Espionage, tensions in Germany

When I think of allies I think of allies in the terms of America's friends. When I think of friends I think of trust, honesty, and reliability. I do not feel the need to spy on my friends as I trust them. Spying would only create a rift in the relationship as they would become weary of my motives, etc. This is exactly what is happening between American and Germany at the moment. It also does not help that Americans can not come up with a reason for their espionage acts. When asked, a clear answer was not given. Just because we have the resources to do something, does not mean that we should proceed to do so. This was wrong and a breach of trust and contract. I can see where we were coming from in saying that we were looking for terrorists but we should have seeked out an okay from Germany or should have simply asked for their knowledge on the current dilemma. America violated an agreement and is now seeing repercussions in the form of tensions. 

On another note, I only agree with parts of Matthew Yglesias's five part plan to fixing the economy. I especially disagree with step 1. We should not allow the federal reserve to print more money. This will only deflate the dollar anymore. Our dollar already does not hold much value. Printing more money is never the answer, it only leads to inflation. If I had it my way, I would see our dollar return to the gold standard. There would be more worth to the dollar and not a constant ability to print more money when the going gets tough. I agree with raising wages by simply lowering housing taxes. This will result in a stimulation of the economy. People will be more willing to spend if this happens and government would eventually see the money they saw in housing taxes in different forms of taxes. Except that this way the money coming from housing taxes is being poured into the economy as well. 

Tensions in Moscow

The ethnic tensions in Russia is a classic example of the lack of tolerance that exists within cultures. The Muslim/migrants tension with Orthodox Christians in Russia can be related to the Pashtun and Hazara tensions that exists within Afghanistan. It can be loosely related to African American and White tensions that existed in the 1950s. There is many more classic examples of this throughout world history. This lack of tolerance for different beliefs, etc. breaks apart countries and forces people to live in fear. These tensions happen because people tend to want to force their beliefs onto others without consideration of what other might think as right. Opinions play a huge part into the lack of tolerance that exists in this world. Migrants in Moscow are afraid to walk the streets at night. They are also afraid to use public transportation systems. While that dynamic is horrible, migrants need to learn to better assimilate. For example, they should stop at red lights and not give people of Russia a reason to hate them. They should abide by basic laws, by no means change their beliefs, but respect the societal structure of Moscow. As they are migrants they should act like guests and not act "as if it their home". 

The Moscow Riots are a domino effect. Many in Moscow are angered by labor migrants are are demanding increased police control. Police are arresting more, thus resulting in increased tensions. The bottom line is that both groups "must learn to live with each other." Maybe the people in Moscow need to look at the labor migrants and thank them for the oil related economic boom. Maybe the labor migrants need to thank the people in Moscow for sharing the city. They need to meet in the middle and be hospitable, thankful for eachother, and tolerant of the different religions. 

Golden Age of Television

When assigned the topic "Golden Age of Television", I immediately thought of some of the classic TV shows we've all grown up watching. Such television shows include Happy Days, Seinfield, Friends, and of later years Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Even Stevens, and Lizzie McGauire. To me each show listed is as good as every other show listed. I had a hard time picking an exact golden age of television in my mind. When reading the article, I found out, instead, that when referring to the Golden Age of Television they were talking about the criticism that has helped further develop the television shows we watch today. Critics are writing about "the conventions and politics of reality TV, they are critiquing aesthetics and assumptions of channels like Food Network and HGTV, they are advocating for under-seen programs and agitating for greater racial, sexual, and gender parity at the networks responsible for this century's television revolution." This article talks about online criticism versus hard copy criticism as well. I tend to trust paper criticism more because almost anybody has access to posting on the internet making the sources distrust able.

I found it very interesting when the article mentioned the aptitude of shows to produce series about either a gangster, murderer, businessperson, hero, anti-hero, etc. People want entertainment, they do not necessarily want the main characters that would most accurately resemble their lives. People want to see excitement, action, and comedy that could otherwise lack in their own lives. They want to see the gangster, murderer, and hero not so much the your everyday business person.

Ferris Bueller Explains the Government Shutdown

For a laugh check out this website to learn about Ferris Bueller's approach to the government shutdown: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/ferris-bueller-explains-the-government-shutdown 

Everybody's heard about the government shutdown, it has become a part of everyday conversation. While people sarcastically joke about this shutdown, lots is going on that could be detrimental to our society. This shutdown will result in a loss of $2.1 million dollars, backup of issued VISAS and passports, and so forth. This could also result in the loss of republican seats in the future elections as they have used this stopgap resolution to "wage war" against Obamacare. This potential loss of seats in the house is my biggest fear. This entire shutdown can be summarized by saying that both the Senate and the House of Representatives were working to advance their own political agendas. Because of this government could not agree on bills to fund federal agencies. Basically, the House (republicans) wrote in the defunding of Obamacare into funding and budget proposals, in turn making the Senate (democrats) not pass the bill as they are largely advocators for this healthcare plan. If the House and Senate were to somehow agree, it would still be no use because Obama would veto any plan that defunded Obamacare. Because republicans fear Obamacare, they were tried to use this stopgap to hinder the continuation of Obamacare.  While I agree with republicans fear of Obamacare, I think that the government shutdown should have been avoided at all costs. The fact that our government can find no middle ground is what worries me for our future and makes me wonder how long this could possibly last. 

As stated earlier, I agree with republicans fear of Obamacare because of my dislike for big-government.  I do not think healthcare should be a mandate, and disagree with healthcare in general. I see it as only driving up healthcare costs. Thus, making medical bills only affordable with medicare, etc while it could be cheaper without any form of healthcare systems. When reading articles about big government, I keep in mind this quote by Henry Ford: "Any man who thinks they can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him, better take a closer look at the American Indian."

Westgate Mall attack Nairobi

When reading this I was immediately angry and upset. What really got to me were the articles about some of the first hand experiences. I honestly do not understand how people could do this. One of the shooters told all the women and children to stand up saying that he only shot men and went on a rampage killing lots of the women and children who stood up, killing children who have no true opinion on religion.  Some first hand account quotes that really resonated in and stayed in my mind were:

“These people are insane. They are not human beings. They must have been brainwashed since childhood.”

“They don’t think like you and me. They have a warped, twisted reasoning. They are not Muslims. They are dangerous criminals who use religion to create divisions"

"They attacked innocent people and they should be punished. I’m a Muslim and this has nothing to do with Islam. The Quran says you shouldn't even kill a fly."

"The air was heavy with death and evil. You could smell it."

"They spray bullets on innocent children who don’t know good or bad. They are less than animals. I have anger inside and it makes me feel negatively about the Islamic religion. I hope they suffer in hell."

These quotes were very vivid and described the Al-Shaabab in a way that no one else accurately could.  A common theme in what the survivors were saying was that the shooters were brainwashed, evil, less than animals, and they mentioned lots of religious ties. These attacked were said to be rooted from Islam and the Al-Shaabab has ties to Al Qaeda. First off, how can somebody even do this and secondly how can they relate this to a religion. You cannot justify murder especially not by quoting a religion in this case muslim. When I hear about shootings, or other terrorist attacks I immediately wonder how humans could do this to people just like you and me. I can only wonder what would could be done to prevent future attacks. I do believe that the United States should not get involved as they have already done enough damage by basically giving the Al-Shaabab power. Kenya is a extreme situation that does not follow the traditional guidelines of everyday society.  What many people fail to realize is the power of extreme situations to transform attitudes. However, these attitudes are reckless and show no compassion or regard for human life.

Reini, James. "Mall Siege Survivors Recount Harrowing Ordeal." - Features. N.p., 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013. <http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/09/mall-siege-survivors-recount-harrowing-ordeal-2013927102037658462.html>.