Another Susie American

Nadya Suleman (aka Octo-mom) has been receiving a lot of media attention recently. Her decision to give birth to 8 children, when she already had 6 other young children, has sparked a lot of debate. Today the babies were not the cause of the media attention, instead Suleman has expressed interest in purchasing a 1.2 million dollar home. This seems very unwise, seeing as that she is currently unemployed and living on food stamps, and this is not likely to change due to the fact that she needs time to raise her large and very young family. Nadya Suleman lives with her mother Angela, who hasn't paid the mortage in 10 months, she owes over $20,000 in back payments. 

Decisions like the Suleman's have greatly contributed to our economic problems. I find it frustrating that someone could continue to be so careless with their finances. Her decision to have a family of 14 is certainly questionable, buying a home that she cannot afford would be incredibly irresponsible. While she is an extreme example, I hope that people who have made decisions like hers, or are contemplating them, will remember the impact that they will have on the nation's economy.  

PETA=KKK?

Interesting title, and in a weird way true. This week, PETA members dressed up as KKK members outside the Westminster Dog Show in New York. PETA, a well known animal rights group annually protests at the Westminster Dog Show. Their justification for wearing the KKK clothing is that the American Kennel Club is trying to create a "master race" of dogs. The AKC promotes pure breeding of dogs, which can have negative consequences to their  health. The group members passed out brochures implying that the Klan and AKC have the common goal of "pure blood lines" 

I was shocked when I saw this image on the Internet. I believe that the PETA members were wrong to dress as members of the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan was a terrible terrorist organization, and remains a symbol of oppression and hatred. Whatever point PETA was trying to make, they could have done it in a much more respectful and considerate way. It is very ignorant of them to use this symbol in such a lighthearted manner. After studying the role that the Ku Klux Klan had in Reconstruction , I found that the comparison between their actions and the actions of dog breeders to be a very weak one. I hope that PETA can find ways to send their message in a less offensive way. 

Romanticizing the Snow Day

I love the Pure Michigan commercials; you are probably familiar with the narrator's soothing voice, the pretty piano music, and breathtaking pictures. However, one of my favorite ad campaigns, took one of winter's best novelties, the snow day, a little too far. One of the most exaggerated lines in the ad is, "The first step into fresh powder is like stepping into a new world." This is just a little too excessive, it elevates the already great snow day into a supernatural experience. I love snow days, but they really can be inconvenient. I love snow days, but this ad fails to recognize the downside of them. The impossible and dangerous driving conditions, missing tests you studied for, cancelled sporting events... Snow days definitely aren't as perfect as they seem to be in the Pure Michigan advertisement. 

To watch this ads and all their other great ones visit: www.michigan.org and click on "View Our Ads" 

Agency and Oppression: A New Look At the American Prison System

The United States has the largest prison population in the world. Budget loses and rising prison numbers have prompted new criminal justice policies. The article talks about Raphael Frazier, a man who spent most of his 20's in prison. After being released, he felt oppressed by his parole officer, who seemed determine to see Raphael fail. Raphael was soon sent back to prison, for forging pay roll checks, something he learned to do while in prison. He says "I went in at 17 just as a dumb kid and when I came out I had the tools to do whatever bad things I wanted to do". Raphael is not advocating crime, but merely explaining how some prisoners take advantage of their oppression acquiring new skills, however harmful they may be. However, this common use of agency in prison leads to a downward spiral, more than half of former prisoners will go back to prison. State governments, such as Kansas, are hoping to break this by creating new parole programs, which instruct parole officers to look to help the former prisoners assimilate back into society, not oppress them. Now in prisons, instead of learning how to forge payroll checks and other types of crime, prisoners have the opportunity to enroll in job training. The new program has been successful, but in order for it to work in the long run it will need public support. 

I found this new program to be interesting. While I believe that people should be punished for their crimes, I also believe that they should have the opportunity to live normally after their punishment is over. Prisoners used to express agency by learning new methods of crimes in prison, now they have the chance to learn a skill that will be useful to them once they are outside and trying to start a new life. I believe that after prisoners have served their sentence they should no longer be oppressed by a prejudiced system.  I hope that this program works out in the long term and that other states will be inspired by Kansas' success.