New Jersey & Stem Cell Research

This website is from New Jersey's Commission on Science and Technology to further advance efforts in stem cell research.

http://www.state.nj.us/scitech/stemcell/

Milestone in Research into Stem Cells

The New York Times had an article in last Friday's paper claiming that the federal government will allow the world's first test in people of a therapy derived from human embryonic stem cells. As we all know, the Bush Administration placed restrictions on any type of federal funding for stem cell studies because the creation of these cells cause the destruction of human embryos. This decision coincided with President Obama's inauguration. Obama has pledged to remove some of those restrictions that were placed. Many top officials involved in the stem cell program have different opinions as to why the go head took so long. The chief executive claims that this decision had nothing to do with the change of the administrations. The FDA first said no. The chairman, however, said "the approval is directly tied to the change in administrations."

The process is really a type of therapy. It would be injected into the spinal cord taking into account the amount of time that has passed. The test includes 8 to 10 people. "There would still be years of testing and many hurdles to overcome before the treatment would become routinely available to patients."

Within his first week, Obama has been making many changes. I think it's great that Obama has an open mind with issues like this. As we progress with our technology, we should use it to better ourselves.

However, it seems there are many risks that come along with the therapy. For instance, it raises the risk of cancer. Like I said, it's great to be open minded about these things but when many people who are involved with this research are skepitcal about whether the therapy would work or not.

Is this a chance worth taking?

from the phone

hey

New Hampshire State Public Policy Blog

http://freestateblogs.net/node/5329

Barack Obama vs Stock Market

On the day of the inauguration the United States was in disunity as the nation was split into seperate factions, with part of the nation backing our new president and the other part criticizing him before he even entered office. As a result of this negative idea about President Barack Obama's economic policy we saw a decline in the DJI and Nasdaq due to consumer sentiment. I personally do not believe that this is fair at all as we cannot have a negative sentiment before he has enacted anything! As long as people view politics with a bias we will always approach anything that has ties with our ideals with a pre-made idea... this leads to unfounded fears and hopes. Hopefully our economy will rectify itself, its only a part of the business cycle and our new president has nothing to do with it yet.

Immigration Policy Blog

In my search for policy blogs I found this one that had to do with the more recently overlooked subject of immigration. Several years ago this was a hot hot topic in America and this past election had a much smaller focus on it. Blog posts on this site seem to be made weekly and the topics obviously focus on immigration but seem to actually talk about immigrations strategies and legislation that is coming up, current laws, etc.

http://www.nationofimmigrators.com/

Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered?

This website is a piece that was written in the Star Ledger. The title is "College Leaders call for drinking age debate". I feel that there are great points on both sides regarding whether the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18. This webpage shows how torn college leaders and parents are when it comes to this issue.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/college_leaders_call_for_drink.html

Education Policy: Is it really thought out?

I have chosen to blog about the education policy in the United States. First I had to look up what public policy truly was. In the book it states that public policy is the sum of government activities, whether pursued directly or through agents, as those activities have an influence on the lives of citizens. There are three separate levels of policy. First there is policy choice which is their decisions that will affect the lives of citizens. Secondly is policy outputs and there are the policy choices being put into action. Lastly is policy impacts and this shows the effects that the policy choices and outputs have on the citizens.

After finding out what policy means and really looking into what policy entails, I decided to look at what the government is doing with the education policy, considering I’m becoming a teacher. Throughout the past 100 years and even before that, education has always been a topic with the United States. The education system can be a very important topic for a few years, than it will be dropped and not picked back up again until the national scores come back in. In 1989 our schools scored a 1.99 and that’s a C+ for our nation. In Europe they were scoring in the range of a 3.5 to a 4.0 which is a B+ to an A. This made out nation think strongly about what’s happening in our public schools.

Every time the taxes rise people always ask why and what is this extra money going to do or what is may be going towards. Most of these policies give our school’s the ability to purchase new books, pay teachers overtime for extra curricular activities, well educated teachers and new technology.

One of the policies for education was held under George H. W. Bush and this was titled “America 2000: An Education Strategy.” This plan had four parts to it. First was National Testing, this is for communities so they have the ability to test their students and see if they are reaching their school standards and the national standards. Secondly the federal government would open 535 new schools which would make class sizes smaller and there would be more teacher student time. Thirdly he wanted to improve the teachers and make sure each student is getting the correct education for their schools curriculum. Lastly, George Bush wanted parents and students to have a “choice” to be able to choose what level of difficulty their children can handle or which level of difficulty they want their children to be dealing with. Even though this policy was very thought out and seems to be the perfect education system, like many other policies, not much of this policy has worked.

The education system needs more work to be done and will need new policies because as technology and other new fundamentals for the changes constantly occurring throughout education, we will need money and policies passed to help support our future generations.

Julie Biondi

Factory Farms and our Climate

"According to the 2007 report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), livestock generate a whopping 18 percent of human-related greenhouse gas emissions—that's even more than the gas-guzzling transportation industry."



Has anyone else heard anything similar to this? Its the first I have heard of this issue.

The Environment and Public Policy

This website discusses several options the government has regarding environmental issues:

• curbing pollution through sensible regulations
• putting environmental protection in perspective
• preventing further environmental destruction.

According to the chart below, in 2007, the government only spent approximately 1.2% on natural resources and the environment.


Is the government spending a fair amount on the environment or is the environment being neglected?

Animal blog

My sister is vegetarian and this blog has a lot of tips for vegans and vegetarians. It also focuses at many points on animal rights.

http://www.animalrightsblog.com/

This video is a somewhat graphic account of a PETA investigation at an American turkey farm. This is not directly referenced in the blog however things like this were the original reason for creating the blog.

The House of Representatives Youtube Channel

I'm not sure if this is something known but I just found that members of the congress have their own youtube channel saying that they are trying to make the government more transparent by video logging, I think it's a good idea...http://www.youtube.com/user/househub

interesting blog

I am mildly obsessed with Iran and Russia, so I found this blog very interesting
http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/. Its a blog written by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself. Unfortunately, it doesnt appear to be updated often, but I still think its really cool.

Women Impacting Public Policy

This blog is a bi-partisan blog focused on empowering women and giving them a common voice to impact public policy change and to show how women have been changing the public policy of this nation. Their main focus is on women in business and women business owners, but they also focus on a variety of issues affecting women. Their page also looks at state issues in comparison to national issues.
If you look at the blog, the main focus right now is with the change of power to President-elect Obama, and the hope and change people are hoping to see. The blog is putting out an optomistic message to all people, not just women, to band together behind Obama and make America the kind of country we know it can be.

http://blog.wipp.org/

Public Policy with Marijuana

This site discusses policies and the desired changes in concern with marijuana.
The sites opinion is in favor of decriminlization of marijuana.

Public Policy and Abortion

I found a site that talks about many different public policy issues. This direct link deals with the American Public policy on abortion.

US Economy Public Policy

I found a site that talks about the United States public policy on the economy. The site is http://uspublicpolicy.com/home.html.

Supreme Court to Decide Rights of Students

According to the Washington Post and CNN, the US Supreme Court decided on Friday to hear the case involving a strip search of a thirteen year-old (eight grade) student who was suspected of possessing illegal substances. A Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco has previously ruled 8-3 that the search of students by School Administrators is unconstitutional. The family of the student argues that children have the same inherent rights as that of adults. However, if stare decisis is to prove anything, the courts have continuously demonstrated that the classroom is a medium in which the facilitation of education is to be safeguarded for the good of society and the protection of the nations children is of the utmost importance. In order to accomplish this, it is often necessary to create tightened security and a heightened sense of "non-tolerance" to disobedience in the classroom environment. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the School District, policy will be upheld and administrators may be given too much power which may lead to corruption. However, if the Court where to rule in favor of the student and seize the power from the hands of those entrusted with the education of today's youth, we may see an even greater degree of change in educational policy. In a society that strives to excel in a world marketplace and rise above its competitors, a higher level of education is a necessity to which the future of our nation depends. The need to grant individuals a level of leniency in order to administrate in an effective manner, is key to the success in preventing crime from flowing from the local streets into a school that is expected to be a safe-zone for learning. Although the school system in San Francisco might not be considered a "high-risk" area in which strip searches are necessary, an area such as local Newark certainly is. If the Supreme Court establishes policy to make such practices unconstitutional because of a individualized school system, it could very well lead to an unintended negative impact that will only need to be reversed in the court systems in the future.

Just some thoughts to get responses. For further reference: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/16/AR2009011603287.html

CITIZEN'S SURVIVAL KIT

Here's a great site took look at. http://www.publicagenda.org

Feds try to kaput cows?

Whats up Doc.?

An article in Watertown Daily (online) I was reading made me laugh at the utter clueless-ness (if that is a word) of the Federal Legislature, or perhaps complicity. One could draw the conclusion that either they are so inept that they shouldn't have the right to vote on any bills or they are purposelessly trying to sink different markets in our teetering economy. What I am refering to is the attempt to add an earmark to stimulus package regarding the "retirement" of dairy cows in an effort to raise the price of milk. This is dispite the "no earmarks" ground that the stimulus package was initially passed. They also tend to not recall history. The last time the feds tried to "retire" dairy herds they sent the beef prices through the floor, as they introduced a spike in beef supply, and the effects were still temporary.

I sure hope this "Change" comes soon...because it looks like the same old characters are making the same short sighted decisions they have always made.


http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090115/NEWS02/301159967/0/FRONTPAGE

www.spokeup.com

Hey guys, www.spokeup.com is a new social website that is devoted to people talking about what they think about all different kinds of subjects. Its "motto" is "A site for those who speak up". People are constantly posting on there about different news headlines and blogging about how they feel about what's happening in the US and around the world. It really is a great place to stage your thoughts.

Just wanted to share. =]

Strengthening the Department of Homeland Security

Dr. Taylor,

I was surfing the web and I came across this website called "CSIS: Center for Strategic and International Studies." This website is a very good source public policy issues because it examines all of the programs and policies that have either been set into motion or are being discussed in the government. This site can also tell you policies and programs in other countries around the world, though other countries do not really apply to this class, it is good to have the information available in case any students want to know what is going on in the other countries or if any of the students are taking either comparative politics or international relations.
The section I was looking at was the Department of Homeland Security which can be found at the bottom of the website. There was a report published on September 18, 2008 titled "Homeland Security 3.0" and the purpose of the report is to recommend ideas for strengthening Homeland Security not just as a department of our government, but as a national enterprise. Thought this report is from September, it still applies today in January, especially now that we are on the eve of a new Administration. The report reiterates the importance of Homeland Security and addresses the significance of the matter in the plans of the new Administration. The report requests the new Administration to "urge completion of the most urgent task at hand, which is establishing a national homeland security enterprise that integrates all elements of society to protect America against catastrophic events." I think that strengthening Homeland Security is a great idea, since personally I feel that with a new President and the first African American President, we are a little more prone to attack in the eyes of our enemies, strengthening Homeland Security can only benefit us, not hurt us. Hopefully, Obama will make good decisions for this country and one good decision would definitely be to strengthen Homeland Security on a national level.

to access the website click http://www.csis.org/
to view the full report click http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/080918_homeland_sec_3dot0.pdf

RSS in Plain English

from Common Craft

For more on RSS, click here.