Dream 9 + Dream 30

The Dream 9 we discussed a week or so ago is about to grow in number.  Thirty more immigration activists are set to cross the border today, including Lorena Vargas.  She has a pretty compelling story.

Dream 30 Risk Detention

Wait...What!?

Yeah that's Jesus arm wrestling Satan... Also, the Congressional Budget Office has identified federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid as the single biggest contributing factor to the federal budget deficits. But its all good right? We get great health care in the grand ole U.S. of A right? Wrong. Studies have shown that the quality of our health care and accessibility to doctors is worse than many industrialized countries who spend more than one third less per capita* than we do on health care. Meaning people in these other industrialized countries are generally paying less and receiving comparable or better care.

But that's OK right? Our prescriptions are generally cheaper than in other countries right? The cost of an MRI or CAT scan has gotta be less? UMMMM no. Our medical and insurance providing companies are not tightly regulated here so they end up negotiating on the price of medication and procedures as they see fit. An MRI that costs under 300 dollars in France is gonna cost you over 1,000 dollars here at home. A cat scan in France will run you under 150 dollars; in the U.S. that'll be 510 dollars please!

Here's the kicker. In some of these countries that spend less than we do on health care, the health care (after taxes) is free. That's right. In Canada if you need a hip replacement don't you worry, we got you citizen. In the United States of America you will be charged an absurd rate for the replacemnt hip, the surgeons fees, the anesthesiology fees, the medical facility fees, etc.... oh and the insurance you have (if you have it) will haggle that absurd rate down a bit so its only marginally ridiculous, and oh ya, you'll be paying the insurance company their monthly fee as well. This monthly fee some pay to insurance companies will sometimes cost more than the entire hip replacement procedure in another country.

But we have better overall survival rates for heart disease and cancer don't we? Not really. The answer to all these questions regarding any sort of superiority of the American health care system is gonna be a big, fat, obese and emphatic no. Think about this... Japans health care system is comparable to ours in most ways. If the states were to regulate costs as strictly as Japan does and spent the same share of GDP*, in 2009 alone the savings would have been around 1.25 trillion. That amount is larger than the U.S. defense budget. So this is food for thought next time you are in the doctors office or in line at the pharmacy. To put it kindly, you are being taken advantage of. The entire country is.

*Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time.

*Per Capita: A Latin term that translates into "by head," basically meaning "average per person." Per capita can take the place of saying "per person" in any number of statistical observances. In most cases the term is used in relation to economic data or reporting, but can also be used in most any other occurrence of population description.

Thats my rant but you should listen to this guys. It is much better than mine. He has attached articles that are more specific that I pulled from. Really... watch this:

John Green on Upworthy.com

Climate Change

This is a good, compelling, short read on the effects of climate change, submitted by one of your colleagues.

This town in Alaska is slipping into the sea.

After our discussion yesterday, I was curious to see what recent polling data says about American's belief in climate change.  You can view this recent report from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, a polling center that focuses on public attitudes.  This center publishes a lot of polling data, much of it broken down by state.  Surely, the focus on particular state opinions is a reflection of the politics of climate change.  This is data from April of this year.  Here are three interesting pieces:

• The number of Americans who believe climate change is happening runs around 60-70%.  Interestingly, that has changed very little since 2008.

•  Fewer Americans think they have anything to do with this issue.

•  Perhaps most importantly, 30% of the population seems open to changing their minds about this issue.

Terror strikes upscale Kenyan mall.

Imagine you are an upperclass Kenyan or a tourist looking for something to do during the day, why not go to the upscale Westgate mall Nairobi? You are leisurely strolling down the hallways  of the mall when you hear panicked screams coming from up ahead, you duck into a store and crouch down when you here gun shots! Minutes later masked gunmen enter the store and begin firing blindly, they see you and take you hostage little do you know that you won't be leaving the mall for four days as the gunmen lay siege to it. Last saturday that nightmarish scene unfolded, the gunmen belonged to a terrorist group called Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab is a Somalian based cell of Al-Qaeda. The group claimed responsibility for the attack over twitter, not only claiming that the attack was in retaliation for Kenyan troops entering Somalia but also that they shot over 100 people in the mall with the Kenyan Red Cross confirming 62 fatalities and over 120 injuries. This is one of the most chilling terrorist attacks since Al-Qaeda blew up two American embassies in 1998. In what can only be described as horrific, parents threw themselves over their children, people jumped into ventilation shafts, while others hid behind plastic mannequins as two squads of armed gunmen walked threw the mall shooting shoppers in the head at random. Hours later when the police arrived the floors were dripping with the blood of those shot. Fred Ngoga Gatereste an official of the African Union who was having coffee at a cafe in the mall around noon was startled when he heard two deafening blasts, he cowered on the floor watched eight gunmen shoot at Kenyan police as well as shoppers he said, "Believe me, these guys were good shooters, you could tell these guys were trained. Several witnesses say they heard the men shout for Muslims to run. As an American who likes to travel it makes me fear for my safety when I travel. I also wonder as to what else would have happened if the Police had not intervened. Secretary of state John Kerry who called the attack "A heartbreaking reminder that there exists an unspeakable evil in our world." More details and information are being released by the Kenyan government.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/world/africa/nairobi-mall-shooting.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Wing Luke

Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience

719 South King Street

The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is dedicated to immersing people in uniquely-American stories of survival, success, struggle, conflict, compassion and hope. The Museum is in the heart of Seattle’s vibrant Chinatown-International District, and includes the very hotel where countless immigrants first found a home, a meal and refuge. As our nation’s only museum devoted to the Asian Pacific American experience, it’s one of the few places that can truly give you a new perspective on what it means to be American. 

There are two easy bus options:
ST 545 Express at Stewart and 9th, get off at 5th and Jackson.
MT 255 from Stewart and Yale, get off at the Intl district in the bus tunnel.

You are required to visit the museum, but you can go at any time.  On Thursday, it is free and open from 10am to 8pm.  I will be at the museum during our scheduled class time.  At 7:20, I’m going to eat dinner somewhere nearby.  It will be inexpensive and good, if you‘d like to join me.

While you're at the museum, I want you to choose one particular item from the collection (photo, object, map).  It can be a small piece or large installation, whatever draws your attention.  In one page - you can hand write it on the spot - describe the item in detail and suggest how it fits into the context of the larger museum.  What does it "say" about the Asian Pacific American Experience? 

EPA Makes First Move to Control Coal Pollution; Coal States Freak Out

Coal plants are clearly harmless. Look at the happy geese!

Last Friday, the EPA released a proposal to restrict the carbon dioxide emissions of future coal plants. This is the first step of regulations under the Clean Air Act. The next step will be tackling the problem of pollution by current coal plants, which are the top source of CO2 emissions in the USA.

Natural gas has become a cheaper alternative to coal, so the industry hasn't been making many new coal plants anyway, but this proposal has been met with a roar of opposition in coal states. Because of this, I am primarily writing from a Fox News article which firmly takes the side of coal in the war of coal vs. the world.

According to this top conservative news source, the new restrictions could kill. The argument raised is that the only way to meet these restrictions would be to implement technology that is not yet in use, carbon capture. Carbon capture would take the illegal excess greenhouse gas emissions of the plant and redirect it underground. Fox's article argues that leaks of pure carbon dioxide are a legitimate risk and will suffocate its victims when it does so. In the same paragraph, the article states that the emissions are safe and harmless in the atmosphere, directly contradicting the findings of the global warming "theory."

The article gives the idea that the Obama administration is directly attacking the jobs and industry in coal states. There is no discussion of the fact that natural gas plants can easily meet these restrictions without the implementation of new technology, or of sustainable energy sources, only of the extreme cost and risk of carbon capture in future coal plants. I fret for the imminent opposition to future legislation that will actually put the squeeze on the coal industry.

Read about it here!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/20/rules-that-could-kill-safety-cost-concerns-over-epa-new-coal-regs/#

Attack of the water Amoebas in Louisiana!

You drink water. I drink water. we all drink water! It's vital to our existence and, to get technical, more than half of our lovely bodies are flowing with the stuff. So what do do you do when local governments, who are "charged with keeping our water supplies safe", can't keep a brain-attacking Amoeba out of our water? 
Louisiana seems to think you can keep on drinking.

Local Louisiana officials say that the sinister Naegleria Fowleri Amoeba has contaminated their waters and according to my source, how it got in their water in the first place is unknown. This Microscopic, invisible organism sneeks into ones brain through way of the high Nasal passages and ""does its damage by causing a devastating immune reaction rather than by actually devouring brain tissue," according to NPR." 
With this in mind, and 3 dead including a 4 year old boy, Scientists (and NPR) say that there is nothing wrong with drinking the water, or bathing in it. This is because it can only cause harm when deeply inhaled through the nasal cavity, and it dies in stomach acid. It is stated that this shows how much we take clean water for granted, and that America should waste less water.

I find this whole situation to be really ridiculous. How a deadly Amoeba got into drinking water is beyond me, but then the fact that they are not really doing anything about it is insane. I would feel really uncomfortable drinking, bathing in and just being near that water. The government seems to be reacting quite nonchalant towards this contamination, even after it has caused three deaths. Though it doesn't seem like an extreme epidemic, i still believe everyone deserves the cleanest and healthiest of water, and if the government is in charge of making sure that happens, they better step it up. 

Source:
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/46453

photo source:
http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=drinking+water&search_group=#id=37473748&src=ezsdhS-XGLyCOWdj05EByA-2-99

Let's Not Forget the Little Lungs

       The population of Beijing, China is 20,693,000.  These 20 million people live in and breathe air that has reached a level that is 40 times more deadly than the recommended exposure limit for a healthy adult. Everyday, people have to check an Air Quality Index and decide if they should wear a mask to work or not. But, there is a certain group of people who are feeling the environmental neglect and abuse even more severely; the children.

       

      More and more parents are confining their children indoors. Which means sacrificing field trips, outdoor sports, and simply playing with friends. Many schools have larger, hospital quality air purification systems that attract worried parents of sick children. The International School of Beijing even has a recess area with a tennis court that is covered by a futuristic looking dome with an air-filtration system for when the pollution levels are particularly high.

      

       The article expresses that studies from Colombia University show that levels of anxiety, depression, and autism grew when parents are exposed to high levels of toxic pollutants. On one bad air day specifically, 9,000 children went through emergency care at Beijing Children’s   Hospital and half of those patients where admitted due to respiratory problems.

       

      For the more fortunate children, their parents can afford to buy an air purifier which can cost upwards to a $3,000. Or to send them to a well filtered private school, or better still, get out of Beijing altogether. But as you can imagine, it is not that simple for most people in the city. 

Read about it.

Rhinos on the verge of extinction? 

Since 2007, South Africa has seen a 5,000 percent increase in the poaching of rhinos. Being such an animal lover, this upsets me. This year, there has also been an increase in the death toll of rhinos. Last year, poachers killed 668 rhinos; this year the death toll is already 688 and there is still three more months left in the year. The black market is a huge seller of rhino horns, which is the reason they have been hunted. “They are worth there weight in gold”, stated Mathew Lewis, Senior program officer of African species with the World Life Fund (WWF).  In Vietnam, it there has been a recent and growing myth that rhino horn can cure cancer and also help with hangovers! But currently, all studies prove this to be false. It’s also dangerous for the people to believe in this because of getting real medical help they are relying in these “cures” that do not actually even work, Marshall Jones pointed out. With the population of rhinos declining so rapidly they have started to implement a 24-hour guard of the rhinos. Because the rhinos are being sold on the black market, they aren’t the only ones in danger and dying. The rhino guards are being killed so that the poachers can get their “product”. I hope that we can save theses beautiful creatures. As the Environmental affairs minster of South Africa promised, "I can assure you that we will not allow rhinos to become extinct on our watch,"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/rhinos-killed-south-africa-record-2013-poaching_n_3976258.html?utm_hp_ref=green

This week in Sweden...

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is coming to town and with it, their fifth assessment report on climate change.

The hope is to brief the leaders of the world of the global temperatures and rising sea levels and what to expect in the coming years.

Apparently the IPCC’s track record is a little tarnished by not having correctly predicted the lull in rising temperatures and so have brought even more doubt to the table than is most likely healthy for the planet in the long run.

Even though America experienced the hottest summer on record and the arctic is melting at a rapid speed which is most likely going to result in an ice free summer in a couple of decades, we are still questioning human involvement as the cause of our current predicament.

We know for a fact that currently, oceans are rising at an average of more than 3 millimeters, or 0.12 of an inch, per year. Which is a pace that is significantly faster than the average rate over the last several thousand years, according to scientists.

The warming of the oceans is what keeps the sea levels rising, but what concerns me even more is the affect this will have on the ocean currents. The currents transport warm and cool water over the entire planet like a conveyer belt, which plays a dominant part in determining the climate of many of the Earth’s regions and with it controls the agriculture as well as the dispersal of many life forms, on land and in the sea. 

Say, the climate change is truly on a hiatus, as some scientists want us to believe, wouldn’t it be wiser to use this precious time and see it as a gift, rather than fight over who is right and who is wrong for the umpteenth time, and actually do something to change the course we are headed on?

Is it too idealistic of me to hope that we could come together as one people wanting to ensure our life quality on this planet for as long as possible? To put aside the ego and money questions and simply do what’s right and productive in the long run?

http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-climate-change-uncertainty-20130923,0,791164.story

Insane New Studies On Climate Change

The article I read from The Guardian says that on monday September 23, scientists will be handing a report to political leaders in Stockholm. These assessments will say that the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have now led to a warming of the entire globe. This includes land surfaces, ocean, and atmosphere. Heatwaves, storms, and other extreme weather events have increased in many regions while ice sheets are becoming scarce. The sea levels are rising as the oceans are being acidified. This could result in the planet's coral reefs disappearing before the end of the century.

These assessments also warn that in the next few decades, global temperatures will raise enough to trigger the release of plumes of methane gas from the Arctic tundra, while the solar ice caps, which reflect solar radiation back into space, could disappear. This, although the report doesn't say so, means that Earth would probably then be facing a runaway greenhouse effect.

The report will be discussed by political leaders meeting in Stockholm this week. This study is the work of more than 200 scientists and outlines the physical changes that are likely to affect Earth's climate this century. Future reports are planned to cover the social impact of these changes and the efforts required to offset the damage caused by global warming. Ultimately, these political leaders now have to decide how we are going to approach this issue.

The article also says that this report is coming at a time when more and more people think that global warming is not real, but whether global warming is real or not, how can we think that everything that we are putting out into the air is good for the earth? Instead of arguing about whether these awful things will happen, we should simply always be aware of how much waste and chemicals we are putting out into the earth. This is our home and we should want to keep it beautiful not only for ourselves, but for future generations.

Read the details here

Miss AMERICA?

Miss AMERICA?

(and other snippets of Immigration news)

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/09/first-indian-american-miss-america-has-racists-very-very-confused/69439/

http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/18/immigration-activists-chain-themselves-to-white-house-gates/

[Alex's Addition:]

Is Dreaming only for the dreamer?

On July 22nd a group of 5 women and 4 men (the Dream 9), all Mexican nationals, but raised in the US, were arrested on the spot after they crossed the boarder into Mexico and tried to reenter the States on grounds of a protest. Their protest was in response to Obama’s immigration policy and the thousand of immigrants deported because of it.

Obama’s policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) grants a deferment for immigrants who came here as children leeway to receive a workers permit, open bank accounts, and even apply for credit cards, however it does not pave a pathway for citizenship or protect those close to them. This program was Obama’s response to the rejection of the DREAM Act, which would grant everything above, and a path to citizenship.

On some degrees I agree that people shouldn’t be able to just show up and expect to be fed with a sliver spoon, but on the other hand I also agree that if someone comes to the States to work and become apart of the society, why stop them? But the grey area that the US faces today is granting any kind of citizenship to individuals who have been living here illegally their whole life. Does the US grant them citizenship, but what does that say to the immigrants going through the legal process? Does the US deport them, but how can you deport someone to live elsewhere when they’ve known nothing else their entire life?

I say, let them go. These immigrants are American in every way, but politically. And why should something like paper hold them back from living their lives? They’ve lived here their entire life, as far as I’m concerned they are citizens.

Dream9

We Want It Now!

Chairwoman of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Terry O’Neill and 9to5 executive director, Linda Meric, were arrested with 113 other women in Washington D.C last Thursday for blocking a main intersection for a, “move on immigration legislation protest.” Because of the current Syria and budget crises, Congress stated that most likely they would not take up immigration legislation this fall. These women organized the peaceful protest to say to Congress, later isn’t good enough, we need it NOW! There are millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S and their path to citizenship is something that can’t be put off much longer. The leaders of the protest say that the point of the protest was to also to raise the issue to women voters, and encourage them to join in the NOW mindset. Showing the group’s valor, 25 of the women arrested were illegal immigrants. When asked why they would take such a risk, one of the women, Maria Hernandez, responded “Why not? I’m taking the same risk every time I go out of my house, every time I take my daughters to school.” This quote shows that although there are international emergencies taking place, we can’t forget about the issues facing people living in America on a daily basis. Some members of the House of Representatives have responded by agreeing with the protestors, while others say it is better left for another day. However, in agreement the protestors I say why leave for tomorrow what you can do NOW!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/us/politics/womens-groups-rally-for-immigration-reform.html