tcole31314's blog

I live in KY and let me tell ya, there are a lot of rebel flags flying high. People put them on their cars, wear bandannas, tee-shirts, get tattoos, even fly them in their yards. When I ask them what it means to them I usually get the response, "its all about heritage! not hatred". But most commonly if I ask these same people how they feel about African Americans their the first to tell racist jokes, and say that they should get back on the boat to Africa! I had a discussion with one teenage guy that was wearing a tee shirt that said, "I have a dream" on the front and then on the back it had a picture of the White House with a Rebel flag flying  above it. I asked him if he thought the rebel flag might offend African Americans, and his response was simple, they have the X and I have Mine! I personally think that it could be offensive to African Americans, it is a reminder of how things was and would have remained if the south had won. I especially think that rebel flags that say, "The South will Rise Again" are offensive. Those remarks show that many still approve of slavery and still harbor ill feelings towards African Americans. What do you all think?  Read More »

I'm talking about organ transplants, blood transfusions, condoms, life support etc. Are these things justified in religion? Take the Mary Chivo (spelling) case. A lot of religious people were up in arms about that, my question is this would she have survived the stroke at all if it wasn't for man made life saving medicine?  So while many religious people argue that assisted suicide is an abomination, Aren't the life saving methods that I described also an abomination? I mean by this logic aren't doctors, phyisicians, nurses, scientists, and pharmacuetical companies playing God by creating and using their man made methods to cheat and prolong death? I know it says Jesus made a blind man see and saved a leper (spelling) but he was the son of God, he supposedly came back from death. But I argue that man has gone farther then Jesus as far as healing and medicine goes. So what do our religious leaders make of this? Do they support going against the natural order of things? Most people religious or not take advantage of these life saving measures, our desire to live is strong, but is it covered in religion?  Read More »

Rep. William Jefferson has been caught on tape accepting a bribe of $100,000 in hundred dollar bills by an informant in the FBI! They have everything on tape including the conversations and they found the money in his freezer. What kind of punishment do you all think he deserves? A fine? Prison time? You know I was thinking about it and I think he should be made to do $100,000 dollars worth of community service! I think it should count like minimum wage so every hour he does takes off $5.25 or whatever. What do you all think?  Read More »

We all know about the expected gender roles in our society, boys wear blue girls wear pink, boys play with trucks, and play army while girls take care of baby dolls and host tea parties. Boys are taught to be aggressive and girls are taught to be submissive and nurturing. We all know about it so why keep doing it? My proposal is simple, well at least in theory. I think all schools should have their teachers start showing children how alike they really are. Instead of pointing out the differences. Little girls should be showed that its okay for them to play with trucks, and to play sports with the boys. All sports should be opened up for girls if they choose to play. Little boys should be showed that house cleaning isnt the womans job, and that they can take care of babies too. Boys should be taught that women can do any kind of job and hold any kind of position. This is simple enough of a thought don't ya think? I chose doing this at school because parents often do the reverse without even realizing it. I chose children because they are the future, any real changes in society will have to be made through them. I think this is the only way there will ever be true equality between the sexes in our society.  Read More »

I'm sorry but I just can't understand why we would rebuild areas in Fl and La, and Tx that we know will be hit again by hurricanes. Many of the places in Fl hadn't recovered from hurricanes a few years ago when they were destroyed by the hurricanes this past year. Why do we keep doing it? Why do people have such a strong desire to live in those areas in the first place? I know its "Home" for those people but I believe home is where you make it. Why can't they make it further back away from danger?  I'm sorry if I offend anyone who lives in those areas but I just don't understand it. What do you all think? Is there a good reason to rebuild in those areas? What are they?  Read More »

Do you know whats in your fertilizer? If you think the answer is Poop you'd be badly mistaken. Most fertilizers have not been made with animal waste for over 50 yrs! I did some research on this a few years ago for a paper about white collar crime and its effects on the environment and the public. I couldn't believe it when I found out what these companies are getting away with. The short version is this: Toxic waste is very expensive to get rid of it has to go to a controlled dump site and there has to be extensive records kept on it. But back in the 50's this guy found out that he could take toxic waste from metal refinishing places and make fertilizer out of it because of the high levels of zinc and it contained. Never mind the fact that it also contained several "Heavy Metals" which are very toxic to the environment, animals and ourselves!  The idea grew rapidly and for all these years fertilizer companies have been buying toxic waste from auto manufacturers etc. and turning it into fertilizer to be used on crops in the U.S. The companies are supposed to keep track of toxic waste from birth till its put into the dump site but they found a loophole, all they have to do is charge a small fee for the waste and it becomes a "Product" therefore no longer needing to be traced!!!!!  This stuff is being spread on our fields, it grows hay for our livestock!  Yes there have been documented cases of this stuff ruining land, killing animals and causing large numbers of cancer in a given area. The problem is that these companies can easily say you can't prove we caused this because lots of things cause cancer!  Also did you know that here in the U.S we have the lowest safety guards on heavy metals in fertilizer! Canada won't even allow their farmers to use fertilizer made in America unless its organic. There are some really good websites on this topic and one really good book but I can't remember the name of it off hand. It was written by an investigative reporter for the Seattle Times, He also wrote several pieces on this for that paper. I'll get the name of it later I promise.  Read More »

In my hometown there was supposedly a problem with the new voting machines. Usually they report each precinct and race as the tallys come in after the voting has been cut off for the night. This year however they didn't do that, no reason was given. At 7:45Pm they announced that all the tallys had come in except for one precinct and that they would be reading them off all together shortly. At 8P they announced that the computers went down and that they would have to hand count all the votes!  Now wait a minute if all the votes were in except for in one precinct why would they have to count all of them by hand? Nothing else was reported until 8am the next morning! And instead of giving the totals for each precinct for each candidate they just gave the total number of votes for each candidate. At 8pm that night they announced that one of the candidates they said was a winner was actually the loser! They claimed that the name and number of votes were mixed up! The next day I heard that their was supposed to be a recount but nothing has ever been said of this as of yet. In 2 counties close to mine there were reports that the new voting machines didn't lock in the peoples votes so it was possible for them to be changed at a later time. "Tampering" An investigation was supposed to take place, again nothing was ever mentioned about it. If we can't even ensure true actual counts on the county level how in the hell are we supposed to believe in the counts in the big elections?!  Read More »

I think that every elected official that votes on policy changes should be required to list the issues they voted on, how they voted and they should have to give a simple explanation as to why they voted the way they did. The people need to know what their elected officials are actually doing, for the most part we vote these people in and lose track of what their doing unless it actually makes the news. Most people know very little about the candidates their voting for, all they know is what the TV ads says about them and we all know that those things are crap most of the time. Plus this would give the small guys who don't have a huge amount of money to run a campaign to reach a large number of people and show them what their about. What do you all think?  Read More »