Poor Oil Companies

Congress is preparing to question oil executives from the five largest publicly traded companies as to why they need 18 billion dollars in tax cuts over the next ten years. This comes as a huge suprise under the backdrop of record gas prices and record profits. Congress is considering taking away the tax breaks and putting the money towards alternative energy research, which I think is a great idea. Hopefully, congress' questions will shed light on why exactly we are facing such astronomical gas prices and if there is any possibility of the prices going down in the near future. What should we do? Should we allow these companies to recieve huge tax cuts, or should we demand a greater effort be put into alternative energy research? In my opinion, the environment is the most important issue, and we should therefore force them to either invest more money into alternative energy research or we should deny them the tax cuts. What do you think?

Look out for those 2nd graders!

A 7 year old student showed up to school on monday with two loaded handguns in Baltimore County, Maryland. The guns were discovered when one fell out of the student's pocket during class. The teacher immediately took her students to the office and called the police. Upon searching the student's locker, the police found the second gun, which was also loaded. Police believe that the child had no intention of harming anyone, simply believing that the guns were toys. He was staying at his uncle's house, and most likely found the two guns there. While the child will not be charged with any crime, the uncle will likely face charges of child endangerment and leaving guns within a child's reach. While there will be no charges brought against the child, he will likely be expelled because that is the mandatory punishment for bringing a firearm to school. This story was extreemly suprising to me because I couldn't believe how irresponsible the uncle must have been to allow that to happen. This is a compelling argument against the "right to keep and bear arms" as decreed in the Constitution. Do you think that this type of occurance, along with many recent school shootings are enough cause to increase regulations on firearms? What do you think is a fair punishment for the uncle?

Google Hackers

It seems like today all our internet needs and wants can be found on google. And I'm sure like myself, you all use google on a daily basis to search for practically anything. In fact I found this article on USA Today by searching through current event on google. So it seemed to me that this article was a bit frightening by how easily all our PC's could be getting bugs and viruses, or giving others our most secret passwords without knowing it at all. Anyways it just interested me how much our privacy can be invaded through the internet and it seems to be basically "anything goes" in our cyber world, good thing I have a macbook.

Can the Environment be turned into a game?

Talking about the environment in class today got me thinking about doing an interesting blog about the environment, so here it is:

"Eco Creatures," a flabby but somewhat child-cute game for the Nintendo DS, caught my attention just as it was intended to: It's "an eco-friendly adventure," said the press release from publisher Majesco Entertainment. And how is that? Well, it "promotes awareness of the perils of over-industrialization, deforestation, pollution, extinction and global warming, as well as their effects on various life forms." The age rating is Everyone, which means the game is recommended for anyone 6 or older. The controls are poor. You find out early, for instance, that you can't fight effectively without making yourself stupidly vulnerable to attack. Even little kids know that makes the game a dubious value at $30, regardless of any environmental merit. You're supposed to nurture your creatures, but it's hard to get in the mood when the clunky game play is making you crazy.

This little bit comes from a Mercury Review of the game. I think that it is a great idea to incorporate the idea of saving the environment into a game, but does it seriously have to be so lame? It's an interesting topic and what's your take on it?

haha:

Obama wins over Texas

Sen. Barack Obama has won the overall delegate race in Texas thanks to a strong showing in Democratic county conventions this past weekend. Obama picked up seven of nine outstanding delegates, giving him a total of 99 Texas delegates to the party's national convention this summer. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the other two, giving her a total of 94 Texas delegates, according to an analysis of returns by The Associated Press. Obama leads the overall race for the Democratic nomination with 1,631 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,501, according to the latest AP tally.

Senator Barack Obama has won over the current president's state. Is this a turning point for the Obama campaign or is this just a stepping stone?

Don't Mess with North Korea!

After South Korea's top military officer said he would consider attacking North Korea if it tried to carry out a nuclear attack, North Korea responded by threatening South Korea with complete and utter destruction. "Our military will not sit idle until warmongers launch a pre-emptive strike," said an unidentified South Korean military commentator. "Everything will be in ashes, not just a sea of fire." This aggressive attitude comes unexpected from South Korea, which has traditionally been content to watch passively as North Korea developed their nuclear capabilities. On Friday, North Korea test-fired a barrage of missles into the sea, and warned that it would "mercilessly wipe out" any South Korean warships that strayed into North Korean waters. This event sheds new light on the North Korean conflict. They are obviously capable of harming millions of innocent citizens, both in Korea and abroad, and it is impossible to know if they are only bluffing or if they seriously intend to launch any missiles. With increased activity, the U.S. government may find it necessary to intervene in the name of national security as it did in Iraq, although that is less likely because there isn't much oil to be found in Korea. What are your opiniones? Should the U.S. intervene with greater force in North Korea in order to protect innocent lives in South Korea and America, or should the U.S. stay out of it and avoid the possibility of another "War on Terror" in a new location? Does North Korea pose a credible threat to anyone around them or are they all talk?

Democrats Fight Back

42 Democratic congressional candidates banded together last Thursday to announce that, if elected, they will push legislation calling for an immediate drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq. They hope to only have a small security force remaining in Iraq to protect the U.S. Embassy in
Baghdad. This announcement came as a suprise becuase the issue of the War in Iraq was expected to take a backseat to many pressing economic issues in the upcoming elections. The nation's attitude towards our continued occupation of Iraq is continually souring and it seems that we are closer than ever to a possible end to the conflict. It has yet to be seen if these politicians will actually follow through on their promises, if they even get elected. Should the War in Iraq be the primary issue in the upcoming elections, or should we concentrate on other threats to our country, such as economic recessions and social issues? Also, many people point out that the intense controversy over the war causes disunity among Americans, and makes it even harder for us to triumph in Iraq. Is it wrong for these candidates to so openly oppose the actions of this nation, or are they right in what they are doing?