Poverty = Shorter Life

Just something to think about.

1967 to Present, Nothing has Changed

A little over 40 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. had planned on making a second march on capitol hill, but this time it was to be not about civil rights in America, but about the ridiculously high amount of Americans in poverty. The number of Americans living in poverty in 1967: 40 million. The number of Americans living in poverty now: 40 million. Although the country has become more populated, this is still a ridiculous amount of people.

Dr. King saw that poverty was not a civil rights campaign, it was something that had the ability to oppress everyone, and therefore should be much easier to unite a nation under the cause of eliminating poverty once and for all. Unfortunately, under this aspect of life, we really have failed the great Martin Luther King Jr. Poverty is rising, and it needs to be stopped. With all these new government reforms, Obama is doing an okay job of keeping his attentions focused on Main Street as opposed to Wall Street, but doing this alone is not going to get the job done. The knowledge of our nation's poverty needs to get out and reach the nation so we can do something about this nationwide problem.

Mental Health Break: Vampire Protection

First Lady Launches Anti-Childhood Obesity Campaign

Michelle Obama has taken the initiative in leading a new program coming from the White House that is an attempt to fight the continually rising epidemic that is childhood obesity. According to recent studies, one in three youth in America are overweight or obese.

The program hopes to push the food industry towards healthier ways of eating and informing the general public of what they are eating by having companies label the front of packages with nutrition facts, as opposed to simply having the generic fine print on the backs of products.

Hopefully this push by our First Lady will prove to be a successful one, as childhood obesity is really a problem that needs to be taken care of quickly, or we will find that our entire country is going to be swallowed by this ever growing problem.

Poverty Continuing to Rise

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate of people living in the United States has risen to 13.2%. Previously at 12.5%, this sudden rise in poverty can most likely be accredited to the worldwide economic recession, but even the previous 12.5% is not anything to brag about.

Poverty is a growing problem in America, with the hyper rich owning a massive chunk of the nation's wealth. The steady rise of the middle class has brought many out of poverty, but has also distanced the gap between the middle and upper class Americans. Programs like Habitat for Humanity help low income families get back on their feet in these rough times, but they cannot do it all. In order to truly level the playing field, our government will most likely have to raise taxes for the hyper rich, and lessen taxes on the poor, a solution that will anger many republicans, but one that is a necessity to keep our country on its feet.

White House not Backing Down on National Defense

After recent questions circulating as to whether or not the Obama administration has been spending enough time and money on National Security, the White House has been doing whatever it can to prove these rumors otherwise. Terrorist attacks on the United States are not something any American really was thinking about until the failed attacks on planes in December. Although these attacks were failures, they still proved that our airport security systems are not foolproof, and got many people questioning the proficiency of our National Security.

Sarah Palin attempted to use her bully pulpit at the Tea Party Convention to bash Obama's policies on terrorism, stating that

"That's not how radical Islamic extremists are looking at this. They know we're at war. And to win that war, we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law, standing at the lectern,"

Although it is highly unlikely that the Obama administration is purposefully paying less attention to National Security, it is something to think about, and something that all Americans can agree really needs to maintain funding even in this economic recession.