Tracking Students with Radio Frequency ID Cards

Northside Independent School District in Texas is implementing a pilot program that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to track students within the school building and bus transportation systems. Supporters of the tracking devices state that this system leads to increased federal funding, as well as increased security and safety.

Privacy seems to be the largest concern regarding the program. Officials claim that the tracking system only works within the school and buses. The point has been made that the tracking devices are no more invasive than security cameras.

As long as the technology does not allow for the cards to be tracked at any location, only within the school buildings and buses, there really is not anything fundamentally wrong with the RFID cards, other than they are an unnecessary waste of resources and the program costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to run. The program claims to earn more in spending to profit from the program, but I am always against wasting money and resources.

I understand that this will allow students to be tracked at all times; I do not understand how this will improve attendance, which is what the federal funding is based on.

How do you feel about school systems using radio frequency identification systems to track the whereabouts of students?

Gay Nightclub Bans Straight Bachelorette Parties until Same-Sex Marriage Legalized

The Abbey, a gay nightclub in West Hollywood, California, has taken an interesting stance in the name of gay rights. They have chosen to ban straight bachelorette parties until same-sex marriage is legalized in the state of California.

The Abbey has always welcomed everyone, straight or gay, and normally hosts several straight bachelorette parties at night, but owner David Cooley says that the parties are over until marriage is fair for all in the state of California:

“We love our straight girlfriends coming in to celebrate one of the happiest days of their life, but it’s also a slap in the face to my customers and my life that we can’t have that same celebration.”

The stance taken by the gay night club has received mixed reviews from within the gay community and people all across the nation. Some relate to the fact that gay couples cannot be married and others have pointed out that it is a way of taking away rights of others, which is an unfair way to make a point.

I think it is a great idea and something that many people could support, but in the end I think it will cause the nightclub to lose a little money. How long do they plan to ban a major source of revenue? Gay marriage is still an issue that is heavily fought against by all the people who forgot about the separation of church and state, so I am guessing that they will have to be holding out for a while…

Bain Capital is Relevant to the Romney Campaign

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It is absolutely an important aspect of the Romney campaign. When hiring an employee, the work history is always reviewed to get an idea of types of experiences and situations the potential employee has had in the past. When review applications for the President of the United States, We the People absolutely need to review the job history. If Mitt Romney has nothing to hide, he would be forth coming about his time at Bain Capital.

A good point was raised today by Governor Ed Rendell on the MSNBC show Morning Joe, stating that looking into Bain Capital is relevant to Mitt Romney’s campaign:

"Let me give you one example: Amped. $100 million in profit, lots of people lost jobs, but they also lost a good portion of their pension and health care. Did it ever occur to anybody, Governor Romney or anybody else, that maybe we take $80 million in profit and leave $20 million so these folks can have their pensions and health care? I think that’s a value judgment."

It absolutely is a value judgment and it is a value that I cannot accept in a presidential candidate! That is what Romney does for a living. That is why all Americans should be outraged that this man, who prides himself on raising capital for investors, thinks he is Presidential material. Mitt Romney does not care about you.

Mitt Romney is Fuel to the American Fire

Personally, I just don’t trust Mitt Romney; I think he is a snake. I think he is addicted to making money and he plans to do just that as President of the United States through regulatory benefits for the sake of his businesses and associates. I’m pretty sure he wants to do all his deeds and damages in one term, knowing that he could never be reelected for a second term.

I am certain that Mitt Romney does not have the best interest of average America at heart. He is so far out of reach with an average American that the loss and misfortune of most of us is but a joke to him. He cannot imagine the devastation of losing a job, or needing government assistance, or even just struggling every day to buy groceries and support a family.

With that said, I think he has a knack for what he does, although there should be legal stipulations to prevent that sort of vulture capitalism; a company tasked with raising investor capitol for another company or group should be fined hugely if that company fails as a result of the company’s intervention.

He generates wealth for the wealthy and I don’t really think that that makes him a good business leader. Business is not his business – making money is his business. I think he is well connected and I think he has alliances with all sorts of companies, organizations, associations, etc. with promises to keep. Again, none of this is good for Americans or the economy at large.

I agree with President Obama and his staff: being able to raise capital for investors is a talent, maybe, but it is not the objective of the President of the United States, nor should it even be a concern.

The economy is already at the point of total collapse. We are pretty much left with two options, fix it with band aids (bailouts) or simply watch some giants collapse. Mitt Romney would like to choose the third option: change the game for personal and associational gains, run the entire economic structure of America into the dirt in less than four years, and then jump ship with all his profits and cronies without apologizing for a thing.

Mitt Romney does not need to be considered for President of the United States.

Civil Unions for All Americans, Weddings for Religious Ones

Gay marriage is only bad because the people of America have forgotten to separate church and state. People feel very strongly about their religions, as they should, yet all people need to be treated equally in our country. This is what our forefathers had in mind when they specified the separation of church and state. The two must always coincide, but one should never govern the other.

Gay marriages are not the only abuses to the sanctity of marriage: there are fraudulent marriages for economic and even legal statuses, marriages between heterosexual atheists, and the list goes on. Gay marriage is, however, the most obvious offender, and the offense that prompts the discussion and even voting on the issue.

Civil unions should be recognized by the government of the United States, and not marriage. Marriage should be recognized as a religious ceremony sanctioned by the church of that faith and that ceremony should not be altered to conform to a wider audience than the subscribers of that faith.

By taking “marriage” out of civil unions, we are simply taking “church” out of state. The marriage should be independent of a civil union, giving it the flexibility to conform to the needs of most of the people of the United States, rather than subscribers of faiths with marriage ceremonies.

Everyone living in the United States deserves the right to freedom and happiness, and nobody has the right to take that away from anyone! If a gay couple loves each other and makes a lifelong commitment to each other, they should have the ability to form a civil union and receive the same benefits as other couples in civil unions, without affecting the sanctity of sacred, religious ceremonies.