RE: Stage 7 about the the Food Safety Bill

The author worte about the Food Safety Bill  on Stage 7 from the blog, The Story of U.S. He worte a fact that "tainted peanut butter products sickened over 20,000 people and killed nine people," and supported the Food Safety Bill that it is "making more of an effort to protect us from the foods."

I support the Food Safety Bill as more than 80% of consumers say they want stronger food protections according to Consumers Union's Elisa Odabashian. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), food-related diseases affect tens of millions of people and kill thousands each year. I think this bill will provide more protections on foods we eat.

DREAM Act

The Congress should pass the DREAM Act which will give illegal immigrants,who were brought to this country as children and have stayed here since, a chance to apply for a permanent residency status if they have completed two years in the military or two years at a four year institution of higher learning.

Those who were brought to this country as a minor did not choose to be an illegal immigrant:

Diana Rebollevo, an illegal immigrant who came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was nine years old. When she graduated from high school she hoped to go to college, but without legal status she knew she could never afford it.


Michelle Rodriguez, who lived in Oklahoma since she was five years old . Her mom carried her across the Rio Grande from Mexico on a boat, she remains an undocumented.

An anonymous Harvard graduate who was a little girl and hadn't even learned the alphabet when she overstayed the visa.

Dream Act would save those people who are " Americans in every sense but lack of documentation."


About "65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools each year". However, those graduates will not have a chance to contribute to the economy without the DREAM Act. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the DREAM Act "would reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over the next 10 years." If the bill is passed, it will bring more educated workers to participate in the economy rather than burying them underground.

According to a survey conducted by First Focus, 70% of American favor the DREAM Act.
Congress should  pass the DREAM Act.

RE: Department of Education Stands Up to Bullies

In the article, Department of Education Stands Up to Bullies from Guerrilla News, the author argues that  "bullying is a serious problem in our schools". He supports the Department of Education that DoE "has decided to step in and even threatened that schools who fail to enforce anti-bullying policies could lose federal funding."

I agree with the author and support the Department of Education's decision. Bullying should be recognized as a serious problem and treated in stronger manner.

Here are some facts about school bulling from National Association of School Psychologists:

•Bullying is the most common form of violence in our society; between 15% and 30% of students are bullies or victims.

•A recent report from the American Medical Association on a study of over 15,000 6th-10th graders estimates that approximately 3.7 million youths engage in, and more than 3.2 million are victims of, moderate or serious bullying each year.

•Between 1994 and 1999, there were 253 violent deaths in school, 51 casualties were the result of multiple death events. Bullying is often a factor in school related deaths.

•Membership in either bully or victim groups is associated with school drop out, poor psychosocial adjustment, criminal activity and other negative long-term consequences.

•Direct, physical bullying increases in elementary school, peaks in middle school and declines in high school. Verbal abuse, on the other hand, remains constant. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that younger students are more likely to be bullied than older students.

•Over two-thirds of students believe that schools respond poorly to bullying, with a high percentage of students believing that adult help is infrequent and ineffective.

•25% of teachers see nothing wrong with bullying or putdowns and consequently intervene in only 4% of bullying incidents.

Schools should not just be busy on making anti-bullying policies threatened by DoE. However, schools should recognize the factors and effects of bullying and run prevention programs that can educate students, teachers, and parents to create positive school environment.

Let me have a "HAPPY MEAL"!

How sad it is getting a paycheck with a coercive voting instruction!
Employees of a McDonald's franchise in Canton, Ohio got their paychecks telling to vote for the Republican candidates.

The pamphlet appeared calculated to intimidate workers into voting for Republican candidates by making a direct reference to their wages and benefits, said Allen Schulman, a Democrat who is president of the Canton City Council and said he obtained a copy of the pamphlet on Wednesday.

Where it says, “If the right people are elected, we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above the current levels. If others are elected, we will not.” implicitly threats the employees who  seriously depend on the wages from the McDonald's. Allen Schulman states,

“This is an outrageous attack on one of the most fundamental rights our citizens enjoy – the right to vote for the candidate of his/her choice without economic fear or threat,”  “It is particularly egregious that in this time of harsh economic conditions, a corporation would stoop to this level of voter intimidation.”

It is also against Ohio Revised Code which employer shall not influence political opinions or votes of employees. This is a shameful incident that a powerful employer tries to intimidate his employees and to influence their votes.

I want to ask Mr. Paul Siegfried, the owner of  the McDonald's in Canton, "Can I get a discount on Happy Meal if I vote for the Republicans?"

"lifestyle choice"

Teddy Partridge of Firedoglake criticizes White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett that she used words "lifestyle choice" describing  a 15-year-old gay teenage Justin Aarberg ,who committed a suicide, as having "made a lifestyle choice".

He provides Michael Petrelis' commentary on the blog:

The last time I heard anyone use the obnoxious phrase "lifestyle choice" to describe a gay person’s sexual orientation was during the Bill Clinton presidency when the gays were accused of wanting "special rights."

Today the Washington Post’s gay kapo Jonathan Capehart shares a video interview he conducted on Monday with senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett. She clearly states a belief that Minnesota gay teen Justin Aarberg, who committed suicide in July after being bullied, made a "lifestyle choice."

He argues that Valerie Jarrett made a "boneheaded remark," and we are "doomed."
He strongly criticizes Valerie Jarrett's remark as her being " the closest adviser to the President on LGBT issues"

           Number one: it’s not a lifestyle.
           Number two: it’s not a choice.
           Number three: Valerie Jarrett is an idiot.

 I don't think that she meant to disrespect the teenage boy or LGBT. But I agree that Valerie Jarrett made mistake by using wrong words. Like Teddy Partridge mentioned it's not a lifestyle and a choice. It was a poor choice of word. It doesn't really make any sense that  she referred to someone's sexual identity as a "lifestyle choice" after speaking about gay rights at the Human Rights Campaign dinner.

This video clip helped me to think one more time and to understand why Valerie Jarrett's remark, "lifestyle choice" was a mistake and a nonsense that  Democratic Party's "closest adviser to the President" should not make.

A label, for truth in packaging

"If scientists at the Food and Drug Administration finally decide that genetically engineered salmon are safe both for humans and the environment, they should not let the fish go to market without labels telling consumers they carry a gene from an eel-like poutfish".

In the Boston Globe's editorial, the author argues that the generally modified salmon should be labeled and separated from natural salmons before putting on market. The salmon is developed by AquaBounty Technologies by crossing the Atlantic salmon and a Chinook salmon which contains a gene from poutfish. It would be the first genetically "modified animal approved for human consumption" if it is approved by the FDA.

Senator Mark Begich and 10 other senators are trying hard to stop the approval for consumption of genetically modified salmon due to its environmental and safety issue. The author argues, even "if it finds that the genetically engineered salmon are safe to eat, it should still require that the fish carry a label identifying its genetic nature".


I strongly agree with the author that the genetically modified salmon should be labeled. I thing we have a right to know and to choose what we are eating as he said, "letting consumers know the true nature of the product, rather than leaving them guessing which salmon is natural and which is engineered".

 "Consumers want mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods and feel outrage when they learn how many supermarket products already are produced through biotechnology, according to a Food and Drug Administration report. "

Will the Tea Party help or hurt Obama?

"The Post asked political experts whether the Tea Party will help or hurt President Obama. Below are responses from Robert Shrum, Ed Rogers, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Dan Schnur and Donna Brazile. "

    While the Tea Party movement is being a big political issue, the Washington Post posted an interesting article that listed different perspectives of political experts on the Tea Party movement on affecting the President, Democrats, and the Republicans. Some says the Tea Party will help President Obama, and some says it will hurt the President. It is worth to read the different perspectives on the Tea Party effect and to see how it will affect the politics and elections, especially the upcoming 2010 congressional elections.

Robert Shrum - The Tea Party is the best thing happened to President Obama and the Democrats.
The Tea party "produced unwanted and unabashedly extreme candidates who will kill the Republicans' best hopes for 2010."

Ed Rogers -" The Tea Party is a big problem for President Obama and his party this year and probably through 2012." "After the November elections, however, many Republican leaders will be intimidated by the Tea Party's success and will worry about the challenge its candidates could present in the Republican primaries in 2012. The result: GOP elected officials will not want to be accused of compromising with Obama on anything." "Obama, in turn, will have to pander to his base, making governing all but impossible"

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend - "So the Tea Party may help the president not only in this election but, most interestingly, with policy." "By constantly raising the issue of the long-term deficit, it is forcing a discussion on how we pay for programs such as Social Security and Medicare, which take up a large part of the federal budget." "The Tea Party will provide the president precisely the opening he needs."

Dan Schnur - "While the national reputation of the Tea Party movement does not appear to strongly affect swing voters in one direction or another, and while the broader political and economic trends work strongly against the party in power, the individual eccentricities of insurgent Republican candidates could provide opportunities for the Democrats pick off a few seats here and there."

Donna Brazile - It will neither help nor hurt Obama. "Polls show that 50 percent of Americans have no opinion of the Tea Party."