20. June 2009 by student.

The U.S war on drugs places great emphasis, time, and money on arresting people for smoking marijuana. Since 1990, nearly 5.9 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges. That is greater than the whole population of Alaska, Delaware, DC, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming combined. This exceeds the number of arrests for violent crimes, including man slaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
If Marijuana were legalized and regulated it would lead to lower hard drug rates, as well as lower prison incarceration rates related to drug offenses. This would allow law enforcement to concentrate more on violent crimes. Both those would lead to lower tax rates as well because there would be less inmates that need to be taken care of and less money spent on anti-drug services, which is financed by tax money.
Marijuana as well as many other psychoactive drugs are in fact not overly harmful to any person, there can be exceptions however. Marijuana contains no carcinogens that can lead to cancer related illness. Some even say that marijuana paraphernalia can even help to reduce harmful effects caused by smoke to the lungs. Water pipes and bongs use water filtration systems to make smoke cleaner and smoother for you to breath in which is overall better for the lungs. If you filter 1oz of tobacco and 1oz marijuana through paper you would see that tobacco has far greater tar than marijuana.
Weed doesn’t have any overly negative effects on the brain. It does in younger people but not in people 15 and up. At this age the brain is more developed and imbalance and impairments are more easily avoided. Bad reactions can happen like in any drug. Marijuana has some medical purposes. It can be used to treat glaucoma, nausea, appetite control, relief of pain from aids and chemotherapy. Universities, hospitals, doctors, and government officials can back these statements. To even say that marijuana causes death is a little premature in my opinion. The national institute of Drug abuse states that marijuana is rarely mentioned in death reports and when it is it is almost always cited with alcohol or another drug. Many argue that is slows down reaction time and would be dangerous for people on roads. Although with the legalization also comes new laws regarding its use. Example being a breathalyzer of some sort to test an under the influence driver.
You can abuse any substance irresponsibly. Anyone, anywhere can abuse almost anything. Whether its aspirin, caffeine, alcohol, or marijuana. Some people say that marijuana is harmful and that’s why it’s illegal but too much of anything can be harmful. The countries priorities are backwards. Prohibition does not work. This was proven 80 years ago when alcohol was banned. People still made their own and people will continue to grow, sell, and use marijuana. As long as there is a demand there will be a supply. If America really is a free country then why should the government say what goes into its “free” citizens. People are allowed to drink even though it causes brain damage and liver damage, yet their not able to ingest psychoactive substances that politicians don’t like. Well doesn’t that go against the principle of freedom

A.M.H

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20. June 2009 by student.

As the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized, neither public school students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.

The vigilant protection of our constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools. Unfortunately, many school officials, confused over where to draw the line regarding the so-called “separation of church and state,” have chosen to err on the side of censorship rather than free speech when it comes to religious expression, and more particularly, prayer in the schools.

Much of this censorship has arisen out of confusion in the schools and the courts over what role religion should play in our society. However, there is a crucial difference between government speech that promotes religion and private speech that promotes or makes reference to religion (which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect). In other words, while student-initiated prayer is a constitutionally protected form of speech, prayer that is orchestrated by school officials is not permissible.

Nevertheless, many students and school officials still find themselves prohibited from engaging in other constitutionally forms of expression simply because it makes reference to or involves religion. For example, when high school valedictorian Brittany McComb attempted to reference God in a graduation speech about things that contributed to her success, school officials unplugged the microphone, effectively censoring her speech. This case is currently making its way through the courts.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »

20. June 2009 by student.

Since the beginning of our world, humankind have been struggled; and poverty is one of the biggest challenge in the world today . Will poverty ever end? The majority of people in the world is living in poverty, and that ussue is hard to overcome. The people who are living in the poverty line are the least proctected from political and economical policies. They are illiterate and unable to find health care. Over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day, and at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.They also have the highest death rate among children ;according to UNICEF, 25 000 children die each day due to poverty. While some in some industrialized nation  school is mandatory, 72 million of children of primary age  in developping nation were not in school in 2005. We are all concern about poverty, and we need to think about the one who can’t afford to eat evrytime we are trowing food away in our gabbage. Stop complainnig about our house that we think is to small, but start thinking about the one whose living without shelter,water in health care. According to globalissues.org, 640 million children are living without shelter, 400 million without acces to safe water, and 270 million with no access to health service. If every rich people in the world wanted to give away 1/3 of their wealth, and the IFM wanted to lower the debt of those countries I strongly believe poverty could end. The world will be a better place to live without any poor.

www.globalissues.org

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20. June 2009 by student.

Groups are such a large part of a student’s life, there are however different types of social groups that a teenager can become involved in. There are cliques and gangs, and sociologists see many similarities between the two, even though there may be extremes. In both cases there are signs that they belong in that group, whether by action or by appearance. Both groups will thrive on the need for acceptance, and as long as there is a need for acceptance, there will be for cliques an gangs. There are many misconceptions on why youth join gangs, many assume that is simply to escape a broken home, but there are a variety of reasons that gangs are joined. These include, again, a need for acceptance; there is also money and protection that they need in society in order to survive. ( Adler 1998). There is also the incorrect assumption that gangs are a simple urban problem, however gangs can appear anywhere, and is a problem in many areas, not just urban. Also by looking at ages and crimes, most property crimes are committed by those under the age of twenty-four. ( Adler, 2003).

Gang members also come from families of all income, not just low.  Gang members need emotional needs to be met, and sometimes their families cannot do this. Gang members will most likely stay in crime through adulthood. Gang activity is also world wide, there are no special cases. Once a gang member has entered, it is hard to take them out of this life, and they will most likely continue crime for life. So when a teenager is looking for acceptance, it is essential to make sure they find the right acceptance, for anyone can fall into the trap of a gang, no one is immune. So remember that when a teen decides to look for a group of friends to have fun, if entering the wrong group, this fun could lead to a lifetime of crime, hard to get out of.

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20. June 2009 by student.

The social structure especialy in the United State has been changing rapidly in recent decades. New inventeions and innovation alter the way we lives. Achieving social status are considered more important than ever.  We have more technological capability, more leisure activities and types of entertainment, and more quantities of materials goods available for consumption than ever before. Nowday, people experience high levels of stress, fears for their lives because of crime, and face problems such as homeless (etc). No one not even scientist csn predict the future to prevent horable thigns form happening like 9/11 disaster.

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20. June 2009 by student.

Gun control has recently turned hot topic in the political arena and among the gossipists of daily news and opinioned show hosts. It is a topic rife with emotive outliers as cited reason for greater restrictions, and the idea of personal freedoms in defense for the want of a fully automatic uzi resting in a farmer’s show case. As of late, it looks as though the middle ground is winning with public opinion increasingly favoring the concept of more of the public owning a gun, but paradoxically wanting that ownership to be more difficult with new laws, rather than increased enforcement of existing laws. Not strangely, this appears to be a division of culture.

According to Gallup polls, nearly 70% of the population in favor of stricter gun laws are from urban areas, where the tightly packed populations and the constant barrage of news on violent crimes due to such density skews the frequency of such crimes, raising the perceived deadliness of such weapons. In these situations the gun is not generally known as a use for sport, recreation, or defense, but as a tool for offensive crimes. A fear is generated in these situations that overrides thought out statistical data on just how safe public guns actually keep them.

A bully is more likely to bully someone who can’t defend themselves. After the 1996, and 1997 gun bans in Australia and the UK, respectively, violent crimes saw a staggeringly increased rate as shown in the chart below. Although crime overall went down beginning in that year, is it far more likely that police department shifted focus to the vastly increased robberies and shootings than people simply stopped jay walking.

The US population is slowly but continually beginning to get that idea. According to another Gallup poll, the opinion of the people is becoming more and more strongly against the government as a sole policing agency if it requires a ban on guns. This, I think, shows a shift of trust away from, if not the government, at least the agency tasked for upholding its laws, and more toward individual responsibility. That would be a very good sign.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/27229/Gallup-Summary-Americans-Gun-Control.aspx

http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/cfi/cfi115.html

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »

20. June 2009 by student.

What’s in a Name?  Well a lot, especially if you’re Senator Barbara Boxer from California.  On June 16^th she met with Army brigadier General Michael Walsh and informed him of her position and how she would like to be addressed.  The Senator interjected the General during a response to a question and asked him to not call her Ma’am, instead Senator.  She said, “It’s just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it, yes, thank-you.”  Wow, this completely shocks me that a United States Senator has the guts to interject an Army General with calling her Ma’am.  Was she insinuating that the General was not showing her respect in her position?  Because in the Armed Forces, it shows respect to call someone by Ma’am and Sir, in the Armed Forces you refer to someone superior to you in the chain of Command by Ma’am and Sir, this is according to military protocol.  He was showing respect!  Did the Se6tnator interject the General during a response simply because it offended her to be called Ma’am?  Did the Senator interject the General because she was so proud of everything she has accomplished?  You would think the General was speaking to royalty.  I think it’s wonderful that she is in an elected position, she has accomplished a lot.  I do believe that the General has accomplished more though, and he didn’t do it through an elected position, he did it serving this country for her and every other American.  I believe she interjected because she was calling the shots that day and she wanted to show her power, sound familiar?  Why does everything have to do with money and power?  Did she try to embarrass an Army General, because the way the media has caught onto this story it looks like she is the one who should be embarrassed.  I truly don’t know if this is a matter to laugh about or not, that’s how ridiculous this story is.  I do not find anything wrong in asking someone to call you by a certain name, but I do find what the Senator did to be very distasteful.  The General did not show any disrespect, yet he was so rudely interrupted by the Senator, and made sure he did not refer to her by Ma’am, but as Senator, because that is what is!

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

20. June 2009 by student.

There were over 1,650 forcible rapes reported in 2000. Offenders are know to have been using slcohol  or drug at the time of the offence happen which doesn’t make it any right even if their were sober. I don’t fully understand how a person think their have “the right” to force or abuse a person without their knowledge. For example, in Africa the women get blamed for being raped. About 20 million of women in the U.S have been raped during their lifetime. only 16% of rapes were reported to law enforcement.Victims of drug facilitated are somewhat less likely to report to the authorities than victims  of forcible rape.

 http://www.sled.state.sc.us/SLED/default.asp?Category=crimensc0&Service=Rape

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20. June 2009 by student.

Police cars equipped with video cameras have been on the highways since the late 1980’s, and the footage they’ve produced has been a sample of real-life police TV shows for years. In 2002, following the nationally televised airing of what appeared to be the physical abuse of a teenage suspect by a Inglewood California, arresting officer. Inglewood Mayor  Roosevelt Dorn called for cameras to be installed in all of his city’s police cars. The alleged abuse had been videotaped by a bystander.   Many people believe that camera-equipped cars will lead to a reduction in police abuses while serving to capture evidence of illegal behavior by suspects. Video footage can also be used for identification purposes and might be coupled with software, allowing officers to quickly identify individuals who are wanted on other charges.  Some however, fear that the combination of video images and face recognition software will lead to the creation of a suspect data base that will include otherwise innocent people.  Since 2000 the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services has provided 15 million to state law enforcement agencies to equip 3,563 cruisers with cameras, and in mid-2002 a Senate Appropriations sub-committee approved 1 million to install digital video cameras in the Seattle Police departments  224 patrol cars.  By 2003, across the country 17,500 state police vehicles were equipped with the in car cameras. A 2005 study by the International  Association of Chiefs of Police surveyed 47 state law enforcement agencies that received federal grants to buy in car cameras substantially improved public trust in the police and protected officers against unfounded lawsuits.  I think this is a wonderful thing.  PROGRESS

You Decide, Good idea? Bad idea?

reginaszy

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20. June 2009 by student.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term describes ‘the theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race’. Racism has many faces, its particular expressions are dependent on the socio-economic, religious, and cultural situation of any given society. In the US, racism is a very well known issue. From racial profiling, to other issues such as affirmative action, police brutality against minorities and the history of slavery and the rising resentment against immigrants. The truth is that racism is not a thing of the past. Perhaps it has simmered down in the past century, but it is still quite alive today, after all, equality has only recently been enforced by the law. And even though there have been laws passed in order to help control racist acts, it has not changed the thoughts of many people today who still remain racist. I believe that we can greatly reduce the amount of racist discrimination that has run rampant in our society today, yet I do not think it will ever completely go away. Racism has become a complex problem in today’s society, and much of our world’s history is based upon such hatred. Racism is often thrown at us in so many ways that some people are subconsciously or unwillingly enveloped in its wake. For example, racist jokes are becoming increasingly familiar among teens in our society. There are many people I know who have made fun at Blacks, Asians, Hispanics (such as myself), and even Jewish people for no reason but to be funny and “respected” by their peers. Some modern racists attempt to prove the superiority or inferiority of a given race by the historical achievements of some of its members. Stereotypes are great factors too. A lot of people have them, and sometimes without even realizing how much it influences them in different circumstances. Some people are completely race obsessed and can’t get past certain stereotypes when getting to know a person. If only everyone in this world had respect for one another, we would live in peace and be able to let others believe in what they wish and accept that everyone is different.

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