So I missed a day...

I forgot up update yesterday, my apologies. Dont think its becuase I dont have anything to talk about, becuase thats certainly a lie. I swear I am going to try to update this every day. I hate those people who have blogs/livejournals/whatever and update them twice. Onto the order of business today...

1.) DRAGONFORCE is tonight. Actually, in about 45 minutes. If youre unfamiliar, prepare yourself for the greatest band in the world. www.myspace.com/dragonforce

2.) Billy Wagner gives me heart attacks. Good on the Mets for resigning Reyes to a good contract.

3.) I am not a fan of grudges and I am quite happy when they are settled. Cheers mate.

4.) Only 3 more weeks of summer. How insane is that? The funniest part is that next semester will likely entail even less work than the summer did. Also ridiculous is the fact that I still dont have my grades from the Spring.

5.) Onto the crushing matter of the day: MySpace. MySpace really is the credit for the downfall of humanity, but not for the reasons you may think. Initially, MySpace was a hip, "scene" social networking thing for girls to post attractive pictures of themselves to make emo kids have even lower self-esteem, but has now grown into a cultural phenomenon. It is to the point that the Toronto Raptors (NBA) have not yet revealed their new jerseys, yet a player's MySpace profile has photos of him in the new jerseys, thus ruining the surprise. But such is not the crisis material for myspace...

Recently kids have been getting stalked/molested/abducted and overall screwed up becuase of myspace. It is a tool of deception. One case in particular has been raised where a girl was raped or something equally violent by a guy she met on myspace where the girl lied about her age. In addition to this trend, suing myspace is also the new "it" thing. In the another case similar to that previously mentioned, the 13 year old female (claiming to be 14 so she could legally have a myspace account) was stalked by a 19 year old male (believing her to be 14, but still conducting illegal activity by stalking) and is now blaming myspace, holding them accountable with a $30 million lawsuit. Obviously the justice system should see through this attempt at extorsion, but the case is still being presented. Ridiculous, I know. But not as ridiculous as what happened next....

Now, the MALE is suing myspace for another $10 million claiming that the girl lied about her age (she did, making herself 14 instead of 13). However, what this scumbag doesnt account for is the fact that he stalked her and harassed her. Regardless of age this is still an offence. This case also has nothing to do with age period. If it was a disputed age in a statutory rape or alcohol-to-minors case, fine. But this man is a sex offender! How does 13 years old vs. 14 years old change the fact that the male was stalking the girl? And even moreso, how is this myspace's fault (and worth $10 million)?! Absurd I tell you.

Beyond these cases, the US Congress just passed a bill making it illegal for Myspace to be used in schools and libraries. The law was rushed and thus has many holes in it, yet the principle, I feel, is effective. The message is being sent that no potentially-dangerous dealings will occur over myspace on educational grounds. In addition, no tax money will be spent on kids using myspace on school/library computers. As stated by user DC, "The internet is in schools as a learning tool and one certainly can NOT learn anything, not even adequate social skills, through myspace." Well said.

I am all for censorship in schools or anything using tax money. If schools want to block myspace, email, or anything non-educational, go right ahead. The problem with this bill, however, exists in the funding. Schools and libraries (as well as most educational facilities) receive the majority of funding from state governments, not federal, and thus, the federal government has little authority to overrule the state governments' spending agenda. There is a good chance that this law gets overturned in the Supreme Court in the near future.

Just one final thought on the issue: where does a level of personal responsibility come into play?