Stage 7

Are we really losing our 4^th amendment? I have been hearing a lot about this lately, mainly from social media websites about losing our 4^th amendment so I decided to do some research on it. Based off of this article, the 4^th amendment does not apply to anybody living within 100 miles of the United States border, in which 10 of those states are now completely affected by it. That sounds a little extreme and since there are a limited number of sources on this issue I am not sure if this is true. I think it would have caused much more of an uproar if this was true.

In case you do not know what it is, according to Wikipedia : “the 4^th amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause." It sounds like this is being set up to help the Department of Homeland Security stop illegal immigrants and terrorist, etc.

Another source from a yahoo search I did brought up an article published on April 19^th, 2013 by Scott Bomboy called “CISPA, the Fourth Amendment and you” which tells you all about the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act that is being voted on right now. As Bomboy describes it, “CISPA is designed to let the federal government work with private companies to fight hackers and cybercriminals in and outside of the United States.” I am all for fighting against terrorism, so if that means the government can search for certain phrases that I’m typing in my computer etc. I don’t really care because I have nothing to hide. Now if it were being abused by the government then I would be against it, but if CISPA is only to be used to protect our country then I think it is a good idea.

In conclusion, I understand the efforts to try and keep America a safe place, but to a certain extent. America stands for freedom and if we slowly start taking away our rights overtime we will end up just like all of the other countries that America looks down upon. There does need to be a stopping point to this if the government does decide to make some minor exceptions to our rights, so long as their powers are not being abused and their actions are for our best interest as a country.

Blog 6: Commentary #1

In response to article Paying for School:

I completely agree with your position on this subject. I think top students should be the first so be rewarded with scholarships regardless of students’ financial situations unless their parents are millionaires or something. The money is put to better use when scholarships are given to the students who are taking school serious and trying to achieve something great rather than just skating by and doing the minimum, yet still receiving free education. I also think it is smarter to take those entry level classes at a community college where it’s cheaper and you seem to have more resources and options available to help you succeed in the beginning, where if you go straight into a university from high school, you can’t get that one on one help in class and the tuition is much higher. University’s should look into that and give those students like you more credit and more consideration for scholarships because those are going to be the students that make them look good and they will be the ones to succeed.