Harvard for the Middle Class

Harvard has announced that for the next year a financial aid program will be installed, cutting tuition from 1/3 to 1/2 of the usual cost. They are looking to help the middle class and even the upper middle class families send their children to ivy league schools without going bankrupt. The program will make families only have to pay 10% of their annual income for tuition each year. The drop will be as much as 50,000 dollars for some families. Harvard has witnessed the dramatic increase within the last few years in university's tuition and have decided they are going to take the initiative to fix the problem. Their financial aid program offers more help than any other private university in the country. Attending Harvard is now comparable to the price, but certainly not the status, as attending a state university. They now will be giving out over $120 million dollars a year just in financial aid. Other schools are following Harvard's lead, mainly on the East Coast, to increase financial aid and therefore making attending college ultimately easier. Over the years they have been debating whether or not a drastic change in tuition was needed, but up until now they had been creating only differences for very poor families. But now everyone is included and Harvard is excited, as well as everyone else, to satisfy the nation by providing more financial aid and proving they really do care about education even if our current government does not.

The Internet's a Scary Place...

Myspace, facebook, livejournal. For the most part we all have/had one. However, the dangers which come from these sites is more than just someone being able to look at your pictures. For the most part, it is young girls who are the victims of these sexual predators. Girls like to look "sexy" in order to seem older, but what about that 30 year old man who is able to sit at his computer and interrogate...As a teenage girl with one of these sites I have found that it is certainly not uncommon for someone you have never seen before to try and strike up a conversation. Girls must be aware of the dangers and communicate with their parents or friends if they are receiving creepy comments from a person they have never met before. In Kansas City, a 13 year old girl, Megan Meier, was found hanging in her closet after receiving hateful comments from a made up person over myspace. Her mother told a source that she went into her room crying and within 20 minutes was found hung in her closet. She had felt like an outcast and thought the easiest way out was by committing suicide. What she didn't know was the person on the other end was a fictional character, Josh Evans, played by another girl named Ashley. The neighbors have now shunned her family and constantly berate them by performing acts on their house or making crude comments about their daughter. It is horrible to think a girl would go through with something like this after a conversation over the Internet. It is one thing to be the outcast at school, but this could have been easily solved by telling her mother and not communicating with "him" anymore. The Internet is a dangerous place because you can't see who the person is on the other end and a lot of times they are someone you would never expect.

Lives Cost

Who would have ever thought people living longer could be something bad? Well Medicare is losing more and more money for every person who lives longer than expected. Hospitals and science itself have improved facilities and medical practices Now,patients with cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's are passing their life expectancy. The federal government is requiring hospices to repay all their debt to Medicare, adding up millions of dollars. The big issue here is soon Medicare and other health care services will go bankrupt and people will no longer have any type of insurance. This affects us greatly because when the boomers start to get older and need more medical services the well will completely dry up. We need to find an alternative so this doesn't need to happen and when we get older there will be some type of medical services available for us. As of now, as long as people continue living passed their expected longevity, hospices and Medicare will continue losing millions of dollars and the government will eventually shut these programs down.

Democratic Debate

On November 15th The Democratic candidates met in Nevada to persuade the public about their policies and ideals they have for presidency. Hillary Clinton is leading the election with 46% and Obama falls to second with 17%. The candidates felt the need to form an alliance against Hillary instead of the Republican party. They tried to make her look like the fool and fall behind in the polls. Obama and Clinton had a heated argument about universal health care. All the candidates support leaving Iraq, but their policies for doing so are different. Education is a major concern for all the candidates, especially Bill Richardson the Hispanic candidate. They believe in setting a minimum wage for teachers at 40,000 a year. Clinton felt the need to justify and fight back creating an intense argument among all the candidates. Clinton, Obama, and Edwards remained the key players in this debate whereas Kucinich, Biden, Dodd, and Richardson were called on much less. All in all it seems the candidates are more about fighting with each other than grouping up against the Republicans and unifying on certain issues.

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani

The Evangelical Christian television broadcaster, Pat Robertson, announced that he would endorse Rudy Giuliani for President in the 2008 election. Everyone is very surprised by this odd pair and is wondering what formed this unlikely alliance. The friendship began when Robertson and Giuliani were on a flight back from Israel in 2003. Many people see this as a stunt that Robertson is trying to pull in order to get more public support for his Christian movement. Robertson wants a Republican in office and one that will bring along his own beliefs. However, what I don't understand is how a anti-gay anti-abortion religious man could coincide with Giuliani who supports gay rights and abortion. Also given Giuliani's history he's definitely not the most religious candidate out there. Both Robertson and Giuliani are relying heavily on September 11th and Giuliani's response as mayor of New York City. Who knows how much support may come with Robertson's endorsement, the truth is many people do follow and listen to his broadcast "religiously". The two of them are good friends, but what is striking is that previously Robertson sued Giuliani for New York’s recognition of same-sex domestic partnerships. However, after their heart to heart on a long plane ride they realized they agree more on political issues than they disagree on. Robertson feels Giuliani will rescue America from “the blood lust of Islamic terrorists.” Robertson feels that he had to choose one candidate and Giuliani would represent his beliefs while making a great president. In all honesty, I think both Rudy and Pat are looking for support from other groups to up their ratings...whether it be for President or the Christian movement.

Stress Free is the Way to Be

Being a senior in high school, I think I can vouch for all of us when saying we definitely all are stressed out or have multiple things going on in our lives. Some schools in Massachusetts have decided to take it upon themselves to fix this problem. They have initiated a de-stress program and have began requiring seniors to take yoga in school. The problem is teens feel they do not have the time to take out of their busy schedules to eliminate stress. They want to replace study hall with yoga, but students use this time to do a lot of their homework and feel this would just add something else to their to-do list. However, the other side is that it is not healthy for a 17 year old to constantly be overwhelmed and methods must be taken to help students overcome their stress levels. The program director of this initiative decided not to publish the honor students names in their local newspaper. Parents and students were outraged and he began receiving hate mail including a comment from Jay Leno on his late night television show. There is a constant competition among students especially when senior year roles around and college applications are due. It is not healthy for a student to stay up all night to get their project done or study for a test, so how can we help find a solution? I think this might be a good option to help students feel less stressed out and teach teenagers how to cope with their stress levels.

What's thr right age for a child to be put on birth control?

As most people know, the school board in Portland Maine has decided to provide birth control to middle school students. The school itself will have an on campus clinic, where teens and preteens can go and pick up birth control pills without parental consent. This is a huge ordeal across the nation as people argue about what is the right decision. The truth is 17 middle schooler's did get pregnant in only a 64,000 person city. So is it right to allow all the teens access to receiving birth control?... In all honesty, I do not know where I stand on this issue, however, I do know the way most teens operate. If there is unlimited access to birth control students will find it easier to be sexually active without the risk of pregnancy. Kid's fall into a trap of being "trendy" and although they may not be physically or emotionally ready they too might engage in sex. Also, birth control does not protect against STD's, another major factor which MUST be considered if engaging in sexual activities. It is one thing to provide adequate education at a young age and even condoms, but birth control stands on a whole new level. The other factor which must be considered is that a lot of these teens are not physically ready to handle the chemicals which come in birth control. There are many risk factors which comes with being on the pill and I think this is a reason why the parents must make the decision to put their child on such a "drug" and not the school board. A lot of these girls have not even entered puberty or have just began menstruation, and with the pill also comes an upset in the natural cycle and process to aging. However, even though it should be up to the parent most teens do not notify their parents of their sexual history or what they plan on engaging in. Parents must take the step in being open with their children and allowing them to feel comfortable coming to them if it really is necessary. Truthfully, I do not 11-13 girls or boys for that matter should engage in sexual activities. They are too young and cannot handle the mental or emotional pains which comes from having sex at such a young age.

Immigration Nation

This week I have decided to bring up the much debated issue on immigration. The United States was formed on a nation of immigrants and now all we can do is pass judgment and offend new immigrants coming in. I understand the two stand points and see where both sides are coming from. However, I think immigration is a necessary implement to our society. Without immigrants, low skill jobs would go to American citizens and inflation would occur nearly everywhere. Although it is unfair to the immigrants to receive much lower wages than citizens it is what must be done, unless taxes are raised substantially, an option Americans so not even consider. The problem with illegal immigration, mostly stemming from Mexico, is what a lot of Americans are at odds with. We must put aside our own selfish concerns and look at the reasons unto why they feel the need to escape their own country and come to ours. They are usually not gang bangers or bad drivers who refuse to learn our language, but they are people with humanity, like us, looking to improve their own and a lot of times their families lives. Over the summer I went on the Mexico House Build and got a chance to visit with and learn more about the Mexican culture. Driving through Mexico you notice the poverty and the soldiers situated all along the country with weapons. I don't know about you, but I would want to escape from this too. On an experience like this, you get to know the people and see how they look up and long to be Americans like us, a commodity we often take for granted. Now hear me out I am not saying there should be open borders and America should be a free for all nation. However, the immigrants in America who have abandoned their lives and risked everything to come here should not have to be deported back to their country. We must come up with a better plan and system for immigration which can look out for both the American citizens and the immigrants. Americans claim illegal immigrants are taking "their" jobs and raising their taxes, but a large majority of illegal immigrants find ways to pay taxes and contribute to society. I also believe we almost make people have to be illegal immigrants since legal immigration is so difficult. Instead we should just come up with a better process for people to become legal immigrants. We also have a problem with illegal immigrants having children who are American citizens. We cannot argue with the fact that they were born in the United States, however we do argue about the resources they can use. Children of immigrants need education, need basic health care, and need basic resources. If we do not let these children take advantage of these public organizations we are just hurting our own country more. These children will grow up to be American adults and will have the opportunity to vote and make a difference. If we do not allow them to use public education we are assisting to a less educated society. As much as people do not like paying taxes to benefit children of illegal immigrants, we must realize if we take away these rights we are only hurting our own nation. Now, I am going to give you my own personal experience with immigration. Since I was born I had a babysitter/house cleaner who is an illegal immigrant from Honduras, her name is Maria. Maria refers to me as her "1st daughter" and was around just as much as or maybe more than my working parents when I was young. She is married to an illegal immigrant and has two children. When she first started watching me I helped diffuse her into the American culture by teaching her English. She has an employment card and her husband and her have been here for 20 years. Her children are bright "American" children who some day will be American citizens. A few months ago, her husband was taken from hislow class apartment at 6 am and put into jail. They kept him in harsh conditions for a few days until finally they returned him to Mexico. Maria still came to work that day to clean my house! Does this display laziness as Mexicans are seen to be? I thought about how her children, who also went to school that day after seeing their father be taken away. Villy, her husband, was back within a week due to a "coyote" taking him across the border. I know a lot of people would hear this and become angry with the fact that he could just as easily get back across as the police brought him back home. However, look into the humanity they have worked in America for 20 years. Also, I know for a fact that they find their own way to pay taxes. All they want is to be an American citizen and are willing to fight to remain here. How many of us take this for granted? How often do we go to the negative rather than be positive that our situation could be much worse? Maria, Villy, and her children are the happiest most positive people I know and that is because they never take for granted being here in America. The truth is honestly how many of us want to be house cleaners, Villy's job as well, when we grow up? I am pretty sure none of us at least at Chaminade... and if by some chance we don't make it and are stuck with a low class job how many of us would be positive and look to the light in this situation? I believe immigrants are a natural aspect to our society and without them our lives would be much more difficult and expensive.

Should a Politician Have the Right to Lie?

The Supreme Court made it unconstitutional to pass a law saying that politicians cannot lie about their opponents. In Adam Luptik’s article, “Law on Lies by Politicians Found Unconstitutional”, he emphasizes how politicians now have the authority to use lying in their benefit. Many states have laws which make it unlawful to say false things about their opponents. However, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that this law is unconstitutional. The justices in favor of the new law stated that it should not be up to the government, but instead the people should have a right to exercise their freedom of speech. However, the justices against the argument felt as though “the majority’s decision is an invitation to lie with impunity.” The case aroused in 2002 when Marilou Rickert lied about her opponent Tim Sheldon. Mr. Sheldon was still re-elected and decided to sue Rickert for violating a state law that made it unlawful to publish a false statement about your opponent with reckless disregard to its truth or falsity. The commission ruled against Ms. Rickert and fined her $1,000. Now the Supreme Court is saying this is “a censorship scheme” and that the government should not be able to assume fact and opinion in political speech. They believe he could have responded in better ways and turned the tables around to make it in his favor. The other justices felt that that the First Amendment said nothing about false campaign statements and the malice standard is necessary to regulate false campaign speech. I believe if we allow our political candidates to lie to the American public in order to get ahead we then do not really know the type of people we were electing. The honest and right candidate may not be able to win whereas the ones which can come up with the most deceitful lie will take the lead. It should not be legal for the people leading our government to be able to lie and cheat to get ahead.

Senator Craig Reverses His Decision

Originally, Senator Craig had decided to resign from office after pleading guilty for a sexual offense. However, although his plea still remains guilty he has decided to reverse his original decision and states he will remain Senator until the end of his term. Republicans and other officials have criticized his decision and made it clear that they want nothing more than him to be out of his position. Although it should not matter what his sexual orientation is, it does now since the whole nation knows and views his as a sex offender. Senator Craig is now looked down upon and people will find it very hard to take him seriously in his profession. The Republicans are afraid he will embarrass their party and extend the ridicule of Senator Craig to all of them. Honestly, I feel bad for the guy, but do not think he can remain Senator without being seen as the laughing stock of Republicans. People do not want to follow someone who they themselves do not respect...

On September 1st Senator Craig had announced his resignation for the end of the month, but now he has made it apparent that he intends to stay in his position as Senator. Craig confesses that he answered too rashly to try and keep the titles of homosexual sex offender out of the news. There still are some people who sympathize with Senator Craig and continue to stand behind him as Senator. We will continue to see how things play out and if after all the statements and criticism Senator Craig receives if he then will truly remain in office.

Bush denies Children Health Care Plan

President George Bush continues to say he will veto the Children's Health Bill which could save 10 million children's lives. Democrats and even Republicans are bargaining and trying to get him to agree to sign the bill, but he will not change his mind. He claims it will increase our national debt, which it obviously will, but what he does not realize is the national debt continues to grow more and more each day from the war. In addition, he just signed a bill which adds 50 billion to the budget for the war next year making it 200 billion dollar budget. If he is so concerned with the debt and taxes of the American people maybe he should be taking the money out of places like the war rather than a beneficial Children's Health. Even some of his aids and close friends disagree with his position, but they state that they do not see him changing his mind at anytime. People are continuing to fight for this social cause and have proclaimed that they will not give up, even if it means getting 2/3's of Congress to go against Bush's veto. However, that requires a lot more votes and work to get the law passed. People claim he cares about children and there well being, but this shows no sign of that. We can clearly see where Bush's priorities lie within the American public. Supporters of Bush feel as though this bill gives illegal immigrants the chance to get medical aid, but there are so many other children out there that we must be considering as well. Plus, in society there are many children who were born here, but their parents are illegal. However, they are technically considered American citizens. We claim we want to educate them so these American citizens can grow up and positively effect our economy, but shouldn't their health also be taken into consideration. The bill would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover nearly four million uninsured children, in addition to the 6.6 million already enrolled. It would provide $60 billion over the next five years, $35 billion more than the current spending and $30 billion more than the president proposed. Democrats are now looking to the children for support to try and get Bush to compromise. They are hosting radio shows and public speakings where children speak out about the importance of this Health Care Bill. As of now, Bush looks unwilling to come to a compromise and it seems as though a battle will be endured by the supporters of the bill against Bush in order to pass what will help our children. Bush must come to terms and put aside his selfishness and lack of integrity to ensure the children of American society basic needs which we all deserve.

Are We Back in the 60's?

Living in a democratic country which emphasizes the quote "of, for, and by the people" it is hard to believe racism is still apart of society. In Jena Louisiana preference by race still continues on strongly. If you do not know about the case Jena 6 I will give you some background information. Last fall a new black student to Jena High School sat under a tree seen to be for white students only. The next day three white students hung nooses on a tree to emphasize their superiority and their strength over this black student. This act was obviously more than a joke but the school viewed it as a minor prank and they were only suspended for three days...Black students got together and formed a silent protest where the local D.A. came out and waved his pen in the air while saying, "With a stroke of this pen, I can make your life disappear." Is this not a threat? On November 30Th Jena High School was burnt down and the opposite race both assumed it was their counterparts. At a party the next night black teenagers tried to enter and were brutally beat up. A day later one white boy and one black boy, Robert Bailey, began to verbally fight and the white teen ran to his car and pulled out a pistol. Bailey fought the white student for the gun and was charged for theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace. However, the white student who pulled the weapon was not charged at all. The following Monday Justin Barker was loudly bragging about Baileys charge and injuries. Then, he went outside and was beat up by six black students, but suffered only superficial wounds. Later that night he went to a party! The six black students were arrested and eventually charged for attempted second-degree murder. The white students were not charged for anything. Micheal Bell, then 16, was tried as an adult and received 22 years in prison. However, after protesting he is now being tried for a minor. Why should these young men suffer for the rest of their lives while the white students can stay out and continue to support their racism? The protests going on right now for Micheal Bell must continue because these kind of acts go back to before the Civil Rights Movement. Everyone should be given the same amount of opportunities and not have to suffer due to the color of their skin. Jena Louisiana is a place where some major changes need to occur. If this case remains in favor of the white supremacists, yes these teenagers are committing hate crimes and should be called by the proper label, whites almost have permission to demonstrate their hatred. Living in California where there is a wide diversity of people we tend to forget how wrong and unjust many people still out there are. We feel the Civil Rights Movement ended segregation and began equality for all races, but that was just the beginning. These people have been trained to feel superior to African Americans and so many others out there also continue to have the same views. As a person who feels we should all be given equal rights and the color of your skin is just a color I find it hard to imagine such events still take place. We feel this is of our past, but in reality it's our present and will be in our future unless we start to express our feelings on such issues. Who are we to judge people by what they look like? We all can work together and help each other if we recognize our differences as qualities which make us unique and find the similarities which can tie us together. The Jena 6 case is a prominent example of racism and hatred in the United States today and we must continue to voice our opinions and help the African American students be liberated for crimes they did not even commit.

Out of Iraq Now

On 9/11, after the World Trade Center was attacked, the "unseen enemy" now had a face and a name. Soon after the shock passed and the grief subsided, the White House sold the fragile American public a bogus war based on misconceptions. Using unsubstantiated charges of weapons of mass destruction, George W. Bush led the United States into Iraq. The real agenda of the Bush administration was to stabilize an unstable government rich in oil. With Sadaam Hussein removed from power, the giant corporations which controlled the oil business had its interests protected. To date, close to 4,000 American soldiers have been killed and the infamous Osama Bin Laden is still at large. After being in this war for four years, the American people are now starting to question whether America has been involved in this war under false premises.
A great deal of our money is going to the cost of this war while social programs, disaster relief, and domestic programs are by and large ignored. As of this writing, the US government has spent $451,288,000,000, that's billion, to remain in Iraq and we will continue to spend more and more each day.
General Petraeus has said that since the "surge" had begun overall violence in Iraq has lowered. In a half hearted attempt to please an increasingly frustrated American public, George W. Bush has offered to bring 5700 of the troops home by Christmas. However, this is too little too late. We have disrupted the lives and government of the people of Iraq and while we believe that democracy is the best form of government we are not in a position to enforce it.
The war is hurting many more than it is helping and a stronger effort must be made to get all of our troops out of Iraq. George W. Bush has lied to the American public and intentionally entered into this war for his own interests and those of his political allies. The Presidential campaign coming up is the most new and important campaign in many years. I believe this is because people are finally realizing the urgency of this major problem. This war is wrong and unjust, this war is killing our young American boys and girls, this war is taking our money, this war is a huge and costly mistake. We must leave Iraq now.