So this coming year 2010, there’s a lot of new video games that are coming out. There are a couple that I’m dying to get my hands on. Madden ‘11 for sure, which comes out this month (August). The new things that they added to this game is sure to make it a lot of fun. There’s also certain cuts you can make with certain players while holding the sprint button where others you can’t do that with. Like say with Adrian Peterson you can make a quick cut while holding the sprint button and I like that. Another game is F.E.A.R. 3. This game looks amazing. The I watched a gameplay video on youtube and it looks more freaky than the last one. Looks like they also added new weapons and the storyline, well, that I’m not sure of yet. I know that Fettel comes back and he seems to be invincible since he’s dead and all. I love first person shooters and this game is a must for me, especially since I own the first two. I’m also getting Call of Duty: Black Ops. This game looks like it’s going to blow my mind as well as a lot of other peoples. The graphics are insane, from what I understand, the storyline is also mind blowing. Flying helicopters and shooting rockets at bases, bridges, oil lines. The whole thing looks like it’s going to be something totally awesome. If you have any feedback about any other games I might be interested in, please let me know!
-Chele
There’s a group out right now, I don’t know how long they’ve been out, but I’ve been listening to their music as of late. It’s 3Oh!3. They are hilarious. When I first heard them, maybe three months ago, I wasn’t all that into it but I started listening to them again yesterday and oh man, some of their songs blew my mind. These are two VERY talented guys that rap (mainly). They’re both white and nerdy (ha). Any how, they do a could songs that you may know (or not know) their biggest song is STARSTRUKK with Katy Perry and their other song Don’t Trust Me is another one of the big ones. If you give them a listen on youtube, I think you’ll be pleased.
I’m sure that some of you have heard of the group Hollywood Undead but there may have been quite a bit of you who have not. This group is amazing. They wear masks but take them off frequently during shows. They’re R&R but I would say more rap than rock. I’ve fallen in love with this group; not only their music but the musicians themselves. They’re all pretty attractive guys and they all have different personalities. The group is as follows: J3T, Tha Producer, Charlie Scene, J Dog, Funny Man and Da Kurlzz. These guys are amazing and I’m not a big fan of rap at all. They’re all MCs and I believe that some of them play instruments. Also there’s not a group leader unless you want to call Charlie Scene the group leader, which I wouldn’t. HU is from Los Angeles and they sing about their city in almost all their songs. I believe I’m going to be going to the show in Allentown coming up this month (April) and I hope to enjoy it. Along with HU I’ll also be attending quite a few other concerts/shows such as: NIN w/Jane’s Addiction, Dane Cook, Fall Out Boy w/numerous other bands and Dave Matthews Band. I believe there’s one more but I can’t quite remember who it is at this time. If you are one of the few who have yet to hear Hollywood Undead (HU) then please check out their website and check them out at www.hollywoodundead.com and enjoy!!
Politics. Politics. Politics. No matter where I go that’s all I’m hearing. I turn on the television and there it is. Radio? Right there too. It’s starting to drive me insane, so I’ve decided to take my frustrations out on the candidates. There are so many lies that politicians tell and I believe that the candidates running are no different. Obviously at this point we don’t know what the lies are but soon they’re come out when one of the candidates is elected to office. Now, I’m sure McCain will stay true to his word and keep the troops in Iraq. I’m sure that Obama and Hillary would pull out of the war too fast. Those things I believe I can be sure of. Now, I don’t want to repeat the things from my last post so I’ll try to be original here. I can’t guarantee anything though. All I know is right now I want to be able to go somewhere without having to hear about this election. Maybe some of you are the same way … if so, why the hell are you still reading this? Maybe because it’ll be entertaining, well that my friend, I promise you it will be.
John McCain has some, well, interesting views. Believing abortion should be axed? I think not. I’m not fans of people who kill babies but I don’t think it should be illegal. Who likes back alley abortions anyway? I certainly don’t and I would rather not hear about women dying from coat hangers or doctors going to jail because they’re doing something that they believe is right. Abortion was made legal for a reason and I don’t see why McCain thinks he could just take that all away in one swoop. There are a lot of opinions on abortion so I understand that some of you might be saying “abortions are the work of the devil!” but settle down and let me explain some things here. I don’t believe that abortions should be used as a form of birth control and unfortunately that’s what’s happened. Abortions have become a drunken teenager’s one night stand wet dream. After partying, getting laid and getting knocked up they can go to the doctor and kill the baby because it was a ‘mistake’ and it’ll ‘never happen again’. Well according to a study done in 2002 one half of women had already had a prior abortion. About 21 abortions per 1,000 women and 1 out of every 100 had a prior abortion. Looking at those statistics can be startling. Many think that because of those numbers there’s the reason why abortions should be illegal. Making them illegal isn’t going to stop them from happening though. It’ll just make two bodies instead of one (not in all cases but some). So instead of there just being a dead fetus, there will also be a dead mother (like I said, not in all cases). There are some good things that can come from abortions though.
Stem cell research is a hot subject these days. Just like abortion people have various opinions. There are many who think it’s wrong and even though it could help a lot of sick people get better they just don’t want to let it happen. Let’s say that someone has an abortion, well we could use the stem cells from the fetus to help someone who really needs it but if McCain were elected that would never happen. I guess it’s a moral thing when it comes to this issue. If someone kills their baby, the babies are gone right? There’s no turning back. If we can donate our bodies to science why the hell not be able to do stem cell research? Just because it was an unborn fetus? I’m not trying to be cold here. Not in the least but I think that there are too many lives that could be helped and possibly saved. There are 100 stem cells in an embryo. The cells can be kept indefinitely to be grown in cultures where they can double in 2-3 days. Double!! That sounds like a pretty good statistic to me. Murder is the main word used when it comes to stem cell research but I don’t see how it’s murder. If the fetus is already dead then there is no murder, I don’t care what people say.
“The US has appropriated more $400 billion to date on the disastrous War in Iraq debacle. If just 1% of that amount was set aside for US embryonic stem cell research, most scientists and medical researchers believe that many millions of lives can be restored and saved.” Quoted from http://usliberals.about.com/od/stemcellresearch/i/StemCell1_2.htm
Now 1% isn’t a whole lot when you look at how much is being spent on the war. 1% of $400 billion can save millions of lives yet McCain says no? You can’t please everyone, I understand but this is HUGE. Millions of lives could be saved by just taking a small percentage out of the budget for the war. How scary is that? Can you imagine living with a disease like ALS and having your friends and family watch you deteriorate and the whole time you know that there’s something that could give you a chance yet nothing’s being done? It makes me so angry to know that this is going on.
Besides politics the other thing that you constantly hear about is the war. Every day (so it seems) you hear another news report about troops dying overseas. Was this war really needed? Did we catch those evil-doers? I thought the whole purpose of the war was to catch the terrorists. I don’t recall Iraq being part of the terrorists. I thought that was targeted at Afghanistan. Maybe I’m wrong and there were Iraqi terrorist on 9/11 but I don’t remember hearing about it. So now we’re in Iraq telling a country how to deal with shit. Telling them it’s a democracy now and you better like it. I say pull out. Not right away though. Obviously things needs some time to take its course but we need to pull out. McCain says no, however. He wants to keep those troops in and not only that … HE WANTS TO ADD MORE TROOPS. I think there’s been enough life lost over there by now that there shouldn’t be a need to add anymore troops to the equation but I guess I’m wrong. Since the politicians know best and all. I can go on and on about this all day but I won’t. I just don’t see why there needs to be more senseless deaths. This is a country that we didn’t need to go into in the first place. I’m sure Bush Sr. is happy that his little baby boy caught Saddam but we really didn’t need to be there to start a war.
Global warming is something that everyone should be concerned about. It’s something that could destroy this earth so why hasn’t there been anything done about it? Scientists keep saying that it’s going to get worse if things don’t change. Sure, hybrid cars came out but they cost an arm and leg that most people can’t afford one. It’d be nice to drive a hybrid though. I was reading through McCain’s issue page and stumbled across “Environment” under one of the issues. Now McCain believes we should do something about global warming and cleaning up the air and water but he really doesn’t go into what he plans on doing. Is he going to invest a couple billion dollars to help car owners buy hybrids? That would be nice. Why not give the tax payers a little bit of an incentive to buy one of those expensive cars? I highly doubt that would ever happen. So what does he plan on doing? Who knows? He talks a lot about what needs to be done but not about how he’s going to do it. Sure it’s nice to hear a candidate talk about what he wants to do but it falls a bit short when he fails to tell the public how he plans to take action.
Maybe I’m being too hard on McCain … okay maybe I’m not. It’s just that when I read over his website it really didn’t wow me. It didn’t make me say ‘hey this is a candidate I can believe in’. I’m bias to begin with though. He’s not for gay marriage and let’s face it, I am. He’s not for stem cell research but I am. He wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade and I think he’s insane for even bringing it up. I think it’s great when candidates tell you what they want to do to help America become a better country but it’s even better when they tell you how they’re going to do it. Now McCain may have said how he’s going to change things elsewhere but I’m going off his website so maybe that’s a wrong of me. I honestly don’t think so though. If a candidate can say it in a speech he can write it for EVERYONE to read. So to sum everything up, I think John McCain is an asshole. Period.
It seems like right now what’s on everyone’s mind is this upcoming election. As you all have noticed (I hope), I have yet to write about my views on the whole ordeal. Some of you (probably not) may be wondering why I haven’t commented on it. The truth is, I just don’t know the candidates. A friend of mine turned me on to Ron Paul and while I think he’s an amazing candidate for office, I just don’t see him being able to pull of a win. I hate to say it but he’s not getting the publicity of the other candidates. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to vote on April 22nd due to me having surgery but if I would have voted I would have voted for Ron Paul. He has a lot of good views and seems like someone who would do very well with leading the country. So with that said why am I wondering about the other candidates? Because Hillary, Obama or McCain are more likely to win, that doesn’t mean that I will vote for them just because they have a higher chance of winning.
So now that that’s out of the way why don’t we start talking about the other candidates. I personally know nothing about what they stand for. I know that I can go to their websites and find out what they’re all about but I just haven’t had the mental energy to do it (I will soon, however). Maybe I’ll view their stand points now, since I’m going to be writing about them. Right now, what I know is this; McCain wants nothing more than to keep the troops overseas. Obama wants to pull out right away and Hillary? I’m not quite sure. So as I write this I’m going to take a moment to look over the views of each candidate and tell you what I think is truthful and what’s a lie because let’s be honest, all politicians lie.
We’ll start with Obama.
Reading over some of his views on issues I have seen a few things that seem promising. Whether or not he can do it is what concerns me. He wants to help change the environment which I am all for, I think a change is what we need. We need to cut down on pollution and we need to have clean energy. There are a lot of things that we can do for that and it seems that he has plans for those things.
- He wants to invest $150 over 10 years to help with clean energy. He wants to help with the next generation of biofuels, he wants to push plug-in hybrids, push renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants and begin to establish a transition into a new digital electricity grid.
- He wants to double energy research and development funding.
- He wants to establish a national low carbon fuel standard and plans to establish a national low carbon fuel standard to speed the introduction of low-carbon non-petroleum fuels.
These points were taken directly off Barack Obama’s site and can be found at www.barackobama.com
Barack Obama seems to have some good intentions when it comes to helping our environment but can he do it? Not everyone is going to want to buy a plug-in car. I mean, hell, I would love one if it weren’t for the cost but then again it’s better for the earth. Now … I have a few issues with what Obama is proposing. The main concern is this; Haven’t there been a number of presidents who have said “I’m going to help change the environment and damn it, I’m going to make sure it’s one of my top priorities.” And alas what have we seen done? Nothing, that’s right, nothing. What good are words that are said in vain? I want a candidate who’s going to follow through with what he’s preaching. Speaking of preaching there’s a reverend who’s been preaching about Obama and singing his praises yet the reverend is a racist (basically). It’s one thing to say that the government invented AIDS but another thing entirely to say that they created it to kill of the blacks. Now, obviously Obama is denouncing what his reverend of 20 years is saying (who also baptized his children and married him). Hm, he’s been his reverend for 20 years and all of a sudden he’s realizing that he’s a little bit batty? I think there just might be something wrong with that. So as far as I’m concerned Barack Obama is out for me but in the chance that he does get elected, I hope he follows through with his words about the environment. If not, then there’s another liar in the political world.
Hillary Clinton is next on the list, I thought I would go with her next so the democrats would be together. So now we have a woman running for president. A lot of people don’t like the fact that a woman could be in office but if you look back there’s almost always been a woman in office but it’s usually been behind her husband. Who knows if a wife of a president has ever helped make some decisions? Maybe Laura Bush helped G.W. out when he was in some of those tight spots. Maybe she called the shots. Regardless there’s now a woman in the running for the presidency and I say good for her. I think there’s no problem with a woman being the president of the United States of America. Someone who’s smart and wants to look out for their country (not saying that the other candidates don’t want to do that, of course). So the question is, does Hillary have the female backing? According to a news story (I don’t have the name of those who wrote it) 46% of women are in favor of Hillary Clinton while 33% are not in her favor. So are they in her favor because she’s a woman or just because of her politics? Obviously there’s no way of knowing that. So let’s get to Hillary’s politics.
Hillary is all about affordable health care, she wants to lower cost and improve the quality. She wants to make sure that the insurance companies won’t be able to discriminate against those who have pre-existing conditions.
The following quote was taken directly from www.hillaryclinton.com
“Unlike the current health system where insurance premiums send people into bankruptcy, the plan provides tax credits for working families to help them cover their costs. The tax credits will ensure that working families never have to pay more than a limited percentage of their income for health care.”
Hillary also wants to improve America’s schools and one of the things she wants to do is provide pre-kindergarten for all four-year-olds. I think this idea sounds great and if it can work I think it’ll be great for children to have that extra education where as of now there are children who don’t get that extra care.
- For K-12 she wants to recruit more teachers and principals in rural and urban areas.
- Cut the minority drop-out rate in half.
- Create “Green Schools” in order to reduce energy costs and eliminate environmental hazards that can hinder children’s development.
- Invest $100 million in a new public/private summer internship program.
- Double the after school program to ensure that 2 million young people have a safe and stimulating place to go between 3 and 6 p.m.
(The bullets above were taken from www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/education)
Hillary also wants to help colleges through investments such as increasing the maximum Pell Grant, investing $500 million to strengthen community colleges and she wants to get rid of red tape in financial aid.
So these two issues seem pretty solid and she seems to really want to help with schools and health care (among other things). Along with Obama there are some things that are bad about Hillary and I will list them here. First off she wants to pull out of the war immediately. While I hate the war, I don’t think its right to just pull out right away, I think it should be done gradually but unfortunately NONE of the candidates want to pull out gradually they either want to pull out immediately or not at all. While Hillary wants to help strengthen our health care system there have been numerous presidents who have wanted to do that and it seems that nothing has ever gotten done when it comes to the health care system. They screw you with their prices and not accepting people with pre-existing conditions, etc. Maybe I’m wrong about that, I just might be but I want someone who’s going to stick by their word.
Now we have John McCain. I’m going to go into just a few things on McCain because I really dislike the guy. So I won’t even list bullets for him. I don’t agree with keeping the troops over seas like he does, as I stated before. I also don’t believe we should overturn Roe vs. Wade. I may not agree with abortion but the last thing we need is for states to stop allowing them. Do we really want more back alley abortions and having women possibly die because we have some right wing politician in office? McCain actually stands for almost everything that I disagree with and I learned this while writing this article. He believes that marriage should be protected. Meaning gay marriage is a no-no and that doesn’t fly with me. The only thing that I agree with him on is adoption. Other than that I think that he’s totally wrong for office and I hope the democrats (or Ron Paul) kick his ass. Now I understand that kids are getting picked up by online predators every day so this is another thing I agree with when it comes to McCain. We need to do more to protect children on the internet. He also wants to protect children from pornography on the internet when it comes to library and school computers. I think this is something that should be done. There’s no reason that a child should be able to get on a school or library computer and be able to view porn.
So there are a few things that McCain believes in that I think are good but there are other things that I just don’t see eye to eye with him on. All candidates want to help with the health care system and education. Which one will actually follow through and help with those things? Who knows? We won’t know until one of those people gets elected and we see if they’ll keep true to their word. When ever it comes to politics it makes me get a little uneasy. I was never very political and I didn’t do much debating but I do believe in standing up for what you believe in. So some of you might be wondering … what do you believe in? I’ll let you know … right now.
I believe that marriage shouldn’t only be kept between a man and a woman. I believe that gays have the right to marry and deal with the same bullshit that straight couples do. Why not let us bitch about our lover won’t take out the trash? or how they hog the remote? or that after ten years of marriage they still leave their toothbrush out in the morning? It’s little things like that that are important to people and they don’t realize it until it’s a) gone or b) they really think about it. So issue number one marriage.
- Marriage – Marriage shouldn’t only be between a man and a woman. Gays should have the same civil liberties as straight couples. Human beings were all created equally. At least that’s what they say. Doesn’t mean people will treat you as an equal.
- The earth – This earth has been around for a long while and it should be kept around even longer. There are so many things killing the earth and we need a change. We need to clean up how things are done, carpool, etc. There are so many things that can be done when it comes to helping protect the earth but for some reason we fall short (even myself). There are a lot of celebrities (and I’m sure regular everyday people) who are going “green”. They’re doing things to help the environment, even if that means changing what kind of light bulb they use or going an even (a few) bigger steps further and using solar panels.
- Our economy – I honestly don’t have much to preach about this but I know something needs to be done. We’re about to go into a recession and there’s nothing that’s being done (though they say that there will be). I don’t know what needs to be done but I know that it involves tax cuts along with some other things. I really hope that things don’t get even worse with our economy. Houses aren’t selling, no one wants to hire, gas is through the roof. We need a change.
- Health care – Everyone should have it. No we’re not Canada where everyone gets free health care but there needs to be something done about our health care system. Prices just to have health care are ridiculously high and there are so many people without it that need it. How can we solve this problem? That’s something I would like to know. So which ever candidate wins, I hope they move forward on figuring out how to solve the health care crisis.
- Education – Our education system is horrible. Our teachers are under paid for the jobs that they do and our students just aren’t learning what they’re supposed to be learning. I guess that’s a bit funny. Our teachers should make money to teach our kids less? Wait a minute. No, I think our teachers should be paid more to better educate children. Our children will be adults one day and instead of adults who are below average when it comes to education they should be above average.
Those things listed above aren’t in any particular order, I just wanted to slam some of them out. So that’s how I feel about things. I forgot to go into what Ron Paul wants to do if elected to office so I’ll write my final piece on (who I think) is the best fit for the position of President of United States of America.
- Lower taxes. Ron Paul wants to lower taxes. “…today, too many politicians and lobbyists are spending America into ruin. We are nine trillion dollars in debt as a nation. Our mounting government debt endangers the financial future of our children and grandchildren. If we don’t cut spending now, higher taxes and economic disaster will be in their future — and yours. In addition, the Federal Reserve, our central bank, fosters runaway debt by increasing the money supply — making each dollar in your pocket worth less. The Fed is a private bank run by unelected officials who are not required to be open or accountable to “we the people.”
- Health care. Ron Paul wants to do the following
a. He wants to make all medical expenses tax deductible.
b. Eliminating federal regulations that discourage small businesses from providing coverage.
c. Making every American eligible for a Health Savings Account (HSA), and removing the requirement that individuals must obtain a high-deductible insurance policy before opening an HSA.
d. Giving doctors the freedom to collectively negotiate with insurance companies and drive down the cost of medical care.
e. Reform licensure requirements so that pharmacists and nurses can perform some basic functions to increase access to care and lower costs.
The above information was taken from www.ronpaul2008.com.
I believe that lowering taxes and our health care are very important and so does Ron Paul. He also believes that when it comes to gay marriage it should be left up to the states to decide rather than the government. Even though I think gay marriage should be legalized as a whole I would deal with states being able to make that law on their own. A government hands off policy is best when dealing with social issues. So why is it that there’s so many people who haven’t heard of Ron Paul? Two words: Media Blackout. He speaks the truth about so many things and it seems that the media just doesn’t want the public to really hear about it.
Which candidate will you chose?
