A plea to American voters

At this point in the electoral game, I am sure that most people get nauseous at the mere mention of politics but hear me out and read through to the end.

The U.S.A. has changed drastically during even my short lifetime. That much I am sure of. When I first began elementary school in the mid-1980s, the internet was still only a military technology that for the average civilian would have been meaningless. The first computer I used in 1st grade was an Apple IIe. It was perfect for Oregon Trail and Number Munchers and some very rudimentary word processing (typing).

Based on that one item, the world has changed drastically. Couple the advances in computer technology with other tech advancements and that one sector alone has changed our world in ways my parents could have never imagined when they were my age.

Technology has changed the way we live in so many ways but it hasn't changed everything.

Cartoons of the 1960s envisioned a world of the not-too-distant future where robots would clean our houses and prepare our food and we would travel in vehicles that never came in contact with the ground we have walked on since the dawn of time. Obviously, those imaginitive creations have yet to come to fruition.

Computer technology has obviously outpaced other forms of technology and it seems to be an ever-increasing reality that technology is the way to move not just our country but all of society ahead in ways we can only dream of. Those dreamers are the future.

The future can surely be a time of change which we could not even imagine. Going back to the computer/technology aspect, computing speeds alone have increased thousands of times over but for much of our daily lives we rely solely on technology born at the turn of the 20th century to keep those computers running.

Isn't it ironic that the paperless technology that many of us work on every day of our lives is tied directly to such an archaic source of power?

That source of power, of course, is derived from the burning of coal. If you've ever seen a large pile of coal at a power plant, you know that it's black and quite a lot like charcoal in its cleanliness factor. Now imagine burning it. Think about just how clean your charcoal grill isn't after you've cooked up some hamburgers. Now multiply that by a few million times and that's what's powering our high-speed, ultra-powerful computers.

Is there a better alternative? Of course there is. Making those alternatives a viable reality seems to boil down to this November's presidential election. Like never before, we are at a crossroads. We've seen what can happen when an economy (and a country) is tethered to old ways.

Resisting change is what gets people left in the proverbial dust.

This year we have the power to decide whether or not to pursue that change head on.

This changing of our entire way of doing things isn't going to come easily. It isn't going to happen overnight. It is going to mean a lot of work. It is also going to mean plenty of opportunities. It will offer up the chance to be great once again. It will present us with the chance to once again be role models for the world. It will require cooperation and unity. It will require a great leader.

Most of all, it will require the voters of America to make a choice. That choice is yours.



That choice is clear. That choice is Barack Obama.

Those controversial summer games

I'll admit that I've never actually seen controversy surrounding the Olympic games. I've heard that we boycotted the 1980 games in The Soviet Union and they, in turn, boycotted the 1984 summer games in Los Angeles but those don't really register on my radar.

This year, though, I'm finally seeing some actual controversy regarding the Olympics.

My first question is why were the Olympics rewarded to a country that can barely feed its own residents? Why were the Olympic games awarded to a country that is widely regarded as being the most filthy (in a number of ways) in the entire world? Shouldn't the Olympic games set a standard for countries around the world?

They are supposed to be a beacon of peace in the world. The games should represent the best a country has to offer -- both from the representative countries and the hosting country. The host country, complete with rivers running in a rainbow of colors with pollutants, shouldn't have to essentially shut down for weeks in advance of the games so the athletes can breathe and spectators won't vomit in disgust that people actually live that way. For those reasons, China should be ashamed (although I'm not sure if the Chinese language has a word for shame)

Suddenly, with that short story inthe link, I can see why the running of the Olympic torch has been marred by protests and controversy. If the host country can't make a good impression on the rest of the world without stopping contruction and closing their heavy industries a month ahead of the games, maybe the wrong decision was made. Hopefully this will be a wakeup call for the rest of the world. I, for one, don't really care about the olympics. I am not a fan of synchronized swimming. Have at it athletes, I just hope you packed some asthma medication.