These Boots Were Made For Walkin'

To quote the great Aldous Huxley: "Modern man no longer regards nature as being in any sense divine and feels perfectly free to behave towards her as an overwhelming conqueror and tyrant."




I don't even know where to start with this one. Martin Villegas is a boot-maker who is in jail for making cowboy boots and belts from endangered species. Mexican police raided his warehouse in Guanjuata, Mexico. He allegedly made 25 illegal shipments into the United States and if convicted in Mexico he faces nine years in jail and a fine of $1365 to $13, 650. Here is where it gets interesting…Villegas makes these boots for a lot of “high-end” clients. Some names in his BlackBerry…George W. Bush! Our president is current trotting around in cowboy boots made from endangered animals, going to meetings with the D.E.P. In his defense (shock!), he probably did not know. Since Villegas’ arrest he has made no comments. I don not know what else to say. I just hope that once Bush found out he gave them back or something…? What do you do in a situation like this? Hopefully, him and Dick Cheney did not put on their endangered species belts/boots and play gun shoot-out time at the O.K. Corral (we know about good ‘ol Dick’s experiences while playing with guns). But then again you never know!


-AMC

Halo? Hal-NO!

Let me make this clear; I hate modern video games. Does this make me a party pooper? A spoiler of fun? Maybe. I just do not understand the appeal of video games such as Halo and Grand Theft Auto. When I was younger I did enjoy some old school Nintendo but that was a classier-time for video games. How did Mario kill Bowser you ask? Why, he jumped on his head of course! You see those were different times for video games, a more subtle time. Alas, the good ‘ol days of jumping on people’s heads to kill them seems to be over. There is a huge focus on sex, violence, and blood in modern video games. How do you advance in Grand Theft Auto, you ask? By running over strippers that’s how! Now, I’m sorry that I am specifically criticizing Grand Theft Auto when a lot of games involve extreme violence. Am I proposing taking this game or games like it off the shelf? Is my name Tipper Gore? Of course I will not condemn anyone who chooses to play these games. I feel a lot more digression regarding the sale of these games needs to be exercised. Many of you may be surprised that I am advocating censorship. These games advocate strong violence, scary images, blood, sex, and degradation of human beings. You would think that these games would be kept under lock and key. Unfortunately a few weeks ago I was in a music/video/game store and a kid purchased a copy of GTA without being carded or anything. I could not suppress my curiosity; I walked up to him as he was exiting the store and asked him how old he was. He told me proudly and without reservation that he was 12! Comedian Larry the Cable Guy once said, "If guns kill people, then I can blame misspelled words on my pencil.” While this statement is funny there is a lot of truth in it. Now unlike a lot of politicians I would never blame outlandish, and criminal adolescent behavior solely on something like a video game or a television show. But can we honestly say that these sources are completely guilt free? Young minds are very impressionable especially under the age of 12-14. We see children getting hurt everyday trying to re-enact things they see on television shows, video games, and movies. Even my father as a young child had to be taken to the hospital to receive stitches. He was re-enacting something he saw Superman do on television. That was innocent enough but he still got hurt. Call me whatever you like, think me over-sensitive but I do not think 10 years olds should be shooting people/monsters, or running hookers over after they have had sex with them in their backseat. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

-AMC