Human Rights Abuses

Homosexuality has been frowned upon for many centuries. Nevertheless, individuals should not be beaten for loving the same gender.Unfortunately, homosexuals in Russia are experiencing physical abuse from anti-gay organizations. Groups are approaching gay individuals and throwing punches, along with kicks. The government should not allow this kind of hatred to continue. Assault charges should be filed against the violent anti-gay parties. Homosexuals are not attacking the organizations, so why should the anti-gay initiate?

Eastern Orthodoxy plays a huge role in Russia. It is obvious that homosexuality is not welcomed in the community of the Church. According to spiritual figures, it is offensive for homosexuals to enter the church or even consider to wed inside a church. However, homosexuals are currently keeping their distances from the church. They are minding their own business and not creating any tension between religious, political, or social parties. It is the other parties who are initiating everything. It must stop if Russia desires to establish peace and acceptance, which will probably never occur.

Authorities should prevent future attacks by arresting anti-gay parties for disturbing homosexuals. Recently, a gas bomb was released in a gay nightclub in Moscow. The bouncers pretended like nothing happened since their views are similar to the vicious parties. Hopefully, Russian society will get their shit together and allow individuals to live their lives as they please.

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS

Should the US intervene where there are human rights abuses?

Human rights are a set of moral principals or norms that are protected from legal laws of the nation and international laws. Human rights are rights are entitled to simply for just being human. There should be no regards to nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status. But not gays in East africa, specifically Keyna. In Kenya, it is illegal to be gay. Homosexuality is considered a taboo and is widely shunned by the country, around 96 percent of the Kenyan residence believe that homosexuality is a way of life that society shouldn't accepted according to the 2007, Pews Global Attitude project. Around 89 percent of the people that come out or outed by the family was disowned. Employees reported were terminated and were publicly humiliated, ridicule, and discriminated when they sexual orientation and gender identity is revealed. In 2011,Kisauni Islamic College principal Sheikh Majid Obeid even blamed inflation and drought on the LGBT community. Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya organizing secretary Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa said, "We are asking Kenyans to shun businesses owned by such people and further show them open discrimination as a way of stopping the beastly act. They grossly abuse rights of others and should not be accepted among the society:, The LGBT community is till this day, often denied of basic protection from the police often arrested in search for other crimes so that they could be thrown into jail. Often times, police even sexually abuse from police office when identities are discovered. They're denied of medical assistant because their information were often leaked. The LGBT community cannot seek employment of own their own business. They ever have to relocate their residential area to hide their identity often times evicted from their rental house by neighbors. If not condemned enough, they’re not allowed to use common utilities. They’re also not allowed into spiritually nourishment from society because they’re labelled as evil and it would be “unnatural and unacceptable” for them to be in such settings. 

Despite how the LGBT community is condemned, various groups are working to fight such human rights violation. Groups like The National Gay and Lesbian Human Right Commission (NGLHRC) are beginning to stand up for LGBT people who have been victims of violence. However when the NGLHRC tired to register in 2013, they were denied because the Non-Governmental Organizations Coordination Board deemed the group’s name “unacceptable.” “

“The stated aims of NGLHRC are to advance full participation, equality and inclusion of LGBT people in Kenya by engaging with the law, culture and politics. Without formal registration the organization’s ability to operate is compromised. It cannot enter into basic contracts such as leasing premises or open bank accounts, and its ability to raise funds is curtailed.” The government shouldn’t denied the NGLHRC because its against the law according to according to article Article 2 of the covenant requires countries to adhere to all the rights in the covenant without discrimination, including freedom of association. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights Article 27 (2) says, “The rights and freedoms of each individual shall be exercised with due regard to the rights of others, collective security, morality and common interest.” It will take a long time to integrate the LBGT community into Kenya, but I think if there are enough protest and support from around the world like the U.S since we also have a LGBT community. I think if all the LBGT community around the world worked together, their voice would get through faster. The US should intervene in human rights abuses, they I don’t think they would intervene in accepting the community to this day only 34 states legalized same sex marriage. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Kenya

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/02/kenya-allow-rights-groups-register

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_laws_on_same-sex_unions

Joyce Lu G Band

Human Rights Abuses

The reason why Human Rights are called that way, is because they’re the rights for every single human in the world. It shouldn’t matter what race, gender, age, political view, religion or opinion you have. If Human Rights exist, then people should be protected. However, many countries, create ‘laws’ to protect those right, but don’t really care if people follow those them or not. For example, Bolivia has been having problems in the criminal justice system for many years, but the government does nothing to improve itself. Bolivian law claims to give people freedom of speech and of the press. However, it’s not a secret that the government has been censoring the media ever since this law has been made, and journalists can actually serve time in prison for writing or saying ‘wrong’ information. The press is not the only group of people in Bolivia who has little rights. Women are being constantly abused. Everybody knows it, including the government, but nobody seems to care. Even though there are laws against any kind of women abuses, including marital rape, whenever an act of violence is committed against a woman, chances are, whoever did it is not going to be punished. In addition to women, children of Bolivia suffer as well. In schools, teachers are allowed to beat kids, ages 11 to 16 if they feel that it’s necessary.  There is no minimum age for marriage in Bolivia, so parents sell their kids into marriage, which eventually turns into human trafficking or prostitution. Many kids live in prison with their parents, and have no rights for proper childhood and many live on the streets. Again, Bolivian government created many offices around the country, to ‘protect children’s human rights’, but all of that is for a show off and barely anybody actually works by justice. In addition to the press, women and children, there are many more groups of people who have little or no human rights in Bolivia. Those include, disabled people, indigenous people, asylum-seekers, gays, prisoners and many more. The Bolivian government is full of corruption and needs to be put under some type of supervision. There are more civil people than there are people in the government. There should be more protests against government’s ignorance, because if those people don’t do anything, then nothing will change. They do have elections, and even though many times there’s corruption there too, they should start choosing more carefully, to find someone who could give them the human rights, that they deserve, just  as everyone else on this planet. I think that in this case, the US should interfere with human rights abuses, because everybody knows about whats going on in Bolivia, so now its time for somebody to actually do something about it. The US has enough power to take action and help all of the people who are suffering everyday in the cities of Bolivia.

Sources:

http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/bolivia

http://fsdinternational.org/country/bolivia/hropps

http://internationalpoliticalforum.com/bolivias-new-child-labor-law-a-violation-of-human-rights/

By Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Human Rights Abuses

North Korea is a horrible place to live for people. People there practically have no rights or any sort of freedom. The government continues to impose totalitarian rule. There is a human rights watcher that looks at how human rights are handled in different country's.North Korean refugees living in exile, some of whom fled after Kim Jong-Un took power, told Human Rights Watch that people arrested in North Korea are routinely tortured by officials seeking confessions, bribes, and obedience. Common forms of torture include sleep deprivation, beatings with iron rods or sticks, kicking and slapping, and enforced sitting or standing for hours.

The government uses fear, generated mainly by threats of forced labor, and public executions, to prevent dissent, and imposes harsh restrictions on freedom of information and travel. All media and publications are state controlled, and unauthorized access to non-state radio or TV broadcasts is punished. North Koreans are punished if found with mobile media such as DVDs or computer ‘flash drives’ containing unauthorized TV programs, such as South Korean drama and entertainment shows. Unauthorized use of Chinese mobile phones to communicate with people outside North Korea is also harshly punished.

Whats going on in North Korea is horrible and eventually some other countries will have to step in and end the madness. 

By: Rony Rud G-Band

Human Rights Abuses

It’s a privilege to have human rights. But not everyone has them, especially the people in North Korea. The government of North Korea gave no human rights to their people. The government continues to impose totalitarian rule. Everything is controlled by the government. All the media and publications are state controlled and unauthorized access to non-state radio or TV broadcasts are punished. The punishments are crucial and horrifying. In addition if a person is accused of political offenses, they will be sent to kwan li so. It is a brutal forced labor camp. It is a nightmare. People live in terrible living conditions, abuse, starvation, no or very little health care, and execution by the guards. Individuals also get tortured such as beating with iron rods, kicking, slapping, standing for hours, and women will also be raped by the guards. Death rates in these camps are extremely high. It is estimated that there are between 150,000 to 200,000 political prisoners that are detained in concentration camps. Nobody wants to be in these camps but that’s how the government is run. No one can tolerate the government; if they do they will be sent to the concentration camps. In North Korea only the good is spoken about their leader/government, nothing bad is spoken about. I believe the people who live in North Korea need to know and realize what is happening and learn how terrible their leader is. The people are brain washed. They can’t do anything as well because the government is controlling everything. It’s a nightmare living in North Korea. People in North Korea have no idea how life is like outside North Korea, they have not witness anything besides being stuck like in like a jail place and being torture.I hope there can be a solution for the people in North Korea, but under no human rights and having the government controlling everything they do, its hard for them to speak up. 

Amy Zhang    
G-Band

Thai vs U.S Constitution

The U.S constitution was written and signed by a group of men that wanted independence from Britain. The U.S Constitution starts off with the basic precepts of the English Governance along with an american twist of three branches of government that acts to check and balance each other. The Constitution sets out three distinct branches of the national government: The Executive (the President), The Legislative Branch (Congress), and the Judicial Branch (The Supreme Court). Then we also have the First Ten Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights that spells out the rights of individual citizens in contrast to the establishment of powers of the federal government. The U.S Constitution basically reflects our democratic beliefs. Whereas in Thailand, they also have similar beliefs to us, their constitution called “Rattha Thammanun Haeng Ratcha Anachak Thai,” which provides the basic set of laws in Thailand. Since Thailand has been under the rule of democratic government with the King as head of the state for more than 75 years, during which several constitutions were promulgated and amended. Until 2007, where the Thai Constitution was replaced by one written by a group of drafter appointed by the army-led Council of National Security.  The main objective of the new Constitution is to further promote and protect the rights and liberty of the people, encouraging people to participate in the administration of the country cross examining the powers, similar to the U.S Constitution. The major difference between the Thai Constitution is that the Thai King is still extremely protected in their Constitution, stating the King still has power among the people, stated in Section 8 (The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated.

No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action.) However it is limited by Section 3 stating (“The sovereign power belongs to the Thai people. The King as Head of the State shall exercise such power through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the Courts in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”). The major major difference in the two is how the Thai Constitution also focus on religion unlike the U.S’s.

JOYCE LU G BAND 

US and CHILE constitution similarities and differences

The US and CHILE both have constitutions filled with many articles, sections, and chapters explaining the governments, peoples freedom, and much more. They also both talk about the freedoms of the people and both have a plan for the government. 

The US Constitution shows the plan for government. The Articles of the Constitution talk about the duties of the three main parts of government: the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch.The articles also talk about the separate powers of the Federal and State government, and how to change the Constitution. The US constitution also has 27 amendments which are pretty much peoples rights and the laws.

The Chilean Constitution also has some what of amendments except they have 29 transitory provisions. One main difference from the US Constitution is that the Chilean Constitution focuses mainly on religion and how the Constitution, other laws, and policies protect religious freedom along with the government which protects religious freedom as well. 

BY: Rony Rud G-Band

United States and China Constitution

The Constitution is the highest law in the United States. The Constitution also provides the framework for the government of the United States. It creates things like the Presidency, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. Over time, more rights are added on which is also known as amendments. By listing these rights it is illegal for the government to violate those rights. As of today the United States has 27 amendments. The first ten are special because it's called the Bill of Rights. It guarantees individuals with civil rights. The Constitution was written in 1787 by the Framers. They were meeting at Philadelphia to come up with a new way of running the country. People including James Madison, Ben Franklin, and George Washington were there. There are 7 articles in the Constitution. The first three articles show the separation of powers and the four through six describe the rights and responsibilities of state government. Today to make an amendment, it needs to be pass through the Congress, on a two-thirds vote and then it goes to the states, and if three-quarters of the states pass the amendment, it is considered a part of the Constitution. All the amendments are important because it gives people many rights. The first amendment (freedom speech), 13th (abolished slavery), 14^th (make slaves part of the constitution), 15^th (any race can vote).  

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982. It has been revised many times. The Constitution has five sections which are the preamble, general principles, fundamental rights and duties of citizens, structure of the state, the national flag and the emblems of the state. There are a total of 138 articles. The state Constitution provides a legal source for the changes in China's social and economic institutions and revises government structure. It creates a unitary multi-national state The Constitution places its main priority on development and the contributions of non-party groups that can play a central role in modernization. The Constitution also guarantees the freedom of religious worship as well as the "freedom not to believe in any religion".

The two Constitutions are similar because it is written to help the people. People want to have a voice and the Constitutions gave them a chance. Overtime the Constitutions can be change by adding or removing something because China’s Constitution was changed a few times and the United States Constitution added more amendments over times. 

Amy Zhang    G-Band

The Constitutions Of Turkey And The USA.. Similarities and Differences

The United States and Turkey have created documents describing fundamental rights for individuals of their respective countries. Similarities consists of free communication for all citizens from both countries, the presence of justice and tranquility to be served, and lastly, promoting general welfare. Differences are revealed between the two, especially dealing with the preamble.

The preamble revealed in the US constitution insinuates community bonding and building. "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union", demonstrates individuals working together and experiencing equal rights, while maintaining fairness in society. However, in Turkey, their preamble is not based on community building. Note the difference. Turkey's preamble is focused around nationalism. More directly, the Turkish Constitution represents a secular and democratic republic that derives its sovereignty from civilization. The sovereignty relies on the Turkish Nation, who delegates its exercise to an elected unicameral parliament known as the Turkish Grand National Assembly(TGNA). We, nevertheless, have a bicameral system.

General Welfare is utilized in order to look out for the well being of the people. The United States is always seeking immunity for the working class, fundamentally, shielding the public welfare. Turkey does the same by revealing their effort to enforce welfare and happiness for their citizens. Both constitutions indicate how it is a moral duty to ensure welfare. Therefore, this is a similarity between these two countries' constitutions.

Communication is essential in both countries. Imbedded in their constitutions, both countries assure the right to communicate without any limitations whatsoever. Freedom of speech is heavily stressed in both documents. Overall, both constitutions protect the rights of their respective individuals and provide immunity, not only to the individuals, but to their civilizations.

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS G BAND

US & Spain Constitutions

Every country has its own laws and policies concerning different things. The US Constitution reflects all the democratic beliefs and values that Americans hold. There are many constitutions in this world which are very similar to the one of the United States. Spain has a very different governmental system from the US, but their laws are almost identical. While reading and comparing the two constitutions, government was probably one of the very few differences that they have. United States has a democratic government, where the president is the head of the states and government, while Spain has a parliamentary and constitutional monarchy, where a king or a queen is the head of the state, and the president is the head of the government. The other minor differences in the two counties' constitutions were: that the US concerns less topics about immigration and aliens than Spain does; US allows death penalty in a few states, while Spain states that it can only be allowed in severe wartime; and that the US constitution was written in 1787, while the constitution of Spain was written in 1987, which is less than 30 years ago. As for similarities, there are many of them. In fact, there is so much, that it would take at least a few pages typed to list all of them. I think that the most important and most common similarities are that there can be no discrimination based on birth, race, sex, religion, opinion and any other condition; there has to be due process of law before incriminating a person; habeas corpus procedure must be followed when it is necessary; privacy is protected; there is freedom of speech and religion; citizens can participate in public affairs through representatives freely elected in earlier elections; education should be available to anyone; and that there must be something that gives you a right for medical protection. That's already a long, but definitely not everything. I think that even though, the government systems of the US and Spain are very different, their constitutions are very alike and maybe one was based on another. The two counties are safe to live in and people should feel very comfortable with their laws and live without any fears of being mistreated by the government.

By Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Sources:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
http://www.tribunalconstitucional.es/en/constitucion/Pages/ConstitucionIngles.aspx#I4

Election Results 2014

The claws are up between Rob Astorino and Andrew Cuomo. After finding out the winner, Astorino released a statement to CBS. His words were, "You saw what kind of race Andrew Cuomo ran, which was increasingly more vile and desperate.. He panicked and did some ugly things. At the end of the day, the voters are going to reject that". Clearly, Astorino is taking the loss harshly and is currently acting like a child. Astorino focuses on the negativity of Cuomo, rather than the potential brightness Cuomo may bring to the community. Rob Astorino is also accusing Cuomo of not being too active when it comes to enforcing new movies. Another statement he released is as follows, " There is no excuse for him nor us.., losing to the states in this nation. We were once number one, now we are basically 50th".  Cuomo is doing the best he possibly can. Seems like Astorino needs to accept his loss and look foward to the new plans that will come to life from Cuomo. Politics are not fair, but childish manners are unnecessary.

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS

Election Results 2014

How would the election affect the future government?

Since the Republicans have taken the seats of Democrats in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana, and South Dakota. The democrats have finally lost their house seats to the Republicans encroachments. This would affect our government greatly because now the power is shifting from presidential democracy to Republicans in the state. Since 2006, Republicans haven't taken control of both Senate and the House of Representative, they will have to seek common ground with the president on issues like foreign in trade and tax changes. It would be hard to agree on ideas, because while the republicans are conservatives and the democrats are liberals. Recently, senators( mostly democrats) who voted for Obamacare wouldn't be a part of the new senate anymore. If the new Senate consists of mostly republicans now, then chances are, they will most likely overturn the Obamacare.  While Obama and the GOP are talking about cooperation and getting things done, they know they can’t escape the most important : immigrations reforms. The republicans believe that they should secure the boarder to stop the flow of narco-trafficking and gang violence. Republicans believe that immigration policies should be followed to ensure the safety of our citizens. Whereas, democrats believe that it is a fundamental rights for the US to provide unconditional aid and comfort to the citizens of other nations. They believe in open boarder, and providing legal forms of identification to foreign nations. With such drastic ideas, it will be really hard to have a strong government. 

Joyce Lu G

Election Results 2014

From this year's midterm election results, its easy to predict if the 'new' government is going to handle its essential job to sustain balance and improve economical and social stability in the country. Will it handle its job? The answer would be both yes and no. Yes, because any government would fight hard to maintain its own country in some type of stability. No, because we, the people of the United States, don't need 'some type' of stability. What we need is great improvements in the economical, educational, social, medical and other systems. This has a great possibility of not working out in the next few years, since the presidential Democracy has a high chance of loosing its power to the enormous amount of Republicans in the Senate. With different opinions on how a state or a country should be governed, will the two parties ever come to an agreement? For instance, how likely is it that the executive branch appointments and federal judges will be confirmed by the Senate if Obama's nominees are Democrats? Not likely at all. The Senate Republicans will wait until the nominee is of their own party, but that would be like waiting for a teacher to give you a 100 after you resisted to complete an assignment because you didn't like the topic. Outside of relationship of the parties in the States, the President and the 'new' Senate clearly have different opinions on whether our country should enter the expensive oversees war or not. If Obama does enter every war possible, chances are that our economy will go down. The Republicans think differently and they will try to get their word across to try to get involved in the conflict, which would cause constant debate and massive disagreement. There are many similar issues that the results of this election brought up, and people will continue talking about them until they see the 'new' government at work. We are hoping that the political parties' differences will not cause any disaster, and since the election is officially over, all we have left to do is watch how the government tries to handle its job.

By: Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Sources
http://news.yahoo.com/senate-control-top-prize-midterm-election-080423144--election.html 

Election Results 2014

The Mid-Elections of 2014 has come to end. The result of this changed the number of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. The republicans gained 7 seats in the Senate causing commotion due to the fact that they have control of the House of Representative and now the Senate as well. This means, they take over all the committees, control the agenda on the floor and gain the ability to stop President Obama's appointments. It'll still be very hard to run the Senate, and the president can veto legislation if it does get to his desk. President Obama will veto some bills. Although President Obama has vetoed just two bills in six years, the fewest number of vetoes issued since President James Garfield’s in office but the President will most likely have a chance to veto any attempted total repeal of Obamacare and any other core programs he championed in the past six years.

Now that the Republicans have a big victory, things will change. The Republicans are the ones that can address the country’s problems; they can make people feel more secure in a world that has many things going on around the world such as the ISIS terrorist group but the Republicans can make people feel that the government is doing something to make the economy better for them. In the past the Republicans have dismantle some of Obama’s governmental moves such as the Obamacare. When the Republican Party moves to take over control of the Senate in January, there will be difficult times between Barack Obama and the Republicans because Obama is a Democrat. "Congress will pass some bills I cannot sign. I'm pretty sure I'll take some actions that some in Congress will not like." Obama said it in a press conference at Wednesday, this shows there will be a hard time for new laws to make between the Congress and the president. I am afraid the government will shut down again like last year due to Congress does not favor the Affordable Care Act.

Amy Zhang 

G-Band

Who Won The Gubernatorial Debate?

After watching a part of the gubernatorial debate, it was not hard to decide who won in it. Even though Andrew Cuomo had an obvious support of Michael McDermott, Rob Astorino was able to present his ideas and prove his points clearer than anybody among the four candidates. To each of his arguments, he seemed to have some information on how the current governor, Cuomo, failed to meet expectations of New Yorkers and the state government. This made the discussion stay on his side, by showing how well informed he is on different aspects of the state and its needs. Astorino also made his part of the debate very strong by saying that Cuomo wasted millions of dollars on making false advertisements about other nominee's credibility, by which he delivered a message, that if the current governor keeps his position, he might as well keep wasting money for his own benefits. Rob Astorino had definitely won the debate; he addressed a lot of problems that New York faces, such as the economy, corruption, Common Core, and fracking system. He clearly stated his opinions about each of those topics, and to make his argument have better chances of getting support, he compared his ideas to the ideas of his opponents, thus proving that he doesn't only proposes a few plans, but also listens to what others have to offer. His way of providing people with his points of views is not the only thing that makes me believe that he is the one who should win. I like his idea of decreasing taxes and still improving the economy. The fact that he focuses so much on the corruption of our government, gives me and other New Yorkers, a reason to believe in him. Astorino's ideas of getting rid of the Common Core fully suits my desires as a student and the desires of all the parents who oppose the current system of education. As for the question of fracking, i think that the majority of people agree with Astorino, that fracking is causing pollution and other environmental damages, and therefore shouldn't be the primary source of our oil and gas. Rob Astorino has definatelly won this debate and based on everything he said, I would surely choose him to become the next governor of New York.

By: Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Debate on Education

In the debate, Cuomo stated that he wanted to make charter schools a notable education priority while Rob Astorino wanted to stop common core by creating a ballot line in opposition. They both support longer school days. Cuomo especially supports the Dream Act, which would give state college aid to undocumented immigrants. He believes that the more money we spend on schools, the better schools do. While Astorino wants different diplomas based on different high school curriculum, he opposes the dream Act, but would lead private fundraising. 

They both have ideas I like but I lean more towards Cuomo because he supports Common Core which i think is beneficial to students from 1st-8th because it is designed to help student increase critical thinking and problem solving skills. With common core, professional development would also improve because all teachers will be teaching to the same standards. I also like the Dream Act. But I don’t like the idea of charter schools because I think the idea and the system wouldn’t sustain in the long run because despite it being publicly funded, it operates independently. Charter schools usually aren't funded enough. There would also be less transparency because charter schools are run by private institutions, they are not subject to the freedom of Information Act and lastly I don’t think charter schools promote enough diversity.

Joyce Lu G Band 

http://www.ny1.com/content/politics/governors_race_on_the_issues/217770/education-debate-continues-to-be-point-of-contention-in-governor-s-race/

http://www.parents4publicschools.org/Documents/Common_core_chart_final.pdf

What Will Happen to the Education System?

The midterm elections are coming up and debate on education is growing. The debate, which was co-sponsored by The Buffalo News and WNED-WBFO, brought together Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Republican Rob Astorino, Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins and Libertarian candidate Michael McDermott. The four spent an hour in the WNED-TV studios in downtown Buffalo fielding questions on issues such as the Common Core educational standards.
Rob Astrorino campaign said that the Common Core “Is not appropriate, and it's something that New York should get out of, just as other states are beginning to do right now," Rob Astorino plans a "Stop Common Core" ballot line in opposition to adopted education standards. The main reason is because the standards are experimental, conceived in secrecy with no public hearings on the draft standards, and never tested. It is education guided at the federal level – not the state and local level. In addition it is considered to be developmentally inappropriate in the early grades and not based on well-researched child development knowledge. Instead of the Common Core he wants to develop more accurate measures of student, teacher and school performance, reducing reliance on high stakes assessments, with a more balanced, portfolio approach and increase availability of vocational training in schools for careers in home economics, carpentry, mechanics and electrical. This well be a great skill/interest to have after High School because in the recent years schools have moved away from career training.

http://www.robastorino.com/astorinomoss-education-plan/

By: Amy Zhang G-Band

Different philosophies regarding education-Blog Post #3

The concept of education has been thrown around in this election, catching the attention from the public eye whether the common core standards should be abandoned or further implemented. Candidate Howie Hawkins reveals his opinion. He states how New York should eliminate the common core curriculum standards that NY adopted with the majority of United States. Fundamentally, he is stressing the importance of stopping the common core. Candidate Hawkins gives beard-stroking reasons as to why the Common Core should be banished for good.

The common core is completely unfair to educators. It is dumbing down education, according to Howie. This current system forces teachers to teach the test, which shifts the educators into bad moods. As educators, they are appointed with the position to educate students through creativity and other thought-provoking activities. Educators spent time learning and mastering the skills of presenting material to students. How can this be compared to a fat chunk of paper that was printed within a couple of hours? Dedication from the educators should be looked more highly upon and Hawkins is absolutely right to steer away from the common core. In addition to somewhat neglecting the teachers, the common core is a tremendous drain on time and money in schools. 

According to Howie Hawkins, school communities should be given the opportunity to overlook the issue and come up with a decision regarding the standards and assessment. His essential theme is to allow teachers to experience independence while teaching, not to have a textbook be their dictator while demonstrating information. Unlike him, his competitors are content with creating standardized assessments, which are not beneficial nor interesting to any child. If elected as governor, Howie Hawkins will increase funding for education and discover an alternation for distributing available resources to academic settings amongst the state's 70 school districts.

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS G BAND GOVERNMENT HONORS

Debate on Education

The candidates for this year's election are having a constant debate concerning education. Their arguments are on whether or not schools should only focus on students' knowledge. The question  presented in the debate is; should the Common Core be used in every aspect of school structure, or should there be an alternative system for New York's education? The candidates show their opinions on the topic, by discussing the financial needs for classrooms, the accomplishments of teachers and the school system itself.

Andrew Cuomo proposes various ideas during the debate. In the past, he has done a lot for education; for example, created a full day Pre-kindergarten program, so he has experience with the system. Cuomo says that the only way to achieve a stable economy, is by making sure that every child receives a good education. He wants to focus on funding on performance and establishing new pathways to college level work and career readiness. He also wants to fund the recognition and rewarding of the most successful and outstanding teachers. Andrew Cuomo is planning to reinvest in the classrooms of New York schools and additionally to make sure that the school funding does not lead to unaffordable property tax hikes. He is a great supporter of the high performing charter schools and primarily because of that, has proposed a $2 billion "Smart Schools" bond, that should eventually re-imagine our classrooms for our world of technology and make sure that household income doesn't get in the way of proper education.

Source: http://andrewcuomo.com/record-of-success/education/

By: Caterina Arnautova

Blog#3 Education Debate in NY State

Andrew Cuomo has his own platform on education. Governor Cuomo believes that  the only way to achieve a dynamic economic future for all New Yorkers is by ensuring that all children receive a quality education that prepares them for the 21st century. Ever since Governor Cuomo first took office New York has become the leader in the nation in placing the most effective teachers in the classroom. Every school in New York now has a teacher evaluation system to ensure a performance based approach to student learning. The Governor also increased budgets in the past couple years and will do so again if he gets reelected. In the past 3 years he has increased funding for education by $2.9 billion. He is planning on using that money to compete with charter schools. Also he proposed a $2 billion "smart school" bond that will re imagine our classrooms for our high tech world and level the playing field so that income won't effect the level of access students have to technology  in schools. His basic motto for education is putting students first. 

By: Rony Rud 

Who is a better candidate?

Howie Hawkins


Howie has a list of things he says he will do if he gets elected as governor such as more women's rights, workers rights, immigrant rights, LGBT rights, and many more. If he gets elected he says that he will raise the state minimum to 15$ an hour. He promises health care for all New Yorkers. Quality education for all and that tuition for all CUNY, SUNY, and community colleges should be free. He is also trying to make New York a greener place by making it 100% clean energy by 2030. He says he wants energy production from distributed solar, wind, wave, etc, so that every home, office and factory is retrofitted to be a solar power producer. But by doing all of this he needs a lot of money in which he is planning on getting it from the rich by taxing them more and cutting the other 95% of New Yorkers taxes. He is against stop and frisk and broken windows and plans on trying to stop that because he says there is a lot of racism involved. H wants to legalize many drugs such as marijuana and heroin. He wants to raise the age of adult criminal responsibility to 18. He wants to enact a Pay Equity law to insure that workers are paid equal pay for work of comparable worth. This also applies to women.

I liked Howie Hawkins platform. It seems like he has a lot of plans if he gets elected, but he doesn't really explain how he will make all of his plans happen.

http://www.howiehawkins.org/platform

By: Rony Rud G-Band

Howie Hawkins' ideas regarding the economy 
Snatching money from the poor may be a poor moral decision, but allowing the rich to take care of funding is smarter. Howie Hawkins brings up an excellent idea to revisit the plan from the 1970's, that is, to tax wall street in order for our academic settings and local government to receive necessary money. In addition, he indicates how property taxes should experience a permanent cut, fundamentally lowering the taxes for employees in society. Unlike other political parties, Howie expresses a sense of relief towards the public. He reveals how his political party, The Greens, do not capture corporate money. The party relies on themselves for the corporate lobbyists and their-paid for political representatives in the Democratic and Republican parties. Howie is insinuating how his services shall not cost a single dime to the public, nor should they feel that their earnings will fall into his pocket. Society today fears politics due to its economic corruption. By having Howie elected as governor, the public will experience a relationship full of integrity between their politician and community.

www.howiehawkins.org

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS

Rob Astorino

The New York Republican, Rob Astorino pledged to make significant overhauls to the state budget, tax code and economic plan, saying he has "the commitment to reform of a Roosevelt." He wants to cut the state budget and reduce the tax rate. In addition Astorino wants to create new jobs to Westchester County. More than 30,000 new jobs have been created in the county since 2010. Rob Astorino also plans to eliminate job killing regulations and mandates, reduce tax burden, create gas development, and accelerate hi tech start up creation. Astorino plans to propose a gun law that is similar to California's Use a Gun and You're Done Law. Astorino said he would add 10 years to a prison sentence if a criminal is caught using a gun to commit a felony; 20 years if the gun is discharged while committing a crime and an additional 25-year to life sentence if the gun kills or injures another person during the crime. Astorino also called for reforms to the distribution of public assistance programs like food stamps and Medicaid.

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/rob-astorino-announces-empowerment-and-opportunity-plan-1.9529794

I believe Rob Astrorino has a better plan because due to the fact that New York has a population of over 19 million people, people need jobs and its very competitive and hard to get a job. In addition there are many families with low income that don’t have enough money to buy food for their family, with food stamp it helps the family out, making it more affordable to buy food. Since the population is large in this state, the fact that Astrorino is trying to enforce more gun control law makes this a safer place and environment to live in. 

By: Amy Zhang G-Band

Rob Astorino Continued...

Rob Astorino is looking forward to eliminating gaps in the economy while not raising the taxes, but lowering them. He reduced his own budget by 19% and encouraged many non-union county employees to start contributing to health care costs with him. Those contributions, along with the lowered taxes have created many jobs for people who need financial help. Astorino believes that a good paying job is the best type of welfare and economy improves with that. Throughout his years in the government, he was able to get rid of a $166 budget gap by using his methods of economical progress. With such savings he was able to support many organizations; for example, schools and parks. He soon wants to create a High-Tech Research Complex out of 60 acres of grassland in Westchester in order to create more medical and bio-tech positions. He also wants to make school classrooms safer and discuss the main causes of violence in students, like metal illnesses and simply the inability to attend school lessons. As for Astorino's beliefs, he thinks that the government should be limited, just how it states in the Constitution, and that no organization should provide an innocent person's identity to the public without the person's consent. He is against corruption in the country, stating that many economical procedures are causing economical fall downs. Another economical issue that he is concerned about is abortion. Astorino says that unnecessary abortions are taking money from state's Medical funding and he is completely against it. In addition to this medical problem, he states that he will only support such drugs as medical marijuana only if they are strictly controlled by the government and medical organizations. Astorino supports the Dream Act, which provides financial aid to students without documents, in order to make sure that every person who decides to live here gets their chance to become somebody in the society. Overall his goal is to improve our economy by making the people happy, instead of degrading and attacking them with crazy taxes.

http://www.robastorino.com/issues

I think that Rob Astorino has great ideas for improving our economy. He focuses lowering taxes, creating jobs, schools, and organizations to help people live fulfilling life. He supports a healthy way of living by banning marijuana and tries to help people with no money for health care. Along with the economy, Astorino also protects our environment by promoting solar energy use and restoring parks. By supporting a plan of helping out students with no documents, he is encouraging many young kids to study harder, and by making the schools safes, he allows children's minds to fully expand. He wants our society to rise to the top, so that people who live here have more opportunities to have normal lives. 

By: Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Andrew Cuomo

If Andrew Cuomo were to be reelected, he would continue to fight for abortion rights (Reproductive Rights Acts), civil rights for women, immigrants, workers, and the LGBT community. He plans to end “stop and frisk," criminalize synthetic marijuana, and designer drugs. Also improving the education system by adding additional fundings to SUNYs and CUNYs schools. He also supports government-run healthcare and water policies to protect environment and business interests. Cuomo plans to jumpstart the economy by creating jobs. As of December 11, 2013 announced that $715.9 Million dollars would be invested into economic development funding. This plan is to empower communities, business and academic leaders to help create jobs and academic growth. Cuomo plans to transform New York State into a destination for complains around the world to invest and grow with initiatives like START-UP NY to help promote tax free areas. These efforts have furthered our economic growth. 

I would vote for Howie. His platform is well rounded and it include mostly every group from women to LGBT community. What really caught my attention was that he calls for making college free for students. He has a lot of good ideas, but I agree with Rony, that he needs to throughly explain his plans. 

http://www.ontheissues.org/Andrew_Cuomo.htm

Joyce Lu G Band

Which is better?

The difference between the democratic party and the republican party is that while democrats believe in working together to succeed, republicans believe that in order for people to succeed they have to be presented with equal opportunities. Republicans believe that the American dream is at risk and that restrictions of the government is needed; the government needs to be returned to its proper role, making it smaller and more efficient. Republicans believe that taxation, litigation and regulation needs to be kept to the minimum. Democrats also believe in fair share, but they believe working together playing the same rules would lift the economy for all americans. Democrats focus more on individuals. 

Both parties have its principals I really support. Republicans believe in the constitution being honored and upheld. Communities should be free from government intrusion, government being smaller and more efficient. Health care decision made by citizens, and having pay check used on good government programs. Military being strong and prepared, veterans having best care and opportunities and social programs lifting people out of poverty. 

However, i must say I lean more towards the democratic side because democrats care more about individual communities which makes up America. It focuses on specific issues like civil rights, educations, health care, immigration reforms, open government and most importantly, the LGBT community. I think it’s important to incorporate the different voices of community and democrats are constantly trying to think of ways to make this huge community work. It is to my advantage of being a minor in this country to support democrats because my voice can be heard. 

Joyce Lu G

Democrats vs Republicans

Republicans believe that each person is responsible for his or her own place in society. they believe that the government should give each person the ability and opportunity to secure the benefits of society for themselves, their families and for those who are unable to care for themselves. They also believe taxes shouldn't be increased for anyone (including the wealthy) and that wages should be set by the free market.

Democrats believe it is the responsibility of government to care for all individuals, even if it means 

giving up some individual rights and/or subordinating enterprise and initiative. They believe that the economy is too complicated for individuals to navigate alone. They believe that business decisions should be guided by government officials. Their economic ideas are that minimum wages and progressive taxation, higher tax rates for higher income brackets. Born out of anti-federalist ideals but evolved over time to favor more government regulation.

I am more of a Republican because when it comes to taxes and equality they get the job done. Every person has the same opportunity to become wealthy. The government should not tax the wealthy more just to help out the poor, because most of the wealthy people worked hard for their money and therefore should pay the same taxes. 

By: Rony Rud 

Donkey or Elephant

 Democrats believe all people should be able to pursue their goals despite their gender, religion, nationality or ethnic background. In addition anyone can have an education regardless of the economic situation. Democrats also give the rights for people to express their beliefs and ideas. Democrats tend to help out the lower class. Taxes should not be used to increase the gap between the wealthy and the poor in the United States. They believe in a larger federal government. This means a dominant federal government that seeks to control the authority of local institution. Democrats want to lower increases in military spending, favor more gun control law, support abortion rights, favor equal rights for gays and increase the minimum wage

The Republican wants less governmental interference and strongly believes in property rights rather than welfare rights. The social and human ideas should be based on individual responsibility, rights and justice. Republics also believe in free marketing meaning that there are no government restrictions to doing business. This causes competition to sees who stays in the market and who leaves the market. Republicans want to increase military spending, gun control laws should allow the right to carry concealed weapons and believe that marriage should be between a man and women.

Both sides have their good and bad, but I tend to lean more towards the Democrats. Being a low class citizen it’s good to have the democrats support the raise in minimum wage, public education and health care. I believe that there is equality among all races and ethnic backgrounds and that the government should help the lower class. 

By: Amy Zhang G-Band

Democrats vs Republicans

Democratic and Republican parties have existed for centuries, providing their own views on how the government should interact in the way a country develops and how the rights of individuals are going to be protected. Every year about 30% of Americans are identified as Democrats, about 30% are Republicans and the rest 40% percent of Americans usually stay independent of those two political parties. So this shows that the people aren't really more supportive of one party than another. In general, if a child should ask what the difference of the two of them really is, the simplest explanation would be: democrats believe that the government has to care for all individuals at any cost, while republicans believe that people should be responsible for what they are and what they will become in a society on their own, without much help from the government, except for security.

To go in depth about most of the differences of the two parties, it is important to know one of the most common reasons for why a person would choose one party over another. Democrats want the higher class to pay more taxes than a middle and especially the lower classes. They justify this by saying that people with no money barely loose anything anyway by paying taxes, while the poor people don't really have anything to pay from, because they can barely survive in their low-income homes, which means that high taxes can actually hurt them a lot. Republicans, on the other hand, want all social classes to have taxes cut, and they don't support the idea of the richer people paying more taxes only because of their high income. They say that this kind of taxation can hurt many businesses and actually lower the income of those higher-class people. That was the main issue which affects people's opinion of each of the parties. Other issues that they disagree on are military defenses, financial support, minimum wage, gun control, abortion and gay marriage. For example, Democrats try to spend less of their money on the military while increasing the benefit programs for lower-income families. They highly support the minimum wage, claiming that people cant survive on a salary lower that a certain number. Also, the democratic party gives their support for gun control laws, abortion and gay marriage, in order to provide protection and equal rights for every individual. To the contrary, Republicans believe that the government should focus more on financially supporting the military defenses while giving less benefits to the poor. They don't support the minimum wage, because in their opinion, it hurts many businesses. Unlike the other party, republicans oppose gun control, abortion and same sex-marriage, claiming that the first issue contradicts the Second Amendment, which is the right to bear arms, the second issue provides unnecessary rights to kill innocent people, and the last issue is simply unnatural.

As an young individual of the 21st century, I would most likely choose the Democratic party since it provides more financial help for common people and protects majority of Americans. As a person supporting the democrats, I know for sure that if something would happen to me in the future, that would prevent me from being financially stable, I will be able to get help from the government and if I somehow manage to get to the top, I don't really think that paying high taxes would stop me from living a perfect life. Also, even though the gun control laws take away some rights given by the Second Amendment, I would rather know for sure that my chances of getting shot are less than they would be if guns were allowed. In my opinion, guns should only be distributed to law officials, and banned for the majority of others. In addition to gun control, I highly support abortion and gay marriage. Even though I don't support the killings of innocent people, I think that a baby shouldn't be born to a family where he or she is not wanted, because that would only create violence in the society. For the issues of same-sex marriage, I don't see anything unnatural in a male and a male or a female and a female getting married. It has been already proven, gay people are born that way, so banning them from creating families would simply take away their rights as individuals. The only thing I don't fully agree with is the minimum wage. Yes, I do believe that workers should have a minimum salary required by the law, but the youth should have more job opportunities which can be created from a little bit less money than usually. Still, I believe that the democratic party concerns most of the Americans' rights and is the right party for me to be a part of.

By: Caterina Arnautova (G-Band Gov't Honors)

What is the main difference between Democrats and Republicans?Which one are you? Explain

 The main difference between Democrats and Republicans is that they think and act differently, fundamentally, obtaining different philosophies. Democrats believe in liberalness,("left wing"), which is strictly defined as preferring more regulation and services like free universal health care to be provided by the government to all citizens. Republicans believe in Conservatism, ("right wing")which is described as smaller government regulation, and for the majority of services to be given from the private sector in a free market, and a literal interpretation of the constitution. In addition to their predominant philosophies, their social views, along with their personal responsibilities differ immensely.

Democrats approve how gay couples should have equal rights just like everyone else, more in depth, regarding marriage amongst them. Also, abortion should be completely legal, in addition to supporting embryonic stem cell research. Lastly, Democrats support restrictions and regulation around the right to bear arms. Republicans are extremely odd when it comes to expressing their social views. They do not support gay marriage, abortion, and frown upon embryonic stem cell research. In addition, Republicans favor the right to bear arms and to perform the death penalty. The government may be a source or weapon posed to both political parties, but in the end, their personal responsibilities are an indication of themselves as human beings.

The Democratic party follows the culture to glance at the government in order to provide structure. In addition, laws are enacted to give immunity to every individual for an equal society, sometimes at the expense of economic independence if necessary. Nevertheless, the Republican party reveals how individuals should exercise personal responsibility and it is the governments' role to hold them accountable even with severe punishments. Lastly, laws are enacted to demonstrate the best interest of society as a whole.

In terms of selecting a party, I would learn more to the Democratic party because their overall interest is to give individuals a chance in society to make their mark. For example, same-sex couples can spend the rest of their lives together while having the title of being married, from the support of this political party. Another example of their overall interest is that they believe the government should be more caring, yet appropriate when it comes to dealing with those who come from low-socioeconomic
families. This would create the underprivileged families to receive aid and relief whenever needed. Lastly, this political party wants to ensure everyone guaranteed health care, which is a necessity in life because everyone must be healthy while living their lives. The Democratic party is an organization that fights for the people who need assistance and looks for the best resources for their members.

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS G BAND GOVERNMENT HONORS