Should schooldchildren over the age of 12 be allowed to ride a bus to school?

In light of the disaster of humanity witnessed the Karen Klein video, coupled with a 2005 study from the Journal of School Violence reported that two incidents of bullying occurred for every bus ride they monitored, I couldn't help but wonder that the school bus is a system that does more harm than good.  So I asked myself, should any school student over the age of 12, excluding a disability, be allowed the opportunity to ride a bus to and from school every day?

Is it finally time to send this Levithian machine to the scrap yard?

Perhaps because I come from such an anti-bus prejudice, my opinion should be discounted. Then again, perhaps I'm on to something. Throughout the the 20th century, the bus has been perhaps the lowest form of human transportation imaginable. Why? Because buses are load. They smell awful. They emit noxious diesel fumes that can cause difficulty breathing, and even ultimately lead to heart attacks and/or cancer. When I was in high school, I couldn't help but think that my local board of education was sending me a mixed message when they drilled into each and every student that cigarettes were bad for you, and then lined up a dozen of these diesel beasts and idled them for about an hour at the front entrance of our school. Whether or not you took the bus, or were simply walking to track and field practice, like I did every day, you were stuck breathing that sticky, smelly crud into your lungs.

Then there's Global Warming. When I was in second grade back in good ol'e 1992, I was inspired by my public teachers, by ubiquitous Public Service Announcements, and all those books flying off the shelves that gave YOU simple instructions on how to help the environment. That's right. YOU. Not "them," those nameless, faceless engineers, CEO's, politicians and government bureaucrats. This cadre of clowns had failed to resolve the environmental crisis that they had collectively created, but all of us, the little people, working to together, could solve these problems. (Said book has since been updated and is available here on Amazon)Yes, I'll say it again: it was inspiring. What message does the public school send when a public school touts the message of environmental urgency, and then facilitates those who are perfectly physically capable of moving around on their own means, to partake in an activity that could potentially destroy human civilization as we know it?

Maybe one should ride a horse if they need to get to school?

Maybe I'm being over the top. Maybe. Then again, maybe I'm concerned also about this generation's obesity crisis. The last half-century has seen the number of children who ride their bikes to school drop dramatically, and this drop has seen an almost equal rate in rise of childhood obesity. In 1964 50% of kids rode to school and the obesity rate was 12%. In 2004, 3% rode to school and the obesity rate was 45%. 

With technology like this, your child will never be late again!

 This blog post may not bring about the overnight change I'd like to see in public policy, but it's definitely inspired me to go out recommend that my uncle get a Trek 7.2 Fx for my cousin as a sweet 16 birthday present, and also remind my sister that her recently-turned 10 year-old is due for a larger bike this season.

What do you think? Have I gone of the rails? Should kids ride their bikes to school and listen to records instead of Ipods like in 1964? Should we keep loading them on the bus and hope they aren't on the receiving end of the relentless taunting? Or perhaps an ultra-futuristic personal jet pack is the solution to get our kids to and from school ever day.

Your thoughts?

Zuckers! Facebook finally starts its road to ruin

I have been waiting for this.

Keep smiling, take your billions, and get out of here!!

Unfortunately for me, unlike Mr. Zuckerberg, I have an actual job that requires actual long hours for very little pay. So I didn't make time warn others about the debacle that is unfolding as a result of Facebook's long anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Facebook is an interesting business model. A classic example of right place, right time. The quartet of founders for this "social media" machine had a leg up over MySpace in that it wasn't plastered with hideous advertisements at every turn, and the vast majority of users were who they said they were.

But that was years ago. It seems like every fortnight Facebook has changed it's layout again, changed its privacy settings again, and put up more hideous advertisements in a desperate attempt to make even more money. Now that Facebook is a publicly traded enterprise

Facebook is an enterprise whose reach has exceeded its grasp. It owes its numbers not to popularity, but perceived convenience. With recent news that Facebook is enticing users to post their "organ donor" status as  a means to further harvest cash, coupled with the companies disastrous IPO, and history of employee spying on workers of the clock, it's only a matter of team before Facebookers depart en masse to one of the many, equally convenient, slightly less Orwellian social networking sites.

Well, the letter may be just hope, but hey, a man can dream!

In the meantime, check out these ten alternatives to Facebook here.

The Trouble with Barry

He seemed so gutsy. He inspired more than Hope, he inspired Chutzpah.


In 2007, while his Democratic Primary opponent, Hillary Clinton was busy poll-testing her the popularity of her maiden name, Barack Hussein Obama was building a grass-roots network of volunteers and campaign staff that would help catapult to one of the biggest presidential upsets in modern history. And that was just round one. Obama's victory of McCain was even more historic.

Keep thinking, Mr. President. Think before capitulating.

Not only is Barack Obama the first black president, he was the first non-incumbent candidate to receive more than fifty percent of the vote since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Heck, he was the first Democrat to win more than fifty percent of the vote since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Obama drew comparisons to John Kennedy, and he was the first candidate from either party to go directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House. Heck, he was even the first non-incumbent Democratic candidate to receive more than fifty percent of the popular vote since Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.

Kennedy. Johnson. Roosevelt. Names that belong the history books, and not without good reason. Names associated with Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Peace Corps, Social Security, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The list goes on and on. Programs that the poor and middle class take for granted. Programs that enable the poor to escapes the harshest aspects of poverty, and in some cases, climb out of poverty altogether. One would think that simply being America's first black president would be a major confidence booster. That, paired with widespread voter support and initially high approval ratings among the public,  would put Obama in the same class as some of his popular predecessors.

What happened? Today, Virginia governor Bob McDonnel begrudingly admitted that that the 2009 Economic Recovery and Re-Investment Act (aka the "Stimulus Package) had helped Virginia.

GOP straw-men like McDonnel can't even stand up to cable news anchors!

Gee Willikers, McDonnell-Man, I can think of a lot of ways in which major sectors of Virginia's economy are entirely dependent on the Federal Government! Is Bob McDonnel dumb enough to really believe that the Pentagon in Arlington or the CIA's headquarters in Langley are private enterprise projects, made possible by the economic policies of Republican governors?

The question of whether or not potential VP-pick McDonnel is dumb enough to believe his own lies is irrelevant. '08 Obama was great at understanding the concerns of others, acknowledging where people's concerns came from, and expressing (what we thought) were his heartfelt beliefs.

President Obama has been President Obummer. Although America is certainly better off with his policies, however meager they have been at mitigating this countries greatest economic crisis in over 70 years, America wanted better. Sure, he talked about bi-partisanship. He also talked about policies that would provide affordable health car for all Americans, reforming the country's broken student loan-shark program, and yes, ending tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent of all Americans.

Why doesn't Obummer channel Obama? It wouldn't seem too difficult to gently remind Americans that a program a single-payer program like Medicare provides universal health care for all Americans over the age of 65, at lower cost and with better results than any private-sector counterpart. Or that Pell Grants are a better means of making college affordable than Sallie Mae.

These are easier arguments for one to make than it would be to explain a relationship with a fiery pastor like Jeremiah Wright. One need not juxtapose America's rocky past--and present--race relations in order to let unpopular tax cuts for wealthy simply expire, or to justify eliminating the earnings cap on Social Security taxes for the top 10 percent of all income earners.

But he doesn't. He waffles. He wavers. He's afraid of a fight. Or maybe he's just too moderate. He said so himself. Or maybe Obama just wants to go back home to Chicago.

I thought for sure that Obama had his heart set on a second term, especially given his consistent lead in the polls, both popular vote and the electoral college. But after reading about how much Obama enjoyed his visit back to Chicago, I couldn't help but think he is just too timid.

And that's the trouble with Barry: too timid. He wields executive power with the zeal of a zombie. And nobody quite knows what to do with his corpse of a presidency.