Petition to Deport Piers Morgan Is Wrong, If Completely Pointless

I just heard today that the Petition to deport Piers Morgan has just broken 65,000 signatures, a number that both amuses and depresses me. Amused at the fact that these people actually think that you could sign a petition to drive someone out of the country who is doing something as simple as expressing his opinion, and depressed that actual people of this nation want to deport someone who is using his right to speak his mind. Sure it may not be the speech the NRA or assault weapon proponents want to hear, but it is speech nevertheless that must at all costs be protected. People who argue that his speech is an attempt to undermine the rights of US citizens simply don't understand that an opinion doesn't have an affect on one's rights. You are completely within your bounds to criticize the allowance of assault weapons, as it's not the same as taking someone's assault rifle away.

I'm not naive enough to believe that the petition will have any effect whatsoever. It's creation is for the purpose of attention and self satisfaction. In fact, I think that the petition will only serve to benefit Mr. Morgan, as it makes Piers Morgan seem like the big enemy of groups like the NRA, when in fact Piers Morgan has expressed his support for the Second Amendment with an exception to Assault Rifles, which started this whole petition. It also gives Mr. Morgan publicity, while making the signers of the petition look angry, deranged, and worse, xenophobic. However, despite the fact that Mr. Morgan only benefits from the petition, I decided to create a petition of my own.

In all honesty, it's a bit of a joke, as the petition reads, "We Petition the Obama Administration To Ignore the Petition Requesting for the Deportation of Piers Morgan for Stating His Opinion." The intent of the petition is to point out the ridiculousness of the deportation Petition. I'm not expecting really anyone to sign the petition, as again, it's more of a statement rather than a petition, but I hope that it at least spreads some sort of unwillingness to sign the deportation petition, as it would appear next to it if you searched for Piers Morgan on the White House website. If it did end up getting 25,000, which again I seriously doubt, I would hope that the administration would admonish the previous petition for its stupidity.

The Link for the Petition is Right Here

So please sign the petition, as it would at least be nice to receive some acknowledgment for the stupidity of the deportation petition.
-Eric Harris Robinson

Location:E Big Pine Canyon Rd,Provo,United States

Update (12/25/12)

First of all, Happy Holidays to all of my non-existent, readers, seeing as I haven't posted anything new in 6 months. The reason for this unannounced hiatus was due to the fact that I had more important things to do, such as college essays and applications. Thankfully though, it's all over, as I was recently accepted early decision into George Washington University.



What this essentially means is that I can finally spend more time managing this blog and writing more blog entries, which I honestly am very excited to start doing. I can also spend more time on twitter and focus on networking, which is essentially the big goal for the months leading up to college, which will probably be very busy for me. In order to maximize the amount of work I can do on this blog, it would probably be best if I set up a goal for myself. This goal, would be to write one post every single day, due to my increased free time. Hopefully such a goal would lead to more page views, as it would be nice to emulate the success I had with The Austin Critic site.
-Eric Harris Robinson

Location:N Timphaven Rd,Provo,United States

Update (6/22/12)

So yeah... Right now I am in Spain for an SPI Study Abroad program.



What does this mean? It means that Political Top 5 is on hiatus. To make it up though, I have decided to make a video review Borgen and Rubicon, and to also create a comparison piece of both The Killing and Forbrydelsen. I've already gotten started writing the scripts... I also met some friends over the SPI trip who could be involved in the Rubicon review later, meaning interesting things could be happening for the future. The trip ends on July 1st, so until then...

Location:Calle Tetuan,Santander,Spain

Political Top 5: Week 1 (July 4-July 8)

So who to support?

Barack Obama Vs. Mitt Romney

Santorum and Gingrich are out, Ron Paul... exists, and Huntsman, the candidate which I supported in the past, faded away and died due to a lack of recognition and funds. So now it has come down to two choices, incumbent Barack Obama, or runner-up Mitt Romney. So who do I support?

The reason why this is a tough choice is that I honestly like both Romney and Obama. Mitt Romney, for example, was previously a moderate Massachusetts Governor from 2002-2006. During that time he showcased his stance as a fiscal conservatism while still being relatively liberal when it came to social issues, indicated by his previous support for gay and abortion rights. His previous experience as an executive at Bain Capital, and the President and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee indicate his experience as a leader.

You'd think that with all that said though, Romney would be the definitive choice. Admittedly, when it comes to the economy, Romney's stronger when it comes to fiscal issues when compared to Obama, who's current rhetoric reeks of populism due to proximity of election day. However, the reason why I won't support Romney is due to the fact that the positions he held as governor previously have long sinced changed, his stance changing from that of a moderate Republican, to that of an extremist.

Normally, I wouldn't hate this. I accept that people can change in any direction with time and experience. With Romney though, the changing of his views coinciding with his 2008 Presidential candidacy is too much of a coincidence to make this idea of evolving views even reasonable. This coupled with his "severely conservative" statement made at CPAC 2012 make it glaringly obvious that Romney is being an opportunist. He obviously is more moderate then he claims to be, but his willingness to hide behind extreme conservative positions such as opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights, is infuriatingly disappointing. This isn't enough to make me opposed to a Romney presidency, as I don't think it's possible that Romney could, in good conscience, follow up with all the outrageous campaign promises he has made to the conservative extremists, but it's enough to cause me to support Obama.

Two things need to made absolutely clear about Obama though: I do not believe that he has done a perfect job and I definitely do not support him with much enthusiasm. The populist tone and the bashing of the wealthy definitely don't sit well with me. That being said, Obama has done well with foreign policy issues and has improved the economy, albeit slowly. His social liberalism is great, but his hesitance to fully embrace gay rights is a bit frustrating, though a repealing of Don't Ask Don't Tell does indicate what side he's leaning on. Economically, Obama is more mixed. Being a Democrat should make me automatically disagree with his economic policy, but his actions in office have been quite surprising. His willingness to allow for cuts to social programs during the debt fight was the most shocking due to the improbability of a Democratic president even considering those cuts. This showed a willingness to cooperate with the Congressional Republicans, the actual failure of the negotiations occurring when the Republicans became completely uncompromising by not allowing for the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the raising of revenues. However, Obama has not done the nation any favors by the demonizing of the wealthy, an obvious attempt to strike a populist tone by pandering to the societal hostility towards corporate culture.

It is for these reasons that I will vote for the reelection of President Obama come election day. While my enthusiasm has definitely waned, he has shown himself to be extremely moderate when compared with the "Romney of Today." That isn't to say that I'm against a Romney presidency, but I just wish he would be more honest and allow himself to be labeled a moderate. Moderate should not be a bad word.

Memorial: Ted Peter Neura Jr.

This is a memorial that I made for a dead Vietnam soldier, named Ted Peter Neura Jr. I made this for school project and found out that I quite enjoyed making it, so another memorial could be out in the coming months. I made this using a combination of Photostory, Windows Movie Maker, and Audacity. The music I got from a composer named Kevin MacLeod.

Any requests for a memorial? Then please give me an email at theaustincritic@gmail.com.

Now that was a long hiatus...

Sorry about the long wait. School work really has gotten in the way lately. Now that the school year is coming to a close, I hope to work on this blog with more frequency. New video blog entries are currently being planned. Stay tuned...