Are cops creating criminals for pointless reasons?

Marijuana law just creates criminals By Hakeem Jeffries, Special to CNN

The main idea of this article is that New York police are arresting over 400,000 people and paying $75million a year but many people believe that is never a good thing.

Details or evidence I have from this article is when the writer says that more than 50,000 people got arrested in 2011 for possessing a small amount of marijuana at the time. Another detail I have about the article is when it states that a majority of the arrests that occur are in the same neighborhoods and about 85% of those arrests being Black and Latina though there are some cases where young whites have been arrested as well.

In my opinion I feel as though they could’ve developed a better system to subdue people with the substance of marijuana instead of arresting them because some people feel as though they're above the law and become rebellious over time so there is always going to be someone to be arrested and that's wasting too much time, money, and effort.

This article has helped me to think more deeply about the situation because it has me wondering why can’t anyone just stop smoking. I mean I know it can be addictive but that's why there's rehab centers they're there to help you in any way possible.

My only question is why can't people just stop smoking? Because they're only hurting themselves and the people they love. One other question I have is why are cops wasting so much just to keep these guys behind bars? In my opinion they can think up better strategies to keep drugs out of the pockets of people.

Thad Young gets a well deserved break after playing hard

76ers' Thaddeus Young welcomes some rest after battling big men By John N. Mitchell, Inquirer Staff Writer

The main idea of this article I've read  http://articles.philly.com/2012-12-03/sports/35572497_1_chicago-bulls-big-men-taj-gibson is about the struggle 76ers' forward Thaddeus Young went through hard times with his team in back to back games in the NBA. Thad was basically working hard on defense and had to deal with 3 men who were his size and even though he did buff up again he was still exhausted after that continuous game span.

Details or evidence I have from this article is that the writer and Thad himself was explaining how it was known that it was going to be difficult for the sixers when they could win with great numbers but just as quickly can lose with inexcusable numbers as well. Another piece of evidence I have from the article is when they said that the team is going to have a chance of getting vengeance against Detroit after losing and ending the Pistons 8 game losing streak.

In my opinion I think I think Thad's break is well deserved because I was reading over the article myself and it was basically describing what he had to endure for his team and I think he should have had more help and support behind him so that way the team could've atleast had a chance even when they were tired.

This article has helped me to think more deeply about the topic because in the world it reminds me of the struggles we go through even today and win or lose atleast you tried your hardest and put out your best effort to achieve success.

One question I have for the sixers' is what are they going to do to try and support Thad more when there next game comes up?

Should teens be driving?

Should 16-year-old's drive? Report says raising age would save lives By Ted Gregory Chicago Tribune reporter

The main idea of this article is that people have been questioning for years "should 16-year-old's be able to drive?" They ask this question because over 5,000 teens die every year from car crashes on the road. 

Details or evidence i have to support my main idea for this article is when institute President Adam Lung says "We're still losing a lot of teens on the road each year." Lund was discussing the topic about how motor vehicle crashes kill more than 5,000 teens every year which adds on to my main idea in many ways. Another piece of evidence I have from the text is when the article brings up how Illinois has already took steps to reducing teen deaths due to car crashes with a award/punishment system basically. There is also people who appose this however and one of them is Linnea Greci who was 15 at the time of this article. Linnea said "I don't think it matters what age you are, as long as you have the practice and experience." That quote shows that she doesn't exactly agree with what people and officials are saying. 

In my opinion I also disagree with what people/officials are saying because to me driving skills depend on the maturity and intellect of the driver. There is no connection I can make but I do have an inference. 

This article has helped me to think more of the topic because now I have a idea why my mother won't let me drive until I am 18 because of this type of stuff that is going on in the world today. I can't think of any questions I might want to ask on this article however.

Strong center with jelly knees?

Pinhead setback for Sixers'Bynum by John Smallwood, Daily News Sports Columnist

The main idea of this article is that 76er's center Andrew Bynum got hurt while bowling. He was out from practice and plays with the sixers because he injured his right knee and couldnt play on it. Despite that fact Bynum went bowling and after bowling he hurt his good knee and claims he doesn't know how it happened.
 

Details/Evidence I have on this article is when Bynum answered a question for interviewers he said "I didn't do anything [while bowling]. I didn't twist it or fall or nothing. [The left knee] got big [after bowling]." He may be telling the truth and really didn't do anything, Then again he could be hiding something he doesn't want to tell interviewers. Another detail i picked up from this article is when Bynum told interviewers that his doctor told him that both of his knees were in a "weakened cartilage state." However of course on Friday, Bynum left out the small detail that he had hurt the left knee while bowling a week earlier.
 

In my opinion I think the center was foolish for going bowling for many reasons but I'll only state 3. My first reason is because the sport of bowling requires bent knees in proper form for one thing and Bynum knew he had a bad knee already yet he decided to play anyway. My second reason is because if you're supposed to be at home resting and trying not to damage that knee anymore why would you even think about going bowling? In my opinion that was a rediculous move. My third and final reason is that if I was him I would've just stayed at home trying to rest and allow my knee to heal a bit unless I have to go in for a check up or something but other than that I'd rest as much as possible so I could get back on the court as fast as possible.

 
Honestly there isn't any connections I can make because I've never went through anything like this before.

 
However this article did help me to think more deeply about the topic because I just think to myself with someone with such a critical condition in his knee why would Bynum go bowling just to mess up his other knee instead of just staying at home like I said and resting."
 
My only question now is what is Bynum and the 76ers going to do about Bynum and his weakened knees? Because that isn't a good way to step out on the court unless you're just looking to hurt yourself.

Many different opinions arise for the election of Obama v. Romney

Yay! Boo! So? Reactions to Obama win vary by Peter Mucha, Breaking News Desk, Philadelphia Daily News

The main idea of the article is that many people are giving their opinion on the election of 2012 and according to the writer Peter Mucha there were a lot of people who were glad for Obama's reelection, A lot of people who were disappointed that Romney didn't win, and even people who just didn't care at all who won because they didn't agree with either candidate.

Evidence that I have found while reading this is when people were giving their opinions and 1 of them said "I'm a little bit disappointed. I wasn't really happy with either candidate," quoted by Marty Brenna, 49. This is one of the people who would go under the category "So?" Another piece of evidence I have about this article is when someone who'd fall under the "Yay!" category said "I'm thrilled to death, I would never have voted for Romney on women's issues alone," said Barbara Drucker, 61. That piece of evidence showed how some people are actually glad to see Obama in his 2nd term, My final piece of evidence is someone who'd fit in the "Boo!" category as he was ashamed that Romney hadn't got in office, Len Burkhardt, 53 said he would have preferred Romney over Obama because Romney was more of a "businessman" and that Obama is "not as fiscally smart of responsible" according to the article.

In my opinion Obama and Romney had a great debate and both their arguments were persuading but I think Obama was the better man in this election because taking down a terrorist and saving the auto industry really boosted his statistics of winning which I think is a good thing because I would've also liked to have seen Obama in for four more years just as well as anyone else.

This article has helped me to think more about this topic because I'm soon going to be voting in four more years so I'm trying to gather as much information as I can before I myself go out to vote like I said in four more years. The article has also helped me to think more about the topic at hand because even though I already knew that people weren't going to be happy with Obama getting back in office but the article has helped me to get their side of the story just a little and be able to know why they weren't happy with Obama getting back in office.

I don't have a connection that I can make because I do not know how i can relate to this topic as you may have already noticed. I do have a question however and that question is are you happy to see Obama back in office for four more years? or are you mad because Romney never got his "time to shine" in the white house?

Proper Respect for Mother Nature

Will Climate Change Get Some Respect Now? By Nicholas D. Kristof, Columnist, THE NY TIMES

The main idea of the article is that people feel as though climate change is not getting as much attention in debates, or interviews as it should be getting according to Nicholas D. Kristof. Now many scientist and researchers are trying to discuss how we can improve and reduce climate change.

Evidence or details I have about the main idea is in the article when talking about Gov. Andrew Cuomo of NY it says that he told President Obama "It seems we have a 100-year flood every two years now." and the NY Times did the research and found this to be indeed a fact. Another detail that can be added is that many people are already taking steps to brace themselves for hurricanes and some of the steps are to watch out for warm oceans because this can fuel the beginning of a hurricane, Another step is that computer model research suggests that hurricanes aren't becoming more frequent but they are getting more powerful and said to be getting more powerful in this century, Last but not lease researches say that hurricanes may come with more rain and flooding because climate change adds moisture to the atmosphere.

My opinion on the topic is that I think people should come to there senses and start thinking of better ways to do thing in life without risk of harming the atmosphere because all the chemicals scientists and testers use you never know what they're actually doing to the climate to harm, and change it. People are already changing to green house energy and other alternative fuels but not enough people are willing to take the commitment.

This article reminded me about how foolish some people in the world can be without all the negative news reports or negative articles because people know they're hurting the planet with the chemicals and gas they come up with yet they still continue to use that chemical or gas just to get a quick dollar in their pocket and I think that isn't right.

This article has indeed helped me to think deeper on the subject. I must say it has reminded me that having common sense is a pain in the butt because I have to deal with all the people around me today who don't have any source of common sense what so ever.

My one and only question I have about this article is how could so many people over look climate change when it's one of the most important things in the environment today?

My article response

Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to help in school

The main idea of this article is that doctors are basically being forced to give their patients pills for a mental state to help them improve in school and to start bringing their grades up though some parents know there children don't have ADHD they give the pills to them anyway for academic help/reasons.

 Evidence used in the article that can support my main idea is when the writer wrote "We are effectively forcing local community psychiatrists to use the only tool at their disposal which is medications."- Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, a child mental-health services researcher at Washington University in St. Louis and an expert in prescription drugs use among low-income children. This quote indicates that my main idea is an accurate one.

 In my opinion I think Adderall is a bad medicine because there's no telling what the side effects could be in any child it's given too. I can honestly say that I can make a reference to this article, because I had an uncle that got terribly sick one day and the doctors he went to see prescribed him some pills that they "guaranteed" would make him feel better. 

He died at least three weeks later because of them. This has helped me to think deeper about the world and honestly I think the world is slowly falling apart. I only have one question to ask... if there's more than one option, If there is then why would experts actually force psychiatrist to give patients this drug they know the outcome of it could be dangerous yet they make them give the pills to the patients anyway for tests.

Obama v. Romney (Presidential Debate of 2012)

Romney goes on offense, forcing Obama to defend record By David Nakamura & Philip Rucker, StudentNewsDaily.com

 

This article is basically about what’s going on in the presidential debate between Barack Obama (Democratic Party) & Mitt Romney (Republican Party) both sides however have very compelling arguments.

 

 

My details and or evidence I have on my information is that the article has been written by David Nakamura & Philip Rucker who’ve actually went out to some of the debates to take note on what was being discussed and argued over some of the debates these two went too were the debate of Wednesday, October 3, 2012, the debate of Thursday, October 11, 2012 (vice presidents debate), and Tuesday, October 16, 2012 and of course many more and they went to each of these debates and carefully took notes like I’ve already stated of what was being said and discussed in the debate.

 

 

My opinion on this article is that the debate between Romney v. Obama is a pretty fierce one to sit down and watch, for example Obama and Romney always find a way to taint each others reputations by basically down talking each others plans for when one of them get into office, Another example to my opinion is Obama’s and Romney’s clash on Medicare because they’re both promising to protect the program for the elderly but then Obama accused Romney of wanting to turn it into a voucher program, while Romney claimed that the president cut $716 million from Medicare to help pay for the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare. So in conclusion to my opinion this is an interesting debate because even though I’m democratic I’m not subjective and I must say both sides arguments are very interesting.

 

 

Thanks to me reading this article I’m now more informed about the 2012 debate which is a very important thing to be informed on just like any other presidential debate that includes the U.S but also because you can’t just go around saying that you’re a Democrat or a Republican and not know what’s currently going on in politics because then you’re decision wouldn’t be as fully adamant as you think it might be. This article also has helped me because it’s helped me towards my future when I’m finally enabled to vote I’ll be able to look at other debates in the future and then decide on my own who is the right choice for the presidential office and reading this article has basically helped me to critically think over the debate and what I was going to write for it.

Texting may be more serious then we know

  Texting May Be Taking a Toll By KATIE HAFNER, NYTIMES.com

I've recently read a article which is basically based on texting and I must say it was an interesting article to read. I think the main idea of this article however is that texting isn't always good for you and that you should take steps to maintain your texting to keep good grades in school and also keep up on getting a good nights rest.

 I think this is the main idea because in the article it states that too much texting will eventually lead to serious problems in your future that includes your health. A thumb disorder however would be one of the most main ones you will get however and it could be permanent or not it's been discussed a little in the article, Texting can also lead to less sleep at night and lack of sleep is never good for anyone, It can even lead to slipping grades eventually which obviously isn't very good either.

 However there are a few good things about texting as well according to this article, for example texting can keep you in a "Active Circle" with your friends, family, and others at the touch of a button or screen because of modern technology. Texting can also keep you close to your parents if you’re at a very far distance even though you probably might call them anyway but just incase you'd text and aren't able to see them for a good reason like College for example. You might text them for the most simple things like to check in on them and make sure everything is fine or for other reasons you may have to chat with them.

 My final example from the article is that if you're one that enjoys texting you can also check up on friends which brings me back to the "Active Circle" because you're keeping in touch with your friends which can also give you the ability to check up on homework you might have that's going to be due soon or the other way around. According to the article doctors and therapists worry about teens however the case may be because this subject of texting is still so new that there hasn't really been a lot of studies or tests about it so they don't know exactly how dangerous texting can be yet so until they get more information they're using a very close estimate to give readers a taste of what they're currently studying trying to get more information on.

In conclusion of what I’ve wrote this is a brief summary of the article I’ve read by Katie Hafner based on mainly the subject of texting and how it can be good.. but also bad for us.

 

Cheating is all around us!

Studies Find More Students Cheating, With High Achievers No Exception

By RICHARD PEREZ-PENA, NYTIMES.com

The main idea of this article named "Studies Find More Students Cheating, With High Achievers No Exception" is basically about students all over the nation who's cheating to get good grades in school for stuff they can just study for and earn the grade themselves.

The details/evidence used in this article is research from the top college professor researchers all over the nation who actually take the time to study this to see why it's happening and if there's anything anyone can do to stop it because cheating on anything/test/quiz etc. isn't right because then the cheater isn't learning anything.

My opinion on this article is that what the people are doing isn't right but then again you can't really blame them because like the article states parents and teachers alike aren't telling them cheating is wrong because they expect them to be above cheating especially the kids at the top of there class. One connection I can infer to this article however was when I was in 5-6th grade I used to get bad grades for other unrelated reasons to the article. So whenever my class had tests I'd do the best I could until I got to something I absolutely couldn't answer then I'd call the teacher to support me but I couldn't quite get it so that's when I'd cheat off of another students paper and to this day I regret doing that because it wasn't fair to them that I did that and it wasn't fair to me either because if I just studied like i was supposed to I wouldn't have to be cheating off of anyone at all.

This article has helped me to think more about what's currently going on around me in school or in the real world. I say this because it helped me to re-realize that people will cheat to get what they want in life even though there not really learning the information themselves. I also think more about it because some people who cheat already know the answer believe it or not and they just get to lazy to get the answer themselves so they get the answer and then "test" it by looking another students paper. My question to whoever can answer it is why/how are people cheating if your claiming to make sure they don't and if you can "tell" when they are and then how come they're not prepared to be able to answer the question (s) on there own if your telling them to go home and study. My 2nd opinion/question is why are they close enough to each other to cheat in the first place you should keep the kids separated enough to disable them from cheating.