Stupid Ass Trivia

My highest score on the S.A.T.’s back in my day (though it technically wasn’t very long ago) was 910. I was pretty proud to reach the nine hundred’s, even though that score wouldn’t have gotten me in a mile of an Ivy League campus.  

It always irked me how my extended learning experience after high school was based on a stupid test, with stupid questions, and a stupid method of calculating my score. Okay, I overused the world stupid, but hey, if the description fits…  

After I graduated high school in 2004, the setup of the S.A.T’s changed; the test itself was expanded and now includes a written essay.  

Boy, oh boy. I can only imagine what would happen to my beautiful 910 score if they made me write an essay after staring down the bubble scantron of death. I can best describe it to be the sound a balloon makes when you pop it – but more melodramatic.

The results from the class of 2007 indicated the scores were the lowest it has been in eight years. Now I don’t feel as bad about my meager 910.

Tests like these are so broad, and are the deciding factor on so many people’s college acceptances (or so we’re meant to believe). If you want to test a mass population on general education either you fine-tune each test to fit a specific demographic (probably nearly impossible in the real world) or scrap the whole test all together and start from scratch. Since certain schools need to have some way of filtering through the mass load of eager beavers trying to enter their grace land, I can’t see the test being tossed all together. 

But there’s nothing wrong with reconstruction. The city of Troy fell and they later rebuilt themselves and became the Roman Empire. If first you do not succeed try, try again. I guess that’s why I took that damn test enough times to fund a small wedding banquet. -- Eming Piansay

Their Only Way out

Last year alone 99 U.S. Army soldiers committed suicide. According to a report, this has been the highest percentage of suicides in the Army’s history in 26 years.

Though the story says there is no direct evidence that links the suicides to deployment into the Middle East, or exposer to fighting, it is hard to believe deployment to areas in the Middle East hampered with violence wouldn’t cause any long lasting affects on the mental health of the soldiers.  

Even if the reason for their deaths were not limited to their deployment over seas, it is hard to imagine the war has not played a part in their untimely demise.

Though I have never gone to war myself, I can only imagine it to be a nightmare you wake up to each and everyday. You’re in an unfamiliar, foreign country, you’re homesick, and people are getting randomly killed each day.  

One-third of the suicides were committed while serving in the Middle East of Iraq and Afghanistan. These numbers may look subjective overall but there were also 948 attempted suicides. That’s 948 times soldiers have tried to commit suicide but failed. 948 times these soldiers may have taken one look around and said, “There is no way I’m staying here another day.”  

There have been so many press conferences where I have seen the President and his many advisors rally that the War on Terror is meant to secure our freedom, so we may be safe from of those who wish to do us harm. But what about the soldiers risking their necks everyday? What sort of safety and security are they receiving? If 948 of them have attempted to commit suicide because of their experience overseas and 99 have succeeded, shouldn’t there be a committee that insecure the physical and mental health of these brave individuals – or if anything getting these people back home so they can get proper treatment.  

There are red flags all over this story. If people are killing themselves because of their present living conditions, this is a sign to start bringing the troops home on a more rapid scale. No more dragging feet through the mud. Just do it. We owe them that much. -- Eming Piansay

Ding Dong Rove is Gone

In his departure from the White House, former senior adviser to the President Karl Rove got the works. A tearful thanks and goodbye from the President and First Lady, followed by a ride on the President’s helicopter to Air Force One. However, there was one thing missing from this scene that Rove desperately needs a dose of: justice.  

Better known as the ‘Boy Genius’, Rove has been the epicenter of many controversies to rattle the walls of the White House. He has been linked to, though never charged, with the leaking the name of the CIA operative Valerie Plame and playing a part in the firings of 8 U.S. attorneys last year.  

It is sickening to think a man can do so much damage to so many people, let it be the CIA outing, the firing of the attorneys or conducting the War on Terror, and still not getting his proper kick of karma. If we lived in the medieval ages and Rove did then what he’s done now, he would have been taken to the town’s square and hung by his pinky toe.

Sadly, public opinion has little to do with the outcome of judicial punishment on authority figures, and the victims of his tirades are no more than distant echoes of the past lodged between old newspaper clippings, and Youtube video clips.  

In his final farewell Rove was quoted in regard to the Democratic attempts to investigate his role in the U.S. attorney firings:

I'm Moby Dick, and we've got three or four members of Congress who are trying to cast themselves in the part of Captain Ahab — so, they're going to keep coming,

. The major difference between Karl Rove and Moby Dick: Moby Dick was the victim, minding his own business in the sea, while Captain Ahab just couldn’t find it in his heart to leave the poor mammal alone. Rove’s victims have more in common with Moby Dick, than Rove ever will. -- Eming Piansay

Not All Daughters Follow Their Fathers

If you’re the daughter or son of a politician running for President does that automatically mean you have to vote for your parading political parent? Recently, former New York Major and Republican Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani’s daughter Caroline was reported to support Barack Obama candidacy for the White House. Her Facebook profile revealed her as a ‘liberal’ and a member of one the Barack Obama support groups on the site.  

The media had a field day with this story. I would guess the reason people are shocked is because traditionally if a family member of yours is running for office you vote for them since you’re related and that’s just the way you’re expected to behave. I personally think this isn’t something to be shocked over, but celebrated. Many news sources have said the strained relations between Giuliani and his family were the cause of this revelation. But no one seems to be thinking that this is a girl, independent in thinking, who so happens to have different belief than her parents do.  

It could be equally as likely that Caroline’s choice of candidates is based purely in belief, and her decision could have had no reflection to any possible animosity towards her father (well, I’m just speculating). Her decision to not post her support for her father’s campaign may not be based on any sort of father-daughter love, but rational independent thinking.  

Plus, since when has there been any kind of love in politics? Point proven. -- Eming Piansay

Prying into Privacy : American Style

This may not necessarily be a youth issue, it is everybody’s issue. When the Democratic Party took control of Congress in the beginning of this year I was relieved. Like the idealist that I am, I figured that would signal some great shift in the universe. The sun would shine brighter; the stars would join into a giant conga line; money would start growing from trees. Unfortunately, none of those happened. The Democrats platform ran on the sayings “We’re Different! We’re Better! We Ain’t Bush! Woo hoo!!” What a load of croc. I don’t know about everyone else, but I thought the whole point of having a Democratic party having control both houses of Congress would mean Prez. Bush would have some kind of checks and balances in the works. Apparently, whatever stability the Democratic party was suppose to provide by setting a few limits here and there, and being some sort of 'voice of reason' has had as little impact to the political arena, as jail time has effected Paris Hilton’s popularity. The U.S. Constitution is on the verge of becoming the WELCOME mat outside the White House – treaded on to the fullest. Now that The House has voted to let the President expand the eavesdropping without the need of official warrants, I am beside myself. What was the point of getting the Democrats toe-to-toe with the Republican Party when all they were going to do in the end was concede and waddle away with their tail between their legs. Maybe they’re just waiting for one of the Democratic Presidential hopefuls get a plunked down in the Oval Office to make whatever significant changes they had in mind. Either way, change is a progressive stepladder for the people who take the time, however, dragging your feet through the mud is a skill best left to those who know it best. -- Eming Piansay

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There are some places we shouldn't be allowed to go... but we some how managed to get there anyway....
I vlogged.... scary... isn't it?