Divided Country

   In response to Kisha's post concerning legalizing same sex marriage in all states, I am completely in favor of it. How is it possible we can legalize gay marriage in only 35 states, but restricting it in the remaining 15 states that our apart of our country? Granting 70% of America with 'more' liberty, not only divides our country of certain rights but also contradicts everything we stand for. Were ONE nation, not two, or three.

  Growing up in the land of the 'American Dream' I was constantly made aware of how fortunate I was to have the freedom and opportunities that I do. The greatest part of it all, every single American was privileged to the same rights as I. That was the American Dream, a country filled equal opportunity, liberty, and freedom for every citizen. Not just the majority. Every American should be entitled to equal rights, there for same sex marriage should be treated the same. In order to be fair same sex marriage needs to be legal in every state, or illegal in every state; not 70/30. In my opinion I'd go with what the majority of the country is already in favor off, equal marriage rights.

Technology moving forward

  On average over 289 Americans fall victim of gun related violence a day. That is a substantial amount of lives effected that could be prevented if the right actions were in place. One of our biggest issues we have today is the inability to find a resolution over gun control. Unfortunately, our power of government is limited in the regulation of arms gun control, due to the fact of our Constitution grants every American citizen the right to bare arms. With technology continuously improving, we've discovered new ways to take safety measures to prevent gun violence.

   A new system developed by a California company, SST, inc. uses sound to detection gunfire to better help protect citizens in the event of a shooting. With this new gunshot recognition technology it allows police officers to be notified within 30 seconds of a gun fire. This detection can even recognize exactly where it was fired (even what room number, and floor) how many shots, and what type of weapon was used. Savannah College of Art and Design is the first higher education campus to adopt this gun fire technology security. In the event of a shooting (for example Columbine) Officers can prevent multiple lives from being taken by easily detecting where it initiated from. I believe this is remarkable security system that could be used not only in schools but as well as everywhere else necessary. This won't end gun violence, but it WILL help reduce it.

Does your vote make a difference?

   In a recent article written by one of my fellow classmates Bailey Garrett, she explains how our voting system has an enormous effect on the way Americans cast their vote for Presidency. She initially grabs the readers attention by raising doubt if our votes even matter in elections. In great detail she expresses, why Americans feel as if their vote won't make a difference in fault to an amendment that was written in 1803. Since then our Society has changed drastically, and stresses the need for our voting system to accommodate based on the president situation and not our past.

   For a reader who is uninformed on the Electoral College system and the way they choose to vote the author makes it simple but clear for them to understand. She as well does a great job of as explaining the role of our House of Representatives and when they would potentially step in. I think it's important to emphasize the amount of impact local elections have on our national elections because of our voting system and the author manages to do so. The only thing I would like her to elaborate on would be her idea on ways we should change our voting system to fit our nations present day needs.

Higher Education

    One of our biggest burdens as U.S tax paying citizens, is the inability to afford higher education. There is much frustration behind this issue, seeing as tax payers have the capability to provide education for prison inmates but not for themselves. Housing inmates can cost anywhere from $15,000 to almost $100,000 a year depending on what state is being occupied. On average costing around $30,000 per year for a single inmates education. Compare that to an annual college tuition, which cost less then $9,000.
   
    Which raises my first concern, why do we allow inmates to retrieve benefits from our hard earned money, but we can't expect the same? It's crazy to think you have to commit a crime to receive almost free education in America, but applying yourself, and digging yourself into debt will barley get you a college credited course. The worst part is the recidivism rate, or in other words the likely hood for inmates to return to prision after release is almost 67% and that's in just 3 years. With more time then a few years the rate only grows. Meaning all the money spent on education for them to further themselves in the future is basically wasted.

   With America being in a tremendous amount of debt, budget cuts need to be made somewhere. Dropping all inmate annual education cost to the same rate as every other americans annual cost could not only save us billions of dollars, but also open the door to a wider spread of the population eligible for college, who simply can't afford it. Everything has a trickle effect, with more young well-educated people in our society there can only be a positive outcome, opposed to those inmates who will most likely never put it to use besides in their prison cell.
 

Marijuana Misconception?

     It seems the legalization of Marijuana for recreational use has left many American citizens displeased by the outcome. An editorial on Crooks and Liars informs us of one citizen in particular who is willing to go to the extreme lengths of putting a stop to it if voted into office. The author enlightens us, that 'Tea Party darling' Bob Beauprez has many reasons behind his argument, and to help us better understand, the author provided us with a some direct quotes. 

 

    "Well, I think anybody who's just a little bit objective about this understands that it's being abused right now. It's being abused intentionally, and it's being abused at the risk of a whole lot of people in our society. That's the challenge in front of us. And we've now got it in our law, whether we like it or not - and I didn't like it, for the record." The author did a great job of giving us with a follow up quote from Beauprez for better reference. He states "Amendment 64 says it's supposed to be recreational, not to be used in public, but yet we see it all around town." Making it more visible Beauprez frustration behind this situation.

      The dynamic of this editorial was very well put together, the author was completely forward about Beauprez intensions and the reasoning behind it. The author also allowed the audience to form a fair opinion by holding off on sharing his/hers personal view point until the end of the article. Once then he compliments Beauprez argument with factual knowledge which Beauprez failed to do. The author brings to our attention thats not the only thing he forgot to mention, like great benefits legalization has established. Such as the multi-million dollar marijuana industry in his state and the millions of dollars that legalization has produced to the state coffers via taxation.

 

     Since Jan. 1, Colorado has brought in more than $37.5 million in taxes, licenses and fees for recreational and medical marijuana, and in July 2014, customers purchased more than $29.7 million in recreational marijuana - up from $24.7 million in June. Stating statistics backing up the argument, that there is positive outcome from Legalization of Marijuana. Making a much more creditable argument, then the only assumption Beauprez had to go off of; Legalization is being abused because it is seen in public. Them dang conservatives.

   

Ebola Epidemic?

In the Article 'Much more Vigorous Government response to Ebola is needed' by The Editorial Section,  Room to Debate of the New York Times, the title is very straight forward in what the topic of debate consists of. Actions are being taken to reduce the risk of the infectious disease being imported into the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has trained workers in the countries where ebola is endemic to screen for the virus and take temperatures of passengers before they can get on an airplane. Customs and Border Patrol agents have been instructed on the signs and symptoms so they can report any arriving passengers who maybe infected to the C.D.C quarantine officer.

As Author Alexander Garza previous stated, the response to Ebola needs to be more intensive. Garza informs us the because of the diseases' incubation period, person may not by symptomatic until they get on a plane or even after they get off, needing more diligence. Since it is also not an ordinary disease but the ISIS of biological agents. The response should mirror antiterrorism efforts. Suggestions like, more screening workers need to be put in the airports outside of West Africa, also people that come from West Africa should be more actively screened for symptoms and questioned about contact with ebola since they are at such high risk.

Garza also made the assumption that the patient in Dallas erected by Ebola would have been quarantined immediately, if he would have answer the same question truthfully. Those such as himself denying any contact would be re-evaluated for any signs of infection such as fever and finally customs and border officers would collect contact information where they would be staying. With this method it gives health officials knowledge where the travelers are in the community and give a heightened sense of awareness.

With the actions being set in place it could potentially double The Globe Migration and Quarantine offices budget until the disease is under control. Other suggestions as having the Military easily convert artillerymen into infantry if need to fit the fight. Staff from all agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services can be retooled. There are health agencies within all departments that could contribute people to work at screening individuals. Garza cries out one last time, we need to face this disease threat as we have done with other dangerous threats, and on that note I completely agree. The author does a great job of stressing the severity of this fatal disease and compliments the argument with great effective solutions that we should explore. Ebola is only going to snowball into a bigger issue if the right actions are not in place, and that's something that should not be taken lightly.

Closer look at gun control

     Gun control has become a reoccurring issue over years past. The great debate of the right actions to take to decrease the rate of gun related violence's, including murders, suicides and unintentional shootings are still on going. A recent article from CBS News stated while some states gun deaths are decreasing like, Arizona, Illinois, California, Maryland, Nevada, New York and North Carolina; other states are seeing an increase. States who's gun related deaths did increase, like Florida and Massachusetts studies found the deaths targeted more whites, and non Hispanics then any other race.

    Race and ethnicity play a major role in gun related deaths, seeings at the national rate of deaths from guns was twice as high among black people then white. The District of Columbia had the highest rate of gun deaths with averaging about 22 per 100,000 citizens. That is almost 7 times as much as Hawaii which holds place for the least amount of gun deaths in the nation. Roughly 3 per 100,000 citizens.

   Would more strict laws against gun restrictions prevent this? In 1998 Massachusetts took that approach, gun ownership rates dropped significantly, but violent crimes and murders only increased. The states surrounding weak fire alarm laws maybe partly to blame. There has been suggestions made to strengthen interstate boarder controls to prevent the transport of guns, and possibly curb the violence of guns. We can come up with a solution over night, but the first step to solving a problem is recognizing one and gun control is a major one.