The Pnebleu Blog

This month is the worst and best month of the year. It has always been the busiest month for me and my family. I finalized my new lease for June 2008 through June 2009. I have received information that I might be getting $300 from the IRS for the Economic Stimulus Package. The tests and projects are revving up. I had one test yesterday. I have two tests on Wednesday (4/9/2008) and more coming later this month. My immediate family has 3 birthdays this month, including my own.

Money is tight at the moment, so I’m watching every purchase with great vigilance. I have to get groceries soon, but I don’t get paid until 4/16. I’ve been needing to get an oil change, so I finally did today. My wallet hurts a little; $55. This afternoon and evening I decided to procrastinate as much as possible, so I didn’t read the 200+ pages for my 2 exams on Wednesday. I researched my schedule for the fall and I’ll talk to my adviser to determine if what I choose is appropriate. When I have a nailed down schedule I’ll post something about it. I’ve also been cleaning: the bathtub, vacuuming my room, sweeping the kitchen and entry, and washing my dishes. After that I listened to and watched a few podcasts. Security Now! 138 I finished my day just with Finance homework and blogging. I hope your month is better than mine. (My month isn’t really that bad, but I like to over-exaggerate.)

Animoto.com is a website for creating great photo slideshows with embedded music. This video is made from photos of this semester’s TAMU vs. Fresno St. game. I hope you like it. I’ve also tacked on another remix of the video with different photos and section of music.

I’m starting to feel more and more like we are living in a police state. Especially, with recent events in the news; like the Los Angeles protest gone bad. But, what starked this feeling in me, are the numerous law enforcement offices on the roads. City cops, state troopers, bike cops, county sheriffs, and unmarked police patrols are all on the highways and streets looking for anyone they can give a ticket. The few officers I know personally are nice, wonderful people, but the system and policy that is developing in law enforcement should be given look over.

Just the other day on Texas A&M University’s campus, I was walking to my car when two bike cops pulled over two women on bicycles. I don’t know what for or what happened, but they did ask for a driver’s license. From the looks of the students, they were headed to the Rec Center to workout, so they might not have their id. Before the pull-over, the officers on bikes where just standing around waiting for something to happen. I’m not saying that the girls got a ticket, but if that is what happened, the officers where on a stake-out. Do two women on bikes pose such a danger to society that two officers should spend their time watching people and bike move by? Couldn’t they be doing something else more productive or at a level that requires their skills, like say, investigating a robbery or assault that happen frequently on the North Gate side of campus? (North Gate is a strip of dance halls and bars, that have had a few assaults aimed at foreigners and minorities in the past couple of years.) I think that instead of focusing on alternative revenue gaining, the police force should be doing their job: enforcing criminal laws. Unfortunately, many of the laws are written to increase revenue instead of protect the public wellbeing. A shift in law-making and a review of current laws would need to occur to make a difference.

This morning on my drive to class, I saw an unmarked car that had pulled over what from all indications was a speeder. That is a complete contradiction of the goal of speed limit enforcement. By driving an unmarked vehicle, the police officer blends into traffic, allowing individuals to drive as they would. When he/she pulls over one speeder, the government will get the ticket revenue, but for the majority of the other cars on the highway will continue to drive at higher speeds. It’s like a wolf in sheep’s wool. However, when an officer is driving a patrol vehicle, it stands out and traffic slows to the appropriate speed. This accomplishes the goal of speed limits (”safer” driving conditions), but does not boost the government revenue. There is a conflict of interests when the law enforcement adds to the government wallet. The officials will be encouraged to “enforce” more and the legislature will be encouraged to write more laws to be enforced, and judges would be more likely to find cases in more the way of the government.

I’m not saying we live in a country that is corrupt, but to prevent corruption takes a vigilant populous. We need to be the moderators of our government, not the other way around.

I also have a video of Poojan bowling. I had to separate the post because iTunes doesn’t recognize the separate video files in the RSS feed.