$ = Power?

Are final blog prompt asks us if we believe 'soaking' the rich will help our fix the inequality in our economy. Now being an individual with limited understand of how our economic system works, I can only say that everyone should pay a tax rate equivalent to the amount they make. Even as I write these statements, I am unsure as to how this could work, but I like to think those that we have elected will somehow make things fair for everyone. Even that last sentence made me laugh, because I have only had the honor of voting for the last 5 years and I have a hard time believing the promises that politicians make.

I think trust may be the biggest problem with our economy and the inequality we see in our country. We as American's like to believe that our politicians are honest and are going to keep the promises they have made to us, but unfortunately as we have seen for many, many, many years this is not the case. I would like to think that by soaking the rich we will fix OUR economic troubles/inequality, but this seems to be too simple of a solution to what seem to be much deeper issues then just simply taking more money from the rich. Why not the decriminalization and taxation of Marijuana, similar to how cigarettes and alcohol are sold in our county?

Thoughts On Blogging

This semester we have been asked to blog for our class. Our professor gave us the freedom to blog on whatever we wanted as long as it had some relevance to our Public Discourse class. At times I had a hard time blogging, not because I didn't have time, but because I wasn't sure what sort of issues were important to me. Blogging on what we read was easy for me, because it gave me a set topic to discuss with the rest of the class. Although this made blogging easier, actually blogging was still a challenge just it was hard to put inner thoughts into words.

We live in a society that constantly is preaching the need to be an individual, but at times it seems that we are our own worst enemies in regards to individuality. I say this because even though we have our own opinions, I feel people are still very sensitive or restricted in saying what they believe. I feel a certain way about marijuana, but my views are not shared by my parents or those that are around me. This makes it very tough for me to express my views, regardless of what the social issue may be, I feel it can very tough for individuals to express their views even in a world where we are given the freedom because of the judgement they may encounter.  All I am saying is that I wish people felt as free and safe to say whatever they are feeling, regardless of the criticism they may get from others.

Flip-Flops Are For Your Feet...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/magazine/the-mind-of-a-flip-flopper.html

During the past year or so we have been watching our country get ready for the Presidential election, and one of the biggest issues we have seen is this notion of "flip-flopping". In the article they ask us to look at these two presidential candidates, not as candidates, but as two every day Americans. Social scientists explain that these men aren't flip-flopping as much that they are having an attitude change towards a social issue. The article discussed that certain social issues have helped to shape our identity as not only individuals but as a collective whole, "Certain beliefs are so important for a society or group that they become part of how you prove your identity...It’s as though we circle around these ideas. It’s how we become one". Flip-flopping only seems to be an issue, when we as individuals are unable to explain why our view has changed on a social issue. The research also found that when we "flip-flop" we try and convince ourselves that we haven't actually changed our views, this to me is almost crazy. Because, to me it shows that the mind is a very powerful tool and can have us believing anything that will appeal to our needs.

In the end it is up to the individual to make up their own mind on any issue that they are faced with, just because someone tells you something doesn't mean you need to believe what they are saying. There is nothing wrong with going out and doing your own research are social issues, and the views that certain individuals have. We have been given the right to think what we want, and because of this we should do a better job of doing our homework when it comes to making decisions, such as voting for our next president.

The Donald

I love that we have freedom of speech, because I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And, Donald Trump once again showed how important it is that we can say what ever we please.Earlier this week Donald Trump proclaimed that he would pay $5 million dollars to President Obama's charity of choice if he would release his college records and passport. I don't know Donald personally, but if I was his friend I would ask him to keep his opinions to himself. Sometimes keeping our opinions to our self is not a bad route to take,because making ignorant statements in our society normally gets you labeled as a bigot or racist. And these are terms no one wants to be labeled, yet everyday it seems that someone has something hateful or racist to say about our President that are not even based on his policies, but more so on the color of his skin or the name on his birth certificate.

C.R.E.A.M.

Should all public schools be alike/equal? Yes, but is this even a possibility? I don't think so. Ever since my family moved to Naperville I have gone to public schools in District 204 and I have experienced some of the best public education you will get in this country. At least that is what I believe. One thing that stood out for me when I attended Neuqua Valley was how well funded our school was, we had the best science equipment, gym equipment, and so on and so on. But, when we would go to other schools for sporting events, I couldn't help but notice how some schools even within our own conference, were much less funded.
Equality is something all people want, but unfortunately we have seen that equality is much harder to obtain then we could ever image. I agree with Kumashiro's response that these top of the line schools should be the standard and not the exception, but one of the conclusions I drew from his book was that education is about business, and business equals money. When push comes to shove those with the deepest pockets are the ones impacting our countries educational systems more than those individuals that love giving children the best opportunities.

C.R.E.A.M. - Cash Rules Everything Around Me

Post Debate Analysis

For the second week in a row we were treated to a debate. This week it was the Vice President Joe Biden vs Vice Presidential hopeful Paul Ryan, but what was most intriguing to me was the post debate coverage done by FOX News.

This week and last week I chose to turn to FOX News for my post debate coverage, not because I am conservative in my beliefs, but because I am very intrested in how they discuss the debates. After the presidential debate FOX News praised Mitt Romney for his poise and character to "stand up" to President Obama and the promises he failed to keep. They praised Romney because he was so straight forward and didn't let President Obama dictate the direction of the debate. But, that is the problem, FOX News praised Mitt Romney for his demeanor but not for what he was actually saying. Then this week's debate took place, and the same things that Romney was being praised for Biden was being critically judged.

STEPHEN HAYES: "When he thanked Joe Biden, Biden was smirking. And I just think that came across as very disrespectful."
BRIT HUME: "It looked like a cranky old man, to some extent, debating a polite young man."
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: "The smiles, the sneers ... it made Vice President Joe Biden -- someone who I typically like -- I thought he was very unlikable."
CHRIS WALLACE: "I don't believe I have ever seen a debate in which one participant was as openly disrespectful of the other."
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: "It was so disrespectful."
SEAN HANNITY: "At times, it was so uncontrollable, I was beginning to worry about him [Biden]."

I understand that FOX News has their own views and beliefs and is able to say and put whatever they want on the air. But to villify a man for the same things you praised your own candidate for doing is just maddness, they (FOX News) want things to be done one way, but when it is done against their candidate it is not alright. This idea that new networks have their own agenda's is a great detriment to our society, because they are not going to give us the important relevent information, but instead they will continue to filter what supports their beliefs and agendas. We as people must find a way to take our news back, and to make it relevant to real world issues.

Freedom of Speech or Freedom to Hate

While researching a topic for our proposal paper, I came across a website that had a very interesting article titled Why Islam Should NOT Be Protected Under the US Constitution.

http://catchkevin.com/islam-not-protected/

Like any individual I was very interested in reading this articles argument as to why religious freedom should no longer be protected by the Constitution. In short the article did it's best job of interpreting the Constitution and interpreting The Qur'an, and overall it took a very Right Wing conservative approach in it interpretation of both documents. The article used fear to drum up a storm against Muslims, citing that Islam is "not" a region, but that it is a "totalitarian form of government seeking COMPLETE DOMINANCE". Author Kevin Lehmann, not only makes outrageous statements about Islam, he also does his best to back these statements with his OWN interpretation of the Constitution. When talking about rights being given to us by 'God', Lehmann explains, that 'God' gave these rights to us as Americans and therefore any outsider (Muslim) should not be granted these rights. I could talk more about the article but I feel if you read it, you will have your own comments to make about Mr. Lehmann's views on the constitution and Islam.

To make such a claims and statements about a religion is very ignorant and hateful, but this is the United States and everyone is granted the freedom to say whatever they damn well please.

Who needs the public?

Over the last few days on public radio they have discussed Mayor's new city budget, but was most interesting was the lack of public involvement. In August of 2012, Mayor Emanuel hosted a few town hall meetings open to the public to discuss the cities budget, but these meetings turned sour fast. Throughout the meeting Emanuel was greeted with boos over his proposed budget plans. Most individuals would attempt to figure out why these individuals were booing, by asking what specifically in the budget they disagreed with, but not Mayor Emanuel.
Emanuel, like a few politicians these days, struggles with the notion that people are questioning his decisions. Dick Simpson, a former independent alderman put it best about Emanuel; "Rahm is good on transparency in terms of putting things on the internet...He’s not so good on community participation and democracy".
 For the last 30 years the city of Chicago has held open public meetings, to allow the community to get involved on how the cities budget should divided, but this year Rahm Emanuel has no more to these meetings. This notion that an elected leader struggles to keep the community and public involved is nothing new to this country, but to see an elected official change a process that is over 30 years old is quite shocking.
Whether you are for or against Emanuel, is not important, but to see an elected official kick the public out of "open public meetings" is quite disturbing. Emanuel is putting his job first, before the city, which unfortunately is nothing new in the city of Chicago.
By holding closed door private meetings with selected groups and individuals, the Mayor is showing his lack of faith in the people that have elected him. In a country where people like to know what is going on in their city, Emanuel has chosen to shut the most important people out, the public.

http://www.newstips.org/2012/10/public-left-out-of-emanuels-budget/

The Great Debaters

This past week we were re-introduced to our two presidential candidates in the first presidential debate. I am the type of individual that follows our countries politics, but I wont pick sides. We are given a great opportunity by having the freedom to debate and give our own personal opinions, but this past weeks debate was very disappointing. Like most people I have heard all of the pundits analysis of the debate, about who won and lost, who this debate was more important too, and so on. I was disappointed, because I felt what we watched was not a debate.
President Obama, seemed very disinterested but I felt he did a good job of explaining what his plans were for the upcoming for years. Mitt Romney on the other hand was much more engaged, in the sense that he seemed to want to be there. His responses on the other hand were  much more predetermined, and at times I felt he wasn't answering the questions being asked, especially anything he was asked to rebuttal. Overall, I felt this 1st debate was very disappointing, because it was too much of a predetermined question and answer. Hopefully the 2nd town hall debate is much more reminiscent of what a great debate is.

Hate Begets Hate...

Although I was unable to attend Deepa Kumar's speech in response to the book, Islamaphobia. I did get the chance to read a few of out classmates responses to her speech, and this has given me an understanding of what she was trying to discuss.
I was not shocked with what my classmates had shared about Kumar's speech about the Muslim enemy/threat. In this country our media has portrayed Muslim's as the enemy to our so called "Christian beliefs". But, our country is not the only culprit in this idea of using fear to create an enemy that may or may not be their. My father is from Iran, and he has told me that like America, Iran has made christian idea's and beliefs the enemy/threat to the Islamic beliefs of the middle east. By 'creating' these fears about one another, we have made the earth a very cynical and dark place.