Burt

I am very glad that Burt took the time out of his day to come and speak to us and allow us to learn about a very rough time in his life. When people think of homeless people they feel like they are less than a person and they are quick to turn their heads or run from them. Sadly, I was one of those people until my senior year in high school. We read a book titled 'Same Kind of Different As Me.' That book changed my whole outlook on homelessness. It was about a homeless black man and a rich white man that were united and they became really good friends. It was based in Fort Worth, Texas at the Union Gospel Mission. When we finished the book, I was in tears. It was a great book and it changed my whole outlook. Our class ended up going to the Union Gospel Mission to volunteer and the writers were there. It was an amazing experience. So when Burt came to speak it brought me back to reading that book and volunteering. It is sad that he has to pick from a place to sleep and necessities for the month. People always look down on homeless people because they do not realize with this economy they could be in the same place as Burt, or even worse. We should help one another in the country. The less people we help, the less we are United. They want to plaster 'United we stand' everywhere but "divided we fall." We are divided. I do like that he helps other homeless people and that he has dreams to pursue down the road with counseling and such. I just hope he gets where he wants because no one deserves to be hungry and homeless.

Obama apologizes to people losing health coverage

Jordan Brewer Article 3

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/article/Obama-apologizes-to-people-losing-health-coverage-4966463.php

Julie Pace, San Antonio Express News, November 8, 2013.

Category: Health Care

Level: National

Who does this affect: The entire American population

How does this article affect families or individuals?
Obama put this health care act into effect to "help" all the individuals and families in the United States, but failed to come through on some of his promises so we shall see what happens.

My opinion on the article:
I really like the idea of having a health care system that fully supports the needs of the American population.  Unfortunately I do not think Obama did the best job of putting this creation together though.  That can be seen pretty easily right now as of last month he even lower approval ratings than George Bush which is one of the lowest of any presidents in history.  I wish President Obama would be more honest with us when he says what he says.  He did not put a good budget plan together before he enacted this Obamacare so our national budget is still in crisis and is only looking to get worse.  This particular article talks about how Obama is apologizing to the citizens of the US because he promised once again that if anyone was happy with the insurance plan they previously had, they could stay on it.  That is not the case as of right now though.  Hopefully we can pull together and get this situation figured out to where it actually does help our nation as a whole while not putting us even further into debt.  On a more positive note, one of the things I do like about the design of this Obamacare is that it places less stress on families as they do not have to worry so much about their children or themselves getting sick or hurt and not getting the proper care they need to heal. 

Boy suspended for purse

Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/boy-suspended-wearing-purse-vera-bradley_n_4235249.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education Level: State Concerning: Whether a school was suspending a kid for wearing a purse or for cursing. I remember being in middle school and wearing some interesting outfits that got me in trouble. I think it is important at this time in a child’s life to be able to express themselves and their style. It seems like this is more of a homophobic issue rather then a “disturbance”. I don’t understand how high heels or a purse could really create that much of a distraction. It could help other children learn to accept others and how they choose to dress. If this child really was suspended for cursing then why would he bring up anything about the purse? I think that this got so much publicity that the school wanted to cover their tracks. I am glad that our society is becoming more accepting of things like this but saddened that people are still living with such close-mindedness. Hopefully as people evolve we will not have issues like this and kids will not feel scared to express themselves. I also hope that a boy wearing a purse or heels does not cause a distraction for others in the future. One day I believe we will have a lot less hate and more acceptance.

Protesters call for justice after porch killing

http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Protesters-call-for-justice-after-porch-killing-4966870.php?cmpid=usworldhcat

Week 10 Article 3

1.    (2013 November, 8). Protesters call for justice after porch killing. The Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Protesters-call-for-justice-after-porch-killing-4966870.php?cmpid=usworldhcat

2.    Category of Problem: Criminal

3.    Level of Problem: State

4.    Article Concerns: Whether or not a man should be charged with killing a girl that knocked on his door for help.

5.    Affects families/individuals: This highly affects the family of the girl that was shot because they lost someone that was very special to them. This also affects the man that shot her because depending on the results of the investigation determines what happens to him.

6.    My concerns: This was a very tragic event that happened. It has to be extremely hard to determine whether or not this was truly an accident. It is hard to believe that a man could just shoot someone that knocked on his door without determining whether or not she was actually a threat first. I understand someone having the right to shoot someone if they feel like their life is being threatened but to just shoot someone without knowing is kind of hard to imagine. I think that this investigation should be very through in order to find out the truth behind this horrific accident.

Former Harris deputy charged with child sex assault

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Former-Harris-deputy-charged-with-child-sex-4969207.php?cmpid=hpbn

Week 10 Article 2

1.    Glenn, M. (2013 November, 8). Former Harris deputy charged with child sex assault. The Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Former-Harris-deputy-charged-with-child-sex-4969207.php?cmpid=hpbn

2.    Category of Problem: Sexual assault

3.    Level of Problem: Local

4.    Article concerns: Houston police officer was accused of sexually assaulting his girlfriend’s daughter.

5.    Affects families/individuals: This highly affects the child that it happened to as well as the mother of that child, they trusted this man and he abused that child.

6.    My concerns: How could a man that worked as a police officer for thirty years do something like this? It makes me wonder if that was the only girl that this happened to or if there were others. Police officers are supposed to be people that we trust to keep us safe but when they break the law themselves how are we supposed to trust them anymore. It makes me wonder about how easy it is for people to become police officers. I think more background checks need to be done and that it should become more difficult for people to become police officers. If we cannot even trust the people that protect us then who are we supposed to trust?

Gov. Perry leaves a million Texans without health insurance

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/columnists/falkenberg/article/Gov-Perry-leaves-a-million-Texans-without-health-4966077.php?cmpid=btfpm

Week 10 Article 1

1.    Gov. Perry leaves a million Texans without health insurance. (2013 Novemebr, 8). The Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/columnists/falkenberg/article/Gov-Perry-leaves-a-million-Texans-without-health-4966077.php?cmpid=btfpm

2.    Category of Problem: Health Insurance

3.    Level of Problem: State

4.    Article Concerns: Governor Ricky Perry will not expand Medicade leaving millions of Texans unable to get health insurance.

5.    Importance/affect on families/individuals: This highly affects families/individuals because it leaves people unable to get health insurance which they need in case they get sick or something happens. This also affects the people who have health insurance because they are essentially paying for those people who do not have health insurance when they go to the ER for a visit.

6.    My concerns: I think that Rick Perry is making the wrong decision by not expanding medicade. He is not thinking about the state in which he is governing. He needs to put the people first. Texas already has one of the highest uninsured rates and he is still making it impossible for people to become insured, even president Obama asked him to change the medicade higher so people could be insured. He is being selfish by not putting the people or the state first. This is what is wrong with politics, politicians not putting the people first. 

father shooting son

Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/muni-savyon_n_4235999.html?utm_hp_ref=crime level: State concerning: A man taking the life of his son in order to get back at the boy’s mother. Why it’s important: This makes people more aware of how important security is in protecting individuals. It will hopefully show people that they need to alert authorities when they think someone is potentially dangerous. This man already was ordered by the courts to have supervised visits with his only child. My question is, why on earth was the visit not supervised! This could have possibly been prevented but the staff failed to do the one most important thing to protect this child. I hope that this creates more security in the future and they start supervising these visits all of the time. It bothers me that they didn’t do a proper security check just because it costs too much money. These are the lives of children but this facility showed us what they really deem important. I wish that this man did not kill himself so that he didn’t get the easy way out but I still believe he will be punished. This child didn’t do anything wrong but suffered because of a stupid argument between his parents. He also tore the mother’s heart out so he accomplished his goal. It is disgusting that our world has people who could do this in it. It makes me wonder what our country is becoming. Also, if this email was sent to multiple people then why were authorities not called and warned to prevent this from happening. The only excuse would be that they did not see the emails and I pray that this was the case. This man is a disgusting individual who does not deserve to live in our world.