The Tenants of Our Nation

What is the role of government in our lives? We as a people, created this government to establish justice, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. These powerful words contained within the Preamble of the Constitution, outline pretty well what services and accommodations that the government should supply, so that our peoples live full, free, and happy lives. It seems that in the highly partisan climate, from both political parties, has created a situation in which we have forgotten the reason that this country was created.

The first tenant mentioned in the preamble is to establish justice. Our justice system is in shambles, with new stories of innocent people being sentenced to long prison sentences and only now getting their freedom due to DNA testing. Not to mention the justice atrocities in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay which not only fall far below our supposed justice standards, but broadcast a sour image to the rest of the world.

Providing for the common defense, indeed this is a very important facet of the constitution. But at what cost to the rest of our unalienable rights are we willing to give for the ‘ultimate’ protection? We have seen many of our rights being trampled on and no one seems to bat an eye at it, our when they do it is not to the level for which it should be taken… and I must admit I am guilty of this as well. We must demand that the government no longer be able to read our emails, listen to our phone calls, and other invasions of our privacy. If we do not I fear that we will lose all of the freedoms we take for granted.

One of the most important facets of the preamble is to promote the general welfare. This is a very broad statement, and one which must be taken as broad in scope as well. The general welfare of any person tends to theĀ  basic necessities for survival; food,water, shelter, clothing, and air. The general welfare of a person also includes their health as well. This thus gives the government the express consent to do a variety of things. It allows the government to regulate the food industry to ensure that monopolies don’t form, and there is no price gouging of the goods provided. It gives them permission, with the consent of the people, to ensure that there are no issues with how how food is grown and cultivated to ensure that the spread of disease is minimal. With food, there is also the necessity to educate people about healthy eating habits, and to provide healthy foods, for families and individuals who can’t afford a nutritious meal.

Water and air are extremely important to our survival, and indeed the survival of most organic matter on our planet. It seems logical therefore, to allow the government to monitor the environment and ensure that we have a healthy and clean Earth to live upon. The current EPA regulations that are in place are OK, but the could be radically improved upon.

Since 1976, with help from Jimmy Carter, the Habitat for Humanity organization has been helping providing low income families with a place to call their own. The Salvation Army is also very helpful in providing clothing and other items at a low cost.

Health is a very important issue at this time, with the national debate varying wildly. There are those that feel that the government should not intervene in health care, because of fears instilled in them by the advocates for the insurance companies. They are concerned that a guarantee of health services by the government would mean a decrease in the quality of services provided. This is a strange belief seeing as we are ranked 37th in the world in health care. The number one rank belongs to France, who has a national health care plan. Some people believe that national health care would mean that the government would be able to decide your doctor, your hospital and take all freedom out of the equation. This is not what the governments role in health care should be, their role should be to guarantee all services to citizens when they are in need of it. People who have to deal with the bureaucracies of insurance companies, trying to get treatment when they have provided money month in and out to the company for insurance of their health.

If the founding fathers could see what our country has become today, they would be ashamed that we let the freedoms and personal liberties, and the welfare of the nation decline in such a way that it has. Our country was founded for the people’s interest and we should strive to attain this lofty goal. It is therefore our job to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity before it is too late.

Ent Shrugged

Show your love for the planet, and your desire for a global change in the way we use and produce energy. A reference to Atlas, the bearer of the world, this t-shirt shows the importance of our environment to the security of our world.

Ent Shrugged shirt
Ent Shrugged by DaCatsMeow
Browse Atlas T-Shirts

Telltale Games $5 for a limited time!

From Telltale:

In the spring of 2004, Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner left LucasArts with a vision for a brand new type of interactive entertainment, and founded Telltale Games.

Five years later, Telltale has over 70 employees. In the time other developers take to create one game, we’ve put out more than twenty, featuring characters you know and love — Sam & Max, Strong Bad, Wallace & Gromit, and Bone. We’ve created games that are funny, creative, and have great stories. And since they’re episodic, you can actually finish them, and look forward to the next episode!

To show their appreciation for all of their fans, Telltale is offering all of their episodic content for just $5 an episode until June 17, 2009. To redeem this simply enter this coupon code upon online checkout at http://www.telltalegames.com/store/.

YOUR COUPON CODE: GSH-JZR-AC2-EM9

A Record Spins Slowly

There isn’t anything quite like a record, and yesterday I rekindled my interest in them. I went to a local record wholesale joint, and got myself a needle and spent hours browsing their wares.

There is something special about the analogue.It’s as if while that record is spinning you are taken to the place and time the record was recorded. Just yesterday I was listening to an Elvis presley album I own, in which he was playing a show in Vegas. I could feel the energy of the crowd, and the subtle echoes of time preserved on a 12 inch disc.

It could also be the fact that knowing you have a rare album makes you feel special in some way or form. Posessing an album which people may have never even heard of, and watching the record spin slowly round and round while the needle traces every imperfection.

There is hardly anything like it.

The tactile feel of the albums, and the tender care of Album cover design and inserts into the album are worth noting too. For example my copy of the Beatles white album still contains the poster and individual pictures of the band members as was included in its release. There is tender care in the included leaflets, and is awesome in its power to compel.

So I say a record spins slowly, and it gives you a window into a world unlike your own, albeit briefly, giving you glimpses of things you never would have considered before.

Washed Up Wednesday V4

I’ve neglected my Washed Up duties over the past couple months, and it is just an hour shy of Wednesday, before my first day in college. I’ve had an inkling to rekindle this post so here goes.

First up we have the Youtube user VaDrum, he is an excellent drummer. Here he does his rendition of The Barber of Seville.

Second we have Greg Pattillo with a beatbox flute rendition of Peter and the Wolf.

Third I present to you Art Rodriguez with a metal cover of Mozart’s Turkish March.

Last but least to complete these modern day classics, Zack Kim plays Prelude No.2 in C minor, by J.S.Bach on two guitars at the same time.

I’ve hope you’ve enjoyed this, as always have a great day.

Spore Creature Creator Videos

I’ve been sporing away and have some more video’s to share with you. As always you may visit my youtube account through the blogroll, and I’ll be adding my sporepedia page in the next few days to my blogroll.

And one of my personal favorites

Spore Short Story

This is a short story I wrote for a competition on the spore.com forums. It is about a bounty hunter named Grell. He can be found here, the Nurples here, and the Nurple Patriarch here. I hope you enjoy my story and let me know any comments/suggestions you may have.

The Valarian Project has been known to always pay of its debts. They have a proud reputation and have no indications of abandoning this creed. This level of integrity highly intrigues a certain bounty hunter, as he has had numerous debts squelched. If anyone had the honor of fulfilling payment, it would be the Valarian project.

Read the rest of this entry »

Garmin T3 Awards – The Oscars of Technology

The T3 awards are the pinnacle of all technology awards systems, and you decide what wins what awards.

To vote click here.

Spore Creature Creator Videos

I recently downloaded the Spore Creature Creator and have had fun making some new creatures. I’ll post my youtube account to my blogroll, as well as update this page periodically, if you like my creatures subscribe to my channel on youtube.

There are many more video’s on my youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/mchmt55116

Super Mario Multiverse

So who knew Mario was good at something else besides smashing goomba’s? Kudos to the author for a reference to a Stanley Kubrick Movie as well.

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