E-Commerce Taxation

This issue is very hard to resolve because many orders are interstate, and taxes are established by each state, so it will be difficult to decide who gets tax revenue between the state that the package is from or the state that is receiving the package.

My idea is to take half of each state's sales tax, and apply it to the purchase. So for example, if a package is going from California to Washington, and California's sales tax is 8% and Washington's is 6%, then half of each state's tax will be applied to the purchase, meaning 4% for California and 3% for Washington. This will scale sales by half of each state's taxes, which is not optimal, but it keeps tax cheap for the consumer and gives the states more than what they get now, which is nothing.

Censoring Internet Pornography

The Communications Decency Act of 1996 was an attempt by Congress to regulate pornography and obscene materials from being spread on the internet. This was overturned soon after, partly because of the fine line between "indecency" and "obscenity," and that both are subjective, open to a given person's interpretation, as influenced by their region, culture, and beliefs; but the bigger issue was that it infringed free speech as defined by the First Amendment, mainly by not allowing parents to choose for themselves what content they want their children to see on the internet.

I don't think this law should have gotten anywhere to be begin with. They should have had more foresight into the internet. Though there is no way they could have known how big the internet would get, they should have at least realized that pornography is allowed in society, but only to an extent; so not in public advertising. They should have used this model for their internet laws, so they could have not wasted all this time.

A Great Example of Quality Online Publishing

Give an example of online print media (blog, newspaper, magazine) and describe how it works to support or detract from keeping the public informed.

Here is an example of a great article that informs readers in-depth, without detectible bias, and stays true to known facts. The article is complete with video, images, quotes from people at the site, links, and an interactive tornado map. I can't think of much else to put in an article. I remember a few years ago when I'd see an article and wish there was a video with it, but now there's a video for the vast majority of online articles on comprehensive news network sites. The information is from the facts that are most recently known, and a lot of the time are updated as soon as new information comes in. It starts out with the facts on the issue, and then goes to people's opinions and whatnot. This is great because the reader gets the facts first, then can form opinions, and then see other people's opinions. This is how it should be.

Earthquakes and Tsunami "Punishment from god"

In this video, Glenn Beck is basically explaining that the earthquake(s) and tsunami in Japan were "punishment from god," and therefore are justified. I don't think Glenn understands how bad our own country has been. He must think we have been great to other countries in the past, considering that he thinks our "god" has the authority to punish other countries instead of our own. Japan has endured endless struggle, oppression, and poverty -- maybe not as much as some other countries, but a substantial amount, and many times more than us. The way Glenn mixes religion with news can make faithful people believe some messed up things. I'm glad he's off the air.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

This case was basically about affirmative action in schools, and how a white student was mad that a colored student got into the school with lower grades while the white student was rejected.

The court ruled that while the school's policy was in violation of the law, they would not order the student to be admitted.

I think this is an interesting case because whites are typically very privileged and do not know the struggles of colored people. However the school's equal opportunity clause was based on race, which is discrimination; instead it should be based on income, and whether the student is going to be the first in their family to go to college. I would not mind giving up my spot at a school for a colored student because I know my place in society as a higher-class white kid, and I have not had to deal with economic hardship or indirect discrimination.

Miller v. California - Mass-Mailed Pornography Unchill

In this case, a man had sent out large-volume mailings to recipients who never wanted them, advertising adult books and films. He was arrested under California's obscenity laws, but appealed saying that his first-amendment rights to freedom of speech and press were violated. The court ruled, with influence from previous decisions, that "states have a legitimate interest in prohibiting dissemination or exhibition of obscene material," under some circumstances. The court also established guidelines for cases like this in the future.

My initial thought was that this court action was inappropriate, because in a way it is suppressing freedom. But then we think of something as rudimentary as murder, and we think that maybe people kill other people to feel alive, because they don't feel free. When we ask why we aren't allowed to kill others, it's because of common sense guidelines that were made laws long ago. Maybe laws against murder are suppressing freedom, but it is for good reason, as it is in this case. At first I thought I wouldn't care if I occasionally got pornographic advertisements in the mail, because I'd just recycle them anyway. But then I remembered how disgusted I feel every time I see a sexual TV ad, and realized I would probably be just as disgusted to receive things of the like in my mailbox. Sex is great for manipulating masses into buying products or services; since it is a primal instinct it is subconscious to be more partial to things that allude to us fulfilling this need. It should be below us by now, so I feel that this law helps society progress. If only they could take sexual marketing off the air.

Plessy v. Ferguson - Justified Segregation

In Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, a man who was 1/8 black sat in the white section of a train. He refused to move, and he was arrested. He appealed and got the court to the US Supreme Court, which ruled that "equal but separate accommodations" were allowed. The judge said the law that Plessy was challenging was valid and did not imply that either race was inferior to the other.

The one dissenting judge brought up the ignored intent of the law to keep colored people out of white people's space, which is not equality at all. I believe this was a horrible court decision because they were just justifying their own racism while brushing aside the huge issue of their own racist tradition. The judge rejected that "social prejudices may be overcome by legislation," and that "if one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them on the same plane." This was just an excuse for being racist. The Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery, which made many people upset, but definitely was a win for colored people, who were no longer inferior as slaves. They weren't socially accepted as whites, of course, because people are stubborn and believe what they want, but this would be fixed in time. In this case, the justices did not live up to their titles in the least.

Luckily, this decision was later overturned in Brown v. Board of Education.

U.S. v. Nixon - Was it okay to demand the tapes?

In this case, Nixon was involved in a scandal because his Committee to Reelect the President broke into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters and stole some documents. This committee was believed to have orders from Nixon to do so, so an investigation was launched. During the investigation, it was found that Nixon had recorded a lot of the conversations he had in the Oval Office, which could turn up some evidence for the case. When asked for the tapes, Nixon refused to give them, claiming executive privilege, which basically means that since he was the president, he could do what he wants. The Supreme Court ordered them, and when Nixon finally gave them over, a lot of tape was missing, and some was erased. In this case, executive privilege was not respected, and it turned out to be for a good reason.The court said that executive privilege would have made sense if it was a claim to protect "military, diplomatic or sensitive national security secrets..."

The tapes indicated some secrets that Nixon did not want leaked, and that the public certainly did not like. I think this was the right choice because while some White House documents and policies should be kept secret, if there is enough reason to believe something is being violated, there should be an investigation, and if something turns up, it should be made public.

Roe v. Wade - The Right to Live

This is one my favorite cases, because I believe in equality and support equal rights strongly. It is clearly unjust for the government to impose rules on a woman's body, as she is the one having a child, and should have the final say in whether she should go through with the pregnancy or not. Scientifically, a fetus is not a citizen, as it has not been born yet, and since a fetus does not fit the description of an American citizen, they do not deserve citizens' rights. I believe this to a certain point. The heart starts beating and the part of the brain that operates consciousness form after four weeks. I believe these are essential parts of being indicated a human. After that time period, I think there will be conditions and that each case should be considered individually given the circumstances.

I believe that the Constitution was upheld in that a non-human was not treated as a human.

Community Service – Easing the Triple-Faced Disaster in Japan

Part I

On March 11, 2011, the most expensive natural disaster in history occurred. A 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake, just 45 miles east of the Tohoku of the region of Japan (NewScientist), shook residents of Japan for a full 6 minutes (Asahi). It also largely affected Sendai, a large city of over 1 million residents, as popularly mentioned in the news. There were 7 foreshocks and 974 aftershocks, of which a combined total of 67 were significant, above 6.0 magnitude (US Geological Survey). This is one of the biggest disasters of my generation. The earthquake additionally triggered tsunamis, and damaged 3 nuclear reactors, making this a triple-threat disaster. The official destruction tolls so far are 13,232 deaths, 14,554 people missing, and 4,756 injured, 217,000 buildings damaged or destroyed, 4 dikes broken, 2,137 damaged road segments, 69 damaged bridges, and 148 landslides (Japan National Police Agency). To add to this chaos, 3 nuclear reactors exploded, but the cores remained intact, so the explosions were comparatively small to what they could have been.

The public is shocked. Everyone sees the destruction and hears the numbers on the news, and they are in awe.  However I feel that the mainstream news can only do so much informing. I have a habit of taking popular situations and making them relevant to myself by putting them in context with my own life, and I find this an effective way to realize the true magnitude (no pun intended) and force of the situation at hand. For instance, let’s take one statistic from this information – there have been 69 bridges damaged in Japan by the earthquake and flooding. Next let’s take 3 local bridges – the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the San Mateo Bridge. The Bay Bridge’s daily traffic is about 252,000 vehicles, the Golden Gate Bridge has 118,000 vehicles, and the San Mateo Bridge has 96,000 vehicles (Department of Transportation). The combined total of vehicles on these bridges in an average day is 466,000. Assuming these bridges were damaged to the point that they were too unsafe to travel on, this would be 466,000 people (assuming one person per vehicle) who couldn’t get to work each day until the bridges were fixed. This alone is hard to imagine; even though it’s put into a local context, it is still such a huge number that it is difficult to fathom the damage it would do. It only gets worse when we take into account that 3 bridges is only 1/23 the amount of bridges damaged in Japan.

This is a very important issue because it involves human suffering, and especially because it is human suffering on a large scale. It is also a chance for the United States to prove that we are not as bad as the world thinks we are. If we could be the major country contributing to aid in Japan, it could change foreigners’ opinions of us, which would be good for public relations on a national level, and it could also open up some economic doors. It would also maintain the image that we like to have that we are defenders of the world to some extent, and that we help the downtrodden out of the kindness of our hearts. 

Part II

 So far, the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) and the United States Department of Defense (DOD) have provided almost $78 million in support in various direct aid methods, namely Urban Search and Rescue deployment, and a Disaster Assistance Response Team, with official nuclear experts to help with the fallout aspect (USAID):

                The U.S. Ambassador declared an emergency which opened up an immediate funding of $100K from USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. They set up a Response Management Team in DC and sent a Disaster Assistance Response Team to Tokyo, which includes people with nuclear expertise from the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services as well the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC members are experts in boiling water nuclear reactors and are available to assist their Japanese counterparts. Two Urban Search and Rescue Teams (LA County and Fairfax County teams) which total 144 members plus 12 search and rescue canines and up to 45 metric tons of rescue equipment are also on the ground in Misawa, Japan and will begin searching at first light March 14. The Department of Defense has the USS Reagan on station off the coast of Japan and the USS Essex en route, and is currently using an air facility in Misawa as a forward operating base. The American Red Cross (ARC) International Services team is supporting the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) to assess the impact, determine response efforts, and assist the people of Japan. (Examiner)

Additional financial aid has come from non-government sources and corporations. Japan has received about $161 million in aid from the United States, about ¾ being collected by the American Red Cross (USA Today). While this combined amount of $239 million sounds like a lot, I am ashamed that this is all the United States has collected over the entire month since the disaster. For the earthquake in Haiti, we raised $528 million, and for Hurricane Katrina, we raised $1 billion. But to be fair, I am sure we will collect much more money as time progresses. Also we have donated many non-monetary goods such as military personnel, food, recon aircraft, anti-radiation suits, and additional nuclear accident specialists; these things are definitely a step in the right direction. 

My community service project was directly aimed at helping out Japan with these hard times.  I did two projects this year – one was my Eagle Scout project, which was not relevant to much, so I decided not to write about it. The second project I did was that I helped Kyung with her art show. I helped her with planning, setting up meetings with the artists, and other logistics. The art show was all her idea and initial planning, I just helped with some of the later planning and execution. I had 3 pieces of my photography in the show, so I helped organize how the other photographers and I would present our work. I helped to find a place that would print for relatively cheap, and we got several prints of each piece, and then mounted everyone’s work on poster boards, with all of one person’s work on one poster board. We made art prints $5 each and photo prints $10, because photo prints were more expensive for us to print. It ended up being more money towards the cause. I spent $120 on prints, but only asked for $50 back for reimbursements, because I was getting a paycheck soon. We also made a lot of money from the bake sale, and our donation jars tactically placed around the show. We weren’t really planning on selling the original art pieces, just prints – but someone offered to buy one of Kyung’s pieces for $100, and another girl’s piece sold for $50, so those made up a considerable chunk of our proceeds. In total we made about $1200. About $100-150 went to reimburse people for baking supplies or printing costs, but the rest we sent to the Red Cross. It was not much compared to how much was donated to the Red Cross in total, but we did what we could, and I think we did pretty well for a two-day student art show. 

In terms of how my community service related to things we’ve learned this year, a lot of the cost planning was very economic. We had to plan and balance our budget, and get some additional funds approved by her parents. Some of the social dynamics were interesting as well – Kyung had the final word on things, which we all accepted, but some people got upset at the way some things were going, and I had to calm Kyung down at some points to make sure nothing bad happened, and I worked to keep people happy and involved with the show. I would say that towards the end of the show I was some sort of vice president, if we were to put it into a hierarchy metaphor in government terms. Kyung checked over a lot of choices with me, and we changed some of her plans to streamline the event and make everything go more smoothly than originally planned.

Part III

There is not an easy answer for what needs to be done to make this situation better. The United States is doing what we can with our bad economy, but it is not enough. I would have rather that we not send thousands of military troops to Japan, because I think it’s a pointless expense. Japan has a strong military, and an active police force, so I feel that we could use the money to pay for the troops elsewhere, like for food, water, more excavation vehicles, or anything else that could provide aid for Japan. Other countries are providing a lot of aid collectively, but individually, most of them are providing one or two things, like money and food, or just money. I think if all the first-world countries gave as much as we did, and promoted aid as much as we do, Japan would have much more of a smooth recovery. 

Though I had already designed and managed my Eagle project, I learned new things from this project as well. These two projects were different in that with my Eagle one, I called all the shots and designed the entire thing myself, which was a lot more work. I was also barely motivated to do it at all. With this art show, I wasn’t nearly as stressed as I was for my Eagle project because I wasn’t in charge, but I still had a role in planning and execution. It was hard to make decisions while making sure everyone was okay with them and that we were all on the same page about everything. The dynamics of the projects were different in that in the art show, our goal was to make money, not to build something. We had to come up with prices for everything. We didn’t really have a budget cap on the art show, as our parents were usually helpful in providing financial support, at least until we could pay them back. For both projects, we had to cut costs as much as we could to keep the price affordable. I was much more satisfied with the art show than I was with my eagle project. It was a lot more satisfying for me to see everything work out, and let some people take over other jobs, like making the baked goods, and getting their work to us. We also had to get hundreds of people to come to the event, so we printed and put up posters for hours, as well as put the show in a couple local news publications. For my project, all I had to do was announce it at a meeting, because I only needed a few people there. At the art show, we also had to deal mainly with adults, which wasn’t really a big difference. One thing I enjoyed the most about the art show was that when it was finally happening, we could all sit back and watch people come through, and could look at our project in action without doing physical labor. I had a great time doing the art show, and it was for a great cause; I was very happy with it. We even got a request to have a booth at some event in the future, so that will be enjoyable too. I’m not sure quite what it is because I haven’t talked to the person who proposed it, but for the next one, it will be fewer artists, but more art pieces per artist, so there may be an opportunity for each of us to get our names out as artists.