Obesity is it our faults?

In Kelly’s blog, “Overwhelming Oppositions of Obesity,” she made great valid points and arguments on America’s weight problem. In her blog it states that two-thirds of the population is overweight and one-third is considered obese. I completely agree with Kelly, it definitely has gotten to the point where something needs to be done, taking in account that more than half of America is unhealthy. The side effects she mentions can be life threatening as well as prone to bullying, which we all know is true. It's no surprise that being obese leads to many health problems, it makes one more at risk for strokes, heart disease, and diabetes. I personally see bullying on both sides due to the overweight factor. Kelly also talks about America’s obsession to be thin and perfect, and that it is our own fault for the way we look. I agree for the most part with that statement, but there are also other contributing factors. On womenfitness.net it explains that obesity is a very complex thing, genes is one of the top reasons in weight problems. Researcher Professor Philippe Froguel says that the gene, GAD2 may be responsible for obesity in 1 in 10 people. There are two types of GAD2, one that protects against obesity and the other one doesn’t. Diseases, drugs, and thyroid problems also can be other factors for being overweight. At the same time, America is over eating processed foods which makes all of the difference with being at a healthy weight and an unhealthy weight. There are steps we can take to make our population a more healthy one, and that first step is eating better.

How will government handle the oil spill?

On April 20th, an explosion on a oil rig platform had made headlines. It has been said that this oil spill could be one of the worse in history with 5,000 barrels of crude spilling into the ocean each day. It is apparent, everyone is looking to how the president will respond and act to this unfortnate disaster. It was stated that, "the leaking oil is not only an ecological catastrophe but a potential political hazard." A month ago Obama wanted to expand offshore drilling. Now, as a gesture, Obama assures us that no new drilling will be allowed unless they have the "safeguards" to do so. However, he still went on to say that, "I continue to believe that the domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security." Seriously? Is this really the time to worry about profit, when our Gulf is filled with oil the size of Puerto Rico? Obama went to Louisiana to get "a firsthand assessment of the enviromental disaster." As the looks of it, he trying to do damage control, but isn't it a little too late? The U.S. is always trying to solve a problem after the fact. They should have been more careful and used "safeguards" to prevent a problem of this degree, before it even happens (not saying it works that easily). It is so sad the effects of this spill, it's destroying our earth and the creatures that live on it. I think all the attention is now directed towards Obama and his administration. I think this is stupid, it shouldn't be about Obama, it should be about a solution in fixing the oil spill. I think his administration knows that people are looking to him to solve the problem, so how he deals with this, will either make him or break him. In the articles I read in Time and CNN, both mention that Obama says it's BP's responsibilty in fixing the problem. Which I agree with because BP is at fault for this, so they are held responsible. But, they are basically putting it all on BP's shoulders, but when it comes down to it, it will be on Obama's shoulder, what happens at the end. Unfortnately, that's what happens when you take office, national disasters are your problem. I hope this doesn't do too much damage, but it appears it already has. Sad.

Abortion

Abortion has always been controversial and heated, on one side there is pro-life and the other pro-choice. Pro-choice is the belief of one of my fellow classmates, Megan. Although, I respect Megan's opinion and ideas on abortion, I have to disagree with her stand on it. Yes, I believe it's a person's choice to have sex, but not the choice to take a life (unless there are bad circumstances). And yes it's a live! Only four weeks after conception, the baby's heart is pumping blood. This is around the time most people find out they're pregnant.

When one decides to participate in having sex, then they are taking on the responsbilities that come along with it. Pregnancy is absolutely preventable, but I know accidents still happen. Although, when an accident does occur, its usually because they were not being careful, either by not wearing a condom or not using birth control. Megan says,"The last thing our country needs is more unwanted babies, or babies that are brought into this world in a non-loving family, or a family that doesn't have the means to take care of them." To this I would like to say, THEN DON'T HAVE SEX! Seriously, when you decide to make adult decisions, you have to prepare to deal with adult consequences. People don't have the right to take an innocent life, just because they don't feel like taking responsibilty. Also, if you sincerely cannot take care of the child, then put him/her up for adoption. I know it's not black or white always and there are circumstances that might make it difficult keeping a child. She also, argues that government is taking away peoples rights little by little, and they have no right to take away that choice. This is what government does, it regulates. She argues that her not wanting to pay for the health care reform is the same as people who are against abortion and not wanting to pay taxes to fund it. These are completely two different comparisons. One is dealing with killing an unborn child and the other has to do with health insurance. Really? She then asks the question, "why should government mandate our bodies?" Well, it's not just our bodies, it's potentially another human being in this world, you are trying to get rid of. Who is anybody to say whether or not a person should live or not! Definitely not us! Will anyone win the war on abortion? Who knows. Until then, we will just keep debating it.

www.mayoclinic.com/health/prenatal

Government spending out of hand!

Alright, so we all know that government has MANY problems, some more problematic than others. For years I have been fascinated/ concerned by national spending. Now though, it has reached a whole new level of crazy. The government spending is getting out of control! I watched the debt clock for about a minute and I was literally sick watching it. The debt goes up every second! It makes me nervous, and question what is to come for our nation. Recently, the spending has gotten worse a lot quicker than past years. Since Obama has taken office, the debt has risen 2 trillion dollars, from $10.6 trillion to $12.6 trillion. Of course, the Bush administration has spent more than any other administration ever. Thank you Bush for leaving us with something to remind us of your mark in history. However, Obama has spent 2 trillion in a little over a year and Bush spent that much in 4 years. It is scary how much we owe, it has been said that, "divided out, each American bears a $40,000 share of the country's tab." It is estimated that by the year 2020, the debt will reach $25 trillion! The debt soon will soon reach over 100 percent of the national economy. I know that Obama is trying to reduce debt by setting up a bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and reform. He also claims that the health care reform will help reduce debt over the years. But, we need to do a lot more than that if were going to change anything. Obviously, to help the problem, we would have to cut spending and hike up taxes. The debt is really going to screw us and future generations to come. If politicians don't start taking this seriously, we will hit rock bottom real fast. However, I feel like we are already screwed. I feel like it would take nothing short of a miracle to help us crawl out of this grave we have dug ourselves.

Artificially Stupid?

So I came across an article called, "Artificial Stupidy," on the National Review. The title intrigue me to read it. It was written by Thomas Sowell, he is an American economist, social and political commentator. He has written several books and recieved several awards for his achievements. He has extensive background in politics. His blog is on a conservative website so his audience is probably them and everybody else who cares about education and being knowledgeable.
The article addresses how our education system is failing us, because we are being taught what to think, NOT how to think. The article starts off with a woman who had made a petition to ban dihydroxymonoxide, claiming "it was in our lakes and streams, and now it was in our sweat and urine and tears." She somehow collected hundreds of signatures from that statement, yet that word meant water in simpler terms. This story showed how conditioned we are and how much groupthink occurs. He claims that, "the American education system focuses more on politically correct crusades than intellectually correct arguments." "Much of the stupidity we see today is induced by our educational system, from the elementary schools to the universities." It states that we take action, when only hearing one side of the story, not both. We have not been taught how to test out one set of ideas against another. Since our lack in education, our mind capacity is not capable to weigh out other opposing views. Basically, what he is saying is that we are ignorant when it comes to seeing the big picture, and I concur. I have to say that this was a good article, and it started off with an example with the petition of water, which was great because it showed our ignorance as humans. It helped build the base of his story. I have to agree with him for the most part. Most teachers and educators today do teach us how to think and what to think, instead of "expanding our horizons." I think a lot of people are not able to defend both sides or weigh out opposing views. We do lack that ability to see the whole picture and then take action. I do think our education system has a lot of improvements to do!

Mitch Daniel, the next president?

I like to start off by saying that I read tons of articles because I had a hard time finding one I wanted to write about. I've been reading a lot about Mitch Daniels. I finally came across the tittle "A Republican Surprise," which made me curious, and opted to read more. Ross Douthat the writer of the article is a Op-Ed columnist for NY Times. Although being the youngest writer in the paper's history, he is very knowledgeable with political information. He is a conservative writer, so his audience is republicans (probably).
Mitch Daniels is getting a lot of notice for the 2012 election, which the article talks about. The republican party obviously thinks he is the best or top candidate for presidency. It talks about Mitch's great accomplishments since he has been Indiana's governor. He has cut government spending, which led from a $800 million deficit into a surplus for the state. In Douthat's words he proclaims that, "In a just world, Daniel's record would make him the Tea Party movement's favorite politician." He proclaims that Daniels is "America's best govenor." Douthat, seems to think highly of Daniels, yet questions whether he could make it into presidency, since he already has several issues going against him. Like, his involvemnet in the Bush admininstration and being "unknown at the grass-roots level." Also, lacking "built-in constituencies of other candidates." He mentions his appearance more than once in the article, which I found weird, maybe emphasizing on how he does not look like a president. His ending statement says it all, "nominate a balding, wonky Midwesternerw who reminds voters of their accountant." Then proceeds with this concluding statement, "strangers things have happened." Which, re-emphasizes that he thinks it's a little far fetch for him to win presidency. I think Douthat wrote a good article, he was factual yet held his own opinion. I think what he was trying to do was analyze whether or not Daniels would be in the running for presidency coming this next election. Now, whether or not I agree with him is unknown. I know from what I have read that Mitch did some great things, by getting his state out of debt. Yet, he also messed up with the Bush admininstration who helped increase deficit in the country. Kind of seems like a contradiction in itself. No one knows really if someone will be a great president, they have to wait and see. They can look at his background, which for the most part Mitch has a great record, that is why he would be a awesome politician for the Tea Pary, Douthat was saying.

Schools in America

The article, "A Quick Fix for America's Worst Schools," is a good article because it gives notice to our nation's lousy school systems and what is being done for them. I think it comes to no surprise to anyone that we are NOT ranked best in education in the world. This article talks about Philadelphia's most troubled schools and its turn around in the past couple of years. In particular, Shoemaker, one of the schools, had very poor academics and the kids ruled the school. They had a new plan which didn't involve getting rid of the students but the staff. Since, the Bush administration created NCLB (No Child Left Behind), the education law requires every school to report whether it makes "adequate yearly process" which in return helps keep a record of the progress or decline schools are making. Now, the Obama administration has a plan, which involves 5,000 of the worst schools and giving them 4 billion dollars over the next 3 years. Since 2006 and its plan, Shoemaker has overcome academics and behavioral issues. Due to all new staff and policies, test scores has risen and students attitudes have changed. However, it does mention that they don't know whether all these plans will work or not but the money and desire are both there. Well, we will find out in the years to come whether our school systems here in America will approve and lets hope they do.