The Grim Reapers Holiday

As this is an election year and the candidates are all out politicing (this word should be in the dictionary-a verb that means to discuss and argue) about important topics from the war in Iraq to the economy, I want to discuss an issue that is likely be the penultimate topic on Obama and McCain’s agenda, the death penalty.

I think that we should have the death penalty because the goal of arranging ourselves into societies is to keep us safe from external factors such as nature. Since the ultimate goal is to keep individuals safe and there are sure to be conflicting personalities that are brought together when we create societies, there are certain rules that must be followed. One of which is you should not murder your fellow man (man also applies to woman. I don’t want to use a gender neutral term like human because it sounds stupid). When murders occur, the person that committed the crime, if the system works as it should, is segregated from society for a period of time. However, when the murder or murders are horrific, border on sadism or are committed in cold blood a much harsher penalty must be instituted, which is permanent expulsion from earth. The reason why this must occur is not to deter others from committing similar crimes, because as we all know the death penalty does not lower the rate of violent crimes. Additionally the death penalty should not be used to bring vengeance on the criminal, although it may have the effect of giving the victims family closure. The main goal is to give the majority of society the peace of mind of knowing that these violent men are no longer with us, which in turn gives them a sense of safety.

Some critics of this view may say, this viewpoint is wrong morally and that we should just let these criminals stay in jail for the rest of their lives. However, the cost of incarcerating someone for that length of time requires a significant amount of money that could be spent on other more beneficial things, such as inner city schools. Another point that critics will most likely make is that minorities are overrepresented on death row because they do not have the resources to get adequate representation. I would completely agree with them on this point, but I would say, that is a problem with the way the system works as opposed to the actual death penalty itself. Additionally, I would be on the front lines with the critics who argue that inequality exists in the system and I would fight for equal prosecution of all violent criminals, regardless of age, race, and economic class.

What’s the Hurry?

Every time I hear someone say, “I can’t wait to get out of college so I can make money” or “I’m tired of college because of all the school work” I cringe. My face gets all screwed up as if they just told me that one of my close family members died. First off, I don’t know if anyone told them but statistically, most college grads won’t make enough money in their lifetimes to be happy regardless of when they start their careers. Secondly, if you’re worried about your student loans don’t be, because you will most likely be buried in debt for the majority of your life, so get used to it. For these two reasons, I can’t understand the infatuation to hurry into “the real world.” Why would anyone ever want to leave heaven? I’m sure the devil now regrets being kicked out and I sure as hell don’t want to leave. College is the single greatest invention known to mankind, ten times better than sliced bread. I’ll tell you why I never want to go to the real world. To start off, once you leave college, partying five days a week is no longer acceptable behavior. In fact it’s strongly frowned upon and if the people around you find out about your habits you are looked at as if you are a leper. However, in college if you don’t go out at least 3-4 times a week you are ridiculed and made fun of. And lets be serious, it’s so much better to start the weekend on Wednesday as opposed to Friday. Additionally, after college when you go out, it is socially unacceptable to get absolutely blackout drunk. Sure you can do it once in awhile, but if you do it every weekend people start getting worried and asking questions like “is Mike an alcoholic?” or saying “maybe it’s time we had an intervention Bob.” It is no longer a badge of honor to be the drunkest guy at the party or to split a handle with your buddy as a pre-game.

Okay, maybe you weren’t a big drinker in college, that aspect may hold no appeal to you. You can’t deny that having four day weekends, every week, is not appealing. If you plan your schedule right, you could be in class for approximately nine hours a week. NINE HOURS!!! That’s absolutely ridiculous. Do you understand how much free time you have to just hang out with friends and do what ever your heart desires? Compare this with being chained to the corporate slave ship working a minimum of 40 hours a week, if you’re lucky, or being called in on Saturday’s because your boss is a DICK. Another massive disadvantage to entering the real world is that your vacation time is significantly cut. You will generally get two weeks which might include sick days. Compare this with the glorious three months that you receive when you are in college and the unlimited personal days (Personal day- any day that you decide not to go to class for whatever personal reason you decide) that you can take whenever the need strikes you. For example, this semester I went to school four days a week and had two classes a day. On one occasion in the spring, I stepped out of my first class which started at 12:30 and went till 2:00. I was on my way to my second class when, I saw all my friends hanging out in the sun. Right there and then I decided to cancel the rest of the day to lay in the sun and bbq. You tell me that isn’t the life. In fact, the next day was also so nice I decided not to go to class. Now, I would like to say that I only did that once, but that would be a lie. So I advise everyone out there that has this convoluted belief that the real world is this amazing place, enjoy college to the fullest extent, take that extra shot, shrug off your homework for weeks at a time and skip that extra class because one day your going to be begging God, Allah and whatever deity that you can conjure up to bring you back to heaven.

Why Hillary Clinton Should drop out!

I know all the arguments as too why Hilary believes that she should stay in the race. They range from this is America everyone has a right to do what they want to the race isn’t over till its over. If you look at this strategically, the longer she stays in the race, the more she hurts her party’s chances of being elected. The reasons why her actions are so detrimental are competition is polarizing, the Democrats need to get ready for the fall and Obama needs the support of all the Democrats.

Competition is an extremely polarizing aspect of life. When mixed with politics, it has the ability to tear parties apart. In this instance, it is causing a rift in the Democratic Party and splitting it into two factions, the Obama camp and the Clinton camp. The longer that this goes on, especially at this point in the race, the more bitter and divided the Democratic voters will become. As, I’m sure that you have heard, many people who have been polled say, “if Hillary is not the nominee, then would vote for McCain.” In order to try and keep these voters voting for the Democrats, Hilary must drop out of the race, pledge her support for Obama and speak to these voters to try and make sure that they do not switch parties. If she continues “all the way to the convention,” as she was quoted saying earlier this week, she is going to turn those who made these comments out of pure emotion and in the spirit of competition into hardliners that will actually damage the Democrats chance of being elected. Secondly, at this point in time, the Democrats have an incredible opportunity to take over the Whitehouse, which would give them control of the government. However, due to the fact that there is not a candidate to rally around, the party remains leaderless, aimless and highly ineffective. If the Democrats lose this fall, it will be just another example of the Democrats inability to rise to the challenge. Lastly, the reason why NOW is the time to step aside is because Obama is going to need all the help he can get. Yes he is charismatic and is drawing record crowds, but in states where elections are won and lost, he is not bringing in the numbers. In order for him to make some sort of headway in these regions, he needs to be there talking to people, giving speeches, kissing babies and most importantly have the entire support of the Democratic Party. For these reasons, it is imperative that Hillary drops out of the race.

I’m sure it will be an incredibly hard decision because, things like ambition and pride get in the way, but at some point she needs to realize that remaining in the race is detrimental to the Democrats cause. She must understand that in order for her party to be in the best position to change the course of this country she must step aside.

The Smiley Face Killer

This is one of the scariest and most ridiculous cases that I think that I have heard about in awhile. For those that have not heard about this, there is a serial killer that targets college students. The way these murders happen or the way it is theorized to happen is that the college kids are drugged to weaken them and then forced into a van and are abducted. Sometimes, they are driven around for awhile before they are killed and dumped into a nearby river. According to the two police officers that are investigating this, there have been about 40 victims in total.

When I heard about this story, I thought that the people being abducted would be tiny helpless college kids. However, as I started seeing the pictures many of these kids were athletes, some as big as 225lbs. I’m just writing this to let people know about it and so that they are careful.