Thursday, March 25, 2010
Events
For this blog I want you to discuss a current event. This can be anything you choose to talk about. What you need to do is read a few articles on the subject and report on it (quoting from the articles) and then form an opinion and develop that opinion. Can you think of why this would be relevant for you to do?
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I would like to discuss the new health care bill that is being passed. Obviously, our health care does have problems and need reformation; however, this new bill is not the correct way to go about it. I believe that most citizens of the United States are not in favor of this bill. But no public option has been given to the people in order to prove that. I think it is very likely that many of our representatives were bribed to vote for this bill. least thirteen of the states, including Texas, are pressing legal charges declaring the bill unconstitutional. " 'Republicans fought on behalf of the American people this week and will continue to fight until this bill is repealed and replaced with commonsense ideas that solve our problems without dismantling the health care system we have and without burying the American dream under a mountain of debt,' said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky" (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_overhaul).
ReplyDeleteReading up on current events helps people to better understand the world in which they live. Making themselves aware of their atmosphere and culture can help them to become more involved in society. Knowing our past will help us to improve our future.
The new health care bill is a hot topic in politics right now. President Obama has passed a bill in the House, which he claims will cover 32 million Americans with health insurance. When passed, no Republicans voted in favor of the bill. The Democrats needed the votes of several who had an issue with the bill regarding its impact on abortion. Robert Pear's article says, "They agreed to a deal with opponents of abortion rights within their party to reiterate in an executive order that federal money provided by the bill could not be used for abortions, securing for Democrats the final handful of votes they needed to assure passage."(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/health/policy/22health.html) Obama is quoted in Pear's article saying, "This isn’t radical reform, but it is major reform."
ReplyDeleteSeveral states have decided to sue and many are working to repeal or amend this new bill. Paul Schmelzer wrote an article discussing the efforts of some to stop the action of this legislation. The article says, "At today’s 'Kill the Bill' rally in Washington, Rep. Michele Bachmann again spoke out against the Democrats’ health care reform plans." (http://minnesotaindependent.com/56412/bachmann-at-kill-the-bill-rally-health-reforms-passage-a-flip-of-the-coin) Clearly, these two political parties are greatly divided in their opinions, as well as the American people. Drastic changes should not take effect until 2014.
I think that the health care industry does need some changes. However, I think it is mistake to reform it entirely. The United States of America has been able to provide health care better than most other countries in the world. The system we have been using is a good one but could be obviously be improved. I hope to see repeal of this new bill or at least amendments that will create less of a drastic change for Americans.
It's very relevant for people to understand what is going on in their societies. The government affects all of the nation's citizens. Each citizen has the ability to have a voice in our democracy once he or she turns eighteen. Being able to understand national events and to make a decision on them gives power to the people. Although each person's vote cannot make a huge impact in polls, it will make a small one. Every vote counts. Knowledge of the facts will allow people to make wise decisions in voting and to guide our political leaders.
Victoria Tindol
The current events most frequently talked about today, is the health care bill. It is a $1 trillion dollar bill, and 2,300 pages long. Bethany Burks of National News says, "Few have actually read the health care bill cover to cover, but one thing is still for certain-it's hard to understand." (http://cnmnewsnetwork.com/14513/obama-healthcare-plan-explained-and-health-care-reform-bill-constitutionality/) She goes on to say that the bill is forcing everyone to buy health insurance and if they don't, they will be fined. Also, several states have threatened to sue saying the bill is unconstitutional. She says the benefits however, are those people with pre-existing conditions finally having access to health care. Rachel Childs from "The Rocky Mountain Collegian" says this about the health care bill, "The purpose of the health care bill is to extend insurance to more than 30 million Americans who cannot afford or have neglected to acquire health care insurance by creating a national mandate." ( http://www.collegian.com/index.php/article/2010/03/032610_health_care_whats_your_diagnosis_a_simple_breakdown_of_the_bill) She goes on to say that by 2014 people will be required to buy health insurace or there will be a fine.
ReplyDeleteBarbara Ferguson from Arab News describes many different threats that have been made against those who voted for the health care bill. She says, "A coffin placed on a Missouri congressman's lawn. A gas line cut at the home of a lawmaker's brother. bricks thrown through the windows of numerous Democratic Party offices. Hundreds of death threats via phone, e-mails and faxes made to congressional offices." (http://arabnews.com/world/article35303.ece) She goes on to describe other forms of violence towards the democrates and some republicans. Also, she says the republicans do not approve of such violence. They believe if the people are upset they sould retaliate by getting people to vote instead of causing violence.
I do not agree with this bill. I do not think it is right for the government to force everyone to buy something that they may or may not want. The Declaration of Independence says, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...." I do not beleive that this bill has the consent of the governed. The United States is a democracy not a socialist government. We should have a say, and our leaders should listen to the voice of the people who are saying that they do not want this health care bill.
I beleive it is important for people to keep up with current events because they affect everyones lives. We have to learn and read for ourselves so that when elections come we can vote for those people who share the same ideas as we do. It is important to keep up with current events so that we can have an understanding of the world around us and we can make wise decisions based on them.
Leah Robbins
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe health reform is not talked about much in my household, but when it is, the ways it will affect small businesses is discussed the most. Being the daughter of a small business owner, this interests me because it is something that will directly affect me. The bill is supposedly able to help small businesses greatly by creating “pools” to help lower the cost of providing health care to their employees. In an article by Andrew Kirk of The Record staff, Kirk says about a small business owner, “Even if changes cost him only $20 more per employee per month, that would put him out of business.” After talking to my parents, they agree. Restaurants especially have a difficulty with finances because of food cost and turnover. Adding a law that makes providing health care for all employees mandatory does not help. Gary Hill, another interviewee of Kirk and a private house-building business owner, said, "In my private business if I acted that way what would happen? If I said, 'I know the house isn't going to be perfect, but let's get it built and then go back and make corrections.' I'd get laughed out of Park City.” Although nothing is supposed to go into full effect until 2014, I do not believe that even by that time every aspect of the bill will be understood. Changes are already being made which makes me wonder why they didn’t just make the changes BEFORE passing the bill.
ReplyDeleteBekah Tomlin
The healthcare reform bill is one of the major current events of this year and the topic of socialized medicine is considered a controversial idea among many Americans. The healthcare bill plans to revolutionize the American healthcare system. This bill will provide 95% of Americans with insurance (even if they don’t want it), allow children to stay on their parents plan till they are 26, adults and children will not be denied care because of a pre-existing condition, etc. This bill will seriously affect the healthcare industry as a whole, and though the bill seems great on paper I don’t believe it will work well.
ReplyDeleteAs a child with parents in the medical field, and someone who is considering joining this field, I’m not pleased about the healthcare bill. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and many other medical professions will be affected by this bill in a negative way. They will be paid less, and the bill professes a need for more nurses. The nursing industry already has a great demand, and with greater pay it is still hard for hospitals to find enough men and women to take care of the astronomical amount of patients. Also, doctors will be paid less. The debt that physicians accumulate during medical school is drastic, and many people will reconsider becoming a doctor if they are paid less. Seriously, who wants to go to college for four years, medical school for four years, and then be part of a two to five year residency to be paid less? I’m not saying that all doctors go into the medical field for selfish reason and don’t really care about their patients, but being paid more after all the effort they put in during the six plus years of school is a serious thing to consider if planning to be a doctor.
Another thing that I believe will happen is that hospitals in cities like Lamesa and small communities will go under because of rack audits. Rack audits are when the government can finds things that are not done in a timely manner or without exact documentation and they can deny payment for either a test or a procedures when the government is required to pay the hospital (medicad or medicare). The hospital will eat the expense of the test or procedure and will eventually run the hospital into the ground because small community hospitals are not high volume and they don’t have many admissions.
This bill also says that the federal government will pay for the bill to start, but over the years the state government will assume the responsibility. The people of Texas will end up having to pay a greater amount in taxes to pay for this stupid healthcare plan.
America’s original healthcare plan had serious flaws, I’m well aware that it was not perfect, but this, in my opinion, is going to make it worse. It is going to end up costing a lot of money for the general public, possibly run small community hospitals into the ground, and will make those in the healthcare profession suffer from a lesser pay when they have gone to school longer than most Americans. Again, this bill looks great on paper, but so did communism and everyone is pretty aware that that doesn’t work out either.
Blair Hand
I'm tired of hearing about the health care bill so I'm going with the China-Google controversy.
ReplyDeleteBasically this is the story:
China demands censorship from Google when someone searches for certain keywords or phrases in China. Google is no longer censoring what appears in search results. China get upset and is defending why it wants certain things censored.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9174241/Google_defies_China_hacker_heads_to_the_clink?taxonomyId=13
A Chinese spokesman stated that, “What is meant to be warded off is information that threatens national security and society’s public interest.” Google started redirecting its searches through the Hong Kong-based search engine as opposed to the Chinese search engine. "Google conformed with Chinese regulations for over four years by censoring certain politically sensitive and other results on the China-based site."
The part I can't understand is why China is even censoring this stuff. The article says that "China requires online search providers and other Internet companies to filter information relating to sensitive topics such as the Dalai Lama, who is the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, and the Tiananmen Square democracy protests of 1989 in Beijing. Such information is not censored in Hong Kong, which is part of China but governs itself." Maybe it's because I don't have any knowledge of the background, depth, or consequences of these situations but it's HISTORY! It already happened! I don't understand why the Chinese aren't banning pornography or "How to Make a Bomb" or something that is truly destructive. Their efforts are so misplaced in what they should be blocking.
I suppose this effects me because it makes me grateful for the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech that I can enjoy. It's so easy to lose sight of the privileges that I enjoy as they become so mundane and a daily thing that I don't even stop to consider it as a gift that I live in the USA and I have these privileges.
The health care refom is a huge topic right now and basically the only one people care about. Tuesday the 23rd President Obama signed the bill and on thursday the House of Representatives passed it. While President Obama only see's the good the bill will do, many American's only see the bad.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama see's his new health care bill as "an effort to provide health insurance reform that lowers costs, guarantees choices, and enhances quality health care for all Americans." (http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/proposal)
Obama has had the House and the Senate working on this bill for the past year and he guarantees that it will build our economy in the long run.
Many American's disagree witht the new health care bill, they believe that it will only futher our massive debt and cause us to lose one of the many thing's we Americans pride our self in, Freedom. Obama's health care bill give's familie's with a certain salary no choice to have heath care, either have health care of be fined. The health care bill will also raise people's taxes so the Government will have enough money to pay for the health care that some familes cannot afford.
In my opinion I do not agree with obama's concept, it is good in theory but not in reality. It would be wonderful for families that cannot afford health care for their family to be able to afford it, but not at the expense of other families that can afford it, it should not be their responsibility to pay for another families problem. America is supposed to be a free nation, but this new bill is completely contradicting that fact. If we do not have the right to pick and choose what we think is good enough for us, than what do we have?
Part of Obama's job as president is to listen to the people of America and he is doing quite an awful job of that. There are more people against this new health care bill than people that are for it. American's want to be heard and they want to feel as if their opinnion matters, but it seems as if Obama only cares about getting this bill passed, as if to show how much power he has and to make people think more of him. In reality Obama is turning more people against him than for him.
This is incredibly revelant to me and my generation because this bill will apply the most by the time we are out on our own. The bill will not completely take effect until 2014, by this time I will be on my own earning my own money and this health care bill will be another draining thing that I am forced to pay for. Seeing as how I will be an adult on my own at this time I would like to be able to make up my own mind about health care, not have it made for me like a child.
Taylor Landeros
P.S. Paragraphs 2-4 were from http://www.macworld.com/article/147283/2010/03/china.html
ReplyDeleteand this is Cheek.
The new healthcare bill that just passed if definatly the biggest and most important current event. It has caused an extreme amount of contraversy. Turning to socialist ways in any form is not going to help the subject at hand.
ReplyDeleteMike Adams described the bill as being written in an alien type of language. he was also suspicious of the length (over 1000 pages). Adams does have two valid points here. These two things do not allow the public a full, in depth understanding of what is going to be happening. i expect many people to be surprised in a very bad way.
The current event I want to talk about is health care. I really feel that the health care issue is a little out of control. I can see the good in some of this but in the long run I really feel ware digging ourselves into a deep hole. President Barack Obama said, “Whether or not you have health insurance right now, the reforms we seek will bring stability and security that you don't have today. This isn't about politics. This is about people's lives. This is about people's businesses. This is about our future. ” I can understand Obama’s Feelings on the Health Care but I really just don’t understand why he is pushing it so far.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a choice between this health care reform or regular care I would stick with the regular Health care. I believe that for the people who are too lazy or poor to get health Care should go and get a job and gain money. Now there will be many bums in the US that won’t work because they will get free Health Care. I also feel bad for the doctors and nurses because their hard work will be given little pay. I really hope something happens with in the next four years that changes this law.
-Bryan
I'm tired of talking about the health care bill so I decided to find something more interesting to talk about.
ReplyDeleteThere have been recent stories about American citizens who are allegedly aiding the al-Qaida in their terrorist efforts. Two such cases have appeared in the new recently.
The first story is of a woman they call “Jihad Jane.” Colleen R. LaRose, age 46, has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for helping terrorist’s attempts to attack Europe and Asia. LaRose wrote several emails to recruit people for the Islamic purpose and even wrote an email claiming it would be “an honor and great pleasure to die or kill for” the Jihad purposes. Investigations also show that LaRose may be connected with a series of arrests in Ireland. Seven people were held in custody after a plot was uncovered to kill the Swedish cartoonist who drew a degrading picture of Muhammad.
Another such incident has occurred with a Chicago taxi driver who was accused of supporting the al-Qaida. “Raja Lahrasib Khan, age 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin, was charged Friday with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. According to the criminal complaint, Khan also discussed a possible bomb attack on an unspecified U.S. stadium this summer.” An unidentified source claims that “Khan allegedly said bags containing remote-controlled bombs could be placed in the stadium and then, ‘boom, boom, boom, boom’.” Khan’s hearing is set for Tuesday where a jury will hear his case and determine his sentence.
These reports of terrorist in America are quite frightening. Most of the focus of terrorism seems to be in the Middle East, however, terrorist are all over the world. It is a scary thought that the people who tried to destroy our country and killed so many people may only live a few blocks away.
Sources:
Jihad Jane: http://www.upi.com/Daily-Briefing/2010/03/10/Jihad-Jane/UPI-41871268228371/
Chicago taxi driver: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100327/ap_on_re_us/us_chicago_terrorism_charges
Halli Spraggins
I would like to talk about Tiger Woods coming back and playing in the masters. I think this is a good thing for him because he has takin some time off from the game and now he is going to come back and completely dominate. Since all this happen with the girls and stuff, I think Tiger is compeletly focus.
ReplyDeleteThe people hosting the masters say this masters tournament will be the biggest one of they all because of what happen with Tiger. People will just want to come and see him and how this stuff will effect is game. I would want to go just to see Tiger Woods. The people also said that there will be no cell phones or cameras allowed in the golf course.
The gang violence in Mexico has increased within the last four years. Not only are they killing their victims but they are beheading them. “Thirteen people were killed in and around the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco, with four victims found beheaded, security officials said.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35855758/) They are saying that the all of the ruckus is drug related. There have been more than 17,000 lives lost due to drug trafficking. They bring these drugs over the US border to be distributed to the US citizens. This is how these people make there living, but they live in a cheep country. All this is to them is cheap pocket money. They will kill you if they find you a threat or if they think that you are a possible informant to the police or other drug cartels. It is said that they become friends with the police and government officials in order to be protected. “A powerful coalition of drug gangs led by Mexico's most-wanted man is collapsing, meaning the surge in bloodshed and police killings will get worse, a senior U.S. counternarcotics official said.” (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN06307893)
ReplyDeleteThe gangs are trying to get across the US border to El Paso, Texas. One can transport drugs through car, 18-wheeler, or on you in your own vehicles in hopes to not get caught. I am sure there is other ways to get the drugs across. I have heard that they have dug a tunnel from Mexico to California. “Mexican authorities discovered a large cross-border tunnel today and arrested more than a dozen men inside the passageway that extended about 860 feet into San Diego, U.S. authorities said.” (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/12-arrested-after-authorities-discover-tunnel-from-mexico-into-san-diego.html)
Tabitha Howell