It's Census Time!

Guess what arrived in my mailbox a few days ago: that's right, the official 2010 U.S. Census! Beginning Monday, more than 130 million U.S. census forms began arriving in people's mailboxes nationwide. This year's census includes only 10 questions, one of the shortest in our nation's history, in an effort to increase the rate of return. Question topics include: age, race, gender, household size, homeownership, and Hispanic ethnicity.

Although many don't fill out the census form due to laziness, some Americans actively reject the census because they feel it breaches their privacy. This belief is unwarranted, though. Federal law protects your privacy and keeps your answers confidential; law enforcement, tax collection agencies, and court cannot access any of the information. In fact, census data only becomes public after 72 years, for historical research reasons.

Filling out the census means building a representative democracy. Census results are used to decide the number of representatives each state has in the U.S. Congress, and also to draw electoral districts and allocate federal and state funds. By mailing that form, you are sending lawmakers a message that you want to be counted. A government is meant to serve its people, but who are those people? This is what the census defines, and it is up to us to make that definition accurate. If the definition is distorted, our government will be too, and we will only have ourselves to blame. So fill out those forms and mail them in. You'll be glad you did.

Obama 'Birthers' could finally getting ignored

There are numerous people who are requesting proofs that President Obama was actually born in Hawaii. The state House Judiciary Committee heard that a bill permits government officials to ignore people who want the birth certificates. These "birthers" say that President Obama should be ineligible to be a president. If President obama was actually born outside of the United States then he doesn't meet a constitutional requirement for being president. Hawaii Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino says that there are vital records that prove Obama is a natural-born American citizen. Even with these vital records there are still many people who send emails to ask for verification of Obama's birth in Hawaii. There are people who believe this would be a bad rep for Obama by not responding to the requests. "Attorney Peter Fritz asked why the state would pass a law punishing repetitive requests for open records. Instead, the staet could simply say it would only answer each person's question once.

I believe it is pretty annoying how people would ask for President Obama's birth certificate proof more than once. It does take the state's time and resource to answer the questions that people have. I think Attorney Peter Fritz does have a good idea in answering people's questions, but just once and not multiple time.

Fat Women Wants to Break Record

A woman in New Jersey currently weighs just over 600 pounds, but she isn't planning on stopping there. NO, she is going for a record 1,000. She claims "'I'm not hurting anyone'" but it is evident that she is basically killing herself. And although it is her body and she has the choice to do that if she wants, she is effecting others who will be paying for her huge medical bills with their tax money that could be going to things that are actually useful to the rest of us.

The woman quotes "'I love eating and people love watching me eat.'" She wants to gain all this weight in order to be the heaviest woman on earth. To me this looks like she is in it 100% for the attention, and it seems quite sad. Is the opportunity cost of that attention, all the health risks associated with gaining that much weight, really worth it? Well apparently to her it is. The fact that she also thinks it's totally natural and not hurting anyone also demonstrates how naive she is. How could you possibly think with all the medical research out there that is natural?

Michelle Obama is trying to tackle childhood obesity, I think this is a great ambition. However, it seems that maybe remembering the older generation will help things as well. The woman in this article has two kids and a boyfriend. If kids grow up with an example like her they won't know any better, but if positive encouragement begins at home it can only help the situation.

I hope this woman realizes that she isn't receiving attention for any of the right reasons and that she is going to die extremely early due to her awful lifestyle. It is people like her who give America a bad name in terms of our obesity problem, and she is only making the problem worse.

I thought this article was interesting so let me know what you guys think. Click on the title for the full article.

Obama Can Learn From The Past

I found this political cartoon that is not only relevant to what is going on now in our economy, but is also something we learned about in class. Clinton's '92 campaign strategist first said "it's the economy stupid!" In fact, not only did he say it, he made it the main point of their campaign that essentially led Clinton to the presidency. It represented what was really important to the people of the United States. I think the carton is referring to the fact that with all of this health care business Obama has lost track of what it is the people are most concerned about. Maybe he could learn from Clinton's campaign and the famous words of James Carville before the midterm elections.

Mexican Drug Shooting

Security could find no motive for the murder of a U.S. consulate employee and her husband. The two were killed in Mexico, with their 1 year old child in the backseat of their car. The gunmen are suspected to be in a gang linked to the Juarez drug hostel, but again, so far there is no motive for the shooting. President Obama expressed outrage over the murders, and the Mexican President Filipe Calderon promised a swift investigation.
It's unbelievable seeing how out of control the drug war has become. So many U.S. citizens have been killed in the drug war, and civilians in general have increasingly become involved in shootings similar to this one, in turn, making Juarez one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Over 2,500 people have been killed in 2009 alone, and the numbers just keep rising as time goes on. It's disgusting to see so many innocent people negatively affected by this war, take for example the poor child of the two parents killed. I can only hope that the Mexican government (possibly with the help of the U.S.) can quickly put this drug war to an end.

Nomore Turf plans for Golden Gate Park

The San Francisco Planning Department is thinking about an appeal from bird lovers that get rid of their original plans. The original plan was to install new artificial turf and lights on four soccer fields. The Audubon Society calls that "a crucial habitat for birds and other critters."

The Audubon Society and other environmental and groups that are in support of preserving the habitat of the birds want a city to conduct an environmental review of the 8.9 million dollar project. This is an important place with grass because there are not many places in San Francisco that have spaces for the birds to rest and eat. The Audubon Society said that if they disagree with the request they would appeal to the board of Supervisors and sue if it is necessary to get their point across of keeping the grass fields.

Even though there are many birds that need this place there are also soccer players who believe there are not enough fields to play soccer. The four soccer fields in Golden Gate Park are used so much that they have to keep one field closed to let the grass grow back. The new turfs would provide lights that could provide much more soccer playing time, but the Audubon Society, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. want people to shut off lights at night during spring and fall migrations because the light confuses the birds migration. Lynes said, ""We've already seen huge declines in our coastal shorebirds," "We have to do what we can to protect what's left.""

I am torn between two sides and I cannot decide which is better. Being a soccer player I believe the lights let us have so much more time to have soccer fields to play, but at the same time I know it would hurt the birds migratory patterns and I don't want the bird population to decline either. The turf fields are nice, but I still prefer the grass fields even though they are much harder to maintain. I think they could have a compromise and have one or two turf fields, and have the other stay grass. I believe everyone has what they believe is important. The habitat for the birds or having people play a sport they love.

The EPA on Rising Acidity Levels on the West Coast

On Thursday the EPA said it will consider the ways US states can address rising acidity levels in the ocean. This decision was announced in a legal statement with the Center for Biological Diversity, which sued the EPA last year for not requiring the state of Washington to list its coastal waters as impaired by rising acidity levels under the Clean Water Act. In the legal statement the EPA will take public comment on the increasing acidity levels in the ocean, ways states can determine if their water are affected, and how states can limit the pollutants that cause the rise in acidity. Previously, states focused only on acidic levels in streams and lakes under the Clean Water Act and this is the first time the EPA has agreed to consider ocean acidity.
Oceans are becoming more acidic due to rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere that are being absorbed by the water. The changing acidity levels affect many types of marine life, but have a an especially strong effect on anything that grows a shell or hard covering.

Focusing on the ocean is a good shift from focusing only on lakes and streams since ocean pollution is a worldwide problem. It is good the EPA is taking steps to address ocean acidity levels, although I think this should have been done much sooner.

Water and Sewage Systems too expensive to Expensiva to Fix?

Water and sewage systems across the nation have begun to break down. Today, an average of one major water line breaks every two minutes somewhere in the US. On average, in the state of Washington alone, there is one pipe breakage every day. Studies indicate that thousands of water and sewer systems may be too old to function properly and have been ignored by politicians ans residents who are used to paying almost nothing for water delivery and sewage removal. Because of this negligence, thousands of pipes rupture, polluting drinking water supplies and damaging streets and homes.

Many residents are unwilling to pay more for their water supply and sewage systems, even though it may be necessary for proper upkeeping of the systems. George Hawkins of the DC Water and Sewer Authority stated "people pay more for cell phones and cable television than for water. You can go a day without a phone or TV. You can't go a day without water." An EPA study estimated that $335 billion would be needed to maintain the nation's tap water systems in the coming decades. A member of the city council retaliated to rate increases, stating "Subway systems need repairs, and so do roads, but you don’t see fares or tolls skyrocketing. Providing inexpensive, reliable water is a fundamental obligation of government."

I think fixing and maintaining water and sewage pipes is critical for the health of humans and the environment, but how to do so is debatable. Increasing rates would more quickly raise the funds needed to repair and maintain the pipe systems. Is it the governments responsibility to provide inexpensive, reliable water, or should it be the citizens responsibility to pay for it?

House vetoes call to withdraw troops from Afghanistan

The house vetoes an rejects anti-war lawmakers to force the American troops to withdraw from Afghanistan this week. The house vote was not even close with the rejection to be 356-65. Almost all Republicans were against this resolution and are supporting Obama's decision to increase the amount of US troops in Afghanistan from 70,000 to 100,000. The Democratics were against the war, but decided to vote against the withdraw of troops at Afghanistan because they believe it is unrealistic and not the right time. Obama said that he wants to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan starting next year in July 2011.

I believe that the House must feel the importance of keeping troops there and hopefully Afghanistan would have a stable government in a near future. I think almost everyone wants the US troops to come back home as soon as possible, but given how complicated the circumstances are I think it just isn't possible to have them return now. Hopefully they could all start returning by July 2011 like Obama said.

Obama Looks to Improve Education

Obama has proposed a new version of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law: a controversial 41-page proposal that will now circulate through the House and the Senate. The President has big plans to improve the quality of education in this country, and he wants to get started as soon as possible. His new plans include having all students get tested every year in math and English, and additional tests can be implemented in order to track progress as well, in order to see how their education is improving. Obama also plans on making these tests more difficult, as well as reshaping struggling schools, within the next 5 years. The emphasis with this new plan will be put on improvement, as opposed to the pass or fail system that we use today.

Of course there will also be plenty of money associated with this new plan. The schools that show the most improvement will receive the most money in form of a "reward", while struggling schools will be reformed. The money will not be separated equally based on state or any other region. However, states are required to classify their schools into groups, the lowest 5% of the state's schools will be forced to fire many officials and suffer other consequences. The second lowest 5% will be on a "warning" list that means they will be watched closely.

Most teachers are quite opposed to Obama's new plan and some even believe that it puts all the pressure on the teachers without giving them much ability to do anything about it. Many teachers also realize that the money being given to schools (that won't be spread out equally across the nation anyway) won't help the amount of teachers receiving pay cuts or getting laid off. With another group unhappy with Obama's new plans, it leads to the issue of Democrats losing more seats in the upcoming midterm election, since this proposal is unlikely to pass before that election.

I personally don't think this is a particularly good idea. I mean standardize tests is one of the things many people had a problem with regarding the 2002 No Child Left Behind law, well Obama's new plan would only result in more standardize testing. I also don't think the entire attempt at reform will really help those struggling schools; it doesn't seem like throwing out a bunch of teachers and the principle with totally improve the school, as much as it will just unsettle it.

If the proposal isn't passed before this midterm election, which seems likely, and Obama loses more support, which is only natural, it will be interesting to see how this new plan pans out. I'm sure Obama felt like he had to do something in terms of education, but was this really the answer? Could there have really been a better answer? All I know is that I'm sure many of us are glad we will be out of here before these new ideas are put into place.

For more info. click the title to see the article.

Vaccines Linked to Autism?

Nope, not according to federal courts, which ruled that thimerosal, a mercury-derived compound that parents say helped bring on regressive autism in their kids, does in fact not cause autism, a finding that supports scientific consensus. More then 5,000 parents had filed claims with the "vaccines courts," created in 1986 so that individuals cannot sue drug makers for illnesses and injuries caused by vaccinations, seeking damages because they believed their children had developed autism from vaccinations. The three cases that the courts chose to be considered in the hearing were the three strongest cases, making a statement for any other individuals possibly blaming vaccines for their children's autism.

Special Master Denise K.Vowell stated in a decision that "petitioners propose effects from mercury in [vaccines] that do not resemble mercury's known effects in the brain, either behaviorally or at the cellular level."
The US Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of parents who claim that the vaccines were the cause of serious problems with their children. The justices, on Monday, agreed to decide whether drug makers can be sued outside the vaccine court.

This controversy has tainted vaccines and led parents to avoid them; Paul Offit stating "It's very hard to unscare people after you have scared them."

Do you think the vaccines could possibly link to autism? I think more research should go into vaccines and their possible side effects. The vaccine courts may want to affirm government policy more than protect children. As the Coalition for Vaccine Safety states, "Government attorneys defend a government program, using government-funded science, before government judges."

Helping Haiti can hurt them?

After seeing the amount help Haiti has received, some Haitian scholars, natives, and relief workers are starting to believe that this constant aid will cripple Haiti's independence. Ronald Agenor, a Haitian-American, believes that "We're not a country anymore...It doesn't seem like we have a government. We're a place where people go to give money."
I guess you can have too much of a good thing. Although I've never considered this before, I can see where Agenor is coming from. I feel like he seems to have lost a sense of pride, seeing that his country needs help in rebuild itself. But I personally don't think what the world is doing is necessarily a bad thing or will cost Haiti its independence in the future. Yes, it seems as if everyone is doing what they can for this country, but the idea behind it is to get Haiti back on its feet, not to help it forever. Once Haiti demonstrates that there is no need for anymore help, countries will slowly start leaving. Although Haiti will need some more time, I know that they will eventually prove their independence.

New Student Loan Deal

A new deal stuck by Democratic Congressional leaders on Thursday will combine student loans and health care into one legislation, which would allow for both measure to be passed by the Senate on a simple majority vote. Without this deal, the student loan bill would have been unlikely passed because it lacked the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. The bill will allow the government to directly loan to students, ending government payments to private student lenders. It will also expand the Pell grant system. About 8 million of the nations lowest-income students receive Pell grants each year. The maximum Pell grant is set to rise to $5,550 for the 2010-2011 school year and will automatically increase every year according to inflation. Private banks are largely against the bill because it would cut off a longtime stream of revenue.

House Democrats packaged student loans and health care into an expedited budget reconciliation bill to get the votes they needed on health care because the financial aid bill is popular. Senate Democrats control 59 of the votes and only need 50 to approve the bill becuase VP Joe Biden would break the tie. Some Senate Democrats tried to resist packaging student loans with health care, but if Congress does not act soon, millions of students may see their Pell grants cut by 60%.
To see the full article click on the title.

I think eliminating payments to private lenders is smart, especially because $67 billion can be saved by direclty loaning to students instead of going through a private lender. But even with the $67 billion, an increase in students attending college and seeking aid and the weak economy will raise the cost of new Pell grants from $40 billion to $54 billion. Packaging the student loan bill with health care was a good idea because on its own it might collapse.

Artificial Sweeteners and Loud Noices Create Long Term Problems

For the past week in Spanish we have been preparing for the AP test with practice that involved reading articles and hearing pod casts regarding artificial sweeteners and loud noises. I'm sure that we all figured that these things couldn't be too good for us, but did we ever think about how severe the consequences could actually be? Well based on all the information we went over it turns out that things as simple as listening to your ipod and drinking artificially flavored drinks could have some rather harmful permanent effects. Over 50% of teenagers listen to music louder than the recommended volume, and many adults work in places where they encounter loud noises every day. The most evident effect is slight loss of hearing in the long run. Having too many treats that are artificially flavored also have long term health effects on multiple parts of the body.

However, the thing that I found interesting is that there are multiple negative consequences that appear much less obvious. Such as minimizing cardiovascular capabilities, lowering sexual interests, and increasing nerves. Although medical advances have greatly increased our knowledge of the things we do that are unhealthy for us, it's surprising that we continue to take part in many of these activities. People had no idea how bad smoking was for them years ago before they began to see the consequences in others; I wonder if there will be anything like that for our generation. And even though it seems totally unlikely thanks to new advances in medicine, you just never know (just like the surprising consequences of things as basic as listening to music or drinking a soda). I guess as of now the opportunity cost of not drinking the soda or turning up the volume as high as it goes, out ways the consequences.

Who doesn't believe in global warming?

According to the Gallup Social Series Environment poll, 48% of the people polled don't believe in global warming. Gallup believes that less people believe in global warming because "a reflection of the record-breaking snow and cold temperatures of this past winter. Additionally, evidence from last year showed that the issue of global warming was becoming heavily partisan in nature, and it may be that the continuing doubts about global warming put forth by conservatives and others are having an effect". Only a slight majority, 53%, of people believe that global warming is occurring, or will happen in the near future.

It's sad to see that less and less people believe in global warming. The fact is, global warming IS REAL, and we'll start to see the effects get worse and worse as time progresses. The problem is that the changes have been slow yet gradual enough to make a difference, but not a noticeable one. Scientists everywhere have confirmed that the earth's temperature has gradually increased throughout the years, and it's only getting warmer. Unfortunately, with less and less believers, people won't be as interested in fixing this problem as they were once before.
I'd like to know if you guys believe in global warming, or think that this is all make-believe.

Jobless aid

Today the Senate has passed a $149 billion packaged aimed at aiding the jobless by providing unemployment benefits and tax cuts. The unemployed will still receive their benefits and healthcare subsidies until the end of 2010 while businesses will still be exempt from $25 billion worth of taxes. Although unemployment aid does not create new jobs, economists say "it is one of the most cost-effective ways to stimulate the economy because recipients spend the money quickly". Unfortunately, extending these benefits come at a high cost, about $70 billion, but Democrats are making job creation their number one priority.

Although this will cost us a lot now, I know that in the future it will be really beneficial. Unfortunately people want to see progress immediately, but with unemployment so high in the nation, it may take years to bring down the numbers.

National Standards for Education

State governors and state school superintendents proposed new national education standards for grades K-12. The standards, called the "common core state standards," set grade by grade guidelines for teachers to follow in English and math. Forty-eight states, not including Alaska and Texas, participated in making the standards and if a majority of the state adopts them, the standards would replace the locally written ones that are in place now. The NY Times says "adoption of the new standards would set off a vast new effort to rewrite textbooks and standardized test."

The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State Schools started the national standards movement last year, working with English and math experts from the College Board, A.C.T., and Achieve, Inc. Over the next few weeks, education experts are invited to review and comment on the standards before the final versions are published, although some states are already preparing to instate them. In some states, implementing the standards is a simple process that could take as little as three months, while others, such as California, have extremely complicated adoption procedures.

President Obama has expressed his support for the new education standards, stating "Today's system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success mean fourth grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 point lower than students in Wyoming -- and they are getting the same grade." The Obama administration had no part in drafting the standards, but offers a $4 billion incentive for the states that adopt the guidelines.

Click on the title for a link to the Common Core State Standards Initiative website

Im glad there is effort by the states and the Obama administration to highten education, I'm just not sure how efective these new standards will be. Do you think there will actually be a noticeable change in the classroom?

A Good Side to Global Warming?

Recently there has been more talk about the melting Arctic ice caps due to global warming. It turns out that multiple countries have claims on pieces of this land, or ice caps, that is melting away as we speak (or should i say blog). Well I stumbled upon this article that I found really kind of surprising and interesting, the link is in the title. I have never really heard of positive consequences of global warming and melting ice caps, but this article talks about how it would be beneficial for China's economy. The article says that the more open water ways would make it easier, and cheaper, for China to ship all the products it exports.

This article was surprising because I find it odd that anyone would try to justify how global warming could be a good thing in any way. If China actually looks at the melting glaciers and open water ways as a bright side to global warming, they are clearly not looking out for the other few billion people they need to share the earth with. Too bad these waterways will be useless if no one overseas can buy their products because they are too busy spending all their money in medical bills to cure cataracts and cancer, or to relocate their homes on the coast that will be unlivable due to rising sea levels. You're right China, thanks global warming!

Toyota Attempts to Regain Support

So after the Toyota recall that took place a little while ago, the corporation is now in the fast lane to regain the large amount of support that it had prior to the recall (no pun intended). Toyota had previously been one of the most trusted and popular cars in America and once the recall through the company for a loop it became crucial to get things on track without losing too much profit, and or, business. Toyota is still working hard to pick up the pieces and instill trust for their products back into the American public.

Recently we learned about the determinants of demand and this Toyota issue struck me as a great example. Imagine, what would happen to the demand for Toyota vehicles if there is a recall on multiple of their products? Something tells me that the demand will go down. Why? Well because consumer expectations for the cars that had been met in the past, have now been let down and they no longer feel comfortable enough to buy this product that is such a large percent of their income. As Silton likes to say, "economics is everywhere" and this is just one example that stood out to me, so let me know what you guys think.

The Toyota Pruis...

I was looking through some stories online and found a few of these articles about the Prius problems (the link is embedded in the title). Many are speculating that floor mats may be the cause of the numerous amounts of accidents reported. Apparently, these floor mats may get caught onto your pedal, causing the Prius to accelerate. I am personally skeptical of this, and so is Toyota. The Toyota website posted an article against this rumor, which you can read here: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/toyota-consumer-safety-advisory-102572.aspx

What I found to be terrifying (besides the fact that Toyota has already recalled 700,000 of Prius) is the fact that they have also recalled a handful of their other new models. This was taken from the article:

"Other models involved in this previously-announced recall include 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2007-2010 ES 350, 2006-2010 IS 250, and 2006-2010 IS 350. On January 27, 2010, Toyota expanded the campaign to include the 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Venza, 2009-2010 Matrix and 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe."