with which our country defines itself. In my opinion the "free market capitalism" that America applies economically has become the springboard from which corporations and individuals can sail towards corruption and selfishness.
The side effects of capitalism are numerous, as Paul Hawken the author of "Natural Capitalism" wrote, "Somewhere along the way to free-market capitalism, the United States became the most wasteful society on the planet". The waste accruing because of our flippancy and lack of concern for the ramifications of our actions, includes traffic jams, landfills, Styrofoam waste, and less tangible things like greenhouse gases, and radioactive waste. We have also developed a society of wasted souls, with issues like homelessness, drug addiction, and the neglect of the sick and the old, running rampant. In a society where individual success is all, and he who dies with the most toys actually does win, it should not even be surprising that a majority of people are basically incapable of looking a few years into the future and recognizing that the choices they make today have the potential to cause issues down the road. Another component of our system which should be completely obvious is the lack of regard that people have for one another. Unfortunately since it is not financially beneficial to care about others or help them, many just choose to live selfishly. In a society where there is less empathis on the individual's success and more empathis on living responsibly, there are less occasions of social waste.
Capitalism provides a strong perch for corporations like Wal-mart to create nests of corruption for themselves. Capitalism should be applied purely as an economic system, if at all, but it should most definitely not be invoked as a defense for greed and exploitation, which it all too frequently is. A society where the wealthiest members own businesses that do not provide particularly necessary services, and the economic bottom tier of the population is comprised of the employees of the aforementioned company, is obviously a very unbalanced, unhealthy society. I am not advocating pure Socialism, but I do believe that there should be more of equilibrium between the poor and the rich, and that everyone is entitled to the fulfillment of their basic needs. We are a nation of people whose lives are driven by attaining their wants, while a majority of people on earth live every day with the simple goal of fulfilling their basic needs. While there are people residing in our nation who do not have their needs fulfilled on a daily basis, the rest of us should be willing to sacrifice a few unnecessary luxuries to provide our fellow Americans with food and shelter.
America has always stood as a land of opportunity and a place where dreams could be achieved. Unfortunately we have become a society of selfish, greedy people who will run themselves into the ground working to provide themselves with any trivial consumer good that their heart alights upon, but they have absolutely no concern for their fellow man. In a nation where most people are much more concerned with buying a new car than with providing their fellow Americans with food and healthcare. In a society that unbalanced, I believe changes need to be made, and since Capitalism is the pillar which supports many of our nation's vices, I believe it should be the first thing to be knocked down.

Ageism?

Not exactly, but in a Florida retirement community, people are rallying together to evict a six year old girl. I totally understand why rules stating a minimum age for a resident of a community designated for retirees ( after me and my older brother had an adventure around my grandmother'
s community and we were shrieked at by every octogenarian in sight, I got the picture. They like their grandchildren, but not everyone else's).
However I think that it is ridiculous that the community members can't just be generous and drop their prosecution until the couple with the granddaughter in question is able to sell their home. Forcing a young girl to go live with foster parents because her grandparents can't sell their home strikes me as very cold-hearted.

Citations can be Issued for: Failure to stop, speeding, and.. not speaking English?

A Dallas, Texas police officer apparently gave a woman a ticket for not speaking English. This was not, however the only time this has happened! Over the past three years, 39 people have been issued citations for not speaking English, a completely invalid charge. There is a law stating that Taxi drivers and commercial drivers must be able to speak English, but no where does it state that private citizens must have a full command of the English language to drive a car in Texas..

Although considering that it is Texas, a law like that wouldn't surprise me. They do after all have a law stating that people are not allowed to eat their neighbors garbage without their permission. Doing so will result in Jail time!
hmmm.. ok Texas.
Also children in the city of Mesquite can not have unusual haircuts, namely mohawks.
I think it should be a law that no one anywhere can have a mullet.

The Zero Waste Movement

Delightfully individuals and corporations all through our country have upgraded from little waste policy to zero waste policy, Honda has become so efficiently zero waste that they no longer need dumpsters! Hopefully this will mean ZERO new landfills, and ZERO waste, I hope so, but the cynic in me won't be holding her breath.

32 new earths??

Now that would be exciting! Even though they are not earth like, the 32 new planets discovered by European Scientists are pretty cool. This record breaking discovery (32 at once!) brings the total of planets discovered outside of our solar system up past 400! Who knows when we'll find the next earth..

Balloon boy actually just a trickster?

Apparently the terrifying speculations of a six year old boy drifting skyward in a homemade balloon were a hoax concocted by his parents who knew he was safe all along. The family has been featured on the reality show "Wifeswap" more than once, and police speculate that the balloon event was developed in hopes of securing a reality TV show for themselves.. weird. I have no idea how this story would lead to a reality TV show.. maybe they could call it, "Ignoring our Children, and the Shenanigans it leads to!". Although thankfully each event of childhood neglect leading to scary/interesting situations would be staged..

Ahem! Ahem!

Smoking in public places is a proven health hazard. I think that smoking bans in public places are invaluable, there is no excuse for an obvious health hazard being imposed on the public while they eat in restaurants, or get drinks at bars. In my opinion such bans should be more widespread than they currently are, because they are only enforced in 21 states and the District of Columbia. Men, women and children should not be assaulted by smoke which can aggravate pulmonary and circulatory issues, in public places. While traveling in Japan, I was in a lot of restaurants where people were smoking, and I have pretty bad asthma so it was aggravating.

Big Scary Swine Flu Shots

Many Americans are expressing concerns about the swine flu vaccine, with less than half of Americans saying that they want the shot for their children. I think that while it is good to be protected from illnesses like swine flu, people are being whipped in to a frenzy over this particular bug, just because it is new. Whether or not people choose to get vaccinated should not be such a big deal. While the thought of children getting sick is scary to adults, there is nothing yet to suggest that this flu will be more dangerous than any other, it's not like small pox or scarlet fever is making a comeback!

Please sir, don't sic your dogs on our Blogs!

New federal regulations state that if a blogger or tweeter recieves a freebie from any corporation, like a free book from a publishing company, and then blogs/tweets about it without acknowledging it as a freebie, they become an endorser and incur an $11,000 fine, I find it interesting that the government is getting so involved in blogs and tweets, but in our modern world, these bursts of knowledge are becoming increasingly more important.

Gay and Lesbian Voters frustrated with Obama

Barack Obama will speak to a prominent gay advocacy group on Saturday, to address the fact that he had pledged some dramatic changes for gay and lesbians in America, although in the past year 5 states have recognized same-sex marriage, so some change is beginning.

Bombing the Moon

NASA plans to send a used-up space craft careening into the moon on Friday to kick up lunar dirt and check for ice and water. This is a very interesting idea, and it will apparently be very rapidly apparent whether or not there is water hiding on the moon.

Inappropriate Action

The Del Rio, Texas school district has taken a new step against Mexican students who are coming across the border to attend school in the United States. While this policy is understandable, children illegally coming across the border every morning to go to school is against the law, their method of setting up "border bridges" to screen students is inappropriate, instead they should request proof of residence from the parents, because of the 195 students they blocked, 150 promptly proved residency, showing that they had in fact made a mistake.

The Trouble with Afghanistan

Today the Taliban released a statement proclaiming that they will pose no threat to Western countries, but will continue violence against occupying foriegn forces. This statement coincides with President Obama's decision making over whether or not to continue fighting in Afghanistan, and whether or not he should commit more troops to the conflict there. My opinion is that we should be wary, considering that the Taliban obviously wants us to remove our forces, and that now would be an optimal time to persuade the United States that we should, but their lack of desire to harm Western countries remains to be proven.

Putting off on the Dalai Lama

President Obama has decided not to meet with the Dalai Lama who will be in Washington this week, having arrived today. The decision to put off meeting with the Dalai Lama on this visit (although he has met with a President on all ten of his visits since 1991) is majorly influenced by China's anti-Tibet sentiments, and the United States current need to placate China.

Abstinence only leaves gaping holes in Education

After weeks of complaining about the price of health-care reform, Senate Republicans managed team and boost the budget for abstinence-only education. To me it seems like a waste of money to spend fifty million dollars teaching kids to just say no. Most of them have it down pretty well, and most kids who are saying NO to sex have had that two letter show stopper down for at least a decade. Studies have proven that these programs are not as successful as comprehensive sexual education and health classes, because chances are if a teenager wants to say no (which lets face it, most do not want to say no at all, but a very emphatic yes) they are capable of doing it without millions of dollars worth of tutorial, what would be justified was sex ed classes explaining consequences and safety with highschoolers, because many kids aren't recieving that information.

Majority yes, super heroes? No!

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Democratic 60 seat supermajority fails to succeed in many of their attempts, including health care reforms, which is ironic because they were thought to be "unstoppable"..But they did manage to get the finance comittee to put up fifty million dollars for abstinence only education.. Yay?
Basically they are the Majority yes, but a super steamrolling task force? No.

Iran Backs Down

Apparently Iran has backed down from its' nuclear confrontation with the west, conceding to admit inspectors to the recently announced nuclear plant and to give up some of its uranium to be processed abroad,this is good because it will complicate Iranian efforts to acquire a nuclear bomb. This crisis has broken the thirty year silence between Iran and the United States, which could be taken as a good first step on the road ahead of ou nations.

Less value for more money?

Seems like a raw deal right? Well that is what the California State University system is being forced to offer thanks to budget cuts. Although the CSU system is one of the,if not the cheapest set of four year institutions in the country, this set of cuts is unfortunate, because many programs will be cut or reduced, and class sizes will swell, while students will have to pay higher tuition.