Jail for Facebook

Did you know there was a time when the California legislature was considering making it illegal for teachers to be facebook friends with their students? Of course, this very action (along with emailing a teacher) is illegal in Missouri. The idea of teachers and students interacting about something other than school (GASP) is still terrifying parents. One teacher quit his job in order to be with a student he loved. She loved him. The relationship was completely legal and consensual, but the mother wanted the teacher arrested anyways. Of course, there is the issue of "dude, you have a daughter who's at the same high school as your girlfriend," but that shouldn't be a legal issue. Yet it continues to be one, despite the myriad of other issues the California state legislature SHOULD be dealing with. There's also the issue that these issues are based on the idea that teachers are pedophiles-in-hiding. Simply not true; if you look at a teacher's job, they work hard for little money. They enjoy helping their students. And now, after Missouri does this, California goes back to considering this law. There is no logical reason to do this. It's not "protecting children," if they are of legal age. What that is suddenly doing is taking away rights, and on top of that, it is stopping students and teachers from having a friendship, a simple friendship, because of the fear that teachers will brainwash all their students, forcing them into relationships. Now, texting a student, or messaging them on facebook, WOULD BE A FELONY. Let that sink in for a minute. Of course, with that done, why not ban teacher-student eye contact while walking in the halls? That could lead to something bad too! There is absolutely no reason why electronic contact should be any different than contact made in-person. The logic is, as it often is with the government, noticeably missing.

Fox News Withdrawl

According to a recent study by Fairleigh Dickinson University, a follow-up to this previous study, people who watch absolutely no news tend to know more about current events than people who watch Fox News. Those who watch NPR know more. 

     On average, respondents got correct 1.8 of the international questions and 1.6 of the domestic 

     questions. (I know, I know.)

     People who mainly listened to NPR did somewhat better: an average of 1.92 correct on the domestic 
     section. 
     People who watched no news at all averaged 1.22 domestic questions right. 
     And people who watched only Fox? 1.04                                          (The Daily Beast)
Now, the number of questions asked was 5 on domestic issues, 4 on foreign ones. So on average, people would fail a test on these issues. Of course, those who read sources like The New York Times were generally more knowledgable than those who did not follow the news. And Jon Stewart also increased knowledge of domestic affairs. Should you wish to take the tests yourself, they are contained in the links to the studies above. Only 41% of people new that the Egyptian protestors were successful in getting rid of Mubarak. Only 55% knew that Assad was still in power. So it looks like the liberal indoctrination publications and news outlets contain facts, while Fox News decides to withdraw those facts. Of course, it appears that neither side is doing a very good job educating people. Just don't ask a Fox News viewer about it.

Someone Will Fix It

It appears that the peoples of Greece want their leaders to use magic wands to get rid of extensive problems in Greece. According to NPR, "Most Greeks want to keep the euro as their currency. Most also want to cancel the eurozone-imposed austerity measures that come with the billions in international bailout loans keeping the country solvent." It is commonly believed in Greece that the Greek people are sacrificing much while Europe sacrifices little. Of course, Greece is the nation that had a retirement age in the 50s; there is much that needs to be "sacrificed" there, and elsewhere. There appears to be a mentality of "someone will fix it eventually, without any spending cuts." Yet despite Greece threatening to leave the Euro for the Drachma (which could cost up to a trillion dollars), and despite Greece's continued problems (like the common belief that austerity measures are an attack on Greece by greedy capitalists; that sounds eerily like Soviet Russia), other European leaders want to keep Greece on the Euro, despite the tiny size of Greece's economy in relation to the total Eurozone economy. The effects of Greece leaving the Euro, according to major banks, would most likely be horrendous. Greece's economy could experience something similar to America in the Great Depression; of course, that would spread much less than America's downturn. Unemployment in, and around, Greece would rise, potentially to the highest levels seen in fifty years. And the use of the Drachma would in itself cause huge problems, given how weakly it would be valued; money may have very little value in Greece for an extended period of time. And due to fears over what the government will or will not do, about a billion dollars a day are being withdrawn from Greek banks, in a sort of slow bank run (some call it a bank jog). It appears that the future of Greece is going to involve some major problems.

Rights? Nah

If you haven't already heard about this, the people of North Carolina have passed a Constitutional Amendment saying this: "Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State." Justice Scalia would agreed, given that he stated that women and gays do not necessarily have rights; rather, they are to be given rights, or be denied rights, by the legislature. Of course, there is no reason why gay people are denied the right to marry—well, no reason except the great and loving religious peoples of America (notice the sarcasm?). But if corporations are people, then this amendment discriminates against them too!


The same people who preach "small government" also preach regulation of the bedroom, regulation of the vagina (you know, the whole movement against abortions), and regulation of who you love. Don't you love hypocrisy?

China's (Temporarily) Slowing Economy

As opposed to the growth rates of over 8% that people have come to expect from China, a growth rate of between 7.5% and 8% is being projected for this coming quarter in China. Even the Chinese government is making 7.5% growth in GDP its official target. The Chinese leadership is not quite sure what is causing the slowdown in growth, but Chinese officials are moving to remedy the situation, as to allow 8% GDP growth for the year. Whether or not these measures will work remains to be seen, though there is a good chance that they will work to an extent. These measures include lowering the tax rate — a year after China had its largest tax intake ever — and easing regulations on credit, by lowering the amount of money that banks must have in reserve; this is designed to free up more credit for loans. The government may also be investing in infrastructure, in order to stimulate the economy. Of course, even with a slowing on growth, analysts and the Chinese government expect growth rates to once again rise after this quarter.

Of course, if a Western nation had a GDP growth rate equal to China's "slow" growth rate, it would be bigger news than China's slowing growth, and for good reason. Western growth tends to hover around 2% to 4%.

My Compatibility with Various Republicans

Here are the percent of issues on which I agree with various Republicans, according to Americans Elect (good website, you should check it out).

Conservative "Thought"

If you've ever heard conservatives talk, or seen their political writing, you hopefully know that they have lost connection with reality, and that instead of using facts, they pull stuff out of their—sorry, they "speak from their hearts." Take a look at this (click on it to go the website)

For starters, TARP debt comes from Bush's bailout of the banks; it's completely unrelated to GM. On top of that, it appears that Mr. Steve Breen does not understand how "loans" work. They involve paying the money back over a period of time. I'm sorry that that period of time isn't over yet. If Republicans actually had an issue with bailouts, you'd see them whining about Bush's bailout. But they don't do that, so quite obviously, they don't really care about bailouts; their only goal is to make Democrats and Obama look bad.

Outgrown

America is supposed to a country of economic growth and opportunity, yet the "developed world" is now being outgrown by the developing nations. There are many things you can blame: lack of political efficiency, economic crises and trouble recovering, distribution of natural resources/oil, the ownership of said natural resources, oppressive but effective regimes in the developing world, industrialization constantly occurring in the developing nations, et cetera. But the bottom line is this: the economies of the East are out-growing the economies of the West. A list of the top economies in 2050 released by HSBC shows that America, Germany, England, France, and Canada will be 5 of the 10 biggest economies in the world; however, the other five (aside from Japan) are considered "developing nations." 12-14 of the top 20 are "developing nations" (depending on who you consider "developing.") While America, Canada, and a few select European nations will still have strong economies, the trend is for "developing nations" to become more powerful, "Western" ones less powerful.