RE:"Westside Rapist" gets life for Calif. killings

http://kandisinitiatingforwardmovement.blogspot.com/

I agree completetly, there are many people out there who do serious crimes but somehow find a way to slip through the cracks. There are too many people in our prison system that are living off our dollar who shouldn't even be there. I believe that, along with what you are saying, there needs to be a serious prison reform.

"Are whites racially oppressed?"

"Are whites racially oppressed?" The quote itself caught me off-guard, especially when it was the first line of the article I chose, but when I began to read I realized that it was just a poor choice of words to break the ice into a very interesting article. In this piece, Esther J. Cepeda discusses the shift that is in process that will bring the whites to be the minorities in our country, of course Cepeda goes on to retract the use of the quote, it then states that many people are beginning to worry about what could happen as a result. Agreeing with the author, I do believe that there is change to come, but I want to go ahead and jump in stating that I think it's a little sad that in the time we live in there are still people worrying about the racial stature in our country. To be honest, i don't exactly care what color someone is or how many of them are out there...and I dont think everyone else should be as worried either. Another good point made in this article is that scholarships are countlessly being given out to women and minorites, this is another fact that grinds my gears. I think that people are expressing way too much emphasis on race, this "affirmative action" is basically bringing everything the civil rights movement fought for and bringing it down to square one. I personally believe that the faster everyone stops putting pointless acknowledgement into the color of someone's skin or whether or not they've got an Adam's apple, the sooner we can all just accept everyone as equals.
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/cepeda-face-up-to-the-changes-in-america-1312581.html

Tougher Gun Control

In this article, Senator Schumer is calling for harsher gun control laws in the U.S. Written by Margaret Lau, the author argues first explains the statistics of gun-related deaths in the United States every day, 34, as well as many other statistics envolving gun-control. The Author then goes on to argue that the type of ever-haul that the Senator is going for here is much too large in the timescale that he is discussing, requiring gun shops much stress. This might be true, but I personally believe that harsher gun laws would be a blessing and a curse, I believe that the uproar over such things would be hell to bear but it needs to be done. More and more weapons are finding their way into the hands of criminals and there needs to be an end put to it. With harsher gun laws, it will become more difficult for the "bad guys" to gain access to them. If you aren't a criminal and you want to but a Glock 9mm to shoot at the range every now and then, no problem. Go right ahead. But as for the pick pockets and robbers, lets up the background checks first.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/sen-schumer-calls-for-tougher-gun-control-laws-51882.html

Montana and Medical Marijuana

Scrolling through some of the provided links for this assignment, I came across an interesting piece of news. In the state of Montana, the position of power by both parties have recently shifted from that of a 50-50 tie in the house to a 68-32 Republican lead. Having this recent shift in power has caused a shift in the state's attitude toward the legalization of medical marijuana.
Now, with a large number of Republicans in the house, lawmakers are trying to repeal the 2004 vote (which was approved by 62 percent of voters) and make legalized marijuana a thing in the past, arguing that the line between the medical use and the recreational use of marijuana is being stretched more and more as time progresses.
This article was a great read. Throughout, the state of Montana is compared to that of California as well as Colorado, this was interesting to see how different parts of the country have very different politics...especially when it comes to something as big as marijuana legalization.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/us/11marijuana.html?ref=politics