commentary on classmates blog

I really enjoyed reading this post,(from vue point blog) I completely agree with you. Personally I would consider myself slightly more liberal than my conservative parents, and I feel that after reading this I am better able to begin to understand why. It was nice to read something by someone who had an opinion, but was able to share it in a positive, and less judgmental way. It was interesting to read about your questioning into the voting generation gap in the republican party, and I encourage you to tell more people about it. Your very right when you said that it is "We The People's" job to find common ground, and I truly hope some day we can all just learn to get along.

death penalty ?

The issue of the death penalty is a still very debatable amongst US citizens, although from a supreme court level it is illegal except in cases of murder and those who commit crimes against the state. Recently the supreme court ruled that it is illegal to sentence someone to the death penalty for the crime of raping a child.
As if the issue of taking someones life due to a crime they committed is not enough, now many people who are in support of the death penalty must also ask themselves upon what grounds is it justified.
Is it reasonable to execute someone who committed murder , but let the child rapist off the hook? These are the questions people must ask themselves after the announcement of the 5 to 4 decision made by the court yesterday stating that it is unconstitutional to execute a child rapist.

Even the supreme court Justices seemed to be almost divided upon the issue, with arguments from Justice Kennedy stating that "When the law punishes by death, it risks its own sudden descent into brutality, transgressing the constitutional commitment to decency and restraint."

Maybe it is the fact that I have grown up in Texas, a state with a very high execution rate, but I feel that crime as heinous as raping a child under the age of 12 should be no less tolerable than murder, and therefore they should receive the same punishment.

criticism about the government on facebook issue

I will be the first to admit that I am slightly addicted to facebook and myspace, and I do sometimes find political adds on these entertainment websites slightly annoying.

However, I do not totally agree with you that these adds are in the wrong place. The majority of facebook/myspace users are Americas younger population and unfortunately it is this population that is not voting and participating in politics. So, if creating facebook groups, and myspace pages is what it is going to take to get the younger generation involved with political policy that is directly affecting them, then I am all for it. (even if it does get slightly annoying

article found at :  http://oneinnocentsviewofusgoverment.blogspot.com/

Real vs. Fake Gun Control

The issue of Gun control within our society still proves to be a prominent one even today. Who has the power to tell people whether or not they have the right to carry a weapon or not? This question is still a key concern of many U.S. citizens, however the issue seems to only become more serious with the rising popularity of airsoft guns.  

Most of the time airsoft guns are made as an exact replica of real fire arms, but instead of bullets, they shoot out lightweight plastic BB's. These fake guns are being used as a cleaner alternative to paintball guns, and were high up on the list of some of the most searched for "toys" on the internet last holiday season.  The popularity seems to be increasing because many young teenagers are looking for ways to act out their favorite video games like Halo and Call of Duty, and the more realistic looking the prop, the better. 

You might be asking - Okay, so what's the big deal with toy guns? The key issue lies in the fact that so many of these airsoft guns look exactly like the real thing.  Many police officers around the country are having difficulties deciding whether or not a person is holding a real weapon that could kill someone, or rather a fake airsoft gun originally intended for play. Many teenagers seem to think that it is the popular thing to do to wave around an airsoft gun to show off and pretend it is the real deal. However it doesn't end up so popular anymore when the police have been called to the scene because a witness thought there was going to be a gun fight. 

Congress and certain jurisdictions passed laws more than a decade ago to address how imitation guns affect the number of school shootings. However due to an even higher increase in popularity, I believe that even more laws should be put in to place to protect imitation gun users from themselves. The problem has reached beyond the idea that the more imitation guns there are, the cooler kids will think guns are. The problem now is that the police can't tell what is real and what is fake.(Right now, airsoft guns are ideally required to show bright orange markings to distinguish them from the real thing - however many people paint over them so that they look exactly like a real gun.) - And understandably many officers are not willing to take the risk of always assuming that the gun pointed at their head is fake, so ultimately many innocent lives are being wasted because airsoft guns are now the cool new toy.  

I am not necessarily a supporter of strict gun control laws - I believe in a persons right own a gun. However I do believe that something needs to change within the policy of gun control - real AND fake.

Universal Health Care ?

An editorial from the New York Times is arguing the pros and cons of universal health care on the smaller scale as it is an issue that is currently affecting the state of Massachusetts. The state government there is taking a large risky step towards universal health care. They are being referred to as a model for the way many people want the entire nation to look - health care coverage for everyone. This idea sounds like a plan to cure all, however it is not without its flaws. The government of Massachusetts is finding that such a task is easier said than done.

There are still about 300,000 people who are uninsured, and due to the government underestimating the number of uninsured, the actual costs of the program is turning out to be much higher than the projected costs. The idea was to require that people enroll for health care coverage or get taxed if they choose not to.

My personal opinion is that I am in support of Massachusetts trying this new plan. I feel that it will be a good stepping-stone and model for the country to see how the plan plays out in real life. However I do see the short-comings of the idea. What will happen if everyone decides to use governmental funding and aid, wont that push us into even deeper of a debt?
In the long run I think people need to observe the positive and negative outcomes of what happens in Massachusetts and then critically apply it to a national scale to better understand how such an idea will affect our country.

Who will you choose?

At the moment, my opinion about the 2008 Presidential race is that it feels a bit more like picking the prom queen rather than picking the next president. This may be because I have many people close to me (unfortunately myself often included) that fail to pay attention to the truly important details about the candidates, but rather stupid insignificant ones that are reported on "E! Entertainment" - for example who is Michelle Obama's Hollywood crush?
It scares me to think that there is a part of America that may be basing their presidential decision on something as trivial as pieces of information like that.

An Editorial in the New York Times by author William Kristol fuels my worries that we are not paying attention to the right things during such a pivotal point in American history. Kristol writes that between both candidates, Obama seems to be putting on more fireworks for the public with his hope and faith faith filled speeches about a "Change we can believe in".
I am not arguing that this is a bad thing. In fact I do believe that hope is what people need, but I also know that people need concrete things to believe in too. These "concrete things" seem to be the theme for McCain's campaign. He is playing the "older and wiser card" on Obama and although it is a solid card, I'm afraid people like to feel good in Obama's promises rather than brood over reality.
Kristol makes a strong point by introducing the idea that McCain may have exactly what it takes to be Americas President but unless he steps up his like-ability points and tell the people what they want to hear, then the he won't win over the wavering voters who are concerned with things like - potential first-ladies Hollywood crushes.

Pentagon Re-Thinks Top Military Leaders

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/washington/05cnd-military.html?hp

Two high-ranking officials in the United States Air Force will possibly be resigning soon. It has come to the attention of many, that the Air Force has not been handling nuclear weapon parts as carefully as they should be handling such delicate destruction forces. One of the more prominent reasons for the possible resignation has been the discovery of four nosecone fuses for Minuteman nuclear warheads that were sent to Taiwan instead of helicopter batteries. This along with other things such as the discovery of "shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital" as caused Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to review many positions held by high ranking officials in the military.
This article proves to be very interesting because although the content might be discouraging ( the discovery that nuclear weapons are not being handled extremely carefully) it is encouraging to hear that action is being taken against it, and solutions are being found.