National government and it's spending

I strongly agree with Jimmy's post about "My thoughts about government". Yes, National government should focus more in its internal Issues rather than focusing on wars around the world. U.S known as the one of the powerful country around the world and it should be like that. National government is like a credit card and State government is like a debit card. The government does not have any money; it takes our money from us, and borrows more, then spends that. Suppose you want to spend more money this month than your income. This situation is called a "budget deficit". So you borrow (i.e; use your credit card). The amount you borrowed (and now owe) is called your debt. You have to pay interest on your debt. If next month you don't have enough money to cover your spending (another deficit), you must borrow some more, and you'll still have to pay the interest on the loan. If you have a deficit every month, you keep borrowing and your debt grows.  If we keep on borrowing money from other country (like China, or any foreign country) then, soon the interest payment on our loan is bigger than any other item in our government budget. Eventually, all we can do is pay the interest payment, and we don't have any money left over for anything else and interest payments on that debt will become the largest item in the federal budget. Right now, U.S is facing economic issues and it’s affecting every states. Recently, Texas is cutting back in its budget, and they are planning to cut government Medicaid like CHIP, other Medicare too.  Many people is going to affect by this decision. 

TIME TO ACT, "DREAM ACT"

Well! Everybody dreams to be a part of something, something that you are proud to be. This article named, “On legal status, it's academic,” by Ruben Navarrette Jr., writes about the illegal immigrant living in U.S, who works hard and do the dirty jobs that previous generations of American did without complaints, but now, the time is changing, and the tables are turning. Illegal immigrants were used to be invisible, but as a time changes, they seem to be everywhere. 

In this article, writer talks about an illegal immigrants like Pedro Ramirez, an undocumented immigrant, who is running for the student body president at California State University, Fresno, but recently, he has to withdraw his name from student body president, because he is an illegal immigrant. Writer, Navarrette argues that one doesn’t have to be a U.S citizen to run for an office in student government, it’s not as if, he is running for governor, or president! However, this article is related with illegal (undocumented) immigrant students, who lack of a Social Security number, an impediment for receiving financial aid, and how can DREAM ACT help them to secure their future! 
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (The "DREAM Act") is a piece of proposed federal legislation in the United States that was first introduced in the United States Senate. This bill will provide certain illegal and deportable alien students like Pedro Ramirez, who graduate from US high schools and arrived in the U.S, illegally as minors, and have been in the country continuously and illegally for at least five years prior to the bill’s enactment. 
The Dream Act is an opportunity for those illegal students to earn conditional permanent residency if they complete two years in the military or two years at a four-year institution of higher learning. The illegal alien students would obtain temporary residency for a six-year period. If Congress passes Dream Act law, it permits anyone, including undocumented immigrants, who attended and graduate from high school in the state to pay the in-state rate at public college and universities.

At Fresno State, you don't have to be a U.S. citizen to run for an office in student government. If the DREAM Act become a law, student like Ramirez would be an ideal candidate for eventual citizenship. Until it does, he's a candidate for deportation. 

Officially!! It needs to be done!!

Legalizing Marijuana, is that a good idea?  Well!! In my view, of course we should? California, New Mexico and other states has already legalized marijuana as a medicine with a doctor’s prescription. In this commentary article “Legalized it,”  by  Ms. Henricks, critiques and argues about legalizing Marijuana. 

In this article, she talks about how Legalizing Marijuana can benefit states economics as well as medical fields. However, somewhere in this article I felt that she should have made strong arguments in regards to providing legal supplies of currently illegal drugs. If government legalized these drugs, the price of the drugs will fall, leads to collapsed in the illegal drug industry, and reduces crimes committed by both drug suppliers and users. The reduction in the price will lead to little, if any, growth in drug addiction, due to the inelasticity of demand in markets, drug use may fall overall, by removing the marketing activities of the illegal drug industry, besides giving information about Marijuana and its effect. 

I do strongly agree with her argument about states spending 10 billion dollars fighting marijuana uses, but the prohibition is not preventing people form growing it, selling it, or using it. But, in my opinion, twenty-five million people per year smoke marijuana illegally, now its time to take a new approach. Let the states regulate marijuana like alcohol. Marijuana can sell for thousand  per pound, and is the largest cash crop of the country. Severe physiological addiction has been demonstrated for tobacco (stronger than cocaine), but no strong physiological addiction has been shown for marijuana. Why there is hesitation to pass the law to legalize use of Marijuana even Government’s own studies have shown that marijuana has its own efficacy.

ANNUAL AMERICAN DEATHS CAUSED BY DRUGS


TOBACCO …………………… 400,000


ALCOHOL …………………… 100,000


ALL LEGAL DRUGS ………….20,000


ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS ……….15,000


CAFFEIN…………………….2,000


ASPIRIN ………………………500


MARIJUANA…………………. 0


Source: United States government

National Institute on Drug Abuse,
 Bureau of Mortality Statistics

How much you are Informed!!

“Do you think, you know better?” In the United States, there are numerous mass media, where each and every second, news are being published. For a change, have we ever thought, what we are listening, or reading, is 100% true, or fake!!!  It’s not, we can’t blame it all on one media, but there are several other media source that are likely to be dubious. As I was going through several article in Austin American Statesman, I found one commentary article, “What is and isn’t journalism.” After reading this article, it made me realize that journalism cannot be trustworthy. Journalism is the investigation and reporting of events, issues, and trends to broad audience. Although there is much variation within journalism, the ideal is to inform the citizenry. Besides, covering organizations and institutions such as government and business, journalism also covers cultural aspects of the society such as arts and entertainment. As we know, freedom of the press in the United States is protected by the first Amendment of U.S constitution; it is the freedom of the press that prohibits the government from interfering with the printing and the distribution of their information or opinions. I think, the press and media are taking advantage of their freedom, misusing and violating them. Government is not taking any action or charging against these kinds of media and press behaviors.

In that article, the writer, Pitts, has really made some strong arguments about journalism misusing for their own advantage. Pitts used “Citizen journalism,” to prove point out that journalism has lost it’s meaning and at this point telling something else to the public. He explains how “citizen journalism,” lost its identity in a certain time period and now it’s hard for writer, as a journalist, to believe in “citizen journalism.” He questions his readers, “Would you trust your health to a citizen doctor just because he produced a syringe?” which does makes sense that, we have to be careful on what we belief and trust on.

For further resources, there’s a journalism named “Yellow journalism,” where little or no legitimate well-researched news is produced, and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal mongering, or sensationalizing. By extension, "Yellow Journalism" is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion. Yellow Press newspapers covers daily multi-column front-page headlines covering a variety of topics, such as sports and scandal, using bold and unabashed self-promotion.

As a reader, not only me, but also everybody wants factual news, and Citizenship Journalism and Yellow Journalism are the deception in media that often fools the common eye. Journalism is all about trying to get the story and get it right. As a writer, Pitts says, “you cannot be a journalist, if credibility matters less to you than ideology.”

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/pitts-what-is-and-isnt-journalism-958012.html

Navarrette: What we can learn from the ex-housekeeper and the candidate

This article was published in Austin American statesman and was written by Ruben Navarrette Jr. This Commentary article is about illegal immigrant working in United States and their struggle to fit in.  In this article, writer, Navarrette, critics about illegal immigrants being mistreated, humiliated, disrespected, exploited and financially abused by the rich people like Republican Meg Whitman. He calls Meg Whitman as impersonated a fire breathing conservative on immigration, because she hired a housekeeper, who was illegal immigrant working for her, more than a year. When reporter finds out, she denied the fact that; she never knew that her housekeeper was an illegal immigrant.

California has become a popular destination for immigrants to cross the border in order to get into the United States. Further, Navarrette makes argument about how California has concealed the fact about illegal immigrant.

I do agree about Whitman trying to convince to the people that California along with other states has benefited from the arrival of immigrants due to the lower cost of labor. Illegal immigrants have lowered wages overall because they increase the labor supply for unskilled work and are generally willing to take less for their labor.  For some illegal immigrants residing in the US, their lack of legal resident status may limit opportunities.

Whitman claims that illegal immigrants taking jobs from the American people. Writers, Navarrette makes argument about people paying illegal immigrants to work for them, naively, or intentionally?

             However, the United States still generally provides more opportunities and an overall better life than their home country. As long as the economic and political situations do not improve in the home countries of illegal immigrants, they will continue to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/navarrette-what-we-can-learn-from-the-ex-950538.html

Social Network and Politics

Can Twitter Lead People to the Streets?

What are the limitations of social media in inciting political activism?

By Evgeny Morozov 

In this article, the writer Morozov points out that Internet is a media to inform people about politics and to reveals its ability to reach and involve millions of people. In this article, the writer includes social network like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc and their use for political purposes and that people are paying attention too. Social network affects our life conventionally, or unconventionally.  He uses Obama's electoral juggernaut as a good example of how a rigid and highly centralized campaign manages to leverage the highly decentralized nature of the Internet to its great advantage.

Further, Morozov argues about mobilization with organization. He tells readers about the new ability of the web world to mobilize the public around certain issues. This does not necessarily automatically enhance democratic life, but however, non-democratic states have risks as well. I do agree upon his opinions about effective social change, and that it can’t succeed without getting citizen to participate in old school political processes. Signing online petitions and retweeting links to news article might give wrong impression to the young people.

      I found this article informative as it talks about Hillary Clinton, “civil society 2.0”; grassroots organizations around the world to use digital technology to tell their stories, build their memberships and support bases, and connect to their community of peers around the world. In this statement, I strongly agree with Hillary Clinton, “civil society 2.0”;  its remind me about 1^st amendment of the Bill of Rights,  “ Freedom Of Speech.” It is now time for public to decide on what they want to do. Do we want to push traditional organizations on which our forefather so extensively relied on or make better use of the digital tools convenient to us today? 

No Child Left Behind

As I was going through couple of topics, I found an article about No child left behind (NCLB). After I read this article, I found its interesting and worth reading it. First of all, what is No child left behind, what are its benefits, and how it will affects student, schools and teachers. Since the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law took effect in 2002, it has had a sweeping impact on U.S. public school classrooms.  No child left Behind attempts to improve performance of American K-12 schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts, and schools, as well as providing parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children will attend.

NCLB supports standards-based education reform, which is based on the belief that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. It affects what students are taught, the tests they take, and the training of their teachers and the way money is spent on education.

According to supporters, these goals help teachers and schools realize the significance and importance of the educational system and how it affects the nation. Opponents to this law base their objections to the accountability by stating that the punishments only hurt the schools more and do not contribute to the improvement of the students. If the schools and teachers do not live up to the accountability standards, they may choose to move their children to different schools in the area.

Reading this article tells us about the government being concern about improvement of Education system of United State of America? Even though, it sounds better for future of student but What about the schools which failure to meet NCLB's inflexible goals, and literally that school will be publicly labeled as failure.

No Child Left Behind