JAPAN!!

Japan is an group of 6,852 islands.The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth largestpopulation, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

An earthquake and tsunami hit the Tohoku region of Northern Japan on Friday. More than 4,000 have died and more than 8,000 are missing. Because of this people from all over the world are now helping japan fun-raisers, offerings, aect...any type of help that people are willing to give is a blessing to japan.

Heres  video to show a little of what happen!!

Should marijuana be a medical option?

In 1972, the US Congress placed marijuana in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act because they considered it to have "no accepted medical use." Since then, 15 of 50 US states and DC have legalized the medical use of marijuana.Proponents of medical marijuana argue that it can be a safe and effective treatment for the symptoms of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, pain, glaucoma, epilepsy, and other conditions. They cite dozens of peer-reviewed studies, prominent medical organizations, major government reports, and the use of marijuana as medicine throughout world history.Opponents of medical marijuana argue that it is too dangerous to use, lacks FDA-approval, and that various legal drugs make marijuana use unnecessary. They say marijuana is addictive, leads to harder drug use, interferes with fertility, impairs driving ability, and injures the lungs, immune system, and brain. They say that medical marijuana is a front for drug legalization and recreational use.

Dec.Should all Americans have the right to health care?

46.3 million people in the US were uninsured in 2008 according to the US Census Bureau. In 2007, health care expenditures totaled $2.2 trillion - 16.2% of the US economy. Health care is the largest industry in the US, employing more than 14 million people. Proponents of the right to health care argue that it would stop medical bankruptcies, improve public health, and reduce overall health care spending. They say that no one in the richest nation on earth should go without health care. A June 12-16, 2009 poll shows that 64% of Americans say health care should be a right.Opponents argue that using tax revenue to provide health care to all Americans amounts to socialism and would decrease the quality and availability of health care for those who work hard to get medical coverage. They say it is not the government's responsibility to guarantee health coverage.

Dec.Should Social Security be privatized?

The US Social Security program is intended to provide a safety net protecting American workers and their families in the event of retirement, disability, and early death. Moving Social Security benefits into private accounts is one proposal to prevent Social Security's predicted future financial shortfall. Privatization of Social Security would allow workers to control their own retirement money through personal investment accounts.Supporters of private accounts contend that retirees would have the freedom to invest their retirement money in the stock market as they wish, theoretically earning higher returns than with government-invested funds.Critics of privatizing Social Security argue that investing retirement money is complicated and risky because individuals can lose their retirement safety net through bad decisions.Since Social Security is an entitlement program and Congress can change the rules regarding benefit eligibility at any time, workers paying into the Social Security system do not have a right to receive Social Security benefits.



A good thing is:
When Social Security began in 1935, the contributions of 17 workers paid for the benefits of one retiree. In 2035 the estimated ratio will be 2.1 workers per beneficiary. Allowing individuals to contribute to their own private accounts may reduce future loss of money from fewer worker contributions.

A bad thing is:
Moving Social Security into private accounts would cause substantial reductions in traditional Social Security benefits. Privatization would, over the next 47 years, reduce benefit levels by as much as 44% below 2005 levels.

Umm whatcha you gone do Reflection

Public opinion Suppose there were a young teenager who found herself pregnant. She was a good kid who didn't deserve it-she'd been as careful as could be expected, but now she was faced with the prospect of having this baby. Her support system wasn't the best. Her fiance said that he'd leave her; he claimed the baby couldn't be his,as most men do. Her parents were real conservative; they wouldn't want a  in the family. She didn't know what, if any, support she could expect from them. She might just have to have this baby alone in whatever place she could find shelter. She had little education and no job skills. Shouldn't girls like her-children, really--have access to an abortion? Why should she have to ruin her life over something that, by all rights, never should have happened to her?
 And what if this happened about  or aroung the 1960's  . You couldn't do anything about it and you would have been looked at as a tramp or something that was not good. Back then you were stuck with the baby and thats how some people think.

The Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance was first written in 1892 for a magazine contest, and it read: "I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The Pledge became part of the U.S. Flag Code in 1942, and in 1954 President Eisenhower and Congress added the phrase "under God” into the Pledge.Proponents of including "under God” in the Pledge argue that the US is a Christian nation, at least 80% of Americans support the phrase, the language reflects America’s civic culture and is not a religious statement, and , state constitutions, currency, and the presidential oath already contain references to God.Opponents contend that church and state should be kept strictly separate as the Founding Fathers intended. They argue that the Constitution protects minority rights against majority will, and that the words "under God" in the Pledge are a religious phrase and thus violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.




THE PEOPLE WHO SAY YES


From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate this rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country's true meaning.Especially is this meaningful as we regard today's world. Over the globe, mankind has been cruelly torn by violence and brutality and, by the millions, deadened in mind and soul by a materialistic philosophy of life. Man everywhere is appalled by the prospect of atomic war. In this somber setting, this law and its effects today have profound meaning. In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource, in peace or in war.


THE PEOPLE WHO SAY NO


The practice of reciting the Pledge in public schools specifically targets children, inculcating them with a monotheistic message not held by millions of Americans. This is not a passive reading of a historic document but an active swearing of a loyalty oath to one's country and, since 1954, an avowal that our nation exists 'under God,' which is tantamount to prayer.The First Amendment does not require hostility toward religion, but mandates government neutrality toward religion. By imposing a religious belief on those without such beliefs, the current version of the Pledge utterly fails this test.

The Liberties Of The Civil

Civil Liberties -Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that protect an individual from the state. Civil liberties set limits on government so that its members cannot abuse their power and interfere unduly with the lives of private citizens.







A story from a different place that talks about civil rights and how they feel on the topic. Feminist Activism and Women’s Rights Mobilization in the Chilean Círculo de Estudios de la Mujer: Beyond Maternalist MobilizationThis case study of women’s mobilization under authoritarian rule in Chile exposes some of the challenges in the history of women’s definition of a liberation language and of subsequent activist strategies for rights. It adopts a gendered lens to analyze the distinct contributions Chilean women have made in defense of human rights as they helped shape a new human rights practice in Chile. Examining a pioneering women’s organization under the Pinochet Dictatorship (1973-1989), the Círculo de Estudios de La Mujer (Women's Studies Circle), it shows how women redefined their responsibilities and rights when the regime prohibited previous patterns of political participation. Circulo activists built new foundations for a mobilization in favor of “mothers’ rights,” connected to traditional gender-based responsibilities and family life. They helped lay the foundation for new paradigms of women’s political participation and quest for citizenship rights when male breadwinners were absent or silenced by the military: they linked “mothers’ rights” to women’s rights and to women’s individual claims to civil liberties.








Our First Amendment protects our right to free exercise of religion, our freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and limit the right to peaceably assemble, etc.I'd say it's the one of the main attractions of America and our free and democratic society.




Due-process- Due process is the principle that the government must respect all of the legal rights that are owed to a person according to the law. Due process holds the government subservient to the law of the land, protecting individual persons from the state.