Provo, Utah. Chad Hudgens was tortured outside a Provo office park. Not for conspiricy allegations by a team of investigators, but by his boss for low sales numbers. Mr. Hudgens volunteered for a "team-building exercise," went outside and laid down on his back with his head downhill (the previous excersize was an egg toss). The co-workers then pinned him down while their supervisor poured water on his nose and mouth. His boss told the executives that he was inspired by reading about the Greek philosopher Socrates, who is said to have once held a student’s head under water, then told him he must want to learn as badly as he wanted air.

Mr. Hudgens has now filed a worker's compensation lawsuit against his boss and company for using the method as motivation. The lawsuit has been catching a lot of national attention due to the intense debate over torture in Washington D.C.

President Bush has recently admitted to approving a meeting between top White House aides such as Vice President Cheney. During these meetings, they approved techniques such as waterboarding. Until now, Bush did not acknowledge that he permitted the meetings. In a recent ABC interview, Bush admits to allowing “enhanced interrogation”. The ACLU has called for Congress to investigate the executive branch's decisions.

Mt. Hudgens had a few thoughts to offer about his experience with torture. “I don’t know if the government should do it or not,” Hudgens said. “But I can tell you firsthand, because it happened to me, it definitely works. They didn’t tell me it was going to happen, but if they did, holy cow, I would’ve told them whatever they wanted me to tell them”. Can you guess what is not as important as breathing..? Sales.

Politico recently published an article on March 22nd about the correlation between education and actually voting. The study done by Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at the University of Maryland shows that constituents under the age of 30 were 3 1/2 times more likely to vote if they graduated college or at least had some secondary education.

The article goes on to explain that college campuses are the easiest way to target the youth voters, but there needs to be a way we can reach the majority of the youth that actually do not attend college.

I think that some of this can be done in High School. This would be a great time to have students register and give them an opportunity for education. Another step is utilizing student network tools such as facebook and myspace. There are many students and non students out there who do not know the power that is entitled to them. 

A guy from Atlanta Georgia has finally found his one true love. After many relationships in the past, Zoltan (changed for privacy) has popped the question to his soulmate Alice, the robot.  

Gizmodo recently published an interview highlighting a man who is a "technosexual and proud of it". A technosexual is a person who is attracted to robots. Zoltan has been through the dating hoops and was ready to settle down. His first robot girl dumped him but the good part about dating a robot is the ability to erase her memory. 

Zoltan plans to live the rest of his life with his love and now doesn't consider himself a virgin anymore. Those of you who are also afraid of AIDS and alimony can make your own Alice for around $200. Hey, whatever makes you happy.

Who really got pimped?

-Side note- Meet the new Governor running NY. It is a great thing happening to those suffering with his condition (great article)

On the other side of this broken and depressing issue are the girls. Some studies suggest that the average age of a girl entering into prostitution is 14. Too many lives are affected in a horribly negative way. The girls often come from broken homes and struggle with drug addiction to get them through their horrible career. Are they the ones to blame though? There is obviously somebody in not all parties that should be prosecuted. I am sympathetic to the people who are hurt and will continue to be hurt by this.

With the investigation of the Emperor's Club, the question that comes to mind is who is going to join Mr. Spitzer? With a high end escort provider spanning from major US cities through Europe, they must have a rather large client list. At up to $6,000 dollars an encounter, these clients are not your average Johns. These people have money and who has money? Famous people do. More career ending discoveries to come. 

Today in the newspapers, a few questions came to me. The top story was the declared terrorist attack at a Jerusalem Seminary killing 8 people. This tragic event was one of the first major militant attacks in Jerusalem in 4 years.

Meanwhile on the same day, the city of Baghdad also had a terrorist attack killing 53 and wounding 125 more. This story, however did not receive top news coverage. Why? Are we so used to seeing this tragedy in Iraq that we just are desensitized? Do we just not care anymore? Gaza is in the worst condition it has been since Israel captured the territory in 1967. Both tragedies are equally horrifying but is there a reason that Jerusalem attack gets the media coverage?

I am in no way taking any sides on this issue, just trying to point out that we need to think about where we are focusing our attention.

In attending the discussion about the Latino and African American Vote Panel yesterday there was a theme running through the speakers that caught my attention. There almost should have not been a panel on this issue at all. Let me explain what I mean.

The population of Latin Voters and African American voters has more to vote for than race, so why categorize them as such? They have such a wide economically and socially diverse population that they are not going to for vote as a group for the one candidate that appeals to them most. They just might have the issues to consider.

Panelist Dr. Eddie Glaude brings up the point that he has been asked more than once how the African American vote is going to go and he says “I don’t know. I can tell you how I’m going to vote. I don’t represent anyone else.”

Another panel guest Gebe Martinez made the point that the younger generation favors a new hope message, whereas the older generations of Latino voters like what they have seen in the White House before. The only problem is that this is appealing to races across the board. Gebe brings up is that the general population believes that every Latino’s top concern is immigration. It turns out that education is number one.

In a campaign that is not focused on race or gender, why are we still categorizing race? There are so many factors that go into a race as largely publicized as this one that we should not tailor any categorization as broad as race. How is the Latino and African American vote this year going to go? They cast more than one vote.