Yeah, another daily update

Meh, I'm bored so why not blog, eh? Let's make it political because I have a lot of stuff that I want to try to organize.

I'll start off with the Supreme Court Eminant Domain Ruling (New London v. United States). This I have mixed feelings about. It's clearly a case that, without delving deeper into it, on the surface looks like the government is able to seize any land at any time for any reason they see fit. Now, very loosely, that is correct. However, before this ruling, local governments were still able to seize any property they wished at any time. Any private property, before you own it, must go through some kind of governmental process before it is approved. A deed, for example, is simply a contract between you and a local government. If we didn't have this (extreme example coming..) you could literally say that your house or your property was henceforth not recognized by the government and therefore secede from the United States. There needs to be some kind of order and this case merely reinforced this principle. Before you sit there and think communism, look at the fact of the matter: This law existed way before this S.C. decision was made and no one had any trouble with it. On the flip side of the coin, however, this decision did allow governments to seize property and turn around and sell it to private enterprises. THIS was the part I didn't like. Now granted, this was also in place, but the ruling still stood as constitutional.

Well while we're on the topic of Supreme Court, let's talk about the Retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor. She was a moderate conservative who was appointed by Ronald Reagan and was often the swing vote in large cases involving women's rights, namely abortion. With O'Connor now out, Bush is free to select anyone to replace her. Of course, he's going to want to pick someone who supports his own policies, and thusly it'll most likely be a hugely conservative Christian. A lot of pro-choice supporters find this to be a large slam as Roe v. Wade will most likely be brought back up again. Though, surprisingly, a recent poll showed that overturning Roe had a very small following in the court, with 6-3 in favor of keeping it. With O'Connor gone, though, it could dwindle down to a 5-4 in keeping it the way it is, though we all know Rhenquist is about to go as well. Still, many cases revisted in the Supreme Court often maintain their rulings as very rarely do they want to challenge laws already in place. Even if Roe is revisited, I don't think we have very much to worry about in regards to it being overturned. HOWEVER, with at least two new C.C.'s on the court, we can be sure to see a lot of church influence in the coming generation. I will not hesitate to speak my voice if something drastic happens due to a conservative controlled presidency, congress, and supreme court. (There were rumors of abolishing the two-term limit of the presidency, and such). Though we all have to remember, the Supreme Court is a "neutral" party and it has the sole responsibility of interpreting the Constitution. It does not make laws and has no power whatsoever, without a case in front of it, to change the way the government operates. There was an article I read about how the court changes you. If you're a justice on it, regardless of your affiliation going in, the influence of the people and the institution itself oftentimes change your mindset. You're there to be a neutral, mediating party and nothing more. That mindset changes you.

Lastly I'd like to talk about the mainstream media. Anymore who can you trust? I recently read a very large post in regards to how the U.S. media is anymore and it astounded me. On one hand you have CNN and its "let's bombard you with way more celebrity gossip than anyone can ever care about." On the other you have Fox News where partisan idiots demand biased coverage that make them feel smart. But you know what? They're not going to change because they're getting exactly what they want: Ratings and money. That's all media outlets are out for nowadays. Why do you think they've been covering this damned Natalie Holoway story for THREE WEEKS NOW? Okay, she's dead. Get over it. But ya know, every newscast now has at least one 10 minute segment on her life and her family and how Aruba is safe and blah blah, go SHOVE IT! There are kidnappings every day and you don't see them reported on the news. You just see a smart, young, beautiful, (rich) girl being plastered on our TV's everywhere! It makes me sick. When people are dying in Iraq (or, I'm sorry, "making progress") and large government decisions are being made, we have this kind of shit.

But I blame people. People don't want in-depth, complex stories, because it makes them feel dumb. A survey was made a while back and it was something like 79% of Americans could not find the country Iraq on a map and the same amount did not know where the "Middle East" was refering to. That disgusts me. How can you be so ignorant and unknowledgable in the face of a war that we're currently fighting? 9/11 occurred, people became suddenly patriotic (rightfully so, I suppose), they streamed to Bush for his guidance and realized that we're at war with terrorists. 1/2 of them could probably not DEFINE terrorists except by saying "Arab" and "Islam." "We're in Iraq fighting terrorists" is enough for most people. But hey, they're sure up on the latest happenings! We all know what Scientology is thanks to Tom Cruise. We all know that there is such a place as Aruba, thanks to Natalie Holoway. And we all know that there really is a legal system in the United States thanks to Michael Jackson. Sigh.

But meh, I guess it explains why Bush's ratings are falling. It's typical, really. People are just flat-out losing attention. Why care about that when "I wanna be a Hilton" is just picking up? Obviously we, as Americans, are very good at prioritizing. Just tonight, with these huge rainstorms passing through. Every local news channel from 4 til 7 were covering BREAKING NEWS of these storms! It's RAIN! But ya know, the world has to stop, and we all have to be told not to drive fast or through water. Though, obviously more people watch this during these "BREAKING NEWS" times than anything else. More people watching = more money. That's what it is, anymore. That's what it is.

Apparently in Europe there are a variety of news channels to pick from. BBC, CNN International, Al Jazeera, and probably local channels as well. They broadcast news. They broadcast what happens in the WORLD. You can argue all you want about the liberal bias or the conservative bias or whateverthefuck bias; American news blows. Once people stop being so incredibly dumb, we'll begin to see the demise of CNN as a tabloid show and of Fox News as the $2 slut of the GOP.

And I know no one reads this, but if someone does, try the US Citizenship Test. It won't prove my point, because people that read blogs are at least semi-competent [ :) ], but know that most US Citizens FAIL this test.