Food Safety Bill

Matthew wrote a nice blog about the Food Safety Bill, and I like how he supported with the fact that shows how tainted peanut butter products sickened over 20,000 people and killed nine people in 2008. In addition to that:

Food expert Michael Pollan calls this “The best opportunity in a generation to improve the safety of the American food supply." If the legislation does ultimately pass, the remaining question is whether Congress will provide FDA with funding to implement it. This bill will give FDA much more authority when it goes in for an inspection, but it doesn’t provide money to actually do the inspection. Getting additional money from Congress in the current economic climate will be challenging.

U.S National Governmant

Our National Government also known as Federal Government consists of three branches: Executive (President), Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts).

The Executive Branch:
This branch consists of the President, Vice President and 15 Cabinet-level departments such as State, Defense, Interior, Transportation and Education. The president carries out federal laws and recommends new ones, directs national defense and foreign policy, and performs ceremonial duties. Powers include directing government, commanding the Armed Forces, dealing with international powers, acting as chief law enforcement officer, and vetoing laws. A crucial function of the executive branch is to ensure that laws are carried out and enforced to facilitate such day-to-day responsibilities of the federal government as collecting taxes, safeguarding the homeland and representing the United States' political and economic interests around the world.

The Legislative Branch:
This Branch consists of the Senate and the House Of Representatives, also known as Congress. There are 100 Senators, 2 from each States and 435 Representatives in the House. The main task of these two bodies is to make the laws. Its powers include passing laws, originating spending bills (House), impeaching officials (Senate), and approving treaties (Senate).

The Judicial Branch:
This branch consists of the United States Supreme Court and lower lever federal courts. he U.S. Supreme Court has nine Justices, who are chosen by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and have a lifetime appointment. Its powers include interpreting the Constitution, reviewing laws, and deciding cases involving states' rights.

Resources: American History, Fact Monster

After reading "Courtney Franklin's" blog post "Should Cyber Bullying Lead to Prison?" i completely agree that if a bullying leads to a death, they should be send to prison or should be count as a 3rd degree murder (if such thing exist).

A survey of a middle and high school students found that children who are bullied have the highest rates of anxiety, depression and school absences. By contrast, children not at all involved in cyberbullying have the highest self-esteem and grades and the fewest symptoms of health problems.

Because cyberbullying can range from rude comments to lies, impersonations, and threats, your responses may depend on the nature and severity of the cyberbullying. Adults may not always be present in the online environments of children and youth. Therefore, it is extremely important that adults pay close attention to cyberbullying and the activities of children and youth.


Resource: Cyberbullying Research Center, Cox Communication

Illegal Immigration

Many immigrants make a lot of money in construction, lawn maintenance and all sorts of manual labor jobs. The fact is that many of those jobs start out at $10.00 per hour. Many of the immigrants that are doing these jobs are very proficient at them and the more skill they have the more they get paid, it is not uncommon for these people (illegal or legal) to make $25.00 an hour or more. This is plenty of income for them to support themselves and their family and still be able to pay taxes. I have seen in my various interactions over the years with illegal immigrants that a good percentage of them do actually pay taxes. Contrary to popular belief these illegal immigrants have the ability get a taxpayer identification number regardless of their immigration status and pay taxes just like everybody else. Most of the people I have met that do not pay taxes are afraid that if they go through the process to get their taxpayer number they will get deported and are unaware that this isn't the case. I do agree that there needs to be some kind of reform to streamline the immigration process. These hard working, taxpaying people should have some hope of being able to live in this country and have the same rights as natural born citizens. At the same time I also feel that there should be some kind of outreach to get those that do not pay taxes to start, maybe offer a quick way to get work visas, greencards, or a fast track naturalization. The people that do not pay their taxes should be treated the same way that any citizen is for not paying their taxes (i.e. tax levies, tax liens, jail).

I also think that as a wealthy nation America should reach out and try to help improve the political, economic, and social conditions in Mexico and the other countries where most of our illegal immigrants are coming from. While we are helping out, somewhat, I think that as a whole the people of this nation should be more concerned with the problems of our neighbors and do everything we can to help. If the conditions of these people's respective countries are improved and they can have the same financial, medical and social opportunities as we do here they will be less likely to leave their native country and come here. Over time this would drastically reduce the number of immigrants, especially illegal ones, and bring in more tax dollars to help educate the these people and their children so that they can be productive members of our state and country. They will be able to get the assistance they need to live and hopefully be able to get financial help for higher education so that they can find better jobs, earn a higher income, and help the economy as well as the society in which they live.

Sources: US Immigration Support

Firearms on campuses ?

“I honestly think, in all my heart, this will make our campuses safer,” said State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston in the article on khou.com; “Debate renewed over guns on campus after University of Texas shooting”, just like selling condoms on campuses helps students to have safe sex in school ? okay there is something seriously wrong here, I don’t know where all this going ? guns and sex on campuses ?

Advocates for allowing concealed guns on campuses say if more people packed heat, it's more likely one of them could stop a gunman before he hurts anyone. They hear there’s a shooter, they go into the classroom, and there are eight people there with guns. How do you know who the perpetrator is when they all have a guns ?

My point is, we should not allow students to carry firearms on campuses – period. Its a job for officials to keep everyone safe so we should let them take care of that. It's not just about being able to carry a gun. You have to be a skilled shooter in order to prevent even more injuries. If someone gets hit by a bullet you fired, even if it was an accident and your intention was to stop a campus shooter, you would still be responsible for that injury or death.

Resources: Khou.com, KBTX.com, Daily Cougar

How Obama is doing ?

After reading couple of different articles and blogs, I came across this article by Brian Trent: “How Obama is doing so far: The progress report of a new president”. The whole point of Brian Trent's article is pretty simple and informal regarding how Barack Obama meet his promises which he made during his campaign run for president. Substantially, the article is in reality the freshest on this deserving subject.

President Barack Obama began his term with record approval rating. The 83% Obama rating on inauguration easily topped John F. Kennedy's inaugural approval rating of 72%, the previous record set in 1961. President Obama's approval rating tumbled 15 points to 68% after his executive order on the controversial issue and as the details of his economic plan and religious beliefs began to emerge.

As a president, Barack Obama accomplished more then expected, a lot of people still criticize him for putting this country in this bad position, especially after all the mess that good ole Bush broke everyone with which no one seems to remembers. Lets not forget the state of the country before he got in office. You can not fix everything in one year, or two, or even three. What did Bush do in the 8 years he was in office? One year and already he’s being graded ???

In other words, he’s tried to govern as he campaigned, and he’s made some mistakes. Still, I believe that given the state of the country when he took over that Mr. Obama has done an above-average job in his first year and will continue to do so.

Resources: Examiner.com, New Foundation Of Growth

Anti-Immigration Law

Texas Republican state legislator Rep. Debbie Riddle told ABCNews.com that she wants to push out an anti-immigration law which is similar to the one that Arizona's Republican Gov. Jan Brewer passed recently. What are these laws and what do they actually do ?

According to the bill, it’s a crime under the state law to be in the country illegally. It is required for immigrants to have proof of their valid immigration status at all times. Failing to do so could give a person up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Repeat offenses would be a felony.

It gives power to police officers to stop anyone at anytime to determine the immigration status of a person if there is a reasonable suspicion to which they think that he or she is an illegal immigrant.

It also targets those who hire illegal immigrant laborers or knowingly transport them which could impose fines of $1,000-$5,000.

In my opinion, this is racism and this anti-immigration law will start a new war with-in US and will lead to much more economic downfall.

Source: Los Angeles Times, ABC News