I notice more and more that the news media does not do their job. They care more about profit rather than bringing important information to people. An immediate example, there is a war in the middle east with thousands of soldiers dying, there are millions of barrels oil leaking from the gulf coast yet the biggest news that I see is that Tom Izzo decided to stay at MSU. This is not the first time that this has happened, and it definitely will not be the last.

The news industry is rampant with corruption, greed, and defamation of character. The news media is obsessed with making the big money rather than informing the people. whenever there is ever a celebrity scandal, despite someone being shot or something catastrophic happening, that always is the top story. The media even drags things out way longer than they should be. For example. The Tiger Woods scandal is still in the media and continues to headline, whereas the oil spill in the gulf is already fading out into the mini- stories.

Maybe I grew up with the wrong idea of the news media, but I thought that they were supposed to present the news that matters, not the news that’s going to be the most controversial or scandalous. I want to hear the news about what is going on, not who is going on. It is not all hopeless though, there are still some news companies that still bring the honest, important news to us, but that may be because news is all that they show (of course I’m talking about channels such as CNN or MSNBC.) I do not watch them, I normally watch local news, so I’m not claiming to be an expert on anything.

So here is my request to the news media: Present the stories that matter first. I want to hear about what’s going on in the middle east or what they are doing with the oil before I want to hear about Tom Izzo (and I’m sure that I’m not the only one.) Please and thank you. Also, enough is enough with character defamation. I know that the lives of celebrities are public, but the negative light helps no one.

Your friend,

Josh Robbins.

In the year 1860, the Pony Express was founded. This was the first true mail- carrying company to reach across the nation (from Missouri to California.) Since then, the way we send information around the globe has advanced greatly in leaps and bounds. From Morse Code to radio, TV to computers, and Palm Pilots to Smart Phones. But the ever existent U.S. post office has suffered through thick and thin, but is it becoming obsolete? Or is the post office stronger than ever? Do we still need the post office?

YES:

————–

Despite the emergence of e- mail, texting, and sites like twitter and facebook, Americans still need the post office. It is the only business who is established by the constitution, and the post office and private delivery companies flourish in big cities. The post office is the only thing that can get information to places like Wyoming or Alaska, who seems cut off from the rest of America’s technology. Without post, how could the elderly get social security? or the less fortunate get welfare? What if our cyber superhighway crashes? The post office is the only thing that we could rely on. Also, the post office also helps with census, and also takes care of Passports.

NO:

——-

Very little of “snail mail” is personal anymore. It is normally junk. For most of us, we communicate primarily through e-mail, and internet is becoming available in rural areas. Also, people are now starting to pay their bills online as well.

A Story of Courage

–

Shamsia was walking with her sister,

A man on a motorcycle pulled abreast,

Are you going to school?

She was,

The man sprayed her face with acid,

Left with jagged scars,

Her vision was damaged,

And there the tale might rest,

Girls and teachers maimed,

The school closed, dark and sad,

The Headmaster held a meeting,

And begged the parents to let them return,

And the girls came back,

My parents told me to keep coming,

Even if I am killed,

And each day,

The school bustles.

A Message of Hope

–

Here I am,

Wondering,

What will happen to my walls,

Now we are dying,

Dying from the inside out,

And if we don’t act quick,

We will quickly exhale,

Our last breath,

Don’t let the strength,

Of their words,

Penetrate your innocence,

Mark my words,

They will fall,

You will not greave any longer,

For we will prevail,

We will ignite the flame,

That burns them down,

This is our liberation,

When will they learn?

That we can not be silenced,

Now give me your arms, brothers,

This fight is ours,

We will win our freedom,

And take back what is ours,

Breathe new life,

For you are not alone,

In your suffering,

My blood is cold as ice,

And my heart is stone,

We will suffer,

But not in vain,

When we win freedom,

The trumpet sounds,

As we ride,

On the attack,

My conviction,

Has consumed my soul,

And my hands,

Are stained with blood,

The battle is long,

And is still going,

As long as I am alive,

I will fight this war,

In hope of reaching the end,

Someday.

When the Europeans first came to the America’s, they tore through waging battles and forcing out the natives. Today, immigration is not quite that severe, but illegal immigration is a continuing and growing problem today.

First, to understand the concept of illegal immigration, we need to take a little trip on the history ship. Rewind to almost 300 years ago, when the first white Europeans came to the Americas. Before there was the U.S, the Americas were torn and tribal. The only government were those of the Native American tribes, usually a direct democracy where the entire tribe voted on almost every decision. There were many tribal skirmishes  and battles, sometimes even wars. But then the European colonists came into the Americas. Most of the natives acted friendly, greeting them. Some, though were hostile, attacking the colonists at random. The Colonists began trading with the Natives, usually trading guns for food, spices, and furs. As the European population grew, so did their need for more room.

Eventually, The colonists, now the newly dubbed “Americans” began to force natives west as the Westward Expansion began. The Americans moved most of the natives to reserves, small plots of land that were to be untouched where the natives could continue their traditions and customs. Some natives assimilated to American culture. The age of the natives is now dead, and the age of Americans has began.

Fast Forward about 200 years. America has become a world power A booming dreamland of economic opportunity and almost absolute freedom. Well, that might not be the tale of late, but that’s still how many people outside of our borders view America. Even in this world economic meltdown, with businesses closing doors, and multi- million dollar government bailouts going into executive’s pockets, America still seems like a land of pooprtunity to many people. This takes us to the meat of the problem. Illegal immigration  has been a problem for many years and is all but growing today.

But what is an illegal immigrant? In my view, an illegal immigrant is anyone who comes to this country, the United States of America without some type of government recognition that allows them to come. The general stereotype of an illegal immigrant is a Hispanic man that crossed the United state’s southern border. He can not speak English, and he lives in a run-down trailer working as a custodian or a landscaper. This stereotype is wrong. Many illegal immigrants come from Canada. In fact, Canada beats out Korea and Vietnam in the number of immigrants. Many immigrants can speak English, though not very well, and some can speak English fluently. Immigrants, while many of them do take low paying, unskilled jobs, also take skilled, blue- collar jobs. Most immigrants, can also look like you or me.

So, New, fresh workers taking low- level jobs, what’s the problem? There are plenty of problems with illegal immigrants. One of the more obvious ones is that they are not officially recognized by the American Government as a citizen, therefore, according to the government, they don’t even exist. They do not have to pay taxes. Many illegal immigrants fake their identification and reap government benefits without paying their dues. Illegal immigrants can apply  for medicaid coverage, unemployment, and many other government programs without paying their dues.

If that doesn’t bother you, how about the simple fact that they’re breaking a law? according to americanpatrol.com,

“Under Title 8 Section 1325 of the U.S. Code, “Improper Entry by Alien,” any citizen of any country other than the United States who:

• Enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers; or
• Eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers; or
• Attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact;

has committed a federal crime.

Violations are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment for up to six months. Repeat offenses can bring up to two years in prison. Additional civil fines may be imposed at the discretion of immigration judges, but civil fines do not negate the criminal sanctions or nature of the offense.”

If you don’t enter this country legally, you commit a federal offense. It’s very simple to understand. If coming to this country without proper U.S. papers is such an offense, why do so many immigrants come to this country illegally? Because the system in which the immigrants are processed is very costly and inefficient. Many immigrants can’t pay the processing fees, and it takes years just to get their visa, and many more to become a full citizen. Many immigrants think that it is not worth the time, and they would rather take the risk of coming over here illegally.

Illegal immigration also leads to other crimes being committed. Drug trafficking, prostitution, traffic and driving infractions, even terrorism. When immigrants come across the border, they usually bring very little with them. But, one thing that immigrants do bring is drugs, and not the kind that you find in a pharmacy. Immigrants, when they come here, bring drugs like marijuana and cocaine with them. Narcotics and illegal contraband are easy to conceal in a pocket or a backpack, and it fetches good money on the street. Money that is great to start a new life in America. Another good moneymaker on the street is prostitution. Many illegal immigrants will sell out their daughters, wives, or other relatives or friends to make profit.

Many immigrants can not speak English well, and they can not read it, and that leads to many traffic violations and accidents along the roadways. Thy can sometimes kill American citizens when they cause wrecks. Some immigrants deliberately kill American citizens. Some immigrants will murder for owed money. Some immigrants turn out to be full- fledged terrorists.

Another thing that illegals can bring over is disease. many immigrants that come to the U.S. are among the poor in their own country. This means that they can not afford to see a doctor if they have an ailment, and when they come over to this country, they bring that ailment with them. Sometimes they will bring a disease that they do not know that they have, like HIV/AIDS because they can not afford to get tested. Other diseases can come over that they have built an immunity to, but Americans have not.

There is one thing that immigrants do not bring with them… and education. Many immigrants are uneducated, and that’s why they take low- paying jobs that do not require a skill like being a janitor, lawn mower,  or house- keeping. But due to laws, any child born on U.S. soil is an American citizen, therefore, even though their parents do not pay taxes, the government has to pay for his/her education. An estimated $14.6 billion has been spent by the government educating children when their parents do not pay taxes. (since 1996, grades k-12, immigrationcounters.com).

So you’ve read all the arguments and seen the statistics, and you might say “just send them back,” unfortunately, because they officially do not “exist” according to the government, the government can not track these people down. On the other side of the table, the debate might be “just give them amnesty,” to do that, we would have to revise U.S. code, and we would have to decide exactly who gets the amnesty. Also, it would be too costly and the government would have to rush and give out more than 22 million social security numbers, ID’s, and other information. This would be way too inefficient.

In conclusion. Illegal immigration is wrong, and it an ever- growing problem in the U.S. Illegal immigrants do not pay taxes, yet take advantage of the system using fake identification, and bring more crimes along with them. The problem is that there is no clear way to deal with the illegal immigrants. You’re in the president’s chair right now, you’ve heard the facts, the statistics, and everything that goes along with it. You need to write some form of legislation to deal with illegal immigration. What would you do?

So, Barrack Obama and his crew want to put forth a national health care, much like the set up in Canada. I say NO to national health care. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, National health care is a plan to make a single government organization to run the health care in America. This, obviously, is going to be run by taxes, just like everything else in the government. So, why should I have to pay for someone else’s health care? I’m a pretty healthy guy, and I normally don’t get sick, but why should I have to pay my hard- earned money so that someone else that doesn’t work for a living can get medical treatment. It’s not like the Government doesn’t steal enough out of our paychecks already.

There is not one, NOT ONE government- run agency that runs efficiently or effectively, so why should I pay out the wazoo for another government fail?  And just because it’s Obama, the great “savior” of America doesn’t make it any better, considering the terrible job he’s been doing. Do any of you think that the government is going to be able to handle something as complex as a health care system? I think not. Can anyone be trusted to run a health care system? Not many people. I would definitely not trust myself to run one.

Not only does it hurt the taxpayers, but it also hurts the patients. Having a national health care system in place would mean that everything is going to take longer, because it needs to travel further distances for paperwork to be approved, drugs and stuff to be approved, etc. Also, the flexibility of a national health care system would be at about the flexibility of a rock. If we have a national health care setup, would it cover elective surgeries, such as: Breast augmentations, wart removals, eye surgery, etc. You can say “that’s easy, make the patient pay for it!” but what is going to be considered elective? what about a hernia? You don’t NEED a surgery, but you’d be in pain for the rest of your life. What about a breast size reduction because of back problems?

“…Whenever you have government control of something, you have one item added to the equation that will most definitely screw things up–politics. Suddenly, every medical procedure and situation is going to come down to a political battle. The compromises that result will put in controls that limit patient options. The universal system in Canada forces patients to wait over 6 months for a routine pap smear. Canada residents will often go to the U.S. or offer additional money to get their health care needs taken care of.” (quoted from balancedpolitics.org. http://balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm)

What is going to be the cost of a national health care system? “In 2008, health care spending in the United States reached $2.4 trillion, and was projected to reach $3.1 trillion in 2012.1 Health care spending is projected to reach $4.3 trillion by 2016.” (quoted from nchc.org. http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml)

You just witnessed the staggering truth about the cost of health care. So, time for a math lesson. Let’s take 3 trillion (estimate between 2008 and 2012) and divide that by 300 million. 300 million people in the U.S. It comes out to ten thousand. So, someone would have to pay around 10,000 a year. (this is an estimate, I could be totally wrong, but that’s what my math states. We do have the progressive tax system.) do you think that someone who flips burgers and has to make a living on it is going to be able to afford it? I think not! And that’s not including the cost to start it up, pay workers, or anything like that, so it could be even more.

So, in conclusion, Health care is just a bad idea. It’s too slow, to vague, and too costly for Americans to afford. especially in this economic turmoil! Also, the fact that not everyone’s covered is a lie. There are non- profit organizations and medicare/medicaid to assist in health care. people that can’t afford health care just need to get up off their asses and apply for one of those organizations! why should I pay 10 thousand or maybe more a year because some fat slob is being lazy and I’m perfectly healthy? People, stop the madness!