I just finished reading through an article in the New York Times about the sudden backlash that Virginia Tech is experiencing over the mass shooting that occured earlier this year, and I find myself (once again) wondering why people feel the need to point the finger when things like this happen.  Virginia Tech is a subject that makes me feel particularly vulnerable, mostly because it makes me wonder how safe I really am when I walk into a lecture hall on campus.  Despite this vulnerability, I don’t see how anyone can justify blaming the univeristy for what occurred there back in April.  You have to realize that it is extremely difficult to completely secure even a small area, let alone an entire open campus.  If people can still sneak bombs and weapons onto an airplane even with all the tax dollars pouring into airport security, I think it is safe to say that just about any student could bring a weapon to class without anyone knowing.  As for the warning signs that Cho (the VT shooter) displayed, perhaps the university could have picked up on the red flags.  The sad thing in all of this is that the university DID pick up on the disturbing signals that Cho was putting out, but were unable to do anything by law.  The beauty (or ugliness) of America is that you are free to do as you wish, including seeking mental help, couseling, or medication.  The university is not able to just force someone to see a doctor or take medication.  That would be a breach of civil liberties.  The list of people we can blame for what Cho did is endless.  His parents, the school system, the government, past doctors, his teasing classmates, and just about anyone who ever had any contact with him.  Really though, the only person that commonsense tells me we can blame is Cho himself.  He may have been mentally ill, but he was certainly in his right mind, certainly acted with intent, certainly knew what he was doing was wrong, and certainly meant to kill as many people as he could that day.  It just doesn’t serve any purpose to criticze Virginia Tech for failing on an impossible task.  Unless you are going to create an FBI-like task force to keep tabs on every student on every campus in America, we will never be able to prevent this kind of massacre from happening again.

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It is painfully obvious that Americans are looking for a change in leadership.  Whether you vote Democrat or Republican, chances are you have found yourself anxiously awaiting the next election.  I admit that I am excited to see how this election turns out, but at the same time I am extremely concerned.  I feel that the war in Iraq has strongly hindered our ability to defend ourselves in the future.  The reason I say this is because the current sentiment in our nation is extremely anti-war.  I think that the American public would throw a fit if we were to enter into another conflict.  Ironically enough, Iran and North Korea have revealed themselves to be much more of a threat to our security than Iraq or Afghanistan ever were.  Both countries are actively developing nuclear capabilities and North Korea will eventually achieve missiles that could deliver a payload to the mainland US.  Iran is openly aggressive, and I get a bad feeling in my gut when I listen to Ahmadinejad speak. 

The aspect that scares me most is that I believe our next president, regardless of party, will not enter into a conflict even if one is needed.  I feel that whoever our president is will not be willing to wage an unpopular war.  The international community would certainly condemn us if we were to engage in that kind of undertaking.  Basically, it seems that we have no options of dealing with these huge threats.  Diplomacy will never work with these two countries.  Apparently, we are left to watch and wait as the drama unfolds. 

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There are certain boundaries that are not meant to be crossed in life.  We all recognize them without giving them a second glance, strictly because our common sense, ethics, morals, and sense of right and wrong alert us to the fact that these acts are just plain wrong.  Many times these boundaries are crossed accidently, such as racist joke or violent threat.  Just as often, these boundaries are crossed on a personal level, affecting very few people.  However, sometimes boundaries are crossed at a level and magnitude that affects our society as a whole.  Not only does an act like this hurt many, but it rocks the very stability of our nation. 

There are few who have the power to cross a boundary that could have such a devastating impact.  Essentially, the act is limited only to the leaders of nations around the world.  Unfortunately, from my perspective, these boundaries are stepped over too often for the world’s own good.  Recently, our president stepped over a boundary that I believe threatens the very foundation of our nation. 

We have all heard of Scooter Libby.  The man lied under oath about the source of the Valerie Plume leak.  He was sentenced to prison after being convicted of perjury.  Due to a pardon that came directly from President Bush, he will never spend a day in a cell.  While a presidential pardon can potentially clear someone who needed to protect a secret that threatened national security, they are generally an abuse of power.  If you think about the entire concept of a persidential pardon, you start to see just how flawed it truly is.  We have a justice system that convicts based upon the judgement of our peers.  These peers represent our society as a whole, albeit figuratively.  This system was laid out under the constitution and is an integral part of our nation as both a social tool and a governmental tool.  However, a presidential pardon circumvents the decision made by our peers.  In other words, a presidential pardon circumvents the decision made by our society.  This pardon allows the president to place himself above the laws of this country, above the justice system laid out in our constitution.  In effect, our president becomes the law.  While Scooter Libby is a trivial matter, it serves to remind us of the power that our leader has, and just how that power might be used.  There are boundaries that should not be overstepped, and President Bush crossed the line when he cleared Libby of a crime he clearly committed.  Sadly, speculation and commonsense tell us that lied to protect the very men who pardoned him.  It’s easy to protect yourself when you face no consequences from the law. 

The sad thing about the Libby incident is the lack of public outrage.  It is almost as if society expected this course of action from Bush, and when it became reality, it was no surprise at all. 

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It’s funny how sometimes we think grudges are dead because they haven’t surfaced for a few years, or even decades.  Throughout my education, we had always been taught about the Cold War and how it was laid to rest with the break up of the USSR.  Despite calm and peace of the last 15 years, it seems to me as though we still involved in the Cold War. 

Recent events have put America and Russia at each others throat again, and having two presidents with aggressive tendencies certainly isn’t helping.  Putin has been an overbearing and unwavering threat to us since his election to office, whether you look at his politics or his handling of the Chechen rebels. However, most recently we seem to be the aggressor.  Putin threatened to aim missiles at Europe yesterday in response to the US plan to build a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.  While the response is a VERY threatening one in a day and age where one missile can wipe out a large chunk of England, maybe it is justified.  While this plan of ours entails building missile defense systems, do you know what these missile defense systems are?  Missiles.  We fights missiles with missiles.  The missile “defense” system is really just a series of silos, which could potentially be used to hit Russia very easily with nuclear missiles in the future.  It is obvious that the best defense for missiles is intimidation, and it seems that the US has found an intimidation scheme. 

The funny thing is that this missile defense system is obviously intended for Russia.  Missiles from other nuclear superpowers would never cross over the area that we building these.  I was under the impression that we were trying to form a closer diplomatic relationship with Russia, but here we are provoking them, seemingly out of fear.  What’s next?  A race to mars?

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Early this morning, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was released from prison after an 8 year term.  I am pretty sure we all remember just who Dr. Kevorkian was, so I’ll spare the background information for now.  Kevorkian was charged with 2nd degree murder in after he helped numerous terminally ill patients to commit suicide.  Given the moniker “Dr. Death”, most Americans thought his crimes were terrible at the time he was sentenced.  Since then, we have seen a great deal of cases that are beginning to swing public opinion in the other direction.  With events like the Terri Schiavo fiasco and the legalization of doctor assisted suicides in Death With Dignity act that was passed in Oregon, our public is more willing than ever to accept assisted suicide out of mercy and with the patient’s permission. 

The interesting thing about Kevorkians release is that people still look down upon him.  While I don’t necessarily agree with Kevorkian’s actions, or the full premise of assisted suicide, I think that Americans are being too harsh on him.  Even this morning, I saw several papers refer to him as Dr. Death (my title is further this point).  It is as though we have branded this man as being the devil incarnate, even as most Americans now agree with what he was doing back then.  It seems to me as though this man is the victim of a great deal of hypocritical malice, mostly generated by the media.  Doctors are now practicing his exact methods in Oregon, yet we don’t recognize him as an important pioneer.  I don’t even fully agree with assisted suicide, but I do regard him as the person who brought this important issue to the forefront of political, social, and ethical discussion.

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With the new minimum wage increase almost guaranteed to pass, there are many people in America who feel as though this a victory for everyone.  Liberals, especially, believe that this is a great change.  The problem is that minimum wage increases hurt more people than they help.  In fact, only 4% of America’s workers are even affected by this increase, according to this article at Yahoo News.  So where is the victory?  Well, for one thing, this pay raise will help some of America’s lowest paid employees pay for their groceries, which is definitely a good thing.  Less people on welfare benefits us all, especially when tax time comes around. 

Unfortunately, the cost is high.  A minimum wage increase will also increase the prices of some goods and services, specifically those that are produced and performed by these low paid workers.  Since the owners lose profits when they pay employees more, they will compensate.  It is simple economics.  This forces all of us to pay a higher price.  By far the dumbest thing I have ever heard is this statement by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), “This is a great day for America’s middle class.  America’s workers have been waiting for a raise for too long.”   First of all, did he not realize the above figure of the 4% of workers that are currently making below the new $7.25 minimum wage?  Second of all, how does that help the middle class?  Are America’s lowest paid workers members of the middle class?   Somehow, I can’t see how helping the poorest members of work force benfits the middle class.  In fact, most middle class citizens are entrepreneurs who own or run their own business.  These are often the businesses that EMPLOY these low paid workers that are affected by the raise.  Technically, you are taking money from the middle class, not creating a “great day” for them. 

Even more ridiculous is the fact that most of the lowest paid workers are illegal aliens that have crossed the Mexican border.  These workers are not factored into the pay statistics.  In fact, this won’t help them because they can’t report the illegally low wages because they themselves are illegal.  So really, how is this minimum wage increase a true accomplishment.  Sadly, most of the people making below $7.25 are college students like me, who are just working part time jobs to spend the money on weekends.  Sometimes people don’t think things through before they react to an issue.

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With the prices of gas skyrocketing this summer, there are new plans being formulated to help alleviate some of the enormous price jump.  One such plan comes in the form of a National Payment Card.  Every time people use their credit cards to fill up their gas tanks, the credit card companies take a percentage of the transaction from the gas station.  When gas prices start to rise, so do the amount of purchases made with credit cards, mainly because people don’t have the available cash in their pockets to pay the higher bill.  To make matters worse, the credit card companies have increased their transaction fee by 22% lately.  This spike in the transaction fee causes the gas stations to up their prices as well.  A normal transaction today would generally cost in the range of 65 to 85 cents per customer coming out of the gas station’s revenue.  Since this is costing the gas stations more, it is costing us more. 

In order to help drive gas prices down a little bit, a new organization has formed called the National Payment Card.  The National Payment Card organization can take just about any card with a bar code strip and turn it into a debit card for your gas.  This means that you could potentially use your license, Blockbuster card, grocery store rewards card, or almost anything else to pay for gas.  The reason that this would help reduce gas prices is because the NPC operates through the Automated Clearing House Network, which is significantly cheaper than those used by Mastercard and Visa.  In fact, this network would only require gas stations to pay a flat 15 cent rate on all purchases.  This is a decrease of 50 to 70 cents.  The only problem with the NPC plan is that it requires each gas station to begin to use the system individually.  Whether this catches on quickly or at all has yet to be seen.  In order for the plan to go forward, it seems that a major chain of gas stations would have to switch its system.  This doesn’t seem all that likely to me since the cost of switching to this system would probably cost the chain more than if they were to stay with the current system. 

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