No Fooling Mother Nature

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/opinion/05friedman.html?src=tp

While everyone is making a big deal out of the oil spill in the gulf of mexico, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times thinks our focus should lie in a different direction. He says that the best way to make sure things like this dont happen again is to stop relying on oil in the first place. He says this is the time to seize the moment and start making our future cleaner.

The situation in the gulf is just the stepping off stone we need to make American great again. By getting away from oil, situations like this will not arise again. if america had put more importance on going green earlier, we could have avoided this whole sticky mess.

Facebook Glitch Brings New Privacy Worries

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/technology/internet/06facebook.html?scp=19&sq=controversy&st=cse

Facebook's latest mess up has users worried that their private info won't be so private much longer. this coming along at a time when many users are reportedly unhappy with the site could end up being detrimental to its success. The security hole briefly allowed users to see their friends' private information, things that users apparently don't want other people to see.

if you don't want someone to see something, don't put it up on facebook! no security hole in the world could reveal information you haven't put up on the site. so for everyone who is griping about this and that, suck it up and don't be stupid.

Law Banning Blasphemy Is Upheld in Indonesia

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/asia/20indo.html?scp=3&sq=controversial&st=cse

Indonesia's Constitutional court deemed a law banning blasphemy doesn't go against their constitution. the 45 year old law not only makes blasphemy illegal, but also caps the amount of officially recognized religions to six: islam, protestantism, catholicism, buddhism, hinduism and confucianism. the law. Many say that it is a huge step back in democracy. supporters of the law say it is necessary to maintain religious peace.

in terms of traditionaly freedom, this law is quite morally wrong. how can a government tell you what you can or can not worship? im not a religious guy, but i don't believe there will ever be peace between the religions. it doesn't recognize judaism, which along with islam and christianity (protestant+catholicism) make up the three religions of revelation. i believe this is just an example of how corrupt politicians can use religion to brainwash the masses

Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/us/politics/24immig.html?scp=1&sq=controversial&st=cse

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer recently approved a new bill on immigration. The new bill makes the failure to carry immigration documents a crime. it also allows the police to harass anyone they suspect is an illegal immigrant. President Obama is strongly against it, saying it violates the rights we hold. Brewer claims racial profiling will not be tolerated.

Whoa okay first of all, how is racial profiling not going to be tolerated if the targets of the law are non-american citizens? How are the police going to distinguish between an illegal immigrant and a natural born mexican-american without being racist? this reminds me of the policy in germany under hitler that all jews had to carry the proper documents.

Teen fan tasered by Phillies security after running onto field

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Teen-fan-tasered-by-Phillies-security-after-runn?urn=mlb,238457

On Monday during the eighth inning of a Phillies/Cardinals game, a seventeen year old kid jumped the fence and ran around the outfield waving a towel. After easily avoiding some pretty overweight security guards, one finally got tired of chasing him and shot him with a taser. the kid dropped to the ground and was down for about thirty seconds. after regaining motor skills, he walked with them off of the field.

While i agree the kid shouldn't have been on the field, we can all agree it was pretty funny. watching some teenager run around while 6 fat security guards stumble after him is like something you see in a movie. but they shouldn't have tasered him. maybe if the guards weren't fat slobs, the tasing wouldn't have been necessary.

Kyleigh's Law requires license decals for young N.J. drivers

This article on nj.com explains Kyleigh's law and how it will affect drivers. Donna Weeks had a daughter that died in a car accident three years ago. In response to this she petitioned for a law requiring young drivers to place red decals on their license plates. Those affected by the law are permit and provisional drivers, so pretty much all 17 year olds, some 18 year olds and even 19-20 year olds if they have been driving for under a year. The article alsoo addresses the fact that these decals will also act as beacons to sex offenders.

Many times in history has something like this been attempted. In Germany, Adolf Hitler required Jews to bear markings identifying them as such. In early Puritanical America, people convicted of adultery and other sins were required to wear scarlet letters. in both cases, the bearers of these markings were harrassed and killed. In this situation, police officers will do the harrassing and sex offenders will do the killing, or worse. It's a noble idea to want to make it safer for young drivers, but this is not the way to do it.

Grocers & Soda Companies Oppose City Beverage Tax

NY Governor David Patterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg are implementing a four cent per ounce tax on sugary beverages. The tax is an effort to raise funds for medicaid, but also an attempt to cut obesity. Many companies, Coke chiefly among them, are calling the tax unfair. The tax, which was instated on April 1, is estimated to raise $465 million.

I'm not a big soda fan, but i still believe this tax ridiculous. Before blowing holes in our pocket books, the government should try cutting their own income. In this economy, people have a hard enough time affording the bare necessities. And if it's to target obesity, why can't scrawny fellows like myself be exempt? I agree with the big corporations for once and call this tax unfair.

Smartphones, Necessity or Superfluous?

In the January 28, 2010 issue of the New York Times, an article by Jenna Wortham appeared talking about the problems with smart phones and how they overtax wireless systems. She cites that certain features, such as streaming video, radio or using navigation systems use up so many MB that the efficiency of such smart phones has greatly decreased.While companies such as Apple and AT&T keep developing new technologies, the systems the new devices operate on are slow. Customers grow increasingly frustrated with the technologies and the limits they force on the devices.While advancements in the technological field are claimed to be useful, the systems the devices run on end up being more of a hindrance than one would wish. How can big companies justifiy the developents of smart phones and the like without polishing up the operations the devices run on? Companies should focus more on bringing everything to an equal level rather than let themselves get ahead of where they should be.