CA Proposition results

Results:
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/ballot-measures/

Measure B also passed, the San Fernando Valley industry will likely suffer due to out of state competition. Even worse, tax money will be used on the state for an office of people watching porn to make sure rules are followed. I can see it now: tissue boxes labelled "your tax dollars at work".

It makes no sense to me that the death penalty was not repealed, but voters decided to ease up on the three strikes rule. I'm against the death penalty in theory, but it happens rarely in California (13 executions since 1978, less than 2% of convicted murders) so it's not a big deal. But changing the three strikes law will cause more criminals to be on the streets. A felony is a felony, why should it have to be violent crimes? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, fuck you. If they don't learn after two felonies, they don't deserve to be in society. Just think from a economic point of view. The two-strike-criminal's fear just went down by ridiculous margins. He can now resume selling meth and stealing cars FOREVER.

The Voice (in Vietnam)

I stumbled upon the "Viet Voice" which copies the American show. I think it's entertaining because there's a good percentage of people who sing English songs. I haven't watched this entire episode yet (2 hours) but I will eventually. Check out the girl singing Whitney Houston at 2:30. CRAZY, sounds so American.

Anyway, beyond just musically entertaining, this show gives me hope for Vietnam. Look at the judges, you have a cool guy, a gay guy, a prima donna, and a party girl. There's so much variety that it encourages teenagers to be who they want to be, and not to be afraid to use their "voice" for music and life. Maybe when the current teens become 30-40 years old, Vietnamese society will change to allow more freedoms. It's still not likely, because the Communist party is also a criminal organization, at the lower levels the supporters are brainwashed. But the leaders know what they are doing is unethical, they just want the moneys. There is always hope however. Although no one ever thought the Soviet Union was going to fall from within, that's exactly what happened. I'm rooting for you Vietnam.

BiA Black Out

Imagine a world without pointless rants, and SBD comedy...

To join the world community (and to copy Google and Wikipedia) BiA is shut down today to protest PIPA and SOPA. You can take our media and communication, but you can never take our..... FRRRREEEEEDDDOOMMMMaaaaaggghhh

What if the US had mandatory military service?

The countries that have mandatory military service are those that have severe tensions with the countries next to them. For example there's Switzerland, Israel, South Korea, North Korea, and Taiwan. The huge downside is that the country can go full on nationalism like Hitler or the Spartans. But what if the country remained rational? In my opinion South Koreans and Taiwanese are pretty cool people. I know enough of their pop culture to see that they are happy and loving people. I really don't see any fascism popping up in either of those two countries.

I bring this up because although there are possible downsides, I think there's plenty of upside. There are three specific examples that come to my mind. 1) For one the amount of overweight and obese people will go down tremendously. Even though people won't be as fit after they leave the military, a two year service is enough to instill the right mindset to live healthily for life. 2) This can also reduce gang violence. Sure a huge downside is that some gangsters will return back to their gang with the ability to shoot straight, but many more gangsters will probably have their life turned around. After all, gangsters are soldiers at heart, they just want to find somewhere they belong. Military service can instill duty and morality. Many former gangsters will return as good citizens. 3) America will be less likely to go to war. It's easy now to let Congress vote to go to war, but what if all families had sons and nephews in the military? Do you think Congress would be on shorter leash? Hell yeah. The Iraq invasion probably would never have happened.

I was just curious about the idea, I don't have an opinion of whether I'm even in favor, I'm just saying there are definitely good consequences of such a system. The thing that made me interested is the Swiss model. They have mandatory service starting at 20 for one year and they are part of the military reserve until age 30. and are part of the reserve reserve until 50. While in reserve service they are each assigned an automatic SIG assault rifle which they keep in their own homes! Compare that to American soldiers, who cannot even keep sidearms with them while they are on BASE, (that's how the Fort Hood shooting was able to happen).

But I realize what works for one country won't always work as well for another country. What are your opinions on a mandatory military service?