Tuesday, October 04, 2005

North County Times - Vista - Spotty Internet connections a problem for some Vista schools

North County Times - Vista - Spotty Internet connections a problem for some Vista schools

The American people really need to ask themselves, "What is government good for?" For a long time now, one of the more obvious answers to that question, in addition to "defense", and "National security", has been "Freely available quality education for all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status."

Well, guess what, people. If you want quality education for your kids, you have to pay for it. Prop 13, as much as people love it because it saves them in property taxes, is killing our schools. Read the article, folks -- even the schools that were retrofitted with new network infrastructure had to borrow the money to do it. In a society that supposedly values education and abolishing ignorance, this is a crime.

Bill would restrict children's access to violent video games

Coming to you straight from North County Times reporter William Bennett (no relation to the genocidal-racist-loving freak) is this latest example of government being forced to parent in absence of parents.

I admit to being of two minds on this. On one hand, I'm disturbed that the Dems in California are once again leaving themselves open to charges of wanting to create a "nanny state", on the other hand, it's obvious that parents as a whole aren't living up to their responsibilities to monitor what their children watch or play. As an adult video game player myself (that is, an adult who plays video games, not someone who plays "adult games"), it's obvious that the video game industry is on a collision course with government, thanks to pushing the envelope of good taste and allowing themselves to be scapegoated for society's ills.

All told, I'd rather have mature video games able to be distributed, albeit in an age-restricted fashion, than not have any mature video games at all.