Washington Deficit Obsession Versus Student Victims

The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/07/the-victims-of-washingtons-deficit-obsession.html 

"Sharing is caring and it is lots of fun..." is a phrase from one of the many songs I learned in the early years at my elementary school. The teachers shared this song in order to teach us the importance and the benefits of sharing. However, the government does not regularly practice this act of sharing, especially with student loans. The government does not act like a good role model sometimes.

In our government, the effort to make college affordable is one of the few rare issues on which the differences between Democrats and Republicans seem not that wide. Both parties agree that affordable colleges can create more productive workers, thus creating a better economy. However, the government has the tendency to lead to a market-based system, which the rate on student loans would be tied to the interest rate on ten-year Treasury bonds. This simply means that the Congress had the power to choose the interest rates. With our current economy, a market-based system would reflect how the government is trying to make it harder for Americans to spend and invest money,

The market-based system is sensible for connecting to student loans in the long run; however, it is ineffective in the shore run. In the end, a student would have paid an equal amount to the market, however; Congress already has too much control of the interest rates. With the continual cycle of losing money, interest rates will continue to increase, making it harder for students to be fiscally capable and thus surely affecting the graduation rate.

The Economist: Illegal Child adoption

The Economist: http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2013/07/illegal-adoptions-poland 

Imagine a world where babies are being sold online. Too late, you are already living in one. In Poland, it is currently legal to post advertisements looking for welfare and support and in return, the biological mother's baby. This action of illegal adoption is three times higher than the action of legal adoption. Some people believe that legal adoption is too painstakingly long and is too high of an expectation for most couples. To many couples, illegal adoption is a quick and easy way to get a child.

Many people will say that this practice is wrong, however, it might be necessary. If a baby is to be born from a consensual sexual action, the parent must give birth to the child. Abortion is illegal in Poland, except for three circumstances, and if the mother cannot financially support the child, what would she be able to do? She won't be able to help the child grow properly and might have to commit more radical actions. From the mother's point of view, this illegal adoption process might be a way for her to let the baby live a more comfortable life. Since the mom can choose the couple, she will know for sure that her child is safe.

I do not approve of these actions but I see the necessity of them. For a woman, there are little to no legal ways for a mother to prevent the birth of her child. As a sort of compensation, the biological mother is allowed to give the baby as barter to another couple who are more able to support the baby.

History of Surgical Cleansing

The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/07/29/130729fa_fact_gawande

The early 1800's must have sucked. Sure many positives changes happened in that era but just the idea of having no anesthetics or antiseptics for surgery is too daunting. I remember how I had surgery when I was around six years old and I know for sure I would have been bawling if it wasn't for anesthetics. I also owe the success of the surgery to the practice of antiseptics.

In a sense, William Morton is my hero. He has saved me from pain, in many instances, through his invention. His creation of anesthetics have helped many people deviate from pain and be able to take a nice nap while being operated on. Without anesthetics, one could see how doctors would have to have an even more stressful job than doctors now. Today's doctors could work steadily and surely while the old doctors would have to work quickly and effectively. The pressure on the latter outweighs the pressure on the former.

Joseph Lister would also be considered my hero. His technique of using clean, new surgical tools saves many more people than of when surgeons used old surgical tools. In the 1800's, one of the leading causes of the death of women was caused by childbirth. After giving birth to a child, the mother would usually die because of the unsanitary tools were used for birth. This is one example of how antiseptics changed the surgical process better. Another example is since new, clean tools cannot transmit diseases. When doctors would reuse a surgical tool, there was the huge possibility that the blood would stick to the tool and soon become transferred to a person. this transferring of a blood could be lethal and possibility the difference between the patient's death or survival.

Where have our burglars gone?

The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21582041-rich-world-seeing-less-and-less-crime-even-face-high-unemployment-and-economic

"Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone? Oh where, oh where can he be?" This little song has been share in many families as a cute, catchy tune concerning a fictional, missing dog. However, change the word "dog" into the word "burglar", this catchy tune now reflects current world problems.

In this article, many ideas are presented that may have led to the decrease of criminal activities. It is believed that the absence of a baby-boom, the increase of prisoners, the improvement of police forces, the increase of well-behaved children, and the enlargement of business's security may have led to the decreasing of crime rates. These ideas individually have flaws but some of them may have been correct. Bill Bratton, the reformer of police tactics, has done much to make ghetto, dangerous cities safe. He, arguably, could be the one man who changed the LAPD from the racist, corrupted, scandal-ridden force in the 1990s. His actions of improving the police force are justified as one of the reasons crime rate is dropping. Another point given by the article that has decreased crime rates is the increase in well-behaved children. Children growing up in "together" families and experiencing a wonderful education are less likely to turn to crime as a means of survival later on in his or her life. Instead, these children are more likely to become excellent grown-ups and lead the society as role-models for the children in their generation.

Decreasing of crimes undoubtedly has beneficial short and long term effects. In the short term, the decrease of crime is superb. However, in some aspects, one can see the negative long term side of a gradual decrease in crime rate. First of all, the decrease in crime rates leads to the possibility of the government not needing a police force, or at least not a sufficient police force. This way of perceiving the police force may lead to an inadequate amount of money to go to the police force, forcing some police officers to be laid off. The more secure a government is about protection, the less there will be the necessity of a police officer. This misconception will lead to a gradual decline of police officer and when a time arises of many officers, the government will not be ready. Secondly, one could argue how in the long term, the decrease in crime rate can lead to more stress for children. In order for one's child to live a crime-free life, the child might face oppression from his or her parent. Constant oppression will lead a child to either rebellion, or resentment to the parents. Either way, there will not be any positive aftermaths.

The Iceman Cometh

The Economist:  http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21581699-if-climate-change-takes-your-local-glacier-away-why-not-build-another-iceman

"I'm melting!! I'm melting!!!" This famous quote (or paraphrase of it) is well known from the movie "The Wizard of Oz". This quote is pretty much what the glaciers in our world are saying. Despite their demise, the water from the ice is used to actually help the world; they are used for farming. Farmers who work in valleys such as Leh and Spiti rely on melted water from nearby glaciers.  However, most of the glaciers that create the farmer's water supply have disappeared and the melted water (from higher up the peak) does not appear until at least two months later than it is needed. Chewang Norphel comes to the rescue and creates artificial glaciers. These glaciers take up the responsibilities and do the same amount of work as the old glaciers.

By creating artificial glaciers, Norphel has helped thousand of valley farmers keep their jobs. Artificial glaciers do not have any negative side effects and are very useful as an irrigation technique. Some people might claim that artificial glaciers are not healthy for the environment since it disrupts the natural course of nature. This would not be true since we only change what we have changed from before. Artificial Glaciers are simply replacements for natural glaciers since we disrupted nature with excess greenhouse gasses. Artificial glaciers are essential for many valley farmers since these farmers have no easy way to get water otherwise. The problem of the disappearance of low glaciers is no longer in effect; we have artificial glaciers.

Politically Explosive

The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21581775-failure-clear-landmines-casts-doubt-myanmars-peace-processes-politically-explosive

In Myanmar, the country is having difficulties with its "sleeping soldiers". These "sleeping soldiers" are formally known as mines; it is statistically shown that since 1990 over 32,000 casualties were reported. These numbers are believed to be significantly smaller than the actual casualties. However, on February 2012, President Thein Sein asked for international help with clearing the mines. Ever since, many NGO's (Non-Governmental Organizations) and peace centre's were opened to help the mine problem. However, most of these centre's are being unused due to lack of trust in the government. This incapability to trust among themselves had made the progress of clearing land mines futile.

So prior to this article I have seen and read articles about land mines. Land mines were (emphasize on were) used during warfare as a defense. As the nickname applies, they were really sleeping soldiers. However, a mine would have a horrific explosion that most countries thought it were inhumane to use such destructive weapons. Mine victims would lose either or both their legs and arms. Knowing this, Thein Sein must try harder into accepting the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997 and also stop the production of mines. The usage of mines is completely inhumane and army officials as well as government officials must recognize this. Another problem is that the citizens of Myanmar do not care enough about the removal of land mines. Despite knowing the aftermath of a mine's explosion, most citizens see land mines as a way to protect their businesses or homes. This indifferent attitude towards land mine despite knowing its inhumane capabilities has to be changed so that the citizens will care and work hard to keep their neighbor hood safe.

The major argument floating around about land mines is that land mines are too inhumane. I share this belief with gusto since I have seen the devastation these "soldiers" can do. The Myanmar government are not aware enough of how enormous the problem is due to murky statistics. International help should assist the government by clearly outlining the devastation from land mines. Then the government will become more aware and much more concerned.

New Yorker: A Good, Clean Hunt For Life On Mars

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/07/a-good-clean-hunt-for-life-on-mars.html

As a child, space has mystified everyone about the mysteries it holds. There have been many theories about how there is life on other planets, shown in fictional movies and real life. This mystery of alien life is a blur to everyone and many people are dying to learn the answer to the question "Does life exist outside Earth?".

In this article, we learn about the hygiene problems of two rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity. They do not get dirty; they just don't get cleaned enough. These rovers were repeatedly wiped with an alcohol solution and some parts were even heated to at least two hundred and thirty degrees to avoid contaminating Mars with bacteria from Earth. This cleaning process, however, is very expensive and has very little purpose. Alberto Fairén, the author of Nature Geoscience , claims this cleansing as "a waste of time and money".  Fairén and his co-author Dirk Schulze-Makuch argue that the bacteria transferred from Earth could not survive in Mars. They claim that even if the bacteria could survive at Mars, it would have been living there for millions of years. This belief stems from the knowledge about what we know about how chunks of Earth have been blasted by asteroids to Mars and vice versa. The possibility of bacteria from Earth existing in Mars leads to the possible clause that life might have not started in Earth. there is no concrete evidence but planetary scientists theorized how the organisms that evolved into humans may have lived in Mars. This brings the ironic sense of how since we are searching for martians, we are looking for us.

 Alberto Fairén and Dirk Schulze-Makuch were able to create a chain of theories by arguing against the sterilization of Opportunity and Curiosity. However, their argument does not negate the fact that the rovers must be cleaned. Newly evolved bacteria from Earth may transfer through the Curiosity and adapt in Mars' hostile land. Just because previous bacteria could not survive does not mean new, different bacteria could not be able to survive on Mars. Alberto Fairén and Dirk Schulze-Makuch also bring up the point of how bacteria from Mars could be Earth's ancestor. I believe, however, that humans could not have survived on Mars; we would only be able to stay as bacteria. The scorching lifestyle on Mars would not be able to sustain the life Earth can. No animal , ranging from mice to elephants could live on Mars due to its hostile climate.

Zimmerman Trials

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/08/justice/zimmerman-trial-pot-ruling/index.

The Zimmerman trial is a case about the murder of Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman, one night saw Trayvon Martin in a dark alleyway doing some suspicious activities. Somehow, the two argued and then they got into a fight. During this fight, Zimmerman was forced to (or claims that he was fored to) use his gun and kill Martin. 

For this trial, it is suspected that both men, Martin and Zimmerman were on some sort of drug. Martin was believed to have taken Marijuana while Zimmerman was believed to have taken medications Librax and Temazepam. Librax and Tempazepam are two medications that helps the patient taking it to relax. We can tell that since Zimmerman originally needed these medications, his reaction of killing Martin could be due to a sudden eccentric action or simply a necessary result. However, the judge of this case allowed Zimmerman's attorney to use Martin's drug abuse of Marijuana as evidence. Ironically, Martin's attorney it is unknown whether Zimmerman's drugs use may be admissible during the trials. 

By knowing what the requirements are for a person to handle and use a gun, I believe this whole accident may easily have been avoided if Zimmerman was just dismissed for the night. Zimmerman's inability to sleep and constant anxiety were two very good signals of why he should have not been on duty, much less carrying a weapon. When a person lacks sleep, his brain will not function as properly as a person who gets a good night's sleep. Similarly, when a person has anxiety issues, he will more likely be unable to react sensibly in certain situations. 

SAT Prep Class

SAT Prep Class