I think yes, healthcare should be an equal right, even to immigrants. If they get sick in the United States, sick enough to be taken to the emergency room since they couldn't take preventative measures because they have no primary care physician, the hospital will treat them anyway. That means that we will pay for their treatment, so why shouldn't we have healthcare for all so that we can avoid the suffering before emergency measures had to be taken? I don't know a lot about this subject and I'm sure it would cost more money to insure everyone with healthcare, but if these people are going to be here, I'd rather than run around healthy than run around infecting other people.

This is an interesting idea. I had never really thought about it before, and while yes hearing that 300,000 people died does affect me and I am sad and left feeling helpless, it does not affect me in the same way as the death of someone in my family, or someone I knew well would. I am able to push it out of my mind and focus on other things for hours on end, but would be completely unable to do so had someone I knew died. But how can we feel that connected to something that we are so unfamiliar with? Familiarizing ourselves with it after helps to some degree, but I feel like it's impossible to feel the same emotions towards people you never knew compared with people you know well and love. You can help those people out, and you should most definitely want to and follow through with it, but you don't have the same connection. Is there a way to acquire this? I don't know, I don't really think there is.

This is a very good question. I think that ideally, immigrants who put in hard work (most often doing jobs Americans refuse to do) should be rewarded for their efforts. The reward should come in the form of immunity to deportation. It just seems so unfair that so many people in this country are loafers and don't do anything to help themselves or anyone else. Then we have the immigrants who truly want to make a better life for themselves, but since they don't already have the money they can't do so legally. Once these immigrants get here they get right to work putting in long hours at terrible jobs. And so why are they less deserving that the bums already living in the united states? My use of the word bums does not necessarily just mean people living on the street. It includes anyone who isn't actively helping society, whether it's the heir of a huge corporation who just sits on his ass all day because he knows he'll never have to pick up a finger since his dad already "made it" or the homeless woman only looking for booze money. They have the "right" to this country because they were born here, but they are a detriment, much more so than any immigrant. Unfortunately we a can't kick those people out in exchange for some proactive immigrants. Why shouldn't these poor foreigners be given a chance? So let's say some get into the United States illegally and work for a few years doing manual labor. Then they get caught. There should be some policy that says if an immigrant who has a rigorous work history to account for the time they've spent in the United States, they should be allowed to stay. I don't at all know how immigration laws work, but that seems fair enough? Yes, they snuck in illegally, but I think everyone has does something illegal in their lifetime. To the girl who said they should definitely do it legally, have you never had a sip of alcohol before age 21? Have you never J-walked or dropped a gum wrapper on the street? Maybe you haven't, and in that case you're a much more law abiding citizen than I am. But if you have, why didn't you do the legal thing? It really isn't hard to put that gum wrapper in a trash can or cross the street at the crosswalk, but it is much harder (and more expensive) to come legally into this country than it is to sneak in. I'm not saying that we need to let all the immigrants in, because that wouldn't work. But maybe at times it's ok that a blind eye is turned on those who work hard. They work because they want to live and have nothing else. I'm very fortunate not to be in that situation, but that is through no efforts of my own. I have to thank my immigrant grandparents for that.

At certain points during this lecture I just wanted to scream. It seems so ridiculous that I couldn't see the view from the other side until now. These are just normal people living their lives in Iraq, just like we are normal people living our lives here in the United States, for the most part. Of course there are the extremists on both sides, but I didn't realize that they were the people we were focusing on, not the majority of the citizens of Iraq who are just regular people. I almost didn't go to class yesterday, but now I'm extremely glad I did.

Yesterday's lecture was definitely one of the best yet. I wish I had brought some people there to see it, specifically my roommate who comes from a far far left family of born again Christians. She is the type that believes the world is coming to an end in 2012 since we are in End Times now. She also believes that Russia is being "really shady" and will probably nuc us at some point soon. I would assume that she would benefit from a lecture like this but can't really be sure. She would probably just see it as propaganda.

I am confused as to why you are "sick and tired of the way Sam talks about Christians". You clearly do not understand. What has he said about them? How can you not see how the war in Iraq can be viewed as a Christian Invasion? While invasion seems like a heavy word to use to us as Americans, looking through the other side of the lens it looks exactly like an invasion, equipped with guns and missionaries. Yes, missionaries do many great things for people who are less fortunate. But they do so while trying to convert people to Christianity. You personally do may not force your views on anyone else, but many Christians do. That is the whole reason why missionaries exist. Now, maybe that is a stretch, because to be honest, I don't really know too much about the work of missionaries. And I don't mean to say that they are doing a bad thing, because they're most definitely not. But I don't think anyone should have a religion forced upon them. Especially from outsiders who come from a country that is wreaking havoc in my homeland. If you weren't in lecture then why did you respond to this video? Sam clearly said not to at the top of this entry, and I assume you can read and follow directions. And if you were in class then I guess you just missed the point of the lecture. Or maybe you fell asleep.

I would be extremely upset if another nation came into the United States trying to take what was on our land, and what was rightfully ours. What right do these people have to come here and while they begin to kill us, a few of them give candy to my kids to make them like them and then they try to impose their religion on us because the God we worship is fake. I would be beyond pissed off. And the way the internet would spin it would make it look like these people from that other religion were trying to take us over. And so we would react to that. I don't really know why you are getting so offended since Sam made it abundantly clear that he wasn't bashing Christians, or even that all Christians were like this. When you see the major political figureheads (Sarah Palin) saying that this war is a task from God, what else are you supposed to think except that this must be what the people of that country think and agree with. Sarah Palin is kind of a bad example, but some people voted for her so they obviously agree with at least some of what she spouts of out her mouth. You should reevaluate your thoughts on the subject because you are being just as extreme as you think Sam is being. Keyword there is THINK Sam is being.

I think that there are several directions we can go when deciding to take a second step against slavery. After we become aware of what is going on and feel some kind of way about it, as Sam puts it, we can at least do one of two things. The first would be to raise awareness and the second would be to stop supporting slavery in a facet of our lives as individuals.

I was shocked when I first read Disposable People. I couldn't believe that I had not been aware of the situation of slavery when it affects so many people. Basic human rights are taken away from people and I didn't even know that something like this existed. Once I found out, for a few days that was all I could think about. I felt like I had to tell everyone about the situation. It almost felt like people had been keeping this a secret from me.. I'm not sure who is keeping this secret, but other people around me didn't know either. I don't think that I surround myself with people who are sheltered and ignorant, so the fact that these people were unaware of modern day slavery might mean that many people throughout the world have no idea that slavery exists in today's world. Which is why one of the things that we can do to help end this is to let people know it exists. If people become aware of slavery, they will know it exists and hopefully tell others. If enough people know and care about it, steps can be take to deal with governments who aren't doing anything about slavery in their countries. Social pressures from large dominant countries and media coverage can help force governments to deal with the situation of slavery, especially since in many countries the governments know it exists, and may even help it flourish.

Besides raising awareness about slavery, we can also takes steps in our individual lives. We can help end slavery by not supporting it. Instead of shopping for food at Walmart, where we spend less, but at times may buy more since everything is so cheap, we could shop at another grocery store such as Wegmans or Giant, where we may be forced to buy a little less since the cost is somewhat higher, but because we buy less we make sure fewer people suffer to give us what we want and need. We could also make sure to buy our clothes at stores that do not use slave labor and recycle our clothes to get more usage out of them so fewer articles of clothing need to be produced by these slaves.

These are possible second steps, and though maybe they might not be that effective, doing something is definitely better than doing nothing.

I believe that there should be no tags on races. Practically everyone is somewhat mixed, unless you are from Africa and all of your relatives were too. Since we are all out of Africa, we all share some DNA from that region. How someone decides to define his/herself is up to that person, it shouldn't really be anyone else's business unless that person decides to share. Being mixed should just be that, mixed. We are all mixed so whatever you want to call yourself is ok and the right decision. Especially since there is no such thing as right and wrong.

I feel that the majority of people that benefit from welfare really do need the help. Maybe they have five kids, and yes, you shouldn't bring kids into this world without being able to support them, but come on, shit happens. Either way, they need help. The kids shouldn't be punished for their parents wrong-doings. I feel that you should only be allowed to be on welfare if you can work (and are actively trying to). People shouldn't just be allowed to remain on welfare for extremely long periods of time unless they have a legitimate reason to do so. I don't know much about welfare.

This is a good point. I think that affirmative action should not, and cannot be used in every situation. While I understand the need for affirmative action when students are applying for colleges, beyond that point I really don't see the need for it. The best qualified person should get the position, whether that is a spot in medical school, law school or even just in a job that has standards for their qualifications. I know that when I go to the doctor, I want the best qualified doctor, not a doctor who wasn't as qualified as someone else. Affirmative action is an action that is affirmative, obviously. If chinchillas are affirmative for affirmative action, we all should be. It’s what they are made of. They embody affirmative action. They are the leaders of this world. While I realize that with health care, all doctors must pass the same exams in order to be certified, but I can't see the fairness in giving a position to someone less qualified because of affirmative action. I understand that life isn't fair, and often it's very unfair and difficult for people who come from different backgrounds to get to medical school and actually become doctors. I feel that if that is your goal, you will do anything to get there. No one can half ass getting in to medical school. People who do work hard should be acknowledged by being accepted before someone who did not do as well. On the other hand, looking at affirmative action, people who come from backgrounds where their parents can’t pay for everything, or maybe aren’t even around because they’re working extra jobs, are extremely disadvantaged from the start. Their hard work was put into getting to where they are today, and graduating college, racking up the loans that they will be paying off for years. Shouldn’t they get some kind of benefit for working so hard? It’s a really tough situation. There doesn’t seem to be a solution that benefits everyone. One solution is great for one side but unfair to the other, and the same goes for the other solution. I found it interesting that white women were the main group of people who benefit from affirmative action. As a white woman, I have never actively seen affirmative action working in my favor, but maybe I’m just not looking. Affirmative action is long debated. There are good points and bad points to it. An action that is affirmative is affirmative action. After writing this post, I have begun to reconsider by original statement. I’m not sure what that means, or how to go about dealing with it, but I will continue to think about it.