Blocking information

On the French and German Google search engines, more than 100 sites deemed controversial have been quietly removed from the search listings. These sites were mainly nazi sympathy sites that denied the existence of the holocaust. I don't think people are going to miss those sites, but how is something deemed "controversial?" Since the internet is a fairly new advancement in technology, there are almost no regulations and laws for it that pertain to the whole web. Sure schools and workplaces can ban certain sites, but can a search engine really just not list some sites. China has been known to block Google from the country, but that again is an example of a government (or workplace or whatever) that is controlling what its people see and is another issue all together.
I don't think a public search engine should have to block anything from the public. It's fine if they are asked to block it by a government or if the government (or workplace, school, etc.) itself blocks it, but I don't think Google should get in trouble for something they can't help. A better solution would be for the government to go after the people creating the websites instead of a search engine that just locates it.
We should also look at the future and anticipate what kind of regulations need to be followed by the internet. One of the most innovative things about the internet is how freeing it is and uncensored. But as time moves on, there are generally more and more people with more and more complaints and criticisms and biases whose feelings are easily hurt and if they need to regulate it, then fine. But don't go after a search engine whose job it is just to find the pages.

Here's the article.

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Genetic Gender Bender

A new procedure is being developed to let expectant mothers choose the gender of their babies. This controversial procedure has taken nine years to be approved for research, and it even now faces some opposition. Doctors are wondering whether or not this is ethically the right thing to do. Will this be used for non medical procedures? If they allow to select gender, what's to stop them from being able to select other frivolous traits to be passed on?
If you've ever seen the movie GATTACA, then you know where Hollywood scientists think this can lead. GATTACA takes place in a dystopian society where our prejudices against race have been replaced by a genetic prejudice. The scientists have been able to choose things ranging from hair color to life expectancy. Those who were born "love babies" are genetically inferior and not allowed to have the same rights and luxuries as those genetically perfect.
I think that this new procedure is incredibly interesting, but we should be careful what we do with it. It's one thing to prevent a birth defect by ensuring the baby's gender, but choose the sex of your child based on your own selfish wants goes against nature. What if the baby was supposed to be a boy and you chose a girl. Will that child be a boy stuck inside of a girl's body? Will they be unhappy all their life? We don't have the answers to those questions.
Also, this could open the doors to a whole new kind of discrimination. I'm fully aware that GATTACA is a Hollywood movie and should not be treated as a prediction of the future, but even untrue stories hold some sort of truth in them, and the message is still relevant.
The publics' reaction to it is also important. 59% of women said they'd refuse the procedure even if it was completely free. So maybe even if the technology's available, people will appreciate the miracle and surprise of birth as nature intended it.

News article

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Homosexual High

There are reports that a high school is opening in Chicago that is designed to be a safe place for gay and lesbian students to go. The argument for it is that gay and lesbian students are three times as more likely to skip school because they feel unsafe. This leads to truancy and lower grades. But an even bigger problem is the violence that openly gay people can face. The article I read from CNN.com told about a 15 year old kid who was shot by another boy after he asked him if he'd be his valentine.
There's no question that there's generally a bad attitude towards homosexuals in the younger crowd. Gay people face harassment and bullying all the time, and this school does seem like a nice, easy way to stop the bullying. But what is sacrificed by separating these students from the rest of the world? Legally they cannot ask the sexual preference of a student, but it definitely is geared towards gay kids. When does something like this become segregation. And maybe someone agrees that it's segregation but believes that it's a good solution. But what isn't being discussed here is the issue of how being separated from other students will affect them negatively.
I think this is too easy of a solution. Instead of slapping a band aid by separating the harassed kids we should focus of teaching the harassers what's wrong with doing that to other people. Is this a real solution to this huge problem?
Another issue that this gay high school might bring about is tricky to explain. If these homosexual students go to high school where everyone else is also gay, how will this affect the way they function in society. It's the way a home schooled kid reacts when they are suddenly dropped into high school. All these prejudices and people and biases they didn't know about are suddenly dropped onto them like a ton of bricks. High school is part of a very long training for the real world that every kid has to go through. In the real world there are going to be angry and violent people, there are going to be groups that aren't so accepting, and there's going to be homophobia. It's something real that has to be dealt with. But to learn how to cope, I think going to a regular high school is vital.
Now I know the argument against what I'm saying is that gay people are in danger because of all the prejudice and violent hate against them. But that's where a solution should come in. There should be more serious consequences for students who act out against homosexuals. But to segregate homosexuals is almost as wrong as segregating black people (for different reasons of course) and we should seriously consider opening this school.

Here's the CNN article
the picture's also from there.