Has the Press and Paparazzi Gotten Too Out of Control?

In today’s world, the paparazzi will do whatever they can to get the best and most interesting photos and stories from whichever famous people they can find.  From actors, to singers, to politicians, there’s no stopping them.  Many of them will do anything for a good story or snapshot, even risk their lives or the lives of the celebrities.  Many of the kids today dream of achieving that life where everyone wants to take your picture and be your friend and follow your every move, but (and I can only say this from what I’ve heard because I have never lived the life of a celebrity) it seems once you’re in that position, the life where people follow you around all the time isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  You can’t even go for a walk around the block without having your picture taken and people approaching you for an autograph. 

When we hear about crazy stories involving the paparazzi, we usually think it only affects the singers and movie stars, but paparazzi also follow the people in high political offices, especially the president.  And it’s not only people taking pictures that the president needs to worry about, but those people who look into his personal life and try to find the smallest blemish on his record to send to the presses and show that the president isn’t a good guy for whatever reason. 

Sadly for those in that position, there’s nothing they can do.  Unless the paparazzi are trespassing, there’s nothing illegal (usually) about what they’re doing.  Taking pictures may be rude and annoying, but there’s nothing illegal about that.  Personally, I think there need to be bigger restrictions on their rights to take pictures of not only famous people but anyone.  No one should be allowed to publish a picture of someone that the person in the photo did not want taken.  There should be restrictions placed on when a person can and cannot follow someone around so there won’t be any more incidents where upset or annoyed celebrities cause harm to a member of the paparazzi, or vice versa.

Women’s Rights

Recently I saw a group on Facebook called “Woman, make me a sandwich” and others that were similar to it and I was appalled.  I would have assumed America would be past sexism by the 21^st century, but evidently not.  One person had even written on the wall of the group “Why do women need driver’s licenses’, there are no roads between the bedroom and the kitchen”.  Haha.  How can people even believe this anymore?  Women have done so much in the world and after going to Laurel for just over two years, I’m disgusted to read something so stupid and sexist.  This group is against the 19^th amendment giving women voting rights and makes it seem like all women are good for is making sandwiches and having babies. 

But in the 21^st century, those beliefs seem so illogical.  Women have done so much over the past decades and have made so many contributions to the world.  We have women in the Senate and in the House, as governors and one even ran for president this past election.  Women and men should be considered equals in the world and men should not feel that they are only good for making sandwiches, because that idea is just irrational if one is to look at the facts!  Women have done so much in the world that equality should be more prevalent.  To everyone.

Secret Service Nees Some Work

I’m sure (or at least hoping) that everyone has heard about that couple that got into the White House state dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Salahis were able to make it passed the secret service and enter the dinner party undetected. Why did they sneak into the party? Apparently they wanted to be on reality TV, specifically ***. However, they apparently are being tried for breaking 16 different laws because of what they did. Personally, I don’t think they should be arrested, I think they should be given a medal of honor for proving how weak our secret service really is. It’s embarrassing that our secret service let them in to the party. They should never have been able to get in, and though it was illegal, the fact that no one stopped them, people who are paid to be able to stop them, is just crazy. Luckily for us, they weren’t interested in taking the president’s life, or the lives of anyone else at the party, they were just in it for the publicity. But that juts shows how weak our secret service is and how someone wanting to kill the president could have gotten into that party without an official invitation and killed him. Though I know what they did is illegal, they did the nation a favor by showing us we need to improve the security around our president. So if they do end up in prison, I want to be one to say thank you for showing us that the secret service and all other security around the President needs to step up, for the protection of our nation.

The Death Penalty

The death penalty violates the 8^th amendment which protects citizens from cruel and unusual punishment.  People have argued this point for years, yet the death penalty still exists in America today.  Many countries have banned the death penalty all together, while others have banned it in most circumstances, but America has yet to do either and still uses the death penalty. 

But why do we use the death penalty?  An eye for an eye is the same as a life for a life?  It’s not like killing someone will bring someone else back to life.  Over-crowding in prisons?  Build more prisons if the world is really so awful.  At least for life in prison, if there was a mistake in the sentence, that person can be freed one day.  You can’t undo a murder, once the death penalty has been done there’s no turning back.  With modern technology, we’re finding out that there have been over 100 cases where someone was killed with the death penalty who wasn’t actually guilty of committing a crime.  And technology is still developing; no one can say how many others will be found.  If these people had been sentenced to life in prison, hopefully a number of their innocent lives could have been spared.

How is it that someone who is giving the lethal injection isn’t committing murder?  I wondered that too until I found that the person on death row is no longer considered living once sentenced to death row.  But how can this make any sense when 1 in 8 people sentenced on death row is found innocent.  That’s a lot of people who would have otherwise been thought of as dead.  Another claim is that the lethal injection is painless.  However, it’s impossible to know that because the drugs used in the injection first paralyze the person therefore making that person unable to communicate whether he or she is in pain or not.  There have also been situations where it has taken 30 minutes for someone to die from lethal injection because the injector couldn’t find a good vain and the needle slipped out.  That person sat in agony the whole time just waiting to die.  If that’s not cruel and unusual punishment, I don’t know what is.

So as you can see, I am quite against the death penalty because a life for a life simply leaves the whole world dead.

Ageism in America

There appear to be many laws against ageism in the state and federal government; however, the majority of them are directed to protect the elderly rather than the youth. For those who don’t know, ageism is age discrimination the same way racism is race discrimination. A person is treated differently just because he or she is of a different age than another person or group of people. As I said, there have been laws made against ageism such as no ageism in the workplace; however, most laws of ageism are only made to protect the elderly. I agree that it’s very important to make sure that the elder are treated fairly in the work place and throughout the world, but I strongly believed that the youth should be treated with respect too.

I am in no way trying to say that a 5 year old should be given the same laws and privlages as a 25 year old, however, by the age of 16, people have minds and opinions and should be able to use and express them the same way as an adult can.  If a 16 year old has deep opinions, why can’t he or she write for a news paper?  Why can’t a 12 year old whose parents are going through a divorce be in that court when a 14 year old can?  Why can an 18 year old vote and not a 17 and ½ year old?  If I walk into a club at the age of 20 and 364 days, sadly I will not be able to buy an alcoholic beverage.  If I return to that same club one day later after having turned 21, I can buy liquor until my heart’s content.  Does one day make that significant a difference?  Sadly, to the law it does.

I believe that in most, if not all, circumstances, people should be judged based upon mental and emotional maturity level rather than upon physical maturity.  Would you rather have a well informed 16 year old vote for the president or an uninformed 25 year old vote for the president?  I’d take my chances with the 16 year old, wouldn’t you?

Juvenile Crime Laws

The community is divided on whether they believe juveniles should be tried differently than adults in some or all crimes.  I am a firm believer in the fact that a 15 year old knows what murder is.  When someone plans to kill someone and fallows through with that plan, whether 15 or 50, that person understands what murder is and what he or she is doing.  However, I also understand that impulse control isn’t fully developed in an adolescent’s mind.  A teenager may see something he or she wants and take it on impulse and maybe he or she should have a different punishment.  But where do we draw the line?  Based on intent?  That’s something that people can’t always prove. 

Many specialists agree that the age 18 is a good age to be considered and adult.  But are there any really big differences between a 17 ½ year old and an 18 year old?  If an 18 year old and his 17 year old friends all decide to do something stupid one night, the 17 year olds will most likely get off with a slap on the wrist while the 18 year old could do hard time.  For committing the same crime, just because he’s a little bit older. 

Society chose to draw its lines at age 18, in most cases at least.  But often it still has trouble drawing lines between rape and other violent crimes and whether to try someone as an adult or not.  There are so many factors that it is difficult to decide what to do sometimes.  I doubt that the law will change because many people are being the idea that because of the mental development in children, 18 is a good age for them to become adults in the legal system.  But I know that if someone were to assault my best friend, I wouldn’t care whether it was a 16 year old or a 19 year old, I want that person to receive punishment to the fullest extent of the law.

Issues With The 1st Amendment

The first amendment entitles every U.S. citizen the right to freedom of speech and freedom of press.  So how can the government then put restrictions on freedoms?  Freedom of speech and freedom of press in this nation are limited.  You can’t yell “bomb” in an airport, “fire” in a public building such as a mall, or obscene language (swear words or inappropriate words) at sports events such as NBA games.  You can’t write a threatening letter to the president.  There are “seven dirty words” that can’t be said on television or radio which are certain swear words and inappropriate words that it is illegal to say on public TV or radio or the person who said one of those words is liable for a $250,000 fine.  These specific words haven’t been changed or updated in over 30 years, though different inappropriate words have changed since.

However, the first amendment of the United States constitution says that all people are given the rights to free speech and free press.  So as I asked before, how can the government put such restrictions on these freedoms?  Many people think it’s a good idea to put these restrictions on our freedoms in order to protect the public decency and public safety.  I agree with this belief.  However, I also believe that it’s unfair for the government to place restrictions on what is listed in the constitution.

Equal Pay For Equal Work

Why is it that after so many years of fighting for equality, in many places women still make less money than men?  Is this really fair?  Of course not!  Equality means equal pay for equal work. 

In 1964 Congress passed a law that stated that people couldn’t be discriminated against in the workplace because of race or GENDER!  Discrimination includes women making less money than men.

It’s been 45 years and yet women are still making only about 77 cents per 1 dollar that men make.  This is an extremely significant difference in the long run.  Women are supposed to be considered equal to men and there are plenty of women doing jobs as well or better than the men in their field yet they go home with less money in your pocket every day.  Over a lifetime this could end up losing some women up to 2 million dollars!  That’s a lot of money.

In today’s world when women are single mothers, supporting themselves through college, taking care of elderly relatives or even the everyday worker, they need their deserved money!  Hard working women often need to support themselves and families and need to be making the same income as men in the same profession.

If a woman is doing just as well as a man and working just as hard as a man in the same job, she should be making an equal amount of money.  Equal pay for equal work.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/10/09/the_wage_gap/

Against Issue 3

While sitting at the 1^st preseason Cavaliers game of the year, I was happily enjoying watching the Cavs annihilate Charlotte when, during a time out, an advertisement comes on ‘Q-Tube’ (the big screen at the Q) advocating for issue 3.  This definitely put a damper on my mood during the game because I am against issue 3.

This spurred a conversation, a short conversation of course because the Cavaliers came back onto the court shortly after, about the issue.  My brother is for it because he thinks it will give more jobs to people in the recession and for those lucky few who actually win at the casino will be much wealthier. 

However, I disagree.  True it will give more jobs, but there are many negatives to a casino.  People who enjoy gambling, those types of people who go to Vegas occasionally and spend all the money they have on them, well how much worse would that be if those people could do that every day?  If a casino is just down the block from those same people, they’d be much more likely to go out weekly or even daily and waste all their money.  This is of course really bad for those people, but you may think it’s their fault and their problem.  Well there are other reasons why issue 3 is so bad. 

People believe that bringing casinos to Ohio will make more money for the state in taxes and raise money for Ohio; however, the percent proposed to use for taxes is far lower than in other states, which would result in the casino owners and operators making loads of money while Ohio is left with a minimal profit.  Issue 3 also stops other casino gaming such as “casino nights” offered in churches and charitable organizations.  Another fact that many people may not know is that 2 out of the 4 properties owned by out of state casino developers. 

Voting yes to this issue will create a constitutional monopoly for Ohio casino owners.  We’ve already rejected it many times, so please continue and maybe they’ll just give up already!

The Environment

My family and I are huge advocators for the idea of going green and helping the environment.  I learned much of it from my mom, who always makes sure I recycle everything that can possibly be recycled.  And why not when it’s just as easy as throwing the item away but does so much more to benefit the earth.  Yet there are so many people who don’t recycle everyday materials.

The amount of waste in the world now is disgusting.  There is so much trash lying out in numerous landfills and so much more lying around the streets.  A large amount of this trash could have been recycled but was carelessly thrown out instead. 

So why doesn’t the government take charge and try to help protect the world from the people living in it?  Celebs have made it an “in thing” to go green and many people are fallowing in their footsteps, but sadly it isn’t enough.  The world is still cluttered with trash.  So why doesn’t the government do more to regulate the trash being thrown away into landfills and cluttering up our communities?  It may seem like a small thing that the government should waste it’s time with but it really is an important issue.

For those of us who have seen Walle, we have seen the horrible planet that is our future home and I must say it was a pretty disgusting, trash filled sight.  The world would be chaotic if it were to end up like that, so putting it into that perspective one can easily see the importance of going green and recycling.