Jasper Jones

You might have noticed that I don’t post my political views on this blog. I do have views on politics and the Presidential race and the candidates. But I’m not going to post about them or enter into a discussion with anyone unless it is face to face, one on one, mano a mano.

Thee are other sensitive subjects, too. I won’t go into too many details about my dating life. Just be assured that I do have an active and satisfying social life. I don’t name anyone from my personal life without their advance knowledge and permission.

I won’t discuss abortion or other very personal subjects on the blog. Again, I have my views and if you want to meet me face to face for a discussion or even debate, that’s totally cool with me.

I just felt the need to get that off my chest. I know some kids at school read my blog, and I have family and friends back in Nashville that read it. And since this is the internet, I might even have readers from overseas, the Government, my employer and who knows who else all reading this blog.

So, welcome dear readers, I hope you find my posts about the daily life of a college senior in Southeastern Tenneessee to be totally engrossing and entertaining!

This city’s new mayor ran on a ticket that pretty much was all about the public schools and the horrific dropout rate that this county and several of the neighboring counties are experiencing. For several years it has been widely reported that only about half of the kids entering the 9th grade make it all the way through high school to graduate. Each year from the 9th grade on about 10% of that class drops out. So the goal of our new mayor is to attack that dropout rate and find ways to keep the kids in school for all 12 years.

After about 8 months in office his special task force on education came back with two answers to the problem: pay teachers more money and hire more guidance counselors. OMFG - what a joke. That’s not an answer to the problems in our schools. What idiots!

It’s ‘Flag Day’ and I’ve got my Rebel flag flying high!!!!!!!!

You know what gets me about that flag, what people think it stands for. The only thing it stands for is ‘Southern Heritage’ just like any other flag stands for the state or the country. It really ticks me off for someone to say it stands for ‘Hate’. Hate of what? I never owned any slaves and flew that flag to prove it and I honestly don’t think anyone else flew the Rebel Flag to symbolize they owned slaves.

Besides, it wasn’t the white man that captured the blacks and made them slaves. It was other Africans that captured them and sold them for slaves. I don’t agree with slavery at all but if you ask me, what our country did to the American Indians was far worse. We took their land, their way of life, and worst of all, we broke their spirit in the process.

Sure there were some slave owners that were really terrible to their slaves but think of this; If you bought a new tractor and paid a pretty good price for a good tractor, are you going to go out and beat the tractor with hammers and tear it down? Heck no, you’re going to take care of it so it can work good for you for a long time. Most slave owners treated their slaves the same way.

I know of a black man with a rebel flag on the front of his car and he understands that all it stands for is ‘Southern Heritage’. That’s someone who is a man not looking for an excuse to act this way or that way. He’s got it together and is his own man. I admire him for that.

  In the last month gas has gone to from around $3.55 to $3.75.  Soon this price will be over $4.00. a gallon.  The strange thing about this is that some big oil companies such as Exxon are having their most profitable times ever.  The last three quarters for Exxon have been record earning quarters for them. The problem with this is that if these companies are making so much money, why is gas still so expensive?  The answer is that people will not stop buying gas no matter what the price is raised to.  And better yet, there is a solution to this problem if people are willing to take action.  If everyone in the country were to boycott buying gas for a day, the oil companies would lose billions of dollars.  They would be forced to cut prices considerably.  If everyone did this for two days in a row, gas prices would drop by up to a dollar and fifty cents a gallon. So I encourage everyone to do this boycott.  I am suggesting that on June 1st and 2nd this boycott be put in effect. Lets tell big oil how we feel about their prices.

  It seems that now, with a quarter of the MLB season gone, that the steroid era in baseball is in the back end of it’s run.  As of right now, MLB players are on pace to hit one thousand fewer home runs than in 2005.  This is because the players are scared of getting caught using steroids.  These players should be scared.  Look at what’s happening to Rodger Clemens and Barry Bonds.  Both are being indicted on federal perjury charges.  Bonds alone is being charged with fourteen counts of perjury.  Players see this happening and also what happened with the players that went into the Mitchell Report and they are realizing that it is better not to use steroids.  However, steroids are not the only problem.  HGH or Human Growth Hormone is not yet testable.  It’s not a steroid and is not illegal.  It can be bought at stores such as the Vitamin Shoppe or other stores like them.  However, it is illegal to use for the sole purpose of enhancing performance.  Soon MLB will have a system for testing for HGH but until then it will remain to be a mystery for the players association.  All in all it is evident that the era of performance enhancing drugs is declining, which can only lead to a more fair and fun season of baseball.   It will also show who is a good player and who is a great player based on their natural ability with no help from drugs.  I think it’s a great thing to help teach your young people to stay clean, work hard, and be the best you can be with the abilities you were born with.

  Global warming is effecting the world faster than ever.  In north Alaska, near the arctic circle, there are ponds that are rapidly releasing methane into the atmosphere.  This is causing the planet to warm up. Other things that are effecting global warming is the amount of pollution caused by factories.  Their excess gases going into the air are warming the planet as well.  This effects a lot in the planets ecosystem.  For instance, the glaciers of the Alaskan mountains are melting.  This melting is raising the water levels by massive amount.  The oceanic currents are shifting.  This causes the waters to shift, raising and lowering tides.  Global warming has effects that can change the earth forever.  We can slow this warming by stopping pollution.  But what do we do able these methane geysers?  That is a question that we are still trying to figure out.

   The American economy is not doing so hot right now.  Economist will declare the country to be in a recession, probably sometime in the next month.  This means that gas prices (already approaching $4) will be going up. It also means that the president will be instituting fiscal or monetary policy to try to drive the country from its recession.  To sum things up, if the president employs fiscal policy, one of two things will happen or possibly both.  Either government spending will be increased and and taxes will be decreased, taxes will be increased and government spending will be decreased, or a combination of the two.  If the president decides to use monetary policy to offset the recession, he will be raising or lowering the FFR (federal funds rate).  Other things that happen in a recession include the value of the dollar sinks, trade slows, and unemployment goes up.  However, things in the economy are not going to stay this way forever. An average recession only lasts about 11 months and the period of low prosperity lasts up to 36 months. So the economy will bounce back.

To keep progress moving forward, sacrifices must be made.  These means that new cities are going up and forests and beautiful landscapes are being torn down.  I believe in progress, but is it worth destroying nature?  Not just some nature, all of it.  Trees clean our earth by soaking up carbon dioxide and producing air.  It has been said that since all these trees are being destroyed, more carbon dioxide is in the air and it is increasing global warming.  There are some companies that are doing their part to help change this. Esurance issues all of their insurance policies online.  This saves some hundreds of trees every year.  There should be more that to follow this example. It is not a hard change to make for any business. It could save forests all over the planet, and also help save the Earth.

  In this day, everything is done by computers. There is not one single business in the United States that can run without one.  But is it safe for someone to put everything that the business does in one computer server?   With advanced technology there is a need for some people to know more about computers. Those people are divided into two groups.  The first being computer technicians, the people that fix problems with computers and set up system for schools to use.  The second group is more commonly known as hackers. These hackers can get anything out of a computer they want, making it very unsafe for business to keep all of their information in their computers.  Businesses now have to keep both computer documents and printed documents in the case of a hacker.  The government has billions invested in keeping their computer hacker proof, but what about the rest of the country?  The use of wireless Internet only makes it easier for these hackers to access our computers as well as businesses.  So the question comes to mind, how do we stop it?  Well, the government has ways of tracking these hackers to an extent, but there is no sure way to get them all or to stop them all.

   Man, I don’t have the money to go anywhere really cool for spring break and my parents won’t pay for it so I guess I’ll stick around here, maybe find a buddy that’s stuck here too and find something to do.  Living where we do, I’m sure something will come up.  I know, I bet James is stuck here too so we’ll just go out cruising for some girls that are stuck here too.  These darn gas prices are messing everything up.  Airline tickets have gone up too to pay for their fuel.  It really sucks!!!  I wish the oil company executives had this crap ’stuck where the sun don’t shine’ because I don’t believe for one minute gas has to be this high and keep going higher.  There’s some greedy Bas—ds in those companies.  You can fill in the blanks!!!!