42 Year Old Women Found Imprisoned in Father's Basement

The New York Times broke a story yesterday that nauseates me.

In Austria, a 42 year old woman was freed from her father's basement after 24 years of imprisonment and sexual abuse. She had given birth to 7 children in that time.

Her mother was living in the house the whole time. The father had told her that their daughter had run away.

The man began abusing his daughter when she as 11 years old.

Crimes like this should not be stood for. When the woman went missing, there should have been an investigation. Steps need to be taken worldwide so that this never happens again.

The Government's Violation of Freedom of the Press

I barely know how to respond to the recent NY Times article reporting that the "military experts" that serve as correspondents to news stations are actually in league with our government to promote the public's approval for the war.


What is even more disgusting is that the none if the major media outlets are reporting this scandal because they are implicated in the story. I first heard this story from "The Daily Show," an institution that obviously has no ties to the official media corporations.

In a time when so much controversy has occurred over the injustices perpetrated by the Chinese government, I find that the US regime is no different.

To influence the media's coverage of an issue is a violation of the freedom of press, especially when this influence is totally erroneous.

Ode to DIL

I forgot to take my literacy test
This was not me at my best
I thought a DIL class
would be a pain in the butt

I wanted to bang my head against the wall
To take a class was not my will
But then I meet Paul
and he was chill

About computers I learned a lot
And about what fly skill Paul's got
Now I am a digital master
and can use the internet so much faster

Ode to Blowout

A phenomenon called blowout
is something you should knowabout
Everyone will attend their final classes
And get drunk off their asses

Summer is almost here
But before we can enjoy the sun
We must face our biggest fear:
Exams are certainly no fun
When you haven't been to class all year

Bigotry on W&M Campus

This Tuesday, Serge Trifkovic gave an "Anti-Islam" on behalf of a student organization on campus.

Here is a quote a video connected to Trifkovic's talks:
"Islam wants to rule, submit, and seeks to destroy our Western civilization.
In 1945, Nazism was defeated in Europe.
in 1989, Communism was defeated in Europe.
Now the Islamic ideology has to be defeated.
Stop Islamisation.
Defend our Freedom."

I am a extreme proponent of free speech, but the fact that William and Mary Campus is hosting an event that is against an entire religion makes me feel dirty all over. I am pretty sure that "serge" knows less about Islam than my great aunt mabel...For all intensive purposes, these "Students for Freedom" are hosting a "Hate Workers Art Show." We have a significant Muslim population at this school ad an even larger group of students who are pursuing middle eastern studies. In what way can an event enrich our campus if it is directly targeted against one of our demographics...What if we had an Anti-White people speaker, we sure have done and still lots of bad stuff...I am a proponent of free speech, but speech that is hateful, bigoted, and erroneous is no kind of speech for me and no kind of speech for william and mary. For a better understanding of the middle east, might I suggest Palestine Awareness week.

Government-Sponsored Censorship

It has recently been discovered that "Popline" a database that is run by Johns Hopkins and funded by USAID, has blocked all search results prompted by the keyword "abortion." Regardless of ideology, this site limits access to important information needed in developing countries. The article mentions that some of the articles were very pro-choice, and that upset the Bush administration. Instead of eliminating all information about abortion, Johns Hopkins should have focused on creating a more balanced catalog of information.

I think that factual, unbiased information (emphasis on the factual and unbiased) is not only powerful, but necessary in this situation. I think only good can come from making the information is available to developing countries. Without this data, fatal consequences may occur. For example, Google cooperates with the Communist Party of China to limit Chinese citizens search access, leaving the Chinese utterly ignorant of the freedom and opportunity that lies outside their country. The only acceptable barriers that I can conceive of are ones of decency, such as blocking pornographic images from search results, but even that initiative should be made personally, not by a search engine itself.

The Technological Savyness of WM Students

In a recent "Chronicle" article, one UVA professor discusses the high-powered-advanced technological life of todays college students. The activities, programs, internships, and connectedness he describes about the average UVA student applies to any college student, including William and Mary students.

I think it is very important, for in today's job market, that college graduates posses the technological skills to make them competitive for jobs and graduate schools. As the years pass, more and more, occupations are incorporating technology and digitizing material. In order to function, one has to be able to deal with the technology of today and tomorrow...