Did you know: 1977

January
*The Commodore PET, the first all-in-one home computer, is demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.
*1/1-Australian State, Queensland, eliminates the inheritance tax.
*1/3-Apple Computer incorporates
*1/6-EMI rops the Sex Pistols from their label.
*1/8-Three bombs explode in Moscow during a 37 minute period. Seven people are killed. An Armenian separtist group is blamed.
*1/17-Gary Gilmore is executed in Utah, by means of firing squad. This is the first execution after the death penalty is reintroduced.
*1/17-49 marines from the USS Trenton and USS Guam die in the waters of Barcelona.
*1/18-Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as being the cause of Legionaires' disease.
*1/19-Gerald Ford, US President, pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (AKA Tokyo Rose) on his final full day in office.
*1/20-Jimmy Carter is sworn into office of President of the United States.
*1/21-Jimmy Carter, US President, pardons Vietnam War draft dodgers.
*1/28-The Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977.

February
*2/4-Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is released.
*2/7-The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24.
*2/7-London's International Times famously proclaims "punk is dead".
*2/15-Space Shuttle Program: First test taxi flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise.

March
*3/10-Rings of Uranus discovered.
*3/27-A collision between KLM and Pan AM Boeing 747s in the Canary Islands kills 583 people. Deadliest accident in aviation history.
*3/28-Marquette University defeats the University of North Carolina in the men's NCAA basketball tournament by a score of 67-59.

April
*4/5-Demonstrations begin in 10 U.S. cities in order to convince President Jimmy Cart to implement the first Federal civil rights law for the disabled without reinstituting the "seperate but equal" doctrine.
*4/7-The Toronto Blue Jays play their first game against the Chicago White Sox.
*4/7-The Seattle Mariners play their first game against the California Angels.
*4/8-The Clash's debut album, The Clash, is released in the UK.
*4/21-Residents of Dover, Massachusetts report sighting of an "eerie monster", later named the Dover Demon.
*4/22-The first use of optical fiber to carry live telephone traffic.
*4/30-Start of the Cambodian-Vietnamese War.
*4/30-Led Zeppelin sets a world record attendance for an indoor solo attraction at the Pontiac Silverdome. 76,229 people attend a concert for the group's 1977 North American tour.

May
*5/23-Scientists report using bacteria in a lab to produce insulin by using gene splicing.
*5/25-Star Wars opens in theaters, later becoming the highest grossing movie for the time.
*5/27-Space Mountain opens at Disneyland, remaining one of the park's most popular attractions.
*5/28-A fire at the The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky kills 165 people.
*5/29-A.J. Foyt becomes the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 4 times.

June
*6/5-The Portland Trail Blazers defeats the Philadelphia 76ers by a score of 109-107 to become the NBA Champions, four games to two.
*6/7-Voters in Miami-Dade County, Florida, overwhelmingly vote to repeal the county's gay rights ordinance after campaigning by Anita Bryant and her anti-gay "Save Our Children" Crusade.
*6/10-The Apple II series computers go on sale.
*6/10-James Earl Ray escapes from the Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee. He's recaptured on June 13.
*6/12-The Supremes perform their last concert togehter in London, England before permanently disbanding.
*6/20-The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states don't have to spend Medicaid money on elective abortions.
*6/25-Roy Sullivan, American, is struck by lightning for the seventh time.
*6/26-Elvis Presley holds his last concert at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
*6/26-Approximately 200,000 people march through the streets of San Francisco, protesting Anita Bryant's anti-gay remarks, as well as the murder of Robert Hillsborough.
*6/26-The "Yorkshire Ripper" murders 16-year-old shop assistant, Jayne MacDonald, in Leeds, England.
*6/30-The Women Marines are disbanded. Women are integrated into the regular Marine Corps.
*6/30-U.S. President Jimmy Carter cancels the B-1 Bomber program, only for the Reagan Administration to bring it back.

July
*7/13-The Ethio-Somali War begins.
*7/13-The NYC blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours. Looting takes place.
*7/19-20-Flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, kills 75 people and causes billions in damage.
*7/21-24-The start of the Libyan-Egyptian War, caused by a Libyan raid on Slalom.
*7/24-Led Zeppelin has it's last American concert in Oakland, California. A brawl starts between Led Zeppelin's crew and the staff of promoter, Bill Graham. Criminal assault charges are filed against several members of Led Zeppelin's group, including drummer John Bonham.
*7/28-The first oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline reaches Valdez, Alaska.

August
*8/3-The Tandy Corporation TRS-80 Model I computer is announced at a press conference.
*8/4-U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation, creating the Department of Energy.
*8/10-David Berkowitz is captured in Yonkers, NY, for the Son of Sam murders.
*8/15-The Wow! signal is received by a radio telescope, named The Big Ear, which is operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project.
*8/16-Elvis Presley dies in his home in Graceland at 42.
*8/17-The Soviet icebreaker, Arkitka, is the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
*8/19-Groucho Marx dies from pneumonia at 86.
*8/20-Voyager 2 spacecraft is launched.

September
*Evangelical pastor Oral Roberts publishes plans to build the 'City of God Hospital' in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The towers are finished in 1981 for $120 Million, equal to $299 Million, as of 2012.
*9/3-The Commodore PET is sold.
*9/5-Voyager 1 is launched.
*9/7-Panama and the United States sign treaties, transferring control of the Panama Canal to Panama at the end of the 20th Century.
*9/8-Interpol issues a resolution against copyright infringement of video tapes and other material, which is still used on DVDs.
*9/10-Hamida Djandoubi is the last person executed with the guillotine in France.
*9/11-Atari releases it's Video Computer System in North America.
*9/23-Steely Dan releases Aja, their 6th studio album. It goes to #3 on the American charts. Over 5 million copies are sold.
*9/29-Billy Joel releases The Stranger, his 5th studio album. It becomes the first of several hit albums with five hit singles. The album goes 10x Platinum in the States.
*9/29-The Food Stamp Act of 1977 is enacted.

October
*10/1-The United States Department of Energy is formed when the Energy Research and Development Administration and Federal Energy Administration are merged.
*10/14-Anita Bryant is pied by four gay rights activists during a press conference, held in Des Moines, Iowa. This eventually causes her political fallout from anti-gay activism.
*10/14-Big Crosby dies Spain after finishing 18 holes.
*10/18-Reggie Jackson hits 3 home runs, allowing the New York Yankees to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
*10/20-Three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a charter plane crash outside Gills burg, Mississippi.
*10/26-The last natural smallpox case is discovered in Merca district in Somalia.
*10/28-Queen releases News of the World.

November
*11/1-2060 Chiron, an asteroid in the outer system known as Centaurs, is discovered.
*11/8-Harvey Milk becomes the first openly gay elected official of any large American city when he becomes San Francisco's City Supervisor.
*11/10-The Bee Gees release the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever.
*11/19-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, meeting Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

December
*12/1-The Pinwheel Network, later renamed Nickelodeon, is launched.
*12/11-The Tampa Bay Buccaneers break a 26 game losing streak by gaining their very first wins, defeating the New Orleans Saints.
*12/16-The movie Saturday Night Fever opens in theaters, launching the careers of John Travolta, as well as the Bee Gees.

1976

Every so often, when I listen to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire", I stop to think about the different things that have happened during my lifetime. For the hell of it, I'm looking some of the information up. The stuff that I find interesting will be posted in a series of articles, starting with the year I was born (1976).

Let's see if any of this is even remotely interesting.

*Leap year

January
*The first commercially developed supercomputer, named the Cray-1, is released.
*1/11-The Philadelphia Flyers-Red Army game ends in a 4-1 victory in favor of the Flyers. The opposing team is HC CSKA Moscow.
*1/18-Super Bowl X: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys 21-17. The game is held in Miami.
*1/19-The Iowa Democratic Caucus is won by Jimmy Carter.
*1/21-First commercial Concorde flight.
*1/27-The IRA explodes 12 bombs in the West End of London.

February
*2/4-The 1976 Winter Olympics begin. It's held in Innsbruck, Austria.
*2/11-Clifford Alexander, Jr. becomes the first black Secretary of the United States Army.

March
*3/4-The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissoled. The British Parliament now has direct rule of Northern Ireland.
*3/26-The Toronto Blue Jays are formed.

April
*4/1-Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak form Apple Computer Company.
*4/1-The U.S. government forms Conrail in order to take control of 13 Class-1 railroads in the Northeast, who had filed for bankruptcy.
*4/5-Tiananment Incidnt
*4/13-The U.S. Treasury reintroduces the two-dollar bill.
*4/23-The Ramones release their first self-titled album.
*4/23-Jethro Tull releases Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!.

May
*5/25-Gerald Ford defeats Ronald Reagan in the Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon primaries.
*5/30-Johnny Rutherford wins the shortest Indy 500 race. It went 102 laps, equal to 255 miles. Rain caused the race to be shortened.

June
*6/4-The Boston Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns 128-126 in triple Overtime in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, held at the Boston Garden.
*6/5-The Teton Dam collapses in Idaho. 11 people die.
*6/17-The NBA and ABA agree on a merger.

July
*7/2-The South Vietnamese Provisional Government is dissolved by North Vietnam, uniting the two countries.
*7/4-American Bicentennial
*7/15-Jimmy Carter is nominated by the DNC in NYC for the Presidency.
*7/17-The Summer Olympics starts in Montreal.
*7/20-Viking 1 successfully lands on Mars.
*7/29-The first "Son of Sam" attack in NYC.
*7/31-NASA releases the Face on Marts photo, which was taken by Viking 1.

August
*8/1-Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic.
*8/1-The Seattle Seahawks play their first game.
*8/5-Big Ben has internal damage. It stops running for over 9 months.
*8/7-Viking 2 enters Mars' orbit.

September
*9/25-U2 is formed by Larry Mullen, Jr.

October
*10/6-President Gerald Ford sumbles during a the 2nd televised debate with Jimmy Carter. Ford claims there isn't Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.
*10/19-The Chimpanzee is placed on the endangered species list.
*10/20-The MV George Prince, a ferry on the Mississippi River, is hit by a ship while crossing to Luling, Louisiana. 78 passengers are killed.

November
*11/2-Jimmy Carter defeats Gerald Ford in the U.S. presidential election.
*11/15-First megamouth shark is discovered near Oahu, Hawaii
*11/24-Caldiran-Muradiye earthquake. 3,840 people killed. Registered 7.3 on the Richter scale.
*11/26-Microsoft is registered with the Secretary of State of New Mexico.

December
*12/3-Bob Marley and his manager are shot in an assassination attempt.
*12/8-The Eagles release "Hotel California".
*12/20-Mayor Richard J. Daley, Chicago, dies.


More to come?

improving on America (part 2)

In a prior article, I started to mention how we, as Americans, need to truly make America great again. Like it or not, but America has gone downhill in so many areas. It's not even funny how we've become a joke to the rest of the world. Most of the points I bring up should be controversial.....at least, I would think they shouldn't be. I hope to mention common sense stuff that any nation would do, with appropriate funding, to make their nation strong and prosperous.

I started off mentioning a few aspects of infrastructure, points that are needed for commerce, travel, and overall well being. I know I didn't finish that thought, so I'd like to add on to it. Stuff like this should does get long winded, so it may take me awhile to finish.

With that said, I'll continue with my next thought. I'll try to keep myself as clear as possible, due to drunkenness. That, and I often allow myself to be distracted.

Rail:
I'm keeping this a separate category from infrastructure for a reason. At one time, railroads were the backbone of the country. If you needed to travel any serious distance, this was one of the few options available. It was rail, ship, by foot, or horse/covered wagon. If you included freight, it was rail or ship.

For most purposes, rail has become obsolete. Most people can travel by car, plane, or ship in a reasonable time and price. This depends on how the time you've got available, as well as other factors. Freight, however, still has only a few options.

If you have a long enough distance and/or enough freight, many businesses find it better to send their goods on a train. Most of you understand the concepts, so I won't try to insult anyone's intelligence. Railroads, like any other business/industry, give favorable rates to others who can do business with them in large volume. Look at any large retailer to understand this concept.

Plus, if most material were shipped overland, it's generally accepted that roads would  be clogged all the time, just with semi-trailers. It's also understood, generally speaking, that trains can ship more then semi-trailers over longer distances with less fuel.

Since trains can handle large items with ease, generally speaking (such as automobiles), it just makes sense to keep our rail system in good shape. While I don't know the condition of our rail system, as a whole, I would think that keeping it maintained would be a priority. After all, a large amount of freight uses the rail system get from community to community.

I live in a city of 4,000+ that was founded by rail. Even now, BNSF has a small hub for freight purposes. It's no powerhouse in the region, by any means, but it still helps for local freight. Imagine a larger community, such as Boston or NYC. Communities like that benefit far more by rail then towns near me.

Speaking of larger communities, there are communities that benefit from things like light raid, subways, etc. Since this is a vital part of transportation, making sure everything can keep running smoothly is a necessity. If it means upgrading equipment, rail lines, hiring more staff, or whatever else should be key. Again, if new equipment is needed, use companies here in America to provide what we need. No excuse to outsource. We, as a nation, should be more then capable of doing the work.

When you get communities like NYC, Boston, San Francisco, and so on, getting around by car is a major pain in the backside, to say the least. I can't imagine having to deal with it on a daily basis. Even having something like bus service helps out. It helps me get around where I live, since I can't afford a car at the moment. Since family can't always be around to help me out, I rely on bus services to help me out when family just can't be there. I'm sure in larger communities, there are people that find it easier to use mass transit.

Regardless of why they use it, you'll need buses, trains/subway cars and engines, so on and so forth. Having new vehicles, when needed, is costly. I've been told that just in this area, buses can easily cost six figures. I don't recall the specific numbers. I just recall it's well into the six figure range. Maintenance of vehicles can't be much better.

Even with financial help on a state level, local government still has to pay a lot of money. I can't begin to imagine what a city like Seattle has to pay.

Having well trained employees can be difficult, as well. Budgeting enough money to get skilled help to work for a local transit system. Making sure workers want to work for the appropriate agencies isn't as easy as people would think. I've often been told that it depends partly on how strict the local agencies are. In many cases, pay and benefits factor in. If people feel they can make better money working for a regional shipping company offers better pay or benefits, they're more likely to work for the private company. Making sure people have incentive to work for the government agency should be considered.

AIRPORTS:
Like it or not, but much of our long distance travel happens with flights. I'm not going to suggest that air travel be owned/controlled by the government. Not by a longshot. All I want is for our airports to be kept updated. For those that are already up-to-date, nothing to worry about. For those that aren't getting proper attention, let's focus on that.

Obvious points to mention will be sufficient runway space for passenger & cargo planes to land. For large metro areas, making sure several planes can come and go during a short period of time. Proper de-icing equipment in the colder regions. Plenty of well trained staff, at all levels of employment. Air traffic control would have high priority, as well as security. With security, I'd like to make sure people can be adequately screened while avoiding problems with long delays or violating anyone's rights and/or dignity.

EDUCATION:
Education, whether it be on a grade school level or if it's higher ed, we need to make some serious improvements. For as long as I can remember, all I ever seem to hear about our education system is that it's failing our kids horribly. Depending on what part of the country you live in, you're probably thinking "no shit, Sherlock. What was your first clue?" You'd be justified for thinking such a thing.

I'm not familiar with current stats, as it's too damned depressing to look at anymore. Things I'm frequently hearing about involves basics, like literacy, math, science, and other core areas. In school districts with large minority populations, these problems are often compounded with violence from gangs, drugs, so on and so forth.

To say there's going to be an easy fix would be a damned joke. Fixing these problems need to be done a local level, mostly since people on the local level have a better idea what the problems are. If it takes giving students things to do after school so they can avoid getting into trouble, then let's make sure the funding is there. Many districts have shortages of good teachers.

There are districts in this area that are putting more technology in the hands of the students, starting at a young age. This would make sense, since technology is going to be vital for their success.

Other areas of concern should be helping students who come from poor families. If a student has to worry about having old, worn out clothes that aren't keeping them warm, they certainly won't be putting all their attention on their studies. When our kids go to school, not knowing when their next meal is coming from, their attention is going to be on how hungry they are.

We need to put a lot of attention on making sure disadvantaged students get the help they need so they can focus on actually learning something.

When we have children that simply aren't learning as fast as they should, due to any number of learning disabilities, we need to pick up on this as soon as we can. Doesn't matter what the disability is. If our educators spot the problems early enough, we stand a better chance of doing something about this. Behavioral issues should really be added, as well.

Some points seem to get more attention then others, such as new buildings. If you schools are in horrible shape, aren't large enough, or there simply aren't enough schools, coming up with the money for new construction, expansion, or remodeling can be a pain in the ass. Making sure Federal and State governments put sufficient money in helping local school districts is vital for keeping our schools modernized.

I think one area that needs to be covered is basic life skills. You'd be surprised how ill-prepared people are once they graduate and have to deal with the real world. Instead of going to a class or extra curricular activity, they now have to worry about adult issues....such as getting an apartment, managing their money, balancing a checkbook, getting and keeping a job, and so on. For one reason or another, nobody stops to think about teaching the realities of life.

We're so worried about making sure our students understand Shakespeare's work, we don't stop to think that we're lacking in other areas. If it wasn't for my dad kicking me in the ass on some of these areas, I'd have no idea how to file my taxes. I probably would've been screwed for the first few years, as I probably wouldn't have filed at all.

Seriously, our students need to understand that budgeting their money is going to be a big damned deal, getting their taxes filed every year is going to be important, making sure they know how to behave appropriately on a job and whatnot.

Speaking of jobs, we also have to come to an understanding that not all of our students are going to have the same level of post K-12 education. If we're going to be honest with ourselves, there will be many students that will never see the inside of a college, university, trade school, or community college. In this politically correct world, everyone wants to believe that all our kids are precious and can do whatever they set their minds to.

Hate to break anyone's hearts, but that belief is bullshit. In any classroom in America, you're going to find a small group of students that are quite exceptional. These are the students that you know will be the bigshots. They'll be the leaders of industry, being the CEO's of Fortune 500 Companies. These are the students that will find the cure for major diseases. These are the students that will make major policy for the American Government.

In these classrooms, you'll see an equal number of students that you simply won't be able to help. No matter what you do, there's always going to be a few students that you just can't reach. Maybe they just don't give a damn. Some are going to have mental disabilities, keeping them from learning beyond a certain level. Like it or not, but we have plenty of students that can only be taught so much.

Students in the bottom percentile will likely end up being the dishwashers, hotel maids, janitors, or even wards of the state. There are some people that have mental or physical issues, stopping them from being succeeding. It's an unfortunate reality that needs to be accepted. While we want to let everyone feel like a winner, most people aren't winners. In life, there's usually more losers then winners.

In an average classroom, most students are considered "middle of the road". Quite simply, most of these students have nothing special about them that really stands out. They aren't stupid, by any means. They just don't have anything extraordinary about them.

Students like this often go into a wide range of work, upon graduating. Some work on the family farm. Some will take work as mechanics. Others will choose to work as cooks/chefs. There will be students that will take office work (clerks, bookkeeping, etc.). You name it. Most students will end up with ordinary jobs (plumbing, construction, manufacturing).

My brother floated around a few kitchens, working as a dishwasher, before settling with a light manufacturing job. I was one of the students that never had a clue what to do with life, so I ended up with a variety of kitchen work. I tried my hand at accounting, but I got in over my head. I was one of those ill-prepared students, during my youth.

With that in mind, it's time we stop trying to turn every student into know-it-alls. It's time we realize that not all of our students will be scientists. Not all of our students will practice medicine. We have to realize that we need trash collectors, diesel engine repairmen, small engine repairmen, and so many other trades.

For those that are going into different trades, we should start teaching students with those talents or interests to be great at those professions. We need to teach them at an early age, partially to give them a clue what to expect. The more education they get in their respective fields will give them a better chance at commanding better wages and benefits.

If a student is showing interest and/or potential as an office worker (payroll clerk, sales rep, bookkeeper, etc.), again, we need to make sure they know what to expect. Writing skills will be must, considering many office workers will need to write business letters, memos, or other documents. The slightest mistake, such as adding a coma where it's not needed, can make a huge difference in what you're actually communicating. Having a properly written resume will make the world of good, as well.

For those students that are more likely to work low-wage jobs, at least make sure their education is tailored so they can have a fighting chance in society. Even if you've got students who'll end up being hotel maids, at least give them enough knowledge and skills so they won't have to rely on the welfare system.

When you think of it, there are businesses out there that specialize in things, such as janitorial services. If you have a student that knows what they're doing in janitorial work, they could take those skills and make a business out of it. Google such companies in your area. You might be surprised at how many services are out there that specialize in doing crap nobody else wants to deal with.

Those that end up taking on a post-high school education will be better prepared for life if they start early enough in life. Earning capacities increase for those that are ready for certain aspects of reality.

By the time you make it to higher education, whether it be a 4-year college, a community college, or whatever you may choose, you should be able to go straight into the courses you might still need. There shouldn't be a need to take classes on literature if your goal is to be in the medical field. Theoretically, you should already have a basic understanding of how to behave a job. Shouldn't need to learn this sort of thing by the time you become an adult.

If you're going to be an accountant, basic math skills should be an absolute must well before getting into a college. Speaking of colleges, I would think that certain fields of study could be done just as easily at a community school, trade school, or technical college. Not everything needs a 4-year degree. Why do we need to send our students to expensive colleges/universities when that same education can be achieved at a junior college?

Realistically, this would save a lot of money on loans, keeping more money in the pockets of the American public. I can see where the problems come from when you need a 4 year degree, or more. Medical work would be one such field. Internships/residencies can be a financial burden. I'm not sure of what kind of pay scale, if any, exists for those that eventually have to do their residencies. There's so much you have to learn to practice medicine. The more complex your degree, the bigger the debt.

Those trying to become heart surgeons or cancer specialists obviously need more specialized learning general medical doctors. For those taking on certain crucial degrees, medical as an example, incentives could be offered. Debt forgiveness after so much time in the field of choice, would be one such option.

Maybe some of this is just a case of reforming attitudes about education. There are a variety of solutions that should be looked into.

I'll continue this train wreck of a thought in later postings. I'm rambling enough, as it is.

how to make America great again (infrastructure)

Since the elections have been rather disappointing this year, to put it mildly, I'm going to try and focus on something else. Though, I have to paraphrase Donald Trump when I say we need to make America truly great. As much as I love America, we do need some massive improvements. What improvements we make will be obvious. Other improvements will vary greatly from person to person.

I'll start by working category by category. I'll help keep my thoughts a bit clearer, I hope. Since infrastructure includes a wide variety of issues, I doubt I'll be able to cover them all. I'll cover what I can, though.

Infrastructure:
A key component to any plans should be infrastructure. No nation succeeds without a solid infrastructure. Strong, sturdy bridges. Good roads. Reliable power grid. Safe drinking water. Proper disposal of sewage and trash. You get the idea. Without stuff like this, a lot of stuff I plan on mentioning will be irrelevant.

Safe drinking water will be key. Anyone with basic knowledge knows what happens if you lack safe drinking water, so I'll save everyone the speech.

In many communities, many water facilities are outdated. Many water lines need serious updating, as well. I can only imagine how much it would cost to get most communities updated on larger, improved treatment facilities or water pipes. Flint, Michigan gained a lot of attention in the not so recent past over inadequate drinking water.

If we're going to be honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that this is a bigger problem then we realized.

On a related note is our sewage treatment facilities. Considering how much junk gets dumped into our sewage systems, such as old prescriptions and God knows what else. Many systems have trouble filtering out stuff as caffeine and various medications that get dumped down toilets. Honestly, there's probably more junk going into our sewer systems then we realize.

Good roads are certain a necessity. For this discussion, I'll include highways, interstates, as well as city streets. Depending on where you live, many roads are in serious disrepair. Part of the problem is that many local governments have limited funds. Some have been cash strapped since the economy went down the crapper in late 2007 (roughly). Many state governments played hell with their budgets for years because of the economy.

Roads have suffered as a result of this. I know most of the roads where I live aren't in too bad of shape, largely because most local governments were a bit smarter with their money. Some of them could be better, but I won't complain too hard on this.

It should be a no brainer why we need to keep our roads safe. Between transporting goods, daily activities (school, work, shopping, etc), and other reasons I'm probably neglecting, there should be no excuse to let our roads deteriorate.

Speaking of deteriorating, our bridges need to be a high point. If you need an example of this, just think back to August 2007 with the I-35W bridge collapse. Thirteen people died as a result of it's collapse. It happened with evening rush hour traffic taking place. A Wikipedia article says that undersized gusset plates were considered the primary cause of the collapse.

I seem to recall governments some time later admitting that many bridges weren't inspected as often as they needed to be. Many bridges, at the time, need major repair and/or replacing. As of recent years, I don't know how much work as actually been done to correct the problem. I don't want this to be an issue again. We shouldn't take any chances with this happening again.

Putting the money into something like this would be a strong boost to the economy. Not only would it require construction crews, but we would need steel companies to put out a massive amount of steel. If we're serious about building up our economy, we'd need American steel companies to produce the steel needed. American made products in all aspects of the work would be needed if we truly care about strengthening the American economy and industry. With people gaining good paying jobs, tax benefits could be huge (I would think).

Since recycling of old steel (appliances, cars, etc.) is usually the cheaper and quicker then mining for it, scrap yards throughout the country would be able to make some serious money as a side benefit. Scrappers would make more money, as well, since the scrap yards would likely pay better money for more material. This could have some long term benefits if we got started on projects like this.

A major source of concern is the electric grid. It's generally agreed upon by experts, including those anti-terrorist, that our electric grid is highly vulnerable. If one thing goes wrong, through terrorism, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), or anything else, we could see chaos pretty quickly.

Back in 2003, a blackout occurred in parts of the American Northeast and Ontario. In this case, a software bug in a control room was to blame. Didn't help that operators were unaware of the problem due to a lack of alarm. This likely would've been more localized if everything was in place, to begin with.

This leads me to ask what would happen if a power substation were to have problems. What happens if a lack of maintenance, or improper maintenance, caused a substation to go out? Could other substations take over the workload until it's fixed or replaced? What if a substation, for any number of reasons, needed to be replaced. I can't fathom how long it would take, let alone how much money it would take.

Heck. All that needs to happen is a natural disaster to create problems. Depending on where you live, it could be an earthquake that causes widespread issues. Other parts of the country could get a hurricane. Many areas frequently have issues with tornados.

How old are parts of the power grid, anyway? Can parts of the grid handle the current capacities?

Hopefully, the rest of you can see why I want this to be a high priority. We simply can't take chances of the power grid going down for any length of time.

This is as far as I go, for now. I'll pick this up at a later time (I hope).

Member Berries

Over the last few years, I can't help but realize a sad, unfortunate truth. I'm suffering from Member Berries. Don't know what Member Berries are? For those that don't watch South Park, Member Berries is a metaphor for nostalgia. At least, that's the easiest way I can think of it.

You know how the routine works. You could be doing something simple. For the sake of argument, let's assume you're at the store picking up a few quick items you need. Over the speaker system, a song plays that you haven't heard in several years. In an instant, you start remembering things that you haven't thought about in years. Depending on your mood that day, this might last for 30 seconds. Or, you spend several days remembering "the good 'ole days".

In my case, I'm noticing that I've been doing this more and more lately. In some cases, I think about the music from my generation. Other times, it's television. I frequently think about movies from my youth, as well. Then there are times where I miss the "simpler days", where we didn't have such rapid changes in social norms, not as much technology interfering with our lives, so on and so forth.

Not sure if this is just a normal part of getting older. There are days where I feel like a grandpa. I'm finding myself yelling at neighborhood kids to stop playing in my yard. I've been catching myself starting conversations with "Back in my day....."

Depressing. Down right depressing many days. Back in October, I finally had my 40th birthday. As I was talking to my younger brother, he mentioned that it's amazing how time manages to sneak up on a person. Can't help but think how true that statement is.

Mentally/emotionally speaking, it doesn't feel like that long ago where I graduated high school. Yet, I can't help but realize just how long it's been since I stepped into a high school. Feels like yesterday when I had my first video game consol. I don't remember the specific year. I remember it was approaching Christmas. Mom bought the NES. This was something I was expected to share with my brother. Since we were a poor family, stuff like this was considered the greatest shit ever.

Parents, I have to admit, usually put us before themselves. Once in awhile, the parents would make the decision to give themselves something, even if it meant telling me or my bro to fuck off. They hated telling us to go to hell on stuff. Once in awhile, they had to give themselves a few things that would bring them some entertainment.

Can't say I blame them, either. They didn't give themselves enough gratification in this area, either. Some would argue that they were being awesome parents. I think they could've gotten away with being a bit more self centered and still manage to be great parents.

Guess they made up for it by usually buying stuff that we could all enjoy. When mom picked up the NES, it was generally understood that bro and I wouldn't be the only ones using it. Mom wasn't into video games so much, herself. Dad, on the other hand, managed to find a few that sparked his interest. It was usually the sports games. Super Techmo Bowl and Bases Loaded II were the games I frequently played with him.

Since I had more knowledge and experience with video games, dad would ask me to slow the pace down a little bit so he could learn what he was doing. He seemed to learn  some of the games in a decent speed. I had to stop going easy on him after a short amount of time passed.

When we were finally able to get a Sega Genesis, dad was always impressed with how well things were improving. This would happen when finally getting PlayStation years later. Mom didn't even bother trying to figure it out. By her own admission, video games were just one thing that she couldn't figure out.

Though, when DVDs were first becoming the next big thing, she was able to figure that out a lot easier. She realized that it wasn't much different then figuring out a VCR, for the most part.

I think the one thing that helps me to deal with the Member Berries is modern technology. I want to listen to music I enjoyed in my youth? It's often as easy as listening to an internet radio station, such as Pandora or going onto YouTube. I can usually get my fix of my old favorites with those two options.

I want to play an old video game? If you can find someone that fixes old systems, great. For some, it's buying a re-released game system. I believe Nintendo is releasing a variation of the old NES, with several old school games saved on the systems' hard drive, or some such thing. If I recall correctly, it's perfectly capable of playing the old school Nintendo cartridges.

For me, I have a copy cat system that allows me to play both NES and SNES. I also have a system that plays just the NES. I think it's under the Retro Dud name, or something similar. Different design then the original game systems. Software allows them to play the old games. I'm sure there's something in the trademark laws that probably allows companies to do this. Not sure what the legalities are.

All I know, these systems appear to be legit as they've apparently been selling for quite awhile. I believe it was only a couple years ago I even realized this was an option. I live in an area where this is more of a specialty market, so items like this are sold in limited stores. Come to think of it, I can only name one area store that sells stuff like this.

Doesn't matter. I have a game system that allows me to play some old school NES games. I'm slowly stocking up on some old SNES games, as well. Got a second system that allows me to play old school Sega Genesis games, which is also awesome. I think this was a novelty thing sold at some Walgreens stores, several years back.

Want to watch movies or TV shows I used to love? DVDs have been a great way of doing that for me. If I had more time for internet use, I could probably subscribe to a few online services, such as Hulu.

I know I'll never be able to completely relive everything from my past (fortunately), I can at least relive some of the best parts. I can still relive the parts that allowed me to have good memories, like playing a few video games with dad or watching certain TV shows and/or movies with the parents.

I think it makes my life more enjoyable, at least for me, when I can still relive parts of my past while still being able to keep my eyes on the future. If I'm going to be honest with myself, I need to realize that there needs to be a balance. it's fine to remember the past as long as I'm still capable of looking toward the future.

With that said, I'm going to enjoy some classic rock while I goof off on the web.

Universal Rights #2

Since I felt my last article was getting a bit long winded, I thought I'd break things down into multiple articles. How many I need is unknown. Please bear with me on this.

Right to a Fair Trial
This should be a no brainer. I'm a firm believer that I'd rather have several guilty people get off then have one innocent person convicted. Pretty easy concept, I should think. I know it's annoying when someone gets off on a technicality, especially when the crime is heinous. At the same time, I hate it even more when we discover that someone is being set free after several years because new evidence shows they were truly innocent.

While I'm at it, I'll lump a few things into the "fair trial" category. This includes being able to get an lawyer, even if it's a public defender. Nobody should be forced to testify against themselves. Warrants should always be obtained if you want to search a suspect's home, car, etc. I'll leave room for things scenarios like line of sight or you can reasonably display that entering a home is for emergency reasons (hearing screams for help or whatnot).

A speedy trial should easily be a part of this. Imagine if you have a DUI charge. No property damage. Nobody is physically harmed. You get caught before anything horrible can happen. Now imagine if the government is allowed to drag this out for several months. That could severely disrupt the defendants life for a long time. Would you like to be the person that makes the mistake of having a DUI, only to have your life ruined because the government wants to take a year or longer mess with you through the legal system? I doubt it. You'd like to be able to get the trial over in a reasonable time frame so you can get on with your life.

There are a variety of things that need to be done to maintain a fair trial. I prefer to err on the side of caution in order to avoid sending innocent people to prison.

Right to Public Assembly
Keeping it simple, the right to public assembly is the right to join others in a group to collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend various ideas. Similar to the right to free speech, public assembly can have negativity attached to it. Doesn't matter if you're talking racist groups holding rallies, church groups holding anti-abortion protests, Black Lives Matter protests (negative, depending on your perspective), or anything else you can think of.

Public assembly, in many cases, can be as simple as being able to discuss religious or political views. Maybe you want to protest what you feel is some bad business practices by a big box retailer. As long as you aren't violating the rights of others or creating public problems, like blocking the flow of traffic, you should be able to assemble as you please.

The flow of information needs some degree of public assembly. Even with modern technology enabling discussion without leaving the home, meeting publicly eventually has to happen if anything is going to be done effectively.

Freedom of Press
This was a major idea at a time when government big wigs had an easier time controlling media sources. When a community had to rely on printed media, there's only so many people who could get noticed. Most communities could only support so many magazines, newspapers, etc. and actually get noticed.

When radio and television came around, it was also a case of a limited amount of people who could get different messages across. Operating costs, having radio or television towers (in the old days), equipment costs and whatnot was costly. Being able to transmit signals any length was limited to permits and what kind of money you could spend getting your message across.

Granted, traditional media has come a long way over the years. Printed media is using the internet to take things to the next level. Many radio stations, even locally, can be listened to online. I can find several just in my local area that use the internet to broadcast, while using traditional methods. TV stations have been selling broadcasting rights to cable providers since the invention of cable TV.

The internet allows for broader access to news from all over the world. Average people can now act as journalists, even in the broadest sense of the words. When a cop abuses their authority, people are able to report it on blogs or social media like Twitter, Facebook, or even YouTube Channels. For many average people, YouTube Channels and blogs are the best way to get the message out about various subjects. For YouTube, if you have a camera, that's all you really need. The more professional you want it to look, the more equipment you'll obviously want.

With better technologies, free press becomes even more important. We have a greater ability to find information, as well as to spread information. Just about anyone can be a journalist. Just about anyone can also become public enemy #1. Just look at what's been going on with WikiLeaks, as an example to this.

Freedom from Slavery
Does this even need to be discussed? Is there one logical, rational reason why slavery is even a good idea? Is there one person that can sanely defend the concept of slavery?

Freedom of Movement
This is a concept that doesn't get mentioned much in many nations. Seems to be a foregone concept for many of us. Yet, this is something that should be mentioned.

Freedom of movement is the concept that you should be able to travel, reside in, and/or work in any part of the state that they please, so long as the rights of others aren't being violated. This includes the right to leave the state and return at any time.

I assume that last part means being able to travel abroad, but I could be wrong. As far as overseas travel is concerned, a nation should be able to have some control over who enters their country or how long they're allowed to stay.

Within your own nation, you shouldn't have to explain where you're going, why you're going there, or any other crap to the government....unless you're doing something that could be harmful to others or could somehow violate their rights. If you aren't causing problems for others, it's nobody's concerned where I work, why I choose to work for others, so on and so on.

I want to go to Florida for a few months? That should be my concern alone.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Should this even be an issue? Why should we be having this discussion? You would think that we, as a society, would have wised up a bit by now. Nope. Not even close. I feel things have gotten worse.

A valuable lesson my dad taught me, during my youth, should be a good lesson for the rest of society. What he preached, quite simply, is "What others do in the privacy of their own bedrooms is their concern and there's alone." Makes sense to most people.

This was at a time when discussions largely involved gay/lesbian/bisexual activities. Topics involving gender identities weren't discussed, at least to the best of my knowledge. If it was discussed, I never heard of them. In my youth, it was largely gay, lesbian, or bisexual rights. Even hearing of someone that got a sex change had me highly confused.

Then again, dad was trying to make sure I wasn't overloaded with too much at one time. I think he was trying to give me time to truly understand what was going on before expanding my knowledge on other subjects. Probably a good idea. At my young age, I never would've understood all that knowledge at once.

Anyway, the point that he was working with is that how others live their lives should be no concern for others. As long as another persons lifestyle isn't hurting anyone, then leave them be. If a man wants to live as a woman, it's not my place to question it. If that same person wants to adapt a kid or two, or even more, the only concerns should be whether or not that person can provide a good home for the kid(s).

As long as a child can be properly taken care of, that's what is truly important. Too often, people are being shit on is because of outdated religious reasons. It's not like anyone's going to suddenly become gay, simply because someone else is gay. Nobody has ever decided to become a woman simply because they heard of someone else becoming a woman.

Safe Food/Water

In many parts of the world, having a safe food and water supply is a real pain in the ass. Depending on the part of the world, it could be warring factions. In other cases, it's industrial pollution. Droughts can be the cause of the problems. No matter what, everyone has the right to access to clean, safe water and food supplies.

There's simply no excuse for why people are being deprived of life's most basic necessities.

Sexual and Reproductive Rights

This should be common sense. In many parts of the world, common sense doesn't seem to apply. Women are forced to suffer mutilation of their genitalia. Many times, it's religious reasons. Other times, the urge to have control over women is the factor. No matter what the excuse is, there should be no excuse for mutilations.

I've seen opinions going as far as claiming circumcision is the male equivalent of mutilation and is just as wrong. I'm not sure those can be compared as males lost just a little bit of skin while women are being deprived of far more. It's also argued that mutilation on a woman's genitals is usually done in far more dangerous methods. Sure, it's painful for males with circumcision. I know most males don't exactly get a choice either.

I'll leave that for you to decide if circumcisions are the same equivalent.

Concerning reproduction, a woman should be able to determine how many children they want. If they want to wait 10 years before having another child, that's a woman's right. There shouldn't be coercion. If a woman wants an abortion, that's her damned choice.

I don't have to like the reasoning. I don't have to like abortion. All I have to do is support the woman's right to choose, which I will gladly do.



Right now, I'm sure I'm forgetting several things. I'm going to leave this an ongoing subject, mostly since I'll think of reasons to revisit the topic.

Universal Rights?

Rights. This is something that we all hear about frequently in life. Sometimes it involves cops violating the rights of one or more people. Often times, it involves the rights of the poor, an immigrant, or other minority groups. Other times, it's arguments about gun rights. Freedom of Speech is commonly used when an unpopular opinion comes up. On social media, I frequently see arguments involving a mothers right to breast feed, as well as whether or not a parent has the right to not vaccinate their child.

Stuff like this gets me to ask a few things. Do we really have the right to do certain things? Should we have the right to do certain things? How far should our rights go? You get the picture, I hope.

Obviously, our rights vary quite a bit, depending on where we live. Whether or not we agree that certain countries are superior in this area is going to be a matter of personal preference. What I plan on bringing up is my own perspective on what rights we, as a people, deserve.

Freedom of Speech
This ranks up there highly for me. The right to free speech allows for things like sharing new ideas, expressing religious views, being able to express displeasure towards others, and so on. Without free speech, many things become irrelevant. How do you inform politicians if you think a certain policy is bad for the economy? How do you get to learn about a better way of doing business if you're restricted in your speech? It would be pretty difficult to choose what church you want to belong to if everyone has to be careful of what they say. If you choose to be an atheist, speaking your mind against religion could be just as dangerous as speaking out against the government.

I realize that free speech can have unpopular results. Just take a look at groups like Westboro Baptist Church, as an example. Their views on many subjects throw many people into hissy fits quickly. Groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, can say what they like, no matter how vile most of us think it is.

I'm usually pretty liberal when it comes to speech. Only real restrictions that should be placed on speech I feel are pretty obvious. If speech is used to cause someone harm, it shouldn't be allowed. By this, if your speech could reasonably destroy another persons reputation, it should be prohibited. With our current level of technology, it's very easy to ruin a persons reputation with something as simple as speech.

If you're going around making threats to harm others, even if you don't mean it, that would cause some obvious problems for the other person. Same thing if you go into a dark theater and scream "FIRE!" or "HE'S GOT A GUN!" A panic could be created very easily with simple speech.

For points like this, there are times where certain rights should be limited, but only for things that could create unneeded harm.

Right to Bear Arms
This seems to be a controversial right. This is an issue that's be debated heavily as far back as I can remember. It goes from one extreme, where guns should be banned from the public outright, to the other extreme, where the public should have access to military-esque  weapons.

Personally, I don't think most people should have access to weapons like rocket launchers, machine guns, or anything that powerful. That would be a bit insane, to put it nicely. However, access to most weapons should be allowed.

However, I'm not saying that people should just be given guns like candy on Halloween. Reasonable standards should be placed on people to ensure that there's a reasonable level of safety. What that standard is, I'm still trying to figure out.

There would have to be a variety of tests to make sure a person is reasonably competent to handle a  gun. I doubt any rational person wants to put a gun in the hands of a person who hears Satanic voices, telling them to kill. Maybe taking a competency test every so often would help. When you get a driver's license renewed, you have to prove that you can still reasonably see & hear. Since cars can be dangerous to operate, nobody would disagree (I would think) that you should have a certain level of competency. Same logic should apply to gun ownership.

As long as you can reasonably handle a gun, I'm all for gun ownership. Hell, I live in a part of America where hunting is a tradition for many families. Occasional accidents happen, but they don't happen often. Around here, I have better odds of being killed by a drunk driver then by a gun. Car accidents in the region kill more people then guns.

I hear of more deaths by drug/alcohol overdoses then by gun. Most gun owners, I believe, typically know how to handle a gun.

Main reason I even support gun ownership will probably come off as paranoia to a lot of people. But, if you look at it rationally, it'll hopefully make sense. With so many violent crimes being committed, we can't always count on law enforcement being available when we need them. In many cases, they've been accused of showing up too late to do any good.

Depending on where you live, you might be better off having protection in case of a home invasion, as an example.

Another point that could be argues is if the government becomes oppressive. For some Americans, there's the feeling that we're already at that point. I don't completely agree with this view, at this time. I do feel government is overreaching, but I still believe things can be handled through the system. Will there be a time where we have no other choice? I sure as hell hope not. If it ever gets to that point, we'll need a solid supply of weapons and ammo.

History shows that Americans felt this way, previously. We had a War of Independence from the British during the 1700's. I realize that not all Americans wanted to break away from England, but there were enough people that felt the British government was oppressive.....oppressive enough to warrant open rebellion. In cases like this, nothing would've been accomplished by writing letters.

If you look at how oppressive many countries are, currently, you'll see it's unarmed civilians who suffer the most. Why? Because they have no ability to defend themselves. I realize that in countries like Syria and Libya, there are already so many guns in the wrong hands, nobody is safe. In cases like that, we have bigger issues then who's got their hands on weapons.

In many cases, people would have a better chance of protecting themselves if they had the ability to at least fight back. When it comes to an oppressive government, it's never a quick fix. As long as nobody is able to stop a bad government, nothing will ever change unless someone is capable of standing up to the regime. If nobody is capable of doing so, the government gets away with whatever they please.

Healthcare
This is one of the biggest concerns I have for humanity. This could be argued as more of a necessity then a right. If you want to argue that healthcare is a necessity, it could be argued that it belongs up there with clean drinking water, food, and clean air. How can we pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness if we can't get adequate health care?

All you have to do is look at how the health care industry is going, right now. Insurance premiums are rising. Deductibles have gone up. Hospital costs have gone up. More and more people are being forced to drop their private insurance plans, only to get government help because they can no longer afford to buy their own insurance. My own brother has been forced to change his policy a couple times already because premiums were getting too high. He used to have a reasonable premium while getting a low deductible.

When having surgery for a hernia roughly three years back, he had insurance that was capable of paying a large portion of the medical bill. This included the hernia surgery itself as well as treating an infection that formed in the area, at the same time. He needed an eight day stay, partly because of the infection and partly because his hernia was bad enough to require a extra time recovering. It was at the belly button, which caused a longer recovery.

People are generally having a harder time paying for things like prescriptions. A lot of people are concerned about how to pay for major problems, especially if surgery and/or long term recovery is needed.

One point that's in dispute is whether or not a single payer system is needed. Opponents argue that taxes will be higher, using nations like Australia & Canada as examples. It's also been argued that longer wait times will happen in the waiting rooms. Another argument that's been made is that our government has a hard enough time keeping track of things already. Tracking medical expenses on this level would be virtually impossible for them

At the same time, when the people are having such a difficult time paying for even the most basic care, I can't help but feel that we need a better way of doing things. Again, my own brother's been forced to find other sources of revenue, just to help cover his prescriptions. I can only imagine what other people are going through.

Do we need universal healthcare? Do we give subsidies to people to help them afford better insurance? Does the government intervene on in catastrophic cases, such as cancer, heart surgery, and other major problems? If the government pays for any of this, how do we generate the revenue to pay for this?

Only thing I know for sure is that health care shouldn't be a luxury for those that can afford it. I just don't know what the right answer solution is.

Religious Freedom
Religious freedoms have been a huge issue throughout human history. History shows us things like the Crusades, the Inquisitions in Europe, people generally fleeing one nation or another because of religious persecutions in their homelands. Not that many decades ago, we had the murder of millions of Jews in Nazi Germany.

Even now, you'll be persecuted if you don't worship the way you're supposed to. There are countries within the Middle East that will kill you if you're an atheist.

Religious freedom is a major necessity. Everyone needs the ability to choose for themselves what they want to worship, how they want to worship, worship in safety, if they want to worship anything at all. You choose to be a Lutheran as opposed to a Catholic? That should be your right. Sunni instead of Shi'ite? Atheist or agnostic? Those options should be your choice. Nobody should have to live in fear of choosing a religion, or none at all, just because it isn't "the popular choice".

While I'm at it, this should include being able to live your life without having to worry about honor killings. If you do something that's a violation of your family's religious view, you shouldn't have to worry that your family will insist on an honor killing.

One person's religious rights shouldn't interfere with another persons rights. My rights to be an atheist shouldn't interfere with anyone's right to worship the god of their choice. You think that working on Sunday is evil? Fine. I seriously want you to relax and enjoy the day off. Just don't expect me to join you.

Should be simple enough, right?

Voting
This should really be a no-brainer, so I'll keep this short and simple. For people to truly be free, the right to vote is one of those freedoms that must be protected. As long as people have no say in how government functions, they're essentially slaves. You don't have to be wearing chains to be a slave. There are many ways of enslaving your people. Keeping people away from the voting booths is a great way of keeping others down.

Voting is a necessity for a truly free and prosperous society. Voting is one of the best tools we've got for ensuring that the power remains with the people. Once rights like this are taken away, there is no such thing as freedom or liberty.


I know I've only covered a few areas, so far, but this is getting a bit long winded. I'll continue this subject in further articles. Thanks to everyone that's managed to put up with me, thus far.

Electoral College

Another election season is on us. Once again, I can only become highly depressed watching the usual crap. However, I won't be complaining about the actual elections in this article. My complaints?

Simple. It's the Electoral College itself that I want to piss and moan about. Why? Quite simply, it's a lousy idea. We must be idiots to allow such a bad idea to still be used after all these years. The Electoral College was created during the early years of our country, written into the American Constitution. This was at a time when the only people that could vote where white, land owning, men....many of whom owned slaves.

Typically, you had to own X amount of land before you had the right to vote. Depending on where you lived, the amount of land you had to own before being able to vote varied. Yeah, great way of establishing a Democratic Republic. Before anyone gets anal, we're more of a Democratic Republic  then anything else. I'll probably get more into that point on another article.

Anywho, you had to own so much land before having the right to vote. If you were a woman, freed black, Native American or any other group, it didn't matter if you owned land. You simply had no voice on anything. The only people that really had a say in the matter was those that wanted to make sure that government operated in a fashion favorable to them. Not any different then having the British barking orders at us.

Eventually, voting rights would expand to women, minorities, so on and so on. Only thing that managed to stay the same was the Electoral College. This leaves an important question to ask.

What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is an institution that elects the President and Vice-President every four years. Citizens don't directly vote for the candidates. We only vote for the electors, who, in turn, pledge to vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Electors are apportioned among the 50 states, as well as DC. DC wasn't even included in this until the 23rd Amendment included them in the process. DC currently gets three votes, equal to the least populous states.

It should be pointed out that each state gets a different amount of electors. That is based off how many people your state has in Congress. This favors larger states like California, Texas, and New York. States like Alaska, Montana, North & South Dakota, and Wyoming only get the minimum, which is currently three.

Let's work with this, for a moment. When you vote for your local mayor, county commissioner, state representative or your federal Senators, you get to vote directly for the person of your choice. You can vote for anyone on the ballot that you damn well please. Most offices have people that actually have the people vote for it directly.

The Presidency is the exception. You only vote for people who do the actual voting. I can't recall when they actually do their voting, but it's their votes that actually count. They actually vote on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December in their respective state capitals. They don't actually meet as one group.

Now comes a point of bullshit. In a large majority of states, an elector isn't required to vote for the person whom they've pledge to vote for.  This is known as a Faithless Elector. An elector typically votes for the person who won in the state in question. Twenty-four states have laws that prohibit this. I'm not aware of anyone actually voting for an opposing candidate. As far as I'm aware of, those that are pledged to a specific candidate have always voted for that specific candidate.

Then, we have unpledged electors. Quite simply, the unpledged elector is an elector who hasn't pledged to vote for any candidate and can vote for whomever they please.

This is where I have serious issues. A small group of people will meet in their state capitals to determine who's going to be our next President and Vice-President. The American people don't actually vote for the candidates. This goes directly back to the days where the average person was viewed as nothing but incompetent morons. I don't disagree that some people will have idiotic reasons for voting. Most people are smart enough to make decisions for themselves.

Most people will probably wonder why I give a crap about this. Let's start with the obvious. The popular vote, under the current system, means nothing. In 1824, electors in six states were appointed by their state legislators. In 1876, 1888, and 2000, the winner of the Electoral College vote failed to get the popular vote.

I don't know about you, but if my vote is going to mean nothing, why am I bothering to vote? If someone else can determine who's going to be in charge, my vote is nothing more then a huge waste of time.

This sort of thing can't be good for voter turn-out. There's no incentive to vote for most people since the political parties are so powerful in each state. When you get a state like Minnesota, Democratic candidates typically fair pretty well because of how much influence they have in the state. Same thing applies for Republicans in states, such as Texas. In states like that, the respective candidates are almost guaranteed to get the votes from the electors.

Swing states will typically see higher turn-outs, since one party doesn't have any real advantage over the other.

Also, I'd like to ask about the voting rights of the American territories. Despite being affected by American policy, territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands and others don't get a say in Presidential elections. Doesn't help that they don't get votes in Congress, either.

Now that I think of it, I'll leave the complaints on those points for another article. Speaking of articles, I feel like I'm getting long winded. So, I'll end this by stating that I'd rather have the Presidential elections determined by popular vote. I'm of the view that this is the fairest way to handle presidential elections.

Elections 2016

With the Presidential elections coming up in a little over a month from now, there are a few things on my mind. The obvious points involve picking a candidate, paying attention to the debates, so on & so forth. For the record, I will make it known that this has got to be the worst Presidential election cycle that I've ever experienced.

It truly feels like I'm living in a South Park joke. Do I vote for the Giant Douche or the Turd Sandwich? Do I vote for the idiot who looks like an overgrown Oompa Loompa with a bad hair piece and worse temperament? Do I vote for the idiot that lost thousands of emails and botch Bengazhi while avoiding prosecution? Either way, the biggest losers is the American public.

No matter who wins, the rest of us are in for a long four years. I'm not a religious man, by any means, but it truly feels like an End of Days scenario coming up. This is really feeling like something out of the Bible. If I was religious, I'd be expecting the Second Coming of Christ.

I'm already expecting major problems to go down, regardless of which candidate wins. I seriously fear that it's too late to ask for some sanity as that train left the station months ago. Maybe I'll be so fortunate to see an independent candidate do well. I'm not holding my breath on this happening.

Still, if America is going to show any sanity at all, we need a strong third party, a party that will force the Democrats & Republicans to change their crap. Without a strong third party, I personally feel that we, as a nation will slowly become a third world nation. Our education system is horrible, considering we're supposed to be a super power. Our economy should be far stronger. Our infrastructure should be in far better shape.

If my fellow Americans care about the future of our country, shake things up in the capital. Show those in Washington that we're tired of the petty bullshit that we're forced to suffer through.

Respecting the flag?

It wasn't that long ago that Colin Kaepernick created some controversy by kneeling during the national anthem, prior to the start of the 49'ers games. Started in the preseason as a way of protesting social injustice in America. Now, it's turned into a bit of a controversy, to put it mildly.

Was Kaepernick right for what he did? Was he just a disrespectful piece of crap? Seems as though everyone has an opinion on this issue. There are several points to think about. He does have Freedom of Speech. This is a form of speech, in a manner of speaking. Speech does come in many forms, not always vocalized.

I understand that when you work for anyone else, whether it be a Burger King, an accounting firm, or even a major sports league, you have a code of conduct you're expected to follow. I realize that when you're acting as a representative of your job, you have to maintain a certain image. However, it's hard to maintain that image when you're a public figure. Everything you say and do is going to be scrutinized, anyway.

I suppose people like Kaepernick are going to be in a no-win situation, anyway. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. How's he supposed to get his point across if he's expected to maintain an image? If he puts such opinions on a blog, Facebook, YouTube, or other source, how many people are going to notice? How many will even care what he thinks?

When done in front of cameras on a program that millions of people watch, all of a sudden, you've got everyone's attention. There are people who would argue that it sometimes takes drastic actions to become noticed. Could that have been what Kaepernick thought?

What I know for sure is he now has everyone talking. His protest has expanded to teammates, as well as other athletes on different teams and different sports. If Kaepernick was looking to get everyone's attention, he certainly succeeded. Whether or not he intended to show disrespect for the flag or the country is no longer the point. One of the big points people are discussing, from what I've seen, is whether or not he was right or wrong. People are either on his side or against him.

Doesn't seem to be any middle ground on this issue. Those that are on his side have stated Freedom of Speech as one of their arguments. It's also been argued that protests are rarely seen as being popular at the time. People only seem to see the benefits of the protests long after everything settled down.

Opponents often argue that there's a time and a place for protests, stating that the playing of the National Anthem during certain events is neither that time or place. It's also been argued that our troops didn't serve or die just for people to disrespect the flag.

I think it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Will Kaepernick succeed in getting his message across? Will he continue being vilified over this? Only time will tell.

-JD Storm