Whether Adam and Adam or Eve And Eve

When one hears the word discrimination the first thing that comes to mind is race or even women versus men for political seats or any other jobs. But sometimes people fail remember that gay discrimination has been on the rise. Constance McMillen was a victim of this. Being denied the right to attend prom with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo in ABERDEEN, Miss.

Constance McMillen was well within her rights to bring a same sex-sex date to her prom but her rights were violated. The First Amendment reads every man is equal but how often are there stories disreguarding gay couples? Too Many! McMillen should have been allowed to bring her girlfriend without any questions.

There have been many cases dealing with similar problems. For example being in the army and being gay. Why is it such a big deal? Why are so many people being bashed and having their rights challenged because of their sexuality? The big issue here is not only the challenging of gay rights but the challenging of the constitution.

"In 34 states, it is still perfectly legal for lesbian and gay employees to be fired simply becauses of their employers discover, and disapprove, of their sexual orientation." How could this still be legal in 34 U.S. States. Its not constitutional. Where do people stop and say we have had enough? Saying its okay to discriminate against a gay person is saying its okay to discriminate against Africa Americans or Native Americans for that matter. People mine as well still be living in the 1800s or the 60s.

But re-visiting the reason for this story, a young teen who has probably been bashed, called names, treated different, and to sum it up judged and in other words discrimated against. Who right is it to judge what a person wants in life. Although there's no way of controlling how others feel about lesbians and gays there are some people who are working toward a better day for those who are discriminated upon. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is one of those stepping stones that have been working towards gay rights since 1985. This is what societies need instead of the hatred of a person. Constance McMillen presented the Shephen F. Kolzak award to Wanda Sykes at the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards In Los Angeles Saturday and the thing that is most important about her situation is that she had a voice and used it. Theres no such thing as silence as one can see with many sports stars coming out as well as entertainers like Ricky Martin. Whether its Adam and Adam or Eve and Eve, no one should have to pay a price for being who they are.

Where's Superman When You Need Him?

Haiti has recieved a lot of help from the U.S since the devestating earthquake that shooked the island, but it may not be enough . There have been millions of dollars invested into Haiti but over the last two months there has been the accumulation of billions of dollars in damage . Haiti has always had problems when it comes to finances, but the money needed to recover to recover from the January damages be (premature) not enough. Haiti will need more and fast. The hurricane season has not been good to this island nation, especially in 2008. With the storm season gearing up, and earthquakes happenning in Chile already this year, the U.S. may lose focus on Haiti to help another country in need and of Course they're on stand by if called upon.
John Holmes, the British diplomat who heads the UN's disaster relief programme, stressed that more help is needed and sheltering is in need. The rainy season could and will be just as damging to what's left of haiti if something is not done. Flooding is a big deal because of sanitation which could lead to diseases. In the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince, there are many areas in which flooding could wipeout homes that are not sturdy enough to withstand major floods. Some homes are on steep slopes and could be washed away and then that becomes apart of an already horrible disaster. Reading an online article that was published on February 3, the headline reads Rebuilding Effort in Haiti Turns Away From Tents, but with such a slow process of the rebuilding of new homes, olds can be swept away by hurricanes. To sum it all up, how can Haiti be refurbished the great January disaster, when more finances are needed in such a short time? The help from the U.S. is allfine and dandy but to what extent if the helping is not enough to save this island from another devastation?
"The population of Port-au-Prince, which is about 3 million people, should ideally be reduced to 1.5 million to 2 million people in order to facilitate reconstruction," said Leslie Voltaire, special envoy for the United Nation's Stabilization Mission. So if 3 million needs to be reduced to 1.5 million to 2 million then they may need to speed up the process before June and the Hurricane season? And even if there's some type of miracle that will shape Haiti or prepare them for hurricane season, it lasts until November. This hurricane season is said to be more active this year and there's a 49 percent chance that a tropical storm will track close to Haiti this year says William Gray, a hurricane expert at Colorado State University.
Even the money that President Obam donated to Hait from his Nobel Peace Prize award dosen't change the fact that more help is needed. Now Many may reject what I am saying due to the fact that the telethons and the sending of money through text messages from the fine people of the U.S. has helped alot. But have the donations that Americans have sent to help Haiti lived up to their potential? No! Because all of the donations did not make it to Haiti. According to the Bay View article, "After the earthquake in Haiti, the American Red Cross became the go-to nonprofit for donating to the Haitian relief effort, since they could handle yor money properly." "Now it turns out that $255 million the Red Cross collected for the relief effort, only $80 million of its way to Haiti." So where did the money go? Well, according to the Red Cross the donated money is also used to to provide help for victims of all disasters. So basically the money you sent to Haiti and was supposed to help those in Haiti was not delivered in full, just $80 million of it was.
God forbid anything happens to Haiti during this hurrican season because some part will be on the shoulders of the Red Cross. This is another reason why efforts are moving so slowly and why Haiti is so vulnerable right now. Investing money into Haiti may not make it to this island in full according to newly found evidence, so what can we do to help. We have to only hope that things will get better for this hexed Island and hope it starts with delivering full assistance, not half, not a little, but all.

The Importance of FOIA

While going throught FOIA which stands for freedom of Information, I wondered what was significance of this great freedom we have. I started to read a case from Atlanta which goes back to the lates 70s to the early 80s. The case file was about the Atlanta child killings. A string of 28 killings happened between 1979-1981 many of which were black kids. These murder had parents and kids scared and very hesitant to go outside. On may 22, 1981 Wayne Williams was arrested for the murders.
Now why is this important and how does benefit me? Well for one if im a lawyer or detective this would benefit me a great deal. If im a lawyer I could be trying to prove Wayne Williams innocence and find some type of evidence that could free him. Now if im a detective then if the same type of murders start to show up again then that be a big break because either the coperarte is not caught and has started up again or the it could be a copy cat killer.
Now if Im a member of the Atlanta community this could change my thoughts about living there. It make me have a broader mind and understand that anything could happen anywhere.
To have this type of freedom to go and find such information such as the Atlanta Child Killer is very relevant in many ways to lawyers to your everyday neighbors of atlantan and to other people as well. With FOIA there are not many secrets and grants us to do research on what we feel is important.

The Color of Money

Many say as time changes, people change. I wish that were true and I say this because I have recently read an article that decribes the one dimensional mind of racism. The article or articles I read was The Color of Money. This article focused on the presence of racism in the banks of Atlanta. After a census was taken 1980 Bill Dedman who recieve a Pulitzer Prize for his series of articles on the color of money started to to do investigative and found something out very interesting. I you were to got to powerreporting.com and click on the color of money you will see two different maps. One map will have shaded areas of black neighborhoods from the 1980 census and the other map will show where Atlanta banks rarely give out loans. The two maps are very close to identical. How would the banks explain this? In one of the articles it reads Atlanta Blacks Losing in Home Scramble, Banks Favor White area by 5.1. With plentiful facts within these article show how racism is still alive and taking a toll on blacks. For example Retired James Fletcher(black) a railway laborer spent more than he bargain for when recieving a loan from Atlantic Mortgage Co. He needed 5,000 to fix his roof. He lived in a lower income black neighborhood. So after all the calculations of Mr.Fletcher would owe the bank 31,ooo. Shocking! Evidence shows if that were a white person the payback would have been way lower. Racism is still alive and its sad. Lower income blacks especially, need loans somethimes to help with the everyday struggles. So why should an already wealthy person who can afford to pay back loans, owe the bank the minimum to a lower income family paying the max.

And the Winner is...The Computer!?!

Computers have come a long way since winning Man of the Year for Time Magazine in 1982. For the common person in today's modern world, the computer is as regular as a weekday, its nothing new. But to the eyes of many in the 80's it wasnt everyday you see something as unique as the computer. No one expected the computer to get so much rave, but 1982 was it's year.
When the computer started to become so popular there were many different claims of what it could mdo. Some thought it could diagnose a sick poodle, or send messages at the speed of light, or even test beer recipes. The big question was could it do all these amazing things. The people of the year 1982, which was very busy yar, would soon know.
Many large businessess would be the first to discover the like of the computer. These computer's came wtih disc drives, floppy disc, and any other accessories the PC needed. "Americans are receptive to the revolution and optimistic about its impact. Anew poll* for TIME by Yankelovich, Skelly and White idicates that nearly 80% of Americans expect that in the fairly near future, home compiuters will be a commonplace as television sets or dishwashers,"Time Magazine. Boy were they right! There are over a million families with personal computers today.
Another question was would the PC make life easier for people. And I have this to say, if the first digital computer made arould the ending of WWII made life easier for our nations protector, one would think thatan advanced revolutionary thing such as the PC would do the same for thousands in 1982.
Ohhh, but there were some non-belivers. Although the children were convinced easily because of the fancy computer games, not so many adults were. They needed proof, and they got it. For example former Defensive End of the Kansas City Chiefs who was a furniture salesman at the time wasn't convinced until his family took a vote on either a vacation or a PC. The PC won. "I would ask the computer to pull up the accounts in a certain zip-code area, or if i wanted all the customers who were interested in whole office systems, I could pull that up too" said Brown. His Business revenue doubled and I'm sure he's happy the PC won that family vote.
For lawyers who had to drive two hours to work each day, could set up their practice at home with the help of the PC. So if you're asking did it make life easier, then surely the answer is yes. With more advanced technology today, the PC is like the weekdays, always there. The Man of the Year ladies and gentlemen, The Computer. "APPLAUD HIM"

Why Am I Studying Mass Communication?

Im a senior studying Mass Communication at Lane College. I am studying mass comm to later become a great novel writer or movie director/producer like a Stephen King. Writing has always been a great deal to me. As a child i wrote short stories to by pass time and it became something more. I started writing for my newspaper in high school and from that point on I knew what was my true meaning in this life and thats to write. In the future I hope to have many great novels. As of now im working a great novel entitled Tillman Chronicle's Presents:Sex Affairs.