"21 or younger?"

After having read, “21 is less than 18” by Alex Cheyenne, I have to disagree with the author. Why? Well to be honest I believe that the law was brought up for a reason. How is it possible that it has made matter worse?! Teens tend to drink because most of them are taught from a young age to idolize alcohol. Sure, there have been more and more accidents involving teens and their binge drinking; but that doesn’t mean it’s because of the drinking age.

Teenagers tend to be irresponsible, and never think of the consequences of their actions. Giving them the right to drink at 18 is just plain dumb, if you ask me. This will not only affect our society, but them as well socially, emotionally, and education wise. Although, personally I don’t want them to lower the age it wouldn’t necessarily make a difference because ,kids are still going to go out and drink one way or another. Accidents will occur whether we want them to or not, the important thing is to at least teach these kids the importance of drinking safely. So, we can at least prevent these types of accident to occur.

Same-Sex Marriages

“President Obama has said he believes that “marriage is between a man and a woman,” but he voted against a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage as a U.S. Senator, saying the decision should be left up to the states. He said he encourages states to adopt marriage alternatives such as civil unions and domestic partnerships.”

This argument has been ongoing for years now, I believe that we should put it to a rest we have larger issues to be pining over. Presently, there are six states that allow same-sex marriage. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and the District of Colombia. Although, same sex couples have gained a wider acceptance within the eight states that have marriage alternatives such as: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington State. People still believe gay couples should not be allowed the “traditional marriage”.

I for one think that everyone should be allowed to enter any kind of situation that they believe is appropriate for their relationship. It is not our business whether a woman marries another woman or a man marries another man. I think its great the Obama is leaving these decisions for the states instead of just basing his decision on his morals or what he deems correct. Everyone should be allowed to marry whomever they want. Even if some deem it incorrect.

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/nation/so-far-gay-marriage-legal-in-six-states

Metal Detectors in Schools

This is a response to my classmates blog "Keep Texas Loud".

I have to agree with you on this topic, I don’t think that metal detectors will help keep the school system safe. The amount of money that is going to be spent is just unreasonable, even if and when it comes from the government; it is a big deal trying to keep up with the maintenance of things as is. Also, it is impossible like you said to be able to keep students from being harmed outside of school grounds such as the playgrounds etc. It will also as you mentioned make students feel as if they are in a prison, which is something that a parent nor a student would want. It puts a damper on things kids are there to learn not to feel as if they are prisoners and unsafe.
Overall, I believe that it if the metal detectors are not going to benefit anyone in any way then they should not be put up. School officials should just stick to exercising caution to dodge overreaction, the reflex reactions and the pull to put up these types of equipments after incidents that have occurred in other schools to ease parents the community and the media. Doing this may just stir a false sense of security that will potentially rebound on school officials in the long run.

Our Troops are finally back!!

Our Troops are finally back!

The statement made by President Obama on the 21^st of this month; announced that the American troops will be home for good by the end of the year. The Iraqi war that lasted for nearly 9 years; and killed more than 5,000 American troops and Iraqis; and cost roughly around $1 trillion dollars over the years. Obama stated that when he took office, around 180,000 troops were deployed in both wars. Now, he has accomplished his campaign promise to bring home our beloved troops.

As of now the President has done and immaculate job at everything he has done. Why, America has spent over trillions of dollars on another country is beyond me; but our economy has suffered severely from it. At the moment we are all over the place; even if we as a country wanted to lend a hand to another nation we wouldn’t be able to. Why? Well these past years have been rough on us we; we have lost our power and have not been able to gain any of it back. While in the Middle East they try and gain help from different sources to reach their goal then they end up disrespecting the hand that helped them. After, spending so much money and suffering from the death of more than 5,000 troops; we have absolutely nothing left.

Although, I am never against lending a hand to help other; we have to be smart and know to whom, why, and how we are helping them out. To me, it seems as if the U.S. government has no clue how Middle Eastern culture works. How do you expect to help someone out; and not know a single thing about the nation itself? Obama has made a wise decision for not involving us in the chaos that is now Libya, even though we have helped others in their time of need. We just don’t have time for that mess at the moment. The Middle East is all about power and they will do anything to be able to gain it! Even if it means to take out someone who has helped you out.

Overall, getting out of Iraq has been the best thing the U.S. has done and I am elated that we get to have our troops back home. All we have to do now is work on our patience and economy; and we have to learn that we can’t have to help everyone who is in need. We could be a stronger country if we put our minds to it, and we can help others little by little if that’s what we want.

“5 Good Reasons Why Wall Street Breeds Protesters”

USA Today provides an editorial called “5 Good Reasons Why Wall Street Breeds Protesters” The author’s argument is on how the protesters on Wall Street have a right to be angry. The author agrees that while protesters may be a bit kooky, they have been on the hush since the “bailouts” of 2008. Although, he agrees on how there is no real solution, he states that “. If things do not change soon, Wall Street will have a lot more to worry about than boisterous protesters.” The reasons behind these rampages are the Economic Recession, Bonus Excess, Brain Drain, Too Big to fail, and The Washington Racket. Which are mostly caused by the senseless mortgage loans, the large bonuses being given in this horrible recession. How many entrepreneurs are thrown into these jobs solely focused on trading rather that helping to create jobs for others. Errors are not allowed by any bank company because it would cause too much damage for its leaders. The extensive history of help that they got from the government, and the tax breaks; no wonder banks expect everything to go their way. Obviously the writer is with the protesters, and he is obviously trying to make others see what the real problem is. He gives valid points as well as the different views on the subject. The author makes wonderful points; and makes you believe that there is a reason for every action behind the protests.

'Texas’s decision to ban last meals for death row inmates"

The article I critiqued is “Texas’s dumb decision to ban last meal for death row inmates” by Eva Rodriguez. After having researches Mrs. Rodriguez credibility; I have concluded that she began her career with the Miami Business Review; she also served 10 years with the Legal Times, a Washington newspaper, as a supreme federal court reporter, then as executive editor and later editor and chief. She has also worked for the Miami Herald and for the Wall street Journal, and as “editor in the Washington bureau of The New York Times.”

The audience intended for this piece; I believe are those whom are interested in these types of topics. Rodriguez, argues that banning death row inmates from their last meal is “spiteful, petty and dumb.” The agreement was made after the execution of “Lawrence Russell Brewer” whom was convicted along with two others for the 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr;” a 49-year- old African American man “who they beat and tied by the ankles to the bed of a pickup truck and dragged him for miles “on an asphalt road until he died. Brewer, according to Rodriguez ordered “two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover’s pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.” Prison officials state that the food just sat there uneaten. Unsurprisingly, this action was not well received by Texas officials, which led to the abolishment of the last meal on the “eve of execution”(Rodriguez). She later on states that this behavior is not uncommon for someone who has killed another human being; and that officials should not be astonished by this act. Rodriguez, explains that after this change inmates will all receive equal treatment, such as one meal per prisoner. Unfortunately, Texas carries on being a constant “killing machine”, and are known to be the main state that is “consistently putting more prisoners to death than any other state in the union”. She believes that we as a union have become so unbothered by these actions that we just tend to ignore them; and that we should push so they can bring back the last meal.

The process has become numbingly routine, and that diminishes all of us. And I believe this is true whether you live in Texas or not and whether or not you support capital punishment.

-Eva Rodriguez

In my opinion, she’s partly correct but I think that once you have caused damage to another person’s life such as murder you have made your bed and you should sleep on it. I understand that we should maybe treat them with at least a little bit of respect or what have you; but why should they be able to order so much food and not even touch it? Yes, they should get one meal but not 30 at the same time who would eat all of that? On the contrary, I agree with Mrs. Rodriguez statement about us being concerned about all of these executions that are happening I believe that we as a nation should get together and try and stop all of this non-sense.

Blog #2

The article that caught my eye in The Christian Science Monitor website called, “Should Casey Anthony have to reimburse state for its failed case against her?”. The story opens with Anthony’s lawyer explaining to a Florida judge that it was in fact “sour grapes” that led prosecutors to make his client pay about $500,000 in expenses connected with her murder trial after she was accused with killing her two-year-old daughter.

“The state wants to charge her the entire cost of prosecution, not the legitimate expenses related to the convicted counts,” Mr. Mason said during a hearing in Orlando. “That has nothing to do with justice,” he said. “It has everything to do with [public] outrage and sour grapes.”

The question I asked myself was if it is proper for them to make her pay a massive amount of money when she was pleaded not guilty. In my eyes she should rot in jail, but we don’t always get what we want; that does not mean she has to actually pay the state back for the whole ordeal. It was their fault in the first place for taking on a case that they obviously could not handle.