Possible North Korean Nuclear Talks, Possible But Not Likely

This week the United States has returned an ambassador to North Korea in an attempt to restart an exchange of nuclear talks that North Korea previously halted connection with last year. The U.S. hopes, along with the rest of the world, that North Korea will not continue taking its radical stance on its nuclear policy, as North Korea continues to run active missile tests, none of which the Obama administration have responded to.

With this new strategy of 'keeping it cool,' the U.S. hopes to show North Korea that we are ready for some solid and legitimate talks that will benefit both countries, and not continue going on in a state of constant uncertainty. If the U.S. is able to engage in these talks with North Korea, this could result in a pivotal point that could help bring us to a one day nuclear free world.

Iranian Student Protestors Getting Rough Treatment

Iranian Students in Tehran who are protesting their dictatorship of a government aren't exactly being treated as lightly as those protesting the UC fee raises. Reports of tear gas, batons, and stun guns all being used on the protesters of the government don't exactly help the Iranian public's view of their government, which has a shaky enough amount of public support as it is.

The Iran government responded quickly and completely to the threat the protesters had on the government, working hard to disperse them in any way possible, along with shutting down the local mobile phone networks in order to block communication between the students, in an effort to stop the protests.

Bad DNA Reason for Obesity?

A recent British research study found out that certain children are missing portions of their DNA that cause them to overeat become extremely obese at a very young age. This interesting new development may cause many young obese children to find an excuse for their excess weight, however the study conducted determined that less than 1% of the some 300 children tested, all about 220 pounds at age 10, had this condition.

Although there are the few rare cases where obese children have a genetic excuse, most of the time the only thing to blame is the unfortunate lifestyle of the world's weighty adolescents.

Commercial Spaceflight?

Virgin Galactic is soon to release its 'SpaceShipTwo' aircraft that will allow the sensation of zero gravity and actually being in space to be available for anyone. That is, anyone who is willing to shell out a serious amount of cash.

Still, this new development is an interesting one, and could be a step into the future of spaceflight, possibly changing space as not simply being somewhere you have to be an astronaut to go, quite possibly opening up the possibilities of all kinds of things as we move forward.

Mental Health Break

Senate to Start Abortion Debate Tuesday

On December 8th, the Senate will officially open up the issue of whether or not abortion should be an addition into the nationalized Health Care bill. Previously all of the issues with the bill have been primarily about money issues, or at least issues that aren't too highly debated over.

This will change tomorrow, and the fate of the entire bill may be decided if the issue of abortion is not handled correctly by the Senate. The age old debate over abortion is still a very touchy issue for many in Washington, and the thought of government sponsored abortions is terrible to many.

This is yet another hurdle that the health care bill must get over, but the fact that this new issue is being brought up does mean that the bill is moving forward. However, like all great reforms, passing the Health Care bill is going to take some time.

MIT Grad's Shocks Make Cars More Efficient

After learning that only 20% of the fuel used in cars actual goes towards propelling the car forward, three M.I.T. students went to work on thinking up new ways to make cars more fuel efficient and thought up the idea of using the energy of movement provided by shocks on cars to go towards moving the car.

The three students are most likely in for a windfall when this idea hits the mainstream markets, all cars will be sporting these revolutionary shocks, and their ideas are already being greatly considered by the military and companies such as Wal-Mart.

Ideas such as these are really the ones that are going to continue to push towards a greener world.

Continued Bombings in Pakistan by Taliban

As the Pakistani forces continue to press onward towards a Taliban stronghold in an effort to eliminate the extremist terror group, attacks on security forces and the general public have increased, pushing the death toll up over 400 as a result of these continued bombings. Just this Monday, a suicide bomber attacked the city of Lahore, killing 10 people, followed by two bombs exploding in the heart of a busy Lahore marketplace, resulting in the deaths of 34 people.

The Taliban is hoping to use these random attacks of public places to terrorize the Pakistani government into calling off the offensive on the extremist group, but for now the Pakistanis are holding strong, pushing onwards towards eradicating the Taliban.

New Deal Brings Troops Back from Iraq, but to where?

In a recent meeting of the Iraqi parliament, an agreement was reached between the Iraqi and United States government to plan to have basically all of the U.S's some 100,000 troops currently occupied in Iraq out, leaving the security and way of running the Middle Eastern country to itself.

This seems like a great idea, but it still leaves the itching question: where will these troops end up? With Obama's new decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, will these troops even be coming home, or will they simply be stopping by and going back out overseas to another Middle Eastern country?

U.S. Energy Ideas are Good, but Where Will We Get the Money?

As the global warming climate meetings in Copenhagen take place for two weeks, many new and innovative ideas have been brought to the table by the United States of ways we can have our country 'go green.'

From new types of solar panels to building more clean coal and nuclear power plants, our country has a good amount of ideas, but the one pressing issue that continues to stop reforms from actually taking place is the fact that we don't have the money. With our national debt constantly increasing, and simply the amount of money it takes to keep up and running our government programs, many of these ideas, as good as they are, will not be put into effect anytime soon.

New Bill May Allow U.S. Tourists to go to Cuba

A new bill that is being run through Congress may lift the restriction on U.S. citizens to visit Cuba. Cuban citizens are excited for this possible change in the current state of affairs. Currently Cuba's economy is seriously lacking, and this change could spark the economic revolution the communist state needs, along with allowing Americans to see how things actually are in Cuba.

The Cubans are most definitely for this new possibility.

Nuclear Talks in Iran Not Going Well

The latest reports from the Nuclear talks going in Iran as an attempt to make Iran back down from its previously overly aggressive stance tell that things have not been going well. The Iranian government suspects that the U.S. has alternate motives for making this appearance in their government suddenly, and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that

"If you stretch your hand towards us honestly, we will press it. But if there is any conspiracy, Iran's nation will respond in the same way as it did to Bush and his likes."

The Obama administration is in a tricky situation, because we do not want to turn Iran into an enemy, but with the way they have been playing around with nuclear weapons, they are an increasing threat to the world. Hopefully the U.S. ambassadors can get their acts together and pull out of these talks successfully, because yet another unstable country with nukes is a scary thought.

With Guantanamo Soon to Close, Where will the Prisoners Go?

President Obama has promised to close Guantanamo Bay by the end of his first year in office, and as that date rapidly approaches, the question arises: what will be done with the prisoners?

Many advocates for the prisoner's rights argue that they should all be tried in a federal court on American soil and be given fair punishments for their crimes. Many disagree, telling of how the criminals at Guantanamo Bay are a completely different brand and should be treated much differently and, in most cases, more harshly than the average miscreant.

But the idea that some of the prisoners should be kept in prison indefinitely is one that has faced and continues to face a good amount of opposition. However, no matter who is in the maximum security prison, if they ever want to be free again they still have a very long way to go.

NASA's Ares Program Takes Flight

This morning, NASA launched a test rocket from the Kennedy Space center in Cape Canaveral, Florida to see how the new design of rocket that is set up to be the replacement of the space shuttles will work. The aging shuttles have been in and out of orbit many times, and are growing increasingly more obsolete, and a time for change had come. NASA's new Ares design is of a rocket much taller and thinner than the previously used space shuttles, and the test today proved this new model to be a great success.

Unfortunately, NASA doesn't predict this model to be approved and launching with human occupants until 2015, a good amount of time from now, but by then NASA will also be working on building rockets meant for much longer spaceflight, such as traveling to the moon and beyond. But for now the focus of our nation's space program is the Ares project.

Is the iPhone Being Thrust Aside by Androids?

Even though it has absolutely dominated the marketplace for smartphones and other computer handheld devices with the iPhone, Apple is about to be facing some serious competition with the rise of other companies, headed by Google, as the Android, basically an iPhone but with more versatility as opposed to being the same rigid structure and controlled way of going about business as an iPhone, is gaining ground.

Joe Wilcox, a tech researcher, predicts that

"Put another way: iPhone is to Android -- and somewhat Symbian OS -- handsets as Macintosh was to the DOS/Windows PC in the 1980s and 1990s."

And that the android will be likely to overtake iPhone sales, even with spiffy new colors and such by 2012. Pretty far away, but this doesn't bode well for Apple, although who really knows what will be the new gadget to have in 2012.

Think Bart is Crowded?

Nuclear Talks in Iran Have 'Good Start'

After finally agreeing to be part of various diplomatic talks with the rest of the world about their new Iranian power plants, and trigger happy missile tests, Iran appears to be going into the talks optimistically and agreeably: "We're off to a good start. We have had a constructive meeting. Most technical issues have been discussed." says Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A 'good start' is always good, but whether or not these talks will actually end up going anywhere, or if any real changes will be instated remains to be seen. All participating countries in the talk have agreed to a second meeting, so at least some progress is being made. However, there is still a long way to go from "technical issues" to actual change.

Their Economy's Great, Yeah, But What About Freedom?

Although China is seemingly the leader economically in the world right now industrially, as its totalitarian rule has made the government able to regulate all product and survive through the economic recession the world has been going through over the past year. Although it may seem like China is the place to be, with all this greatness, life across the Pacific is not exactly 'the land of the free.'

Basically any and all contact with the world outside of China, or any way to see how much better life could be is cut off by the government. Popular sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and even Youtube are all unavailable in China. There is no solid reason given by the government as to the reason for these censors, but basically they are just there to only allow the flow of government approved information to go in and out of China, so the only thing the people see is what they are supposed to see.

Like I said, although China may be forming into the world's biggest superpower economically, you still want to stay away unless you want to see only what you are 'supposed' to see.

'Cash for Clunkers' Ends, So Do Auto Sales

In the wake of the highly popular government program that purchased people's old cars so they would buy new ones in order to jump start the economy back to life, auto industries were able to keep their heads above water, and continue to function in the rough economic times. However, now that the government stimulus program has been brought to an end, auto sales have wasted no time in dropping right back down. A small drop was to be expected, but the real test will be if the auto companies will be able to continue on their current path towards getting out of the recession.

Cash for Clunkers ending will produce a drop in the economy, but more importantly, it will show to the people of America that the economy is coming back. Slowly but surely our economy is crawling back up and out of this massive recession that has enveloped the country, so that eventually we will be back up to the efficient superpower we have been.

US Hopes to Make China 'Go Green'

In a few back to back talks scheduled for next month in China, Obama and his administration will work towards making both the U.S. and China more environmentally friendly countries so that we can together catch up to and hopefully eventually guide the rest of the world into becoming completely unreliable on 'fuels from hell.'

These talks will hopefully not simply help out China to turn away from solid industrialization through any means possible, but help America turn away from the fossil fuels that are so ingrained in our culture.

Finally the Health Care Bill is Making Some Progress

Obama's health care bill, heavily ratified and changed from its original layout, has been approved by the Senate Panel to be approved for voting on in the Senate. This is a historic step for the country, and will undoubtedly lead to the eventual passing of the health care bill, maybe further ratified by congress, but still eventually pass.

The bill has and still is taking heaving opposition by many republicans who are completely opposed to nationalized health care, but their numbers are falling, as the majority of the nation is beginning to see these few die hard righties as the stuck up rich.

But as always there are those who still believe the bill is not enough for the country. Many still are pushing for the public option, voted off the bill a few weeks ago, and some are calling for an entire re-write of the bill, however, overall the bill has reached a happy medium, containing still some flaws, but overall is almost ready for passing. It remains to be seen however, if congress will think the same way, and Obama's bill is about to come under some heavy fire as it enters the Senate.

No Visits to the White House for the Dalai Lama

The executives in the white house have decided to put off a meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader until after Obama has met with China. With tensions high in the Tibetan area of China this is probably a smart move on the government's part, as the Chinese government would most likely not approve of what would appear to many as an endorsing of the teachings of the Dalai Lama, and therefore acceptance of the Tibetan area.

Although its not like the Dalai Lama has never been to the White House. Just two years ago he was given a peace award from President Bush in the house of the president. However, with tensions high, and now more than ever America needing to maintain economic stabilization with China, now is not really the ideal time for the Dalai Lama to have a visit with the president.

Obama's nationwide approval rating continues to drop

Starting in office with one of the highest approval ratings in American history, President Obama's approval ratings have steadily declined since he has taken office and began to initiate nationwide reforms. Rough estimates put Obama at around a 50% approval rating by the nation currently, a big drop from his 63% ratings in his first quarter of presidency. The main source of this result is simple: health care.

Ever since Obama began pushing to get a nationalized health care in America, he has been steadily losing approval all over the nation. This controversial debate will either make or break the Obama Administration. The President has spent a lot of time and used a lot of political power to endorse his campaign for national health care, pushing again for change for the nation, going against the very definition of conservative, and is therefore gaining much more disapproval. Obama is going to have to come out with a victory in someway soon, hopefully in the health care debate, or he will soon find himself almost becoming another Bush. Almost.

Is the Taliban Backing Off?

A statement issued on numerous population Taliban websites has said that the well known middle eastern guerrilla group states that the Taliban wishes no harm on any countries, they simply want to repel foreign invaders from Afghanistan and establish an Islamic state.

The statement issued was that: "We did not have any agenda to harm other countries, including Europe, nor do we have such agenda today...Still, if you want to turn the country of the proud and pious Afghans into a colony, then know that we have an unwavering determination and have braced for a prolonged war." Although this seems ominous, it could be just the push the country needs to finally pull our troops out of the middle east, and reports are that President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are closely scrutinizing the message and discussions are currently underway as to what the next move will be by the United States on the issue.

Tolerance Week Really Made Changes

Today the House of Reps met and officially voted to make assaulting someone because of their sexual orientation a federal crime, adding it to the list of hate crimes. Finally at least this right of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community is backed by federal law. Intolerance of other people simply because they are different from what is widely considered as 'normal' by the majority of the United States needs to end.

The San Fransisco bay area is a widely tolerant area that is accepting of all types of cultures and lifestyles, so the intolerance isn't so much seen here, but all over the country this outdated hate based on nothing but insecurity with different ways of life. Finally real steps are being made in the white house towards nationwide tolerance.

North Korea: Socialist and Proud of it

A recent trip through North Korea to see how things are really going by some NPR correspondents, revealed that the country seems to be doing just fine, and everyone living there loves socialism and how it has shaped their lives... that is, where foreigners are allowed. The totalitarian rule of the government is truly a complete on in North Korea, and what really goes on beyond the boundaries of the very few places visitable in the Communist state is a mystery to any visitors, and this secretive way of things doesn't exactly give off a friendly vibe to tourists, making it one of the least visited countries in the world. The locals all seem to be loving their lives, and one tour guide tells of the happiest day of his life: "I felt so excited. You know why? You get a chance to see the dear leader, Comrade Kim Jong Il. So exciting."

Anyone seeking to find out what really is happening in the shadows behind the facade of Pyongyang's foreigner accessible areas can be sure they'll get most likely more than just a slap on the wrist. But thats not to say even just a visit to the accessible areas aren't revealing enough. The 60 foot tall statue of Kim Il Sung, the massive amounts of propaganda scattered around the city, and the locals seeming undying loyalty to their country while in public definitely tell much about the Socialist nation. However, mostly what is going on in North Korea outside of the 'foreigner zones' is a complete mystery.

Turkish IMF Protesters Get Violent

As the IMF/World Bank was meeting in Istanbul today, violent protesters attempted to disrupt the meetings by waging a path of chaos. Although their plan to reach the meeting was foiled by over a thousand police forces armed with tear gas and water cannons, the protesters were still able to damage many foreign banks and ransack a McDonald's.

But the statement was still made: The IMF is corrupt. They don't seem to be getting much done, and to many Turkish people it is seen as simply another way that America is coming in and running their lives, and therefore needs to leave. Although the means of the protest were costly, destroying buildings and such, at least maybe now the IMF will see how hated it is by many people around the world.

Americans save as the economy falls

Although the U.S. has come a long way from being so deep in the recession, the people of the U.S. are still heavily feeling the woes of the economy, and are more than ever ensuring that they save as much money as possible.

This may sound like a good idea, but in reality it is one of the worst things that could happen to the economy right now. If people continue to work, but don't spend money, businesses will make no money, and as a result have to lay off more people, and continue in a downward spiral towards depression.

Although saving money seems only natural in these troubled times, if Americans truly wish to help their economy, continuing to shop and spend is what the country really needs.

Colleges turn to blogging as a way to link students to the world

As the internet continues to grow in depth and people discover more and more ways to transfer information at light speed, it is all people can do today to keep up. But a growing trend of blogging much more often and in much greater depth is sweeping across the colleges of the nation.

A student at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology put it: "M.I.T. is the closest you can get to living in the Internet."

And it isn't just M.I.T, its all over the country. Professors and teachers are turning more and more towards preparing their students for the new age of technology and the internet, where the transfer of data is faster than ever, and simply continues to speed up with every new update, program, and gigabyte of memory.

It seems that the only real way to keep up with our constantly changing world is to start doing a little thing called blogging.

Texting and Driving: Not exactly the best combination

The U.S. government has been meeting for two days now to decide what official steps will be taken towards federally enforcing cell phone laws, as a response to the ever growing problem of people getting in accidents who are using their phones while driving, whether it be talking or texting.

In California, both of these practices are already outlawed, but that didn't stop one person from getting involved in a texting fueled collision that resulted in the deaths of 25 people. Most states in the country still have no law stating that the use of cell phones while driving is prohibited, which yeilds results such as in Boston, where one texting driver's mishap resulted in the injury of over 60 people.

Talking on the phone while driving is bad enough, but texting while driving is just ridiculous. At least if someone is talking, they are keeping their eyes on the road, but what makes texting so dangerous is that the driver has to completely take their eyes off the road and where they are going, and focus on the little screen. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood tells how: "This is not dissimilar to drunk driving, public awareness is not at the level it should be."

Hopefully the cell phone law meetings will result in serious changes, so more lives are not lost over such stupidity.

Finally Iran's 'power plant' will be revealed for what it really is...

After Iran's 'power plant' suddenly began to crank out nuclear missiles, and the leaders of the Middle Eastern country still told the world that their 'nuclear power plant' was just for energy purposes, now finally Obama is calling their bluff, and sending investigators to check on this so-called 'power plant.'

As president Obama put it: "Talk is no substitute for action, Our patience is not unlimited."

This is a much needed response to the problem, and its going to be very interesting to how the Iranian government will respond when in a few weeks time the investigators show up on their door step, ready to see truly how much of the Iranian government's statements were complete bull.

Why China is spanking us Economically...

Even as the rest of the world is deep in an economic nightmare, China is not only surviving this recession, their economy is continuing to expand and grow. How are they doing it?

China is a communist state in which basically everything is controlled by the government, and they are doing an amazing job of using this power to their advantage economically. Under this system of total control from the authoritarian rule of President Hu Jintao, everything is closely regulated so the country can be the most efficient economic powerhouse it can be.

However, the true secret behind the success of the Chinese economy lies within their policies. A large majority of the population in China is extremely poor and does not make a lot of money, and therefore they consume little, save much, and help produce a bunch for exports to other countries, such as the U.S, in which most people consume massive amounts of goods, and therefore are constantly borrowing and making China richer.

Overall, the authoritarian run government may be cranking out massive amounts of product and raking in some serious dough, but when the trade off is to live under the total control of the Chinese government as opposed to the promise and opportunity of America, is it really worth it?

Health Care Smackdown

Although the missile crisis in Iran has taken precedence in our nation's politics, the health care debate still raged on, and was put to a momentary end this evening when the democratic plan was outvoted, mainly because of the cost of the bill, and how far it will put the economy in debt.

Costly or not, it is vital that this health care plan gets passed, because not only do too many Americans not pay for health care, and have no way of funding any sort of medical treatment, the prices of private health care are ridiculous, and the number of people who can afford private health care will continue to drop, leaving more and more people in the dark, unless a public option or government funded health care is provided.

For the democrats to pull off this decisive victory, they are going to need to get 60 out of 100 votes in their favor from the Senate, not an easy feat. But first it must get out of the committees who decide whether or not it is worth voting on, and currently the democrats are behind with a loss of 13-10.

Floating Wind Farms??

Germany has approved a massive plan to block off special zones offshore for wind farms. Interesting place to put them, but there is the some genius of it not blemishing the landscape on land, and the proposed project will generate enough power to function over 8 million homes.

Yet another example of how the rest of the world is moving forward towards an energy efficient future while us here in the good old US of A continue to sit back and run on dwindling oil supplies.

Sometimes its just flat out embarrassing to see how far behind we really are in situations such as Germany's offshore wind farms.

College Aid Now in the Hands of the Feds

The House of Representatives voted a couple weeks ago to put the control in who gets what and how much in aid to go to college from private lenders to the government, knocking out potential corrupt lenders from getting to pick and choose, and making the system judged by no few people, but by a large amount of people, while simultaneously opening up the possibility for more aid, as the government will now be putting more funds into the process.

This is an element of Obama's plan for the future of America that has worked, and will work quite well, that most everyone has agreed on, the house vote resulting in a 253-171 victory for the bill. This new way of going about things will take the weight off of taxes for loan subsidies and will open up the portal for money to be spent on other programs, hopefully including K-12 programs.

This new change truly is a step in the right direction from Obama's vision for a better America.

Government Hate hits a new low...

Earlier this September, a Kentucky man attempting to simply make more money by doubling as a census worker was hanged, after being labeled by an unknown suspect as a 'fed.'

Incidents protesting the law have been somewhat regular in southeastern Kentucky, and general disobeying of the law has become a growing problem. The horrible thing about this is not that people have a problem with the government, but that innocent lives are being lost as a result of this anger. This type of extremist behavior is exactly what our country doesn't need, and especially when it is over something as little as a census counting.

This event has opened the eyes of many to how out of touch some people in America really still are, that even though we are one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, we still have people so out there that would do something as horrific as this.

Obama's 'New Chapter' seems like a good idea, but will it actually happen?

Obama addressed the United Nations today, challenging the leaders of the 192 participating nations to work together to move into a new era, and assuring the various presidents and prime ministers that his term will not yield similar results to that of George W. Bush.

But will it actually happen? Obama told the UN how America will be moving towards nuclear disarmament, that we will be 'going green,' that we will help to solve world health epidemics like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and that we will not continue our attempts at nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is a lot to promise, and although Obama's plan for the future is a bright one, the possibility of it all working out any time soon is limited.

We may give up some of our nukes, but it will be an extremely small percentage out of our massive arsenal of American might. We also may start going more green, with more fuel efficient cars and such, but first regulations need to be set on gas mileage for cars, which will not be happening very soon either. We are also way too deeply imbued in the Middle East to simply just pull out and let the countries run themselves, and if we ever do fully pull all of our troops out of the Middle East, it is not going to be for a long, long, time.

Obama's vision of a 'New Chapter' in the way of the world is a bright and happy one, but one that is going to take a while to get to, if it even all ends up happening.

A nice, warm welcome back for the President...

They kicked him out once, but now he's back, and the Honduran people sure are rolling out the welcome wagon for ousted Honduran President Manuel Helaya

Gas Prices High in California? Try Denmark...

According to a CNN study 2 years ago, the price of oil in Denmark had reached a high of $9 a gallon for premium gas.

9 dollars. Think of that. It was a huge deal when we in the U.S. broke the $3 barrier, and that is generally where we are now, but try paying triple that per gallon. How do they do it? Denmark has almost completely switched to energy efficient ways of life, and doesn't rely on fossil fuels as a source of energy.

The craziest part of the whole situation is, the country has an unemployment rate of 1.8%, and it's economy is thriving.

Here in the United States, the 'most advanced country in the world,' we have fallen seriously behind. We are pushing towards impending doom with our reliance on fossil fuels, and if people will not change on their own, then the government needs to start initiating reforms, and putting taxes on oil, to give the nation the push it needs to move towards the energy efficient country we need to be.

Prices Raise as the Dollar Falls

As the value of the U.S. dollar has taken another drop recently, prices of gold, oil, and stocks increase in price:



Although it is good that stocks our are rising, the reason is due to the falling of the dollar in value, which is clearly quite bad. What will happen next?

G-20 Agrees to Lower Bonuses Being Given to Banks

This is a step in the right direction to help keep corrupt banks from using government money for their own personal gains.

American babies are weighing down the world

A study by the Wall Street Journal shows that even with energy saving lifestyles of some Americans, having one less baby is an infinitely more effective way to save our planet.

Living in crowded, polluted, inner city areas is bad for health.....there's a surprise

A National Geographic article hits the nail on the head in telling the dangers of urbanization.

But will this knowledge really change anything?

Suddenly our prisons don't seem as bad...

Iranians who speak out on the unfair counting of votes for the presidential election aren't exactly being given their 'freedom of speech'

Although prison has a bad rep in the U.S, because well, it's prison, at least the prisoners aren't being beaten to death for speaking their minds...

College Students Experience Suffering Economy Firsthand:

And largely unseen in the crush of students trying to get a college education in the era of budget cuts were those, like Shaun Wong, who were so frustrated that they simply quit.
"I got, like, zero classes, and it wasn't worth staying," said Wong, a would-be sophomore who loves history but has just withdrawn from S.F. State. "By the time it was my turn to register, about the only classes left were, like, fourth-semester Arabic and modern Greek. I need to take second-semester English." Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/26/MN3119DIR3.DTL#ixzz0PQHVGFRY"

College is supposed to prepare students for the real world, and that it does at colleges around the nation, as the harsh realities of the economy are realized by an increasing number of students who get into college, but not the classes they need.