How the Tea Party can help American Democracy

With the conclusion of the 2010 midterm elections in America showing that the Tea Party is a very real movement, the question is how will they shape American politics. Widely viewed as a product of the Republican party, though self identifying as a nonpartisan small government movement, the Tea Party has gained key seats in both the upper and lower houses. Although I personally disagree with much of their views the way they expanded so quickly, utilizing Fox News among other outlets and general discontent, is commendable. I think that the Tea Party has an opportunity to strengthen American democracy over the next two years.
If the Tea Party wants to solidify their gains and attract people from both sides of the aisle they need to formally separate from the GOP. Forming a new party between now and the next presidential election would do more for Washington than the Democrats and Republicans could do combined. America is in desperate need of a new party. The two party system is no longer viable. Adding a strong third party, with members already elected to both the Senate and Congress which gives them a legitimacy that no other third party has, would revitalize American politics. With the backing of Fox News it is likely the Tea Party's presidential candidate would get a lot of press coverage and possibly even a podium at the debates.
With a third party in the mix it is not far fetched to believe that there would soon be a fourth or fifth party on the scene. A solid Green party who advocates for clean energy, universal health care and social justice would help America clean their tarnished image. With two parties on both the left and the right, the government and it's policies would naturally move to the centre.

World Vision

I noticed a "World Vision" sign on the train last night. Instead of the standard "For the price of a cup of coffee..." it had "for the price of your daily bottle of water..." you can feed a child in Africa. This really started me thinking about the implications. First, did the signs and TV commercials in Canada change too? Second, is this just a comment on how the modern person drinks a bottle of water everyday?
But if we go deeper what are the implications? I mean if we think about coffee and look at the countries where coffee is produced we see what? To find the area for a coffee plantation, massive rain forests are razed. People in these countries often have limited human rights, but conversely coffee in some notable regions (think South America or Southeast Asia) coffee production is the alternative to producing narcotic drugs.
Whereas bottled water has its own environmentally destructive legacy. Not only is the delivery of bottled water versus tap water clearly indicate loads more emissions but where companies find the water is often untouched wilderness which is essentially bulldozed over to put down a factory. When we think of the plastics we can't help but think about the oil used to make the plastics. Where does oil come from? countries that harbour terrorists and refuse women rights to do anything.
When you balance out the two I think it is clear that coffee is better for the world than bottled water. So is World Vision changing their stance to also try to get people to subliminally reduce their bottled water intake? Perhaps a good message but done in a horrible way.
So when World Vision asks you for the price of a bottle of water a day instead of the price of a coffee a day don't buy into their propaganda unless this is just a nod to the fact that in a post Star Bucks world the price of a coffee is no longer affordable.

Rekindling the Flame

I haven't written many posts recently. The main reason being that the blog had served its purpose. I was using the blog to rant about things that I found it difficult to do in person, mainly because of a feeling of isolation. That feeling passed as I moved to a larger city, learned more Japanese, started work at two companies with a social edge, etc. But now I have discovered a new purpose to blog; to hone my writing skills. I am currently looking to do a Masters of Education then follow it with an MBA. To do an MBA you must write the GMAT which includes an essay component. I am hoping that by writing blog posts I will increase my score on the written portion of that test. My goal is to write a blog every few days.

Obesity Leads to Bullying

This newest post in my recently obesity focused blog is discussing a new study. Dr. Lumeng at the University of Michigan discovered that above all other possible indicators (income level, social skills, race, academic prowess, etc) obesity is by far the most likely to cause a child to be bullied. Obesity increases the odds a child will be bullied by 63 percent. The research was found to be so groundbreaking it will be featured in the journal Pediatrics.
Honestly why do people even bother looking at stuff like this? Since joining academia have they so fully removed themselves from society that they cannot remember their own childhood? Fat people get beat up. If we spent half the money used on stupid research to buy vegetables for these kids, there wouldn't be obese people.

American Obesity Epidemic

According to a new report made by a group of retired American military officers school lunch programs are making kids fat. Obesity has become the number one reason why potential military recruits are denied entry. Although current recruitment quotas are being met (mostly because certain convicts are now allowed to join and a lack of a high school education is not necessarily a deal breaker) this could cause problems in the future. Finally a good reason to fight childhood obesity; because diabetes and other health concerns are not.