Does He Really Fit the Bill?

The man is in our pockets and textbooks as the seventh President of the United States. Champion of the common man, he was known as he made his way into office. Andrew Jackson also is known for his tough love attitude toward the banking system, and got his face on the twenty dollar bill, big whoop. But does his face still deserve to be on the bill? After all, "Old Hickory" was not the most kind towards the Native American people. 

In fact, his record against the Indians during the Westward Expansion was less than flattering. "Indian Removal" was one of his talking points during his first inaugural address. 

As a nation of progress (defeating slavery and equalizing rights for all), it is somewhat disturbing that Jackson is still on the bill. The fact that he accomplished so little as far as building the nation, should be enough to overcome the common man friendship he had, that keeps his face on the bill today. Are we really a progressive nation, if we cannot recognize what a travesty the Indian Removal was? 

There is no going back in time to give the rightful land pack to the native people, but we can do one thing. We can replace the face of a man who fully supported and took part in the only genocide our country as witnessed with that of a man who has some more for us. FDR would be a much better candidate, and he represented progress to the extreme, pulling our country out of depression and laying the foundation for the United States' rise to world power.

Has Progress killed Bond?

Following the release of Daniel Craig's second film as James Bond, many critics, and even Rodger Moore himself, find themselves questioning whether what has happened to Bond is good. Throughout the forty years of Bond bonanza, the gadgets and pushing of the proverbial envelope have been changing to fit the modern world. However, with this country's unquenchable thirst for violence in entertainment, these critics feel that Bond has become too violent to appropriately fit the 007 model left by Craig's predecessors. With the progression in the media being made tin the past few decades, Americans have found themselves being able to view content with more violence, sex, and drug use than in the past. Obviously, the filmmakers of the Bond films had to adjust to the changing times and in turn have lost the charm and far out espionage sequence and replaced it with more death and more destruction.

Will Columbia Pictures head the warnings of critics and try to make a more classic Bond film in the future? Or will they listen to the outstanding box office preformance that ushered in over $70 million dollars for the studio? My friends, I regret to say, they will probably give into the power of green, and the American public will be force fed more putrid garbage through films that once warmed our imagination and inspired many to believe that futurism is ideal. Should we take this as a warning that progress may not be the key to our society? Perhaps the general balance we have now (save for a few exceptions) is where we should draw the line.

Obama Ushered In, World is Pleased

Now President-Elect Barrack Obama was in many eyes a shoe-in for victory. He had pragmatists and idealists on his side, arguing that the eight years of Bush policies are outdated and would be continued by McCain, and promising the vague idea of "Change" to the country's more desperate folk. The international reaction is also a noteworthy tidbit, as most countries see Obama as a strong and favorable leader. However, as can be seen in the link above, The China Worker, obviously a socialist piece, is fearful of Obama's election claiming that he is representative of big business and he being the first African-American to be elected President will cause false security to the issue of racism in America. This is a harsh, but pragmatic response to the election, as most pundits and newspapers have been swept up in the euphoria of Obama's election. Although the bias in this article is clearly define, it is interesting to see a sharp opposing viewpoint on the election, when American's eyes are filled with the same images in news and information. This non-dominant narrative, although not proven true, could be seen as a good warning to those that are willing to throw all of their faith into this strong and charismatic leader.

Just to get it out of the way... Boo Yah!