Arizona Shooting

The recent Arizona shooting left fourteen people wounded with three in critical condition. On this tragic day, a 22 year old Jared Lee Loughner, allegedly went on a shooting rampage in front of a grocery store. President Obama ordered a moment of silent for the whole country to honor those involved in the shooting. I do feel horrible for these people and representative Gifford, and would love to have a moment of silence for all those involved, but I find it interesting that that same respect is not given to the hundreds of soldiers that put their life on the line everyday and die for our freedoms. I think maybe it has something to do with power, since Gifford is a public figure and involved in the government. The young men and women who have little power in the army should be given this same moment of silence throughout the country. The hundreds of poor black people killed and left homeless from Katrina were not given a moment of silence, because they "don't contribute to society" in the same way as powerful people. A life is a life and the ones that are lost in national tragedy or war should be nationally recognized no matter what economic status or race.    Most of the time their deaths go unnoticed and it makes me so angry that just because someone has power that their life seems to be more worthy then others.

Tweak # 3

I think its very interesting that a lot of times when you see someone suffering from drug or alcohol abuse that it runs in the family. I see it all the time in movies and TV shows, along with in real life. Parents being alcoholics and their kids growing up to be just like them. One of the characters, Gack who is a drug addict and is starting a drug dealing business with Nic, has a long line of drug and alcohol abuse in this family. “Gack saw his mom from time to time. She lived in Napa too. She had six years sober-going to twelve-step meetings and things. He guessed he liked her alright. He seems pretty okay with the whole situation. (p.82)” I find it really sad that the influence parents have on a child, good or bad, can determine who they turn out to be. Being a parent comes along with a lot of responsibility, lifestyles need to change when a child is born. If I was an addict I would never want my child to grow up and have to deal with the hardship and struggle that I went through. Gack who lives with his drug addicted father has been doing drugs for a while. He must have picked up the habit from his father. When a parent encourages this type of behavior is only a matter of time until he overdoses or becomes a serious drug addict. Its so shocking that there are actually parents out there that believe it is okay for their kids to take drugs. Some may say it’s the only way for a child to learn for themselves, but in my opinion, as a guardian you have to guard a child from certain things that will harm them, and drugs are one of those things. 

Tweak #2

The more I read of this book the more I become frustrated with Nic, the main character. He seems to never go through with anything. He drops out of many of his rehabs and relapses for the fifth time. He can’t hold a job, not even because of his addiction. He says “Usually I just stop showing up for work one day. That’s what happened with the six jobs before that. Actually I’ve never seen a job all the way through to the end-not even in sobriety (p.34)” It doesn’t surprise me that he has relapsed this many times. He needs to learning from his past mistakes and focus on a future he could build for himself. I have a hard time feeling sorry for him. He has a good family that cares and loves him. Nic keeps mistreating them and stealing from them. He even stole money from his little sister as well as her diary. At this point the only person that can save him is himself, which seems to be his worst critic. “There is this crazy fear I have of being rejected by anyone-even people I don’t really care about (p.34). He has to realize that not everyone will like you and by punishing yourself he is making his own problems worse, and affecting the lives of so many people around him.

This book focuses on drug abuse among teens; I begin to see the vicious cycle of addiction that develops in these young adults. Although most of this abuse is seen in the poorer neighborhoods, it still can reach a wide demographic of teens. Nic has a middle class family with a decent amount of money so it is not only limited to the families living in the projects. What it comes down to is we feel inside. Nic feels isolated and alone and therefore turns to drugs to get the “high” he longs for. 

Tweak # 1

I chose to read Tweak for my free reading book for this semester. Tweak is a true story about a young man named Nic Sheff, who is addicted to meth. He lets us into the scary life of an addict and reveals the feelings he had and also why he was on drugs in the first place. He says “I loved drugs. I loved what they did for me. They relieved me of that terrible sense of isolation I had always felt. They gave me that manual to life that Johnny had described. I could not, NOT give that up (18).” Nic felt like he was an outsider with no way to fit in with society besides turning to drugs and alcohol. Teenagers often feel like they do not belong and need a way to either fit in our get away from it all. Recently in the news we have seen a large amount of teenage suicides. These stem from all different areas, and aspects of life. Some students are gay, others are just different. With technology now, it seems like the problem has gotten worse. For example in class when we read a packet on bullying in schools where numerous cases were explained and our justice system was questioned. Its hard to hold someone accountable for online bullying. In class we learned that there are laws put into place, this is a quote from the packet we read in class called When Cyberbullying Turns Deadly “The majority of U.S states now have anti-bullying laws. Some have recently added cyberharassment statues to their books (p.2)” I think our schools and government should make it even more of a punishment. Even though most of these individuals are kids I think that our society is moving towards a society that is insensitive and cold. If better morals and values are installed into our youth, then bullying will not be as much of a problem. Nic Sheff is a perfect example of a kid that uses drugs for an outlet, and it is a sad addiction, that once started is near impossible to brake. 

Abortion

1. After looking at each website thoroughly, I could understand each side of the debate. On one hand, some of the methods of abortion like partial birth seem to be inhumane and cruel. In a partial birth, the doctor inserts scissors into the back of the baby’s skull and widens the wound and inserts suction into the head and sucks the brain out. This method stuck out to me as being epically horrible, but I know that this is rarely if ever used as an abortion method. I also see the other side, their website wants to protect the safety of these doctors and nurses that provide women with abortions. They also want birth-control and proper sex education to be readily available to teens. This seems to be the best cure for this issue. If more people were educated about sex and were using birth control, some of these unwanted pregnancies would not exist. I think the pro-choice have a better argument and the angle they are taking seems to be a lot more responsible and pro-active.
2. I think every girl that is 17 or 18 thinks about what they would do if they got pregnant, but it is much easier to say you will do something when it doesn’t happen to you. I think parents do have a legal right to know if their child is under the age of 18. They are still living under their parent’s house and relaying on them financially. If some complication occurs medically, it is extremely important for the parents to know the surgery took place and what to expect afterwards. Having said that, I don’t think they should have to consent the abortion. In the end it is the girl’s choice and body, not her parents.
3. I believe that the mother of the unborn baby should have the choice to tell the father, but should not be required to. In many chases of abortion, the mother and father are unwed and might not even be dating, therefore notifying the father might be unnecessary. I do not think the father should have to give consent to go through with the abortion. The father does not have the baby in side of him for 9 mouths, the mother does. The father can always change his mind and back out, leaving the mother to raise a baby on her own, which is a very difficult task. So I think that informing the father should be up to the mother, and not a law.
4. Illinois has a law that states “the provision of any abortion procedure that falls within a broad definition a felony, unless necessary to preserve the life of a woman endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, and no other medical procedure will suffice.” Illinois basically tried to make having an abortion a crime. This is not fair for those young mothers that can’t support a baby and have no other ways out. I do not agree with this law, and that is why it is not enforced currently in Illinois. I would change this law, and make abortions legal for those who need them. We also have a law that says that abortions are not covered under health care. I actually agree with this, I do not think the tax payers should have to pay for an abortion, the women made the choices she made and the tax payers should not have to pay for her to fix it. Having said that, I still think abortions should be available to those who want them, I just think that the women should have to find a way to pay for it. 

Death Penalty #3

• In the beginning of all the death penalty cases, the defendant must first be proven guilty.  Once they’re guilty, they go through a penalty phase trial. At this trial they decide whether the crime was bad enough to receive the death penalty. After this, they can appeal. Then there is another post-conviction review where evidence can be newly considered and misconduct of jury members and other things like that.  Then they go through Federal Habeas Corpus, this ensures that the prisoners arrest is legal. Then they may go on to ask for Clemency from the governor and that would pardon their death penalty, and give them a less punishment of jail time.   One the website they say that most evidence is provided either from an eye witness or a confession. I recently have been learning about memory in my Psychology class. We learned that eye witnesses rarely ever know who the person is and most eye witnesses chooses the wrong person as the murder or rapist.  I think that the stages put in place, so a good job making sure that the crime fits the punishment, but I think that they could go through another case, with another jury to be 100% positive that the defendant is indeed guilty of the crime.

• The most humane method of execution would be lethal injection. The inmate is given a chemical that puts them to sleep, then one that stops their muscle functions and stops them from breathing, and then they get a shot that stops their heart. Even though none of these ways are human, this is the most painless way to be executed. I think the method of hanging is considered cruel and unusual punishment; there are so many things that could go wrong and potentially make someone die and slow and painful death. If the prisoner has strong neck muscles, or the drop is too short, or something goes wrong with the rope, then it’s basically torture. Even more extreme then hanging, Firing squad causes the inmates to die from lose of blood, which means it is a very slow and painful death. The inmate is shot by five shooters to ensure his death.

• This data has opened my eyes to the amount of death row inmates around the country. There is over 400 in Florida alone, I always though that there would be two or three in each state. Seeing the amount of inmates that were sentenced in the south alone was unbelievable. I can see that the South is very strongly in favor of capital punishment. Another thing I noticed about the death penalty was that it seems to be pretty based on race. In Georgia 51 out of 53 of the executed were African American, and in Alabama 96 out of 100 executed were African American. This tells me that our system of capital punishment has a lot of flaws as well as our justice system.

• This information further supported my opinion about capital punishment. This article proved that the death penalty system was actually more expensive than then life in jail. The death penalty system is very racist, having a majority of the death row inmates be black, with white victims. 48% of people are against the death penalty and for life in jail. 65% of people were in support of the death penalty, which is down from 80% in 1994. This source clearly was against capital punishment. There statistics were very powerful and shocking. I think most people that read this would start to think in the way of the writer. They did not include anything about the victims of these murders. I would want to know what percent of the victims families were against the death penalty.

Death Penalty (Clifford Boggess)

In the Frontline movie about Clifford Boggess I found myself confused about my position on his case. Part of me knew he was a cold blooded murderer and realized that there is something seriously wrong with him. An other part of me felt like he had changed and that his death row experience had made him truly sorry for the murders he had committed and trusted his new way of life. He fully admitted to his crimes and knew that he did something wrong. But then again, when his ex-girlfriend was interviewed she knew he was a threat to society and wanted him to die because he was threnting her. I personally don't believe in the death penalty. I can understand a families want for the murderer of their loved ones to die, but I think suffering in jail is a lot worse then spending a couple years on death row and being then being done with life. Boggess is a prime example of a criminal, he is manipulating and can swing situations in his favor. I still believe he is a horrible person, with little repentance, but I don't think he should have died. Some people my have justified the lives he took, with this own death, but its just a cycle. We can't teach AAmericans that it's okay to solve violence with violence.