Same Sex marriage and the Republicains

Republicains have signed a new brief arguing in favor of same sex marriage. Many prominent republicains dd this such as Jon Huntsman and Meg Whitman both people who campaigned on anti-same sex platforms. Republicains in general have a vert anti-same-sex marriage campaign platform. Other republicains who claimed to be pro same-sex marriage have not signed this legal brief. these include former first lady Laura Bush and Bush's former VP Dick Cheney.

The author wants the reader to feel like this is strange. I certanly feel that way the republicains made such a drastic change of platform. Also the people who said thta they supported Gay marriage refuse to sign it suck as Laura Bush. The author is poking holes in the republicain Logic. This is not to suprising seeing how the New York Times is commonly considered a democratic newspaper. They also want pro gay marriage readers to feel hopeful. If the republicains can get on board with this idea then Gay marriage may be legal all over the country.

 The author wants us to know about how the times are changing. He does say that "A majority of Americains now favor same-sex marriage, up roughly one third from 2003. Also "70 percent of voters under 30 back same-sex marriage". He also demonstrates this in what the main subject/ headline is. Republicans just 5 months ago would not EVER sign anything that said that same-sex marriage is a good thing. These times are definitely changing. He also wants us to know that this is not going to be a small change. These are the very powerful republicans. People who have worked with presidents such as president Bush and Reagan.

I think that the republican party are trying to appeal to the youth of america. They didn't successfully win the presidency for a SECOND time and have realized that the people have spoken. The Kokh Brothers can sink as much money as they want into the republican campaigns but the truth still remains that the people of the US will ALWAYS decide who is the president. If the voters do not like the candidate because the voter is gay and the candidate said that they do not believe in gay marriage. It does not matter if one person thinks that BUT if an entire voting block decides that that person will not be winning by much. In some cases, even, with massive voting blocks like the Black, Latino and Women voting blocks, if you say something that they disapprove of such as making laws against contraception being covered by insurance in religious workplaces or building a wall to keep the Mexicans out you WILL lose the election to the other person. Romney sunk 992 million into the election but still lost because of the people of america

In conclusion, the author is trying to say that the times are definitely changing. People will hopefully be more accepting of LGBT people. It's very surprising to see the republicains backing this platform. They may just change their opinions on other things such as immigration and women's rights. Maybe the Republicains are realizing that in order to be voted for they must actually try to become more in touch with this current generation. You can only hope



article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/us/politics/prominent-republicans-sign-brief-in-support-of-gay-marriage.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0

Logical thinking... (SPOILER ALERT)

In Watchmen by Alan Moore the ending is quite surprising. They reveal that the mask killer is actually Ozymandias, the smartest man in the world and he plans to kill half of New York City with an explosion caused by the dying of an alien. Dan (Nite Owl) and Rorschach find this out a bit to late because when they arrive he had already caused the explosion. Dr Manhattan shows up and doesn't kill Ozymandias because what he did was actually perfectly logical and was a way to stop the nuclear threat by diverting everybody's attention to this massive catastrophe. The others try, and fail, to kill Ozymandias. One by one they all agree not to tell anybody that it was him, everybody except for Rorschach who s vaporized by Doctor Manhattan before he is able to leave. Dr Manhattan then proceeds to leave the Galaxy with a better understanding of humankind.

I think that ultimately this is a statement about how some people must be sacrificed for the greater good of Humanity and sometimes, that's a hard pill to swallow. If you think about it in a perfectly logical sense, what Ozy did was right. He prevented a nuclear threat and while he killed/injured approximately 3.5 million people in the process but I'm sure that many more deaths would've occurred if nuclear war between the U.S and Russia broke out. So it's really not to clear if what Adrian (Ozy) did was wrong or right. It shows just how crazy things can be perfectly logical sometimes and if you are thinking in a strictly logical sense, then you may do crazy things.

Another example of this line of thinking is when Dr Manhattan vaporizes Rorschach. Now, Dr Manhattan is DEFINATLY the most strictly logical thinking character out of all the watchmen. He says thing like: "A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally, there's no discernible difference. Life and death are unquantifiable abstracts. Why should I be concerned?". He didn't even flinch when he kills Rorschach. A man who he had known for a very long time and had worked with. Overall he is fine with murder and can do it without really caring about the person who he is killing. He is thinking logically again besides, Rorschach's death is for the greater good so whats wrong with cold blooded murder?

Overall, I really liked the ending, it was cleverly written and had a very deep statement about the human mind. The rest of the book is also amazing bit this part stuck out to me because of it's gritty realness. I could actually see such logical people losing their ethics and morals for the greater good. People having this kind of thinking scares me and makes me think that being llogical is not allways the solution



What do you think about the things that Ozy and Dr Manhatten did? Do you think that they were moral and why?

War Pigs

In Paranoid by Black Sabbath one song stuck out the most to me. This is the first track, War Pigs. Unlike many Black Sabbath songs, this one is not about  death and destruction in the same way as the other songs are. They actually make violence look bad in a very unique song about peace by showing the destruction of war. I will analyze a couple of lines from the song.

The first paragraph is Generals gathered in their masses Just like witches at black masses

Evil minds that plot destruction Sorcerers of death's construction. In this Black Sabbath are likening Generals of war to devil worshippers. He thinks that they are sent by death to kill people by the masses.  They are made to cause mass destruction and to bring hardship upon innocent people like you and me. A couple of lines later they say "Politicians hide themselves away, they only started the war, why should they go out to fight? They leave that burden to the poor. The Poor they are speaking of are the economically poor and the poor people that must go out and fight. Keep in mind that they wrote this song in 1970, in the middle of the Vietnam war. Many unfortunate young people were being drafted and not volunteering to go out and fight a hated war that would traumatize many very young people. The Poor may represent the people who were forcefully drafted into the army. In the next lines : "Time will tell on their power minds, making war just for fun, treating people like pawns in chess, wait till their judgement day comes. It makes them look like they have no real emotions. They don't care what happens to the poor soldiers as long as it doesn't happen to them. 

I like these lyrics because Black Sabbath is preaching about peace. They are showing that war is bad in their own patented grim style. It's not quite a hippie song but not quite a blood-and-guts-hair-metal-song. It's an interesting mix or hybrid. I think that they have a lot to say and i like them as artists. They have many other songs that i could've done but this was the most interesting one because it's the one thats the most like a hybrid. It has the most to say 

Who watches the watchmen? (slight spoiler alert)

Watchmen by Alan Moore may be a comic book but it's a very deep graphic novel. Different characters represent different things about humanity. The book follows the adventures of a group of mostly-retired vigilantes known as the watchmen. One of them The Comedian, is killed and slowly, all of their lives are endangered or they are put out of the way of a certain someone. I don't want to give away spoilers but that's the basic gist. I will focus on the 2 character whom I find most fascinating: Dr Manhattan and Rorschach. I will say what they may represent about humanity and what metaphors they may represent.

Rorsharch is a sociopathic vigelante who operates illegally. He often is not afraid to break fingers to get what he wants. He once "put 15 people in hospital needlessly" to get information on somebody who kidnapped a 6-year old. He may represent the smartest person in the room or maybe the voice of reason and unbearable truth in a dark world. He was the only person of the watchmen who figured out that somebody was slowly getting rid of the watchmen. Then again, when the voice of reason is mentally unstable that makes for a very dark world. It shows how messed up their world is.

Dr Manhattan was just a regular physics scientist until one day his atoms were restructured in a small physical blast. Weeks later various body systems were found walking around the building where he died. A couple months later a naked blue man appeared in the cafeteria. This man would come to be known as Dr. Manhattan. He has what are basically god powers and singlehandedly helps the U.S win the Vietnam War. Although he has also become a sociopath and has no emotion. I think that he's what happens when you have too much fame or power. Everybody becomes your subject and they don't really matter much anymore. For example: "A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally there's no discernible difference". This is his cold and a bit too logical way of thinking. He's lost all his humanity


what do you think of the watchmen? post in the comments.

cars... without drivers

In Verge magazine, there was a report on the self-driving car invented by Google. Yes, the google car has been seen driving around the streets of California. The car uses sensors and cameras that help the car get around without a driver. It's not particularly legal,though and does pose a threat to other drivers. The car could malfunction and Google is still working on the prototype. In a video that they posted to youtube, Google hires a blind man to drive the car. They go to Taco Bell he picks up his shirts and then it drives him home. It is only legal in 3 states. "Google says that it's vehicles are safer then traditional ones because they eliminate human error"

I think that the author wanted it to feel very inspiring and futuristic. He wanted it to feel like it was making history.They do things like saying "these new cars could revolutionize the way we travel". That makes me feel like i'm part of a historical event and have witnessed a new kind of transportation being invented. It really makes you you think that there could be a technological breakthrough being preformed by Google.

I like the idea of a self-driving car. There is a possibility that such technology could malfunction. I think that Google should add in an override to the self-drive. This could revolutionize transportation and make it easier for the elderly and the blind to get around in cars. Google is already on the forefront of technology. They have made an incredible search engine that is able to find basically anything on the world wide web and a way for me to actually post these... entries. it makes sense that they would come up with something so creative. This seems to be their only non-internet related business decision. They are really starting to become quite a tycoon of business. I would like to know where the law stands on this idea. It does as said earlier it does pose a threat to the driver if they are not in total control. What I think is that Google should improve their code to make it hopefully impossible to malfunction or at least make the probability of an accident as small as possible

Bilbo and Gandalf's personality revealed

In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolken Gandalf the Wizard has a very interesting personality. See the earlier blog post for the first part of the story's retell. Recently Bilbo was told to go and pickpocket some trolls who are eating in the forest. This operation doesn't go as expected and Bilbo and his fellow Dwarves get captured. Then an anonymous voice keeps the trolls bickering until the sun rises and they turn into stone. This anonymous voice was Gandalf whom had mysteriously vanished previously. This can say a lot about the personality of Gandalf

Gandalf saves them but only while the trolls were considering either roasting,boiling, or crushing Bilbo and his fellow Dwarves and turning them into paste. This shows that Gandalf is very unexpected and can come in at the last moment to save the day. Also this shows that he trusts Bilbo and has faith in him. Seeing how he let Bilbo do this task by himself without his assistance until the very end. Even then this was in an urgent time and only because he was desperately needed did he help Bilbo at all. This may also show some unadmirable traits in Gandalf. He only acts when he's needed and didn't accompany his friend Bilbo.

I do also think that this says something about Gandalf"s wits. Gandalf used a very original strategy to distract the trolls long enough to save his friends. Then again, trolls are not the brightest of creatures especially if they were defeated by that trick. Gandalf may face more difficult opponents in the future and then we can truly judge how smart he is. Bilbo looks weaker now compared to Gandalf because he did get himself captured by Trolls. As I said earlier, not the brightest of creatures.

I do think that Bilbo has a chance though, he seems to be brave. Trolls are not to be messed with, they are quite dangerous. Bilbo was also willing to go on this adventure that was offered by Gandalf. He seems a bit braver then his other Hobbits. In conclusion from this one incident I was able to learn a lot about the personality of both Gandalf and Bilbo.

Bilbo and me arn't too different

In The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolken, Bilbo is greeted by a wizard named Gandalf and is asked to accompany him on an adventure. Bilbo declines politely but Gandalf persists and comes back with 13 dwarves whom ask him to help them attempt to slay Smaug, the thieving dragon. Bilbo is part of a race known as Hobbits whom are quite shy creatures. This could be tied into my life quite possibly

In the book Tolken says that Hobbits "have become rare and shy of the big people". I myself am quite shy in terms of  meeting other people. I can understand how Bilbo and his fellow Hobbits feel about meeting new people. Also, Bilbo describes his own folk by saying "We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures". His own opinion on the idea of adventuring is proof that a typical Hobbit is not very adventurous and wants things to be safe. Tolken also reveals that Hobbits, specifically Bilbos family (the Bagginses), are very predictable in their ways. He says that "you can tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking"

I can relate to the personality of the typical Hobbit. I myself am very shy and i would've turned down Gandalf's offer any day of the week. I wouldn't want to go and slay a dragon for a massive heap of gold. I don't really take to many risks in my life, I live in the boundaries I make for myself. Bilbo doesn't really do that much either. he simply lives in his very neatly arranged Hobbit-hole,smokes his pipe and reads. Every day is the same for him pretty much and this is usually the same for me. I have a routine and i stick to it in a show of repetition. I often come home wondering if anything really interesting or exciting happened today. More times than not i find myself  saying an unfortunate "no".

These traits in Bilbo may change though, in fact they allready have. Bilbo has unwillingly accepted the offer of Gandalf and his Dwarves. He's becoming more adventurous and is hopefully breaking the boundaries set for himself.