Censorship

The United States government recently censored over 70 websites. Among the websites censored were Torrentfinder.com and other related copyright infringement cites. The owner of the website remarked, "M domain has been seized without any previous complaint or notice from any court!"I don't think that it's just for the government to seize a website without any notification. Although torrent sites technically are illegal and are stealing from others, seizing a website without prior notification seems absurd to me. I know that we have to be safe especially with Wikileaks coming out with new information and all, but there's a very thin line between censorship and unjust censorship.

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Republican Candidates Article

This article is a good article in the way it informs people of the possible candidates running for election in 2012 for the Republican Party. The article talks about how the Republicans are searching for better candidates because they are so divided right now. With so many opposing viewpoints within the party they are going to have to find an all encompassing candidate if they are going to have a chance to beat Obama in 2012. The tea party has really divided the Republicans with their extreme views and thus, there's a strong division within party lines. Some possible candidates include Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney, but none of them have  a clear advantage over the others. The Democrats have to be loving this because their opposition is totally divided. This article does a great, non biased job of explaining the facts surrounding the election in 2012. Non biased coverage is essential in keeping a nation informed.

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Fox News, Birth Certificate

This video detracts from keeping the publice informed. I have to admit I am biased and I am not a fan of Fox News Channel, but in this Video Michelle Malkin makes some seriously outrageous claims. She talks about how frivolous resident Obama has been in the fact that he said he needed to focus on more important issues than Birth Certificate veracity, yet he then goes on the view and plays basketball. I find it necessary to point out that the president before Obama took more time out of work than any other president in history. She also says that Whoopi Goldberg on the view played the race card. I don't agree with that statement at all. It is racist that people are calling for Obama's birth certificate. Why didn't they ask for Bush's or Clinton's birth certificate, or for that matter any other president in history? I don't think it is a coincidence that the first black president in history is the first one demanded of his birth certificate. Overall this video is incredibly biased and is definitely detracting from the publics view on politics.

The Internet's Effect on the World

Shortly after Hosni Mubarak stepped down, an activist named Wael Ghonim spoke out on Wolf Blitzers show saying that he owed the revolution to Facebook. As one of the leaders of the protest on january 25, Ghonim said that he reached out to the youth of the country on Facebook to inspire the revolution. After years of oppression from the Egyptian government, the people rose up to fight it, and Facebook played a key role in developing the revolt. Although Ghonim insisted that he was not a hero because he was just sitting behind a computer, he said that the true heroes were the ones on the streets putting their lives on the line. The fact is that Facebook and the internet have taken over our world and anything can happen now. Revolutions can happen in an instant with the internet and the ability to communicate so quickly. The internet has shaped our world in ways that were never possible only a decade or two ago.

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Opposing Political Ads

This ad campaign is very misleading. Mitt Romney talks about how we are raising taxes and how we are in trillions of dollars in debt. The reality is, that Bush put us in to these trillions of dollars of debt. Bush got us into this mess and Obama had to come in and clean it up. The raised taxes are absolutely necessary. We have to raise taxes in order to get out of the debt.There's no way we can start making money unless we tax the American people and cut certain programs.
But, although misleading, its still effective. The comercial has a very official feel to it and makes the viewer think that Romney is the perfect candidate to be running the country.



This is a good ad. Although I am biased towards democrats I actually think this ad is better than the other. This ad interviews people from all different races and genders and gets their opinion. The opposing ad is very slanderous and makes a point to put down the opposition, while this ad just promotes the candidate. This ad has a positive message throughout and I feel is a better approach to a political campaign

The Problem With E-Commerce

   E-commerce taxation is a very difficult issue for states.The problem with e- commerce is that states cannot tax it. People selling items to each other on Ebay or Craigs List makes no money for the state, which is detrimental to their funding. With e- commerce on the rise, it will be interesting to see how they decide to tax it. They must tax it universally with the same amount so as their is not a gray area and a difference between different websites.The problem will also occur in border to border deals. Because all states have different percentages of taxation, it is hard to decide which states policy should be used. This issue will become more prevalent in our society as e- commerce becomes more and more popular.


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Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

In 1954 in Topeka, Kansas a group of activists and lawyers in the NAACP decided to try to overturn Plessy V. Ferguson. They combined 4 different cases that all had to do with black and white integration in schools. A little black girl named Linda Brown had to walk miles to get to her all black school and lived a block away from the all white school. She was part of a test case that was taken to the Supreme Court. They argued that the schools were not "separate but equal" facilities and in the end won the case. the court ruled unanimously in their favor and ended segregation in schools. I agree with the courts decision. The fact that schools weren't integrated al the way until 1954 is astounding. America is a great country but we definitely have some bad spots in our history, and segregation is one of them. This decision, although it took a while to go into effect, overturned segregation and was monumental in the American Civil Rights movement.