It Won't Stop

By now, you all have heard about Cody Mark Cousins, who walked into the Electrical Engineering Building at Purdue last week and allegedly shot and stabbed Andrew Bolt, a teaching assistant.  I know it’s selfish of me, but when I first heard the news, I immediately thought of my sister.  My sister went to Purdue.  She had many classes in that same building.  She’s a high school teacher now, and would no doubt put her life on the line to protect her students.  I could not even begin to imagine how our family would recover if she was ever taken from us in such a violent manner.  My heart hurts just thinking about it.

Whenever I blog about an issue that relates to a previous post, I always post the link so you can read my thoughts and your fellow students’ comments.  It was with a heavy heart today that I realized just how many times I have posted about senseless gun violence on this blog: Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, Aurora Colorado, Tucson Arizona, and of course, Newtown Connecticut.  If you’re interested in reading any of these posts, you can use the search word “shooting” in the search bar located at the top of the page.

Each time we have a mass shooting such as this (and there have just been far too many in my opinion), our nation’s political dialogue becomes more focused on our country’s gun laws. Some have felt that we need stricter gun laws to prevent tragedies such as this from happening. According to Senator Dianne Feinstein, “weapons of war don’t belong on our streets”. Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper, expressed skepticism that tougher gun laws would’ve prevented the Aurora, Colorado tragedy stating, “If there were no assault weapons available – this guy’s going to find something right?” Senator Ron Johnson agrees, “I don’t think society can keep sick, demented, individuals from obtaining any type of weapon to kill people. Somebody who purposely wants to harm another individual is going to find a method to do so”.

I’ll be frank – I’m torn on this issue. I don’t come from a family that owns guns. I don’t think I would want one in my home. That being said, I strongly support the U.S. Constitution and the people’s right to bear arms. I just think there should be better background checks, waiting periods, etc. I think the real problem here is a lack of mental healthcare in this country – which might be a whole other blog. I know I don’t have all the answers, but it’s clear to me that something must be done to stop, (or at least try and stop) this senseless violence.

 So my question to you this week is, “How do you feel about our country’s gun laws? What should the government’s responsibility be, if anything, in preventing crimes like this in the future?” Answers are due no later than Sunday, February 1^st, 2014. My thoughts and prayers go out to anyone affected by senseless violence, especially the community of West Lafayette and Purdue University.

P.S.  The State of the Union is on Tuesday evening!  It's a time for the President to update Congress, the Courts and the American people on well, the state of our union!  Try to catch it if you can!
 

Not For Sale

In 2010, President Obama issues a Presidential Proclamation, declaring January to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.  The United Nations defines human trafficking as follows: “Trafficking in persons’ shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

It may seem like human trafficking is something that happens in foreign countries, like the movie Taken.  While it can and likely does happen everywhere, popular trafficking destinations are Italy, Turkey, Japan, and the United States. That’s right – the United States. Human trafficking is roughly a $32 billion industry, earning more than Google, Starbucks, and Nike combined.  The U.S. State Department estimates of the number of slaves in the world today is 20.9 million.  It’s no wonder why it is believed to be so profitable and prevalent; while a drug can be sold once and then consumed, a person can be sold and abused many times over.  Consider the following:

·       Globally, the average cost of a slave is $90. 

·       According to some estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation.

·       According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year. More than 70 percent are female and half are children.

·       The average age a teen enters the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14-year-old. Many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children.

·       California harbors 3 of the FBI’s 13 highest child sex trafficking areas on the nation: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego.

·       Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year.

I feel like we don’t hear nearly enough about this issue.  Hundreds of young girls were trafficked into Indianapolis the year we hosted the Super Bowl.  Without a doubt, it happens each year, in each new Super Bowl city.  Yet the news focus remains primarily on the game, the halftime performer and of course, the commercials.  So my question to you this week is, “What did you know about this issue?  Why do you think it’s not a higher priority on the news and what do you think can be done to help and raise awareness?”  Answers are due no later than Sunday, January 26^th, 2014.

 

 

 

Choose Your Own Adventure!

I hope you all enjoyed our extra long break, and survived our big winter storm.  It's always hard coming back to school after break. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching and being surrounded by all the crazy, creative evergy that is all of you. That being said, it's still hard to get back into the grind. So for our first blog post, I'll go easy on you.

This week we started our study of the Constitution and the freedoms that make us uniquely American. You can order your own free copy of the United States Constitution from: http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?section=bookstore&page=freeCopy.cfm

Normally, our first blog post has something to do with the freedoms you value most and whether or not you are proud to call yourself an American. This quarter, I would like to start with something different. A good portion of this class will be spent discussing current events and political issues that affect our everyday lives. For this post, I would like you to tell me at least one issue that you are interested in studying. To help you out, you can look over the blog posts that we've had in the past several years to get an idea of the type of things we've covered. Many of the topics are pretty controversial and I do my best to not censor the information available to you.

So my question to you this week is, "What is one issue that you are interested in studying in this class?" Answers are due no later than Sunday, January 19th, 2014. I'm looking forward to a great quarter!