Man killed in deadly terror attack in London street

Now this one was very disturbing. The U.K. government is calling it a terrorist attack, because a man was killed. Two men slashed at, killed, and beheaded a soldier near London in Woolwich. They started saying Allah Akbar. One of the men while brandishing a knife said that he wanted to known so he asked people to take photographs. If there were an emotion or word that could best summarize this article as well as the whole endeavor, I would pick melancholy. This wasn't necessary, there was no point in killing this man, and he didn't deserve to die in this cruel, violent, and vindictive manner. The two men were shot and taken to the hospital. Honestly I can't argue for their survival. This is a result of fanaticism at its best, and no amount of words can make this better. People will use this as a way to express a viewpoint against Muslims with BS media propaganda, and I really hope it doesn't come to that. If it does I hope the people watching have enough common sense to realize the two crazy people who acted were just crazy, and they shouldn't be allowed to carry out violence against another human being ever again. 

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/22/police-respond-serious-incident-woolwich

Europe - GMO's - Prop 37

Owen Paterson is an Environment Secretary in Europe, and he believes that GMO's should be made available in the UK. Frankenstein foods have always had a bad sentiment attached them, but this man believes that farmers could benefit from the biotech. In relation to this article I did some digging and I found something relevant.  Last year in our good old state of California, we had a proposition on the 2012 ballot called prop 37. It would have mandated the labeling of genetically modified organisms or GMO's but lost from a campaign led by Monsanto. They grow genetically modified organisms. If you look at the donations list against the proposition you may be surprised. Monsanto donated over 8 million dollars to the opposition of this proposition. That's not all if you go further down the list you might see some brand names that you recognize. Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, Campbell's, E.I. Dupont, Hershey, and Heinz Foods all donated funds against this proposition. Using basic critical thinking skills and deduction we can assume all of these labels use GMO's in their food, and why wouldn't they? It is a cheaper alternative to regular crops, and they grow faster. But we still don't know the full effects of what they do on the human body, but that hasn't the stopped the EU from banning it. Until now. These companies may have won on prop 37, but the idea that we have a right to know what we are putting in our bodies still stands. At what point do we let corporations dictate our knowledge of food. This rationale is barbaric and I expect more from America.

Works Cited:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2291334/Time-Europe-let-British-farmers-grow-GM-food-says-environment-minister.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/prop-37-defeated-californ_n_2088402.html

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_37,_Mandatory_Labeling_of_Genetically_Engineered_Food_(2012)

Homemade Alcohol Kills - In Libya

There have been five hundred and fifty one people poisoned by homemade alcohol. Fifty-one of these people have died. This was allowed to take place because alcohol is illegal in Libya. Because of the laws of Islam, these people who choose to partake in what we as Americans can acknowledge as an accepted freedom in western culture, ultimately died. The problems were caused by an amount of methanol in the alcohol. It caused blindness, and several different types of organ failure in some patients. This is a modern day tragedy. It is my personal opinion that religion can do much good in this world. Unfortunately it also has had a dark history, such as the Crusades (in concern with the Catholic Church). I do not simply think we should do away with religion. It has allowed us to (within moderation) control the masses and stop the spread of anarchy. But I do believe we should be able to be righteous human beings, without the forethought that a deity will be pissed off if we get drunk on a Friday night. Religion's repression of humanity's basic wants and needs such as sexuality, societal standards standards of living, and repression of cognitive thinking are not only archaic, they also disillusion ourselves into thinking we can be perfect. We as humans are flawed, and only by accepting this simple fact can we move on.

Works Cited:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/12/c_132228490.htm

Government Politics at its best: Debt Ceiling

Federal Debt Ceiling (National Debt)

I did some research on this topic, so I decided to pick a current event related to it. The debt ceiling is basically something created by Congress to keep the U.S. from amassing too much debt. Now the president does not have full control of the government’s ability to spend taxes. The president collects all the taxes and submits them to Congress. Congress makes a budget in concern with what it wants built and puts a cap on how much the president can borrow. But unfortunately for the president, Congress most of the time dictates that he must spend more then the taxes pay for. So congress has the scapegoat to blame the President for not being frugal when it is Congress’s fault that he has to borrow so close to the debt ceiling. Now the reason the debt ceiling is such a big deal is that if we hit that amount of U.S. debt, we could have a government shutdown. People working for the government would not get income or be forced to take days off. Any companies hired by the government would not get income for work they had done and it would cause a loss of faith in the U.S. dollar. In my next blog post I think I will cover the Sequester.

 Article: http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/national_debt_us/index.html

Sources: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/04/12/135314575/the-debt-ceiling-explained

Second Blog Post! News!

US senator says 4,700 killed in drone strikes

My Opinion

So a republican senator named Lindsey Graham says that 4,700 people have been killed in drone strikes. This is a large number of people, but we have been in war for over 10 years.

Personally I believe we shouldn't be over in the Middle East. I still believe that we are in their country to get our hands on their oil. The fact that people are upset about the drones does not make me skeptical in the slightest as to where our current agenda is going. We are going to keep troops deployed in that country until such a time that president Obama and Congress come to an agreement to bring our troops home.

Links:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/02/201322185240615179.html

First Blog Post!...Again!

    EDIT: I originally had a Tumblr, but decided that the best way to deal with this school project would be to go and create a blogger. So here is my first blog post! Again! (it was created on 2/14/13).

Initially we had been told to brainstorm on what we would want our blog to be about. My brainstorming sheet somehow ended up pessimistic and cynical, so I had to start over. I don’t really feel compelled to do a blog about nice pictures, or illegal substances, or poetic social injustices. I certainly do not wish to have a blog graced by moderately annoying “Facebook” sayings on life. I get enough of those already. I will try not to do a blog pertaining to advice macros, or internet memes. Enjoyable as they are, I have found that with working four days a week (and taking three classes making up thirteen credits), there are not enough hours in the day. I am getting off track, so let me get back to my main point. If I am going to be forced to make a blog, I shall make it useful and relevant to my everyday endeavors. I will make this blog about current events, and my thoughts thereof. I will pick a current event topic circulating through the media (any form of media) so long as it can be considered moderately credible. I will try to branch out into global issues. This way I will further increase my knowledge of the outside world, while meeting the criteria of having a blog about “something”. Enjoy.