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 According to Wikipedia, pornography is considered and treated differently, both culturally and legally. For example, sex shows and strip tease are not considered pornography in any way, shape or form.  While most countries allow at least some form of pornography, hard core pornography is usually regulated according to research.

With the invention of tiny cameras and wireless equipment, voyeur pornography is gaining popularity. Mobile cameras are used to capture naked pictures or videos and forwarded as MMS.

In some countries, soft core pornography is considered safe enough to be sold in adult video stores or to be shown on TV. Also, in most countries there are attempts to restrict minors access to hard core pornography limiting access to triple X adult sex videos and other materials in the store. There is usually an age of consent required to enter an adult book store. In Florida, it’s either eighteen or twenty-one. I need to do some research on that.

Bowling for death

Based on Bowling For Columbine

Who is to blame?

In 1999 a horrific event occurred in America, Columbine. A high school massacre occurred involving 12 deaths of students and a death of a teacher, the killers a group of teens. The question is how did they get the guns, and who is to blame?

It probably is not a surprise to many that a group of teens could even get a hand on a firearm. A country with 200 million guns that is just saying that in every household there is a firearm.

In bowling for Columbine a documentary Michael Moore produced and starred in, he goes to Columbine and tries to find the truth behind the shooting. He comes across a bank “open a bank account get a free gun”. He opens an account and fills out a form. He later says jokingly “don’t you think its dangerous handing out guns in a bank”.

It is agitating how after the shooting, the NRA did not care one bit for what happened, at a NRA convention a quote from Charlton Heston saying “in my cold dead hands” as he said that he raised his hand with a gun in it.

The fear that has struck people, is that so many people who watch T.V get these crazy ideas that they can go and kill people, either get away with it or get caught. Then people either turn the gun on themselves or face the sentence. When they turn the gun on them selves it’s not just suicide that they have committed, most of them do it because they either don’t want to face the problems from there actions or don’t want to face the time in prison. So they go suicidal after committing mass murder.

This is a great question to ask because not many people really know who/what is to blame. Many people have there own opinions about this. Different groups of people say it’s about the media, The Gun Laws that are in America the young stupid people, many different peoples opinions lead to different stories.

The fear that has struck people, is that so many people who watch T.V get these crazy ideas that they can go and kill people, either get away with it or get caught. Then people either turn the gun on themselves or face the sentence. Today in Americas society more and more people are being killed by the gun violence taking place all over the Country. People are killed from “accidental” shooting, homicide and suicide, not only that but they even hand out guns at gun shows. People also get mass influence by the media, the media controls so many minds in the huge world that it isn’t even near being funny. The media influence gun violence all around the world.

The Gun Laws in America are quite different to ours in Australia yet, the same things happen but less rapidly. In America you can hold a gun on your, in your house and carry it pretty much anywhere without gun bans. (not to many places).Michael Moore exaggerated a lot of his work like how easy it was to get the gun from the bank. Some people are really fearful of things, so they arm themselves with weapons. Other have gun for fun like hunting.

Whatever the excuse guns don’t bring peace.

In this report the legalisation of some drugs is the main topic. The legalisation of some drugs can be a beneficial to some and very bad for others. The legalisation of some drugs can be a legal issue.

One particular article from the www.cnn.com say “legalise drugs to stop violence”. Economist Jeffrey Miron says legalising drugs would greatly reduce violence. A quote from the article, “Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead”. In summarised words he thinks that prohibiting drugs will cause violence. In the article it also says prohibition of drugs corrupts politicians and law enforcement. Forbidding drugs can result in helping terrorists who sell protection to protect drug traffickers. Also forbidding can hurt the public health. 

The federal government and local government spend around $44 billion per year to enforce drug prohibition, and these same government can get roughly $33 billion per year in tax if they legalise drugs, but this is only assuming these tax rates are similar to those on alcohol and tobacco. And under prohibition, these revenues accrue to traffickers as increased profits. So therefore the right policy is to legalise drugs while using regulation and taxation to make irresponsible behavior related to drug usage less stronger. Then is goes on about how this makes more sense than prohibition because it avoids the creation of the black market. This also approach will also allow hose who believe they will benefit from 

A lot of drugs help the sick for example people who suffer from cancer, glaucoma and lots of other conditions cannot use marijuana under the laws of the federal government. People who use drugs face the restriction on clean syringes that cause them to share contaminated needles, thereby spreading HIV, hepatitis and other blood-bourne diseases. What forbidding drugs does is create disrespect for the law. Here are a couple of main points, Jeffrey Miron says thousands have been killed in Mexico’s ongoing drug war, he also says U.S. drug policy leads to corruption of politicians and law enforcement. Jeffrey also says legalising drugs is the best way to reduce drug violence, and drugs should be controlled through regulation and taxation. All of the above is from an article called “Legalize drugs to stop violence” and it is an American article.

This next article is called “legalise drugs – all of them” from the Los Angeles Times and it is by Norm Stamper. Norm Stamper says that we have started a war on drugs, also there has been a huge increase in federal and state prisons population during the 1980s and ‘90s. So from 139 people per 100 000 residents in 1980 to the figures 482 per 100 000 in 2003. Most of the population were for drug convictions. So in 1980 580 900 Americans were arrested on drug charges, and by 2003 the number had jumped up to 1,678 200. Police in America are making more arrests for drug offense than for murder, manslaughter, forcible rape and aggravated assault all combined together.

Norm Stamper says he has witnessed they cruel effects of drug markets in resident neighbourhoods, children enlisted as runners, mules and lookouts. It has gone to the extent of drug dealers and innocent citizens shot dead in firefights between competing traffickers bent on protecting or expanding their markets. Prisons filled with nonviolent drug offenders and drug related foreign policies that foster political instability, wreak health and environment disasters, and make life even tougher for indigenous subsistence farmers in places such as Latin America and Afghanistan. This is because “we like our drugs – and can’t have them without breaking the law”. As it is forbidden by law, the price of drugs do produce a large amount of untaxed money and a powerful magnet for character-challenged police officers.

Some cops even seize they drugs and use them for their own purposes. They would even set suspects up by planting dope on them, stealing, and probably take up dealing themselves. Also sometimes they would be intimidating and murdering witnesses. Norm Stamper than says declaring war on drugs means that we have also declared war on our fellow citizens. War consists of hostiles, enemies people who we fear and loathe. This group of millions of our citizens justifies treating them as low as dope fiends. This means that this grants political license to ban the exchange or the purchase of clean needles or to with methadone from heroin addicts motivated to kick the addiction. Even if the drugs is providing positive medical values George W. Bush says no.

All of the above is opinions of how America is dealing with “the legalisation of some drugs”. 

From the Herald Sun one doctor says legalise all drugs. ALL drugs should be legalised to help address addiction and prison overloading, a doctor told the Australia 2020 summit. This doctor is Wendell Rosevear who is a GP who has before worked in the prison system for more than 30 years, he says that people would change their behaviour only if they have have choices.

A couple of quotes from the article which Wendell Rosevear says are “I want to give drug addicts choices and I want to legalise all drugs in Australia, another one is “Drugs are illegal, so we put people in jail to solve the problem and we label people who use drugs as bad – it doesn’t make them feel valuable”, “we need honesty to deal with the issue”, “If we think that we can just put it out of sight, out of mind, we are actually devaluing people and not solving the problem.” Dr Rosevear then says that the billions of dollars spent on prisons would be better spent on drug intervention and education programs.

The doctor made this call in front of the federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek in the summit’s communities stream, being that he probably thought that the best person to consult was the federal Housing Minister. So the chosen 100 delegates  in the stream have split into 6 groups focusing on disadvantage common values, social inclusion, strong families,leadership structures and building community ownership. So each group was asked to to come up with on strong idea by the end of the day. This is how Australia is dealing with “the legalisation of some drugs”.

In conclusion this is how the world is dealing with “the legalisation of some drugs” which was the topic of this report. A lot had the same opinion which was to legalise drugs to reduce the level of violence and lower the number of people in prisons who are non violent.

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Being thankful shows us that we should be glad that we made it through a lot of hard times this year. When we think of Thanksgiving we need to understand that we are fortunate to have the things that we do have and we should not worry about the things we don’t have. Thanksgiving is a time to get together with our families and have a good time together, but there are a lot of people who do not have families, therefore they are in need. On the other hand, thanksgiving is also a time where we should volunteer our time and give back to our communities because if we volunteer our time and give back it will make a big difference in our lives and in our hearts as well. Now, I will talk about what I am thankful for. The first thing I am thankful for is my family because we enjoy doing lots of fun things together, we love doing family traditions together, and most of all, we love to laugh and tell jokes together. The last thing I am thankful for is having a long and healthy life because I can do the fun things I love to do, and I am able to go to college and follow my dreams of becoming a professional Secretary.

“So what is it Crist?” Nick said. “POT. Take it.” 

Joey looked at the joint in his hand. “No, I don’t think so,”he said giving the joint back to Nick. “Just say

no, eh Crist?” he said as Joey walked away. All the other guys laughed out loud. Whatever, he whispered

to himself.

“What happened, Joey?” Josh asked at lunch.

“Nothing,” he replied.

“Come on,” Josh said.

“I told you nothing right? So stop hounding me.”

“They forced you to smoke pot again right?”

“Yeah.”

“Why do you hang around with those guys? Just leave them.”

“All my life I’ve been such a reject. They’re the most popular guys in school.”

“No.” Josh said. “They’re the stupidest guys in school. You don’t consider me your friend because I don’t

smoke pot. So I’m a dork too, right?”

Joey didn’t say anything. “Look,” he said. “i don’t know what to say right now.”

“Did you forget your 5.25 grade point average already? Don’t you care about that? Drugs are more important to you now? What’s happened to you man?”

“People change, Josh,” Joey said.

“Don’t act like a moron Joey. This is not you and we both know it.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Change yourself.”

“How?”

“Leave em.”

“I think its kind of late to do that.”

“Why? What’s stopping you?”

“Look I don’t know. Again I don’t know what to do. I’m totally confused.”

“You’re disgusting, man.” Josh said. “I didn’t expect this from you.” Then he left.

Joey went to his physics class. Ms. Sawyer said “What is another name for a subatomic particle. Joey?”

“What?” Joey said. “Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t hear the question.”

“Joey what’s wrong with you these days? Your mind is somewhere else. What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

“No Ms. Sawyer. I’ve just been a little tired. I’m sorry. A quark. Another name for a subatomic particle is a

quark.”

“Thank you. Please see me after class. You’re all dismissed.

“Joey are you okay? Why are you so distracted?

“I’m fine. Really. Uh if you don’t mind can I leave? I have to go.”

“Joey you’re one of my best….”

“Bye. Joey said. He left.

“Look who,” Nick said as Joey was walking down the hall. “Teacher’s pet. You better not smoke pot, “

Nick said sarcastically. “After all you wouldn’t want  to affect your GPA. Nerd,” he muttered to himself.

Joey looked at Nick. “I don’t need to prove anything to anybody.”

“Well you’ve already proved that you’re the head of the geek squad,”

“Why?” Joey said. “Just cause I get good grades?”

“if you cared so much about your grades wouldn’t you have stayed away from pot altogether?” Nick

challenged.

“So I made a mistake. “I’m regretting it now.”Joey shot back. “To me maintaining my grades is more

important than smoking pot and ruining my life.”

During the second half of the Oprah Winfrey show today, Jonathan, a married guy from Texas, said  he admitted to his wife about masturbating with a magazine.While he admits that porn is thrilling at the moment, it also comes with excess baggage such as the guilt and shame. While married to his wife, he admitted to having sex with about 50 women. His explanation for his behavior is that he grew up in a Christian home.

Porn is a sexual addiction where one’s own desires are more important than anything else. For most guys, it is hard to connect emotionally and this is what happened in Jonathan’s case. For a lot of guys, sex is a way of connecting too because they might be too scared to get close to anyone.

According to Dr. Pin sky, one of out three women are using Internet pornography.  He also states that sex addicts are lonely and ashamed.

When sex addicts join rehab, they must sign a celibacy contract. “No porn, no toys and no touching not even yourself. No sex period. During this time, cameras follow them and record them. “When you had an orgasm and you have that feeling,” it’s in your brain. So when you no longer have this release, it feels weird.” said Phil.

During Sex Addiction Rehab, many women talk about their painful childhood traumas with Dr. Pin sky. For some people, sex is like a drug. According to statistics, approximately 16,000 people in this world suffer from some type of sex addiction while 90% of the sex addicts suffer from some type of trauma.

There is no debate that the bailouts that the American federal government fashioned kept the country afloat. So when American citizens cry in outrage, “Where is my bailout?” they are ignorant to the fact that this was a bailout to secure not only private business but the citizens as well. There is a strong connection between the people and the private sector in capitalism – they secure each realm’s fate economically. The bailout is a perfect example of when the fates of businesses and the consumers are cohesive; the people (or the government) aided the fatal private sector and in result was rewarded with some more economic security. The economic fate of everyone is determined by the relationship of people and businesses.

That is how bailouts can end; by changing the business and people relationship to ensure economic security. The reason why the businesses needed a bailout was because they were too big to fail. When a company becomes massive in size and revenue, they become an asset to the economy and the people. The large businesses are care givers to the people – they supply employment, salaries, and benefits. Then when the large businesses begin to fail, the people become the care givers with government bailouts that exceed trillions of dollars. This type of a relationship makes the two realms bitter and unable to regain trust.

The bailouts given to large industries would not be necessary if the companies were not massive to begin with. Keeping businesses smaller would ensure that bailouts that take away the tax payer’s money would cease to exist. Why? Because now those businesses aren’t so large anymore, and, therefore, they are not such an asset to the economy anymore. Large businesses have a vast amount of employees; when the large businesses begin to fall the people risk having more unemployment which would result in less money being ejected into the economy, so it’s only logical to keep those businesses floating with bailouts to secure their future. If the economy was only filled with small businesses there would be less detriment on the people because there is only an acute amount of employees. If one small business collapses, the amount of unemployment would not be as high as the large businesses that would go under.

The reason the economy went under was because so much capital was in the hands of a few industries and those industries began to collapse, but if there are more businesses that are smaller, the capital is more divided up and would result in less of a chance of economic havoc. Keeping businesses small would be the responsibility of the people (or the government) to do. The relationship of the businesses and the people would change by having a more equal economic say. The government would have to get tough and keep businesses smaller. The government would call forth the breaking up of today’s large businesses such as NBC or Wal-Mart to secure our economic future. The government would have to end tax loopholes that large businesses take advantage of. Lastly, the government would have to get tough on taxing the businesses more to ensure less revenue that would keep the industry from growing. These government sanctions would end the large businesses, and therefore end the economic bailouts.

Conservatives would call this socialism, because it endangers the rights of the free market. They will claim that this is just more government intervention into the businesses that is unnecessary. Well let me ask you this: would you rather spend trillions keeping an economy stable and secure or would rather have growing businesses have to pay a little more taxes to keep the economy secure? I’m not stating that businesses should only be one store on one main street, but it is reasonable to secure the people’s fate by keeping massive businesses more diminutive then they are today. The free market has their rights, but to ensure a secure economy without bailouts some sacrifices would have to be made. The people have rights too, and they should have the right to cease the existence of trillions of dollars in bailouts.

There is a better way to construct our capitalist economy. They basic principle is to keep businesses small; make sure the industries in the private sector do no become an economic asset. Employment will stay the same, because the economy is the same size – the money is just divided up more between the industries. America has already seen the mayhem of the trusts in the gilded age, so now it’s time to continue the legacy of keeping an honest and secure relationship between the people and business to secure our economic future and our tax money as well.

Since summer is here, students and children have a longer school holiday over this time period. While children over there may get 2 or 3 weeks. Students here get 2 – 3 months. Students also get 3 times 2 other weeks off as a holiday break during the year.

As most stores and work places are closed during Christmas, we have to find other things to do, its a nice unique day of the year. We call family and friends over, to spend the day doing the following:

For the last few years, we have always gone to a restaurant to have breakfast (there is a 10% price increase during Christmas for almost all restaurants).

After that, we would head to the beach. This day would be the busiest day for any beach around here, as almost everyone is on holiday and have no where to go, and especially since it is summer! A great way to spend part of your Christmas every year.

Then at night we have a BBQ, after watching American television, I have learnt how the tradition is over there, but its just not the same. The closest thing to our night meal is ham.

Presents are mainly given to children, and the present factor of Christmas is not very strong. Friends may gift each other. People rather treat Christmas as something entirely different from the North.
People know that you should open presents on Boxing day; the day after Christmas, (I’m not sure if the northern open on Christmas day or Boxing day). But many still just open on Christmas.

The decorations include Christmas trees, house lighting and things to stick around the house. Probably about 60% of all house holds bother to put any decorations up.

Although I find Christmas here special, I still wish to spend at least one Christmas in the snow!
Merry Christmas!

Destitute, unemployed or ill labourers could turn to parish relief.  This system by which the landowners and tenants in each parish contributed to a relief fund had been established in Tudor times. By the 1820s it was under funded, labourers received pitiful payments and landowners resented their contributions. In 1795, at Speenhamland in Berkshire, magistrates allowed workers to claim relief to supplement poor wages, but this only exacerbated conditions.  Landowners justified low wages by arguing that the workers could top up their earnings from the parish fund.  At the same time they argued that the rate should be reduced to discourage malingerers. Between 1815 and 1820 the Poor Law expenditure was 12/10d per capita; by 1830 it was 9/9d.

The Enclosure Acts imposed a further burden upon the poor.  The Church Tithe required those who worked the land to pay ten per cent of the value of certain types of agricultural produce to the Parson of the parish.  The workers had to pay the tithe, in cash, yet the landowners were free to sell the produce.

Poor conditions were accompanied by an increasing use of horse-powered threshing machines.  These could do the work of many men and threatened to increase the burden of rural unemployment. William Cobbett reckoned that one machine could do the work of ten labourers.

Wheat prices recovered in the mid 1820s. Then came a series of terrible harvests. In 1828 the weather was fair but the harvest poor. In 1829 the harvest was both late and poor, then there was snow in October. There was another poor harvest in 1830.

Discontent among the cold, hungry and under employed rural workers coincided with a restless political scene. A general election was imminent due to the death of George IV. In July/August there was revolution in France. Charles X was replaced by Louis Philippe, the ‘Citizen King’. Talk of political reform was in the air.  In November the Whigs were returned as the government under the premiership of Earl Grey under the slogan of ‘peace, retrenchment and reform’.

In June 1830 the first riots broke out in Kent, near Orpington. These grew in intensity as the season wore on. In June arsonists torching ricks, barns and houses.  By late August the labourers began to sabotage the hated threshing machines. When October came they turned to wage meetings and political agitation.  By November there was the full gamut: fires, tithe riots, machine breaking, wage meetings and agitation. The machines were broken on Saturday nights, after the inns had closed, by gangs of between twenty and fifty breakers.

In the meantime, the riots spread rapidly through the Home Counties, Hampshire, Dorset and East Anglia. Ripples spread as far as Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Nottingham.

Remarkably the pattern of rioting was very similar across the country. Threatening letters, often signed by the mysterious Captain Swing, were sent to Magistrates, Parsons, wealthy farmers or Poor Law Guardians in an area. The letters called for a rise in wages, a cut in the Tithe payments and a destruction of machinery, otherwise people would take matters into their own hands. If the warnings were not heeded local farm workers would gather, often in groups of 200 – 400, repeat the ultimatum and resort to violence if necessary. The riots were characterised by arson, the destruction of threshing machines and a remarkable discipline.

There was just one loss of life. A troop of Yeomanry was ambushed in a deep cutting near Tisbury. Hand to hand fighting ensued until the Yeomanry were able to draw weapons. A man was killed in the melee.

By November, the riots died a natural death. However, modern historians think that the country might have been close to a civil war. There was a divided opinion among local magistrates who would have had responsibility for restoring order. Many landowners even approved of the rebellion against the Tithe. Some farmers even destroyed their own machines.

The loyalty of the magistrates is shown by the number of man acquitted. There were 1,976 trials, 252 death sentences (of which 233 were commuted to life transportation), 505 transportations, 644 imprisonments and 800 cases resulting in acquittal.

In July 1831 a jury failed to convict the politician and radical writer, William Cobbett, who might have been a ringleader in the uprising.

The identity of Captain Swing remains a mystery. His signature was placed on many of the threatening letters and on a series of letters that were sent to the Times. He probably never existed and was a fiction to hide the identity of the true ringleaders. The name was chosen as a pun for the fate the ringleaders could expect on the gallows. One thought is that the letters to the Times were written by schoolboys at Eton who sought the destruction of their own Trashing Machine who was the headmaster.