I cannot believe it.

I cannot believe what is going on. California has passed a budget. This budget has about 1000000 dollars in cuts that affect programs such as the department of vocational rehabilitation, which helps blind people go to school and get a job, Programs for seniors, which maintain them occupied and provide medical services. Children services are also being cut. More class rooms are being filled with students which affect them because they do not get individualized attention that they need to succeed. We have been living in a society where the rich don’t want to lose anything, and they want the vulnerable to pay for things when they go wrong. People with money or power don’t want to help when the situation is going bad. I view California as a big family where each member has problems. Either they have problems with others, or with money. But, we are two stubborn to ask for help. On the other hand, we have people who have been blessed with money, but they become selfish with it. We need help. All we want is a won sent increase, but some people don’t want that. They prefer that other people suffer. They don’t care if the most vulnerable people pay the consequences. Before I get to them, let me just say that on the other hand, we have to pay too many taxes. For example, we will have to pay a 13 sent tax on gasoline. Also, we will have to borrow 1000000 dollars if I am not wrong. OK, what are the consequences? They are very catastrophic. Disabled people will not be able to achieve their goals, children will fall behind in their education, our elderly friends will dye, and people from all three groups will also dye because they did not get cared for the way that they were supposed to. Let me tell you another analogy. Let’s pretend that all California was in the ocean. Then, All of a sudden, those whom our vulnerable, began to sink. Only those that could swim were having fun. They saw that a lot of people were sinking, but they did not do anything. They said, “We don’t know why we need to bring those people with us. They interrupt our fun time.” They don’t do anything to help them. They preferred to let children and others with special needs dye. They preferred to let those that taught them about love, honesty, and respect dye. These were also the people who took care of them when they were sick, hungry, and penniless. These under privileged people gave it all to save them. Also, some of these people went to war for them. They risked their lives, so these wealthy people could stay alive and keep their freedom and fortune. This is how these rich people, and the people in power pay them? They take away services, and meanwhile, they still have a lot of money? These teachers, doctors, and others have spent countless hours with these people and their kids helping them. They lost so much sleep to fine ways to improve themselves, so these ungrateful people could be happy with them. However, they are not. One last thing I have to say is what go's around comes around.

The family

I would like to talk about something important and that is the family. A lot of people work 1 or 2 jobs just to pay the rent, the mortgage, food, clothing and other basic things. We all know that the minimum wage is not enough to cover all the expenses that a family might have. Knowing this problem, the government decides to waste money on other things, and they also keep raising taxes. Even though parents do a lot to survive these hard times, they are leaving their kids husbands or wives unattended. Some kids get dropped off in daycare and others go to school. Some kids go strait home after school. However, other kids stay a long time outside because they know that their parents will probably not come back until 9 PM or later. Those parents that come early from work pick up their kids from daycare if they have any in such a program, and they go strait home to sleep. In the meantime, the older kids are on the computer or in front of a television and most of the time; it is not for educational purposes. Others are getting introduced to things like sex, drugs, and being in gangs. Some if not most parents, do not play with their kids because they are too tired and if the kids want to talk to them, or simply give them a hug or kiss, they tell them to go away. There are some moms who don't like or want to kook or clean, and the dad has to do both things. It is very sad to say but this was caused by the feminist movement who told men they were not going to do whatever they wanted. I remember one morning when I was in an elevator on my way to one of my classes, and I heard a woman telling a man that she did not like to kook. The man also said that his wife did not like to kook and as I herd this, I thought to my self, “I hope I don't get a woman like that.” I was uncomfortable hearing this. But I am even more uncomfortable when I hear kids talking about another problem that is corrupting our country and that is sex. These kids are doing this in school when they don't even know what this is. Most people have sex with out love, and they think that if they don't do this, they are not going to be compatible on other things. In the first or second week that people meat, they begin to have sex or they start using drugs because of pier pressure. When a month goes by, they start living together not after they have a big argument with their parents because they think they are better than their parents. I know that it is very common to live together with a person without marrying that person. They see it as test driving a car and if they don't like the person, they could leave. In able for a relationship to work out, you have to spend more time asking questions about the other person and see if that person agrees or disagrees on the things that you believe. Watch how that person behaves with other people, and don't take him or her to expensive places. Some parents think that teachers should have the job to educate their kids about sex and drugs. However, teachers don't tell kids about the deeper issues of these two problems. Unfortunately, Because of these things, kids learn to be violent and they also learn about sexual education and drugs the wrong way. Think about it. What would you do if you don’t get what you want? It is likely that you will become violent. Some internet sites, radio shows, songs, TV shows, and video games have things relating to sexual activity or drugs. Unfortunately, these things do not tell kids the bad side effects. Parents don't put too much attention on what their kids are watching or hearing and that is another reason why kids tern out to be violent. If parents took time to talk or play with their kids, and watch TV with them, they wouldn't be the way they are now. Parents don't talk to their kids about the consequences of their actions and what could happen if they abuse things. Parents should start educating their kids about sex, drugs and violence when they are young. Also, they should tell them what is good or bad so when they get older, they will know what and what not to do. Because of the misinformation that kids get from their friends about sex ed, they start having it at a young age.
People have now gotten pregnant as early as 14 to 25 because they did not know how to control them selves. Remember in the early 80's when aids was something that nobody knew about? People started getting this by going to bath houses witch are places that allows people to fornicate with whomever they want. The same thing is happening with young people. They have sexual relations with multiple partners, and they get STD'S. However, they don't know how they got it. Many girls, who are going to high school or college, drop out because they need a job to support their kid. Others do it because of financial problems or because they did not wanted such a responsibility. They decided to have an abortion. The common side effects of abortion are Infertility, Cervical Laceration, and Uncontrollable blood clotting, severe hemorrhage, Seizures, Coma, Cancer, and Death. Unfortunately, women do not know this because doctors don't have to tell them these things. I believe that some doctors may say that to themselves. Other women have abortions because they were abused but even that is not an excuse to do that. The government should give money to the women so they could get more help.
I believe another thing that Leeds to a bad family is domestic violence. This includes physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. When children see this type of behavior, they grow to be even more violent than the parent that was doing this. This is how a cycle starts, and women who have kids, stay in the relationships because they think that if the man leaves nobody will be there for her or for her kids. This can also lead to a person using drugs because there is so much drama in their lives that they use the drugs to escape from reality. What these people don't know, is that when they try to stop, it is going to be too late because they are going to be addicted to the drug.

Budget crisis

We go through the same thing in California every year. It always takes a long time to pass a budget. We are in at least three weeks behind. It is scary to think that people will be going back to school, and there is no money. I heard on the news that kids will be spending not as much for there school supplies. This means that they will have to use their old school books, they will wear the same clothes, and they will have to use the same writing materials in this upcoming school year. However, California should not be the only won at fault, but The US as a whole. So now, we have two problems. I believe that we should not be hearing the same thing over and over from the politicians. Republicans don’t want to raze taxes, but the democrats do. Someone must give up. If we don’t raze taxes, what can we do to reduce the deficit? On the other hand, people cannot start cutting programs which are beneficial to the poor, the disabled, the sick, and the elderly. I believe that now it is time for the people who are in power, to think about others and not so much about themselves or people who have the same economic status as they do. We must realize that things are not for free, and that we must pay for what we need. If that means razing taxes, then we should do it. Again, unless the republicans have a better plan, I do not see another solution.

reparation money

I believe that The U.S. government should not give reparation money to the children from slaves because it would be a waste of time and it would cost a lot of money.
First of all, we would have to do DNA tests to determined if the people, had ancestors that were slaves. This could take up to 8 weeks. Then, we would have to do a psychological evaluation which would take more time, and people would have to weight some more depending on how much time is given. Also, we would be wasting time by arguing how much money they would be entitled to.
This will also cost a lot of money. According to africanDNA.com, a complete test will cost 1000 77 dollars. Now, multiply this by lets say, 10000 children of slaves. Then, we would have to pay 10770000 dollars. We would have to find in which way did the slave era affected the child which would require a psychological evaluation. Because every state is different, it is hard to put a price on how much this service would cost. Also, since slavery ended 143 years ago, it would be hard to prove that someone was affected.
If we were to give 10000 people 10000 dollars, we would be paying 100000000 dollars. I would also imagine that we would have to pay the people that will take care of the paperwork. Just on the reparation money and DNA tests the government will spend about 110000000 dollars. This amount would rise if we add the people who will do the printing, sorting, distribution, etcetera along with the people who would do the other things that I have mentioned. There are a few questions that need to be considered. What about those people, who are not black, but there ancestors were? Should they get paid reparation money, despite there skin color? What is the government going to do if someone commits fraud? I think we should also pay other ethnic groups because they have been mistreated. For example, the Japanese, the Hispanic, and the Native Americans. As an example, I could say that since my mom and dad were taken away from me because they were illegally in this country, and since I was born with a disability, I had to struggle to survive. If things were changed a little bit, and I went with them, I could say that as a result of being taken out my country, I did not have the services that I was supposed to have which caused me to be in a worse condition than in the one I was before I was taken away.
I believe that if this plan is accepted, our country will finally hit rock bottom.
1 April, 2008
http://www.africanDNA.com

movies

The author of an article that is in the LA times says that probably we are not going to see movies being shone in the movie theaters. This is going to happen because movies are coming out on DVD. Consequently, people are waiting until they come out in this way because they would avoid many things. for example, they would avoid having to make long lines at the movie theater. Furthermore, the author says that the movie studios need to put out better films, so the public would be eager to go to a movie. He also says that some of these movies were not made to be seen in an Ipod. one thing that I got from this article is that most young people do not appreciate old films. an example that the author gives is that there are few opera houses because of the lack of interest for these things. Even though this does not have anything to do with movies, it illustrates a good point. Technology has been guilty of more people spending their time watching movies on a portable device instead of joining their family to eat, to go and see a play, or to go to the movies. I agree with the author. If things keep going the way they are, movie theaters will be history. I was not wrong when I said that technology was bad for us. on a personal experience, I used to like movies but now that they have too many sound effects and a lot of visual scenes, I rarely see them. Films that were made in the 1960's and 1970's were much better. For a scary film, they would use a piano. For other ones, they would have an orchestra playing in the background. The actors talked more than they do now. that is why; I enjoy movies that were made back then. even though there is still dialog, I cannot understand movies because I would have to see what they were doing in able to understand what the conversation was about. For example, let’s say that someone would be cooking and he got burnt. He would curse and everyone in the theater would do something. Because I would not understand what everyone was laughing or crying about, I would have to ask a person what happened. the person would tell me that they were laughing because the person got burnt. I hope we realize that cell phones, ipods, and computers are not for watching movies. Computers are for typing and retrieving important files. in other words, they are useful to view or print info and to sample media. Cell phones are for making important calls. Ipods are for storing and for listening to music. However, technology is not entirely guilty. The people who make these movies do not have anything good to put out. As soon as movie makers use a little bit of creativity, that is when people will start to go back and see them.

lowering the drinking age

I have heard some people say that we should lower the drinking age. I believe that We should not reduce the drinking age from 21 to 18 because some young adults would be irresponsible and there for, they would cause an increase in automobile accidence. Do to the immaturity of some people under the age of 21, we will see as we have seen before, some of them do things that are not right. For example, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had a study that found that one out of 14 girls in between the ages of 14 and 19 has an STD. What do STDs have to do with lowering the drinking age if the statistic starts with age 14? First of all, it is important to ask why and how these girls contracted an STD? What would be the first answer? Could they had stopped this from happening? Why they did not do it? If at 18 they were able to consume alcohol, would they do something bad? The answer is yes. From 14 to 18 some kids have not matured enough. Also, at 18 they are getting out of that childhood stage, and some if not most adults, will be struggling to mature which would lead them to still keep on doing the same mistakes that they have been doing. Also, now that they have access to new things such as the internet, they would be doing more mistakes. Why is this? Using the net, they would be able to plan a party where some kids would be able to take alcahol. Meanwhile, their parents would not have a clue of what was going to take place. When kids got out of school, to protest in favor of illegal imigrants rights, on may first of 2006, I heard that some of those kids, had already planned how this thing was going to happen. Another example is that some, if not most kids, start driving at the age of 16, and we no the potential problems that this has caused. There have been 3,490 drivers under the age of 21 that died in 2006 and thousands more were injured. According to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, it was estimated that there were 11000000 underage drinkers in the US. Now, imagine those 11000000 young adults and those that will be turning adults in the next few years being able to legally consume alcohol by the age of 18. How many more accidence would have to be added to already the long list? I believe it would be A lot. Giving them a second tool could lead to bad consequences. Since the first tool was driving, If we start providing alcohol, it would be the second tool which will kill more people than when they had only the first one. If we start to legalise drinking at the age of 18, It is going to be a two year difference which is not going to change anything. What I mean by that is these kids who were driving recklessly at the age of 16, now that they would be 18, and now that they would be able to purchous alcahol, who knows what could happen.I should also add that since driving starts at 16, probably drinking should be legalized at 16 as well. The accidence that are caused by 16 year olds is going to rise as soon as these people turn 18. The reason they have not risen now is because children are not able to purchase as much alcohol as they would if they were 18. As I have said before, This could have a lot of bad consequences if it were to happen. One of the consequences, would be that there parents will be devastated. This will happen because their child just killed a person and or got killed because of a teenager driving drunk. Another consequence is that a lot of money maybe thousands of dollars, would have to be paid to the family by the tax payers for the damage that some teenagers will cause. Also, we should not forget that the family of the drunk teenager, Probably will not have enough money to pay the other family or families.
So far, we have been able to reduce the fatal and injury crashes by 38% and 40% respectively, among 16 year old drivers. However, if lowering the drinking age were to happen, the statistics would go up again. At 18 a person has not yet grown sufficiently, but they still want to experience many things.The problem with that in this case, is that according to www.cdc.gov, at all levels of blood alcohol concentration, Young people have a greater risk of getting into an accident.

granting sitizenship

I am for not granting the citizenship to those people who are born in the United States. I believe that a citizenship should be earned. Just like anything else in this country. People don't take care of things when it is given to them, however, when they have worked for something, they appreciated more. I believe that with the proper education, we could give the children as well as the adults. The certainty that they will be able to know the information that at this moment, they are not able to understand. I have heard other people say that the educational system within the United States is one of the worse ones in the entire world. This is because the education system has not been changed very much in the United States since the beginning. By improving our education system and adding the questions that are required to grant the citizenship into the education of the children, kids will be able to know most all there is to know about the US plus more. This will make them competent and able to participate in debates and to go to other countries, which will allow them to be exposed to all the people who could help them in the career that they will be pursuing in the future. Right now, because most kids do not know most of the history of the United States, or anything else about the United States, except for the basic things, we have been leading the kids to do things that they shouldn't be doing. Most of them, in part because of the education system, drop out. By dropping out of school, they are not able to become the person whom they would have liked to become. Add to this that some of them don’t get the support from their parents. According to an article titled: Poor Marks for U.S. Education System, published in GENEVA, Nov. 26, 2002, by Alexander G. Higgins, a United Nations study said that South Korea has the most effective education system in the world's richest countries, with Japan in second place and the United States and Germany near the bottom. I believe Students would have to take the citizenship test multiple times to keep this from happening again. However, this will be a practice test. So, when they get to the real one, they will be able to master all of the questions, and they would know the answers. In able to get there citizenship, children would have to volunteer two hours a day. This would start when they are 10 years old. They will be able to do the work on the weekends. By the time they reach high school, they will not have to worry about the hours of community service because they would already be doing them. Also, they would have to have a C or better throughout school. To check every student's progress, a teacher or councilor will pass this on along with two letters and any other info about the students. The schools and the volunteer programs will take care of all documents. The parents would have to pay the necessary fees. Disabled people would be exempt from this process. Some may argue that there will be people that are not going to be able to pay the fees, and this will create a caste system. So, why do we still have fees for everything else? We have fees for airport security, returning something late, and ticket fees. People are still able to pay for these things. Also remember that Children from illegal immigrants are being born in this country. Each person would have to pay 5000 dollars per each child that wants to become a citizen. If some crossed illegally, the government from their country of origin will have to pay the fee. Hopefully, this will reduce illegal emigration because the governments will talk to their citizen about the situation. If multiple offences are committed, unfortunately, the person will lose the right to enter the U.S. in a legal way for his or her entire life. There could be exceptions to the rule. If you are not a citizen, you will get the basic things such as health care, protection if you or your kid are being abused, free advice in any matter, among other things. How ever, if you want to send your kids to school, and if you want to vote, you will have to be a citizen. The people who will make all this possible would be the ICJ (International Court of Justice), Immigration authorities. Funding and Staffing: Normal Means. For the education part of this plan, a new agency will be created. They will evaluate all the paperwork. It will be funded by tax payers. They will determine if a student qualifies for citizenship.

Mister Bush

I have had enough of what the president has said. First of all, he is justifying his actions. For example, if the president wanted to save Iraq, why didn't he do it as soon as he got in office? Why didn't he saved the Saudi's? The 19 that were on the airplanes were from Saudi Arabia. Don’t we have terrorists living in the USA. Why are we not doing anything about that? Getting back to Iraq, When the WMd's were not found, he did not back off from his plan. How do we know that our system is going to work? Just because it is successful in the US, It does not mean that it will be the same for other countries. Mister Bush has been asked if he has made any errors, and he has been evasive. Why can’t he say, “I made mistakes, and I am going to fix them.” It seems that the president is not being truthful. Here are a few examples, 1. He is helping only those who have a lot of money. He says that he is helping the other people, but those people are still in the same situation.
2. He is trying to make us believe that not enough money is being put to the social security. Really? How interesting!
There are a lot of people that are making a lot of money. So, where is the money?
3. Jobs are being lost. I believe this is half the truth. I believe that we could fix this problem by employing more people. There is money which has to go to making more cars that do not need gas.
4. He is not considering ideas from other people. He still believes that we should drill for oil. As other people have already said, this will not be good fore us because it will do damage our home.
Kids are making bombs, and they are putting them in schools. Kids are bringing things such as guns and knives to school. This is a problem, but nothing is being done to protect the schools. I guarantee that if everyone who visits this blog let the government know that this is happening, and that the suggestions to fix most of our problems is being said, he would do something. Send the president, the vice president, senators, congressmen, and governors this concern. It is very bad that we have a president that does not care about us. It is time to let our voice be heard. Please save the US now that we know that this administration is not going to do it.

changing our money system

as people get old, they start to lose their eye sight. It will be hard for them to know the money that they have. Some of them must resort to glasses as their only window to the world. Not having these, and not being able to know how much money they have, is like a sighted person when he or she is in the dark trying to go somewhere. At that point, they are sad and angry because they cannot enjoy the things that others are doing.
Because of this, I believe that it is necessary to change our antiquated money system. Furthermore, I think that this would be a good solution to prevent job outsourcing from the US. According to cfr.org, by the year 2015, 473,000 jobs in the information technology industry will be off-shored. As we all know, getting a steady job is difficult enough. Now, imagine being blind and trying to get a job.
I believe that blind people would be able to benefit from inclusion in the work field because it would allow them to live more independently. On the same token, they would be able to manage their money more efficiently, and it would prevent people stealing or cheating from them. Also, people suffering from lack of sight would be working towards becoming productive citizens. According to an article, titled, "Blind Applicants Confront A Harsh Job Market," which was published on November 22 2007 in the Boston Globe, 70 percent of blind people are unemployed. If we compare this number to the 40 percent of sighted people who are unemploied, this would and should be able to tell us something. Changing the money would create more jobs and boost our sluggish economy.
According to a story titled,”Treasury Ordered to Make U.S. Bills Blind Friendly,” which was on NPR on November 29 2006, Judge James Robertson said, “only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations. Every other issuer includes at least some features that help the visually impaired." Lets not forget that some of these countries such as Argentina, are not economically developed as the US. Despite this, The US government does not want to do this because it will cost at the most, an estimated 178 million Dollars for new printing presses and as much as 50 million Dollars for new plates; according to an article By EDMUND L. ANDREWS, published November 29 in the New York Times. If the one dollar bill was left as it is now, the government would not have to spend more than they have to. Also, blind people will have a better opportunity to spend money, which is just what our President is asking for as a way to contribute to economic growth.
If we could accommodate the blind, many jobs would not have to go to other countries and services wouldn't have to be cut as much as they are being cut now.
One way to update our currently outdated paper money system would be to put A tactile symbol. Another way would be to put a symbol that could not be removed such as a strip of metal shaped into the dollar amount. For example, if it was a twenty dollar bill, there would be the number 20 engraved into the bill.
If you want the economy to continue it's slow descent into one of the lowest in the industrialized world, don't change anything. However, if you want our parents and grandparents to have a nice life after they retire, and if we want our economy to shake out of this recession, so we, as well as our children, could have a better tomorrow, we should make changes to our monetary system.

Otterman, Sharon. “TRADE: Outsourcing Jobs.” 20 February. 2004. Council on Foreign Relations. 9 March 2006 .
Coombs, Christie. “Blind Applicants Confront A Harsh Job Market.” 22, November 2007.The Boston Globe. 9, March 2006. < Http:www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/11/22/blind_applicants_confront_a_harsh_job_market>
Kramer, Joy Melody. “Treasury Ordered to Make U.S. Bills Blind-Friendly.” All Things Considered. NPR. KCRW, Santamonica. 29 November. 2006

fixing a problem

I found a letter in the LA times that proposed two solutions so our government could fix the economic problems. I will discuss the first one which is to raise taxes. According to the writer, “if we want good schools, a decent infrastructure, healthcare,
Libraries, law enforcement, youth programs and other services that make for a livable, thriving society, we have to pay for them.” He also states that this is going to require some sacrifices, but the challenges that are ahead of us are big and, “will not be solved on the cheap.”
I agree with the author. I think this argument has strength because some if not most of the things that we buy, are unnecessary. For Example, big TV’s, alcohol, and cigarettes. Some could say that this is not going to help or if it does, it is not going to be enough. I think that something is better than nothing.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-tuesday19feb19,0,5409963,full.story

A Hunger crisis

I wrote this more than two years ago, and it is sad that things have not changed.
A Hunger Crisis,
What is a crisis? According to dictionary.com, a crisis is: A. A crucial or decisive point or situation. It is also a turning point.
B. An unstable condition, as in political, social, or economic affairs, involving an impending abrupt or decisive change.
Something that is affecting the children today is hunger. Many people suffer from hunger in the US. This happens because of lack of money, expensive things, and because services are denied.
I remember one time when I did not eat for several days because I did not have enough money. I receive SSI which is: supplemental security income. Unfortunately, I only get 800 Dollars a month and that is below the poverty level. Out of that money, I took some money to pay for rent and utilities. Also, some of that money went for transportation. When I counted how much money I had, I only had enough for a drink. During those few days, I only drank juice.
I felt angry not being able to get money to eat, but I was also sad because I used to sleep most of the day, so I could not think of my misfortune. When I awoke, I would only listen to music and do the usual necessities that a human must do.
Their have been other occasions, where I have had money, but the food was expensive. When my mom told me about this I said, “how can it be possible that food is expensive?" One time I wanted to bye eggs, tortillas, chicken, and milk, but I only had money for the tortillas and the milk. This ruined my plan because I wanted to have a nice meal. As I entered the store, my mom began to read the tags on the things that we were going to bye. As we went to pay for the stuff that we bought, I was thinking" Why does this have to happen again." When I Got home, my mom went to the refrigerator and saw that there was a bit of food left over, and I had to eat an egg, a slice of cheese, and two tortillas.
Finally, I have been denied services. Because their was not a way that I could get food, I went to apply for food stamps. However, the person who helped me said that I could not do that because I was receiving SSI. When I got home, I started telling my mom that other people get money and food stamps but nothing has happened to them. I also told her that the poor have to struggle more to get the things that they need and want.
We cannot let hunger affect children any more. One solution to this problem would be to help anyone who is on the streets by taking them to a shelter. If rich people got rid of their selfishness, ego, and of the ambition to have more things, life could be much better for them and for the kids. Because they would give the money they do not need to these people, the poor would have money for food. It is hard to believe that the US has money to build things and for wars, but they don't have money to get these kids food, or a place to live. There have been food drives in different cities in the US to help hungry people. For example, nonprofit organizations do annual food drives, but this should not be dun once a year. I think, it could and should be dun every day.
Many kids suffer because of hunger. Even though this has been affecting children, know one stops to give them a hand. I am slowly getting out of that situation. I have been able to do it by doing things that will get me some money. Because of the reasons already mentioned. My wish is that other people could follow my footsteps, so they could be able to do what they love as I am doing it now. I hope that everyone could finally get a job or career where they would be able to make a lot of money and get out of this situation. I pray for this to happen.