Should English be declared the official language of the United States?

I don't see a problem with declaring an official language, while still embracing the quilt of culture that the United States makes up.  Maybe it would encourage immigrants to learn to speak English more proficiently.  By declaring English the official language, it should not discourage people to leave behind their roots.  That is very important and part of what makes us AMERICA!  <---corniness right?

should homosexuals be permitted to serve in the armed forces?

Should homosexuals be permitted to serve in the armed forces?  That would be ridiculous to say that gays should not be allowed to serve in the armed forces!  I am all for gays having all the same rights as the straights.  Anyone who wants to serve our country, that is awesome.  It is unconstitutional to deny them that right.  

I saw a picture my friend posted on the internet last month, it was a picture of a bunch of flag-covered caskets like the political cartoon above, and it was captioned, "can you spot the gay one?", I think that made a big and powerful point.  

should juvenile offenders be tried and punished as adults?

Should juvenile offenders be tried and punished as adults?  I think it depends on the offense.  I myself was getting myself in trouble as a teenager and I did get caught a couple of times, and I was punished, although lightly probably because I was a juvenile.  I had to do 30 hours of community service, and have been kicked off properties for a few months.  I think the bit of punishment I received and the embarrassment of being caught helped straighten me out, but I probably would have eventually straightened out anyway.  I do not believe it is necessary to punish kids to the extent we would an adult.  I think kids are trying to find themselves and are sometimes experiencing teenage angst which hopefully they will grow out of like I did.  So if the offense is not a huge one, such as murder, then give them lesser punishments.

RATING SYSTEM for SONG LYRICS

Well, I am all about free speech and the right to free speech.  So if the rating system was just to inform people what kind of content was on that song, then fine, but if you are going to try to go all tipper gore on everyone's ass then nevermind all that.  for instance, when i am making mixes, i often like to use the clean version, for when say if my step-grandma was in the room, or if i wanna play my music and my dad is around.  please i don't enjoy him hating on my music.  anyway, i think a lot of the artists i listen to exercise their right hmm.. a bit too much.  i don't like hearing faggot, or too many MFs, or N's, cuz then i can't sing along.  Or it is derogatory.  I especially dislike faggot.  Such a hateful word.

drugs?!? $$$.

Are the drugs that are advertised all over our magazines and in commercials on TV really in our best interest?  Are they put out to better our health and our lives?  What about the interest of whoever is profiting off all these drugs?  I think it is odd, I never wanted to attend a college that had ads on TV or radio, seems cheap and makes me wonder where their interest really lies.  Is it educating people or making a profit?  I feel similar about prescription drugs.  Are they trying to better lives or make some money?

how has music downloading effected the music industry?

Since I was a small kid, I have watched the way we listen to music change over and over and change excessively.  I remember as a 4 year old sitting around the record player with my sisters, listening to snoopy and alvin records.  I recall McDonald's giving out a record that could be played but was thinner than a floppy disc. 
Then as I got older, about elementary age, it was all casette tapes.  I grew up having to constantly rewind and fast forward tapes to get to the right song, constantly having to pull out tapes and wind them back in with a pencil.
Around '91, my friend's dad started collecting CD's.  I was at her house and this was I believe the first time I have ever seen a compact disc, and I was mesmerized.  It was shiny and sleek.  A couple years later, my older sister got a CD player, and it was the first one anyone in our family owned.  This is about the time CD's started to blow up.  ('93-ish.) 
I became a teenager in the mid-90's and a huge mallrat.  And the malls were full of RecordTowns, Sam Goody's, and other chain stores of that kind.  I resisted the CD thing for a while, still carrying around a walkman until '01.  By then I was switching between a discman and a walkman.  I was still making mixed tapes for people until '02 or '03, and the silly thing was few of my friends still had tape decks anymore. 
The internet started blowing up about '95, and with that music was now turning the way to digital.  People stopped buying hard copies of CD's at Sam Goody and were able to buy or share mp3's online.  I resisted this as well, not getting an mp3 player until my mom bought me an iPod Shuffle for Christmas in 2004.  My first thought was something like "what am i going to do with this?"  I think it only held 512MB.  (I don't recall, and it eventually got stolen!)  But that was enough to hold about 150 songs, so I made an iTunes account, ripped my collection, let my friends go at it with my limewire (or whatever program I used at the time) and got my iTunes collection going.  Checked 150 songs plugged in my shuffle and had a different playlist everytime I left the house.  Well, I have always resisted the change of formats in music growing up, but at this point, I may have cut back in my purchases of CD's to only bands that I really liked.  So if I was cutting back, you know the nation was, and therefore our CD retail stores are really hurting now. 
Walking through the mall today, I think there may be only 1 or 2 cd stores in MOA now.  Ouch, things have changed.  The days of buying a hard copy of a CD and going through the liner notes are dying out.  It is kind of sad.

Why do kids run away?

Why do kids runaway?  I google'd this, and the first website I looked at, the first reason it stated was that kids run away because of alcohol and drug abuse.  I find this to be some silly propaganda from a hidden agenda website.  http://www.empoweringparents.com/Runaway-Teens-Why-They-Do-It-and-How-to-Stop-Them.php#  When I was growing up, I ran away several times.  I even remember literally running away from my house at the age of 3 or 4 to avoid going to church.  I just ran down the street to a friend's house and my parents found me within minutes.  I think her mom called up my parents right away if I remember correctly.  In my early teens, (14-15) I ran away several times.  Usually for a day or two at a time.  I often would sneak out my window at night, not intending to come home for days, but after trying to sleep in someone's yard a few miles away under a tree hidden away, and getting bit by mosquitos and rained on, I would come back home within hours and no one would even notice I was gone.  The longest was probably was only 2 or 3 days.  I was a mallrat, and I took the bus to my mallrat friend's house and I recall the next day I was at MOA again, and I felt like my dad was around, and when I looked to the left, there he was.  It was odd, this exact incident happened a few times, where I felt my dad's presence and then I would see him a few seconds later.  But I don't think much more of it, but odd intuition.  That particular day, I had a good idea that my parents were concerned about me and looking for me, so maybe not so odd that day.   ANYWAYS, the reason I would run away I would simply chalk it up to TEENAGE ANGST.  I had quite a bit of it growing up.  I would get mad and run away just because I was angry.  Sometimes I just wanted to see my friends, I used to sneak out my window and hang out with my best friend at the time who lived on the other side of Apple Valley, whose mom worked nights so it was a hangout spot for kids in the middle night.  So I would sneak out and walk through Alimagnet Park, which is all woods.  (In retrospect, I have now developed a fear of walking through the woods in the middle of the night, maybe I always had it, but ignored it because the fear of getting caught by cops for curfew walking down sidewalks was bigger.)  I would not consider that running away because my intention was to get home before sunrise.  Of course this made for a lot of sleeping in school the next day.