On the subject of CISPA

This is a response to my classmate, Rachel Robertson, on her blog "The Obama Nation," to her post titled 1984 in 2013:

I agree with you that this is unacceptable.  The monitoring of the internet isn’t only extremely creepy; it’s also a violation of the first amendment and unlawful search and seizure.  I can understand why the government wants CISPA to be in place.  If they had access to all communication sent over the internet, they may be able to stop organized crime before it even happens.  If they can detect crimes before they happen, that would help the nation by stopping pre-meditated crimes.  However, I doubt this is would be all they used it for, and I think they might arrest people who were just joking about what would be considered a crime.  More likely people who disagreed with the government would be prosecuted if CISPA gets passed.  I agree that it sounds very much like 1984.  This does not make me rest easier at night.  It already feels like the government is sometimes prying into our personal business because of Warrantless Wiretapping.  CISPA would only give them more rights to do this.  This should not happen. 

"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."-George Orwell’s 1984  

Thoughts about gun control.

Gun Control: A hot and controversial topic today.

I believe that we should have gun control in moderation.  We don’t want crazy psychopaths running around with guns killing people, but we also can’t take away guns from everybody because the right to bear arms is one of our constitutional rights.  Guns are highly dangerous and potentially deadly weapons, of course there needs to be some kind of restrictions on them. 

The kind of restrictions that need to be placed should be similar to the Texas concealed handgun training.  You would learn how to use a gun safely, and a background check would be run to see if you’re trustworthy of owning one or not.  This will not catch all of the criminals, but hopefully it will reduce accidents because of the training.   It would be similar to how we do not give the right to vote to everybody. 

On the other hand, we also can’t limit ownership too much.  If we prevent guns from being bought at all, people will protest.  That is a violation of the second amendment rights, the Supreme Court should not let it pass, even if it did get past Congress. 

Unfortunately, sometimes you can’t prevent people that you don’t want to have guns from getting guns.  Sometimes, people will even seem just fine, and yet they still end up being psychopaths.  We have no good way of identifying who is a psychopath.  Even if they are, we don’t know if they will kill somebody or not.  The Connecticut school shooting is a good example of a murderer blending in.  Adam Lanza was able to pass normally and then snapped.  He was reported to be “falling deeper into a bizarre mindset” according to this USA Today article (Adam Lanza's mom was alarmed by his gruesome images).  He had been diagnosed with asperger’s syndrome, and recoiled from human touch.  He was diagnosed with not being entirely normal, but was able to function in society.  Unfortunately, something set him off, and he had access to guns.  

This is a response to one of my classmate's posts on their blog:

I disagree with you that the TSA made the wrong decision to start allowing pocket knives on planes.  At a Penn and Teller show that my family went to, they demonstrated a plastic knife that could kill somebody, yet it got past the metal detector.  What is stopping somebody that wants to take control of a plane from getting one of those knives?  If they really wanted to take control of it, why couldn’t they take it without the knife?  Having a pocket knife is not going to increase the chances of taking control of a plane.  Given the cockpit security, if someone is trained to take a plane, they will figure out a way to get past the system.  I highly doubt that there will be an increase of attempts at hijacking a plane once this regulation goes into effect, nor will it increase the chances of attack.  

The need for art education nationwide.

There needs to be more arts studied in schools such as music, drawing, painting, drama, and pottery.  There have been studies published by the USAToday that prove the arts are good for test scores.  The Washington Post published an article about the importance of the arts not just for test scores but for improving student’s life to expand the focus of the students.  Believe it or not, I think that adding art to school could raise the number of children who actually want to learn something and progress through life as intelligent human beings. 

Good grades will improve students' moods because they don’t have to be nervous about their parents giving punishments due to their grades.  Life is a lot better when you aren't feeling stressed out.  The improved mood may create students who pay attention in class and want to learn.  They will be much happier because they will actually be expanding their knowledge. When you do have that stress, anger, or any emotion, art will let you release it in a beautiful way.  

Based on my personal experience with art helping my life, I think that everyone should do art.  Unfortunately some people believe that they can’t because they have no talent for art and can’t start at such a late age.  However, I think that if we start art education in school, fewer people will be deluded later in life because they were taught at a young age they could do art. 

Art education needs to be done at a national level.  This is not just a state issue with Texas, but a national concern.  Art education will encourage children to strive for a broader education.  It will be a glorious day when the majority of the population can think and reason clearly and can converse intelligently without having kneejerk reactions to adverse opinions.  

            I think that this article in The Washington Monthly titled “Race, History, and Obama’ssecond term” written by Paul Glastris does a good job of illustrating the problem of modern day racism.  It points out how those who are of a minority race have to wait longer than white people in voting booths, because minorities live in lower income neighborhoods, and there are fewer places to vote in those precincts. 

            I like how the writer says that he thinks the lower income housing mostly goes to the minorities, not because of the economy, but because they didn’t inherit houses from previous generations.  Many white American families could start accumulating inheritance before minority families.  This is in part due to the minorities still fighting for their rights in the ‘60s and ‘70s.  I think that this is a good embodiment of the problem of modern racism. 

            This article points out how the President, due to his race, has a hard time getting things done.  If he tries to do something about inequality, people will think it’s because he is black, but really it’s just because he wants to fight inequality.  The article explains that since the economy is declining, the president can work to benefit minorities. The argument is that it won’t just benefit the minorities, because the whole country is on a downward spiral. 

            Along with these issues, I think that another challenge that creates racism is that people inherently act differently, yet the white majority is expecting everyone to act the same.  That we are all different and yet we are all united is supposed to be the great thing about this country, but if you expect everyone to act the same, there will be problems.  

This is a good article from the Austin American Statesman about the dangers to the middle class, showing how jobs have become increasingly unimportant.  Because the corporations are no longer focusing on a specific function and becoming conglomerates, they are becoming less and less efficient.  They are paying people to do busywork.  This article is a good encompassment of how the corporation setting is degrading the American economy.  It points out how the liberals and the conservatives do not agree on a way to fix the economy and so nothing will get done.  There were several unintentional consequences to laws that were passed, like the creation of suburbia from the interstate laws.  This created easy housing for the middle class, who were doing the busywork that doesn’t need to be done.  This article says that the U.S. is losing its power in the global economy because we rely so much on corporations.  Some say the rich should give to the middle class, creating more consumers, but it would threaten the amount of investment later.  Others say that a free market is the way to go, but that doesn’t guarantee how wealth is distributed.  The corporations have stopped guaranteeing that people will have job security, because so many jobs are being automated.  A lot of things, we just don’t need a human for anymore, but this also cuts down on the quality of the work.  I think that as long as people have the means to survive, there should be meaningful work for people to make suffecient income.  

This BBC article is worth reading because it demonstrates how much our society is moving forward in regard to Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights. It demonstrates that even the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are realizing that “the times they are a changing.” Given the laws passed in several states the trends seem to show that more and more of the general populace does not care whether or not people are homosexual, so the BSA are voting on allowing gays into the program. Personally, I believe that they should have the same rights as everybody else. If some men prefer males over females does not affect anybody’s lives except their own. I especially approve of the BSA voting on this issue. When I was little, my mom didn’t sign me up for the Boy Scouts because of their views on gays. If it does get passed, I’m sure that it will open it up to a lot of people who would otherwise not have joined it.