Anonymous Judges Fuel Olymic Scandal

       A recent article in USA today shed some light on the apparent controversy surrounding the Winter Olympics and specifically the panel of anonymous judges that administers them. Whether or not this is due to the United State's failure to bring home a gold has yet to be seen, but following up on reports of cheating and collusion among Soviet block representatives of these villainous foreign panels, journalist Christine Brennan investigated.
        She quickly found that several of these judges had previously been either accused or outright convicted in several instances of moral turpitude. This could well be the solid evidence we might need to substantiate these types of accusations, though sadly whatever transgressions may have occurred, the Olympic Committee has clearly given the go-ahead to the parties involved. Unfortunately the effect of this sort of indictment is merely to present Americans as sore losers and tattle-tales. Furthermore Christine's article relies heavily on an unnamed "high ranking Olympic figure skating official" whose fears of repercussion so weakly excuse anonymity. I don't mean to question anyone's ethical direction myself, but it occurs to me that it'd be mighty easy to anonymously 'support' just about any claim you can think of.
         In fairness, national pride can easily cloud perspective in these matters, as can a need to sell newspapers to a predominantly US supporting clientele. I maintain, that well it may be true that the current system in Sochi may be ethically vulnerable, without proof of malfeasance it plainly unreasonable to level any allegation against those persons invested by the People with that venerated responsibility to judge impartially

USPS might not be going bankrupt.

        A recent article on NPR describes an encouraging source of revenue for the struggling postal service. Apparently there is a proposal suggesting the USPS consider taking up some limited banking services, such as wire transfers and check cashing. This would be a throwback to the policies of the early 20th century, when the post office first began offering an alternative to those that distrusted private banks. This first Postal Savings system became obsolete in the late 60's due an attractive increase in interest rates among the competing banks, but set a precedent that would allow the post office to renew their banking interests without approval from congress. The matter is somewhat controversial, with vocal advocates of both sides, but could potentially signify a path towards a truly Federal banking system, which could herald great change in the nation.

To be a Resposible Citizen

        As a conscientious participant in any community, it is important to know what that community expects. By entering into Locke's Social Contract with that community, those expectations become the responsibility of the citizen, and should wants and desires conflict with those of the greater community, it is again the responsibility of the citizen to overcome, adapt, or relocate. Therefore, it is incredibly important to understand what exactly your community expects from you.
        Unfortunately, there is no short answer to this vital query, as that which is required is more of a conceptual state of being. Generally speaking, it is not so much the actions of the public that are important, rather it is the opinions and values they share that end up dictating laws and practices. With these shared opinions, the community as a whole becomes much more free to act however they like, due to that simple prerequisite 'liking' of those same things.
       So, I've raked through the muck of the internet to find some guidance in the matter, and faced with abundant success,  I have decided to share some of the articles I discovered. Firstly, I heavily recommend Professor Will Kymlicka's beautiful essay on the subject titled Responsible Citizenship. The work is a bit lengthy (80p) and is Canadian, thus not directly applicable to our situation here in the States, but is a wonderful read with many characteristics that fit quite well with the more liberal portion of our ideologies. Another option, much lighter and more explicitly addressing U.S. citizens, is an article called The Responsibility of Citizens that I found on the National Center for Constitutional Studies website. This article is more bluntly written, but is easy to understand and more relevant to us.