A fool’s way of keeping weed Illegal

A fool’s way of keeping weed Illegal

I wish all of you could read this article, it’s a joke. It is called The growing acceptance of weed Legalization of Marijuana ignore the link to brain damage by R. Emmet Tyrrell Jr. on the Washington Times. What I did was just look up bias articles on the academic search from the school library website and this is one that popped up. I was laughing the whole time on all the assumptions this guy was making. This one of the most bias essays I have ever read. I am going share with you the invisible narrative in this article and all the ways Tyrrell is bias.

Lets start of with the title The growing acceptance of weed Legalization of Marijuana ignore the link to brain damage. He obviously is bias from the start stating that the growing acceptance of people trying to legalize weed are forgetting the link to brain damage. Where is his proof that it does lead to brain damage? You can tell right off the bat that this article is going to be very opinion based. In his first paragraph Tyrell compares weed and alcohol saying that people got high just to get that high feeling. And that people who drink alcohol do because they enjoy the taste of it. Not all people just want to get that high feeling from weed. So people do because it relives their stress, some need weed because they have a specific medical condition. Tyrell has no facts to prove any of his statements.

It’s funny how he says that marijuana can be a cause of death, but according to https://ncadd.org/in-the-news/155-25-million-alcohol-related-deaths-worldwide-annually, there are 2.5 million alcohol related deaths that occurred in 2013. There are no deaths that primarily state that weed was the cause. Meaning no one has died from being too high but plenty have from alcohol poisoning. He later has the balls to say “Possibly, these findings might bear on Michael Brown's erratic behavior in Ferguson, Mo., before his tragic death. We know that the 6-foot-4, 292-pound teenager was at least on marijuana. We know that 10 minutes before he was shot, he robbed a liquor store of cheap cigars. And at least some of us know that those Swisher Sweet cigars are used as a conduit for ingesting a mixture of PCP and marijuana. My guess is that Brown's senseless death was brought on by what the psychiatrists mentioned above have referred to as psychosis and permanent brain injury.” Tyrell is saying that because Mike Brown had we in his system led him to rob a liquor store thus led to the killing. He has no right to assume this, the cops shot an unarmed teenager, that’s all there is to say.

I found an interesting article on http://www.livescience.com/42738-marijuana-vs-alcohol-health-effects.html saying that "As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life," Obama said during the interview. "I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol." It is awesome that I can bring this into play because the President of the United States used to smoke weed, and saying it’s not as dangerous as alcohol is even better. It shows that even smart men do it or at least have done it. This proves that everything said by Tyrell is completely BS!

Let Me Marry Who I Love

Imagine being judged on a daily basis for loving the person that completes you? For many years same sex couples have been hiding their true identity because of fear of judgment, discrimination and other mistreatments from others. Same sex couples share a love as pure as those couples composed of a woman and a man. It is unfair for same sex couples to have to act a certain way when in public to simply fit in with the rest of society.  Same sex couples should be allowed to make their relationship public as well as have equal benefits as traditional couples that are married.

The idea of same sex marriage in the United States changes from state to state. This is the case because some states still today hold old, conservative views that lead them to view same sex marriage as wrong. These people have not been able to overcome old American views because they are afraid of change. Change is not always bad. This kind of change will allow our country to be more welcoming and comforting for many more people and not just traditional couples of woman and man. The country will be able to benefit economically and socially.

Same sex couples should be allowed to marry and adopt children without any restrictions. Although same sex marriage is legal in California, it is yet to be accepted by all Americans. Same sex couples waited a long period of time to be granted with marriage, and now things have gotten a bit better by having the chance to build their own families through adoption. Married couples of the same sex can chose to adopt, however too many people are against this decision because they argue that the child will not grow up as well as one raised by a traditional family. This is so disturbing because it does not matter who raises a child, the important factors are the values the child inherits from their early childhood.

In the 2008 elections proposition 8 was presented in search of ending same sex marriages in California. This is extremely ironic when we live in one of the most liberal states in the country. We have the famous Castro Street in the heart of San Francisco where same sex couples are acknowledged and are able to enjoy themselves. However, it shouldn’t be necessary to attend a particular place to feel comfortable in your own skin. One should feel free to act and be with who ever they wish to be. Happiness is not forced, but yet felt, and if a person of the same sex makes you happy then that’s the way it should be. 

We shouldn’t have the need to hide our true colors. It is important for those individuals that don’t accept same sex marriage to at least act neutral and not discriminate. It is also essential for benefits to be distributed equally for married couples of the same sex. After all, everyone including couples of the same sex expect equality and freedom when those are the laws that rule our country.

THE PRICE OF DEATH

 

On June16, the State executed Eddie Duval Powell, 41, and Lee Andrew Taylor, 32, in Alabama and Texas respectively. On Tuesday, June 21, the State of Texas also executed Milton Mathis, 32, and last Thursday, the State of Georgia put a needle in arm of Roy Blankenship, 55, and used an animal sedative as part of the three-drug process to kill him.

There are a few articles about mass the death penalty, there has been little coverage of individual, and instead the courts and media, and even a majority of non-profit and organizations, have focused on cost and innocence in anti-death penalty decisions and efforts. The death penalty is horrible and makes one look like they have lowered there standards to them and is inhumane. On the one hand, it is heartening that the media and non-profit world are finally discussing this topic.  The recent spotlight on criminal in/justice issues have been a huge case in today's society toward reducing prison population, such as the recent decision in California.

 

If one thinks about the bigger picture, more fundamental question come to mind. Why has society’s focus finally on criminal in/justice related issues?  Is it finally because people are linking the prison-industrial complex (PIC) to involuntary servitude, and seeing the death penalty as a tool for executing people of color, poor people, and people with dis/abilities? Or perhaps criminal “justice”  has become a media focus because this topic is now “sexy,” and the media has merely found another way to categorize these marginalized communities and their oppression.  Is the focus growing because people who are not subject to the PIC are finally relating to those who are most affected by it? Or is it that, during this economic collapse, white upper-middle class people are finally being affected by the PIC because of the overwhelming cost of executions and thus merely acting in their own self-interest.





Contrary to the mainstream discourse separating the individual stories of today from the historical events such of slavery, genocide, and systematic oppression, the connections are strong and supportive.  Many who have worked with individuals on death row have done extensive investigation into that person’s individual and familial history about three generations back and placed that history within the context of systematic marginalization.  Despite the common refrain from conservatives and white liberals alike that “slavery was so long ago,” and thus distinct from today’s narratives, the process of tracing a person’s history demonstrates so clearly the impact of centuries of institutionalized racism and classism on an individual’s life



 Therefore, the current mainstream discourse in media, academic, and legal communities, by discussing issues of cost, and isolated injustices, and by excluding individual and historical narratives of institutionalized oppression, allows for limited reform on white people’s terms while simultaneously creating a sense of progress.  While it is not my place as a brown Mexican American to determine what stories should and should not be told, or to deice how the PIC and executions should be connected to histories of slavery, and genocide, at the very least there are undeniable facts about the current system that remain invisible in mainstream dialogue.  Most obviously, the State is systematically executing people of color, poor people, and people with dis/abilities on death row. In prison, poor people and people of color are taken away from their families, put in cages, given a number and then work for next to nothing while essentially being charged money to be in prison. Yet the current framework for discussing the PIC and all that it entails ensures that people of color, poor people, and people with dis/abilities remain merely third party beneficiaries when it suits the white ruling class.  This is not reform, this is not progress. 

NBA Players Get Paid More Than WNBA Players. Discrimination and Inequality is Still An Issue In The US When It Comes To Professional Sports.

An invisible narrative I find interesting in today’s present world is that, women and men do not get paid the same for playing the same sport. Gender inequity is a big issue that should be solved and fixed. How is it possible to live in the U.S.A., where this is suppose to be a free country and a country of equality for both men and women. Yet there is so much discrimination and inequity against women in this country.  For a WNBA player in 2005 the minimum salary was $31,200, and the maximum salary was $89,000. While in the NBA the minimum salary players received was $385,277, and the maximum salary was $15,355 million during the same season in 2005. Which if you ask anyone, is way too damn much. How is it possible such inequity exists in America, but there should be equality for both genders yet it is simply not the case.

It seems that “We as Americans don’t value our women like we should, and therefore they are treated like mere objects due to discrimination”. Women are just as capable of doing anything a man can do. Just like playing professional sports women become professional athletes like some men do, but they do not get the same salaries that men do. Even if women didn’t get paid the same as men do there really would be no problem if the gap between salaries wasn’t so big like it is. In the PGA tour the total prize money a professional male golf player wins is $256 million, and in the LPGA tour a professional female golf player can only win up to $50 million. Which is not even half of what the man who wins the PGA tour takes home. The gap between men and women just seems to simply get greater apart. Only showing increase in gender discrimination and inequity towards women.

Source: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q8aXZt1GL2s/0.jpg

We as people hardly see or think about the reality about inequality in professional sports. I mean think about it what do the average Americans want to watch on Television when it comes to watching sports. I know you might say football, baseball, basketball, and soccer. But you have to realize that it does not matter what sport you might see on television it will most likely be professional men teams. This is simply, because even on television women professional sports do not get put on T.V. like the professional male sports. So people are so used to watching male sports that they forget there are women sports. It is not the fault of the people, but the media that doesn’t put live women sports on television as often as the men sports. This discrimination also is shown when advertisements of sport brands or sport products come on T.V. it is rare to see a woman on a sport advertisement, it is most likely you will see Lebron James or Kobe Bryant on the advertisement rather than Tamika Catchings. Male dominance is seem way too much in the U.S., which is ridiculous and a serious matter. A way to fix the problem of male dominance in sports can be to advertise women athletes more, when I say more I mean enough to the point where you can walk in a bar or restaurant and hear people debating about who the current best women professional basketball player is. People would value and care more about women professional sports if they were advertised as much as men sports are.  "Just think about it".

United Kingdom Losing Unity

Recently put on the upcoming ballot in the United Kingdom is the matter of whether or not Scotland will be a free country. Throughout history Scotland has been used as extra space for Britain. The Scottish people have faced years of discrimination and mistreatment. They have been perceived as the end piece of a loaf of bread, you keep it around but for no good reason. Last year Scotland took one more step closer to becoming their own independent country. A poll was sent out asking peoples opinion on the matter, and with a majority in favor of independence, it sent the matter in motion.

While some outlets, such as The Economist, say, “…Britain would be diminished in every international forum…” Britain will survive just fine without Scotland. Britain is a rather wealthy country that is very self-sufficient, so claims that “…a British exit from the EU…” will occur is just as likely of happening as someone in Florida getting out of a polling station in under two hours. Granted they will have to look for more agricultural land, an issue they will quickly recover from. (www.economist.com)

Scotland has run as a fairly independent country. They carry out their own taxes, own government officials, have a steady tourist flow, etc. Britain does support the country a great deal, yet this is because they do not allow Scotland to use their own funds. So after years of being under British rule, they may have some cash hidden under their mattress to hold themselves up. 

Since early August the polls have showed more people in favor of the “No” campaign. A setback, and had many thinking that independence was simply going to be voted out by a landslide. Britain feeling confident, seeing this as just another piece of dust to sweep under the rug in a few months, did not anticipate the results of this past Saturday. The Pro-Independence side gained the lead in a poll conducted by YouGov. (www.aljazeera.com)

This is not just an issue that concerned a specific town either. This addresses the older generation, Scotland natives, British born, single parents, etc. Each group carries a different opinion on the matter and many unsure of wether or not they will even cast their own vote. (www.bbc.com) What happens September 18th in completely up in the air, but as of right now, Scotland’s independence is within reach.

Teens thinking like Criminals 

           Until the twentieth century, there was little difference between how the justice system treated adults and children. Age was considered only in terms of appropriate punishment, and juveniles were eligible for the same punishment as adults, including the death penalty. Have you ever thought that poverty, homes issue, and acceptance can make teenagers criminals? But I am sure that people knew that where one lives can affect a ones insecurities of acceptance and become a criminal.

In the 21^st century the real reasons for teenage crime was poverty and acceptance. Some of these factors contribute to teenage crime because they need to steal simply to survive or get a hold of basic necessities. Many families nowadays are very poor and will get poorer, from the rising of interest rates and many other things. This will make the poor even poorer, with less chance of making their way up the ladder without needing to steal. People are not understanding that people in poverty need resources that they don’t have access to, making them do crimes to get the necessities they need. But being in a less fortunate home, one is without doubt going to need to steal, simply to survive each week and so that one can go to school or work. We need to come together and help people that cannot afford those necessities or some sort of guidance to these items.

There are several home issues that can effect a teenager perspective. Divorces come up as a huge effect on a teenager dramatically. The increase in the number of divorces in America during the last two decades has been dramatic: over  413,00 divorces since 1962.  More and more families are going through these hard times.. Most teenagers go to school, worried about their home life and what will happen to them. Those teenager are considered lucky because there are other teenagers that don’t even have a home. Hundreds of teenagers face numerous challenges at home, such to events like not keeping up to their school and parents’ academies standards which seem small to events such as divorce or even becoming an orphan. Many teenagers are trying to deal with problems at home by doing things are worse such as, crimes and drugs. The teenage crime has suddenly appear to increase because most of these teenagers are trying to forget about the old memories’ they have. Simply just to try and catch their parents attention or simply trying to rebel and forget about their home life. This can be considered by doing things such as binge drinking or taking drugs. We need to know what problem is and learn different ways to fixing this issue because many teenagers are suffering from without even knowing.

A huge goal for girls and boys is acceptance. Nobody likes to be left out or be called bad names, so teens do whatever the “cool people” do to be accepted. Many teens try to be cool and so do what many other criminal teenagers are doing which is thinks like binge drinking, drunk driving, and doing drugs. These events are caused because teenagers do not want to be left out.

Teenage crime is caused because of the need of want of something. Teenagers do not want to be poor and not have enough money for simple school supplies. One tends to want peace and harmony at home and also they need and want to be accepted by others. Teenage crime is rising at an alarming and things must be done. There are parents that are just stuck in the middle. These are the times parents should be helping their child at these times especially, when anything can happen and go wrong

A New America

The United States has been undergoing a pointless, waste of time, and money war for more than forty years. And no, this particular war doesn’t involve another country nor does it involve fighting against a human like object. Instead, the war is based off of “Eliminating” drugs off the streets of America. Pioneer of the war, ex-president Richard M. Nixon, declared war on June of 1971 and since then low income communities experience an abundance of drugs thus, placing low income individuals incarcerated with little or no resources to help aid or eliminate their addiction.

Left: Crack Right: typical coke

The purpose of the war against drugs was to eliminate the drug flow from entering the United States and from landing in the hands of an American citizen. Instead what it has been doing for the past 40 year is labeling individuals socially, placing them in jails with outrageous sentences, and atrocious drug related  laws. Over the years drug laws have been changing. The most recent and crucial change has been towards coke rock vs. the powdery substance. To sum it all up, if an individual gets detained while having crack cocaine present, the sentences is five years longer compared to the powdery substance. So to be clear, if you get caught with a 4 gram of crack cocaine, your sentence is typically 6 years in prison. Now if you get caught with a 4 gram pure cocaine, the sentence is 2 to 3 years. Both substances are the same with the exception of one of them baking soda is added. Overall what the wars has done is create unequal outcomes across racial groups and drug war misery suffered by communities of color. O, and quick historical side note, the creators of the horrible drug substance, crack cocaine, were the CIA. Coincidence? But this is only a small portion of the plotted drug war.

Most of these drugs are located in low-income colored communities. Which correlates with the inmate ratio all over America. Unfortunately people of color are most abundant in jails, mostly due to drug related charges. Instead of treating the inmate with rehab, programs to help him or her to get back on his feet such as job training, we punish them and label them with a number that only benefits prison owners. The more inmates, the more revenue. Recent studies reveal that a lot of prisons have eliminated beneficial programs such as rehab and in work related experience in jail.

Jail

Most people believe punishing inmates on drug related cases is the solution to the war against drugs. But what most people don’t take to account is treating the individual instead of thinking the war is eliminating the root cause. A leading example is the drug policies in Sweden. There motto is based on a zero tolerance, thus focusing on prevention, treatment, and control. Hoping to reduce both  supply and demand for illegal substance. And so far there policies has decreased inmate rates. What the United States should do is adapt Sweden's drug policies and treat the problem and individuals instead of punishing them.

War on Drugs is the War on Minorities

War on Drugs is the War on Minorities

In 1971 President Nixon declared the war on drugs stating that drug abuse was America’s public enemy number one. After more than forty years since it was declared the war on drugs has transformed to the war on people, more specifically on minorities. Thousands of African Americans and Hispanics are incarcerated for long sentences due to drug infractions. African Americans and Latinos together make up 29 percent of the total U.S population, but more than 75 percent of drug law violators in State and federal prisons. The war on drugs has failed benefiting the prison industrial complex with policies that affect primarily minorities.

Policies like “mandatory sentencing laws including three strikes your out guarantee an ever-increasing prison population.” That is especially true for minority groups since they tend to get arrested and sentence more frequently causing them to hit the third strike. African American men are arrested at thirteen times the rate of white men.

Mandatory minimum sentences are the cause of many blacks and Latinos to be incarcerated for long terms due to drug infractions. These minimum sentences are ridiculously long for a non-violent crime and should not be considered a felony. We need to decrease prison incarceration and increase education and other resources. These communities live in conditions where it lacks opportunity and resources. Because of this, many do not have another option but to sell drugs to live.

Since the target is towards these communities, they are more likely to get stopped and frisked and then arrested having to serve long mandatory sentencing. After their sentence they tend to go back to their old habits and the cycle keeps going without anyone worrying about the root cause of the problem. Once they are out, they are unable to obtain a job because of their felony, or go to college since they are no longer eligible for certain grants. Also they cannot get certain health care benefits, cannot live in certain neighborhoods, and are banned from public housing even though their families live there. The one’s that suffer the most impact from this are the family members.  

A statistical study found that  1 in 9 black children have a parent incarcerated and 1 in 28 Latino children have a parent incarcerated compared to 1 in 57 white children with a parent incarcerated. This not only shows the level of disparities among different communities but also the effect that these children and their family get. A recent article, states that millions of people in the U.S have a family member in jail. It is more likely that these family members go behind bars some time in their future as well. But as lives are destroyed, disproportionately communities of color, prison companies and other prison businesses benefit from it.

           

The prison industrial complex has made the high expansion of the U.S inmate population possible. Law and order conservatives, private corporations that construct, supply and run prisons, and the prison guard unions that hope to expand their membership, hope for the lock up of more people and the increase of prisons. Also the police department operates on the money it seizes. That is why laws like three strike you’re out, and mandatory sentencing laws benefit a certain group of people while it hurts others.

Although there is unfortunately a serious drug problem in urban minority communities, the problem also exists in other communities. People living in suburban areas do not get checked or deported compared to urban areas making it unfair among communities. All individuals possessing drugs should get convicted equally but not as harsh as felons since it is not a violent crime nor having to do cruel long sentences. Shortening prison sentences for drug infractions can lower the inmate population.

It is estimated that the U.S spends 1 trillion on the war on drugs. This money can be use to help prevent drug addiction and make more rehabilitation centers available for all individuals with drug problems. If you want to start a war on drugs you have to target everybody that actually uses drugs, which is not just the black and Latino community. It is not fair to focus on certain communities and ignore other individuals who are suffering from the same problem.  

If we do not put and effort to stop the war on drugs then there might never be an actual solution. This situation could possibly be ameliorated if federal grants go to special drug programs where people addicted to it can receive appropriate help. Also we have got to fund for public education since education is vital for the future generation. Furthermore, we have to get rid of mandatory minimum sentences because it causes several people years in jail for a non-violent crime and destroys families.

People power is more powerful than institutional power.