America's Problem: Obesity Response

In response to Tran's article "I agree wholeheartedly with your post Tran. I believe people should not blame fast food for their obesity, plus I think trying to blame it is a waste of time. The fast food industry is a billion dollar industry and there is nothing we can really do to stop them from being unhealthy, no lawsuit is going to change that. Many fast food giants may have changed ingredients to appeal to the more "healthy" crowd, but their products are still unhealthy nonetheless. Fast food industries use cheap materials to make their products to increase their income, that is part of why they are so successful, that and their cheap prices and convenient locations.

We live in a capitalistic country where their should be little to no government influence, so no bill or law will not and should not be able to contain these industries. People do not see that no lawsuit or protest can stop these monster companies either, they haven't really affected them now and I don't see them being affected anytime soon. The best way to fight them is to ignore them, and you will find yourself as a healthier person already. People need to stop blaming fast food companies for their problems, because fast food is just doing it's thing and it always will be. Americans need to dump their fast food love, because it will not change for them."

Don't Mind The Haters

During a April 27th press conference the President of the United States appeared in front of the White House and the rest of the world to release his birth certificate, to prove that he was born in America. You may be asking why this has been brought into the spotlight instead of all the major problems our government has been having to deal with. It was brought to attention due to a conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in America. It has been a conspiracy for a while but ever since multi-million dollar hoss, big-time celebrity (and possible 2012 Presidential candidate) Donald Trump started promoting the conspiracy did it muster up the need for President Obama to squelch it. Honestly, I think this is so wrong to be using a precious White House press conference to simply disprove a conspiracy, instead of discussing major problems that need to be sorted out. Budget cuts? New national security? The economy is having some problems not to mention, you think those would need to be discussed? 

Conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories, they have and will always exist, people are always going to question things, and I honestly think President Obama has much bigger things to worry about than trying to disprove them. It might have been important because of Donald Trump’s interest to run for presidency in 2012, but i honestly think that Trump’s just using this whole thing as a promotional tool. Obama should know better than that to go along with that, especially in such a problematic time like this were press conferences are precious. This whole “questioning the President’s legitimacy” ruse is only trying to cause a stir, and should be ignored, and it disappoints me that our President will fall for that. This is a time where President Obama really needs to focus on the problems at hand, for the country’s sake.

America, You Have No Discipline When it Comes to Education: Response

In response to Tran's past post "After reading your post about the educational system I couldn't agree more with you about the whole inexperienced teacher problem, and I would like to vent to you. Throughout my middle school and high school career I have had many coaches as teachers, and I've realized that most of them should just be coaches. Most of my classes with coaches were "blow-off" classes where the teacher did not really care about the class he just wanted to pass so he/she wouldn't get in trouble. In some cases such as electives I can see that as almost acceptable but when it comes to core subjects (english, math, science, etc.) it is inexcusable. The duties of teaching such important classes should not be put into the hands of coaches, who it is not their expertise.
When such subjects that are tested on every year are not taken seriously then scores on these tests will drop, sometimes it is not the students fault but the teacher. I agree that the coaches should stick to sports and we should hire people that we truly find qualified to teach our students such valuable subjects. After all they are going to need all the preparation they can get for the tough college professors."

We Need to Try Harder

As far as political issues, our beloved country can often have too many to count, but one issue that must be addressed is of course our public educational system. I believe our educational system is going to need some changes if America wants to stay on top of the food chain. As it seems how we are the unofficial "head honcho" of the world we need an public education system that is the best in the world as well. I honestly think its pretty messed up right now.

For example, when I graduated in 2010 I walked the graduation stage with a lot of kids I honestly believe did not deserve to graduate. Most of these kids had horrible attendance and no respect for our public school system, but I think it is a hard system to respect though. Kids with two many absences were scheduled "make-up hours" in which they would have to come to the school and make up the hours they missed that were over the limit. The thing that makes this half-assed is that most kids did not even attend these things, or had so many it would be impossible to make up for it, but our school still passes the kids because the school receives money for each student graduated, they do not care about the students. They do not care about teaching kids responsibility and discipline as they want is the money, so I believe that should be more strict. 

I also believe that teaching should a more elite profession, I have had countless teachers who have had no idea what they are doing, and when they are responsible for preparing our students for the real world, it is real important that they leave the right impression. We need more qualified individuals, I do not care if Ms. Apple has been working at the school for 30+ years if she is a bad teacher she needs to be replaced. If we want to get rid of our "dumb american" stereotype we are going to need to make some changes in our public educational system. Not enough of our kids are prepared and more likely to fail than succeed in the gram scheme of things, and the children are the future of our great country.

What a Waste

In my first blog entry I discussed the much-needed increase in budget of space programs, and in this entry I find that it is being practically wasted. In Zaid Jilani’s “‘Fiscal Conservative’ Richard Shelby Forces NASA to Spend $1.4 Million A Day On Program It Doesn’t Want” The author pretty much bashes on republican Senator Richard Shelby and how hypocritical he is. From the get-go you can tell it is a left-wing article.

He quotes Shelby, “Washington must put its fiscal house in order. American taxpayers are rightly infuriated by the federal government’s disregard for the same economic principles that govern every household and business budget.” He then shows that Shelby later put in his own revision into the 2010 budget, the “Shelby provision.” Such provision, however, is going to force NASA to waste $1.4 million a day on its now-defunct Constellation moon program. Overall costing the company nearly $250 million on projects they do not want anymore since October 1st. Jilani feels that it is a crucial time to be careful with the budget, and he feels the “Shelby provision” is a horrible idea and Shelby himself is a hypocrite with making the provision in the first place. 

His presentation is viscous, the author seems to be really disgusted with Sen. Richard Shelby, stating that “Yet when it comes to pork barrel spending for his home state, he is willing to go extraordinary lengths to waste taxpayers’ money.” His audience is obviously left-wing for it is a left-wing blog and its basically a diss to the republican Senator.

Overall, I agree with Jilani. I believe that NASA shouldn’t be forced to spend money on what they do not want. I believe that the scientists over at NASA should have the final say on what they need the budget to focus on. I also believe that if you are going to criticize our nation’s fiscal spending, you are also going to have to be careful where your putting our taxpayers’ money as well, the “Shelby provision” is simply ridiculous.

Only a Matter of Time

Stephen Stromburg's article on The Washington Post, about the recent legalization of same-sex marriages in Maryland, expresses that this is no surprise. He hints that he is for the legalization and I feel his article is intended for people that are for it as well. Wether he is a credible source, he claimed to have grown up among out-of-the-closet gays and lesbians. Which makes him as credible as anyone else, for credibility is not of importance of a topic like this, but rather belief. His argument is that the overturn of anti-gay laws is inevitable. Stromburg states “Pockets of prejudice still exist in Generation Y. But decades of hard work in persuading gays not to hide who they are is producing a drastic realignment of public attitudes.” As legalizations slowly moves throughout the states people who are against it will have to become more  open-minded. Which will eventually lead to the acceptance by the remaining percentage. I agree with Stromburg on this, I believe that it is only a matter of time before most of the country legalizes same-sex marriage. As the older, more-prejudiced generation starts to go away and the younger, more-tolerable generation starts to move in, a dramatic change in public opinion will occur, it is only a matter of time. I feel that this article is a reassurance for those fighting for gay civil rights, and just like any previous battle with civil rights, acceptance will come with time.

Space Projects Get a Much-Needed Boost

An article that caught my eye while browsing The Wall Street Journal webpage, about how the Obama administration plans on raising the funds on military space projects. I found this surprising due to the recent NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) budget cuts from Obama’s administration. The increases are apparently part of a plan to save money over several years by giving them a chance to make satellites cheaper to make. I find this important because I feel the United States should not lose it’s grip on space. The satellite projects were unable to work with the past budget but with the fund increase the projects should be able to prosper. With better satellites the government will be able to extend its communications in space, we do not want to fall behind the other countries space programs after all. Space projects need to be well funded because we need to think about the future, I feel like space will be an essential part.