God doesn't need the support of the government

When the school district in a small Georgia town decided the cheerleaders at the local public high school could no longer display Bible verses on their signs, the entire town went into an enraged uproar. Local churches held protest rallies, thousands of t-shirts were printed, signs proclaiming "You Can't Silence Us" were posted locally and beyond.
I think the town was kind of missing the point here. One girl quoted in the article said "We have the right to believe whatever religion we want," as if she was not being allowed to follow her religion. The right to proclaim her beliefs was not even threatened, much less the right to believe. Students could still pray together and fans could still bring those "John 3:16" signs to games.
The problem was the context of the display. If the members of the swim team meditate together between classes no one would complain, but if the swim team decides to put a picture of Buddha on their Speedos, it gets a little murky.
Christianity at the football games was not suppressed, it was sparked. The predominantly Christian town had something to rally against, and they got to champion freedom of speech in the process.
But no one was in the wrong. The school district did the right thing in putting a stop to the lawsuit-worthy brand of religion, without trying to actually muzzle religion itself.

Freedom to be a pain

The first amendment guarantees the freedom to be obnoxious, but how far is too far? Local radio talk show host Chris Krok mocks Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker's recent suicide. Does being unethical disqualify him from being a journalist?
People are drawn to controversy. Newspapers thrive on controversy. All Krok is doing is drawing attention. He's not trying to get people to like him; he's trying to get people to enjoy him. The average person is respectful - you have to be a jerk to really stand out. The human race doesn't want to watch people get along. Every piece of successful entertainment ever has to have a conflict.
Journalism at it's heart is a very interpretable field. There is a place for personal opinion. When the White House condemns Fox News as being too biased to take seriously, cries of censorship and communism ring from conservatives and scattered liberals. Chris Krok and Fox News have a lot in common: they are both offending people, and they both have a large sphere of influence.
As long as they aren't flat out lying, anyone has the right to voice their opinions however skewed from popular thought they are. There is nothing wrong with Fox News criticizing the Obama administration, and there is nothing wrong with a local columnist criticizing Fox News.
I don't agree with Chris Krok, but I don't want to censor him.

Get out of my head

Man, I'm annoyed. I've got that Shakira song stuck in my brain. You know, that one that goes "Ooh baby when you talk like that, you make a woman go mad", the one that was popular a year or so ago. I don't even know most of the words - the two lines of the song that I do know are torturing my soul. Ack. Stop.
I just don't have the willpower to expel this Shakira woman from my thoughts. It's not even a good song, it's just catchy. So flipping catchy. The lyrics are as dumb as the people who don't read my blog. "My hips don't lie"? What is that supposed to mean? Oh man, just shut up. Shut up and get out of my head.
You don't make me want to speak Spanish. You are capitalizing on people's stupidity and your infectiousness. You are a virus. You lodge yourself in the mind and force unluckily exposed people to want you and your music. It's like addiction. You are a drug.
For my sake, become a female hermit and go bother the forest animals with your pop junk food. Leave us humans alone, Shakira.

Seals!

Seals are great. On the cute scale, they are up at the top. Except for those fat ones.

Yeah. That's a seal. On the other hand, seals can be fat AND cute.

All these pictures are directly from my google image search for "seal". Half of the pictures were of some random guy. Can anyone tell me who this guy is?

This picture better not be real. What kind of human being could find it in themselves to kill a baby seal? I wouldn't do it for money.

When I was a kid I had a little white seal (not a real seal) that I named "Sparky". He probably didn't like his name because he wasn't a dalmation. One time, somebody came to my school talking about fire safety and he told horror stories about what could happen in a fire and all the things you could lose. After that, I always slept with Sparky beside me so if there was ever a fire I would be able to grab Sparky easily when I was escaping the building. I would lie awake at night and cry about what life would be like without my soft little gem.

This blog is for you, Sparky.

Qu. A live-action commentary.

Usually, it takes a little bit of time to decide I really like a band. With Sherwood, it took about five seconds. I just loaded up their myspace page and hit play, not knowing what to expect.
I am now soaking up the entirety of Qu. The first song is only one minute long, and it is a minute of Beach Boys-esque love. Almost pure triple layered vocals.
Now, I'm listening to "Ground Beneath My Feet" and I am being stunned. This band is so good. Beautiful. It builds from being light and sung by one guy to a transcendent sweeping harmonic masterpiece.
Instrumentation is powerful and diverse, with a laid back drumbeat, a xylophone, and a techno-synth driving "Around You". Wow, now there's an electric guitar solo. Gang vocal echoes on the bridge? Check. This song rocks.

"What Are You Waiting For?" sounds like stereotypical "let's go to California" pop-punk. It is. Still, it's very catchy and better than other bands with this sound.
(minutes later)
Alright, I've made it to the last song. It's starting out slow, I'm predicting that this is going to get epic. "So this is how every family ends...a black cloud hangs over our house...so give up and let it rain down." This is sad. And it's not getting epic, it's staying sad. The album ends on a downer... "No Better" will make people cry. I guess a lot of the best music out there is depressing...
Anyways, amazon.com is selling this album for $2.99 tomorrow, and I know they will be getting my three dollars. It's so worth it.
Recommended if you like: Relient K, The Beach Boys, Yellowcard, crying