Education in America

Carrie Burkett wrote an article concerning the education issues in America.  I agree with her that many of the teenagers are not fully prepared for the level of dedication needed to receive a college education.  I also agree with Carrie in that our government does not put enough money into the K-12 education.  Having said that, I feel other reasons teens have problems in college is their obsession with technology and the lack of interest given by the parents during their K-12 years of school.

If you walk into a store or restaurant, you will most likely see a number of children and young adults with their heads down.  They are not down due to lack of confidence but because they are completely consumed with the piece of technology they hold in their hands.  I would say around sixty-five percent of the children I met in the last ten years did not lift their eyes from their phones to say hello when we were being introduced.  My nieces, currently in high school, stay up late hours playing and chatting on Facebook, and they are extremely tired the next day for school.  According to ABC News, "A growing body of research suggests that more and more young people are becoming sleep-deprived because they can't put down their high-tech toys."  Students must be taught by parents and educators how to control their time with these toys.

Also, I believe parents have a great responsibility to express the importance of education to their children.  For example, my parents told me they never liked school, and as long as I passed they would be happy.  Obviously, this did not motivate me to strive for good grades.  I just did what I needed to do to pass, just like I was told.  Now thirty years old and a mother of two amazing kids, I know my parents made a grave mistake with their approach on education.  Catherine Wehlburg Hickman said, "The authors of the Coleman Report indicated that about one-half to two-thirds of the variance in students' achievement could be accounted for by home variables rather than school variables."  It is up to our parents to show and teach their children how important education is for their future.  If they do, the young adults in college will be better prepared for the responsibility and motivation needed to get to class.

Mad Cow - Mad USDA

When the USDA made the announcement about the case of mad cow disease discovered in California earlier this week, there was panic abroad.  The dairy cow randomly tested for this mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, was not to be slaughtered for food, but it is frightening all the same.

Mad cow disease is caused by using cow remains in the cattle feed.  Since the outbreak first appeared in the 1980s with English cattle herds, approximately 200,000 cattle have been affected worldwide.  Mad cow disease has not been detected in the U.S. since 2006 due to some measly efforts made by the United States Department of Agriculture.  Currently, the U.S. only screens 1 in 1,700 cows out of the 34 million slaughtered annually.  After the two cases of mad cow disease in 2006, the FDA and USDA banned the inclusion of spinal cords and brains from cows 30 months and older from the animal feed.

What is currently allowed in cattle feed, besides the spinal cord and brains from younger cows, is plate waste (restaurant scraps), poultry litter, and cow and pig blood.  As if that isn't nauseating enough, they use the cow and pig blood to supplement protein in the milk for the young calves.

If a human does consume meat from a diseased cow they will fall ill to the human form of mad cow disease called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease, or vCJD, which has killed approximately 150 people worldwide.

The USDA tells us not to worry and to note that only 4 cases of BSE has occured in the U.S. since 2003.  What Americans need to be aware of is that symptoms for humans and cows infected with this disease can go years without showing signs.  "It is possible for a person infected with vCJD to live for 30 years before showing any symptoms of the disease, and since it is impossible at this point to diagnose vCJD before symptoms are experienced, it is likely many more people are carrying the disease completely unaware."

Not only do I feel betrayed by the government departments created to protect me, I am completely and utterly disgusted to learn what all goes into the meat Americans consume on a daily basis.  Our safest course is to eat organic or 100% grass-fed cattle.  Better yet, shop at your local farms to market!  Hopefully, Americans will educate themselves and spend the extra money for good quality beef.  This would cause the meat industry to start making healthier choices on how they process the cattle.  Once that day comes; we would no longer have to worry about mad cow disease.

Safe in Our Military

On blog, Wife of a Veteran, there was a post titled "Sexual Violence in the Military" that really struck a personal chord with me.  The blogger talks about all the sexual assault cases that happen in the military, how most of the criminals do not get disciplined, and she points out that there are still many horrifying stories left untold due to fear.  I feel the blogger is trying to tell everyone in America that these women, and men, that serve our country do not deserve this treatment, and the perpetrators must be punished.

When I was 20 years old, I went into a Navy recruiting office ready to sign up and serve my country.  During every visit to the recruiting office, my 35 year old recruiting officer, who was married with kids, would heavily hit on me and make me extremely uncomfortable.  He would call me most nights to see if I wanted to go out drinking with him even though he knew I was under age.  Needless to say, I did not end up joining the military.  I was deathly afraid most men that would be on my ship would have the same creepy personality as my recruiting officer.  It was a rude awakening for me, to say the least.

I do not feel every man in the military is a pervert or a rapist, as I know many brave and great men that serve our country right now.  Having said that, what frightened me the most was how the recruiting officer would do this in front of the other recruiters in his office, and they all found it funny even though I was obviously not okay with his actions.  How am I, or any other woman, going to trust these type of men with my life?

We all know rape is difficult to talk about, and Americans definitely don't want to think of their brave soldiers being capable of such horrific crimes, but this "ignorance is bliss" approach on the issue must stop.

Fortunately, there are groups fighting the Department of Defense to show the records indicating how many cases of rape and sexual assault there have been in the military.  Due to the Freedom of Information Act, the Dept. of Defense should be required to share the records but keep finding ways around it.  We must continue to demand this information so that we may find out just how much the military is hiding in regards to this issue.  All Americans that serve our country deserve the right to feel safe and protected by our government.  If not, what are they fighting for?

Equal Rights

It genuinely baffles me that there are still American citizens fighting for equal rights in the United States of America.  I feel we, as a country, should have learned from our previous mistakes by now and have open minds and hearts for all.  Mostly, it breaks my heart there are still millions of Americans who can not get married because they are same-sex couples.  Why should I be able to marry but they cannot?  Marriage is about being in love and committing the rest of your life to that person.  It should not be about gender.

It was not long ago when our government believed African Americans did not deserve the same rights as white citizens in this country.  African Americans were separated from white citizens as if they were an inferior race. They were worked as slaves,  and then later paid next to nothing while not having the right to vote.  We all know now how repulsive this way of thinking was, and we are, as we should be, disgusted by what happened.  Yes, African Americans were allowed to marry one another, but interracial marriage was illegal in most states in the 1950s.  There is a heart-wrenching documentary showing an interracial, Virginian couple who fought this law, taking their case to the U.S. Supreme court.  In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the couple which resulted in states overturning their ban on interracial marriage.

I don't understand how the government can realize how erroneous and ignorant our laws were against interracial marriage, but they do not grasp that keeping same-sex couples from getting married is equally wrong.  If two people are in love, and they can legally make decisions about marriage, the government should not be able to intervene.    

After allowing same-sex marriage, the government must change the federal law which defines marriage only if it is with one woman and one man being married.  This inaccurate definition of what marriage should be, must be changed to allow same-sex couples the benefits of social security, tax breaks, family and medical leave, and more.

The government must realize how hypocritical this is, and we must do what we can to change these laws.

Pink Slime For School Lunch

   "Lean beef trimmings" is the official term for the seven million pounds of pink slime the U.S. Department of Agriculture just purchased for our childrens' school lunches according to The Huffington Post.  The article was written on March 5, 2012, and it goes into detail about how this meat is treated and processed.  According to the article, "the product is a ground-up combination of beef scraps, cow connective tissues and other beef trimmings that are treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill pathogens like salmonella and E. coli."  Perhaps to help the parents feel better, it is then mixed with ground beef and hamburger patties.  This pink slime the government is using for the school lunches was rejected by Taco Bell, McDonald's, and Burger King.

   Microbiologist, Carl Custer, argues that the pink slime is not real meat, as it uses connective tissues instead of muscle when it is processed.  He worked at the Food Safety Inspection Service for thirty-five years, yet the USDA claims the beef meets its high standard for food safety.  People are meant to believe this meat is safe, but it is made with ammonium hydroxide which can turn into ammonium nitrate.  This component is used to make homemade bombs, cleaning agents and fertilizers.  Although the meat is treated to kill salmonella and E. coli, there have been several cases of both pathogens found in the "lean beef trimmings" throughout the years.

   What is most bothersome is that this purchase of meat comes only weeks after the government announced new guidelines for school lunches.  They claim to be implementing more whole grains and produce into the lunches while discarding high sodium / fat foods.

   There is a large number of schools in California fighting these issues by bringing in professionals to show the schools' cooks how to make healthier lunches for the children, and I believe this should be something done in every state.

   I have no doubt this article was written to inform parents of what is going on, and I agree with the distressing horror the author displays in the facts.

Ethical Oil

In the article, 'Blood oil' vs. 'ethical oil', published in the Houston Chronicle, the Editorial Board makes an  argument in favor of tapping into our own country's oil, or even accessing friendly nations' supplies, instead of trying to get it from the Middle East.  They compared the oil from the Middle East to the diamonds once purchased from parts of Africa that caused so much bloodshed, also known as "blood diamonds".  Ethical oil, of course, would mean purchasing oil from friendly countries or tapping into our own oil reserves.  I agree with the authors in that we should not import oil from enemy countries in the Middle East, as there are many other places that produce oil.   I feel the authors tried to reach everyone, especially people supporting Obama, so they can see what the President is put a stop to.  President Obama put a hold on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which would run from Alberta, Canada to multiple destinations in America.  The article argued that allowing this pipeline to go through will benefit us with thousands of barrels of oil a day.  The article also stated, "It will mean well paying jobs, increased tax revenues, reduced expenses for national security and, in the case of natural gas, benefits for the environment."  The last statement in the quoted sentence is what really threw me off.  There are so many controversies pertaining to the environmental issues this massive pipeline could cause, and I feel this is reason enough to question the credibility of these authors.  Crude from oil sands produces some of the dirtiest fuel.  I agree with President Obama, and not the authors of this article, that we must take the time to be able to fully understand the environmental impact this pipeline could have on our country, along with Canada, before agreeing to start construction on said pipeline.  I do, however, agree with the authors that hearing more debate about ethical oil would benefit our country.  Hopefully, this will be something discussed further during the next presidential election.

NJ to Vote on Gay Marriage

On February 7, 2012, MSNBC published an article about a NJ Assembly scheduled to vote on gay marriage. The vote is scheduled to take place on February 16, 2012, to hopefully grant same sex couples the right to marry in New Jersey.  Reed Gusciora, an openly gay assemblyman and sponsor of the bill, feels they will get the 41 votes needed for passage.  Of course, there may be a problem once it reaches Gov. Chris Christie.  He has said he will veto the bill if it lands on his desk.  According to the article, "Democrats need 27 votes in the Senate and 54 in the Assembly for veto-proof majorities" which will prove to be quite difficult.  Although it seems that it may not pass this time around, I hope the gay advocacy groups continue to fight for this freedom that everyone deserves.  It saddens me that we do not have more states in this country allowing gay marriage, as I feel it is unconstitutional and inhumane.  Everyone deserves the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.