Sunday, October 31, 2010

What types of regulations of smoking in public places should the legal system impose?

Smoking is such an un-safe horrible thing for the body to consume. In many states now they are making it illegal to smoke in public restaurants, bars and certain areas of buildings. Minnesota being one of the states that has this law, I think it has done a lot for us as a community making places to be a safer place to breathe at. It was just over the summer that in came into law that you are no longer able to smoke in public parks in Hennepin County. I find this law a great one to have just like not being able to smoke in public spaces. I am a non smoker and there is nothing worse than bringing my son to a park and having people smoke and throw their cigarettes on the ground, I find it repulsing.
                I chose to not smoke for a reason because it smells horrible, taste even grosser, and is bad for my health and bad for other people’s health around us. I think that we should make a law banning smoking in any public place. I don’t need to be exposed to second hand smoke and be exposed to the toxins that cigarettes have. I want to live in a clean air area and I don’t want to be exposed to someone else’s bad habits that can kill then or kill be or someone I love unintentionally.

What impact on the family (or the workplace) has changes in gender roles had?

The impact of the family of having the gender roles changed has been a positive one. There are more two parent homes now that are both getting up in the morning and going to work instead of the husband being the sole provider for his family while his wife stays home with the kids and being the Suzie homemaker.  We see now more than ever the woman going to work every day and having a stay at home father who takes care of the children. With the change in gender roles I believe that it has had a great impact on us and it is showing our younger generation that men aren’t always the ones that go to work and make money but also that women go to work to and that we are trying to be equal.
                For so many years men and women were not treated equal, even when we try to compare men and women to being equal were still not at that point. I think though with the change in gender roles we are starting somewhere and it is making a little bit of progress in the line of changing our futures.

Have the large salaries of professional athletes had a negative impact on the athletes or the sports?

Athletes in my opinion are paid way too much for running up and down a field, and hitting a ball with a bat or a stick naming a few. Being paid so much money I believe these people are taking advantage of life. It seems that in the past few years the salaries of players have been going up and up when in the long run they aren’t doing a very good job playing the sport. What really upsets me as a Criminal Justice/ Law Enforcement major is these athletes getting off so many things because they have a big salary and can buy their way out of something when regular Joe Blow would spend month’s maybe years in jail or prison because they don’t have the money or the fame to back it up. Everyone is human and people should be treated the same wither they have money or not. Just because someone is a athlete doesn’t make that person any more important than the next person.
                With people having such big salaries and being able to buy their way out of certain situations or just buy whatever has made a negative impact on the players and the sport. With all of these athletes acting a fool and getting away with it, it makes the sport look as if they are just supporting crooks or negative people. People need to stop putting so much money into these athletes who I think take things for granted and start putting that much money into our school systems, homeless people and other areas instead of athlete's pockets.



Should victimless crimes such as prostitution and other sexual activity between consenting adults be free from government interference?

I think as adults we should have the choice on what we do with our bodies. The government controls everything else; I believe that when it comes to our bodies we should have the choice of what we. I am not for prostitution, I believe that it is not right to sell your body but what voice do I have to say about the woman who lives down the street from me or the woman who is working the corner to put food in her kid’s mouth at night.
                As a woman myself I don’t think that I could have sex for money myself because I look at having sex or any other sexual activities as a private thing that I feel brings two people closer but some people look at it in a totally different perspective. The government controls everything I think that we should be able to control what we do and that we do and what comes out of it. We are adults we know what is right and what is wrong. We don’t need someone telling us that. We need to be able to have more freedom then we have.

Should English be declared the official language of the United States?

With there being so many different languages, cultures, religions in the United States now with so many people emigrating from different countries I think that we should declare an official language and that it should be English. There have been so many people hear for years and English has been primary language I think declaring a different language or having people speak many other languages could make life very hard. I also look at declaring English as the primary language as a good thing. So many people from other countries want to learn how to speak it I think that if we declared it as our language it would be a positive thing and many people could benefit from it, being bi-lingual isn’t such a bad thing.

tobacco companies be held responsible for smoking-related illnesses and deaths?

When tobacco comes into the picture we don’t think tobacco is as bad as alcohol. We think that just because tobacco won’t kill a person right away that it is not as severe as alcohol. I think that the tobacco companies shouldn’t be held responsible for things that happen to people who consume their products. I believe that everyone has free will, they have the choice on what they want to consume in their bodies. Everyone knows that tobacco is bad for you. On cigarette boxes it says on there Surgeon General’s Warning, Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth, and low birth weight. It may also cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy. Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide. Reading all of these warning labels how could someone be stupid enough to put those chemicals in their bodies.
                We cannot make tobacco companies responsible for everyone who smokes and then later in life have a smoking-related illnesses or death because there would be so many cases that I don’t think the company could keep up with. The tobacco companies warn us with the labels on the boxes and from a young age you are taught that smoking is bad for your health. You have the choice to put that tobacco into your body or not its your choice if you want to take the labels on the box serious or not.

Should pornography be restricted by law?

   Ever since I can remember pornography has been such a huge controversy on what should be done about it, should it be restricted by law or not? When I think of the laws that should be put against pornography I think that the ones we have are good ones. Being able to only buy it at certain places, if the pictures are to provocative they are covered up and only the title of the magazine is showing, you are only allowed to buy it at certain ages.
          Just as naked women can be looked as art in a sculpture I think that pornography can be a form or art to. It is just in the eyes of the beholder. I feel like this question is just so hard to answer it makes me think really hard on what is right and what could be wrong.



Thursday, October 28, 2010

Should homosexuals be permitted to serve in the armed forces?

Homosexuals should have the same rights as a heterosexual when wanting to serve in the armed forces. I think that denying someone because of their sexual orientation is wrong. Whether you are straight or gay who you have fallen in love with doesn’t affect how you would fly a place in the air force, shoot a gun in the marines or drive a truck in the army.  So I don’t understand what the big issue is with homosexuals in the armed services. They are just as willing as someone who is straight to put their life on the line for their country, why should they be denied because of their sexual orientation?
            I have a few friends that are gay and their passion is to serve in the forces but because they aren’t straight everything they want is thrown out the window. I think we need to change the laws when it comes to homosexuals serving in the armed forces. There sexuality isn’t going to bother the enemy their fighting against or the plane is going to decided because a gay man or woman is flying it will not work. We need to be fair to everyone.

Should children be required to attend school past the age of sixteen?

I believe that children should be required to attend school till they are 18. At 16 I believe that you are mature to a certain point but not enough to make a decision that will affect you your entire life. I believe that the decision about school should be made up by the parent. At 16 your parents are still telling you who you are allowed to hang out with, what time you need to be home and some 16 year old are still getting a allowance. Being able to make that decision at 16 whether you want to drop out of school should not be a choice that they get to make, it’s the parent’s choice.

Should adoption records be open rather than sealed?

Knowing a few people who have gone the adoption wrought, meaning putting their kids up for adoption they all chose to have an open adoption. They felt that giving their kids up at the time was the right thing to do because the friends that I have to put their kids up for adoption were between the ages of 13 and 16 at the time. They felt that they would be giving their kids a better life by giving them a chance but they wanted to be able to see them grow and see what type of people they became. I feel that people should have the option for closed or open adoption records. It is a personal choice that I think people should be able to make. It is hard enough putting a child up for adoption and some people are ok with the fact of knowing their children but not being mom or dad and some people it is much harder and would rather not keep the wounds open and would rather close them and try to move on as much as a person can. Adoption no matter what if you have a open or closed case is a good thing and there should not be a better choice to have it open or closed.

Should sex and violence on television or in the movies be restricted?

I have always found that this issue is a continue one that people tend to talk about especially who have children. My personal belief I believe that sex and violence in movies and on TV should not be restricted. I feel as a mother that if you are concerned about what is going on in movies and on television you should monitor what they are watching. I have seen with cable companies that they now have a parental control on the television to be able to restrict children from watching certain shows. Though the parental control only works for the TV as a adult you can monitor what movies your children see at home or in the movie theaters.
                I think restrictions on TV and in the movies is a bit much. I believe if you just monitor what is going on or what the movie or TV show is about you should be fine. I don’t think that it should be restricted because if you restricted sex and violence from TV you would have to restrict the news channels because you see it all the time. So no I don’t believe you should restrict these things people just need to be more responsible and know what is going on.



Is rehabilitation of felony offenders possible/ desirable?

There are so many different types of felony offenders if you really think about it. You could be a felony offender by drugs, theft, conspiracy, sex crimes, assault to name off a few. I think depending on the type of felony you have you can be rehabilitated. Growing up my dad was a felon he unfortunately had like 9 or 10 different felony charges. If you were to look at his record you probably would be scared of the thought of him being around having drug, theft and a few more charges on him you wouldn’t want him around and you would think that he was a piece of garbage that would never change but I believe that they can be rehabilitated, my dad was. I think anyone can be rehabilitated besides people who kill other people or who sexually assault someone there is something not right up in their head and they will be that way forever. I think with the right support and help people can become healthier and live healthy normal lives.

Should juvenile offenders be tried and punished as adults?

This is a very thinkable question, should juvenile offenders be treated like adults or not. As a Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement major in each of my classes this comes up. Half the class says yes and half of the class says no then there are a few people in between that say yes depending on the age and what happened. I am one of the few people who are for it but under a certain circumstance. I believe that if a seven year old boy kills his little sister playing with a gun that was loaded in his dads drawer shouldn’t be charged and treated as an adult but if a fifteen year old is playing with his dads gun is a totally different story. I believe that it all depends on the age of the child and the mental development the child is at. There are certain circumstances where I believe that juveniles should be tried as a adult because you get to a certain age where you no what’s right and what is wrong. This is such a hard question because you could go back and forth on what you think is right and what you think is wrong. I believe that juveniles should be tried as a adult if they commit a crime that if a adult would do it they would get in much more trouble. We have laws in some states protecting minors to a certain age but for the most part children no right from wrong and if they are willing to commit a crime that is sever they should be punished and just because their kids doesn’t mean anything.

Should bartenders be held responsible for the behavior of their patrons?

I totally feel that bartenders should be responsible for how people act and what happens. Just as if a minor gets drunk at a party and hurts someone else it is the parent’s fault whose house they were at where they consumed the alcohol at. There is one person serving them drinks and if you over serve them it should be put on the bartender. I have a friend that lost her dad a year ago to a horrible accident that had to do with drinking. He was not killed in a drinking and driving accident but he one night consumed to much alcohol at the bar that he went to every night and the bar knowing that he had already had too much kept serving him and that night he went home and had a accident an in the result of it lost his life. She is now living on her own with her son struggling every day not having her dad around because the bar and bartenders were not smart enough to cut him off. So yes, I believe that bartenders should be held responsible for the behaviors of what happens with the people they serve.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Political Blogger #2

I chose this picture because most of the pictures that I looked at were lame and I thought this one stuck out the most. There is so much corruption that goes on there all one large stink bug. There are so many icky bugs out there that this was a great picture to show off political issues.

Political Cartoon Bog #1

I chose to write about this one because this picture is so true in some sense.There are so many people being pushed aside when the people who are suppose to be helping them the most are getting them into more trouble then good. Look at all of those papers pushed aside as the Home Mortgage man is just sitting there with his arms behind his head as if his job is done. Your job is not done till everyone is happy.