Greedy

Since I started taking this class I have learned so much about the different things that are going on in society today. I feel very grateful for the life I was given and it makes me so sad to think how spoiled or how good we as Americans have it here in The United States. It just blew my mind that people in Africa aren’t making it past 40! While we over here complain about how “I’m starving, I haven’t eaten in 6 hours!” Don’t get me wrong I have said this before, but it just pisses me off how much we as Americans take for granted the very simple things in life. I mean as we talked about how obese our country is and how much we spend on weight loss pills when other people in other countries are going without meals for days at a time it just makes me sick! I don’t understand why there isn’t something we can do as a whole to help people who can’t afford the luxuries that we can. I gave a homeless man some left over pizza I had from a meal and he was so grateful for that it literally brought tears to my eyes. I just wish that Americans weren’t so selfish and self centered and would care about someone who is in dire need of things that we overdo.

Good Hair

Much hype in the media is brewing over Chris Rock's Good Hair documentary that is due to be out this fall. I haven't seen it yet, but from the clips, excerpts, and the conversation that has stemmed from this topic; I thought I would use it for my next blog. So for those of you who are not African-American, nappy hair is what most of us(African-Americans) have. But due to genetics (if one or both of your parents had fine hair texture) your hair would be wavy, curly, or fine in texture. Society has placed a norm of straightening, relaxing, and perming the hair for African-American women. Men also relax their hair, but it isn't on the same level as the women do. And Chris Rock goes to hair salons and is trying to get to the bottom of why women go to such extremes to change their hair to get the desired result. He even went to India where most of the fake hair comes from to get to the source of the multi-billion dollar industry. I found out that the hair that women use for weaves, extensions, etc, come from people who cut their hair to sacrifice to their gods. Then the hair gets collected, treated, manufactured, and shipped to the states.
I was having a discussion with my family this past weekend and my niece posed this question to me: "...would you still like a girl if she showed you that she had on a weave?" To which I replied that that would change things. What I thought was hers, I would then know that it wasn't real, and I couldn't take fakeness. Then we had a big debate over women these days need to break the cycle of thinking they need to alter their hair in order to meet the social requirements of a mainstream "straight hair" look.
Women who sport the "natural" look; that is not chemically treating the hair so that the hair is not straightened or relaxed; have broken out of the mold, and defy the accepted way to look when you are out in public. If looking your best meant you had to have straight hair, they show that you can still look your best in your natural self. I know this may be a touchy subject, because when it comes to hair, women take their hair very seriously. But if they thought about what they do and put in their hair, all for the benefit of social acceptance, shouldn't we be asking why? Cures need to be found, children need to be fed, and we are sticking things onto our heads. We need to put the right things in our heads to make intelligent choices.

Staying Green Helps the Environment

Going green affects everyone Worldwide because it predicts the future of every living thing. There are different ways people can help save the environment. For example, buying energy saving light bulbs helps save energy, plus it is friendly to the environment. Although it’s a little more expensive than buying regular light bulbs it last longer. The energy saving bulbs uses 75% less energy, and last 10 times longer than regular incandescent bulbs. It also saves about $30 for its lifetime and pays for itself within six months. Another way we can help is by using brown paper bags instead of plastic. Every year about 500 billion to one trillion bags are being used everyday which estimate to one million bags being used every minute. Billion of these bags end up being litter every year which has a huge impact in the environment. Thousands of sea turtles whales and marine mammals are dyeing everyday because they consume too much plastics. When plastic bags are not discarded appropriately the marine mammals mistake the plastic for food so they eat the plastic. In fact plastic bags do not biodegrade they photo degrade meaning “breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest. Hybrid cars are very good for the environment because the automobiles are powered by more than one power source meaning that the car is powered by traditional gas plus electric motor or hydrogen fuel cell. According to the Geoffery Weed “Hybrid Cars Positive Effect on Environment” these cars replaces the cars that burns fossil fuel releases toxic gases into the atmosphere which is bad for the earth.

Same Sex Rights

People should have their own choice of whom to have love and affection for. Even though same sex relationships and marriage are looked upon as being unmoral I don’t think it should matter to others. According to the dictionary definition of marriage it states, “The social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc”. Why does it have to be between a male and a female? I am very sure that two partners of the same sex could still establish their own decisions, make commitments, and live like a successful family. People who oppose same sex marriages say that the couple will not be able to raise kids even if they are adopted. This is no fact because children still do well in homes where they are nurtured and loved regardless of the parent’s genders. Both same sex partners should have same rights as a married couple of a male and a female so in the long run they can get ownerships and insurances under both partners’ names. Who is the government to come into all this and ban same sex marriages? However, some states are slowly getting their rights but this should have never been a big issue to begin with. Feelings are feelings and no one can control whom they have emotions for.

Illegal Immigration

For an English class, I was tasked with reading The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle. Although it's stuffed with caricatures, it serves as a pretty strong analysis of xenophobia in our country, particularly on the point of immigration. Either way, it got me focusing on the 'problem' that our country faces with illegal immigration.

I do not, lest you crucify me immediately, mean to imply that I'm for or against any drastic measures in immigration that would be entirely game-changing. Rather, I refer to the problem of the two opposing forces - both of which are entirely justifiable in their viewpoints.

For we natives, it can be discouraging to have to interact with people who have little or no grasp of our language. For the working class, it can come as a point of unfair competition in the job market. For every licensed worker, there are hundreds of illegal immigrants willing to work for absurdly low wages. A surge in illegal immigrants living in an area can lead to a gathering of impoverished men and women that are desperate for money, which in turn can lead to petty and organized crime alike. From that perspective, it's really not hard to see why the problem of illegal immigration can be upsetting.

For the immigrants, their situation oftentimes can be unfathomable to us. They've come (for one reason or another) to our country to make the very same attempt at the American Dream that we do, and are often willing to take far more drastic measures than we are. It's impossible not to feel embarrassment at the petty problems mid to high income families experience, and then compare them to a a couple that may not even have a roof over their head.

Frankly, it's an extremely sticky situation largely because both sides have valid points and concerns, both of which are strongly in line with not only their well-being, but our supposed ideology. So, what do we do about it? Frankly, I don't have a satisfactory answer - and by the way that the issue is so hotly debated back and forth year after year, none of our politicians do, either.

No Cash in College Football

College football has as much fame on Saturday as a professional team has on Sunday. The players are just as big of stars and the race to the BCS championship is made up of Cinderella stories and tragic upsets. The media is paying high dollar amounts to broadcast these games and those star players even get to be stars on television. Corporations like Nike and UnderArmor use this media coverage as sufficient was to advertise. But who gets all the money that these corporations pay to get this advertising out?

Not the players.

College football and the NCAA have always been opposed to letting college athletes be paid for playing a sport. Sponsorships and promoting campaigns that involve players merely just benefit the university or college.

Tim Tebow is a Heisman Trophy winner and a 2-time National Champion. He has been in numerous commercials and magazine ads and is a role model to kids around the nation. They buy his jerseys, they buy tickets to watch him play, and when they can’t get out to watch him play on the field, radio and television broadcasts help with that.

Tebow makes millions! Well, WOULD make millions if it wasn’t for the strict rules of the NCAA to not allow college athletes to accept any monetary boosts. All the money he would be making for himself goes straight the Florida University. So if all this money is going straight to the University, are the Universities “using” these college athletes? Of course the colleges give them substantial amounts of money for tuition and to receive a top-notch education but shouldn’t these players be rewarded for their hard work and accomplishments? Shouldn’t Tim Tebow, who is more famous than some of the professional athletes, be rewarded for being such an inspiring role model and one of the most amazing athletes to ever play the game of football?

The Law or Racial Profiling????

Someone please tell me if I missed something. But has anyone ever been ordered to display their ss card while being stopped for speeding? The last I checked it was your license that needed to be displayed. Does a police officer have the right or are they allowed to do whatever they want? I don't know about anyone else, but I have NEVER. Someone please let me know if you or someone that you know may have had this experience. I wouldn't have believed it until a family member was stopped for speeding yesterday and was asked to display or recite his ss#. WHAT? What was the officer going to do...run his credit? But what was even more upsetting was when he he asked the question "why do you need or want my ss#" the officer told him to step out of the car, cuffed him, and had him sit on the median where traffic was flowing heavily while he ran his license and tags and told him he was going to arrest him for not cooperating with an officer of the law. WOW. I hate to say it, but I can almost bet that the fact that this party was a very young black man, wearing dreads, driving a beautiful car, had something to do with this SS# request; Especially since the officer also asked where he worked and his answer was that he didn't. I don't EVER recall an officer asking me where I worked while being stopped for speeding. Now It really erks me that rasicm still exsists, but it does...just not as much. However, I didn't think that racial profiling would be made so obvious by a police officer, at least not in Maryland. Was it or wasn't it? Oh, bye-the-way, my family member is a college sophomore with two hard working parents who provide this car for him.

Why do we have nuclear weapons?

I just read the book Hiroshima a little while ago and it basically paralyzed me with fear of nuclear weapons. It was raining fire in the city in the aftermath of the bombing, and when some people tried to jump in the river for safety, they were boiled alive. Most of the doctors and nurses that were in the city were killed, either instantly or from radiation sickness days later (symptoms include no appetite, hair loss[all of it], fever, vomiting, etc.). Basically, a slow and painful death. Communication to the rest of world was gone, and the survivors were left wondering the streets in terrible pain, with no medical help at all (the rest of the Japanese had no idea what had happened to the city – all they knew was their communication lines had gone dead in an instant). If someone was wearing a checkerboard style garment, the black squares would be burned onto their skin (dark colors absorb more energy). Thousands more would die later from cancer associated with the bomb, and children born from survivors would have terrible health problems including deformed bodies. There were also 11 American POWs in the city at the time, who all perished. By December of 1945 (the bombing was on 8/6), over 120,000 people were killed from the bomb, with thousands more dying from cancer and other complications over the next few years. The U.S. said we dropped nukes to save American lives, which is most likely did, but I can’t help but feel that dropping nuclear weapons was the wrong way to go about this.

From 1946 – 1958, the U.S. also conducted nuclear testing on Bikini Atoll (this is actually where bikinis as we know them today got their name), which is in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia. They (we) detonated over 20 nuclear bombs in the atoll, and the indigenous population of the islands were forced to leave to a nearby island due to the entire ecosystem (especially the food chain) being contaminated by nuclear fallout. Nuclear weapons were one of the worst inventions humankind has created and I really hope Obama can work with the rest of the world to get rid of all of them (though sadly – I am not expecting any type of progress - the strive for power is too great).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Bikini_Atoll

Electric Companys scandels

BGE is on the rise. Now that they are allowed to turn off service again boy are they finger happy. In the last month thousands of people are without electric. It only takes them a day to cut off your electric if you dont pay them. But check this out why when you pay them to cut back on your electric they got your money right so turn back on your electric. Wrong!!!!! They make you wait up until 72 hours to reconnect your service even after they received your payment. Why is this. And also when they schedule an appointment to reconnect your service someone has to be home to reconnect it for"safety reasons".... Safety reasons my ass. It wasnt saftey reasons involved when BGE turned off the electric. They didnt care about the safety reasons behind the sense in the homes of tousands that dont have the service when they cut it off. For example--- no electric means no lights so when it gets dark and your child gets up from the bed and had to use the bathroom-- he/she cant see so they trip on something the dog carried out in the middle of the floor and the child falls hitting their head on the end of the table getting knocked out. Parents might still be sleep not knowing that their child got up in the middle of the night not being able to turn on the electric light to go see the way to the bathroom. The next morning parents find child dead. Thats sad. But is it a saftey issue? Is it BGE fault? Because they were immoral and hearless to leave families without electric or heat or air? But its the saftey of their company to make sure you are home when they turn it back on.(For safety reasons)--- And again back to the money thing. They take your money to turn back on service but dont immediatley restore it. You paid but have to wait. Why? Because they have the power!!!! Not just the electric power but the controlling upperhand that allows them to just do what ever they freaking feel like because so many people need them......... What a shame..... Why they gotta be so heartless!!!!

CREDIT CARDS OR IMAGITIVE MONEY

Credit cards are causing a question of contaversary. Do you own a credit card? What is your annual rate? Well I say take the plastic cut it up. Turn it off and never get one again. To the point--- why charge something that u could pay up to 3 times the amount on when u can purchase it later if its really that important later at less cost. If you dont have the money for it now then you dont need it! Its just that simple. Credit cards can cause added stress. it can make your cedit score drop and it can if unpaid after a long time be a costly expense. A judgment can even be issued for non payment. You can get sued and that go on your credit. All becaus eyou wanted something at one moment that maybe you really didnt need. Is it really worth paying more for. Has material posessions really tolled our souls to believe we must have all these things. Even if we know we canot afford it and we will go into debt feel stressed out all over imaginary money. Its a piece of plastic for gods sake. we have been programed to believe that this really means something. I can tell you look at this piece of paper it is yellow it now means that it is worth 100 dollars. I can say it for years until your are programed that it really is worth 100 dollars everytime u see this perticular yellow piece of paper. Mental programming has been instilled in all humans since the beginning of time. Mental programing is just words put in your brain over and over again until alot of people all believe the same thing. Why are we allowing this to happen. Why cant we change the credit card delimma just as simple as it was to program it in our minds to begin with. We believe the plastic is a way to buy something and pay more later because someone invented this money making technique to make billions of imaginary money that we never spent...... So why are we buying it.

I Loveish You?

What is love? You hear little kids saying “I love you” to mommy and daddy, you hear old married couples proclaim their love to each other. Has our society made this word to easy to say. Using the word love used to take years of courtship. Years of getting to know the person you are with. Now you hear this word thrown around so easily. Why is this? I believe that our society is most to blame for this. As our society has become more, and more promiscuous, the word love has become easier to say. It has become a necessity to say for most relationships. What I don’t understand is how the meaning of love has not changed. People will proclaim “love” and act as though they are in love without taking the time to really analyze it themselves. You see young teens proclaiming their love for each other, and then they are put in a situation where they no longer are able to analyze whether they are in love or not. One example is child birth. The couple then is no longer focused on their relationship and is now focused on raising their kid. Though this is a very extreme example, it is a fact of life. Our society has made love so accessible, that our society no longer analyzes their relationship before proclaiming “love”. I believe this will change when our society starts putting more emphasis on making a connection and taking it slow, giving a couple time to analyze their relationship. The most effective way of doing this would be to cut down’s the media’s promiscuous ideals. Then we will see real change.

Change

I spend too much time on Wikipedia. I was reading the entry on Thomas Jefferson the other day and according to it, Jefferson once suggested that constitutions should expire every twenty years or so. Although this seems like a novel idea, it does have some merit. I like the sentiment of reevaluating our historic and traditional ways in a new and modern context. I'm not saying the Constitution should be abolished.
First of all, the world is a dramatically different place then it was 50 years ago and even more so if you go back 200 years. The Industrial Revolution truly revolutionized the way we live, both individually and collectively. So how can it be that ideals or methods of the past could still be applicable today. I'm not exactly sure they are so I always try to consider this when people say things like “that’s what our forefathers would have wanted.”
For instance, the idea of laissez-faire economics was develop in the 18th century by Adam Smith and others. They argued that since everyone is chiefly concerned with their own self-interest, an invisible hand would then indirectly take care of the economy. And while these ideas have definitely stood the test time and have heavily influence our modern free-market system, they were also written in a different era in the context of a different way of life.
Nowadays, we operate in a global economy that is overrun by corporations. And while these corporations have almost all the rights that you and I enjoy, they don’t always have our conscience. (Some do) One of the main reasons to incorporate is to reduce your risk through limited liability, but I think this throws the whole “invisible hand” thing off. I understand that investors and executives stand to lose something, but for most this is a recoverable loss, especially when you consider the salaries of most executives. Also, these corporations are almost another class in their own right. They have more money then the richest natural class of people and that makes them incredibly powerful. They have lobbyist and crack-lawyers that influence policy and manipulate laws. It’s like an ultra-upper class.
The points is this: it is beneficial for us to reevaluate our current systems from time to time and to realize that the innovative ideas of yesterday won’t always be viable today.

Teen Pregnancy

In today's society I have noticed teen pregnancy has become a big issue. It seems though, people are taking the issue very lightly. Recently while I watching different shows on T.V., such as MTV, I saw that they have a program called Sixteen and Pregnant. I decided to watch an episode to see what it was about. In the program they went over two teen couples lives and the girls pregnancys. They showed from the times they got pregant until they gave birth and what was occuring. As I was watching I noticed that in the beginning of their pregnancy the most of the family members were not in support of everything that was going on. By the time the girls were ready to have the children it was as if the family were doing their best to help make everything turn out ok. One example was the family help the kids move into their own place as if they were adults ready for the world. I later saw the episode that showed life after the births of their children. It was as if they made it seem like everything was fine or that they were doing well. To me, it was as if the show was presenting that girls can go out at anytime, do what they want and no consequences would be laid down. It also made me feel like if a girl at a young age makes choices to get pregnant that everything will be taken care of for them. With that being said, I felt like it was very misleading to any youth female that is out being promiscuous or even thinknig about having a child in their teen years. Teen pregnancy just seems to be taken very lightly especially in the media. One last example that I had noticed was Britney Spear's younger sister getting pregnant. From watching the story on that it seemed as if they made it out to be like it wasn't even a concern. This also strongly misleads youths or tricks them into thinking if a so called " role model" can do it why can't I make it work. From what I know she is or was suppose to be a positive role model on teen females. I don't think people in the media especially role models to youth understand how important their role is on the youth. I just feel as if they are portraying being pregnant at a young age and having little or no morals will just be fine as they get older. Which I feel certainly isn't the case.

A Long Way To A Women's Nation

A Woman’s Nation, will take a new, pragmatic look at American women who for the first time in our nation’s history make up fully half of all workers and are becoming the primary breadwinners in more families than ever before.
Nonetheless, just one year out of college, women working full-time earn only 80 percent of their male colleagues’ salaries, even when they work in the same field. Ten years after graduation, the pay gap widens, with women earning 69 percent of what men earn.
More often than not, the gap in salary among men and women has always been attributed primarily to women’s career tracks; they’re more likely to work part-time and take time out of the workforce to raise children, but Studies contradicts those believes. Even after adjusting for hours worked, employment, parenthood and other factors known to affect earnings, studies found that one-quarter of the pay gap between men and women remains unsolved.
With the new statistics, showing that women make up 50% of all workers, and 2/3 of women becoming primary breadwinners in many household, isn’t time for equal pay for equal work? I think it’s over due; government and institutions should change to foster this new dynamics, until then, it’s very much still “ A Men’s Nation” ,fairly or not.
I f you want to know more, I encourage you to read Maria Shriver’s report: “A Woman’s Nation”

Media violence

Media violence is notoriously hard to define and prove. Even those who agree that there is a correlation between media violence and societal violence disagree about how one affects the other. Sissela Bok states that ``even if media violence were linked to no other debilitating effects, it would remain at the center of public debate so long as the widespread belief persists that it glamorized aggressive conduct, removes inhibitions toward such conduct, around viewers and invites imitations`` ( 258). The lack of consensus in connection with the relationship between media violence and societal violence has not obstructed ongoing researches: `` It is only natural that the links of media violence to aggression should be of special concern to families and communities whereas increased fear, desensitization, and appetite for violence primarily affect the viewers`` (Bok 258). Media violence does encourage societal violence to some degree.
Television can be a powerful influence in developing values and behavior in American public. There is a growing litany of lament being squeezed out of grieving Americans about the violence in their society: `` Public concern about a possible link between media violence and societal violence has further intensified in the past decades, media coverage of violence, far from declining, has escalated since then, devoting ever more attention to celebrity homicides and copy cat crimes`` (Bok 259). Americans worry over the impact of media being poured into the television screens of their homes and into the psychological development of their children. The amount of television viewing done by children of all ages continues to expand, Allen R Jimmy the author of the essay ``Sounding the Alarm`` conducted an experiment on the concerns about the amount of television viewing : he concluded that for twenty eight hours of weekly television watching , it amounts to five thousands acts of violence a year. He added that cartoons contains even more violence and are a steady fare for children (Allen 1).
All types of major aggressive behavior, which include illegal behavior and criminal violence, demonstrate a significant effect of television violence. Most of these behaviors are known to be caused by social concerns; the lack of good parenting is one of the major effects of violence in children due to media violence. What should parents do to limit the degree of children exposure to the negative influences? Parents should select shows that model positive behavior such as Dora the Explorer, Diego and Manny the Tool Man, these shows able the child to learn how to care and be considerate of others. ``As in any epidemic, it is urgent to know what it is that makes so many capable of such violence, victimize so many others, and cause countless to live in fear`` says Bok (259).The government should have media companies regulate the shows that are aired on TV, so that they could automatically block shows that are inappropriate for children, and, at the same, permit adults with a pass code which would allow them to watched any other uncensored shows. Failure to conform to these laws should result to censorship.
Nevertheless, television and media provokes Americans thirst for adventure and danger and allow them to witness that is among them. Violence in the media is the contributing factors in violence carried out in real life. Personal responsibilities and choices are the long terms remedies for the divulgence of violence in the media.

Relationships

I hate guys because I’m just a bitter girl that has had her heart broken over and over again. Men just fascinate me they are so different from each other. One is the clingy stalker guy that never gets off your back and then there’s the guy that is like I don’t care do whatever you want. I feel like no relationship is ever going last and when a guy tells me “I love you” it’s just BULL SHIT. I think a relationship is a fifty fifty thing where each come there half but most relationships aren’t like that its always one person is always trying hard I never understood why. I feel like girls go up and out of their way to please guys and they can’t do that in return. It really bugs me what goes through these guys mind. I hate when you’re treated one way in public and then another way when it’s just the two of you. When you confront them about that their likes it’s not like that. Another thing that pushes my button is this whole thing about looking hard in front of your boys. It’s like you’re always pressured to be with someone like people are always trying to find a girlfriend or boyfriend. Why isn’t it ok just to be single and happy? I don’t understand why a significant other is always made the center of your life. My best friend drives three hours to Garrett College to see this idiot that gives her no type of attention and it pisses me off. I’m like why are you doing this and she’s always sad when he doesn’t talk to her. She makes him the center of her world the same way I do. When I see her it pisses me off because I see a spitting image of myself. I just don’t understand relationships and I don’t want to get into another one ever.

Radio..love?

Why is every song on the radio about love? Doesn’t it seem like the radio will play love songs the most when either you’re really tired of being single or you just got dumped and going through heartbreak. It’s very rare that there is a song that’s not about love (except for most of today’s rap songs which still talk about having relations with another person so they are still talking about some form of attraction). What is with today’s pop culture with being infatuated with love? Yes, given it’s a great feeling when you have it, but what some music fails to capture is it can also be the worst feeling in the world when you don’t have it anymore. Then again there is music like Brian McKnight who does understand heartbreak…maybe a little bit too much. Even so I don’t like driving down the road being content with my day then hearing a Brain McKnight song about heart break and then start to think about my ex. It’s very unnecessary! Maybe I’m just a bitter single person but correct me if I’m wrong …there are not a lot of songs where the overall message is its ok to be single. Yes, there is Beyonce did have a pop song called “Single Ladies” but she is a happily married women…singing about being single… I just don’t get it. Why is it not sociably acceptable to be single? In my opinion no one should need another human being to complete them. Everyone is born with flaws, even the person who you may fall in love with has flaws meaning they can easily let you down as much as the next person if not more. I say maybe even a little bit more because you put bigger/higher expectations in the person you love so when you get let down by them it hurts more because some false sense of hope you had made you foolishly think they would never do anything to hurt you. I just think Disney movies, music, and movies in general make love overrated. Point blank.

high school sports

So I have a friend whos little brother is on a high school wrestling team. We were at her parents talking with him and he was saying how he cant weigh more than 160 pounds or something. It was really weird because i have known him for a while and hes always been kind of a big kid and hes all skinny now. He looks really weird because i think he looks unhealthy skinny for how big his frame is. He then went on to tell me about all the ways he stays at this weight. He exercises alot which would be fine if that were it but its not. On top of exercising crazy amounts he'll exercise while wearing like all his winter clothes so he can sweat of some extra weight right before a weigh in. He continued to go on about taking laxatives and taking all these pills to get nutrients instead of filling up on actual food. I was appalled! I asked him "Does your coach know you do all that to make weight?" he was like "Of course! we have to make weight, its not an option." i started laughing because i was disturbed. why is this ok? hes 17 years old taking laxatives to lose weight. weird? i can not believe that an adult is ok with a kid doing this. does the school system know about things like this? but then i was reminded of the video we saw in class about the little girl gymnast and her psycho mom. I didnt even want to ask his parents if they were aware of this in fear of the answer.

Kudos!!! To our President Barack Obama!!

This past Friday I signed on to facebook and I saw a poll that asked if the president should decline the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought about it for a minute and then I ruminated over it a bit some more. First of all, I had no clue he was up in the running for this award. But it is a customary practice for the board/committee in charge to keep secret the names of the individuals considered. I asked a friend if in the entire history of the Nobel Peace Prize, has anyone ever declined the award and the reply was no. So why in the world would President Obama decline it? So I read an excerpt where the president said he would consider the award and let everyone know what he decided and I am so glad that after his consideration he has accepted it. He explained that it is not always what you have done necessarily that the award is given to you, but sometimes what you stand for. So this made me look at the president as not only a man and a leader. But a movement. Now to some dissenters this may look like I am making the president into a hero or messiah, but, really; if a board of Swedish people want to give him one of the most prestigious awards on this planet- doesn't he deserve it?
This made me think who would check yes for this poll. Probably most of the haters who hasn't given the President a chance even before he stepped into office. These are the same people to this day who question the legitimacy of the president from his birth to what, if any, are his religious affiliations. I don't know who put that poll up on facebook, but one thing is clear, that some people will say he doesn't deserve the award. Some of his supporters say that he should be careful to not take the award because he hasn't accomplished many of the goals he has set out since he came into office. Only time will tell if the award was given on good faith, or on good merit. I believe the latter to be true.

He held my door?!?!?!?!

When I was younger my grandma would tell me stories of courtship. She would tell me how my grandfather would bring her flowers, and cards, before they even went on their first date. Holding hands, and a kiss on the cheek was “getting lucky”. You now hear stories of how a guy take’s a girl out on a date, pays for everything, and then expects “something in return”. If a guy and a girl do not have sex within the first month or two of their relationship it is considered weird. What has happened from those days to now? Why has the tradition of courting a girl, and valuing her for more than what a guy might get out of her, changed so much in current generations? I believe the answer lies in our media. Everywhere you see images of girls, half naked. This image makes girls look “easy”, thus less effort is put into courtship. I believe this is also occurring because of the increase in the masculinity image of men. Holding a door, or talking sweetly to a girl is now made fun of by other man. If a guy stands up for a female than he is known as being “whipped”. I also contribute this change to the increase in women’s rights. Men see women gaining more power, so they believe they have to work less in earning the respect of women. While I don’t believe in this change, I do believe that women are one of main causes in this change. We let these images continue, with little to no fight. All we can do is one day hope that someone will be brave enough to change the overall image of women.

Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage

As someone in his early twenties, it's become increasingly apparent to me just how far removed that minimum wage is from the realities of what it takes to support yourself in today's world.

Assuming that you're in the position to be receiving minimum or just slightly higher, the likelihood is extremely strong that you'll also be receiving less than forty hours per week of work. Due to the necessity of overtime pay being time and a half, most employers penalize managers that allow their employees to exceed forty hours in a given week, regardless of their desire to do so.

One of the biggest problems with minimum wage is that it simply isn't realistic for many of the areas that it's targeted towards. For instance, after taxes, it's not uncommon for some retail workers in the Maryland area to make less than 1000 dollars during any given month – I know this to be true, because it was my situation.

This isn't generally a problem – if you're not also trying to live independently while maintaining a socially acceptable lifestyle. When you factor in the cost of living (especially in this area), where rent can cost generally between 700 – 1000 dollars, already the notion of being able to support yourself flies out the window. When you factor in the typical BGE bill, which can also run upwards of 100-200 dollars, it quickly becomes completely impossible to start up without living in unsafe neighborhoods and sacrificing many of the niceties that we often take for granted.

How on earth can this be considered justifiable by our lawmakers?

Every time that a proposal is made to increase the minimum wage, it's quickly struck down or negotiated down to a still-unacceptable level. Without even factoring in the cost of food or health care, or the occasional luxury like a cell phone, a minimum wage worker's entire paycheck can be consumed by the cost of rent and electricity.

That anyone could think that the current amount is acceptable is just sickening.

College tuition on the rise

Going to college in The United States can be very expensive in today's time and the expenses continues to increase. This is affecting many families across the United States. There are so many families that are in debt and taking a lifetime to pay off the loans and tuitions cost of the universities. Results has shown that graduating students now have twice as much of educated related debts as graduates ten years ago. I think the rise of tuitions and college fees are going to hurt America's future. The reason i say this is because the tuition cost is so bad that a lot of students end up dropping out of college or debate on wetheror not to attend college because their family can not afford it. A lot of students are being forced to drop out of college because they can not pay their expenses. College tuition and expenses in private's colleges will rise an average of 4.3 percent in the next school year reported by the National Assn. of Independent Colleges and Universities in its annual survey. Tuition and fees at public four-year public colleges rose $344, or 6.3 percent, to an average of $5,836 for the 2006-07 academic year, according to the College Board's annual "Trends in College Pricing" report, released Tuesday.
Accounting for inflation, prices rose just 2.4 percent — the lowest rise in six years, and the third straight time the gap between prices and overall inflation has narrowed.
Tuition and fees at private four-year colleges rose 5.9 percent overall, to $22,218.http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,224438,00.html

Should teenagers be driving?

A lot of parents argue as to whether or not 16 is a good age to let adolescents start driving. A lot studies show that teenagers lack proper judgment and as a result engage in risk taking behaviors. It is bad enough that adolescents think they are right no matter what because there are not yet mature. Driving is a skill that can easily be acquired by a teen but it also has a lot of dangers that come with it and require good judgment to be safe. I remember in high school what I looked forward to most was getting my driver’s license because it was a sign of independence. I also thought for some reason that I would be able to get away from my parents faster and for a longer time because they would start seeing me as more of an adult now. Man was I wrong. I remember making some of the dumbest decisions while I was driving. I would speed for no reason, I would text and talk on the phone, drive with my legs, I was very aggressive and impatient, and basically made dumb decisions. There were so many times when I almost got in accidents but I never thought any of it could have been my fault. I feel that for the safety of others and the adolescents themselves the driving age should be increased to an age where adolescents are capable of better judgment. I feel that at 15 and 16 teens should still be watching and learning from a responsible driver and drive along with a responsible driver until maybe 18 years of age. I would have hated that rule when I was 16 but I am myself am guilty of wreck less behavior while driving and I realize now that it would benefit others to have teens off the street. It is not their fault that they lack good as good judgment at that age and a lot can be to prevent all the teen deaths and accidents that occur because of teen drivers.

Bill Or No Bill?

I am talking of course about what I think is an important bill: healthcare. America is viewed as the most powerful, richest, and greatest country on earth, not to mention, higher moral ground and exemplary. Americans are big advocates of human rights, fight against hunger and walls in third world countries, they play a big role in helping poor countries by sending food, drugs and other necessary means of life, and we are grateful. But I can’t help but wonder; is it because of their unselfishness, and are eager to help those in need ,or is it because they want to spread around it’s blessings?( meaning that after taking care of all Americans, they bless others by giving back to those who don’t have) well, isn’t that how it suppose to be? Good charity begins at home right? Or not!
There are millions of Americans who have no health insurance, millions who live below poverty line, I am talking about; no water, electricity, not enough food.., the basic needs of life. But today, the politicians, had a chance to do something about health care; they are given an opportunity to do right by Americans and give them what I think is a right in such a great country like America. Call me a socialist if you like, but I don’t think that being a “socialist” is such a bad thing: I believe in government of the people, by the people and for the people. You think health care bill should pass or not?

Equal Oppurtunities of Health Insurance For Everyone

The United States should offer a healthcare plan for all U.S citizens. Even though there is a good system and opportunity for individuals and families to have health insurance, many people still struggle. For example, people that work for the state and city are covered for certain procedures. But some peoples insurance is being cancelled because we are in a recession. “Insurance companies are using the term "rescission" to refer to the cancellation of insurance coverage due to a company being misled.” On the other hand, homeless people and people that are unemployed might not get Medicaid. Also, the health insurance should be comprised of all sorts of screenings and services such as dental and vision care. There are so many people that need dental care ranging from small children to middle aged and old people. The taxes that we pay should indeed help the poor people’s health instead of many other things. According to The New York Times, “About half, 51 percent, say the federal government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans, down slightly from 55 percent in July and 64 percent in June”. Obama’s health care plan only serves to expand insurance coverage but does little to reduce costs and improve quality of health care. So many people in this world suffer from lack of healthcare which is maybe why many people die so early. If everyone has the right to equal health insurance than I think that diseases will decrease as a whole and will allow the spreading of diseases to end.

immigration

Illegal immigration is a rising controversy in the United States. Whether they come from North America, South America, Africa or Asia. It affects people on both sides of the argument. Some here may say that Illegal immigrants cause problems such as significant population growth. This could lead to people who legally live here to come across job loss or competition in one way or another. It can also be a positive thing because those jobs that people aren’t willing to do are done by these immigrants and they make more than they would in their home countries. We also gain different cultures that make us aware what goes around the world. I also feel like people discriminate against people. Being an illegal immigrant leaves people unaccountable for their actions since they don't have an identity. National security and drug issues also come with illegal immigration. However, people who are saying it is acceptable or the immigrants themselves are trying to get a better life. They want to get better paying jobs and have better living conditions. For some, education is an area of concern. Some could be planning a better life for their kids. Other illegal immigrants might be trying to get with their family. If you think about all of us are somehow immigrants in this country whether it was our parents that migrated here or grandparents. We all have had a chance to migrate to the United States for a better life and it is something we should be able to give another family. We should be able to have people come and stay here. The reason why America is so diverse is due to the different people we get from around the world. Illegal immigration wouldn’t be a problem if the government was ok with immigrants coming.

Littering/trashing the planet

I was mountain biking a few weeks ago with one of my old friends (we were in a band in high school - in other words - a long time ago ). I hadn’t seen this kid for months, so we decided mountain biking would be good times. I brought a backpack that had an energy bar, and a few bottles of water in it. My old friend brought a glass bottle (Kombucha) with him and no backpack. After we got up the biggest hill we were going to do for the day, we took a break to catch our breath and drink our drinks. As he finished his Kombucha, he told me he would be right back and that he was going to throw the bottle down the hill we just climbed. I told him not to do this, and to just put the glass bottle in my backpack, then I could deal with it later. He flat out refused to do this - for whatever reason - he was set on littering the bottle on the land we had been riding on (me and my other friends always thought he wasn’t right in the head). As he was walking away I kept pleading with him to give me the bottle. He ignored me and threw the bottle down the hill, where we both heard it shatter. I try my best to be “green”, so when he did this, it made me super pissed off.
After the ride was done, we parted ways (he just joined the Navy, so I’m probably never going to see him again) and I was left wondering why the hell people litter, especially when there are trashcans right next to them (in his case - it was a backpack). Now I'm not claiming to have never littered, but it has been a very long time since I have, so I just can't comprehend it anymore. I know some companies litter to save money and time (time is money, right?), but I'm asking about individuals. Is it out of sheet laziness? Or is it that people don’t think they make a difference in the world (good or bad)? Do they not realize when they litter - they’re trashing the only home they have? I just don’t get it…anyone have any ideas??

Electronic Madness

I really don’t like how technology is taking over our lives. I use the internet to log into my email and to check my facebook, but other than that I do not depend on it. There are people who stay on the internet for hours upon hours, doing what I do not know! I know we talked in class on ways to socialize online and I strongly disagree with the whole internet social whatever you want to call it. I mean I call my friends and I use the social networking as a way to keep in touch with old friends, but I do not rely on it every day and I don’t need to be on it all hours of the day. Whatever happened to meeting up with your friends and doing things?? Now a day’s its chatting in the virtual world and not leaving the house? God forbid something goes wrong and we depend so much on the internet or computers that we get lost when it is not available or accessible. I mean I know some people who should just keep their computers or cell phones glued to their bodies! They can’t even put it down for one minute and constantly checking it. Pry away from it and interact with a real live person! It is so aggravating to watch young and old people live like this. I guess call me old fashioned. I just don’t understand the need to be so dependent on something that that isn’t real or I’m not sure what to call it???

Politics as usual

All the controversy surrounding health care reform has made it clear that decisions aren’t made easily in Washington. Unfortunately, the difficulty usually has more to do with petty quarreling than any kind of deep contemplation. What’s more, the controversy usual spills over into the general populace as well. Most political debates aim to address important and complex issues, but the disinformation circulated by many news outlets and even some politicians can make a tough decision even tougher.
I feel that the media plays a part in the symbolic interactionist approach to sociology. We get informed about issues through the news. In symbolic interactionism, meaning is created through our interactions with one another and society. Therefore, our interactions with the news have a tremendous influence over us. That’s really where the problem begins. Two newspapers, on opposite ends of the political spectrum, can deliver conflicting facts. While they probably aren’t lying, they’ve definitely manipulated the data by ignoring certain factors or reporting half-truths. Also, we tend to take to heart the opinions of pundits that are hardly informed themselves. All of this leads to conflict.
The tenets of symbolic interactionism also tell us that we react to things based on their meaning. So the the sources of information we expose ourselves to help to determine our reactions to the issues we face. And sadly, the bias of news groups and politicians today has led to more division in Washington and in the country as a whole.
The situation is also exacerbated since many pundits like to oversimplify issues and profess that they have the answer. If the answers came that easily and the issues were so simple, they wouldn’t be discussing them in Congress.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of news groups and politicians out that deliver the facts along with meaningful and thoughtful proposals. However, there are many that don’t; if you'd like to avoid them, don't watch cable news.
Lastly, It's unfortunate that so much bad data has been circulated about health care reform since everyone agrees that things must change. However, it's hard for the average American and politician alike to make an informed choice on the issue when accurate data is scarce.

Abortion

Abortion was legalized in 1973 and ever since there have been over 40 million abortions in the United States alone. Abortion is legal in the United States, just like slavery was in the 1800’s. But is it moral? An abortion is the removal of an embryo or fetus from a woman’s uterus resulting in death. In less than thirty days of conception the babies’ heart is already beating. If the fetus already has a beating heart than he or she should be considered just as human as you and me. If killing a person is considered a major crime, than why isn’t killing an innocent little baby? By letting abortion take place you are justifying Jeffery Dahmer, Charles Manson, and the Zodiac Killer. Those were all people who committed sick acts of murder. We punish those killers but yet we let people who have abortions go on with their lives. What are we saying to our adolescent girls today? That it’s okay to kill your baby because you don’t want to take responsibility for your actions? I understand the severity of rape cases, but it has been proven that pregnancy from rape is extremely rare. A woman that’s been raped has already been exposed to a brutal act of violence, should she be exposed to a second act of violence such as abortion at an already traumatic state? For women who are raped or simply cannot take on another life right now there’s an alternative to abortion. There are thousands of people looking to adopt everyday. Which is better to remember? “I gave my baby life and because I loved him, I gave him to the arms of a loving couple or, I selfishly ended my babies’ life”. Abortion is murdering, killing, or taking away a life. Call it as you which, it’s all the same thing. In the bible it says “The lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7). Which means god gave us this gift of life. Countries such as El Salvador, Poland, and South Africa have realized that gift god gave us. Why can’t we just follow that trend as well? I know people may try to argue that it’s a woman’s choice but just think of all the innocent babies that didn’t even asked to be born being brutally murdered everyday.

Have schools gone too far with weapons policies?

So as I contemplated on what i was going to write about this week, I decided to take a look at the main topics that Yahoo! was displaying. There was an article about a 6-year-old boy who was suspending for bringing a knife to school. Zachary Christie of Delaware was suspended from school and now faces 45 days in a reform school. Obviously his parents are fighting against this.

Zachary recently joined the Cub Scouts and received a new gadget that he was very excited about. It was like a swiss army knife though it was a gadget that could be a fork, a spoon, or a knife. Excited about using it and showing it off he brought it to school to use while eating his lunch. The school system has really cracked down and made a zero tolerance policy on weapons brought to school. Because there was a knife on the gadget that Zachary brought to school, he was suspended and is facing the school disciplinary committee. His parents say that he took school very seriously and even dressed in a collared shirt and tie just to be more serious. An innocent boy just trying to show off his new “toy” or “gadget” was punished severly.

I understand that schools should crack down on their weapons policies considering what happened at the Columbine and Virignia Tech, but how far should schools go? Do they really think that kids as young as Zachary are going to intentionally bring a weapon to school to use it for harm?

The reason the board and committee is being so strict on these policies is that they don’t want parents getting calls saying that their kid just lost both eyes to a kid that went crazy with a knife. But how many 6 year olds, especially Cub Scouts, want to use a knife in any other way than productive? Zachary made an innocent mistake. Is there any lee way to innocent mistakes on the zero tolerance policies?

Drinking Age

Now a days all you see on tv or hear on the radio is accidents involving young kids drinking and driving either hitting pedistrians, cars, others things directly near the road. Resulting from this is fatal collisions. Between the ages of 18-20 all young adults drink. Many are scared to tell there parents what they are doing, so they must lie to them, and instead of staying at the place they were drinking they drive home putting everyone and everything at risk. Lowering the drinking age to 18 i wouold feel would lower death rates, collisions, and accidents for this age group in drinking and driving. Not only it wouold also create teens and parents to have a healthier relationship.
Before and after every dance, football games, parties, etc. drinking is some what involved. Many teens thinki this is the "cool" thing to do since theere not allowed to do it. Every teen wants to rebel from everything their parents say. So if it's no drinkling then they will find a way to do it. They know how to hide it and how to get away with it, but the thing they do not how to do is to use their brain and ot do it the responsible way. Instead of staying put where these kids were drinking they decide to go drive because they have to be home at a certsain time. Yes, i understand that these are young adults and to need to adhear to their responsibitlites and listen to their parents, but parents are on eof the main reason why young adults drive home from drinking. They need to be home at a certain time and they cannot lie or tell thier parents the truth. If the drinking age was lowered they could tell there parents the truth and could stay put if there was dirnking goign on which this means fewer accidents.
At the age of 18 you are allowed to fight and die for your country, but you are not allowed to have a beer or a glass of wine after work? How does this seem in the slightest bit fair. By lowering the drinbking age these youing adults can be really called "adults". So i leave you with this wwould you want your kid driving home drunk because they are not allowd to drink and have ot be home at a certain time?