The U.S. government has been trying to limit the amount of alcohol people can purchase and consume for a long time. One of the first examples of this was the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that gave Congress the right to prohibit alcohol. This law prohibited the sale, manufacturing, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition began January 16, 1920. Prohibition, while attempting to reduce crime and corruption, actually became a source of both. Nearly everyone from the police on the street to the congressmen in their offices accepted or were persuaded by bribes. Bribes mostly came from bootleggers, rum runners, moon shiners, owners of speakeasies, and crime bosses. Many gangsters got their start and built their empire during the Prohibition. One of the most famous gangsters of this era was Al Capone. After the stock market crash in 1929 and the following Great Depression, political powers started to shift. Some critics of Prohibition claimed that due to the ineffectiveness by law enforcement, and the mass population of speakeasies and bootleggers, respect for the government and law enforcement was starting to wear thin. In 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment was adapted and it repealed the National Prohibition Act.

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 mandated all states to change their legal drinking age. If the states did not comply with this act they would lose money from the Federal Aid Highway Act. One of the major sponsors of this bill was MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who was credited for with the passage of this act.

A key issue as to why the drinking age has not been lowered to eighteen is the fear that crime rate will go up due to alcohol related crimes. One of the biggest problems with the laws against underage drinkers in America is the law enforcement. Law enforcement has become so relentless and harsh it has turned underage drinking into a sense of underground drinking. This has caused drinking to become more dangerous since teenagers attempt to hide it from their parents or the law. If it were made legal the teenagers could be better monitored and a safer environment would be enforced to ensure their safety and well-being. Responsibility and knowledge are factors of being taught. Young adults do not deserve to be stereotyped by their age. If we handled everything else the same way we did with underage drinking, would we teach our children that driving is bad until their eighteenth birthday when we give them a set of keys and let them hit the road? Based upon the fact that our current prohibition laws are not working, the need for alternative approaches from the experience of other, and more ancient cultures, who do not have these problems need to be tried. Groups such as Italians, Greeks, Chinese, and Jews, who have few drinking related problems, tend to share some of the common characteristics. Alcohol is neither seen as a poison or a magic potent, there is little or no social pressure to drink, irresponsible behavior is never tolerated, young people learn at home from their parents and from other adults how to handle alcohol in a responsible manner, there is societal consensus on what constitutes responsible drinking.

My experiences with drinking were about like your average teenager. I didn’t start partying and drinking until I was sixteen. A few years ago, while I was with my brother and some close friends, I had the opportunity to drink without my parents knowing, so I did. Since then I haven’t started binge drinking and I haven’t been drinking and driving. I’ve simply drank a few cold ones with a few good friends. I’m not going to follow a law that I don’t see fit nor that I see just. Since then my mother has found out about my occasional drinking and after she warned me of the dangers, she told me that she feels that she has raised and taught me right. She believes that the decisions I make about myself, and drinking will be made using good judgment, better thinking, and after much thought.

Now for the basic facts, most of the young adults in the United States have consumed alcohol. A majority of college students are under twenty-one and do occasionally drink. Studies done on their behavior have shown that if the drinking age was set to eighteen, most college students would not binge drink. This is because drinking by these youth is seen as an enticing “forbidden fruit,” a “badge of rebellion against authority” and a symbol of “adulthood.” If young adults were introduced to alcohol early on in their life they would not be lashing out for it illegally because they know what its like already. It wouldn’t be such a big problem. An example of this is smoking. Almost any teenagers can tell you how easy it is to obtain a cigarette and a majority of all teenagers have tried smoking. Turning eighteen doesn’t turn them into nicotine maniacs. It just makes the cigarettes more accessible to them to make a personal decision. Every person in America should have the right to choose what is right for them and what is wrong. If they should want to find out if alcohol is for them then they should have every right in the world to find it out for themselves.

In America, many laws have been made and later dismissed due to their ineffectiveness. Most of the laws established in America only work for a short time until there are loopholes found in the system. If America wasn’t an ever-evolving nation then what would we be? If an eighteen year old has the right to determine whose ass is going to fill the next chair in congress then why doesn’t that person hold the same responsibility to purchase alcohol? If that same person has the power to convict someone of murder, why can’t that person have a sociable drink with his friends? If that same person can legally purchase a firearm, be forced to sign up with the Selective Service Act, and be held accountable for all actions then why shouldn’t that young adult be able to purchase or consume alcohol when he wishes? Most people would agree that younger kids are immature, but who’s to say that all of them are? Everyone makes up their own mind on how they are going to act. Age makes no difference at all. When you really think about it, what separates a twenty-one year old and an eighteen year old? Maturity cannot be measured by age, but in one’s actions.

Another thing in COD 5 that really grinds my gears is the use of tanks.  I know, I know, it was WWII; tanks were rampant.  But the least Treyarch could do was make it realistic when designing the tanks damage system.  It takes at least three rockets in the game to destroy a tank, where in real life it only took two, at the most.  This presents a problem.  The perk that gives you rockets only gives you two…and it takes  three to destroy a tank.  So basically…you can’t kill a tank on your own.  NO, you have to use teamwork.  But in match with a bunch of people you don’t even know, and if you don’t have a headset, how will you communicate that the tank needs to be destroyed?  From what I’ve seen, everybody tries to ignore the tanks, and just kills the people on foot.  And also from what I’ve seen, most people travel in groups.  So when that beast of a tank rolls up and fires its cannon, everybody in that group goes down.  Treyarch needs to pull their heads out of their asses, because their shitty multiplayer system is much too buggy and flawed.  For now, I’ll stick with COD 4, where people actually die when they’re hit, and the weapons are more realistic in nature….and where the glitch spots have been eliminated.

“I have not seen this movie the trailers look good and sha labouf is agood actor oh and also Fuck you who the fuck r you to judge a movie wat was the last movie you made you deepfried piece of dogshit when tyou have made a box office film then criticise movies but until than shut the fuck up thanks 4 reading”

Notice the “thanks 4 reading” and “deepfried piece of dogshit”.  Now, “deepfried piece of dogshit” is an original insult, I will give him that…but after all that ranting, he THANKS me.  IZ CONFUZED!!!!  But seriously, it looks like a 7 year old wrote this.  Its just that shitty of a comment.  If you are going to take the time to try to insult me (which you won’t), the least you could do was be a little more elaborate and spell correctly.  If anything, I wasn’t insulted by the actual comment; I was insulted by the fact that this great web site is being trafficked by such blatant fucking morons, and that Shia LaBeouf is supposedly a good actor…which he’s not.  So please: if you are going to write a comment, make it worth my time to read.  Comments are funny to me, and the better the comment, the better the laugh I’ll get out of it…and I won’t think everyone is an illiterate dumbass.

1. Alcoholism. yes, good old moonshine. I can’t count how many country songs i’ve heard about getting drunk! and I don’t even listen to country music when I can help it! WAAAY too many songs are about boozin’ it up, whether alone or at a bar

2. “My woman/man left me :’-( ” usually because one or more of the involved party cheated on the other. or reason number 1 (see Alcoholism). Seriously… If you screwed up that bad, maybe you should just get over it and find someone who got dropped on their head as a child, just like you.

3. Jesus. Now I have absolutely no problem with religion or religious songs. but… how many country songs are about jesus? Once again: i have no problem with religion. I respect it. But the theme is overused in country music! honestly, there is a genre of christian music… you could sing that without adding annoying twangy vocals and the same accoustic guitar! A final time: this is in no way anti-religious

4. Sex. Now I’m sure you don’t need any help with this… but who wants to imagine 2 snaggle-tooth rednecks doing the horizontal mambo wearing cowboy hats? Show of hands please. There’s waaaay too many country songs about doing the nasty. I realize other genres use this theme as well and it’s overused there too, country just happens to be my least favorite.

5. ”It’s ok (and in some circles cool!) to be a redneck!” Now I’m not saying that everyone who listens to country music is an inbred snaggle-tooth uneducated moron. Not at all… and there are plenty of farmers who aren’t this way and plenty of southern people who like country music who don’t exhibit any of the symptoms i’ve described. I’m talking about the downright hillbillies who make you cringe everytime they say “HOWDEE” and wave their obnoxiously large cowboy hats at you! This theme is meant as a self esteem boost to these kinds of people who may (or may not depending on location) have been shunned by the majority of their local population.

6. Love… nothing particularly wrong with this. Overused yes but hey, what can you do?

Now my theory for why the vast majority of country songs fit into these categories is because country singers know their audience! Yes they know that a very large portion of their listeners fit one or more of these categories and like the twangy redneck singing style. Soooo to get the most money out of their twisted wrung on the musical evolutionary ladder, they make most of their songs fit into one of these categories so they can attract more listeners rather than show some originality in their work. In fact if i had to guess, I’d say there’s probably a group of underground country musicians that sing about being racists just so they can get the racist white person listeners. But you have to know the right people to get ahold of that, it’s a carefully guarded secret.

And then there’s the new Kid Rock song. Wow, just wow…. it combines the sex and alcoholism theme while throwing in another one! MARIJUANA! yaaaay! It’s simply disgraceful that this can even pass as music! In fact the instrumental is just a mix of Warren Zevon’s “Werwolves of London” and Lenyrd Skinard’s “Sweet Home Alabama” (excuse the spelling mistakes) REAL ORIGINAL ASSHOLE! And then there’s a line where he “wishes he could see that girl again” FOR FUCK’S SAKE, THERE’S WAYS TO FIND PEOPLE OVER THE INTERNET! Welcome to the twenty-first century you prick!

Well that’s all I got for now. Till later, dogman91

After quitting work, I quickly slipped back into my old routine of staying up until 2 or so in the morning and sleeping in until noon. I have come to the conclusion that uninhibited sleep is fucking awesome.

First off, I do not have to listen to the god awful noise of an alarm going off five days a week.

Secondly, nothing beats dreaming. When you can sleep in and not have your dreams interrupted by an alarm or some other shit, you can wake up and not feel all pissed off about how your wicked awesome dream was ruined.

Third, It’s fucking easy. Unless you have insomnia or something, sleeping is one of the easiest things you can do. All you have to do is find a nice comfy place to relax and close your eyes. No motivation required.

Fourth, I get up when I want; which, as I said before, is usually around noon. When I was working there were a couple of times where I was able to wake up at 4:30 without my alarm(due to it being reset from a power outage). I’m sure I could probably do it again if I started going to bed earlier. It’s all dependent upon your routine. Waking up on your own will beats the hell out of the high pitched beep of an alarm.

That’s pretty much all I can think of right now. If you can think of anymore reasons why sleep is awesome be sure to post them below.