Editorial #3

Hug a tree, shred government forms

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/09/hug-a-tree-shred-government-forms/

Basically, this editorial talks about the massive amount of waste that is created and time that is spent by the government on conducting pages and pages of surveys. It says that The Office of Management and Budget (hey we just learned about that!) has 8,871 of these certified federal surveys, which results in 9,824,120,791 hours per year filling them out. The editorial wrote, "This busywork is the equivalent of a full-time work force 4.9 million strong doing nothing but filling out government paperwork ... it sucks an estimated $60 billion in annual productivity out of the economy." This, I feel, is very ineffective. Spending billions of dollars in, for the most part, useless surveys is a waste of time. The editorial said that the economy loses $29 billion in productivity because of the time and paperwork spent filling these out. This loss is huge, especially with the economy the way that it is. If the government stopped dealing with these surveys altogether, or cut out some of the paperwork/ really unnecessary surveys (such as for example,number of individuals who chose not to have a wire-line telephone), the workforce and in turn, the economy could really benefit. Not to mention the environment.

Editorial #2

Alexandria's Dangerous Yellow Light Game

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/04/alexandrias-dangerous-yellow-light-game/

This editorial talks about the general Assembly's House Bill 1292. Basically, the bill is going to allow Alexandria to change its yellow light to turn red in three seconds rather than its current four seconds. Also, it gives the companies who are behind traffic cameras access to certain private information kept in the Department of Motor Vehicles. This is all because Alexandria wants money. They want to take their law enforcement to these outside companies, who will charge a low price to implement these new traffic programs. Alexandria doesn't want to spend the money to pay for the program itself, so this bill would allow these changes. If these changes are put into place, and the traffic light length for yellow lights is shortened, the city is going to make a great profit. In 1997, Alexandria tried a similar program, and there was about 80% more red light runners than with the longer yellow light, and about 29% more collisions. However, Bob McDonnell has the power to veto this bill if he chooses.

I think what Alexandria is doing is terrible. They tried the program back in 1997, and it increased collisions/accidents and the number of traffic violators dramatically. I realize that the economy is bad, but using traffic lights as a way to take more money from people is not the way to go. Basically, Alexandria is substituting safety of its people for money. It worries me because if other regionals start to see how much money Alexandria is raking in from this risky program, then other regions may start to follow suit. Let's just hope that Bob McDonnell vetoes the bill.

Editorial #1

Webcam spying on your kids

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/04/web-cams-spying-on-your-kids/

This editorial is about a recent controversy that has come up between a school and its parents. Basically, Harriton Senior High School in Bryn Mawr, Pa, issued around 2,000 laptops to the high school students, each with a hidden, remote controlled camera. These spy cameras were learned of when the school took a still shot of one of the students at home, accusing him of doing drugs (it was actually only candy). Now it looks as though the school is about to get into major trouble under privacy laws, for potentially constituting "an egregious violation of privacy and perhaps and illegal search and illegal wiretapping."the editorial then goes on to say that if Americans don't make it known to those in charge that doing this sort of thing is unacceptable, then the government is going to continue to abuse its power.

Personally, I agree with this editorial wholeheartedly. It is so wrong and creepy for school officials to be spying on students without the parent's knowledge (or really even with parental consent, not that any parent would give consent to that). They can claim whatever they like, but the fact of the matter is that hidden cameras were placed in the laptops with no one's permission, and now that school administration is going to have to pay the price. I know even in small cases, someone using a webcam to spy on another person can get into some serious trouble, so here you have administration potentially spying on thousands of kids who are minors. I agree with who the editorial says at the end as well, about that officials and in turn, the government, needs to be told enough is enough. However, I don't think I'd go as far as calling the government "Creeping Big Brotherism," because I'd say that is a tad bit too extreme, but I do think this situation should make some people think about privacy laws. It makes me wonder about the fact that the school officials would even think to play hidden spy cams in laptops for their students... the whole situation is just creepy.