Coyotes

I thought the book Coyotes was a good book. It opened my eyes to things I’ve never really thought about or even cared about. I know there are illegal immigrants in this country, but I never cared about them being here, partly because I never thought about why they were here or how they got here. After reading the book, I have a better understanding of how people from other countries view the United States, and the things we have in this country. Some of the illegal immigrants in Coyotes snuck into America for better paying jobs, so that they could provide for their families back in Mexico. Even though they weren’t paid the amount of money an American worker would have been, it was still better than what they were getting in Mexico. They came here not worrying about having to sleep on a floor with 10 other people, or what job they would have. They just knew that they would take whatever they would get. Although I know that coming into a country illegally is against the law, I understand now why a person would feel that they had to do it, and why so many people have done it.

Corridors of Shame

In class this week we watched a documentary called Corridor of Shame. The documentary showed schools in different rural areas of South Carolina that were very poor and receiving little help with making them a better place to learn. In the winter time the schools were too cold, they had sewage problems, the paint was chipping, and one school even had a snake inside one day. Growing up I went to public school but I couldn’t image going to school in those kinds of conditions. I mean sure once or twice the AC or heat went out, but it wasn’t a constant thing. I think that the students that have to go to schools like that are being cheated out of their rightful education. No one should have to try to learn in conditions like that. What makes me mad is that it’s not even the schools fault. They don’t have the money to make things better and when they tried to sue for it they only got a half ruling in their favor which hasn’t seemed to help. When the case is retried I hope the ruling is in favor of the schools this time. Watching that documentary really made me think about how lucky I was to be able to go to a good school. It also made me realize that I’ve kind of taken getting a good education for granted. Had I gone to schools like the ones in the documentary I don’t know what I would have done. One of the schools in the documentary was J.V. Martin Junior High in Dillion County. I was able to find some statistics for it. Here’s the link http://south-carolina.schooltree.org/public/J-V-Martin-Junior-High-077059.html

LET'S DO DRUGS. AFTER ALL IT IS LEGAL!!

So you’re walking home after a long day at school and decide I need a hit! So you head down to the legal injection room where nurses watch as you inject heroin, cocaine, or other drugs and then have a nice relaxing cup of coffee or go down to the “chill out” room for some medical attention. Sound crazy? Well maybe, but Sixty-five similar facilities exist in 27 cities in eight countries, and now San Francisco, California is trying to build one too. By building a facility, San Francisco is hoping to reduce the high rate of fatal drug overdoses in the city. There are many challenges that would be faced in trying to open a place like this. First of all aren’t drugs illegal? Just because some nurse is watching, that doesn’t make them anymore legal does it? This is crazy to me. I understand that the city of San Francisco wants to reduce its overdose rates and prevent needle sharing, but I hardly think this is the right way. If it’s going to be legal for a place like this to be open, then why would there be a reason to bust a crack house. It’s the same thing just without the nurses and coffee. The only facility like this in North America is located in Vancouver and so far it’s had 800 overdoses. In 2004 the number of overdose cases in San Francisco was 40, which dropped from 160 in 1995. In my opinion I say don’t do it. We want a world without drugs and if anyone can just walk off the street and legally get what they would’ve gotten anyway, what motivation is that for them to stop doing the drugs?
I found this article on the New York Times website. Here’s the link http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Supervised-Injections.html

You Do The Crime You Do The Time... Or Will You??

Friday, an all white jury found seven drill instuctors and a nurse not guilty in the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, whose death at a boot camp for young offenders was captured on videotape. That’s right on videotape! The tape shows the boy who was black, being punched, kicked, kneed, and forced to inhale ammonia while his mouth is held shut. The first autopsy that was done showed that he died of natural causes, but a second one showed that he suffocated from breathing in the ammonia with his mouth held shut for several minutes. It was said that some of the jurors knew the family’s of some of the guards that were on trial. All the talk about crime and punishment in class really made me think about this article. In class we learned that it’s usually people who have a low socioeconomic status that get sentenced and not people of higher status. Add that to the fact that the jurors knew the people who were on trial and you can throw away any chance of them being convicted. The way the system works is completely not right. I didn’t even think you were allowed to be on a jury if you knew the people on trial but I guess I was wrong. I guess that old saying if you do the crime you do the time is exactly that OLD!
Just like my last blog I got this article from USA Today. Here's the link http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-12-bootcamp-death_N.htm

Moving to Mexico

It’s no secret that nursing homes are expensive and sometimes not even worth the cost, but who knew it was so bad that people decide to go to Mexico to find a good one. That’s exactly what Jean Douglas and many other aging Americans have decided to do. For $1,300 a month Douglas gets a studio apartment, three meals a day, laundry and cleaning service, and 24-hour care from an attentive staff, many of whom speak English. That’s a quarter of what an average nursing home costs in the state of Oregon where she is from. She wakes up every morning next to a glimmering mountain lake, and the average annual high temperature is 79 degrees. That doesn’t sound much like a nursing home to me. Many relatives of mine have been in nursing homes, so I know from having visited them that it’s nothing like that. In the nursing homes I’ve visited the people get a room similar to a hospital just as the food is, and for the most part the workers don’t seem all that attentive. But there are also similar problems with some of the nursing homes in Mexico. There is little government regulation, and some places have suddenly gone bankrupt, forcing American residents to move. There are also cases of Americans complaining about the food and the cleanliness of the facility. I guess it’s similar to America in that you just have to find the right home. Whatever the case maybe the fact still remains that many retirees have chosen to pack up and leave the expensive country of America for Mexico. A place with a cheaper cost of living and what sounds like a pretty good life to have.
This article is from USA today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-15-mexnursinghome_N.htm . It also discusses the health care that Americans get in the homes, the loneliness some of them feel, and the plan to build more “independent living” facilities in Mexico.

Poverty in America

Poverty is a problem that affects people greatly. In 2002 the number of people below the poverty level in the United States was 34.5 million. Poor people are often thought of as lazy people who don’t want to work, but that’s not always the case. Many people below the poverty level have jobs, and still are struggling to make ends meet. People have bills to pay, and most people have children as well. Children, who has well as themselves need clothes, food, and a place to live. All these things add up and the people below the poverty level don’t have the best paying jobs in the world. There are also some people below the poverty level who are living off of retirement, disability, social security, or some other form of government aid. Having lived with my grandmother for six years who receives a retirement check and social security I know what it’s like to live below the poverty line. Luckily we had family that helped us whenever we needed it, but there are some that don’t have that kind of help. As we discussed in class the government isn’t going to write policies that hurt their status, so what is being done about the issue of poverty? One thing is that minimum wage was increased from 5.15 to 5.85. While 70 cents may not seem like much according to an article I read the increase will lift as many as 1.7 million people above the poverty level. That doesn’t guarantee that they’ll be able to live comfortably, and be able to afford all the things they need, but I guess it’s a start. Here’s the website that I read the article from. It also has a lot of other information about poverty. http://www.povertyinamerica.psu.edu/

Same Sex Marriage

Same sex marriage has always been a problem in our country. Many people against same sex marriage say that equating it with opposite-sex marriage changes the meaning of marriage and its traditions, but exactly what does marriage mean today. With people choosing to just cohabitate rather than get married it’s really doesn’t seem like that much of a tradition anymore. Marriage was once thought of as a binding commitment to another person in sickness and in health, and until death do you part. Although those are still the vows taken when you are married it’s really not as big a deal as before. I mean people get divorces all the time, and divorcing someone isn’t until death does you part. But in today’s society not many people care about the meaning and traditions of marriage. So why is it such a problem for two people of the same sex who love each other and want to take those same vows of in sickness and in health, until death do them part, to get married? James Dobson, in Marriage Under Fire and elsewhere says that same-sex marriage would redefine the family, damage traditional family unions, and lead to an increase in the number of homosexual couples, but a study done by the American Anthropological Association supports the conclusion that a vast array of family types, including families built upon same-sex partnerships, can contribute to stable and humane societies. I know that what I think really doesn’t matter but the traditions of marriage have changed a lot over time from woman being ruled by their husbands to interracial marriages being accepted, and if people can accept those changes to the tradition of marriage then why can’t two people who love each other and want to be married get married no matter what gender they are?

Roger and Me

The documentary Roger and Me by Michael Moore is about the downfall of the city of Flint, Michigan after General Motors CEO Roger Smith closed down the plant, leaving many of Flint’s people jobless. The people and the city severely suffered due to the closing of the plant. Most people couldn’t find jobs and were left with little or no money to pay bills, causing many of them to be evicted or move away. The plant closing also caused many businesses in Flint to close down, which also decreased the number of jobs available. The documentary also shows the ignorance that the wealthy had towards what was really going on with the unemployed people in the city. Most of the wealthy people made comments about them just being lazy and said that if they wanted to find a job they could. They really had no knowledge about the real struggles that the people were facing. The unemployment also caused the crime rate to go up, and eventually the city was named one of the worst in the country. The city tried to make comeback, but sadly failed. The luxury hotel and added tourist attraction didn’t bring the crowd that the city had expected. After all who wants to spend time touring and visiting a city that’s was named as one of the worst in the country. The impact of closing down the GM plant was major. It not only caused problems for the people, but for the city of Flint as a whole. Maybe if Roger Smith had thought more about the effects of his decision he would have seen that closing down the plant wasn’t such a good idea, but then again when Michael Moore finally talked to him at the end of the film he didn’t really seem to care that much about what his decision had done to the people or the city of Flint at all.