What is it with today’s youth?

Youth has always done outrageous things in an attempt to find their place in society.

Some of the foolish things they do are just too difficult to understand. It falls into the category of what were they thinking. Some can say they weren’t thinking at all but just going with the crowd, or going with the moment.

Don’t they understand that they will be adults someday and what they do could come back to haunt them?

For instance, I saw a video the other day of a high school girl standing in front of her high school running for class president and she stripped! Right down to nothing on at all. What was her reasoning for doing this? Someone in the audience had a video recorder (cell phone or camera) and posted it on the web. What a surprise!

Another disturbing example of teenage ‘low-moral’ behavior is the teens who were filming themselves going through a drive-up window at fast food restaurants and throwing cold drinks on the person in the window. How the hell is this fun?

There is a long list of stupid things that teens do. We have all heard them. Some have even participated in them when they were teens.

Vanessa Hudgens, plays Gabriella in Disney Channels “High School Musical” has nude photos circulating around the web. What was she thinking when she allowed someone to photograph her in the nude? Now that she is becoming more well known she wants to apologize. She says "I want to apologize to my fans, whose support and trust means the world to me." "I am embarrassed over this situation and regret having ever taken these photos. I am thankful for the support of my family and friends." What is her reasoning for apologizing? Does she feel she needs to apologize for herself or for Disney or for her fans? Or, is her ‘timely’ apology directed at any possible future product endorsements that she could lose if she doesn’t offer an apology?

I’m sure that this young woman does not really feel the need to apologize for herself to anyone. That sentiment would require higher moral standards than she has thus far exhibited.

I’m sure she doesn’t give two cents for what her fans think of her as long as she has fans. Her head is so full of herself right now while she is riding the wave of ‘stardom’ that she cannot think outside herself. And no one around her is allowing her too. Especially Disney’s lawyers and publicist.

It’s not that I am just picking on her, but it seems all teenagers are getting like this. What happened to teaching them respect for themselves? What ever happened to the concept that respect is something to value?

Her publicist is tasked with putting up the appearance that this was just some unfortunate silly indiscretion made by an inexperienced youth who is unschooled with the way of the real world. It is nothing more than whitewash orchestrated by Disney’s legal team geared toward Disney’s future. Disney could not care less about her as long as she is making money for them.

I’m sure Disney told her she has to apologize over threat of being booted off of this money making venture, but we all know they would rather ‘suffer’ the ‘perceived indignity’ of supporting a person of ‘loose moral values’ than to lose any money or time it would take to find a replacement. Once again, money rules the day. The only reason Disney is making her apologize is to put up the appearance of maintaining morals because Disney is based in family entertainment. Disney thinks they stand to lose a lot of money if families boycotted them for supporting someone who poses nude.

Therefore, this apology is bogus.

The reasoning for publicly apologizing (or even apologizing at all) is beyond this teenager, and most other teenagers, to envision on her own. She, like most of her peer group, wasn’t thinking of her future when she posed nude. Most teens don’t see how their actions affect their future, or affect others. They live by the motto ‘if it feels good, do it”. Believe it or not this attitude is wrong and can come back to bite you hard.

Is it old-fashioned of me to think it is wrong to publicly display your nude body? Is this what is becoming the new moral standard?

There once was a time when being of good moral character had more value. Today it is only the appearance of good moral character that matters. Today, money and fame have pushed that antiquated belief of ‘good moral character’ aside.

It’s too bad that this young woman (and way too many others like her) doesn’t see the necessity of having good morals before being faced with having to make the decision about whether or not to allow someone to photograph her.

This society has fallen to such a distastefully, low moral state that all she has to do is apologize for her actions (no matter how insincere) and everyone falls for it. This does nothing for setting a good example for today’s youth. It only perpetuates the belief that anyone can do what she did and simply apologize for it and all will be well as long as you appear glamorous. If Ms. Hudgens was not in the spotlight associated with Disney she would not have to make an apology and no one would care.

This is why the likes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Brittney Spears get into trouble and still keep their ‘fans’.

We as parents need to teach our children not to put themselves in this situation, and give them good reasons not to. We need to get back to when morals actually mattered for the sake of morals and not how you can financially better yourself from just appearing to have morals.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Resigns

All I can say is “Hallelujah! It’s about time!”

An Apathetic America is losing its Freedoms

King George has been systematically eroding away the freedoms granted to all Americans by the U.S. Constitution, all in the name of his illegal war in Iraq.

If anyone, at anytime, walks up to the President or the Vice President and makes a statement voicing their negative view of the war in Iraq, that person will be arrested by the Secret Service for assault.

If this statement shocks you, then you have not been paying close enough attention.

This very scenario played out in Beaver Creek, Colorado, when Steve Howards walked up to Vice President Dick Cheney, who was shaking the hands of supporters, and said “Mr. Vice President, I think your policy in Iraq is reprehensible.” Steve then walked away. The Secret Service then approached Mr. Howard, accused him of assaulting the Vice President and arrested him.

If you think this cannot happen in America, if you believe that an American citizen cannot voice his opinion to one of our top elected representatives of this ‘free’ nation, then you need to start paying closer attention to what King George is really up to.

There is a White House manual, written for the advance team of security people who show up at Presidential speech and rally sites ahead of the President and Vice President, that prescribes guidelines to ensure that protestors are out of earshot and to shout down any protestors that are deemed negative to the President and Vice President. This advance team recruits members from the Young Republican associations, from athletic teams, and from fraternities and sororities to stand in front of any protestors and shout them down with chants of “USA, USA, USA!”

Repressing anyone’s right to exercise their freedom of speech is un-American. Our own elected officials are advocating the suppression of freedom of speech.

Does this sound like the America our forefathers outlined for us? Does this sound like the America that thousands of soldiers over the last two centuries have died to protect? Is this the America that stands for freedom?

King George repeatedly reminds us, to the extent that it is nothing more than a brainwashing tactic, that the terrorists are coming to our shores. “Stop Al-Qaeda” has become his favorite war cry. I am all for stopping Al-Qaeda. He tells us how they can destroy this country. They cannot destroy this country. This country can only be destroyed from within. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are destroying this country by undermining the Constitution.

Bush has finally been given the right to spy on Americans, and without warrants, through the National Security Agency. Politicians who once fought against this very un-American attack on our basic right to privacy have now signed off on it. What happened? The first thing that goes through my mind when someone who so vehemently opposes an action and then is suddenly, mysteriously for it is that the person was ‘bought off’ or threatened. Can either of these things be ‘unheard of’? No. not any more.

The mainstream news media does not dig deeply enough to report the repression by our politicians or the un-American activities of our elected officials.

How many times has ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, or CNN reported that the Secret Service shouted down protestors of the Iraq war? I know, it isn’t sensational enough unless someone gets physical. And then the reporter would say that a protestor got ‘out-of-line’ and had to be removed and nothing would be said about the hired goon who strong-armed the protestor just for being there.

Repression is one of the tools of a dictatorship. The news media is facilitating this administration in behaving as a dictatorship by not reporting it. The American people are giving up their rights by not standing up saying something.

As a general rule, I don’t endorse authors books but if you would like to read more on the subject of how this administration is taking away our rights, then these two books should be read: “You Have No Rights” by Matthew Rothschild and ‘The Last Days of Democracy” by Elliot Cohen.

Go now and learn just how close to a Monarchy our 'Democratic Society' has gotten.

Killers go unpunished, society loses again

This falls under the category of eroding moral values and a weak judicial system that does nothing to curtail this type of behavior.

Michael Vick was suspended from NFL 'indefinitely' as a result of his ‘association’ with activities surrounding a dog fighting ring that he bought and paid for. This only goes so far (and not far enough) in the NFL’s efforts to make "a strong statement that conduct which tarnishes the good reputation of the NFL will not be tolerated," as spoken by Falcons owner Arthur Blank. But, Vick’s conduct obviously is not “incomprehensible and unacceptable" enough for Blank to completely cut Vick lose.

Vick is playing the legal system. And there are lawyers out there who are more than willing to facilitate his attempt to get off with as little punishment as possible.

This exemplifies how our legal system has become a ‘dog without a bite’. Please pardon the pun.

Just look at pictures of Vick surrounded by his lawyers. He is smug. He looks like he is challenging the world and he knows he will win. And why not? Our legal system has a long track record of letting people off with as lenient a punishment as they can.

Laws are written to prevent the type of behavior that Vick is accused of and has several witnesses to, but Federal prosecutors agreed to ask for the low end of the sentencing guidelines. Why?

Why is the court system always going for the ‘low-end’ of sentencing guidelines? Can they not convict Vick of the charges based on actual eyewitnesses who have already confessed to being a part of these charges?

Vick admitted to participating in a dogfighting ring. Vick also admitted that he and two co-conspirators killed dogs that did not fight well. This is not just ‘hear say’, the legal term for something that cannot be backed up with proof. He made these statements to members of the law enforcement community which makes them admissible in court. He should be charged with these crimes as well.

Vick said he would plead guilty to one count of "Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce in Aid of Unlawful Activities and to Sponsor a Dog in an Animal Fighting Venture" in a plea agreement filed at U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia. Why is he in control of what he will plead to? How is it that he is the one who decides what he will be punished for?

In an additional summary of facts, signed by Vick and filed with the agreement, Vick admitted buying pit bulls and the property used for training these dogs to fight, and to actually pitting these dogs against each other but the statement said he did not bet on the fights or receive any of the money won. He further states that gambling wins were generally split among co-conspirators Tony Taylor, Quanis Phillips and sometimes Purnell Peace.

Oh Please!! Vick expects us to believe he bought everything needed for dogfighting and for training dogs to fight but did not intend to benefit in any way from dogfighting. That he went through all of this expense for the sole benefit of his co-conspirators? What crap!! Nobody is going set up a betting situation and not take advantage of it in order to get his money back and then some.

You prosecutors cannot possibly be this blind. Everybody on the outside of this judicial system who is paying attention is laughing at you. The federal prosecutors, should be ashamed of themselves.

Vick also agreed that "collective efforts" by him and two others caused the deaths of at least six dogs. This is awfully 'big' of him to admit since he has witnesses that said he did exactly this.

Around April, Vick, Peace and Phillips tested some dogs in fighting sessions at Vick's property in Virginia, the statement said. "Peace, Phillips and Vick agreed to the killing of approximately 6-8 dogs that did not perform well in 'testing' sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road and all of those dogs were killed by various methods, including hanging and drowning.

The prosecutors are not going to convict Vick or any of the others for killing these dogs. They are not going to be punished for the brutal, callous ways in which these devious minds thought up to ‘punish’ these dogs for the ‘crime’ of not having the heart to fight.

You know what they say about people who torture and kill animals? They ‘graduate’ to killing and torturing humans. This is a proven fact. This is not just made up by me to write something more sensational about these sub-humans. These ‘men’ are going to be allowed to live amongst law-abiding citizens after admitting to killing for the pleasure of it. There was nothing ‘humane’ in the way these dogs were killed. These ‘men’ took pleasure in it.

What saddens me even further is that there are NFL ‘fans’ who will think Vick should be allowed to go unpunished just because he is an athlete. Maybe these prosecutors are among those misguided, blind fools.

So, yes, Vick is playing the legal system using low-life manipulative lawyers. He is also playing on the fact that athletes and entertainers always get special treatment above all others. This is an indictment against the legal system and this society in general.

Raising animals to kill each other is barbaric.

These people who raise animals have a debased ‘killer instinct’ that they feel has to be acted upon and they do this by supporting this barbaric treatment of animals.

These dogs were not domesticated so that they can provide entertainment for a few Neanderthal-type individuals who think it makes them feel macho.

Michael Vick and his friends made money on raising dogs to kill each other. He brutalized and killed these animals when it became apparent that his training did not reverse the centuries of domestication that society has bred into these animals.

Our legal system is absolutely justified in punishing anyone who resorts to this type of cruelty against what has become “man’s best friend”.

And now some NBA ‘star’ who defends this activity with the statement “We don’t say anything about people who shoot deers and shoot other animals” should get some education on hunting before opening his obviously, under-educated mouth.

First of all, the plural for deer is ‘deer’ not ‘deers’. Secondly, these are wild animals, they are not domesticated. (Look up the word domesticated in the dictionary so you can keep up.) Thirdly, if we did not hunt these animals they would overrun their natural habitat and become a threat to humans and livestock. And, yes, people are against raising animals for the purpose of shooting them. There are hunting clubs around the world that do exactly this and there are a lot of people who find it abhorrent. Oh, sorry, they find it very distasteful and mean.

So please, get up to speed on the morality of civilized society before you start showing your ignorance on the subject.

It is really sad that so many people look to athletes as their moral spokespersons. This society thinks that because a person can throw a ball, or run really fast, or take a beating on a sports field then that person automatically has some great intellect that we should all listen to.

Being a good athlete has always been a more desirable attribute than being educated. Beginning in high school, athletes have been given special consideration over education just to get them on the playing field. Then, when they get out into the real world people continue to look to them as if they are some special ‘guiding light’ for all of us follow. They are nothing more than entertainers. Pure and simple. They do not know what is best for society. They will never be listed among society’s greatest thinkers.

Given all of this, it is no wonder that the statement of an athlete would be spotlighted by the media as ‘important’ enough to tell the world.

Dog fighting is not a sport.

For our health, we raise animals for our nourishment. For our mental and psychological well-being, we raise animals as pets. For our entertainment, we raise animals in zoos so we can pay to see them in their ‘natural’ habitat and also to help preserve the species.

Dogs in particular have been a major part of our society as pets, protectors, and some would say friends.

Raising domesticated animals for the sole purpose of killing each other and then calling it a sport illustrates just how low and depraved these brutal and un-civilized people have become. It is truly reprehensible that these people are allowed to live amongst us, let alone be looked up to because they are athletes.