Social Commentary

I still remember the feelings I had when I was a minor consuming alcohol. It was this uneasy feeling of wanting to participate in social activity with my peers but regretting having to break the law in order to do it. When I went to college, I had to wait 3 years before I could legally but more importantly . . . feel comfortable with alcohol in my possession.

23 years after there was a national push to mandate a Federal Law that recognized 21 as the legal drinking age, there is a similar push for the opposite. As a 23 year old that began drinking at 18, I still believe that the drinking age should be changed to 18.

I thought it was just I who was experiencing this. At least, that is how it felt or seemed through my lens. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006, a bit early from scheduled 2007 graduation date. It has now been about 2 years since I graduated from college and my parents seem concerned about my future and so do I.

The media and political campaigns were introduced to a new way of informing the general public of the latest news by a Presidential candidate. The Barack Obama campaign released their text messaging campaign so you can find out who his Vice President will be. This is an innovative and intresting way to promote the campaign and the interest in the decision. This should not be a surprise coming from the Obama campaign who has not conducted the normal campaign.

Imagine the day when cars run off of salt water. Pretty sweet deal right? Wrong! Even though it may seem that cars running off salt water is a better solution then gas, the end result will be the same. It might seem that salt water is an abundant energy resource compared to oil but everything else that makes up the vehicle is not abundant. For example, the main reason why a society where cars that run on water would not last would be because it would be so cheap to travel that more cars would be on the road, thus more tires and plastics would be needed to produce the cars. Unfortunately, we have limited resources on rubber trees and well plastic . . . you know where that comes from.

Who cares? Let's get over it and move on to more pertinent issues! The affair occurred 2 years ago in 2006. John Edwards confessed to his wife and they handled the matter privately. Since, Edwards does not hold a public office and there is no crime against adultery . . . why is this an issue?

America has bigger issues to deal with. Our Health care system is broken. The prospects of the Iraq War or not great and our Education system is a joke. Our Economy is in shambles and gas prices are unstable causing every other industry to become out of sync. Why does the media give any time to such a trivial issue when there are other more pertinent issues to debate.

Our parents biggest concern was whether their chosen career was vulnerable to outsourcing. Young adult sports fans may have to deal with talent going abroad for more lucrative job offers. Seriously though, the concept of outsourcing may finally strike a chord with Americans when their top talents no longer play for American sports teams.

Should we really be concerned? Not really. The only sport any foreign markets may have a shot at hurting would be basketball. The United States has a monopoly on baseball and football but that doesn’t account for the popularity of basketball. The NFL season only consists of 16 games that is heavily dominated by a male audience. Baseball on the other hand seems to go on forever and its audience is a more loyal niche group. Basketball on the other hand is a fast paced game that is easy to comprehend and its end goal is simple. This is a winning combination for old and new fans alike.

It seems that young voters are apathetic when it comes to elections. They don’t care about politics as a whole although there are exceptions to the rule as in any case. I contend that young voters have every reason not to care about elections or politics. Surprised? Don’t be. The reason why young voters do not care about voting is because they have not been sold on the idea.

Politicians have failed to explain to the youth why they should vote and I do not mean in the idealistic civic duty way. Politicians make the mistake of orienting their policies and marketing at two groups. They always target middle-age Americans and Seniors, so no wonder those seem to be the only groups that have shown up to vote in large numbers compared to young adults.

Jose Ernesto Medellin was executed on Tuesday night for his role in the murder of two Houstonian teenagers in 1993. Medellin confessed about to the murder but his case has sparked national and foreign debate about its procedure.

I am against the death penalty, not because I want guilty murders to roam the streets, but because the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to crime nor is it a pragmatic approach to punishment of those that are guilty. That being said . . . I am not going to argue whether Medellin should have been executed because according to Texas law, his punishment was justified. It is the process that that concluded with his execution that I am at odds with.