LGBT Suicides

This topic is one of the hardest to discuss. It makes my heart bleed for all the troubles these kids and I mean kids have to go throughe everyday for just being who they are. I believe no one is allowed to judge you until they've walked a mile in your shoes which is almost impossible, therefore you should never judge anyone because you NEVER know what is really going on in their life. Just because they are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transexual gives NO ONE  a right to talk down to them as if they were better than them because of who they are. My sympathies go out to the families who struggle with this daily and who have had to loose children over such tragic bullying. And for all of those who continue to bully, don't you think you've done enough. They have taken their lives, shouldn't it be over? The worst is people continue to bully and there are no consequences causing great harm. I can speak from experience because I have a gay brother and I grew up getting tortured just as his little sister because he was gay. No one has any right to say or comment about anything because their opinion makes no difference to who they are. No one judges you for you so why judge others? There needs to be serious action taken for issues such as this because it is very serious. Some think it's all fun and games but in all reality lives are being lost because of harsh and heartbreaking words that come out of peoples mouths. So in future reference, think before you talk because you never know who you may offending or hurting with the things you say.









http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-blaze/lgbt-people-need-to-take-_b_753127.html
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/10/tortured-for-being-gay.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/waymon-hudson/chicago-stands-up-against_b_751432.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B-hVWQnjjM
http://gawker.com/5651367/the-tragic-story-of-tyler-clementi-rutgers-webcam-voyeurism-victim
http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2010/10/11686/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/us/09religion.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jsERlEEuzJ_prrv7mBsSzpEbpCoQD9IOA9A00?docId=D9IOA9A00
http://rifuture.org/uri-students-staging-sit-in-about-glbt-safety-on-campus.html
http://www.billboard.com/column/viralvideos/glee-s-chris-colfer-speaks-out-against-lgbt-1004119047.story#/column/viralvideos/glee-s-chris-colfer-speaks-out-against-lgbt-1004119047.story

Health Care Reform

              The health care reform bill is to cover the 32 millions Americans who are currently uninsured. The cost of the bill is $940 billion over ten years. This bill would reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the first 10 years. That is an updated CBO estimate. Their first preliminary estimate said it would reduce the deficit by $130 billion over 10 years. Over the second 10 years it would reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion dollars. Because of this health bill the uninsured and self-employed would be able to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges with subsidies available to individuals and families with income between the 133% and 400% of poverty level. Effective in 2014, seperated exchanges would be created for small businesses to purchase coverage. Funding will be available to states to establish exchanges within 1 year of enactment and until January 1st, 2015. Individuals and families who make between 100 % and 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and want to purchase their own health insurance on an exchange are eligible for subsidies. They cannot be eligible for Medicare, Medicaid and cannot be covered by an employer. Eligible buyers receive premium credits and there is a cap for how much they have to contribute to their premiums on a sliding scale. There are many other subsections of this bill but that is the general overview. There are also sections of how to pay for the plan, Medicare, Medicaid, Insurance Reforms, Abortion, Individual mandate, and immigration.
            Personally, the most important part of this reform bill is the eligibilty of being covered under my parents until my 26th birthday if I don't find a full time job right after I graduate in May. Cost- sharing is where the insurance includes deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and similar charges, but doesn't include premiums, balance billing amounts for non-network providers, or spending for non-covered services. A qualified child is defined as under the age of 26, regardless of their student status, marital status, whether they live with their parents, or are claimed as a dependent on their parents’ tax return, as long as the dependent is not eligible to enroll in other employer provided coverage. “Children” includes natural childrend, legally adopted children, stepchildren, and children who are dependent on you during the waiting period before adoption.

http://readthebill.org/?gclid=COXX2MGRtaQCFZZM5QodACW21A
http://www.standupforhealthcare.org/learn-more/quick-facts/12-reasons-to-support-health-care?gclid=CLGm1M-RtaQCFcR05QodBVS90Q
http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform
http://www.healthcare.gov/
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0322/Health-care-reform-bill-101-what-the-bill-means-to-you
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000846-503544.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/policy/24health.html
http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/21/AR2010032100943.html

Don't ask Don't tell

Don't ask Don't Tell has been coming up a lot in the media lately and it came up in my Agrumentation in Debate class as a topic to debate over. The repeal of this policy failed to be lift which bans open gays to serve in the military. (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-vote-repeal-ban-gays-military/story?id=11685658)  In one of his speeches, Obama states that he will end the Don't Ask Don't Tell law. It allows openly gay men and women to be discharged from the military that was passed by Congress in 1993.    (http://www.sldn.org/pages/about-dadt) Since 1994 13,500 members who have served in the military were fired because of this law being passed. In Obama's reign alone there are been around 400 soldiers discharged from the military for being openly gay and sent home. Lady Gaga is one of the biggest advocates for gay, lesbian, and bisexual rights for equality. She has made several speeches on repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell towards the Senate. Where she states that those are being gay profiled and have become targets where their things are unrightfully searched. (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/lady-gaga-senate-repeal-dont-ask-dont-tell-message-11664111) This law creating inequality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transexuals was put forth while Clinton was in office. The originial concept was to protect the gays from wrongful discrimination and safety, but this compromise was never kept. There is a lack of safety because harrassment cannot be discussed unless theyre looking for a full out investigation which can lead to discharge. The Pentagon surveyed 72,000 service members and the survey found that 80% of members have heard either offensive language, derogatory names, jokes or remarks about gay men and lesbians in previous years. 85% believed those commetnts were tolerated to some extent. 37% of members stated they have witnessed or experienced an incident that THEY considered anti-gay harassment. (http://www.soulforce.org/article/808) The reason this hits so close to home is because I have a gay relative and even though I know they have no motivation to join the military openly, it's the moral of the story. It's the fact that he can't join it openly even if he is happy with the way he is and his lifestyle because all in all they are discriminating the LGBT community creating greater inequalities than any of us could imagine. (http://newsblog.projo.com/2010/09/reed-scores-gop-for-blocking-d.html)

Internships

We are all told that internships are a good way to start off our careers. (http://www.rhodeislandintern.com/) But how do we choose between so many and there are many other college students looking for the same thing you are. There are pros and cons to interning. (http://www.geog.byu.edu/internHandbook.dhtml) It's hard to find an internship with the level of competition and they expect you to have a certain amount of skills for these internships. Employers turn you down because you are not qualified enough, but how can you learn without being given the chance. Writing a resume and cover letter can be stressful at times trying to figure out what to write down. (http://www.bestsampleresume.com/) (http://jobsearch.about.com/od/coverlettersamples/a/coverlettsample.htm). Though schools, such as URI have a directory of internships they had students recieve in the past none of the are updated to the current year so the amount of internships available are unclear. (http://www.com.uri.edu/internship/int_pal/index.php) I personally just find it hard to search through the internet and ask around just for an internship, I feel like there should and can be an easier way to get one and that every student needs to have one during their college life because it really is a resume booster to have acquired skills in your specifc field.

Friday Night Lights

I've just started a new obsession with this show called Friday Night Lights. It originally aired in 2006 and has had 6 seasons so far. I watched a view episodes on television, but I couldn't wait for the next episode so I went and bought the first two seasons on amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V5VJP4/ref=atv_dp_season?ie=UTF8&redirect=true). The show is mainly about football in a place called Dillon, Texas. Football brings the entire town together no matter who you are or the color of your skin or the clothes you wear. It forms a sense of community where everyone has a common ground of loving it (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758745/). The show is originally aired on nbc on friday nights at 8pm (http://www.nbc.com/friday-night-lights/), now abc family airs the show every week night at 6 pm from the beginning of season one. http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/friday-night-lights?cid=afm_psg_comsearch_FNL&kmed=ppc. This show is about friends, family, and learning from your mistakes because we all make mistakes. Here is one of the episodes; http://www.hulu.com/watch/169462/friday-night-lights-thanksgiving. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do...and if not no big deal we all have our guilty pleasures!

Noob

I'm a noob when it comes to this blogging stuff. I only use my computer for facebook, email and homework. I know nothing about blogging or tweeting so I guess this will be a learning process for me. If anyone has any pointers I would be grateful so I don't have such a difficult time with this. Thanks!