Comment on Political Radicalization

I agree with your post, Political Radicalization, particularly on the outrage of being titled Muslims in an official manner, especially in a courtroom. I think that when it comes to ignorance, this topic is one first prizewinner. Americans will refer to their neighbors, who could be of any Middle Eastern religion, even Christianity, Muslims. The misconceptions and false accusations of people from the Middle East is unjust. While it is easy to point fingers and racially profile an individual when emotions are involved, such as September 11th, it does not mean that it is in any way a solution or problem-solving tactic. People of any religious background should be addressed on a case-to-case, personal history basis, rather than being lumped into one huge generalized category of people. To question a man's nobility after death is terrible, and to accuse a man of a terrorist act with no evidence to back it up dehumanizes and shines a negative light upon their death. The Muslim religion is one of beauty and deep-rooted traditions that could influence the way we look at art, architecture, and morality. Even if a person claims no religion to be their own, like me, they can still enjoy the complexities of the Islam world. But, people remain to blinded by hatred, blame, and guilt to see into a world completely different than their own and know how they can learn or be impacted from it. This country needs to learn one thing, and that is tolerance, something we don't have to great of a record of in our past, but can hopefully progress in a positive way in the future.

Hurray for High Prices?

          On Wednesday President Obama released statements pertaining to the current oil crisis and showing his sway towards more renewable energy. His plan of action is to cut America's imports of oil from other countries by a third by the year 2025. Many republicans feel that he should be addressing the rising oil prices head on rather than planning for the future and not showing immediate results. The thought that he is ignoring the rise in oil prices as a way of gaining America’s support for alternative fuel sources has been brought up, but seems borderline conspiracy theory in my opinion. Americans seem to be growing more paranoid and skeptical of the government’s intentions and while, I myself do often question the reliability of the government, I also think that in this situation Obama is simply thinking in a way that many other countries have began to follow through on. The search for reliable and affordable alternative fuel sources could have been up and moving decades ago, but America’s heavy dependency on oil and the oil companies dependency on American’s support has crippled the evolution towards a more sustainable future. The Texas economy was once built on the discovery of oil, which in moderation would have been all right, but instead resources were exploited. It seems that Obama is the first president to truly address this issue in a forward thinking way, particularly with the crisis in the middle east going on, and the fights for oil that seem to spring up in new locations yearly. With higher fuel efficiency standards being set at the end of this year, and the country becoming more self sufficient, I think that we are on our way to a much more environmentally conscious and affordable standard of living. Because Obama has chosen to make such a controversial stand I wonder what his next move will be. Energy and oil are two very important issues in an ocean of even larger dependencies we as a society hold under our belt. This positive change could possible cause enough outrage and support that all things be reconsidered down to the very standard of living in an average American’s daily life. People are ready for a self sufficient, renewable future, some just don’t know it yet.       

A Case Reopened

This article from the New York Times addresses the reopening of a case once closed in 1992. The case is regarding the Exxon Valdez, now Exxon mobile, 1989 spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The case was originally settled in 1992 and the company paid around one hundred million dollars for the damage, but the rocks still seem to be coated in oil and certain fish still remain absent from the waters. Rick Steiner, a marine biologist, is responsible for bringing the case back to public attention. On January 14^th the case was finally reopened by a judge leaving Exxon to challenge the reopening by stating, “the Prince William Sound and the oil spill area are in good ecological shape.” This article, unlike most in current news, shines a positive light on the efforts to restore the damage done to our ecosystem, while providing hope in the government for taking necessary action.