Blog #1 Mother’s Long Vigil for Seattle Woman Jailed in Murder

Twenty-seven year old Amanda Knox was found guilty of killing her British roommate in 2007 as a suspected sex game gone all wrong. Along with Ms. Knox, her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted. They were all students in Perugia, Italy which is also where Amanda is serving time. Knox’s mother, Ms. Mellas, has been forced to move to Perugia in an attempt to revive her daughter’s case. Ms. Mellas doesn’t believe a word of the 427 page report which includes DNA and compromising statements from Ms. Knox. Another man named Rudy Guede was later found guilty in the case as well. His bloody palm print and other DNA samples directly connected him to the victim. Ms. Mellas believes it was really Guede who committed the crime. Earlier this summer, the family’s case appeared to be supported by an independent forensic report saying that key pieces of DNA evidence used to convict Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito were unreliable and possibly contaminated. An important witness also contradicted himself numerous times. A similar case was even dismissed after prosecutors jumped to conclusions but then stepped back when things started to not add up. Regardless of this information, Amanda is still serving time and currently has no foreseeable reason to be released.

The main message of this article is a central one that happens all around the world. Innocent and guilty people are convicted of serious crimes each day. In this case, Amanda Knox was convicted of a crime that some believe she is not guilty of, and that the evidence against her is unsubstantial. When something like this occurs it not only affects the person guilty, but it also impacts their family, friends, bystanders, etc. It even seems unfair when a similar case doesn’t result as Amanda’s did. For the time being Ms. Mellas will keep hope alive and continue to fight for her daughter’s freedom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/world/europe/01italy.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=world

Blog Post 1 Alabama judge temporarily stops immigration law

This past Monday an Alabama judge temporarily blocked an immigration law. This law was set to go into effect Thursday, September 1, however state and church officials asked U.S. Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn to stop this law from being able to be enforced because they believe it is unconstitutional. This law requires police to “attempt to determine the immigration status of a person who they suspect is an unauthorized alien of this country” as stated by the fact sheet of the Alabama House of Representatives. The Alabama law would also enforce that the immigration status of students in public schools be verified. Last week, an Alabama attorney made the argument that this was also unconstitutional. However Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange stated that this law would not deny those who were illegal public school education. Even though this immigration law is temporarily blocked, state senator Scott Benson, a co-sponsor of the law, believes that the law “will be upheld”.

            While immigration is without a doubt an issue not only within the U.S. but also with the world, this law would cause police to be able to racially profile those who they believe to be illegal immigrants. Simply because someone appears to be foreign would give police the right to further inquire about the citizenship of a person. For example, there are millions of Hispanics in the country who are legal citizens, but just because they could appear to be illegal would mean that they would have to prove their citizenship at any time by the police.

           

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/29/alabama.immigration.law/index.html?iref=allsearch

Blog #1: Do Kids Have Too Much Homework?

It's known that the looming thought of nightly homework and projects is a huge stress on students. But after reviewing recent global school rankings, homework's correlation with high test scores is being questioned by parents, teachers, and administrators. A 2004 survey of 2,900 students ages six to seventeen found that the amount of time spent on homework each week had jumped from 2 hours and 38 minutes in 1981 to 3 hours and 58 minutes. The adding pressure to do well on standardized tests has forced this average to rise even more since then. David Baker and Gerald LeTendre, professors of education at Penn State, have found that in the countries with the best school rankings, teachers give little to no homework. The countries with the lowest school rankings give a lot of homework each night. The United States falls in the middle of the rankings, giving average amounts of homework and getting average test scores. School districts nation wide have started to rethink homework policies. Some have eliminated homework on weekends, some follow the ten minute rule (10 minutes of homework per grade level), and some have set up websites that let families know how long each assignment should take. All of these efforts are following the trends in high ranked countries, such as Finland, where students average only thirty minutes of homework a night.

The recent media has shown that putting high pressure on students has lead to depression and even several suicides. As an education major, I have learned the importance of homework, but I also believe that there should be a limit. The United States has always been in the middle of international school rankings, falling behind countries that many of us have probably never heard of before. If countries such as Japan and Finland score well year after year and give limited amounts of homework, they have obviously caught on to a working method. Educators in the United States should follow the rule "quality over quantity". Doing repetitive work sheets night after night is not beneficial in any subject, even math. As more and more school districts catch on to the trend of lessening homework, I truly believe that our national test score will raise and that we could be highly ranked with countries such as Finland and Japan.

Kristen Mellander

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Do-Kids-Have-Too-Much-Homework.html

Blog 1 : Women executives could wait 98 years for equal pay

Charted Management Institution is an organization that is based in the UK that focuses on management within businesses.This organization conducted research on the difference in pay between men and women in executive positions. CMI discovered that there is about a 10,895 pound difference in women's salary who have the same position as men. Even though the salary for women have started to increase, it will take until 2109 for women to earn the same amount of pay as men. The head of the public affairs in CMI, Mike Petrook stated, “Our reaction to it taking almost 100 years to get any form of parity is an incredible alarm.” He also claims how this now presents the issue of women being discriminated against which will lead more women wanting to quite their jobs. Research also showed that last February redundancy was equal between men and women, but the inequality still remains in the high end positions,”where almost five times as many female directors as male directors lost their jobs.” Women's salaries are slowly increasing, but it is still evident that there is a glass ceiling.

Women not getting equal pay is a significant problem because this is gender discrimination. This article shows how even though women have been able to vote since 1928, they are still not viewed as equal citizens in society. This limits opportunities for women and presses the expectations of what women should be doing oppose to what they want to do. This inequality is an issue in many countries where women are not free to choose what they want to do, restricting the freedoms that women deserve.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/aug/31/cmi-equal-pay-report

Blog #1 Famine in Africa

In my opinion one of the biggest problems in this world is the lack of food in relations to the multitudes of people, alongside the overbearing cost of such a direr necessity. It is apparent that right now in the Horn of Africa a volatile global food supply is deepening the humanitarian catastrophe. There are near historic prices for staples such as corn, wheat, and sugar along with shortages in these foods because of extensive droughts. As stated in the article more than 12 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in the Horn of Africa. In some areas 40% of children under 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition. Last month corn, or maze, has risen by 84% and sugar and wheat have risen over 50%. Food prices altogether have risen over 30% higher than a year ago. In some places prices have increased 240% over the last year. The combination of rising food cost alongside with the lack of foods, thanks to extensive droughts have devastated the African people. Without food the many Africans will fall to disease, illness, malnutrition, and even death.
This Global problem will not be solved overnight but there are several actions that need to take place to solve this issue. Some of the causes for such high cost in food falls back on the US with our production of biofuels. These biofuels correlate with the production of corn ethanol which results in higher food prices. We need to limit the use of crops for fuels and find an alternate source. Some other causes could be poor local harvest and the shrinking global food stocks. Another cause is the droughts that are taking place. One solution may be new technology. In the guardian they were talking about shooting lasers into the sky to produce rain. Even though this may be a start, it is probably rather expensive. No matter how we look at it this is a serious global problem and needs to be solved for the grader good of all mankind.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/16/africa-famine-food-prices-world-bankc

Blog Post #1 Human beings need human rights – in Britain as well as Libya

   In this article, the main issue being discussed is the human rights and how those rights should be equally enforced for human beings around the world especially those in Libya and Britain. As we all know, Libya is was under governmental oppression for over forty years and are they seek to enforce the importance of restrictions and human rights of empowerment.  Britain however, is well known for their major efforts in promoting leadership on human rights. Much controversy had arose about this issue that it influenced the Labour government to pass the Human Rights Act.

   This act's intended purpose was to give everyone as human beings equal rights and were entitled to their own opinions and reasonings. After this law was passed, government officials spent years and years trashing and bashing the law which made citizens feel that the their government system as a whole was conflicted and wasn't considered to be tooken seriously by the government. However, the goverment disputed these myths and accusations and claimed the human rights act was considered to be both essential and beneficial to the UK.  In this upcoming November, the UK will take over the chairmanship of the Council of Europe. The goverment sees this as a good opportunity to reform the European courts. Most human rights are considered to be corrupted and manipulative in the court systems.

   In my opinion human rights and its laws is not fulfilling all the requirements and standards they set out to do. Therefore many contradictions and myths are being told. I feel like it is up to the government to improve their standards and uphold the stature of human rights. Not only for the current citizens of the UK, but for all the future generations to come.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/25/need-uk-bill-of-rights

Blog Post #1 US Diplomat posed as Korean tourist in undercover visit to China tiger farm

An American diplomat went undercover to a tiger and bear farm that was found to be treating the animals with cruelty. It had been alleged in media reports in 2007 that the farm sold tiger meat in its restaurant and tiger bone wine in its shop. The diplomat had trouble getting into the farm, but when the personnel were convinced he was Korean, they were ready to do business. While the diplomat did not witness killing of these animals, he did however see the animals beaten and used for circus type shows. One was even placed in a cage with an ox to be “introduced to the wild”. Another extremely strange thing the diplomat saw was that the animals were made to join mock Chinese marriage receptions and act as a bride and groom. There were over 1,000 tigers in cages at the farm. Even the locals said that the farm served tiger meat and sold tiger skin, which the personnel denied.

I see this as a great injustice. This is no place for endangered animals, or for any animals. The diplomat didn’t find any signs of whether or not the animals were being killed for food, but regardless they were being treated with cruelty, and need an environment they can live peacefully in and remain healthy. If they were being killed, the personnel would have doubtfully told him anyway. The tiger pictured (see link) looked extremely malnourished, as if it had not been fed for a week. I believe the solution is for the farm to be shut down immediately. If any more cases are discovered, I think the same should apply. This case really draws awareness to the issue for me. This is an example of people gaining profit at the expense of these animals’ well being. It is clear that this farm is up to no good, and nothing positive can come out of it as long as the animals remain there. They need to be released into their environment, or somewhere suitable, after being nourished back to health. While this may or may not be an isolated case, it affects the whole tiger population. In the long run this type of thing could even lead to extinction. If they are already endangered, they especially need to be protected.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/25/us-diplomat-china-tiger-farm

Contemporary Issues Forum, "The Truth Behind Race and Intelligence"

Extra Credit

For centuries people have wondered whether there are links between the race of an individual and her or his racial background. A myriad of scientists and puedo-scientists have explored the question with often controversial results. Even despite the Age of Obama and supposed color-blindness of modern American society, many Americans still believe intelligence is related to race on some level (see "Intelligence and how to get: why schools and cultures count", Nisbett, 2009), including those from communities of color. Join us in a discussion of race, intelligence and intercultural relations in today's society. Featuring Prof. Michael D. Cauthen (UNCG African American Studies Program)

When: Tuesday, September 20, 4pm-530pm
Where: Multicultural Resource Center, EUC 062

Blog Post # 1 China Oil Spill

Summary of China Oil Spill Article

Analysis Of China Oil Spill

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/25/conocophillips-china-oil-spill