Theo's View on Political News

In American society there are many Political news channels. With the inventions of smart phones, ipad, and laptops getting information can be as easy as pressing a few buttons. Something’s that come from this is biases, misconceptions and even false information at times. Listening to all of the politicians on the news can make anyone want to pull their hair out. Just about every political news channel claim not to have a political bias but it is obvious to see that they do. These types of news are some of reasons why people have the wrong idea about the country and other political parties. Only hearing one side of any story is going to leave someone without some sort of valuable information. These political news channels are not all completely terrible. A person can receive a lot of valuable information from these channels. On the same hand they can receive a ton of junk. These channels or news feed try and tell people what and how to think. When a person starts to think for themselves and listens to both sides of the spectrum then I believe that they become more informed. Looking into things and doing research for your self can become more valuable then listening to just one news station or type of news. It is hard to find anything that is non bias this is why listening to both sides and drawing your own conclusion is best. Politics are corrupt and so is their news. Looking beyond what you hear could surprise you in what you would find.

Smoking in Public Places

Freedom is a right given to us that states that we are allowed to express our opinions and beliefs. We should also consider the others around us though and respect their thoughts and beliefs. Smoking in public places is a big problem these days but if there is no sign stopping the smokers then it is their choice to do it or not.

Non-smokers usually have there on section just like the smokers go outside to smoke. Smoking in public places is up to the owner of the place, or they give the smokers a certain distance to be away from the building. Smokers should have the choice to smoke wherever they want but respect the rights of the non-smokers. For example smokers should also realize that they couldn’t smoke in every public place because it is harmful to them and others, like smoking at a gas station or any place that will be affected by cigarettes.

Smoking is a choice, just like non-smokers have the right not to smoke. No one likes to be told what to do and no one should have to be told what to do. No matter if people fight for non-smoking in public places, there is enough second hand smoke to go around to harm the non-smokers in the same way. There should not be rules for smokers just like there are not rules for non-smokers. Even though there should be no rules, smokers should just respect the opinions of others and go outside and smoke or just stay in a distance.

Underestimation of Don't Ask Don't Tell

We all know about the famous "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy that was instated during Bill Clinton's presidency during 1993. When hearing about this policy most people think about it in a negative connotation. With no background of the actual law, of course, one will think its main objective was prejudice against open gay and lesbian soldiers serving and their sexuality needed to be closeted. On the other hand, this policy was enforced to acutally protect these soldiers from discrimination because of their sexual orientation, while still offering them the same equal rights as every other soldier.

After seventeen years of controversy, President Obama was the one who set out to repeal this act. On December 22, 2010, the bill was set into effect that all gay and lesbian soldiers could openly serve. The problem is not the fact that we have gays serving in the Army, but that we will have people who will show discrimination towards them because of it. And without this policy, they do not have to have the approval from every other soldier. Therefore, this will not prevent any type of discrimination. No soldier deserves to have this type of intolerance because of a difference in sexual preference. With that, it is safe to say that the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was underestimated in thinking it was only out to harm gay soldiers, but the true goal was to solely protect them.

Its just one drink

Yes people have died from drinking and driving and yes it is very dangerous. Think about it there are many people who can take just one drink and be perfectly fine to drive. This is why when you just have like one little drink then you should be ok to drink and drive. Not only do I think that is ok but what if your hungry and there's no food at the party your at? Are you just supposed to starve? One drink shouldn't stop you from getting a meal in on a long night. Overall sometimes it is very convenient to just drive after a ingle drink. Now its totally opposite when your actually drinking a whole keg.

Discrimination Nation: aka USA

Colors decorate our world, and determine wether something is pleasing to the eye or not, but when color is applied to someone's skin it becomes a larger issue than just what meets the eye. Racial discrimination has been ingrained in people due to their ancestor's preconceived notions about skin color. Generation to generation the idea of ones color of skin determined whom each class of people would be involved with.

Racial descrimination is indeed wrong, but we are of a free country. This includes us being free of speech and thought. It is no ones place to tell someone what to say or feel about a certain race because thats just how they were born and raised. It's hard for one person to stop and think about if what they are thinking or saying is wrong, when they were raised to think the way that they do. Even though some people may think that descrimination is wrong, it is not our place to stop them. If the person from the other race knows that they are a good person and they love themselves for who they are, they should'nt listen to those who are racist against them. Ignoring that person will only make it better and to not pick a fight.

Whats the Big Deal?

What’s the big deal about drinking and driving? When someone is offered an alcoholic beverage, they shouldn’t have to think twice about it. People often think that drinking cures many things such as stress from school, relationships, or family problems. It is simply just an easy way for people to escape all of the problems they face in reality. Teenagers are usually peer pressured into drinking as young as the age of thirteen.

By drinking a few beers, the drivers vision and reaction time is barely impaired so chances of them getting caught is very slim. People think that they are invincible and that they’ll never get caught breaking the law. When getting into a vehicle where the driver is intoxicated, your life is in your own hands. Since the passenger decided to get into the car, it is not the driver’s responsibility for what happens.

Whether under the influence or not, driving is the quickest way to get home rather than walking. It is much cheaper than waiting for a cab every time or bothering friends for a ride. It’s also less commotion than having to find a ride to your car in the morning. Therefore, drinking and driving isn’t that big of a deal and the law shouldn’t be so strict.

Against Texting and Driving Laws

Against Texting and Driving Laws

Over the years, cell phones and electric handheld devices have become increasingly popular. They could be very helpful throughout the day and some people depend on them to get through their daily activities. However, these devices could also be very dangerous when using them in times where they should not be used. One of these times should be when you are driving. Texting while driving distracts a persons mind, vision, and hands. There has been conflict over the past few years over texting and driving laws. Some say there should definitely be laws banning the use of all hand held devices and some say that this would do no good.

Currently, no state completely bans the use of cell phones in cars. However, thirty states have laws limiting the use of these devices and allowing them only to be used hands free. Also, a few states have laws restricting young drivers to use a cell phone at all. These laws may help the driver to be safer or it my only cause more trouble. In my opinion, the driver might hide the cell phone more and this may cause further distraction. I have seen this happen numerous times with my friends and myself.

Even though some laws may help prevent dangerous accidents, I don’t think they would be as affective as some may believe. Like all other laws, this law could be broken easily and there is no real way to enforce it other than the police directly seeing the person. If there were a system or a detector to catch people using cellular devices in their cars similar to a speed radar then the law would be more logical. However, there is no such device yet and people are still texting and driving despite the known risks.

Some of the new laws do prevent some people form sending a text while driving but if you drive down a busy street you will see more than one person performing the task. I think the best thing to do about the situation is to make people more aware and let then know the serious risks. This will not weed out all of the people texting while driving but it will help in many ways.

Organ donation should be mandatory because it makes sense!

Imagine you were born with a congenital heart defect that limited the quality and duration of your life. This condition is completely out of your control. You never did drugs, ate junk food, smoked cigarettes, or even engaged yourself in risky situations. Now picture your circumstances: your 22 years old, exhaustion drastically limits your daily activities, and if you don’t get a new heart within the next year you will die. You’ve been waiting for a transplant for approximately 6 months, and anxiously worry because you know that time is like an hourglass (it will eventually run out). As the time closes in, you get weaker and sicker by the day. You have so many aspirations you will pursue once you get the call, but it never comes. The list was too long and the donors too few.
Organ donation is a serious matter. Sadly, every day people who have been waiting on the transplant list die. The reality is there are just not enough donors. For some, the thought of organ donation is too personal. The process of surgeons cutting out organs and butchering the body is too much. Another common misconception is that while you are dying and the ambulance is in route to the hospital, if the paramedics see that you’re an organ donor, they will drive around pointlessly until you die. Believe it or not, some people actually do think this happens. Regardless, this is simply not true. A lack of awareness concerning organ donation creates a lack of matches for people in need of transplants.
In order to bridge the gap between the lack of donors and the list of people who die waiting for organs, I believe organ donation should be mandatory. Although this would create a lot of conflict, especially in a country where freedoms are plentiful, it would solve the problem and save lives desperately in need. Think of it this way, if you could solve world hunger by pushing a button that would send all of the food you throw away to a 3rd world country, would you do it? I know the idea seems far fetch, but I’m sure the majority of people would do it! In the least, it would save you money on trash bags and electric bills! So, why waste food that is still consumable? My point is, why waste organs that are still viable? Just like food, organs that are left in a dead body go to waste. Let’s face it, after we die we decompose and every part of our body is rendered useless. Since organs are so much more valuable than food, at least to Americans, what is the purpose in burying or burning them? If I were to ever lose a loved one, even a child, knowing that a part of them lives on through someone else would be easier to deal with than knowing that no part of them did.
These are only a few of the reasons why organ donation should be mandatory. If I were to list all of them, the list would be as long as the transplant list, or perhaps even longer. The bottom line is, organs and life should not be wasted. I believe that one day, there will be a law to enforce “recycling” organs. In the meantime, let’s use our brains, our voice, and our hearts to accept and promote life.

FOR SMOKING

I am for smoking; it shouldn't be anyones business who smokes. If a person chooses to smoke it is their right. People smoke for many different reasons such as: it relieves stress, it helps them to relax, and smoking also helps to relieve thier nerves. No one should be judged or looked down on because they smoke. The government shouldn't try and control people and stop them from smoking. The government also shouldn't ban smoking in public places. If people want to go out and buy a carton of cigarettes they should have the right to. I know a lot of people that smoke and not one time have I judged them. If i was to choose to smoke i wouldn't want anyone judging me or even looking down on me. Even though smoking can have some dangerous sideffects, they also have some good to them.

Cyber Bullying: Is it just cruel or a cruel crime?

Bullying alone is hard to deal with and very hurtful, I can speak from experience, but then again how people can say they never have been bullied at one time or another in their whole life.  When you mix today’s most widely used communication tool, the internet, and cruel hearted people you get an ugly and vicious outcome called cyber bullying.  Now that I am older it’s easy to ignore hurtful words or ignorant comments that people make on a daily basis, but it may not be so easy for a young teen trying to find their place in this messed up world.  Cyber bullying is a gateway for all the spineless cowards to come out and prey on people who they feel have a lower self esteem then they themselves have (opinion of course).  

Thirteen year old Megan Meier started an account on a popular social site and not long after joining the site she received a friend request from a boy who said his name was Josh Evans.  This boy and Megan responded back and forth for a short period of time but within that time Megan had grown very much attached to this boy according to her mother.  This seemingly instant “love” was not by false ideas on Megan’s behalf, because this boy sent messages that went on and on about how beautiful she was and even once told her he loved her.  Megan Meier’s mother said that she always had an issue with her self esteem and when Josh came into the picture she absorbed every bit of his lavish comments.

October 15, 2006 Josh took an ugly turn and began to bash Megan with crude words and was far from the boy that showered her in compliments.  The last words that Megan read were “The world would be a better place without you.” A mother should never have to see what Megan’s mother saw when she opened her daughter’s closet, for her little girl had hung herself.  This story is a tragedy with those facts alone, but the story did not end at Megan’s preventable death.  It continued with a woman that lived just down the street from the Meier’s family, and her name was named Lori Drew.  Drew’s daughter and Megan were former friends but because of a fall out no longer hung out.  This causes an uproar within Lori Drew and she decides to handle the issue herself, by making a fake account on the same social network that Megan used and can you guess the fake name she choose? Yes, Josh Evans was in fact a 50 year old woman that lived only houses away. 

The result of this woman’s cruel and unforgiveable words was ultimately the death of a young and beautiful girl, and this statement being completely y opinion.  I believe that if a person is weak psychologically then it is very possible for someone else to push them to the “edge” by attacking them with words which in turn makes those attacked individuals turn inside themselves and begin to question themselves.  Let there be no mistake about it that anyone who has been attacked whether through cyber bullying or just bullied in general those people are victimized.

 I am positive Megan was a wonderful young lady, but sadly her story is not unique by any means these cases unfortunately happens more often than most of us would like to come to terms with, and the truth is that none of us know how many victims cyber bullying takes in a given day.  Meier’s story is my evidence to the argument that cyber bullying will cause and continues to cause extreme social isolation, mental issues, and in the worse of situations suicides.  The reason for Lori Drew not being prosecuted to the fullest is the laws surrounding cyber bullying were not adequately prepared for the severity of some cyber bullying cases. 

Lori Drew supporters would say she had nothing to do with Megan’s suicide and the court in the end essentially fed that theory by acquitting Drew in 2009.  Even through this a move in the right direction came from the state of Missouri when people became more passionate about changing the laws that were structured around cyber bullying. The governor, Matt Blunt, created Internet Harassment Task Force whose mission was to study and create laws in reference to cyber bullying.   Along with this they also made an improvement in their laws by shifting cyber bullying from a misdemeanor to a Class D felony.

In other words it should not take a human life to begin to open the eyes of people that cyber bullying should be considered a harsh crime and should in my belief have a just as harsh punishment.  Cyber bullying is serious and the effects that in can have on a young girl or boy is can be life changing, for those kids will grow up with a distorted image of how the world will perceive them and they could possibly become non-functioning members of our society.  I would categorize Americans as selfish, because if it is not happening to us we don’t really give it a second glance.  So I will revert to the oldest trick in the book, what if it was you who was told day in and day out “your worthless”  “you’re fat and ugly”  “why are you here? No one cares if you are alive!”  Most of the people our age would perhaps just blow it off, but what if it was your little brother, sister, daughter, or son who was being tormented every time they logged into that really popular site? What would you want done about it? Even when or if the bullying ends, how bad are your little brother/sister’s scars?   How deep are your son/daughter’s wounds?   If more people care then the more action will put in place stricter laws that will eventually prevent and in hopes one day stop cyber bullying. 

http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html
http://meganmeierfoundation.cwsit.org/resourcesParentsEducators.php

Against Gay Bullying

Lately teen bullying and cyber-bulling has increased and has gotten out of control. Kids are beating other kids to death or worse, the kid getting bullied decides to take his own life. Recently though, those kids getting bullied are homosexual boys and/or girls.

Seth Walsh was just 13 years old when he took his life outside in his backyard on September 19, 2010. He tried to hang himself from a tree and didn’t succeed, but was put on life support. It wasn’t until nine days later that he was taken off life support. When investigators asked around it was said by many students that Walsh was tired of getting bullied and tired of the school officials and school board of knowing about the bullying and not taking any action. Walsh asked for help many times and was ignored, just like many other gay or lesbian teenagers are. Gay bullying and gay cyber-bulling is getting extremely out of hand and more and more kids are taking their lives for it. Walsh was just one of many teens that took their life in 2010.

Additionally, many people are voicing their opinion about the bullying and cyber-bulling of gays. TV host Ellen Degeneres wrote on her blog September 4, 2010 once it was known that college student, Tyler Clementi killed himself after being outed online. Degeneres says “One life lost in this senseless way is tragic. Four lives lost is a crisis. And these are just the stories we hear about. How many other teens have we lost? How many others are suffering in silence? Being a teenager and figuring out who you are is hard enough without someone attacking you.” And she’s right. Many lives have been getting cut short from not being accepted for who they are from someone they may know or from a fellow classmate. No mother or father should ever have to bury their child before they die. The pain these families are feeling will never go away.

Another heartbreaking suicide was of Jason Aaberg from Minnesota. He was one of the five kids that committed suicide in the district that he lived in. And out of those fives supposedly three of them were homosexual teens. Jason’s mother Tammy talked to some of Jason’s classmates and learned that her son wasn’t the only person who felt like that. That many teenagers that are homosexual actually wish they were dead. They feel like an outcast. But, then again students feel like they aren’t being heard from school officials. Asking teachers to remain “neutral” seems more of a step back then a step forward in helping these teens that don’t want to live anymore. Teachers, more than anyone, should try and help these teens that feel like that, not just sit back and watch something like this unfold anymore.

Degeneres goes on to say also on her blog that teens that feel like they are all alone aren’t and goes on and lists many organizations that want to help. Like The Trevor Project or anti-bullying non-profit organizations like Angles and Doves. And she lists many more.

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2010/09/its_time_to_end_teenage_bullying_0930.php

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ybenjamin/detail?entry_id=73326

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Gay-Teen-Suicide-Sparks-Debate-Over-Cyber-Bullying-5243

http://www.towleroad.com/2010/09/yet-another-gay-teen-lost-to-bullying-suicide-in-minnesota.html