Missing Macs, Missing Rikerfest

I have had a hard time writing my blog lately because the updates on the computers here have a pop-up blocker that won't let me spell-check. Of course there are ways of getting around this, but I am lazy. More importantly, I am going to miss Rikerfest!!! I am going to be at Penn State, and I am going to miss it by like a week. For those of you who don't know, Pat and Jake throw a party on Jonathan Frakes Birthday (William T. Riker), and have a lot to eat and drink, and then watch a bunch of Riker centered episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I have only been there once, but I didn't get to stay for very long. It just shows me how much I am going to miss by not going to school around those guys. I miss them a lot, and I (secretly) hope that someday I will still get to be roommates with Pat. Anyway, on to new idea time. I think that there should be a death-meter for the United States. It would be a list of how americans die each year that we could use during elections as a yardstick for the importance of issues. Terrorism=so many deaths, Cancer= more than that: Cancer>Terrorism. Of course this isn't a perfect idea, because all issues have to be addressed, but I think that it would be good to look at how much time and money politicians spend on different issues versus how important the 'really' are. This could be done with money too. More money is stolen by college graduates each year than by high school drop outs, and more goods are stolen by people with jobs than by people without jobs, but politicians and the media would have you believe that crime is something that has to do with poverty. That is not true. Maybe violent crime or other kinds of more visible crime, but not all crime. In 2001 16,000 people died as a result of violent crime. 5,000 People died at work, 70,000 because of product related accidents, and 11,000 from industrial waste. That totals 86,000 deaths. Many, if not most of these deaths are not the direct result of crime, but if even less than 1-in-4 is, than it is more deadly than all other crime on american soil (including 9-11). I know that a lot of this is questionable, but it shouldn't be just tossed aside. People should look at their priorities differently, and then stop being content when their politicians debate for over 15 minutes on gay marriage.

I also think that the guys from vh1's pop-up video should get a job at c-span, and go over speeches and debates with a fine toothed comb. It would be interesting to see what they could find about the stuff most politicians gloss over. Oh! They could even do Scott Mcclellen!