Why Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Will NOT Win the Presidency

Neither Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will win the presidency of the United States come 2008. What does Clinton support? What is her political position? We do not really know. She is so popular right now because she is being supported by the biased news media. Clinton is also popular because she appeals to everyone by not voicing an opinion on issues. Go to her website. There is no place to click on the main page that will tell you her opinions and stances on issues. At least on Obama's website there is a place to click to view his political stance. But it is so vague that it is almost just as bad; "Improving Our Schools." Well, every one wants to do that. They are only popular because they are likable (one is a woman and the other is black, both are Democrats) by the news media and because they have not taken any political stances. Clinton and Obama will eventually have to make known their political view points. Otherwise, the exact same thing that happened to John Kerry will happen to them, they will lose. "I voted for the war before I voted against it." Remember that? That was Kerry trying to not take a stance on a major issue. And when they do take a stance, they are going to lose anyways. Because their stance will be liberal. How do we know it will be liberal? Because they can not win without taking a stance. And their stance can not become conservative, because then they will not get the Democrat's nomination. Sure, once they have taken the liberal stance, they will appear to get tons of support. But it will all be coming from the extreme wackos in the Democratic Party. The regular American is not going to vote for them. So, as can be seen, Clinton and Obama are not going to win the Presidency.

School

Recently, there has been a push by several states, including North Dakota, New York, and New Mexico, to extend how long kids are in school. By extending the school day, supporters claim the day can then be less structured and more electives can be offered. But this is really not necessary. New courses, such as cooking and a class for making a magazine are all things that can and should be done at home. Putting kids in school longer is going to cost tax payers a lot of money. Plus, it further limits how much time kids have to do their own things. This is a bad idea and should not be implemented.

At the same time, several other schools are reducing the amount of homework kids have to do. A study done be the University of Missouri showed that home work for elementary kids doesn't benefit them. I believe the amount of homework kids have to do even hurts them. It has a similar effect to lengthening the school day. It takes away time kids have to be kids. It also takes away family time, just like a lengthen school day does.

The school day does not need to be lengthened, nor does there need to be so much homework. Schools need to be reformed so that while kids are there, they will learn more. Currently, way to much time is wasted on things that do not need to be taught in school.

MotoGP news

For fans of MotoGP racing this is good news. The best website for racing news is now going to cover MotoGP. Autosport will have news and coverage of MotoGP, here is their site: http://www.autosport.com/bikes/

Star Wars

If you have been following the news lately you will have noticed that all of a sudden there are mainstream news stories on the United States wanting to put part of their Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as "Star Wars," on European soil. It is interesting because there is no real opposition to the plan from Poland, the Czech Republic, or the United Kingdom. In fact, it appears the United Kingdom is pushing the United States to put a base in that country.

Former Soviet Bloc countries Poland and the Czech Republic seem to be very open to the idea despite the fact that Russia is condemning it. For some reason Russia is very strongly opposed to the idea. This, coupled with the United Kingdom wanting a base too, makes me think that the Star Wars program is much closer to being ready to go then may be thought. And the United States may be offering some defense via the system to whichever countries allow them to set up a base on their ground.

It will be interesting to see what transpires.

Minimum Wage Increase

With Democrats now in control of Congress, they are busy trying to get the minimum wage increased. While this may seem like a good idea, in reality it is not.

Increasing the minimum wage, as well as having a minimum wage in the first place, decreases the amount of low paying, low skilled jobs there are. This is because with no minimum wage, an employer can higher someone to do the easy chores such as sweeping the floor and etc. in addition to their normal workers. But with a minimum wage, the business will not be able to support this extra worker and will have to lay him off. This will in turn mean the regular workers will have to do the grunt work in addition to their regular, skilled jobs therefore decreasing productivity. It also means that people such as students and teenagers will lose these low skilled jobs and not have a source of spending cash.

The minimum wage also raises the cost of business. In Iowa, the state increased its minimum wage. This means that in Waterloo, there will likely be a rise in the cost of city-run sports programs such as baseball and basketball. This happens because they are forced to pay their workers more. And hence they have to pass the cost on to the consumer. Therefore, it will cost more to play sports. If the cost of business goes up, then so does the cost of living.

Real ID

The Real ID Act, which has to be complied with by May of 2008, is a major privacy, freedom, civil liberties concern. Because of this act, states are forced to issue federally approved identification cards, or, federal drivers licenses. While citizens are not forced into obtaining these new identification cards, in reality they will have to. The new IDs will be required for everything from driving to collecting social security payments. They will also be required to use services from such businesses as banks.

This is a real privacy, freedom, and civil liberties concern. The id's will require a digital photograph, this way, they can be included in a multi-state database. They also can be checked with federal databases. This means that the federal government has really created and forced upon us national identification cards. The government should stay out of our lives! It has no business knowing where we go and what we do. Our personnel privacy, freedom, and civil liberties are being taken away from us. America is not the, "land of the free (but may I see your papers?)," it is the "land of the FREE! And it should stay that way and become more that way. In Germany, a person has to notify the government when he moves to a new house. This is a slippery slope the US is on in introducing these new IDs. Soon we may be required to always keep our approved ID on us. And if we get caught with out it, we will get arrested. We are becoming guilty of everything until proven innocent.

Everyone who has not read "1984" by George Orwell should get a copy of it and read it.

Bill would ban Ipods

Well there is now yet another Bill that is designed to protect us from ourselves in the works. This time it is in New York. The proposed Bill would ban the use of Ipods, cell phones, and BlackBerrys from being used while a person is crossing a street. Violators would have to pay a $100 fine. State Senator Carl Kruger says that we should not be endangering ourselves while crossing the street.

This is completely ridicules. If a person crosses the street and gets hurt because of a distraction, such as an Ipod or cell phone, it is completely his own fault. If they ban Ipods are they also going to ban the carrying of bags across the street? Ipods are not the only thing that can distract us. We can get hurt crossing the street from almost any distraction. What if an unusual plane flies over? Or a person's hat blows off? Again, if a person gets injured through their own fault because they were distracted, it is entirely their own fault. There is no need to pass legislation banning distractions. If people get hurt, then they need to be more careful. They do not need to be told what they can and can not do be the government.

North Dakota Legislature

The North Dakota Legislature is in the midst of deciding whether or not youths younger than 18 years old needs to have parental consent to get a tattoo. This is absurd! Parents already decide what their kids can and can not do. If a kid comes into a tattoo shop and wants a tattoo, obviously his parents have allowed him to get a tattoo. Otherwise, he would not be getting a tattoo.

Some of the stuff the North Dakota Legislator is spending their time on is crazy. In addition to the Bill written on above they have also decided upon a state fruit! That is ridicules and a waste of time. They are spending tax payer dollars to determine something trivial like a state fruit. Not only that, it is really just a matter of opinion as to which fruit it should be. There is nothing to support, say the chokecherry over the juneberry, it is all a matter of opinion. The Legislator should spend their time, and tax dollars, on stuff that has merit for the state. By the way, the chokecherry was made the state fruit.

Athlete's Behavior

No, I am not talking about Pro Athletes, but maybe that is part of the problem. What I am talking about is youth athletes.

This past weekend there was a Bantam B hockey tournament in Minot, ND. The championship game was between Rugby, ND and Carnduff, SK, Canada. With Carnduff leading 5-3 in the third period, there was a scrum in the crease and the Carnduff goalie thought he had the puck covered. But he does not and Rugby shoots it in to bring them within one point of tying the game. The Carnduff goalie then flips out, dropping multiple F-bombs. At this point the referee assesses him a Misconduct penalty. This requires that a substitute for the goalie go to the penalty box to serve his penalty. But the goalie continues to swear and is consequently ejected from the game. As it turns out, this was the team's only goalkeeper. So the team is forced to play with six skaters and no goalie for about three minutes of playing time, until they got another player dressed in the goalie gear. They did manage to not allow a goal while this was going on but eventually Rugby scored on the inexperienced fill-in goalie. This sent the game into overtime where Rugby ended up scoring to win the game and the tournament.

The point is that this irresponsible Bantam youth player likely cost his team the game and the championship. Swearing should not be put up with by coaches and parents. This should really never happen because parents should teach there kids to have better character. But if parents do not address it, then coaches need to take a stand and do something about it. Perhaps bench the athlete until he plays with character, or something else along these lines. Youth athletes should be molded to have higher standards of respect and morality. It is ridicules that youth athletes act in this way.

Burr...It's Cold Out!

Here is a list of the Hi and Low temperatures for tomorrow (Sunday):

Hi Low

Minot, ND 1F -15F
Bismarck, ND 3F -15F
Grand Forks, ND -6F -19F
Fargo, ND -5F -20F
St. Paul, MN 1F -13F
Duluth, MN -7F -20F
International Falls, MN -10F -20F
Sioux Falls, SD 4F -12F
Madison, WI 1F -12F
Green Bay, WI 2F -8F
Des Moines, IA 11F -9F
Cedar Rapids, IA 7F -13F

That is COLD!

Most people living in these areas are probably looking forward to Global Warming!

Yet Another Hypocritical School

The University of Wisconsin has announced that they will not play the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux in any sports with the exception of hockey where the two schools are in the same conference. This comes not to long after the University of Minnesota had announced a similar decision. They will not play North Dakota because of their use of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo. This is highly hypocritical of Wisconsin. They will not play North Dakota because their athletic teams are named for a group of people, the Dakota (or Sioux) Indians. At the same time, Wisconsin's athletic teams are also named for a group of people. Their nickname comes from the people who mined lead in Wisconsin in the 1820s. When winter came, the minors sought shelter in under ground tunnels. Thus, they were like Badgers living in the ground. So why is it that the Wisconsin's athletic teams can be named after a group of people but North Dakota's can not? Also, Wisconsin will play the Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners are named after the group of people who arrived into the Oklahoma Territory "sooner" than they were allowed to. Again, why is it that Wisconsin's athletic teams, along with a school they play, have the right to name their teams for a group of people but not North Dakota? It is hypocritical.

Formula One and Customer Chassis

Recently, there has been a push from some Formula One teams for customer chassis. A customer chassis is a chassis made by one team and used by that team and another team. Customer chassis will dilute Formula One. If customer chassis are allowed, soon Formula One will become like other racing formulas that allow customer chassis. These formulas (Champ Car World Series comes to mind) use only a few chassis among all the teams. Formula One teams like Ferrari, McLaren, and Renault that have the recourses and money will become the sole chassis manufactures. Soon we might have four car teams. This could lead to fewer teams, since there is a car limit, and it could lead to three cars supporting one car in an attempt to win the championship. Also, there is the issue of limited testing. With two teams using the same chassis, that chassis gets twice as many miles of testing and hence, the chassis will develop faster. People already do not like it when Ferrari has a "Red Wash" season. Imagine what it would be like if Ferrari Team 1 took first and second place and Ferrari Team 2 took third and fourth place. When a fan is watching a race he knows that a Ferrari uses a Ferrari chassis. He also knows that a Williams uses a Williams chassis. If customer chassis are allowed, the fan will no longer be able to easily know what chassis the team is actually running. Is that Williams running a Ferrari chassis or a Honda chassis? Or possibly even their own "Williams" chassis? Customer chassis would also bring Formula One even closer to a spec series because eventually every team might be running one of two chassis. And then before you know it, every team would have the same chassis. Formula One should stick to each team having to design and make their own car. Perhaps at a later time I will explore what Formula One can do to make the racing exciting again, but allowing customer chassis is not it.