Is Testing Welfare Recipients for Drug use a Good Thing?

Many states are now considering giving welfare recipients drug tests. There are many that say this is stereotyping those on welfare as as lazy, drug users. There are also those that believe this is a good thing. I believe drug testing welfare recipients is a good thing it can be found that a welfare recipient is using drugs they can be taken off and save the state money. It also makes sure that the money is going to the children if there are any.

The first real reason for having welfare recipients drug tested is to see if the money is really going to help them make ends meet or to their drug use. Now anti activists of this policy are saying that it is just stereotyping welfare recipients as lazy, drug abusers. This is untrue. Many don't see welfare users as this description. They are just people that are down on their luck. While many may not due drugs and as an article by Robin Marty says "the percentage of welfare recipients using drugs was actually lower than that of the regular population" (http://www.care2.com/causes/drug-testing-welfare-recipients-is-compassionate.html). This proves that this the amount of drug users n welfare is very low. Though it is still enough to require a drug test. After all is the money being given to these people is being spent on drugs instead of what they need then it is just a waste of tax payer money.   Just think if these drug abusers are parents how can they support their children will spending money on their addiction.

Now as previously stated not all welfare recipients use drugs but those that due need to be weeded out. After all what if they are parents. They cannot provide for their children. They would leave their children unfed just to get high. After all if you can't make ends meet in the first place while being drug users how can you do it while being a parent. In Florida if the parents are taken off welfare then the payments will still continue to the children though another family member (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/us/states-adding-drug-test-as-hurdle-for-welfare.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&hp&adxnnlx=1318348709-n%20qDLowhd0sUnSL9VNLgHw). This is a good policy because the parents can't abuse the money their given and the children aren't left out in the cold with their parents. After all why condemn the child for the crimes of the parent. The children nee to be thought of and taken care off.

So while some people are going against this policy with vigor and hate, there are those like myself that find it a good plan. We need to make sure that the money we are giving these people is not being abused and used for the wrong things. We need to use this policy to help those that deserve this money are getting it and those that don't aren't. 

Offshore Drilling: Do the Benefits Outway the Costs?

There is a big debt right now over offshore drilling. Many environmentalists are very opposed to it, where as the oil companies and their supporters in Congress wish to support it. I think that we should learn form our mistakes and just let the oil in the ocean be left undisturbed. After all didn't we fill most of the Gulf of Mexico with five million barrels of oil, endanger hundreds of species of sea life, pollute our water and spend millions of dollars and months cleaning up the spill. This is the point that the environmentalists are arguing. They believe we should leave the oil to sit and use alternative fuel sources. I fully see their side of the story, they don't want another B.P. oil spill polluting our waters and killing hundreds of species of sea life. I also see the oil companies' side. They what to get more oil make profits, and give us a little more time to make our cars usable. I don't, however see the point in taking the chance of another oil spill. In a New York Times article stated that "Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, "acknowledged that "drilling 5,000 feet beneath the gulf or in the unforgiving conditions of the Arctic would never be free of risk."(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/science/earth/us-to-open-new-areas-to-offshore-drilling.html?_r=1). This show that no one believes that nothing will happen, that there will always be a chance of having a catastrophic failure and that we will have another terrible oil spill. The oil companies may think that they have a noble endeavor, which in a way they do after all most of our methods of transportation run off oil and gasoline. This maybe true but destroying our earth even more than we have is only going to hurt us in the long run. In a 2008 USA Today article a Greenpeace activist named Melanie Duchin says "Oil smothers wildlife"( http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-07-13-offshore-drilling_N.htm). Truer words were never said. Offshore drilling upsets natural ecosystems and causes massive damage to the surrounding area. We cannot allow this to go on. The end does not justify the means.

Are Drop Outs Going to Save our Economy?

Many highly successful, multimillion dollar companies have been started by college dropouts. These are men and women without degrees, without the completion of their formal education. Yet these men and women have made millions on an idea. They took a huge risk jumping from the beaten path to make their own through a thicket of challenges. They little money, support and resources, yet they made it big. These men and women made it big by relying on themselves and not their degree to become a success. Steve Jobs started Apple out of his garage with Stephen Woznaik. A Daily times article said that Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College. He dropped out of college but made so many revolutionary creation such as the iPad, iPhone, and iPod. Another man who made it big and drop out of college was Bill Gates the man who helped started Microsoft, one of the most widely used computer softwares. Bill Gates went to Harvard University, one of the hardest schools to get into to, and "dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to concentrate his efforts on a company he called Microsoft" (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\08\15\story_15-8-2011_pg9_3). Both these men have accomplished great things and neither had any degree of diploma from a college. An article of the New York Times website said "American academia is good at producing writers, literary critics and historians. It is also good at producing professionals with degrees. But we don’t have a shortage of lawyers and professors. America has a shortage of job creators" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/opinion/sunday/will-dropouts-save-america.html?_r=1&ref=opinion). This quote gives a very good assessment of the author's point of view. He views the American education system as flawed and personally I would have to agree with him. The American education system is more focused on good test scores than on any real world application of skills. We are being taught how to take tests and how to become more desirable, but not how to create more jobs. We are being told failure is not an option, that any mistakes will haunt us, if we don't do good on a test it might affect our lives outside of school. The school system needs to push children to become people that are not afraid to fail, that know that failing is a part of life and you need it to learn. While I do see the point in being someone of a higher education can be beneficial. Having a degree can get you more money on a job, it can get us a second look for a job over someone else. Yeah okay I get it with the degree being a good thing but having a degree isn't all that great. Some people will not give you a job because they will have to pay you more over someone else is you have a a higher degree. So what if you spent the last four years in college getting a m]Masters or Bachelors degree if you have no real world experience. So yes will having a degree makes you smart your not creating jobs or boosting the economy like some of the college dropouts that are out there.  

Bullying, Can it Really be Stopped?

Everyone is going on about bullying in and out of schools. People believe that it needs to be stopped, but how can this really happen? Can we really stop bullying? How can we do this when bullying occurres when people have no self confidence and take out their insecurities on those that are weaker than them. The only way to stop bullying would be to destroy perdijustes, insecurities, and weaknesses.These are the causes but they cannot ever truly be removed. How can you remove a personal weakness or a hatred that was harbored towards another race since birth by the parent. Some of our pains are caused by those around us. Some one who is bullied may find someone or something weaker to take out their frustration at their own weakness on. This chain continues until there is nothing smaller to or weaker for the last in the chain to become frustrated at. Bullied children will also probably become depressed and maybe even suicidal. There is also the other end of the spectrum where they become extremely violent and will fight back and even try to kill their bully. These are all painful and terrible aftereffects of bullying that hurt many people. I will admit that it is possible to stop bullying, I just don't believe it's possible within our lifetimes. Things like I described earlier are extremely hard to remove from society. People have long memories and will not easily forget someone that has wronged them. Pain is long lasting and will not be forgotten easily. I was bullied when I was younger and it pushed me to a dark place, so dark I thought that there was no way out, but I found my way back with help. So I believe it is possible to stop bullying, it will just take awhile.

Why Should We Make Ourselves Appeasing to Society?

Why should we make ourselves appeasing to those around us?  For what reason is there for me to be any different than I am. I have no reason to care what others think of who I am. I am me, that's all i can be but everyone is always saying that I need to look acceptable , I can't wear baggy, comfortable clothes because that will cause people to judge me. I don't care how I look, but I'm always told that I need to look better. i don't care what other people say, they don't know me, they don't have any right to say that I need to build up this facade of being different from myself just because they don't like it. I tried that, it didn't work for me. I will be myself and that won't change. You can try to tell me that if I don't look great that people will treat me differently. Well know what let people judge me. those that do are just proving my point even more. I will not make another me, another false me that only faces the world while the real me is locked away only to be shown while no one else is around. That doesn't work for me. You cannot live within a facade you have to be free to be you. Why can others not see this? Telling others to be different, to conform, to be just like everyone else. Well you know what? I gave up caring what people thought of me a long time ago because while you say what you want about me, you have no knowledge of me as a person, you know not me, you know not the true person I am if all you do is say that I have to appear acceptable to those that don't even know me. How can I trust someone that tells me to conform to what others what? This is unacceptable we need freedom to be us for if we are not us, if we are not allowed to be our true selves, then who are we really?

The New Friendship

The little sheep was so excited he could barely sleep, in a few hours he would be able to play with Cornelius. The little sheep now slept during the day under the old willow tree on top of the hill. He new this would be a safe place to sleep for none of the other sheep would come all the way up the hill just to bother him. He loved playing with his new friend. He and Cornelius would play until the stars in the night sky began to vanish. Then Cornelius would go back into the sky and sleep with the others in the sky while down on earth the little sheep would go to sleep under the willow tree at the top of the hill. This night though was especially exciting because Cornelius said that he was going to give the little sheep a name, but he need time to think of one. So he said "In three days I will give you a few names to chose from and you can tell me which one you like best and then it shall become your name. So that night the sheep woke up and could barely wait to chose his name. Then Cornelius descended from the sky like he did and said....   

The Little Sheep's Wish

"Oh, how I wish I had a friend to talk to," said the little sheep as he sat on the hill looking at the stars. He did this almost every night. Sometimes he would just sit there looking up at the sky just wanting a friend. None of his own herd would get near him because of his hair. Sometimes he just thought of running away, but he realized that was impossible because he would never survive on his own out beyond the fence. The thought that no one wanted, even his parents stayed away from him, made him so sad. So the little sheep just sat there looking up at the stars for a few minutes. Then he just started crying, crying in such away that even a being with a heart of ice and stone would feel for this little, lonely sheep. "Why are you crying so terribly," said a voice. The little sheep was startled by the voice and jumped. "Who's there he," he asked. "Look up," said the voice. the little sheep did and to his amazement the was a little shining creature floating right above his head. "What are you" the little sheep asked in awe. "I am Cornelius. I am a star without a friend," the little being answered. The little sheep suddenly jumped up and said, " I don't have a friend either. How about we be each others friend?" "I think that would be a splendid idea," cried the little star, "May our friendship never break." 

The Odd Sheep

The little sheep stood on the edge of the pasture not daring to get to close to the others. This sheep feared the others for how they treated it an thought they would do more than just chase him away if he got to close. The treated him like a monster just because he was born with this weird hair that grew straight out. He was the little sheep with no friends and even his own parents would no longer associate with him for fear of ridicule. The little sheep was sad. He couldn't play with the others and no one would talk to him. He was never even given a name. His heart ached for someone to be his friend just once. That was all he asked for, all he ever wished for at night when the stars shining up in the sky.

The Odd Sheep Ball Thingermabober!

This week for a trinket I have this odd sheep ball thing, to be perfectly honest I have no idea what this is. It has four feet and legs with cloven hooves. It has the head of a sheep and a sheep's tail but its body is odd. It has all these little plastic strings coming out of it. It reminds me of those balls with all the plastic hairs on them that you would get as a kid for being as a treat from the dentist's office( well I would at least). Those balls that tickled your hand and you could dangle down the stair because the hair on it would stretch. Well it looks like it has a little hanger on it's back, so I guess you can attach it to your backpack or something like that. I honestly have no idea what I'm going to write about with this during the week, but that's what imagination is there for right?

The Endless Cycle

There is a cycle out there that we have been a part of, no matter what walk of life you come from you have seen some form of it in your life.This cycle causes pain, suffering, hate, war, rage, and sorrow. This cycle is caused by those who have no idea of the cost of a human life. This is the cycle of revenge. A painful cycle that can and probably never be broken by anyone in this time. There are so many things that cause entrance into this cycle. Greed, lust, envy, pride, wrath, an unwillingness to see others as equals. All these things are what brings us into to this cycle. We know this and yet we persist that when we participate in these things we are righteous and good, it's everyone that's at fault. You may be wondering why I have started talking about something like this. This was brought about by the recent story of the Arlington terrorist that was arrested a few days ago. He said that he was going to destroy the Capital Building, The Pentagon, and The White House because he believed that America had become evil. Many may say that these are the delusions of a murderer, but I believe that to all words there is some truth. This man believe that this country was so evil that he had to destroy no matter the body toll. This I cannot condone but there must be some truth to his words or he would not have done this. Our country has no been a saint, we have hundreds of civilian war causalities during the Iraq war on our hands. We have spilt our own share of innocent blood over the years, so has every country. This is not an excuse this is a  statement of fact and no matter what I don't believe that when someone is killed, some else doesn't deserve to die. Death begets death, hate begets heat, revenge begets revenge, war begets war. This is an endless cycle that will not be broken until someone can stand up and say that this is wrong and some how bring peace to the world. 

Is the Fast Food Industry Causing Obesity?

There are a lot of people saying that the American society is becoming obese. Now there are many reasons why this could be happening, some people are even trying to point the blame at the fast food industry. This is a little outrageous, I mean really are people so out of control of there own lives that they can't even control their own eating habits. It's not like I can't understand where people are coming from. Fast food is easy to get and it's really cheap. There are even promotional items and some places, like McDonald's, even host birthday parties. These make people want to go to fast food joints even more. This is, I agree, is a very valid point, but there apparently is no more sense of personal responsibility. People cannot deal with something that is wrong with them so they make it someone else's  fault entirely. This is just unreasonable in my opinion. If you see that something is wrong with yourself don't blame others, fix it yourself. Problems we have are usually self inflicted. If you see that your over weight don't blame the place you go to eat. Go to the gym, eat healthier foods. Heck you don't even have to go somewhere else for lunch since most fast food places now offer healthier choices for meals. I work at McDonald's and I know for a fact that there are salads and we even have grilled chicken as an option on sandwiches. People need to think about what they eat and how they can fix it them selves as opposed to who they can blame for how they look. Really someone suing the fast food companies because they're over wait is like someone suing the tobacco industry because they have lung cancer. It's your own fault, your actions caused this not someone else. Deal with your own problems instead of ignoring them and blaming someone you don't even know for it.

The Adventure's of Hippie (The End)

Hippie's new form caused by the rainbow wheat had now become near permanent. He was changing back less and less. The others had now started calling this "beast" that haunted them the Basilisk. Hippie liked the name and decided to stick with it. He screamed it to the night and his cry pierced the night air like shattered glass. He had been hunting more and more of the other chickens. Only one so far had been able to escape by not looking him directly in the eyes, but at his reflection. The survivor described his eyes as slitted snakes eyes, with acid green for the pupils. He was terrifying and stood four feet high. Hippie made sure that on his next hunt the survivor was his first target before he could spread anymore rumors. Just as that night's hunt began Hippie heard a cry not unlike his own when in the form of the Basilisk. He ran at his fastest pace to the barn and found that another chicken had found his stash. He began to charge the other Basilisk. They fought for hours but Hippie finally gained the upper hand he was about to strike down his opponent when... the farmer awoke with a start in a cold sweat. He ran to the bathroom and started to lose his dinner. "I am going to throw away all the chicken in my fridge first thing tomorrow morning," he thought. He went to his medicine cabinet to get some Peptobismol. When he shut the cabinet door to look at himself in the mirror he saw two slitted, acid green eyes staring at him four feet off the ground. He turned around slowly and saw what was behind him. His blood chilling scream was cut short by a screech that pierced the night air like shattering glass. Then just like that all was silent.    

The Adventure's of Hippie (part 6)

The others chickens on the farm had become very lax since Hippie had said that the beast was no more. Little did they know that the beast was among their own. Hippie had finally begun staying conscious of his actions after consuming the wheat. He realized that it turned him into a monster with and unsatisfiable urge to devour his own kind. This he knew now was the cause of the beast appearing after he had found the wheat and why he had never been around when it happened. He was the beast, a monstrous being ten times the size a normal chicken with a snakes tail and a lizards main. His eyes paralyzed his prey instantly. No one could escape his grasp. He was invincible the only thing that could stop him would be if another chicken found the wheat stash and tried to fight him. Then he would be in trouble. This gave him reasons to hide his precious stash even better than he had before. No one and I mean no one was going to appose him and get away with it anymore. He was the all powerful king of the farm now, "Muwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah," his laugh rang out like it was the Devil's own voice. 

The Adventure's of Hippie (part 5)

It had been around six days since the beast come and everyone on the farm was starting to relax a little, but a little mind you for they knew that at any moment one of them could go missing. This was a fear for many because they thought that the beast was just waiting for them to let their guard down. Hippie was worried more then the others, but for different reasons. He fear the if he didn't get more of the wheat he was going to start having trouble acting normally. This was causing him great fear. He decide that that night he was going to sneak away and try to get to the wheat and back before anyone noticed he was gone. He would rather chance seeing the beast than go another day with out the wheat. So off he went for what seemed like hours he walked afraid of every noise,  every stick breaking, every rustle of wheat. He had almost lost his nerve when he got to the wheat. He made it back just before day break with a new, larger stash. He decided to tell the others that the beast was gone and all was well. Once this was done everyone calmed down because they believed Hippie the smartest of them all. So they all went off that night thinking everything was fine, but little did they know that Hippie was dead wrong ....

The Adventure's of Hippie (part 4)

He awoke to the sound of screams emanating from the chicken coop. Hippie was so shocked he almost jumped out of the hay loft. He realized what was happening and ran outside to the chicken coop as fast as he could. He came to the coop in time to see three on the chicken hysterically running around yelling. He ran up and asked what was the matter. They told him that another chicken had gone missing. "This is the work of the cruel devil beast," they cried. "It has stolen away our poor friend. We must do something about it." "But how," cried one, "we don't even know what it's suppose to look like, it could be anything." "Then we should have everyone stay on the farm until we find away to deal with this menace." Hippie was terrified now, not because of the beast but because his stash of wheat had run out and he was desperately in need of more. How was he going to get some if no one was allowed to leave the farm? This was a great fear to Hippie because he was starting to feel the affects of not having any wheat. This was bad because he knew what would happen if he tried to resist for to long, but with no choice he decide to wait a few days and deal with the side affects and see if the beast just left.

The Adventure's of Hippie (part 3)

When we left off Hippie had come back from a freaky hallucination caused by an odd kind of wheat that he found at the very edge of the field, so let us now return to our story of Hippie the Technicolored Chicken.
   This was the third trip to the "Edge," Hippie called these trips to find the rainbow wheat, that week. He was starting to not be able to run properly without it. He had also started noticing some odd side affects like he needed to eat more and was starting to have a higher body temperature. He had also begun to notice a decline in the number of other chickens around him. They said that a monster had come from over the mountains and was beginning to devour their brothers. This last bit made him fear that his trips to get the grain would be very dangerous so he decided to grab as much as he could carry and take it back with him. So he found a spot up in the hay loft that few rarely went and decided to put his stash behind a loose board in the roof. This he knew would keep it safe even if someone went looking for it. He decided to have one piece before he went to bed just to help him go to sleep....

Why the MCAS should not be used by any School

The MCAS, the mortal enemy of every student from third grade up until Sophomore year. These standardized tests are extremely useless in my opinion. They do nothing but cause unneeded stress and anxiety in kids that don't need that kind of pressure put on them at such a young age. These tests take away from class time and cause teachers to teach methods that are never used again in real life. These test don't even test anything about the student, but about how well they have been taught. I'm going to say that these test caused me to stay up all night worrying if I was going to pass. I always did but that didn't matter because this test was always made to seem like it was the be all, end all of the testing world. I despised doing them because you failed you had to go through remedial courses on what you didn't do good in. Now there are those that will say that these test are necessary to see how good a student is and how smart they are. I think those people have never even taken this test and should be forced to take it after being repeatedly told that the way their life is going to turn out depends on how goo they do on this test, but they are entitled to their own opinion no matter how wrong I think it is. Another thing about the MCAS is it's needed to graduate from high school which I think is that worse thing of all because what if your not good at testing and the only reason you can't pass high school is because of some test that  the state made you take because they thought it was a good idea. The fact that these tests are mandatory until your second year of high school is way to ridiculous for me, but that's just my opinion take it or leave it.

The Media's Manipulation of the General Population

In recent years the mass media's reach has spread all around the world. With this so has it's ability to influence that population. The media tells us what to buy, what to eat and drink, what to wear, what we should care about, and how we should live our lives. This is just not right to me. Our society bases everything from where we go to how we should look off the media. Now I'm not trying to say the the media is bad, just some aspects of the media. The media brings us news and entertainment but it also is a way of bring us ways to think. Many of the eating disorder cases have been attributed to the media showing images of models and superstars causing people to think that they are inadequate to said models and stars. The media as a whole also gives us things that they say we should be interested in. On the news there are always stories about some mishap that a star has had and I ask myself "Why should I care?" If you can give me one good reason why I should care that Charlie Sheen is on drugs or the Arnold Schwarzenegger had a kid with his maid then tell me and I'll give you ten reasons why it's non o my business and is uninteresting to me.
    I despise what the media is doing to us as a culture. It sickens me sometimes thinking about all the people augmenting their bodies, starving themselves just to look like what they see on television. Now there are those that say people make all there own choices in life and falling for the media's manipulation is their own fault. I completely disagree. I think that no matter what you do or who you are your going to in someway fall for the media at some point because no one is immune to it's influence. There is almost nowhere  where there is no connection to some sort of media and that makes all the more worse. There is so much stimuli and persuasion how could one not fall into the net of the media.

The Adventures of Hippie (part 2)

Hippie awoke with a start to find himself back in the barn with no idea of how he got there. He was flustered and confused for a few minutes, wondering what had become of the rainbow hay and his powers to control the space around him.He went outside and found the other animals on the farm worried because he had been missing for six days when they finally found him laying out in the middle of the fields passed out from dehydration. He thought to himself "what happened to the other five days that I was gone. It must have had something to do with the rainbow wheat at the edge of the field." He decided that he would never go near that place again, but as much as he tried not to he was noticing that he had need to go back and have more wheat. Well this went on for a few days when he finally gave in and went to the place where he had found the wheat before. He finds it same as it was before so he goes to eat a another piece of wheat...

The Adventure's of Hippie

Now it is time once more for us to return to our story of Hippie the multicolored rooster. When we left off before our friend Hippie was about to try one of the rainbow pieces of wheat. Well after much thought Hippie decided to try some of this mysterious wheat that grew at the most remote part of the fields. As he placed the wheat in his mouth he had the strangest sensation, it felt like his feet were no longer on the ground. When he had fully eaten the wheat he started feeling odder than before. Things started changing before his eyes. Colors were changing and becoming brighter, shapes were turning into blobs before his eyes. "This is the most amazing thing in the world," he thought to himself. He felt like he could do anything, be anything. It was almost if he had been given the power to make things as he saw fit. So he decided to try and make a river, and just like that one appeared right before his eyes. So he thought I want there to be a tree reaching into space and there was. Hippie experimented with this new found power of his for hours, till he became very tired. He thought to himself "I can play some more when I wake up." So with that he lay down and went to sleep.

Hippy's First Adventure into the Unkown

Hippy was wondering though the fields one day as usual, but something would be different today, something that would turn Hippy's world upside down. On this walk that was just like any other walk Hippy decided to a different route that the one he usually took. So instead of going down the hill to the river, Hippy decided to go over to the mountains surrounding the farm. He walked and walked for hours until the sun started to go down. He had almost reached the mountains and wanted to go a little further just to see what lay on the mountains for he had always seen glimpses of an odd colored object at the end of the wheat field and wanted to see what it was, so he made up his mind to press a head to the mountains and rest there for the night. So he walked right up to the base of the mountain just as the set passed over the horizon. So he found so wheat to eat and slept. When he awoke he awoke to a sea of color more beautiful than his own feathers. Wheat all the colors of the rainbow. This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I never want to leave. So there he stayed for weeks just admiring the wheat. Then one day he decides that he should try the colorful wheat. What happens when he eats the wheat you ask? Well you'll just have to wait and find out.

Hippy the Rooster

Hippy is a multicolored rooster. His feathers are the colors of blue, red, orange, green, yellow, black, and pink. He has a beak of pure gold. He lives on a farm over looking fields of golden wheat and rivers of crystal. He finds no greater joy than just sitting outside watching the sky turn the colors of his feathers as the sun sets on the horizon. He eats his fill of grain left out in the sun to dry and spends his nights sleeping in the loft of the barn. He wake at dawn to rouse those with in the range of his call. He loves where he lives but he wishes that there was more for him to see than just these fields of golden wheat and rivers of crystal, for one grows bored with the same sights after time no matter how beautiful they are. Thus begins his epic adventure through his own imagination, but that friends, I fear is a tale for another time.

The Reaction to Hurricane Irene

Last weekend most of the East Coast was hit by Hurricane Irene. There was a lot of panic and fear at the though of the damage that might be caused by this. It wasn't helped by the media. All the news stations made the storm sound like it was the end of days. This caused even more panic and confusion. All the media did was add fuel to the fire. I had personally believed that the storm wasn't even going to be that bad. I had a conversation with a customer at the McDonalds I work at, he said and I quote," The media is hyping the entire things up, people are out buying pumps and generators and survival kits that they will never use. Then they're going to return them and people are going to lose money." I think this speaks to how the hurricane was being viewed. I mean there are those that will say being prepared was right thing to do because that meant that you were ready for when the storm actually came and took down trees and people lost power. I say that they have a very valid point. The storm was worse than I thought it was going to be, my neighbor's tree fell on my parents car, but I still believe that there was a lot of overreacting going on amongst that general public. The storm caused panic and the media and businesses feed on that panic and fueled it. This gave people a fear the something terrible was going to happen. The storm was bad yes, and I believe that, but this storm was just that a storm that got had a little more power than we're usually used to.Peoples reactions were way over the top for a little rain and wind. This was a hurricane that was downgraded at the last possible moment to a tropical storm, not the storm of Armageddon. 

The Greatest Defeat

Ultra Magnus has to date been a leader who's prowess was only second to that on Optimus Prime. In all his years he had never seen such a magnificent opportunity to en this accursed war once and for all. He had sent his spies out to try and determine the reason behind some recent Decepticon activity. This action gave him more information than he could have ever asked for. His spies found out that the Decepticons had found a new way to transport supplies between their main base and their front line. They had created a warp gate that gave them the ability of free travel between any two portals. Ultra Magnus new he could exploit this new information to his advantage. He figured if he took a big enough army with him he could lead a strike right into the heart of the Decepticon base. So after weeks of planning he had come together with enough men and a plan that took almost everything into account that could possibly happen. So he led his army to the portal, sending in a few tactical fighters to take out the guards around the portal. After taking control of the portal he started preparing his men to go and defeat the Decepticons. They entered the portal and found themselves in the very center of Decepticon base surrounded by thousands of enemy soldiers. It was a long hard fought battle by both sides. Half way through the battle things started going downhill for the Autobots. They were taking heavy losses and the Decepticons just seemed endless as they continuously swarmed the Autobots. Ultra Magnus needed a miracle if he wanted to get himself and the rest of his men out alive. Then a miracle happened as Metroplex the largest Autobot came though the portal and started taking down Decepticons left and right. Ultra Magnus called his men to retreat back through the portal then destroy it completely. After every last man was through Metroplex and Ultra Magnus went through the portal and destroyed so that it could never be used again. This day was the greatest defeat Ultra Magnus had ever witnesses in his time as a leader of the Autobots. He felt he had failed his men and his cause. He left the Autobots and went into self induced solitary. He wasn't heard from again until he returned one day many years later. He came back to great joy and cheers of his old comrades. He had gone into seclusion to meditate and learn from his mistake. HE had turned himself into the best leader there ever was or ever would be. This is the story of Ultra Magnus.

The Story of Ultra Magnus!

Ultra Magnus  was a great warrior and leader on Cybertron. He had fought against the Decepticons for centuries in Earth years. He lead many battles and developed thousands of strategies that the Autobots could use to defeat their most hated enemy. He has fought many battles to finally bring peace to his planet. He didn't use to be a hardened soldier though, he was once the greatest scientist and philosopher on the planet, he was a man of peace with a family. He was friends with a few Decepticons and was even trying to negotiate peace talks when the civil war of Cybertron was in it's fist few months, but that all changed when a Decepticon he thought of as a close friend turned and murdered his entire family. After seeing his seen of death, all love in his heart for his former friend evaporated to be replaced by hate and fury. After fighting and destroying the traitorous bot that he had thought of as his brother, he turned his hate inward for daring to trust these foul Decepticons. He then turned his talents and genius to the Autobots for a chance to bring down these monsters that dared called themselves Transformers to their knees and beg for forgiveness. He wanted every bot that dared call themselves Decepticons to pay for what had happend to his family. After years of hate having consumed his very core he was cornered by a fellow Autobot Optimus Prime Who told him that no matter how much fighting he did it wouldn't bring his family back from the dead. Ultra Magnus heard the words of the great leader and he realized that he was right so Ultra Magnus that he didn't need to forgive the Decepticons but he needed to remind himself that his family was dead and that could never be changed no matter how much he wanted it. He then decided that he would lead that Autobots to victory bu not with hate in his heart for hate dulls your other emotions and clouds your mind so that leading others becomes impossible. He knew that he must let go of his hate to lead with a clear mind and heart. This has led Ultra Magnus to  one of that greatest leaders in the history of the Autobots.

My New Found Friend!

I finally got to have a conversation with Ultra Magnus today he was as amazed as I was that he came to life. I asked Ultra Magnus, "Why did you come to life?" He told me that he had no idea that i was paying attention to what he was doing. He said that everything has some sort of life, but that most humans don't notice when they move or end up somewhere other than where we left them. that's why things go missing and are found in the oddest places. What he told me enlightened me to those little things that we so barely notice. I asked him if those little flashes of movement in the corner of our eye, those sounds we hear when everything is quite and no one is home, the tales of ghosts are just objects like him moving around. Yes said sometimes they where and other times they where just our imagination playing tricks on us. That made so much sense to me that i slapped myself in the head. I can't believe i never noticed something o completely obvious before. I talked with Ultra Magnus about a ton of other things too, it was fun to see things form his perspective. We laughed for hours on end before he inevitably turned back into a transformer action figure once more.

He has Spoken.

This transformer, who's home of late has been my desk, recently came to life before my eyes once again. I stood in stark silence, awaiting something to happen, for him or I to break this seemingly unending silence. yet for the longest time neither of us appeared capable of coherent thought. Until finally I mustered up the will to speak, and I simply said "Hi," I said in a meek whisper. I waited what seemed like a century for him to reply and he did. "Hello" said the little figure standing upon my desk in such a feeble whisper that i almost thought i had imagined his reply. "Whats your name I asked" to being able to think of anything better to say. "My name is Ultra Magnus. Whats yours?" he said with a little more confidence that before. "My name is Adam," I said with my brain finally working again. I thought to myself I'm having a conversation with a transformer action figure this is amazing, but before i could say anything else he turned back into a lifeless action figure made of plastic. Well I always have tomorrow to speak to him.

Transformer on a Roll

This trinket I am blogging about did the most amazing thing when I went to sit down to write my blog today. It came alive and started driving around my desk. Then all of a sudden it transformed into a six inch tall robot. This was the most amazing thing that I've ever seen to date. I tried talking to it but it appeared to become terribly scared and transformed back into a truck. It then proceeded to drive behind my computer monitor. I looked behind the monitor and saw the transformer cowering looking around the other side of the monitor. I then picked it up and tried to sooth it into a calm state of being. When I finally believed I had calmed him down he became an inanimate toy once again. I wonder if tomorrow I'll get to talk to him. 

Transformer

This Transformer standing six inches tall, an autobot by the three markings it bares. It's colors are red, blue, and black. It turns into a truck in seconds. In truck form I can drive it around my desk and have it do tricks. This toy can do what ever I think I want it to, whatever I can imagine becomes it's reality. My wish becomes it's command. This transformer shapes itself to me, but does so with a feeling of use, of need, of want. I wants to be used.