Sonia Sotomayor sworn in...

Today Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the 3rd supreme court justice that was a woman in 220 years. The hispanic community especially has a sense of pride in this because she is the first hispanic woman to become a supreme court justice to this day.

Attack of the Internet!

Yesterday Twitter, Facebook, blogger, Livejournal, and (?, am I forgetting anything?) I think that is it, were attacked from a user known to us as "Cyxymu". He disabled twitter and facebook, livejournal, and blogger were mostly unaffected. The user is thought to be from a disputed state between Russia and Georgia.

Hmm...? Sounds interesting enough. But the question is, Why would this user want to try to disable Twitter, Facebook, blogger, and Livejournal? Is it a terrorist attack? Doesn't sound like one to me, if it was this person (or persons) would be trying to disable more direct news sites such as Cnn and Yahoo!, but why?

-jww

Marijuana: An evil drug or a cure to America's debt?

Marijuana, a controversial topic today. Should it be legal or not?

I think it should be, and here is why.

The United States has a huge debt, right now it is just getting bigger. The taxation of marijuana would be a great source of income for the government.

The US-Mexico border drug war. I think this is something that the news ignores, I was going to go to Mexico this summer on the border, but we decided not to go because the TSA (Travel Security Administration) places the border as dangerous as some parts of Iraq, Iran, and Sudan. The legalization of marijuana would improve this situation since much of the war is over this drug alone. It would probably even improve US-Mexican relations.

People are already getting hold of it anyway. I know of people that have it or no where to get it. Anyone who wants to get it hard enough can most likely get a hold of it right now. Why spend billions of tax dollars putting people in jail for using it when they could just tax it?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying for people to go out and smoke it. I am just saying that if the government was to put restrictions on it (have to be 21 years old, can't smoke it in public, etc.) it would not make people more likely to smoke it. Tobacco is a deadly drug as well and while it does not give people as much as a "high" it does cause major health problems such as lung cancer eventually.

D

The Obama Administration

President Barrack Obama: A man that unites and divides.

Politics unite and divide people. This is especially true when talking about opinions on Barrack Obama. Obama is a pretty liberal guy, some of his policies even divide members of his own party. He is demanding that we have a massive healthcare overhaul and completely change the system. The Cash-for-Clunkers program is somewhat controversial and many people disapprove of his policies.

I have really liked Obama from the start, I think of him as a sign of hope in a country that seems increasingly disorganized and all over the place. Maybe part of the reason I really like him is the fact that President Bush was a disaster, and I think most of us can agree on that. I think of him as a new start for a new United States.

Lately, I have been questioning some of his policies. How are we going to pay for a stimulus package? Why is his top priority healthcare when the economy is struggling? How are we going to pay for any of this without raising taxes "at all" on the middle class? It just doesn't make sense, I mean, the money isn't going to come out of nowhere, it doesn't just appear before us. Our country already has a massive debt and it doesn't all seem to go together.

Overall I think he is doing a good job, but I am really starting to worry. If you would have asked me a month ago my opinion on Obama I would be a lot less worried. Anyway, does anyone have opinions about Obama... if you do, please comment.


-jww

Update to Journalist's Release

I decided to update this because it has been in the news a lot in the past 2 days. Some believe that former President Clinton's visit to North Korea was a bad move. In the United States most of us view the visit as a positive thing and shows that the people here care about others. On the other hand, some might view Clinton's visit as saying that if a group or government was to capture an American, they have a shot at getting access to a high-powered politician. The North Korean government is portraying the visit as a diplomatic visit and claiming that Clinton had a message from Obama. They claim that they had a 3 hour talk. The White House denies these claims and states that it was purely a humanitarian trip.

Personally, I would not say that what the N. Korean govt. is saying is true. Although, I would like to believe it was, I don't think that the president was closely involved in this one, but who knows, maybe it was, we will just have to wait and see. What are your opinions, was it a humanitarian mission or a diplomatic trip?

Journalists released, get to come home.

Today Laura Lee and Euna Lee were released from North Korea after supposedly crossing the border illegally from China. Yesterday former Pres. Clinton went to North Korea to talk about their release, he met with N. Korean communist leader Kim Jong Ill II. The journalists were taken from the jail that they were at without any knowledge of being released and were greeted by Bill Clinton.

I believe that this is an improvement of US-North Korean relations and a crucial step towards talk with Pyongyang about stopping their current nuclear program. Who knows? maybe in a few weeks their will be talk. What do you think??

-jww

Global Gas Crisis

The world is extremely dependent on fossil fuel. All types, from coal to gasoline and from natural gas to oil. The world couldn't go on as it does now without fossil fuels. Even if our homes and businesses were powered by renewable energy sources, our cars cannot go on with renewable energies such as wind, solar, geothermal, and nuclear (yes, im including nuclear).

A very small percentage of cars are fully electric, although there are an increasing number of hybrids on the road today. Gas prices are currently low amidst of the economic crisis, but they are sure to go up in the short future if the economy bounces back. If the demand and usage stays high for the next decade to come, we are going to see a real problem, I am talking 9 dollars a gallon. Im just sure you would like to pay that every time you had to fill up.

Healthcare Reform

So, anyone who has been paying attention to the news lately has inevitably heard about healthcare "reform". Government supported healthcare is something that most of the world's developed countries have. I am not very scared of this as many conservatives are, I just think that we will have to work through it and do what we think is right for America's uninsured and many low income people.

-jww

And the Michael Jackson Legacy Goes On

Oh my god, if I have to listen to more Michael Jackson news I think im going to puke. First he is in the news for his death (which was unfortunate, don't get me wrong) but the media kills it all, I saw him on the news in remote Costa Rica, I wasn't able to escape it there. Then it is all a big debate on where to bury him (is he even buried yet???). Now there is that extra money he had put away and his mom wanting to be on the board of people that decide what to do with the money. Woo! if I only had a dollar for everytime I have heard something about him in the last month.

-jww

Hello

Hey, to anyone who has been checking in on this blog (if any). I know it is not a very popular blog at the moment, I am very busy and do not really have time to update it, but if you have any suggestions on what to write about on here then feel free to post them.


Thanks

-jww

Costa Rica

Ok, so yesterday I got back from Costa Rica at 1:00 in the morning. While we were gone the whole week nobody had any idea about the kidnapping of the president of Honduras or Palin resigning as the Governor of Alaska, but we did hear about Michael Jackson the WHOLE time. Anyway, these are a few of the pictures I took while I was down there, nothing spectacular, but a few neat pictures.







.

Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett

June 25 2009- "The King of Pop" Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died. Michael Jackson was best known for his music (not to mention the fact of the legal trouble he has gotten into over the years) and Farrah Fawcett was known for being in Charlie's Angels and an iconic poster of her.

http://tv.yahoo.com/slideshow/446/photos/1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obit_michael_jackson

Here are some yahoo! links:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090624/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090625/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear

Thanks

-jww

Update to "North Korea" original post

So, as you know lately North Korea has been in the news for everything, but this post is to focus on the ships that are supposedly carrying weapons. There is one right now that IS carrying weapons to Myanmar.

Wow, that is just great. You have a country with a crazy leader that is threatening everybody and starving his own people. Not to mention the fact that he has ships sending weapons to other countries.

-jww

Ok, so this is a little bit off subject but I am going on a mission trip with some people from my church to Costa Rica and I'm leaving this Saturday. I'm flying from Charlotte to San Jose and the mission project is in EL Abanico in Sector de Los Angeles, Costa Rica (supposedly). We don't really know a whole lot about what we are doing yet, actually I can't find it on Google Earth. So anyone who knows anything about the area feel free to leave me messages and comments. I will update with some pictures when I get back, cause I am well aware that this blog needs some pictures on it.

Thanks
-jww

North Korea!

Anyone that is connected to anything should know that North Korea is stirring up a little bit of trouble lately. They have nuclear programs, they are threatening nuclear war, starving their own people, kidnapping Americans, and god only knows what else.

I think the world should be on very high alert and watching North Korea very closely at the moment, probably a lot closer than we are. I am not an expert on North Korean military, but I know it has much more manpower than most people realize. That factor alone should put us all on high alert.

All of this couldn't have really come at a worse time. Wait, I take that back (if it happened when Bush was our president it would've been worse). But, with the global recession our president has a lot of things on his plate. I think he is really doing the best he can at the moment.

So share your opinions and feel free to give me tips and suggestions.

Thanks

-jww

Jury Rules Against Minn. Woman

In case you don't know what this was about, today there was a woman that was charged $80,000 for each song she downloaded and shared over Kazaa, there were 24 songs that she was charged for.

Okay, so I have mixed feelings about this. One one side, the woman technically was stealing so I supposed she should be charged and fined. But on the other side, illegal downloading of music is part of most internet users life. The music industry is not set up so we can be all expected to pay $1 or more for each song we download. Millions of Americans are involved with this, so how is it fair for her to be the only one charged. Also, I think what they are fining her is outrageous, I mean 80,000 dollars for each song, CRAZY! If the government is going to fine her that, they should catch everyone else who is illegally downloading and do the same.

So what do you think, feel free to share your opinions!

-jww

First Post

Hi, since this is my first post, I'm going to explain what this blog is.

The title of this blog is slightly misleading, this blog is not about the news- that would be completely unoriginal, I have set up this blog to voice my opinions about what is happening in the world and what my opinions are about what is happening. Also, I would love for everyone to give me feedback on my posts. It helps me see others opinions and helps me decide on my own.

-Thanks