4. E-Commerce Taxation

E-commerce taxation is a sales tax that will collect taxes for out of states purchases. It is an issue that is difficult to resolve because, for example a buyer living in Arizona buys something from a retailer in California, Arizona cannot receive sales tax unless the seller has an office, warehouse or store in that state.I feel that if the e-commerce tax passes it will cause a huge change for the online websites that sell goods. Also popular websites such as amazon and ebay would most likely drop affiliates which will reduce the state revenue. I dont think this law should get passed because it would change so many things which would not necessarily be better for the individual states.

3. Health Care Restrictions Cost Thousands of Lives in US

Most Americans know about the new health care reform that got passed. But many including myself don't know that there are still millions of Americans lacking health care and because of it wont go into affect until 2013 people are still dying and suffering. Not only are Americans suffering but an estimated 1.46 million veterans who have served our country don't have health care which is increasing their death rate. This is a subject that the media doesn't really make public. I feel that people should be aware of such situations to know how people are being affected by this. Although I do agree that the media must sometimes censor certain things to keep the public from panicking, I don't think that its right that they keep stories of millions of Americans who struggle to receive health care.Especially when there is proof of children dying because of their lack of insurance to pay for the medical help.

2. Is the next immigration fight over 'anchor babies'?

This article illustrates how the media keeps the public informed.It displays the possible threat of illegal immigrants someday becoming our leader of this country.The 14th amendment states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Since this technically states that any person born on US soil, even if the parents are illegal immigrants, they will be considered a US citizen. This article causes debate and informs the public on situations they might encounter in the future. It gives people a chance to fight for what they believe is right and gives them the opportunity to do something about it.

1. Obama's plan for renewable energy

Obama speaks in a way that makes one feel comfort. He gives a lot of information about the safety of the  American people and how the government is overlooking the oil companies for fraud or theft. This video informs the public about gas prices and the idea of renewable energy. With our new technology in energy we can buy vehicles that can save us up to $3000 a year on gas. And that our future is going to rely on renewable energy because we are going through a new era of change.

Gitlow v. New York

Benjamin Gitlow was charged with the teaching of the duty to overthrow the government. His teachings which were based on Marx and Engles Communist Manifesto violated the 1902 New York Criminal Anarchy Act. The Court ruled to keep Gitlow convicted with a 7 to 2 vote. Their decision to keep him convicted I believe was the right decision. I dont feel that its alright for an individual to try and teach people that its their duty to overthrow our government.

Although the 1st Amendment protects the freedom of speech and technically gives Gitlow the right to express how he feels over the government it may put people in danger. His teachings may cause riots to break out and therefore endangers others. Therefore "subversive speech" is not protected from government regulation.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

This case arose when Brown appealed a collection of cases that were about black children being denied admission to segregated white public school. Even with the Plessy v. Ferguson case which ruled that the 14th Amendment doesn't protect equal facilities from being separate. But Brown brought the appeals up because there were black and white schools being equalized.

I believe that since there were schools being equalized throughout the nation it gave the perfect example and reason for change in the segregation of schools. By having separate black and white public schools it can cause individuals to feel that one race is superior to the other. Therefore the segregated school are violating the 14th Amendment because not everyone is getting "equal protection of the laws."

Gideon v. Wainwright

In 1963 Clarence Earl Gideon was found guilty for breaking into a Florida pool and having the intent to steal from it. In jail he appealed to the Supreme Court requesting a second hearing which he received. The court used it to study the Betts v. Brady (1942) case which stated that the 14th amendment didn't require the 6th amendments guarantee of counsel in criminal cases. Black's argument that every criminal who cannot afford a lawyer should receive one by the court in order to have a fair trial is very strong. Because every individual deserves a fair trial even if they cannot afford a lawyer. And from this case the courts now ruled that under the 6th amendment each individual in a criminal case who cannot afford a lawyer is now presented with one.

Miranda v. Arizona

Ernesto Miranda was found guilty by the Arizona police after a two hour long interrogation when he signed a written confession for the kidnapping an rape of an individual. He appealed the case and argued that he was not advised of his rights to an attorney and that the fifth amendment guaranteed that no person shall be a witness against himself. I believe that the overturning of Miranda's conviction was the right decision because he hadn't know of his right to an attorney. It is the police's job to inform the convicted of his rights because an individual can easily fall into his impairment of judgements from the emotional strain of the interrogation.

Through this case it can bring up the question of how many innocent people are now sitting in prison for false confessions. With the continual strain and pressure put down by interrogators it is obvious that innocent people who are insecure about themselves can fall to be a victim of signing and agreeing to false accusations. It is very unfortunate that these accidents happen and therefore we must make sure that police officers tell each accused their rights.

Miller v. California

In 1973 Miller had sent out a large number of unrequested advertisments of "adult" film and books. With a 5 to 4 in California's favor Miller was found guilty. I believe that because these mailings from Miller were unrequested, he endangered juveniles to exposures of these adult pictures. And without the conscent of the parents it is breaking the law.

Even with free speech or free press a person should not be allowed to produce explicit content without any regulations. There must be restrictions to a certain point so that juveniles are not exposed to those kinds of materials at young ages. Without these restrictions you allow a person to almost do anything they please that may harm others in the process and allowing an individual from going unpunished.

Plessy v. Ferguson

In 1896, a one-eighth black male named Plessy was arrested for sitting in the wrong section of a train and refusing to move. After the Supreme Court found Plessy guilty he appealed with the arguments of violating the Thirteenth Amendement which forbids slavery and the Fourteenth Amendment which states "any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." My opinion on the case is that by trying to give equal rights to both races there must not be separate sections for blacks and whites. Because by doing so you prevent each individual from their freedom of choice.

United States v. Nixon

President Richard M. Nixon was involved in the Watergate scandal, which later revealed secret tapes in which the President had conversations with the White House Oval Office.I believe that Nixon's arguments to not reveal the tapes to the public were inaccurate to the situation. The tapes were not protecting military or national secrets and therefore his arguments were immaculate. I believe just because Nixon was President at the time does not give him the right to proceed with illegal actions. I feel that the courts decisions were the right decision to release the tapes to the public.

Nixon argued that the tapes were no to be surrendered because the executive privilege protected his office from turning in confidential material. But since these tapes were just recordings about the white house they couldn't be protected.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Jane Roe a unmarried pregnant women living in Texas challenged the courts on prohibiting abortions. She argued that under the 14th amendment a fetus is not considered a person and also her decision to have an abortion is protected by the right of privacy stated in the Bill of Rights.With her strong arguments the court voted 7 to 2 in Roe's favor. Although the court voted in favor of Roe's argument they still had two interests in hand.By getting an abortion the patient is still at risk of injury. Also with this law passing people are only considered living people once born.

Promising Much, but Doing Little to Aid the Terminal’s Homeless

Around 100 Homeless people who lived around a terminal is now destroyed in order to build a $4 billion transit hub. Many of the Homeless people are mentally ill who were to receive help in August, but even after 8 months they still have not received help.

City officials responsible for attending to the homeless said the city did everything possible to assist the Transbay population, but critics say that it was too little too late, and that the city has exaggerated the number of people it did help.

I dont understand how the city can just destroy a location where homeless people live and promise to help them find homes and never do it. It shows that the city is only concerned about building a new transit hub and could care less about the people lives.

Police identify suspect in California synagogue bombing

First thought to just be an explosion at a synagogue in Santa Monica turned out to be a bombing. A 61 year old homeless man is suspected of being part of the bombing on Thursday. 

"Investigation has determined that items found in and around the mechanism are linked to an individual by the name of Ron Hirsch, identified as a transient," a police statement said. "Hirsch is known to frequent synagogues and Jewish community centers seeking charity from patrons. Hirsch is considered extremely dangerous.

Although they dont know the reason behind the bombing it could very well be that Ron Hirsch is upset with the way the government is treating homelessness. With todays economy it is difficult to find a job and to get off of the streets. Either Hirsch wants to prove something to the government or he may just be psychotic. 

Words of hope for Japan

After the familiar experience of another earthquake and tsunami on March 11, Kathleen Koch launched "Words of Hope for Japan" which was a project to send letters to Japan. Her inspiration came from experiencing Hurricane Katrina and receiving a letter from Guam.

"It meant more than almost anything else we received 'cause it was a special kind of comfort," she said. "The letters let us know that we weren't forgotten."

Small projects like these are the projects that can make a difference. I feel that these letters will cause hope for the future in Japan and for the people.

The Growth of Homelessness

Part I: In many major cities these days, it’s very common to see homeless people living on the streets. It has grown to become a popular site within major cities and seems to be only getting worse.  The government tries to display to the public that they are helping the homeless, but they tend to be caught up with more important things because of our economic crisis . The government hasn’t accomplished much since the 1990’s and homelessness is only getting worse (1). Currently there are over 600 thousand homeless people living in the United States and those numbers are only getting higher. It is said that 4 out of 10 people live in shelters and the rest are living in places not intended for human habitation (2). I believe as a country it’s our duty to help those who have not had the opportunities as others to live a normal lifestyle. Of course there are people who have chosen to go down the path of homelessness but there are a lot of families who have tried to live a normal lifestyle but cant because of the limitation of jobs. Thousands of people struggle to find well paying jobs, the majority can only find small part time jobs or struggle to work two jobs. A man named Clement is a US veteran who since leaving the military tried to juggle two jobs just to make ends meat. He sometimes worked 70 hours a week but the strain of those jobs eventually led him to be fired for “low productivity”. Since loosing his jobs he has been in and out of shelters and struggles to find part time jobs that only allow him to meet his needs of food (3). This story of Clement shows how his dream of living as a middle class man is crushed because of our Economy. I believe its important for us as a country to provide better paying jobs that will allow the opportunity to homeless people to live a normal life. Not only will we be able to get people from living in cardboard boxes to actual homes, but could possibly point us in the direction to get ourselves out of this economic disaster. Since the 1990’s local governments have been acting more aggressive towards the homeless in order to shield citizens from obscure behavior. Such behavior can include urinating in public, shouting and obstructing traffic. But these measures have caused some cities to overcrowd their shelters, which leads to unhealthy living environments. Instead of feeling sympathetic towards the homeless people started getting frustrated and that’s when the help to aid homelessness dulled. In 1996, Clinton signed the federal welfare reform, which set rules for working requirements. Instead of helping the homeless it just put more people on the streets (1). The Government created the HUD, the US development of Housing and Urban Development in 1965. It is designed to increase the amounts of homeownership as well as decrease discrimination. The program also took responsibility to broaden homelessness around the nation in the 1980s. With the assistance of the Clinton Administration, HUD developed the Continuum of Care, which provided many services to the homeless. Such services included emergency housing, transitional housing and permanent housing. It is very encouraging to hear of such programs that the government has created. With more of these establishments, I feel that we can greatly cut down the number of the people on the streets (4).

Part II: With the thousands of homeless people living on the streets, there have been many programs that have been created for those in need. Along with Government responses, local and state responses have come up as well. Upon the increasing technology, growing social networks such as facebook and twitter offer some homeless people to reunite with their family members.  On February 26, Daniel Morales a homeless man living in New York City was given the opportunity to carry a cell phone around with him. The program that gave Morales this opportunity was called “Underheard in New York,” this project was established by a group of interns at an advertising agency called Bartle Bogle Hegarty. It was created to give a voice to those in need. By accepting the agreement to give daily updates to the public about living on the streets, gave Morales the liberty of owning a cell phone. And with the help of twitter Morales was able to reunite with his family. Although he is going to continue to live in the homeless shelter, Morales said "I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep them near me (5)." It’s astounding to hear of a story about social networks giving people in need the opportunity to reunite with family members. With an increase of projects such as “Underheard in New York” we can help more people in need.

            Even with the help of small projects we still require the aid of the government to be the ones in charge of helping the homeless. But in New York City the government has decided to eliminate the rental voucher program. This program allows 15,000 families to live in normal living conditions. But with the elimination of this program it will only increase the cost of financing shelters by $455 million. The city claims that they must repeal this program because of the state budget cuts. But even by eliminating the rental voucher program their only increasing the costs of keeping homeless shelters open (6). Not only is the Government taking these families homes away but also do not have a plan for these people to fall back on. It doesn’t make sense to remove a program that is helping so many thousands of people stay off the streets and which will only increase the cost of financing shelters.

            Part III: There are many causes as of why people are living on the streets. But the main cause of it is the low paying jobs mixed with the high rents of homes. Thousands of people lie under the burden of making next months rent. With today’s crumbling economy people everywhere are jobless. They struggle to find any kind of job and for the fortunate who find a job they are usually paying them minimum wage. It’s nearly impossible for a couple to live off minimum wage let alone a family. For those families who are lucky to have a roof over their heads usually struggle with rent. More than 80% of families in California who are living beneath the poverty line spend over 50% of their monthly income on rent (2). Not only do these families have other bills to pay but they can hardly afford necessities. Since the population is increasing and wages increasing unequally, the rents for apartments and homes increase. Knowing that rent is increasing it will hardly be a surprise seeing these numbers grow. Rent isn’t the only problem that so many families face but it’s also the wages people are being paid. In 2009, low paying incomes decreased by 2% and in some states it even dropped 10% (2). What frightens me is what do the families do who don’t have health insurance. One trip to the emergency room could land any family straight to streets. Robyn frost said, "If anything, we're going into a time of greater uncertainty (7).” It’s astounding to me how even with these statistics the Government believes people can get by with just minimum wage. If we continue on like this we will just keep seeing an increase of homelessness. Although our country is going through an economic crisis and has many issues to deal with on there plate, but they cannot forget about the people. If the Government wants to see a decrease of homeless people and less people living beneath the poverty line they must make a few changes. Congress must establish free health care, offer more homes with cheaper rent, and offer more jobs with an increase in minimum wage. These three steps could greatly decrease the amount of people living on the streets.

As my community service I was able to help homeless people in Berkley. Along with my soccer team we were able to give back to the community by going to St. Marks Church in Berkley. We were fortunate enough to help feed some of the homeless people living in Berkley. My job was to serve the homeless people thanksgiving dinner, with a partner we served about 20 people. There were people of all ages and ethnicity there. What really shocked me was when I saw a couple people who weren’t much older than me. It really showed me how many people suffer from homelessness. But even though all those people that I was serving were homeless the majorities of them were very friendly and seemed happy. This experience showed me how fortunate I’m to be living the life I am. And by writing this paper it allowed me to have a better prospective of our world and how many people are affected by homelessness.