In the last few weeks, I've come up with a bunch of different things that have pissed me off, stupefied me, and just plain made me think. These items that we see in our society today are just more reason to believe that we are done with life as we know it, that we are now a bunch of outside world-fearing people who don't give a siht about the environment....

Item #1: Communism and Socialism

Quick starter question....Is Communism a political belief or an economic system?

If you said political belief, you'd be wrong....Communism is an economic system in which every person works for the good of the whole. The village doctor makes the same amount of money as the school's janitor, but they all are contributing to the success of the community/country as a whole. NEWSFLASH PEOPLE!!!! In theory, THIS IS NOT A BAD THING!!!! The enormous problem with it? Well....IT DOESN'T WORK....people are greedy and the village doctor thinks he deserves way more money for his work than the lowly school janitor.

What irks me is when someone utters, "Damn commies" about something or refers to a country as Communist. There is ONE country that was even CLOSE to Communism, and that was China a while back, which still had an economic elite that controlled the country. The problem I see in this is that Communism has such a negative connotation attached to it due to the political propaganda that our government fed the U.S. people during the Vietnam War and the Cold War. If Communism was really so frowned upon, why would there be a Communist candidate on the ballots in several states come election time?

Socialism, on the other hand, is when the government controls everything in the economy. They decide what is made, who can have what....Universal health care is an example of a SOCIALIZED system, where the government controls the health care, its cost, and what the coverage is. The Soviet Union was a Socialist State...NOT A COMMUNIST STATE...and during the Cold War, the government devoted a large amount of their resources towards building military equipment, so any food, clothing, etc., you would buy whatever you could get your hands on, not what you wanted....

Item #2: Global Warming and The United States

Contrary to the belief brought up by several United States senators, there actually IS a consensus that global warming is taking place, but there is really no consensus as to just how bad it will be. Every day, we, as citizens of the United States are bombarded by both sides of this campaign, wanting us to either go green or to continue on with our current way of life. 

That last point is basically what it comes down to in terms of our actions about climate change. As Americans, we really don't want to change our lifestyle, especially those of us who have had the same type of life since we were born. We would rather drive two blocks to a party or meeting than ride a bike or walk. We would rather go and grab a burger at McDonald's than make a sandwich at home. We would rather drive an SUV than a hybrid sedan.

These reasons are why America as a whole has an amazingly large carbon footprint compared to the rest of the world. Europeans rely heavily on their mass transit systems, which flow much better than even the best systems in the U.S. People living in Europe live much different lifestyles than we do here in The United States, and it shows in their carbon footprints. They give a damn about our environment. They know that if we don't do somthing about it, we won't be able to live on this planet much longer...(And Mars isn't looking like a great option anymore...)

No matter what your belief on whether global warming is real or not, you can still do something in the case that it IS happening. It's kind of like driving, when you get in a car, you put a seat belt on just in case you get in an accident, but a very large majority of the times you go out there, you don't get in an accident. Reducing carbon emissions is kind of like putting on that seat belt, except for that scientists believe that the car is going to crash. Replacing a gas-guzzler with a hybrid not only saves you money, but it can cut your carbon emissions by almost 70% over a year....

Item #3: Gas

This one will be short, it's just something that I thought of the other day....

It seems to me like gas prices have put themselves in an endless spiral upwards. Oil costs more, so the gas costs more, so then it costs more to ship the gas, which then drives up the gas prices again, which drives up the shipping prices, and on and on and on in an endless cycle. This is why it's not unlikely that the national average goes over $4 by the end of June, if not by Memorial Day....

Item #4: Campaign Promises

This kind of goes back to Item #2...Coming up on the crucial legs of the primary season for the Dems, where 3 delegates could make or break Obama, we need to beware of campaign pledges by any candidate....When you hear a candidate make a promise to reduce taxes, lower gas prices, get out of Iraq, or cap carbon emissions, take a look at it and try to figure out how realistic that it can be fulfilled and whether the person has the record to actually try to put that into action. It was just in 2000 that George W. Bush ran on a promise to reduce carbon emissions, then within two years of being elected, he completely changed his stance, withdrew from the Kyoto Treaty, and spent a bunch of money going into Afghanistan.

Item #5: Bush

Speaking of Bush...So "everybody" hates Bush, eh? Then why the hell did he get elected twice?

Thanks for reading something totally not about sports....I just wanted my 50th blog to be something meaningful...not a bunch of mindless jibberish about sports....

-SS