Affordable Care Act

Obama's signature Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has been upheld by the Supreme Court with a 5-4 ruling as constitutional, thus allowing it to be a legitimate mandate.


This is a monumental achievement for the Obama administration, and a historic moment in general.
Inevitably, it has caused an uproar on both sides of the political spectrum: jubilation for liberals, vehement disapproval for conservatives.

This law will require all US citizens to have health care insurance, including employers for their employees, and if not followed, a tax will be imposed. This tax portion of the act is by the way, what deemed it constitutional: The constitution does allow the federal government to exercise taxing authority. This tax is enough to insure people will follow the individual mandate.

Although this will benefit many who cannot afford to be insured, continue coverage for woman's contraception health, and outlaw denial of those with pre-existing conditions, it also brings complications for states that have the option of whether or not they want to expand medicaid to the poor in their states,  the raise in various taxes on certain Americans above an income level, and overall increases in health care.

image from barackobama.com

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Word of the Day

gallivantingpresent participle of gal·li·vant

Verb:

Go around from one place to another in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment. Used in a sentence: I had planned to go about this summer gallivanting and whatnot, but this is hard to do when you're currently broke. I should get used to being a broke-ass college student anyway, since I'm starting school soon and have student loans to look forward to, woooo.

Jimmy Carter on Human Rights

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/opinion/americas-shameful-human-rights-record.html?smid=pl-share

Excellent article by the 39th US president

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What's all this Fuss about "Fifty Shades of Grey"?

The first time I heard about this book was when my friend casually pointed to her copy on the coffee table at her house and said with a smirk, "It's like the porno of books". 
I chuckled, and brushed the book off as just another over the top, unrealistic, erotic romance novel. 


But it wasn't the last time I would hear about it. In fact, I hear about it everywhere, people reference it all the time, and now I'm wondering, jeez, what is with this book? 


My first impression of the book still stands despite me not reading it, which I will probably have to at some point since curiosity will most likely prevail. 

I looked up reviews of the book and found this great article on the nytimes website. According to several sources in the article, the series is "'just another conventional depiction of female submission. And more off-putting than most. Same old same old.'"


Interestingly, quoted from the article,  " Helen Fisher, the anthropologist and Rutgers professor, warns keening feminists: “Let’s not confuse the bedroom and the boardroom. This is the world of fantasy and play." "

You got me Helen Fisher.

I can't seem to make a decisive opinion on this wildly talked about trilogy so maybe I should stop being a smart ass and just read it? 
Oh, but I hate submitting to popular culture...just kidding...sort of. 


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Amy Winehouse

Reminiscing of those Amy Winehouse songs


Here's a good one for ya:





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The Kooks-Killing Me

One of my favorite bands ever.

summersummersummer

This morning, I awoke in a sweaty, tangled, mess of sheets. Cracking the window open, fierce sunshine poured in. The day's temperature read: 96 degrees.

It's officially summertime.
This calls for a beach day tomorrow.

I had refrained from using pictures on my blog, until now. Happy?

Intimacy on the T

The most intimate encounters I've had with strangers were during subway rides back home during rush hour. People are packed into trains, limbs puzzling their way through open stretches of space to find something to hold on to, to keep balance.  Everyone is squeezed in until at last, you are surrounded by people, the tiniest of inches away from you.The person facing you averts his gaze. He is so close that one step would mean you were on top of him. You turn your head slightly towards the other direction and nearly catch a mouthful of hair in your mouth from the women standing beside you. For a fleeting moment you make eye contact with the middle aged man to the far left, broken by the mutual avoidance of awkward eye contact. 


Everyone endures this uncomfortable intimacy to get to their destinations, patiently waiting for their stop, and deftly maneuvering for those who need to get out of the train before them. 
This affair is brief when finally, it's your stop and you are freed, able to carry on towards your other affairs. 

Who knew public transportation could be this intimate?

Speaking Out Against Gender Roles in Video Games

Anita Sarkeesian, feminist pop culture critic and web blogger, has recently raised enough funds,thanks to all her supporters, for a web series project to explore and present the most common stereotypes of female characters in video games. You can read all about the ongoing project on KickStarter here.


In the midst of gaining supporters and recognition for the proposal of the project, Anita has been faced with harassment and threats by groups that oppose Anita's intentions to speak about this topic, namely video game forums. Anita has chosen to publish examples on her website of some of the harassment she has been struck with, to show that this type of misogynist harassment and hatred does exist and can be manifested in very ugly ways.

Also this dude right here knows what he's talking about :

Preach brother!

Check out http://www.feministfrequency.com/, for interesting dissection of pop culture.

Obama temporarily providing immunization to young illegal immigrants

As he announces this new policy, some big-mouthed reporter decides to interrupt with questions, but Obama plows on and retorts, defending his stance. Read about it here.
For the most part, I support this policy, a temporary and simpler version of The Dream Act. It's a step towards preventing the disruption of so many young immigrants' lives who have lived here their whole lives but do not have the official status and benefits of a citizen because they might have been born to immigrant parents and born outside the US. They are essentially aliens in their own home.

One can make the argument that they weren't supposed to be here in the first place. Well, they are here, and they have been for years and years and no one can change that. No one can take back the years of schooling and education these young immigrants might have had in the US. No one can take back their dreams of pursuing their goals in a country they have always called their home, as any other citizen does.

This is an extremely controversial issue that I often go back and forth with but I really don't believe that this will damage the country in any way but in fact, help so many deserving young people.

On a negative note however, Obama stresses that this is a temporary policy. Is this merely a political gimmick to obtain votes?

I love it for its potential to help many, but I don't like it for its temporariness.

Details can be read here.

Feel free to post thoughts.