Childhood Obesity and Our Schools

Childhood obesity is one of the most common nutritional problems in the United States. The health burden placed on children who are overweight is considerable. Common medical complications  include hypertension, type 2 diabetes, respiratory ailments, difficulty sleeping, depression and increased risk of becoming an obese adult. In the past 30 years, childhood obesity has risen 30%.Schools are now being held to higher nutritional and physical activity guidelines then ever before.
The Nation Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) has written: “Health and success in school are interrelated. Schools cannot achieve their primary mission of education if students and staff are not healthy and fit physically, mentally and socially.” The (CDC) Center for Disease Control division of Adolescent and School Health worked with the (SHC) School Health Council and the NASBE to implement ten very important policy guidelines, which is currently being used in almost every state.1) Address physical activity and nutrition through a Coordinated School Health Program approach. 2) Designate a school health coordinator and maintain an active school health council. 3) Asses the school’s health policies and programs and develop a plan for improvement. 4) Strengthen the school’s nutrition and physical activity policies. 5) Implement a high quality health promotion program for school staff. 6) Implement a high quality course of study in health education. 7) Implement a high quality course of study in physical education. 8) Increase opportunities for students to engage in physical activity. 9) Implement a quality school meals program. 10) Ensure that students have appealing, healthy choices in foods and beverages offered outside of school meal program. These policies were listed by Center For Disease Control Healthly Youth. With these policies in place, we should start to see a decrease in childhood and youth obesity right? Wrong, very little change has been found. The Department of Health and Human Services says it’s because” Schools are not implementing change”. Why would schools be failing to implement change? Some suggest it’s because the schools are under intense pressure to raise standardized tests scores and limited budgets are causing the schools to sell high fat or high sugar foods to raise money for basic school essentials.
Michelle Obama, The First Lady, has even joined up with "Let's Move". "Let's Move" is a campaign to help fight child hood obesity. Knowing the financial struggles schools can face, "Let's Move" made a reward program. They are asking parents, teachers, members of the community and most importantly the children to come up with a tasty and nutritional new menu item to served at schools around the country. The schools or communities with the chosen recipes will receive a donation to their school in the amount of $1,000-$12,000. That would definitely help schools to financially afford  healthier and more nutritional meals. Parents, Teachers, Community Leaders, Chef's and most importantly your kids need to get as involved as possible in helping to create changes within our schools to benefit our youth. Don't let the youth of America start dying today with poor nutrition.

Reevaluating The Housing Market

After reading my classmate's blog About the Down Fall of the Housing Market, it got me thinking about where our nation is currently standing in regards to real estate. We hear the world's in a recession and people are quick to blame one another on why that is. In my classmate's referenced blog they stated " Even though the banks made loans to borrowers who they knew couldn't repay, the heads of the banks made huge bonuses based on high volumes and they didn't care if their own companies later failed." I have a slightly different opinion. I do not believe that any corporation went into business and at the end of the day did not care if their company had a long standing future. Should companies have been more careful as to whom they loaned money and services too, of course. I do not believe it is a lenders fault though that the homeowner went to foreclosure. I'd say most people, not all but most want more than they can afford. If given a choice between a Kia and a BMW, most people are going to try and get the one they want to most, right? They know it's out of their price range but they figure they can cut costs somewhere else and they'd sacrifice, if needed, to get what they really want. A home is no different, in fact probably much worse. When a couple is looking for their first home, the bank that approved them for a maximum of what they can borrow,  per their income. Let's say a couple is approved for $175,000 maximum. They look for homes and quickly see the reality of getting what you want and paying the price for it or settling for a fixer upper that is more budget friendly. Well if that couple picks a house that they love but is on the highest end of their budget, they are most likely setting themselves up for failure. If the couple chooses a home at $175,000, paying an interest rate of 6%, that will put their mortgage at $1049.21  before taxes and HOA. If the couple would of been more modest and chose a home with the same interest rate at $125,000, they'd then be paying $749.44. I know $300 a month doesn't seem like that big of a deal but just that $300 may make or break you if you happen to loose your job or become ill. I believe that most corporations are greedy and just out to make the largest profit available but we as the consumer need to know what type of lifestyle we can truly afford. Just because corporations will extend you the credit, does not mean you have to take it!

BP Oil Spill Aftermath

On April 20th, 2010 there was an explosion on the Deep Horizon, a oil drilling rig working for the company BP. The oil rig was located one mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. The catastrophic oil spill leaked more than five million barrels of oil, marking it the worst oil spill in history. The oil rig was uncontrollable for 86 days and on September 19th the federal government marked the well dead, as reported on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 2010.

In the five months the oil was leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, evidence of the damage was widespread. Louisiana was the first state effected by the oil. Shortly after hitting Louisiana, tar balls and oil mousse were showing up on the beaches in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.  The oil spills destruction harmed more than just the beautiful beaches and water, both people and animals alike were effected by the spill. Michael Greenestone describes the effects as " The livelihood of many people including fisherman, restaurant owners, and hotel workers are being harmed and will continue to be harmed over many years. And, the damage the wetlands and the birds, sea turtles, dolphins and is only beginning to come into focus." So how many animals have been collected dead? It is estimated that 8,030 birds, 1,114 sea turtles, 101 mammals, and at least 5,000 reptiles have all been collected dead and oiled. How many American's jobs have been effected by the spill, it's estimated nearly 100,000 jobs.

How does BP plan to fix the damage they caused and what is the government doing to ensure they are held responsible? BP has stated they have spent over $1.5 billion in response to the spill and have agreed to place 20 billion into an escrow account to pay victims of the disaster. President Obama had placed a moratorium on deep water water drilling, supposed to be up held until Nov. 30th, to help prevent a disaster like the one caused by BP. With intense heat from the oil and gas industry though, President Obama lifted the moratorium early. BP seems to be getting only a slap on the wrist, especially since this wasn't BP first oil spill. BP had an oil spill in Alaska in 2006 as well. For the sake of being a tax paying American, we can all only hope that BP will do whatever is necessary to remedy the disaster they caused.

Taxing The Rich

In 2001 and 2003, Congress passed tax cuts proposed by President George W. Bush. The tax cuts were given an expiration date of the year 2010. Well it is now 2010 and Democrats are proposing a tax increase for the "wealthy" in 2011. The prosed tax increase would only apply to an individual with an income of more than $250,000 per year. It's estimated that only 2% of Americans would fall under the new tax increase bracket. How would increasing the taxes a mere 1.6-2% help the government? The tax increase would bring in $678 Billion dollars through 2020. Republicans argue that raising taxes for those who are already held to the highest marginal tax rates would only hurt the economy further. In the article entitled "I Can Afford Higher Taxes. But They’ll Make Me Work Less" the author gave a refreshing and honest view about how the proposed tax cuts would effect him. He is a professor at Harvard and a established author. He describes his lifestyle as comfortable, with no problem making ends meet. He admits that paying a couple extra percents would not put him in financial hardship but would ultimelty effect how much he chooses to work. He gave a breakdown of his current tax percentage rate and his future tax rate, if the increase is passed. He currently pays 39.6 percent in federal incomes taxes, Medicare tax of 3.8 percent ( as of 2013) and 5.3 percent in state income taxes.  The proposed tax increase would add an additional 1.2 percent to his federal income taxes. His overall tax percentage paid out on his income would then be 49.9 percent. Keep in mind not every state imposes a state tax. The author made a example of a $1,000 project payoff. A dollar value that I believe more American's can relate too than a large salary of a quarter million dollars. He states that taking a random job offering of $1,000 may seem appealing to him but not if the higher tax rates are applied. Basically after taxes are paid, a job that paid $1,000 as the sudden is reduced too $523.00. The author was giving real life situations, that anyone can relate too. I believe his intended audience is a republican. My personal opinion on the matter is, keep the tax cut in place. Their income may be higher than 98 percent of Americans but they earned it. To achieve that type of salary the individual earned a college degree, most likely 6 years or more of schooling. It seems as if the new tax increases are punishing them for succeeding in their careers. The new tax increase will not only hurt the indivuals who's taxes are being raised but every other person in America who may need their skilled services. For instance, an Anesthesiologist's salary is about $308,000.00. Their income is so high because they are in such high demand. If we raised their taxes, they may then have to start charging more for their services to recoop the money lost in taxes. Anyone of the 98% of American's who may then need a  specialist, will have to endure a higher cost for their services. At that point the only person who has won is the government.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

There has been alot of controversy over the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, also referred to as DADT. The 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy restricts the United States Military from revealing closeted gays and contracting under oath that gay military not speak openly about being gay in the military. The first man to be held to this policy was Lieutenant Gotthold Frederick Enslin, discharged in 1778.

The article entitled "Keep 'don't ask, don't tell' policy" by Paul Manning, gives a Veterans perspective on this hot topic. He starts the article by commenting on Lady Gaga and her recent speech given on September 28th at a Lifeline Event for gay rights. His thoughts on her speech, "Lady Gaga's opinions on gays in the military are as outrageous as her meat-headed costumes." He then goes on to explain how when he was in the service, he would shower with 12 men. He explained that showering with a male who was homosexual was uncomfortable. He asked some interesting questions as to how certain things would change if men and women were allowed to be openly gay in the military. Certain policies he says such as separate showers, bathing schedules and living quarters would all have to change. He adds, that would then lead to such things as segregation and discrimination. He ended his article by saying

"Don't ask, don't tell" sounds like a solution."  "If they don't announce their homosexuality, then I won't announce being a heterosexual."

It is clear that the author is a straight male. His targeted audience would be either heterosexual men and women or readers who may be undecided on where they personally stand on the issue. The author sharing his own personal experiences may be to help others who aren't veterans, who haven't literally faced this issue themselves in their own personal life, a chance to relate with his opinions. This article was short in length and lacked alot of needed information from the author. Perhaps the writer could of written about what branch of service he was enlisted in, the years he served and if he ever truly had any experiences with "gays". Simply stating he was forced to shower with "gays" and that he felt uncomfortable left alot to the imagination. One would almost question the authors credibility, due to lack of evidence behind his views and the anger that lies within his editorial.

Controversy Over Tragic Ground

Tenth Anniversary Of 9/11

Ten years ago today, 2,700 Americans lost their lives to terrorist attacks. "Ground Zero" is the land on which the Twin Towers used to stand. To many Americans, the sight is a constant reminder of all who's lives were lost and the war that has raged from those who hurt are fellow Americans. Some might wonder, can ten years heal old wounds? The recent controversy over what can be built and who can build on or near ground zero, goes to show sometimes it takes more than time to forgive and heal. What was all the controversy over? Park51, an Islamic Mosque that is hoped by the Islamic / Muslim Community to be built near ground zero. Many questioned have expressed mixed feelings, as read in this New York Times article "Islamic Center Exposes Mixed Feelings Locally". Whether you are on the side of forgiveness and moving forward, or believe the Mosque is a slap in the face to America, I encourage you to become as knowledgeable as possible. To be unbiased, open minded, and as clearly informed as possible before forming your opinion.