Why Me?

This post is not going to be a very intellectual, political, or deeply thought out post that I've been staving off for a time when I run out of ideas. That said, however, this post does come a little late. In the MLB off-season, the GM's (general managers), Owners, and sometimes even Managers gather in Las Vegas where they will be dealing trades, deals, and talk about how to improve the MLB and their profits in the upcoming season. The Cubs, however, driven by their 100 year championship drought, fought bitterly, only to fall 150 miles short of receiving Cy Young award winner, Jake Peavy. I don't know why I'm even upset right now. What should I expect? I believe in a team that you can count on not coming through when the time demands it. O.K., we did get Joey Gathright, a speedy left-handed hitting outfielder from Kansas City which, because he played for Kansas City, leads me to believe that no one either: A. Knew about him because the Royals secretly genetically engineered him in an underground laboratory under their stadium, or more likely B. He's no damn good. I will give the Royals this, they weren't the worst team in the league for the 1st time in a few years so congratu-freakin'-lations! I still remain a Cub fan, I just got to see how this one will pan out for the Cubs.

The Ultimate Economy Stimulus

War in the past, believe it or not, has saved the world. In the great depression, what got the world out of a depression? War. Currently, we need something to get our economy going again. We need to get the people excited about something. What took our minds off the near apocalypse of the Cold War? The great Space Race. Right now, if were to go to the Moon, people might get excited for that, but we'd need something bigger. We could go to Mars and find bacteria that was once living and revive them back here on Earth. There are plenty of people who'd be willing to give up their lives for a type of discovery such as this. There is overwhelming evidence that there was once live on Mars. To what extent? Not the large scale Ecosystem that Earth owns, but a much more premature Ecosystem, a more basic Ecosystem. Later, we could see what these organisms would evolve into. Yes, it would be costly and risky, but if we find out that we're not alone, people would get excited instantly and get everything going again. In the end, I go back to my original point which was that we just need something to get excited about.

Who Do You Trust More AMERICA????

O.K., You are a witness in a crime and you're called up to the stand. You are asked to take standard oath where you are asked: "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" Nothing out of the ordinary, standard procedure. However, while you are taking the oath, the standard is that you'd have your hand on a Bible if you didn't ask for anything special. If you lie at this point, you cold be convicted of 'perjury.' Here's the question- why the Bible? I know for a fact, because I'm more of an Agnostic, I wouldn't feel that bad if I lied. However, if I was to swear on a copy of the Constitution, that would be meaningful. Now if I lied, I would feel as though I betrayed my country. I don't think I could live with that. After all, the Constitution is more than a series of pages that holds the outline of our government and our way of life, but what our Founding Fathers fought and died for. How can anyone let George Washington, our first and greatest president down? Today, everyone talks about what is "American" and "un-American." I believe that putting down the Constitution is the most un-American thing anyone could do to this nation. Therefore, I strongly support the idea that when someone is called up to the stand and is asked to take an oath of truth, they swear on a copy of the American Constitution. I believe that it comes down to this- Do you love your religion more than your country?

The Secret Police

This new assignment got me thinking- when would I, if ever, limit free speech? At first I couldn't ever come up with a situation of why it would be necessary, but when I talked to my parents about this, I realized that there are a couple of cases where I would limit free speech. To me, it depends on what type of war we fight. Three out of the last four wars we have fought (Terrorism, Vietnam, Korea) we have fought against ideals, governments, and rebellions, but no clear-cut country. In the Gulf War, we clearly fought against Iraq and pushed them out of Kuwait. When we have fought against a clear-cut country, we (the people of the U.S.) have come together and rarely spoke directly against the war at hand, but when we fought against an organization or a government (Communism), we have spoken out against out government's actions with impunity. I agree with the majority of the U.S. citizens on this matter. I believe that if I was president and we got in a war with an actual country, I'd put limits on our civil liberties so that our morale could be helped and so that we could focus on the war. However, if I was in this type of "Ghost Hunt" war where we are fighting an organization, I wouldn't limit civil liberties, unless the public, congress, and the Supreme Court thought that it would be in this county's best interest to do so. However, in the end, I believe that governments take turns being legitimately free, and then being a police state. Look at Russia, for example, the Czar system, though a hard system, was decently free. However, when it was taken over and turned Communist, a police state took over, until 1991 when a free government took over Russia again.

Different Tastes

Coke vs. Pepsi. Burger King vs. McDonald's. Do these rivalries sound familiar? People have different brand tastes. However, do your pets only eat one type of brand as well? I experimented with my dogs to see if they prefer Iams, Pedigree, or just plain chunks of meat. The chucks went ok. All three on my dogs ate them and didn't seem to mind it. Iams was the largest fork in the road. One dog sniffed it, ate a little, and left the bowl. The second dog ate the food, no problem. The third dog ate about half the bowl, until he heard me opening another can of food. The Pedigree was the best. All dogs ate it and ate it quickly. I'm not trying to promote Pedigree or anything, but what I'm trying to prove is that humans are not the only ones with tasting differences. Just know this: whatever you may like the best, stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup. All it is is a sweetener that is based on sugar and fat. Also, don't eat poached foods.

A New "National" Library

I received an email containing this from someone I know. For those of you who don't know this, our "President," George W. Bush, is having a library constructed in his honor at Southern Methodist University. I figured that the whole class could get a kick out of this:

The George W. Bush Presidential Library

Dear Fellow Constituent:

The George W. Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages and
accepting donations.

The Library will include:

1. The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.
2. The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won't be able to remember anything.
3. The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't even have to show up.
4. The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.
5. The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.
6. The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has been able to find.
7. The National Debt Room, which is huge and has no ceiling.

8. The Tax Cut Room, with entry only to the wealthy.
9. The Economy Room, which is in the toilet.
10. The Iraq War Room. (After you complete your first visit, they make you go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth visit.)
11. The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with shooting gallery.
12. The Environmental Conservation Room, still empty.
13. The Supreme Gift Shop, where you can buy an election.
14. The Airport Men's Room, where you can meet some of your favorite Republican Senators.
15. The Decider Room, complete with dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija board, dice, coins, and straws.

Note: The library will feature an electron microscope to help you locate and view the President's accomplishments.

The library will also include many famous Quotes by George W. Bush:

1. 'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.'
2. 'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.'
3. 'Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.'
4. 'No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.'
5. 'I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.'
6. 'One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.'
7. 'Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.'
8. 'I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.'
9. 'The future will be better tomorrow.'
10. 'We're going to have the best educated American people in the world..'
11. 'One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.' (during an education photo-op)
12. 'Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.'
13. 'We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.'
14. 'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.'
15. 'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'...Geoge W. Bush to Sam Donaldson

PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY!

Sincerely,
Jack Abramoff, Co-Chair
G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors

Try This Out

You might be wondering why I'm not in school on Monday, I'm in California playing baseball. Sounds great right? It sucks. I really didn't realize how much of a left-wing person I am until I met my roomate. He's from Montana and is an Obama hater. We talked about the election and he immedently started saying that Obama should be impeached or killed. I asked why and he said "Because he doesn't believe that everything changed after 9/11." I was shocked. I currently am beside myself as I write this post. He also says that I'm a communist for supporting Obama. I just don't understand why. I've had roomates before that supported McCain, but not as extreme as this. When I said that Palin thought Africa was a country, he dismissed that by saying "Well that's the vice president and she wouldn't matter." I can't believe that. McCain is already pretty sick (health wise) and could die in his presidency and who would we be stuck with? A separatest, uneducated, "hockey mom." I am not a generally angry person, but when someone supports Bush and wants Obama dead, that just ticks me off!!!

PLEASE...STOP!!!

I have a question, how does New Trier pick the books that we read in class? Do the books have to meet a certain criteria? Do the teachers care about the appeal the books have on their students? I know for a fact that the book we are currently reading, "The Crucible," has some appeal to the class, but overall, people are reluctant to take out the book for discussion. I'm not sure if it's due to the amount of interest we all share with Mr. Bolos on the presidency, politics, and other topics, or if it's the level of understanding that is needed to read the book successfully. Personally, I'm not a fan of the book. I think some parts are interesting, but overall I think the book is hard for me to grasp in my head. Whenever anyone talks in the book, I always seem to have them yelling in my head and so I picture a very unhappy and corrupt town. My question to the reader of this post is what do you picture when you read this book?

Stop! You're Making Too Much Sense!

Why do we keep increasing our spending in areas that are destructive. We keep increasing military spending, which, though important, is leading to a disaster. We never needed to go into Iraq in the first place and now, no one has a glimpse of an idea of what a victory would look like. Could someone ask the candidates. What we should have done, is invest in agriculture due to the amount of money food is costing these days. We should find out new ways to grow food and increase production. In addition, we should increase spending in NASA and science. Currently, Mars is the closest to Earth it has ever been and is slowly pulling away. If we have want any chance to land people on Mars we have to launch now. The only problems are that we would have to train people to live in space for a year, the food supply and the amount of fuel will have to take up tons of space, and the cost would be a lot. However, all of this, in the space exploration field, could have been funded had it not been for Richard Nixon cutting NASA's budget: "By the time Nixon left the White House, the NASA budget had fallen from its peak of almost 4 percent of the total federal budget to less than 1 percent. It has remained at that lower level for the last 30 plus years. At that level, NASA decided it could not continue to operate the systems it had developed for Apollo and closed down the production lines for the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn V rocket while also cancelling three lunar missions – Apollo 18, 19 and 20" (http://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/10presidents.html). Even though space is important to me, agriculture and medicine is most important to me. If we increased spending into those areas our life expectancy and overall health would improve dramatically.

A Chicken With Its Head Cut-Off

Pennies and Nickels. These are the butt-end of stereo typical jokes of Jews and part of a failing country. Everyone knows that it costs more to make a penny than what a penny is really worth, but how much? It costs 1.23 cents (according to USA Today) to make a penny and 5.73 cents to make a nickel. Why should we continue this? I try to pay 89 cents for a pack of cough-drops and I tried to pay in pennies. The sore wouldn't accept them. I asked why. They responded "It's pointless. it will take me forever to count all of those." Therefore, I propose that we get rid of pennies and nickels due to their lack of revenue. What will we doe instead? Round to the nearest dime. However, there must be a law, so that companies don't take more than what the item is actually worth, that all items must be properly rounded. If the cost would have been less than .05 than the cost should be .00. We are already in the process of getting rid of pennies, but nickels must also be on that bill as well.

It's Your Own Damn Fault!

In class, we discussed weather or not people should have rights to wear whatever shirt they desire, regardless of whatever obscenity may be on that shirt. I took the side that there should be a right because it is your own fault if you look like a moron. Honestly, I don't care if someone was walking down the street with an "I believe in Pres. Bush" shirt. I would just keep walking and think "Boy that guy is just wrong," but that would be it. I wouldn't attack the guy or anything. However, someone else in my group thought that there should be a law. The problem with a law is that how do you define what is obscene and what is not? You see, this is just a sense of opinion. Someone walking down a street in Chicago wearing that "I believe in Pres. Bush" shirt would be very provocative and nearly obscene. Someone walking down a street in a deeply conservative state wearing a "Vote for Gore" shirt would probably bring up the same feelings. It's all about what you believe in. If there was a law against this, it would be a tricky law. What I find obscene, others won't and because of our different opinions, beliefs, and biases, and therefore, we can't all agree. However, if someone was walking down a street and their shirt said "I'll Kill You In Your Sleep," or something along those lines, I believe that those shirts should be banned. I know I may have just sounded like a hypocrite, but I do believe at a certain point, there should be a boundary.

DIE DIE DIE

There is actually no death here, but like Max has shown, titles grab your attention (I hope). In the modern-day, handwriting has gotten to be abominable, grammar is terrible, and spelling has gotten to a low that we are close to the point of no return. Why? It's because of a powerful tool that has advanced and corrected essays for the last 15 years. It's called "spell check." I was listening to Laugh Attack on XM, and there was a comedian that was talking about how he was reading letters and resumes for a job opening and this was what a few of the letters said: "Hello, my name is___. I believe that I would be a good fit for the jog because I fit all the cinnamon. Attached to my is my liter is my restitution. I would greatly appreciate if you could concise me for the job." You see, the bolded and italicized words are all words, non misspelled, but they were the first word that popped into the replace box. The careless person would just keep clicking on "replace" the entire time. In my opinion, not enough spelling is taught in grade school and in high school, no enough attention is paid to it either.

Do You Believe?

In class Friday, we saw bubbles of words that were most commonly used in the 2008 Republican/Democratic National Convention. I couldn't help but notice that the Republican's most used word/name was God. Why? The Democratic's used the word "Change"the most, which is something they can do. But what can God do? Everyday scientists disprove Creationism and God. Even if there was a God, by this point in time, there have been so many prayers said that God would probably just tune them out and basically say "Do it yourself."You may just say that I'm Atheist, I am, but that doesn't mean that I don't believe in mericals. I do, but we got ourselves into this screwed up situation, I know God would say "Grëat, now get yourself out.

The Attack From Another Planet!!!!!

A 22 year old man applies for a job, which he is fully qualified for, in Chicago. The application is filled out and the receptionist is very pleased. Then the man is called into the manager's room for his interview. The interview goes perfect. In the end, he doesn't get the job. Why? Because they gave the job to a mostly qualified 22 year old man who graduated from Iowa. The first man graduated from Georgia. So why did the person take the Iowa grad? People, right out of college, are like a family. The way this family is defined is by what college you went to. If you went to a local college, or the same college of the employer, the employer will give you a chance, but because the employer doesn't know much about Georgia and that area, he's sort of scared to hire him. He doesn't know what he's like. Now later in life, when you reach your 30's, and on, it won't matter that much; what they'd base it on is your resume. If you went to a private school, however, it doesn't matter where you apply for a job. This is because private schools are more expensive and for the most part, more prestigious. Private schools are accepted most anywhere. The only reason for this post is because if you're interested in a state school that is not around here, and once you're out of college, you want to get a job in Chicago, this is just a heads up. It sort of came as a blow to me because during the summer, I visited USF, UCF, U of Tampa, and many other east coast schools and when I found out that if I went to USF, I would be at a disadvantage when I came back to Chicago, even though I would get a terrific education there. So when you're considering colleges, think about this: If I go here, would I be happy living in this state/area for the rest of my life?

Technologically Incapable

Listen, when it comes to technology, parents can go to their average high school teenager to fix a problem on their computer or phone or blackberry. Then, when teachers ask their kids to upload videos, kids just need to see it happen once and they can do it for the rest of their lives thinking that it's "basic knowledge" for computer using. However, when my parents ask me to fix something on the computer, I just stare blankly at them, thinking "what the hell is a zip drive or a PDF file?" My parents cannot count on me to do anything with computers. It's a different language and when I'm expected to put music onto a power point I just sit there laughing because it took me about two weeks to learn email, so how long will it take me to put music on a power point? five or six months? Now I'm not a Luddite, and I think that technology is great, but could someone please teach me to use an iPhone or an iTouch? What is even the difference between them? I'm lost in a technologically advancing world. I just figured out how to use floppy disks! And now they're telling me that there's a stick 3/4 the size of a floppy that can hold twice as much info on it!? Show it to me! HELP!

Get Over It!

People in the U.S., for the most part, are either Democratic or Republican. I have no problem with this, but what I do have a problem with is that they cannot deal with each other. We are all Americans, get over it. All I want to envision with the U.S. is the start of a world-wide union. I'm a huge believer in the European Union and I think that because they are all tied together, politically and/or economically they cannot have wars. However, to accomplish this, we all (everyone in the world) must put aside their religion and their ignorance and come together. It pains me to see our country run by people, who all they want is to put the other political party down. We can't accomplish anything. What we are is a sped-up Roman Empire. Greed eventually led to the destruction of the most powerful nation ever known. This is happening to us, but at a much quicker rate. We can save our country by putting everything aside and just realizing that we're all human and that we should all just live together.

But is it Necessary?

Back in 1700's, 1800's and part of the 1900's, information had to be carried by person on a horse or a train, but in the end it would take days or weeks to get news from New York to San Diego. Then it would have to be printed in a news paper and then it was sent to you the next day. Now, in 2008, people can get info any number of ways. We can go on the internet, watch t.v., the newspaper, and talking to one another. Which brings me to my question: Is the Electoral College necessary? Every one in today's society, adults, high schoolers, even my sister that's in 7th grade knows the basics of the agendas from McCain and Obama. Should we discontinue the Electoral College and just elect our president by popular vote?