SSotinotin MMaieaie ppoundsounds iinn a sstaketake wwhilehile ssettingetting uupp a ttent.ent. TTentent rrentalsentals aarere aavailablevailable tthroughhrough CCommunityommunity AActivities.ctivities. FForor mmore,ore, sseeee PPageage 44.. Saturday, March 24, 2007 ((PhotoPhoto bbyy NNellell DDrumheller)rumheller) The Kwajalein Hourglass www.smdc.army.mil/KWAJ/Hourglass/hourglass.html COMMENTARY Does Internet do more harm than good? A friend of mine used to say that comput- worry about being kidnapped or molested. I ers are the devil. I laughed and said that don’t think my parents ever worried about it was for sure. either. Something’s really gone terribly wrong Who doesn’t think their computer is the in the fi fty or so years since I was a child. devil when it crashes, taking hours of work How many horrible child pornography rings with it? Who doesn’t think computers are have been discovered on the Internet? My the devil when those programs won’t do God, some parents use their own children for what they’re supposed to do? this sick stuff. Their own children! Would they I’ll bet the folks who answer the phones at be doing it if not for the Internet? the IT Help Desk really think computers are the devil. I get angry sometimes and wonder how much longer God But, you know, if you think about it seriously you could is going to put up with this world the way it is now. reach that conclusion for real. Especially when it comes to The Internet is used for identity theft and other ‘white col- the Internet. lar’ crimes that can ruin people’s lives and cost our economy For the few advantages and the few good things the In- billions of dollars. ternet brings, one has to wonder if it’s outweighed by all the Nothing is private anymore. Everything about you and me bad the Internet is used for. is on network servers somewhere in the world. Sometimes, I believe that if I was in charge of the world, Do you like having your Social Security number, credit card the fi rst thing to go would be the Internet. Why? Let’s see. numbers, bank accounts, credit reports, loans and other private There are the thousands of porn sites even children can fi nancial information fl oating around in cyber space just waiting get lured into, and the extremism of some of those sites is to be picked off by someone who can do great harm by robbing horrifying. And just recently, one of our idiot federal judges you and ruining your credit? struck down a law that would have made it a federal crime Sometimes, it keeps me awake at night worrying about it. for these sites to allow access to children. Way to go judge. I’d hate to have worked and saved all my life just to lose it in There are the sites devoted to such things as promoting an instant to someone who hacked into my bank or broker’s anorexia and bulimia that teach young girls how to starve records. themselves to death and how to hide it from friends and fam- Hackers could conceivably bring down an entire country’s ily. economy, defense systems and communications. There are sites that teach how to make bombs and de- The Internet has made the world much smaller, and I’m signer drugs out of ordinary household items. not sure that’s such a good thing. News of a provocation or Do you want to know how to make a home made fi rearm? incident can fl ash around the world in literally minutes of its I’m sure there are sites that can show you how to do it. happening and reaction can be instantaneous because there The most dangerous enemy the world faces, radical Islam, is no ‘cooling off’ period. uses the Internet as a powerful recruiting tool by posting If computers are the devil, then the Internet is the devil’s tapes of American troops being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan child. and bloody beheadings. They spread their hate-fi lled propa- I hate that it exists. I really do. ganda around the world by glorifying suicide bombers with Since its inception, I believe the Internet has done far more music videos that inspire young Muslims to join their jihad. harm than any good that may have come about because of Hate sites that spew venom against Jews, blacks, His- it. panics, Catholics, whites and everybody else thrive on the The Internet can be used for a million things, but I believe Internet. 90 percent of those uses are bad. Online gambling creates gambling addicts and lures I miss the days when I could put my money in a bank and money from the poorest people in our society who can ill know it was safe. I miss the days when I could keep at least afford it. some of my privacy. I miss the days when I worried who chil- There are the sick sexual predators who hunt children dren were meeting on the street,not on the computers in their in the chat rooms of ‘friend’ sites. How many children and bedrooms. teens have been molested or even murdered by people they I long for the days when I got my news from trustworthy met online? sources such as Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley and Have there always been that many predators out there or Life magazine. has the Internet made it easier for those animals to hunt our I miss the days before there was an Internet. children? All I know is when I was a child, I never had to Are computers the devil? What do you think? TThehe KKwajaleinwajalein HHourglassourglass The Kwajalein Hourglass is named for the or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, Department Printed circulation: 2,000 insignia of the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division, of Defense, Department of the Army or USAKA. E-mail: [email protected] which liberated the island from the forces of Im- It is published Wednesdays and Saturdays in ac- Commanding Offi cer......Col. Stevenson Reed perial Japan on Feb. 4, 1944. cordance with Army Regulation 360-1 and using a Public Affairs Offi cer......................Sandy Miller network printer by Kwajalein Range Services edito- The Kwajalein Hourglass is an authorized pub- Editor......................................Nell Drumheller lication for military personnel, federal employees, rial staff. contractor workers and their families assigned P.O. Box 23, APO AP 96555 Graphics Designer..........................Dan Adler to U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll. Contents of the Phone: Defense Switching Network 254-3539; Reporter..............................................JJ Klein Hourglass are not necessarily offi cial views of, Local phone: 53539 Distribution..................................C.J. Kemem The Kwajalein Hourglass 2 Saturday, March 24, 2007 Robinson attends first School Advisory Council Hourglass reports the road.” The proposed fi nal draft for the K-12 science cur- The fi rst School Advisory Council meeting for new riculum has been completed. Copies were placed in the superintendent Al Robinson went off without a hitch staff lounges for faculty review. Copies for parents and Wednesday night. community members are available to be checked out “First of all, my thanks to all in the education commu- from the school offi ces. The second reading of the K-12 nity and the company for making my arrival and fi rst science curriculum will be at the April SAC meeting. The week so memorable,” Robinson said. Kurzweil 3000 software, a comprehensive read- He added that when he was fl ying to ing, writing and learning system, is available Kwajalein, “I was a little concerned about in the high school resource classroom. the smallness of the island. Once I Three new ‘learnstations’ are planned for hopped on a bike and started motor- the high school library, the elementary ing myself everywhere I wanted to go, resource and ELL classrooms. I realized it was much larger than the The high school stage band is prepar- brochures say.” ing for an evening of music for the 19th Robinson commented on visits to two Annual Ballroom Dinner Dance on April classrooms made by Col. Stevenson Reed, 22. U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll commander and Elementary and junior-senior high 1st Sgt. Kenneth Mackey on March 9, in school parent teacher conferences were support of the community read program. “It is held on March 2, with 93 percent of the always an inspiration for the kids, and my thanks parents attending for the elementary school and to Colonel Reed for taking time out of his day to spend 59 percent of the parents attending for the junior and time with the students. That being said, teachers are senior high school. always looking for adults on island to come in and read The end of the third quarter is Friday. Spring break to the students,” he said. The point of contact for this begins March 31, and will last until April 9, with school program is Deanna Cain at 53761. resuming on April 10. Robinson also commented on the upcoming staffi ng Report cards will be mailed home on April 5. issues. He said, “Work continues on fi lling known va- The community education spring session begins Tues- cancies, as well as trying to anticipate our needs down day and runs through June 2. Women’sWomen’s HistoryHistory MonthMonth Karen Pickler speaks at the Women’s History Month luncheon Friday at the Yokwe Yuk Club. The U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll sponsored luncheon highlighted accomplishments made by women through the history of America. (Photo by Nell Drumheller) Saturday, March 24, 2007 3 The Kwajalein Hourglass Community Activities starting new service to deliver, set-up, take-down tents, chairs, tables By Nell Drumheller a need for the delivery, set- Editor up, and tear-down of tents, tables, and chairs,” Smead Planning a party? Need a said.