What is going on in the world today? Over the weekend I’ve noticed how politics causes confusion, especially in my life. Below are the following points that struck me as most trivial:

1) Carrot poisoning; here we go again. Supposedly there is a carrot grower who produces carrot juice that is under suspicion of contaminating their product. It has made a few individuals sick. Will this turn into another ‘spinach’ crisis? I hope not; I’m over the hype and the drama surrounding the sensitivity of ‘organic’ food.
2) I’m excited to research the Foley scandal. From what I understand he sent inappropriate emails to teenage boys. Oh my goodness! What else will come up to distract the American public of world issues?
3) The apparent threat of North Korea scares me. I don’t understand why they feel it’s necessary to test nuclear weapons. I heard on the news this morning that they are testing because of the threats from the United States. I don’t get it.

I’m aware that I don’t have much to see in the entry but I felt I needed to say something. If anyone is interested, from my 100W class, I’d be interested in having a discussion regarding the topics. Thank you.

The past week I learned that ethics is a diverse subject. I attended The Ethics in Local Government panel discussion at San Jose City Hall and witnessed first hand how different people in politics view what is and isn’t ethical and how it is defined.

My interpretation of what ethics is, is based on what Les White, interim City Manager with the City of San Jose, had to say about the subject. He feels that a person with high ethic standards has a strong family orientated way of life.

Phil Trounstine, a former editorial writer and political writer with the San Jose Mercury News, shared stories to illustrate his views of ethics. They included examples of how bad news is good news for a journalist. If they’re the first to break a story especially of controversy then they would get credit for being the first to make it public knowledge. He mentioned many times of having the opportunity to break a story however risking a relationship with the person to whom the controversy may affect.

I enjoyed listening to points of view from the panel and anticipate learning more and analyze how it affects my life on day-to-day basis.

It is the fourth week of the blog assignment and it has been difficult for me to keep up with my entries. I understand the significance of keeping a journal and being able to track improvement in my writing, however I feel it is busy work that I wish I had more time to contribute.

In the infamous words of Peter Griffin, one of my favorite cartoon characters from the FOX television show, The Family Guy, “you know what really grinds my gears, I’ll tell YOU America….” The e-coli out break in America is really ‘grinding my gears’. I feel for the individuals who became sick before the wide press regarding the warnings of fresh spinach. I have no sympathy for the people who knowing of the bacteria ‘epidemic’ has continued to eat the spinach and getting sick. There are a bunch of moronic individuals who don’t pay attention to warnings and disregard something that could possible effect their health; it’s completely stupid.

Let’s consider that the e-coli was formed naturally with cow droppings and less then adequate washing procedures; then it’s a honest mistake causing wide spread attention. Panic is caused when people continue to eat the spinach and get sick. They’ve ignored the warnings and subsequently ‘fed’ into the hype of the ‘outbreak’ and now we have terrorist conspiracies. With the thoughts of an ‘outbreak’ there are people talking about what is and isn’t say to eat because we cannot know for sure what foods have been tampered with.

There is a bunch of bullshit in the news about all of this and its mind numbing to listen to knowing that if a hundred or so people would have headed the warning, the idea of terrorists corrupting our food would be out of the question.

The idea of assumed terrorist activity has transformed the United States into an overly cautious state. Recent current events have opened my eyes to the lengths a group of people will take to maintain a "safe" homeland.

Earlier this week a man became upset and began to drive over innocent bystanders with his car. While the man was committing this crime, officials in San Francisco were trying to figure out how to stop him. Along with local concern, there was increased national curiosity to know if there were other individuals in the country committing similar crimes.

It hurts me to think the world has changed by making drastic changes to policies since 9-11. Even with the evidence of a more cautious state I cannot help holding on to a naive state of mind in hopes of a better state.