I have always been a big fan of crime shows, especially CSI. While trying to write my political science paper i got sidetracked by the TV. This ended up being to my advantage though. I was trying to figure out what i should write about when it hit me. With all the murders happening on these shows I could write about gun control.
Gun control is allowed in the Second Amendment. It states that citizens of the United States have the right to bear arms. This has always been a very controversial topic because people believe that so many guns are used for murders and when people go on killing sprees.
That isn't quite the case though. While doing my research paper i discovered that. Every year guns defend against 2.4 million criminals. That breaks down to 6,575 times a day. They are also used sixty times more for protection than to take the life of someone. States have started to adopt Right to Carry Laws so citizens can have guns on them. Those states have had lower crime rates as well.
Lastly, people think that their needs to be stricter laws on gun control. They believe that if there are more gun control laws mass killings and passion crimes will be reduced. however, there are already 20,000 gun control laws. Adding another law won't stop these crimes from happening. They have motivation and adding a law wont scare a criminal. Instead of adding gun control laws we need to add resources, and money to help enforce the laws already in place.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Swine Flu
This past week the World Health Organization raised the global alert because of Swine Flu. As most people know the Swine Flu has raised lots of concern. It was originally believed to come from pigs, thus the name Swine Flu, but now the name has been changed to the H1N1 flu because the connection with pigs is being questioned.
Is this flu really all it's cracked up to be? Schools have been closing. The vice-president told people not to travel on plains trains or subways. However, what is their reasoning behind all this concern? I think their reactions are overrated.
They have been very few deaths in the United States. Most of them have occurred in Mexico. This could be for a variety of reasons. The main reason could be because in the United States we have a much better health care system. It also could be people are genereally more healthy in the U.S.
Schools have been closed from this. However, people just have flu like systems. I understand it is better to be safe than sorry but have we become too paranoid? Most people can just wash their hands and if you think you might have it stay away from people. Using common sense would help to prevent most of these cases of Swine flu from turning into something serious and would allow for people to continue their life as normal.
Is this flu really all it's cracked up to be? Schools have been closing. The vice-president told people not to travel on plains trains or subways. However, what is their reasoning behind all this concern? I think their reactions are overrated.
They have been very few deaths in the United States. Most of them have occurred in Mexico. This could be for a variety of reasons. The main reason could be because in the United States we have a much better health care system. It also could be people are genereally more healthy in the U.S.
Schools have been closed from this. However, people just have flu like systems. I understand it is better to be safe than sorry but have we become too paranoid? Most people can just wash their hands and if you think you might have it stay away from people. Using common sense would help to prevent most of these cases of Swine flu from turning into something serious and would allow for people to continue their life as normal.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Year Round School
We recently had an article about having year round school. The article explained how year round school would work. It also covered some common misconceptions with having year round school. However I think there are some cons to it that should have been discussed in the article.
The article proposed going to school for nine weeks than taking three weeks off. Teachers have a hard enough time getting students to remember the information that they teach over just a spring break. Now if schools give students a three week break they will have an even harder time trying to recall the information when they have exams.
Also, most kids enjoy summer time because of the nice weather. Students already have a hard time focusing in school especially when it is nice outside.Kids will have a much harder time focusing because they can be thinking of all the things they could be doing in the nice weather rather than sitting in a classroom.
Lastly, most students, especially those in high school, use their summers as a means to make money. Employers like it because they know they will have workers who will be able to work for about three solid months. IF they are continually trying to higher students for the three weeks they are off schedules will get confusing. Employers wont want people that work three weeks than leave for another nine weeks. These are just a few of the flaws in the system with year round school. I think that people should look at both sides before suggestions something so drastic as changing the school systems schedule.
The article proposed going to school for nine weeks than taking three weeks off. Teachers have a hard enough time getting students to remember the information that they teach over just a spring break. Now if schools give students a three week break they will have an even harder time trying to recall the information when they have exams.
Also, most kids enjoy summer time because of the nice weather. Students already have a hard time focusing in school especially when it is nice outside.Kids will have a much harder time focusing because they can be thinking of all the things they could be doing in the nice weather rather than sitting in a classroom.
Lastly, most students, especially those in high school, use their summers as a means to make money. Employers like it because they know they will have workers who will be able to work for about three solid months. IF they are continually trying to higher students for the three weeks they are off schedules will get confusing. Employers wont want people that work three weeks than leave for another nine weeks. These are just a few of the flaws in the system with year round school. I think that people should look at both sides before suggestions something so drastic as changing the school systems schedule.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Death Penalty
This past week I had to give a debate in my political science class. I had to debate the reason the death penalty should not be used to as a way to prosecute criminals. We discussed the financial reasons, the moral reasons and the chance of wrongly killed people.
The death penalty is a very expensive to carry out. It is said that California pays 114 million dollars beyond what they would have to pay if they just keep the prisoners in jail for life. Also and in Texas it costs 2.3 million dollars a person to execute them. That is three times more than it costs to keep someone in jail at the highest security level.
Another reason we said the death penalty was wrong was because it is morally wrong. We kill people who kill people to prove that killing people is wrong. That makes no sense. We also have the mentality of an eye for an eye. That is a very bad philosophy to have. It also gives us a bad reputation along with other countries.
The last reason why we said the death penalty was wrong was because of the error rate it has. Since the death penalty was instituted in 1976 1156 people have been killed. However 130 other people were convicted but later found innocent. That means that approximately 10% of the people convicted are Innocent. Is that a price we should be willing to pay for justice? These were the few of the reasons we said that the death penalty is wrong. There are more reasons than just that. I would encourage individuals to look closely at their beliefs and weigh both sides before coming up with there opinion.
The death penalty is a very expensive to carry out. It is said that California pays 114 million dollars beyond what they would have to pay if they just keep the prisoners in jail for life. Also and in Texas it costs 2.3 million dollars a person to execute them. That is three times more than it costs to keep someone in jail at the highest security level.
Another reason we said the death penalty was wrong was because it is morally wrong. We kill people who kill people to prove that killing people is wrong. That makes no sense. We also have the mentality of an eye for an eye. That is a very bad philosophy to have. It also gives us a bad reputation along with other countries.
The last reason why we said the death penalty was wrong was because of the error rate it has. Since the death penalty was instituted in 1976 1156 people have been killed. However 130 other people were convicted but later found innocent. That means that approximately 10% of the people convicted are Innocent. Is that a price we should be willing to pay for justice? These were the few of the reasons we said that the death penalty is wrong. There are more reasons than just that. I would encourage individuals to look closely at their beliefs and weigh both sides before coming up with there opinion.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
White Sox
Being from Chicago I have been given a choice to choose between two different baseball teams to cheer for. I could cheer for the White Sox or the Cubs. I have chosen to be a White Sox fans and would encourage others to do so.
The White Sox are the better team. They Cubs seem to be slowly getting better year after year but they can not be consistently good. The White Sox on the other hand won the World Series in 2005 and also just came off a American League Central Division Champ. The last time the Cubs won was 1903. Their big accomplishment was winning back to back National League Central Division Champs in 2007 and 2008.
Another reason the White Sox are better than the Cubs is because of the fans they have. Cubs fans are plain annoying. This past weekend I drove through Wrigleyville on my way to U.S. Cellular Field. There was hardly any Cubs signs, flags, banners, ect. Cubs fans tend to feel like there to good to show their support. Most of them are also fair weather fans. They also feel like they need to drive up to Miller Park which makes it very annoying for Brewers fans. This is especially true this opening week.
I may be a biased as to which team people should pick when choosing which Chicago team to cheer for because I am a south sider. However when people take the time to look at what kind of a fan they would become and which team is statistically better they will realize it is much better to be a Sox fan. This will make there two favorite teams be the White Sox and whoever is playing the Cubs.
The White Sox are the better team. They Cubs seem to be slowly getting better year after year but they can not be consistently good. The White Sox on the other hand won the World Series in 2005 and also just came off a American League Central Division Champ. The last time the Cubs won was 1903. Their big accomplishment was winning back to back National League Central Division Champs in 2007 and 2008.
Another reason the White Sox are better than the Cubs is because of the fans they have. Cubs fans are plain annoying. This past weekend I drove through Wrigleyville on my way to U.S. Cellular Field. There was hardly any Cubs signs, flags, banners, ect. Cubs fans tend to feel like there to good to show their support. Most of them are also fair weather fans. They also feel like they need to drive up to Miller Park which makes it very annoying for Brewers fans. This is especially true this opening week.
I may be a biased as to which team people should pick when choosing which Chicago team to cheer for because I am a south sider. However when people take the time to look at what kind of a fan they would become and which team is statistically better they will realize it is much better to be a Sox fan. This will make there two favorite teams be the White Sox and whoever is playing the Cubs.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Go Green
Lately everywhere you look it seems people are going green. Grocery stories now sell reusable bags to avoid putting more plastic bags out. Recently, there was also a hour where everyone was asked to turn off their lights for an hour worldwide to save electricity. Is all this go green talk and action really going to make a difference?
Every minute Americans dump approximately sixteen tons of waste into our water. That makes it even harder for us to find healthy water to drink. It also endangers all of the animals that live in the waters we pollute.
Also if we continue to throw away our garbage like we do we will have no place to put it anymore. Almost 85 percent of what we throw away could be recycled. This would cut down on the amount of waste in our landfills drastically.
If every American would recycle just a portion of the garbage it would make a lasting impact on the restoring our environment. It has been said that if ever person in the world lived as an American we would need five planets to have enough resources. If everyone else in the world can get by not living like us there is no reason we cannot change the way we live to help go green and save the planet.
Every minute Americans dump approximately sixteen tons of waste into our water. That makes it even harder for us to find healthy water to drink. It also endangers all of the animals that live in the waters we pollute.
Also if we continue to throw away our garbage like we do we will have no place to put it anymore. Almost 85 percent of what we throw away could be recycled. This would cut down on the amount of waste in our landfills drastically.
If every American would recycle just a portion of the garbage it would make a lasting impact on the restoring our environment. It has been said that if ever person in the world lived as an American we would need five planets to have enough resources. If everyone else in the world can get by not living like us there is no reason we cannot change the way we live to help go green and save the planet.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Final Four
This past weekend the elite eight was narrowed down to the final four. In the Midwest region Michigan State beat Louisville. In the west region UConn beat Missouri. In the east region Pittsburgh lost to Villanova. In the south region UNC beat Oklahoma.
The number one seed UConn will take on the number two seed Michigan State. The game will take place on April 4th. Tip off time is set for 6:07 p.m. My prediction is UConn by eight.
In the South vs the East bracket it will be Villanova vs. North Carolina. This game will also take place on April 4th. However, tip off will be at 8:47 p.m. My predation in North Carolina by 5.
The National Championship will take place in Detroit on April 6. Tip off will be at 9:21 p.m. My prediction is it will be UConn vs. North Carolina. UNC should win by 4.
The number one seed UConn will take on the number two seed Michigan State. The game will take place on April 4th. Tip off time is set for 6:07 p.m. My prediction is UConn by eight.
In the South vs the East bracket it will be Villanova vs. North Carolina. This game will also take place on April 4th. However, tip off will be at 8:47 p.m. My predation in North Carolina by 5.
The National Championship will take place in Detroit on April 6. Tip off will be at 9:21 p.m. My prediction is it will be UConn vs. North Carolina. UNC should win by 4.
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