Scattered Thoughts

Ok, I've got a couple things on my mind. First of all, when I went home for lunch, I saw a story on the national news… "Second grader is suspended for swearing at school." Now I thought at first that this was really no ig deal and that students get suspended for that all the time. The more I listened to the story, the more I realized that the girl was suspended for saying "You will go to Hell if you sware to God," after a classmate of hers said "I swear go God."

Now when did we get this uptight and bitchy about something this small? I'm confused by this, because when I was growing up, I was taught in sunday school that as long as you are refering to the place, hell, you are not swearing. Swearing is when you refer to Hell as in "Oh, Hell" or simply "Go to Hell!".

Granted this is a school in Pennsylvania, but still, informing another student of your beliefs should not be grounds for suspension. If that is the case, then most creative literature, philosophy and art-type (ones involving arts) classes should be banned from their high school. At least when I was in high school, a lot of my classes had a component where students were forced to express their beliefs and then defend them from public criticism.

Read more here.

That is just absurd…

As if the news couldn't get any better…

A Math Teacher in Sacramento (that explains a lot) wrote an article entitled "A Modest Proposal" detailing why his high school should encorporate a sex room complete with padded floors and free condoms. He has noticed that students have a tendency to "suck face" in the hallways and he's getting a little tired of it.

Granted this article was written in a sarcastic tone and really shouldn't have been taken as heavily as it is, but a lot of people (students and parents alike) feel that was written in poor taste. They feel it should never have been written. I don't understand what he was thinking writing this article for a student paper… Teachers can't get away with that in most parts of the counrty, and I hope the same is true for california.

Read more about it here.

And Now for the End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – Proud Mary – Credence Clearwater Revival

Hero of the Day – Holly for bring over the UNO Attack last night at the Chino. Good times… hahahaha

Quote of the Day – "I like it because it's not like PEACH! It's just… a whisper of peach. Like the banana one's BANANA!" – Me, Monday night describing the amount of flavor in the new milk shakes at Steak n Shake
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As an American, you have a right to practice whatever religion you choose, say or print whatever you wish, assemble a group of people in a peaceful manner, and petition for what you feel is right. We are garunteed the right to posess firearms for the sake of protecting ourselves, families and our interests. The American Armed Forces will not be permitted to stay in your home without your permission. Your personal items cannot be searched, seized or otherwise rummaged through without the written order of a court residing on American soil. You do not have to testify against yourself if you feel that you would be found guilty of a crime because of what you say. Our Constitution affords us the right to a fair and speedy trial by jury if we so desire one. Our bodies and minds are protected from cruel and unusual punishment and our bank accoutns are protected from excessive bail and fines.

These rights have withstood the test of time and the criticism of generations upon generations of American citizens. Not only are we governed by a body of written law, we are also governed by mountains of common, or court decided law (unless you live in New Orleans).

In Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), defamation is placed as a limit on the freedom of speech, and for that reason, I will not be using names in this post. Again, if you are offended, see href="http://blog.tlmason.com/archives/000178.html" target="_blank">my apology. And I apologize in advance to all of you who read my blog in a public school, you won't be able to for a while after this post.

That may just be the most intelligent thing I have heard come out of the Bush administration. Let's disect this quote and find it's true meaning. Keep in mind that I do not agree with the whole thing, but the overall principle is what I agree with. Also, remember that I like to tell you how I see things. If you are offended by something I say, please refer to my apology.

Lets look at the first sentence: Democracies do not breed the anger and the radicalism that drag down whole societies or export violence.

Now, it is not true that Democracies do not breed anger and radicalism, they just are less likely to have such feelings of animocity develop within their borders. The hatred toward a democracy comes from outside. Non-democratic governments rely on fear or military might to keep their citizens under their power. Democracy appeals most to the people living under such rule because of it's apparent freedoms. These cultures long for someone to listen to their voice. Hate groups like Al Queda fuel this radicalism and in doing so help the non-democratic forms of government thrive.

Democracies do not export violence in the form of terrorism; however, as you can see with the G Dubbs campaign in Iraq, they do export violence in the form of military action. Granted, Saddam Hussein is in custody and no longer in power, a whole other issue I'm not going to touch here, but how did that come to pass? The United States Armed Forces invaded Iraq, killed Iraqis and then found him in a hole. Democracies do export violence, they just do it in their own unique way.

Ok, now on to the second phrase: Terrorists do not find fertile recruiting grounds in societies where young people have the right to guide their own destinies and to choose their own leaders.

Hm… This is mostly true as well. I feel that if you can control your future, you are less likely to distroy the futures of others (unless you study business at Indiana University, then you see it as your God-given right to distroy others' futures to bennifit yourself). Since choosing yoru own leaders is one of the foundations of democracy; and since choosing your own leaders is crucial to establishing a government where a majority of the people are happy most of the time, allowing people to choose their own leaders will develop a society less likely to be an agressor. Granted, some of the world's elected leaders are not the best individuals, but that too is a bi-product of democracy.

Overall, the democratic system works pretty well. I'm not saying it's the only way, but I am agreeing, for the most part, with what Cheney said…one of the few times I've agreed with something to come out of this administration.

Have a good day,
later days

Here's what I think we should do to fix what G Dubbs has started:

But first:

"The killing has continued in Bali, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Mombasa, Jerusalem, Istanbul, and Baghdad."

I didn't even know he could pronounce these names… He probably can't even point them out on a map.

Problem 1:

"And one of those essential tools is the Patriot Act, which allows federal law enforcement to better share information, to track terrorists, to disrupt their cells, and to seize their assets." "You need to renew the Patriot Act."

Solution:
You may be asking yourself what the problem is here. Well, the so-called Patriot Act allows the federal government to invade the privacy of anybody as long as they say that it is in the interest of homeland security. How far will their arm reach?

And renewal? um, NO!

Problem 2:

"As part of the offensive against terror, we are also confronting the regimes that harbor and support terrorists, and could supply them with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."

Solution:
Learn to pronounce the word nuclear… it's new-clear not new-que-ler.

Problem 3:

"…ended the rule of Saddam Hussein, and the people of Iraq are free."

Free from Sadam Hussein, but not the American Military.

Solution:
Devise an exit strategy that will have us out of the country at the end of this year… Maybe even June, like the Iraqi people desire.

Problem 4:

"We're working with Iraqis and the United Nations to prepare for a transition to full Iraqi sovereignty by the end of June."

But you have no plan…

Solution:
See above.

Problem 5:

"I will send you a proposal to double the budget of the National Endowment for Democracy, and to focus its new work on the development of free elections, and free markets, free press, and free labor unions in the Middle East."

All this, and the American people are recieving tax cuts, lowering the income of the federal government. Where is the money going to come from G Dubbs? Education? Everyone already know that you have slashed the funding for your own "Leave No Child Behind" initiative… What's next? All of public schooling?

Solution:
STOP SPENDING! or STOP CUTTING TAXES AND INCREASING THE NATIONAL DEBT!

A Moment of Truth

"These numbers confirm that the American people are using their money far better than government would have…"

Government = poor at managing assetts
American People = good at managing assetts

Hilarity:

…"we'll help more and more Americans to join in the growing prosperity of our country."

You make me laugh, G Dubbs…

Problem 6:

"Younger workers should have the opportunity to build a nest egg by saving part of their Social Security taxes in a personal retirement account. We should make the Social Security system a source of ownership for the American people. "

Solution:
Why don't we just get rid of Social Security alltogether. I know that I'm not going to see any benefits of the SS taxes that I pay, so why don't we just not pay the taxes if we are a part of a certain generation?

Problem 7:

"This will require that Congress focus on priorities, cut wasteful spending, and be wise with the people's money. By doing so, we can cut the deficit in half over the next five years."

But you still fight a war and at the same time cut taxes… duh?

Solution:
I've already said it before, no need repeating it here…

Problem 8:

" I oppose amnesty, because it would encourage further illegal immigration, and unfairly reward those who break our laws"

I still don't understand his definition of amnesty, so I cannot offer a solution to this problem.

What?:

"I ask you to give lower-income Americans a refundable tax credit that would allow millions to buy their own basic health insurance."

He'll be here all year…

"So tonight I proposed an additional $23 million for schools that want to use drug testing as a tool to save children's lives. The aim here is not to punish children, but to send them this message: We love you, and we don't want to lose you."

"Athletics play such an important role in our society, but, unfortunately, some in professional sports are not setting much of an example. The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message — that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character. So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now. "

Problem 9:

"That statute protects marriage under federal law as a union of a man and a woman, and declares that one state may not redefine marriage for other states… On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard. If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage."

I don't know what he is talking about here. Judges stand up for the people day after day after day. If he is talking about the recent buzz about same sex marriges, I'm all for it.

Solution:
Let two people who are in love with each other enjoy the same bennefits as a man and a woman who are in love. Does what he says about the judges make sense to anyone?

THE Solution:

"Tonight, Ashley, your message to our troops has just been conveyed. And, yes, you have some duties yourself. Study hard in school, listen to your mom or dad, help someone in need, and when you and your friends see a man or woman in uniform, say, "thank you." And, Ashley, while you do your part, all of us here in this great chamber will do our best to keep you and the rest of America safe and free."

A lot of us could learn from this passage… That's all I'm going to say about that.

Well there you have it folks. The hilarity and hijinx of our president. I cannot wait until he is put out of office later this year…

No longer am I going to just tell you about how my day was, I am going to find something to rant about during my day. It may be something as small as a professor not being in class on time, or something as large as G Dubbs announcing that we are going to invade Canada (I wouldn't be suprised at all if this happened). The Link Below will be used for the update into my daily life, if you are still interested.

To kick this whole thing off, I want to talk about an interview (if you could call it that) I saw on the Today Show this morning.

They had as a guest Sean O'Keefe, the Administrator of the NASA. Matt Lauer was asking him questions like "What do you say to the people who think that this money should be spent on problems here on earth?" and "What is the estimated budget for a new station on the moon?" To each question Matt asked Sean, Sean replied "Again, the spirit is one of exploration." I simply did not accept that as an answer. How can 'exploration' fund a mission? How does 'exploration' solve the problems of health care, national debt, unemployed workers, homeless, hungry people living on the streets of our largest cities? IT DOESN'T! It doesn't matter how you phrase it, exploration DOES NOT solve the problems this country faces each and every day.

This Sean O'Keefe guy is quite a character. He doesn't seem to realize that space exploration is not as awe inspiring as it once was. Matt pointed to some statistics: 48% of Americans want to see us go to the moon, 48% of Americans would rather the money be spent on a problem that matters. Very curious… and there are 4% of Americans who don't care? Is that what you're trying to tell me? Anyway, that's not the point. I'm guessing you already know what Sean's response to the statistics was… Yep! You guessed it! "Again, Matt, the focus here is on exploration. Exploration for the sake of exploration."

Give me a break man… you're the Administrator of one of, if not, the most prestigious space exploration programs in the world. You're telling me you don't know how much it will cost to put a station on the moon or what technologies you will use to get there? I mean, when we went to the moon under the Kennedy administration, JFK doubled the NASA budget for the first year, and again doubled it the second year. President Bush is just giving you a one billion dollar increase OVER FIVE YEARS!!!! That hardly seems to me like enough cash to develop, produce and execute a new space exploration concept with the power and consistency of the Saturn V rockets.

BTW: I realize that he also calls Congress to shift $11 billion from other programs to manned flight. Keep in mind that you will be cutting other crucial programs like Earth Science, Aeronautics, Space Science, Biological and Physical Research, etc. To me, cutting these programs is unacceptable. We learn so much from them each expirement, they are invaluable tu us as a society.

I say again, what I've been saying all along. Use that one billion dollars over five years to start paying down the national debt. Yes, I understand we live in a debt driven economy (I'll talk about that more later), but it's getting a little out of hand. OR how about using that money to put food in the hands of starving Americans, or maybe work on the national health care system, we all know it's the worst thing to ever be designed in this country, or maybe you can find the unemployed Americans jobs and then send all the illegal imigrants back to whence they came!

Ok, I'm done with that. Enjoy commenting on this one. Remember to click on The Link Below to read about my day, if you feel so inclined. In other important news (that I want to let everyone know), I'm heading up to Detroit this weekend, and probably up into Canada even. Sounds like fun, eh?

peace
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