Bloke

I'm copying the rest of my family and moving away next year. I got in to the University of East London for next fall, and there is no way I can turn this down. It will be the experience of a lifetime, and is the best way to ensure I find a good job when I get my degree. London is the media capital of the world, with the BBC and all its other news and music outlets. Looking online I have discovered that my experience there will in total cost between 25-30k a year, something that will be covered in government funds and the occasional student loan and such. While this will ultimately add to my debt, the experiences and lessons I will learn are going to be far more valuable. At the moment I am looking online at other forms of housing besides the campus dorms, because it appears that just moving out into my own place will be cheaper than the 9000 dollars a year the dorms cost. Who wants to move there with me and be my roommate? :-)

Still waiting on the letter

About a month ago I applied to several universities in London for next fall, hoping to study communications and media. London is the capital of the media industry and to study there would be a life changing event. I decided on this when I took a look around and realized there is nothing in Georgia. Friends and family don't count of course, as there are plenty of those to go around. But the dreams I have for myself go beyond this suburb outside Atlanta, and go across the globe. I should hear back before the end of the year, until then I can look forward to my first visit there next march for spring break. The hotel has been paid for, and there is a cool thing called a TravelCard which allows unlimited access to bus and subway rides, as well as entrances into all the attractions around london for a very affordable fee of $250. So it should be fun. Hopefully when I visit I will be making plans to return later in the year. 

Selling Out

I signed up for ad sense, so there will now be ads on the side of my blog. Who knows, maybe it will make me some money. Also, certain people need to stop asking me about leaving comments. I made this blog to give my own opinions and thoughts, not to read what yours are. :-). Discuss any opinions about posts on your own blogs, and i'll read them. Finally, you can follow my blog now. It's in the upper right hand corner, I believe it will show up under your profile and you can get emails when I post so I no longer have to put bulletins on Myspace. 

On another note, the election is finally over and Obama trumped McCain. I was happy to see this happen, as I believe McCain and Palin would have set America back 50 years. The important thing is there is a President-elect who has brought a majority of American voters together in these troubled times, when we desperately needed to start working together for our common good. It is no longer about political ideologies or stupid parties, it is about fixing what has gone horribly wrong. If our congress men and women would stop labeling themselves as republican, democrat, liberal, etc., and just sat down together and actually governed they could do a lot of good. It's time our country went back to the foundations it started on, where the government does what's best for the people, not what's best for their party. Everyone has different views about stuff such as the war in Iraq or abortion, but just because we may have a few things in common with others does not mean we should split ourselves apart and attack those with different views. 

I think the only way for America to truly fix itself is to start off by getting rid of the electoral college. It has made the two-party system virtually indestructible, and is a major reason why there is so much tension between the two. 

Anyways, these troubled times are looking up, with the Bush years soon to be a part of the past and an historic Presidency about to begin. While I did not vote for Obama or feel he should have been elected yet, this is definitely a time of change in our country, hopefully and most likely, change for the better. If not, Hillary Clinton 2012. 

One Week Away

The election is a week away, but already people are going to the polls early to vote. I myself am going tomorrow morning, and still don't know exactly what choice to make. Both are going to be wrong for the nation, and with the electoral college in place there will always be just two parties with any chance of success. Neither candidate will live up to all their hype or promises, so I will probably end up voting for a 3rd party candidate because I find it to be the morally correct thing to do. 

As crazy as it seems, my idea would be to re-evaluate our current government. I think the only way to change America is to get rid of the executive branch, along with the House of Representatives. Our country would be run by the senate, with each state having equal say it what goes on in America. There would be no electoral college, with the popular vote deciding who will represent our best interests. We also have to get the lobbyists out of Washington. They control everything that goes on with our legislature, from cell phones to marijuana. 

Most importantly, I don't agree with the bailout. AIG executives spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on vacations after the bailout passed, instead of using that money to fix their current situation. They should fail. They brought it on themselves, and now have to face the consequences. If we were to skip our mortgage payments to go to disney world, there would be dire consequences. 

Everyone should get out and vote. Vote for whoever you think can best help America. Don't let anyone else decide for you, and don't jump on a bandwagon because of who your friends are. Don't automatically associate yourself with a certain party because its members all claim to share the same beliefs, pick the person. No two politicians are the same, no matter which convention they attended.  It's the only way to fix this mess. 

5am

I still find it compelling that this speech still holds true today.

With the election coming up and more people than ever coming out in support of the candidates, it's time to move on to topics that we as Americans experience on a daily basis, For one, what should be considered Patriotism in our country? Is it the people  that have the yellow ribbons on their cars? Is it the people with the posters outside congress protesting the war? Is it when Americans believe in their government and how it is run? Or those who don't believe in their government and want to change it? I believe patriotism to be any of those examples just stated. I have however, begun to notice that in today's times, those who are quick to question our government about things like the war in Iraq or respect for the Bush administration are often called un-American. People who have demonstrated what the first amendment and Rousseau's social contract are all about. If an american feels their will is being ignored or their government is acting out then they have the right to rebel and demand change, or otherwise abolish it and go back to being an unsovereign nation. In these past few years there have been few people willing to try and bring about change in a positive way. We need more people like RFK, who tried to bring America together at a time when racial tensions were at their highest; when the leader of the civil rights movement was killed, and when our country was about to embark on a long and drawn out war we didn't belong in. RFK held onto his beliefs up til the very end, when they ended up costing him his life. Americans need to be a nation of patriotism once again, not a nation of hidden agendas and political propaganda. Believe in your country when you feel it should be, but never be afraid to stand up and question it.

Random

Through the magic of photoshop, i can see what i would look like if i went to jail for drug trafficking. 

I decided to start a blog, mostly because it's late at night and i'm bored as hell. since most blogs are full of fluff, i decided to start mine off with a more serious topic: How does everyone feel about the 2008 election and the candidates?