Government Censored Media

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Print Media

Give an example of online print media (blog, newspaper, magazine) and describe how it works to support or detract from keeping the public informed.

Political Commentary

New York Times Co. v. United States

During the Vietnam war, government documents were leaked to the press and eventually printed in the New York Times. The government ordered a temporary halt on the publication of the papers but the New York Times Co. argued that the First Amendment protected their right to publish them. The court's decision was issued per curiam in favor of the New York Times Co. They decided that there could be no prior restraint on the press in this instance because national security was not really at risk.

I think they made the right decision because the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press. Justice Hugo Black wrote that the Court should have immediately denied the government's injunction. As he said, "the press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people." If the publications actually threatened national security then the government would be justified in its case. However, in this instance national security was not at risk.

Gitlow v. New York

Benjamin Gitlow was convicted for publishing anarchist publications which called for "mass industrial revolts" which would develop into "mass political strikes and revolutionary mass action for the annihilation of the parliamentary state." The case was brought to the Supreme Court under the issue of whether the First Amendment protected these publications. The court ruled 7 to 2 to uphold his conviction because speech that presents "clear and present danger" is unlawful.

I feel the court made the right decision because a government should not solely protect the rights of an individual without regard to the well-being of the whole population. It is against the law to yell "FIRE" in a crowded movie theater because it would cause panic and possible harm. It is for this same reason that anarchist publications should not be protected under the First Amendment.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

For years after Plessy v. Ferguson, African Americans fought for to end segregation. In a unanimous ruling to overturn the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court Ruled that "separate but equal" facilities in fact violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

 

This is perhaps the most monumental court case in history. Denying access to certain facilities based on race clearly constitutes inequality. The fact that the Plessy v. Ferguson decision stood for so long is disappointing. I completely agree with the decision that separate cannot be equal and that segregation is unconstitutional. The court was correct in concluding that "in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place" because "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." 

Gideon v. Wainwright

After Clarence Gideon was arrested for breaking into a Florida pool hall he was denied his request for a court-appointed attorney. At that point the general consensus was that the 14th Amendment did not require the application of the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of counsel in criminal cases to state trials. However, the Supreme Court ruled in Gideon's favor, creating the law that the court must appoint an attorney if the defendant so chooses.

I completely agree with the court on this decision. If a person is too poor to afford a lawyer, he is incredibly disadvantaged in a trial and will likely lose even if he is innocent. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a fair and speedy trial. A trial cannot truly be fair if the accused cannot afford to be represented in court. As Justice Hugo Black wrote, even an innocent person with a strong defense "lacks both skill and knowledge adequately to prepare his defense, even though he may have a perfect one. He requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step in the proceedings against him.

Miranda v. Arizona

After Ernesto Miranda was arrested and interrogated, he took his case to court because he was informed neither of his right to an attorney or his right to remain silent. He argued that because the 5th Amendment states "no person...shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself", his rights were violated. The Supreme Court agreed and ruled 5 to 4 to overturn his conviction.

Although the court made the right decision in passing what are now known as the Miranda Rights, I don't think that Miranda should have been set free after he was found guilty. In any case, it is true that police interrogation methods can be unjust so it is good that these rights must be told to suspects before questioning.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

The Medical School of  UC Davis used an admission system to accept or decline certain people based on minority status. When a white student was denied although his test scores were above those of the minority students, he sued the University saying that their process violated the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 in two separate votes and majorities in favor of Bakke.

I agree with the court's decision that a program that accepts students based on race violates the equal protection clause. The court also stated that a properly devised program could be well constitutional but I have mixed feelings on this. I think that admissions processes should leave race out of the equation entirely and only accept students based on their qualifications. This way, every student has an equal chance based on their application alone.

Miller v. California

After Miller was arrested for sending out unrequested mailings with obscene images, he stated that his First Amendment was being violated. In a 5 to 4 ruling, the Supreme Court voted against Miller stating that the First Amendment does not protect materials that are considered obscene.

I agree with the court's decision that obscene images are not protected under the First Amendment. Any citizen should not be subject to obscene materials that they do not want to view. The Supreme Court made the right decision in allowing local powers to choose what it obscene or not. As Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote, "It is neither realistic nor constitutionally sound to read the First Amendment as requiring that the people of Maine or Mississippi accept public depiction of conduct found tolerable in Las Vegas or New York City."

Plessy v. Ferguson

After Homer Plessy (who was one eighth black) sat in a whites only railroad car, he was arrested for breaking Louisiana state law. Although Plessy argued that this violated the 13th and 14th amendments which prohibits states from denying "to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." However, the courts ruled 7 to 2 against plessy concluding that as long as both races have "separate but equal" facilities, no laws are broken.

Today it is almost impossible for anybody to argue that the Supreme Court made the wrong decision. Even during the time period, the separate facilities were definitely not equal. In my opinion, it is impossible to consider someone an equal if they are restricted to separate facilities. Therefore, it is impossible to have separate and equal; for something to truly be equal, it must be accepted fully. 

Roe v. Wade

When a woman going under the name of Jane Roe wanted an abortion but was prevented by Texas state law, she brought her case to the Supreme Court. In arguing that her rights to privacy and liberty guaranteed by the bill of rights were being violated, the Supreme Court voted 7 to 2 in her favor concluding that the right to privacy encompasses a woman's right to decide wether or not to terminate her pregnancy.

This is perhaps one of the most controvertial court cases and its decision is still a hot topic today. While both sides of the argument have convincing arguments, I would have to agree with the choice the Supreme Court made. Although it can be argued that a fetus is a life, an unwanted child is deprived of a quality upbringing. Those without the means to raise a child should not be forced to have their child. Also, rape victims should not be restricted by state law from getting an abortion.

United States v. Nixon

In this landmark case the court ruled unanimously 8-0 that the president does not have "an absolute, unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances." It is hard to argue that the court should have ruled the other way. Nobody is above the law and the president is no exception. The court definitely made the right decision and Nixon's resignation just goes to show that he was guilty all along.

It is important to maintain the mentality that government corruption is not acceptable no matter what the case is. As it turns out, just because the president does it doesn't mean it's not illegal.

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Paradise Lost

Honolulu now faces a problem with homelessness. about 100 tents are set up in the downtown area and are occupied by homeless families. Hawaii government is now kicking them out and forcing them to find a new place to live. However, this method does not solve the problem. In a N.Y. Times article, Doran J. Porter explains the problem:

And Mr. Porter said he knew full well that state officials were under pressure from the business community. “My concern is that they need to have solutions of where these folks are going to go,” he said. “We can’t keep kicking them out of one place where they go to another. That’s why they are there in the first place: they were kicked out of Waikiki and the beaches. This has been going on for years.”

Kciking the homeless out of Honolulu will only force them to set up there tents somewhere else. Instead of taking this ineffective approach, the government needs to implement effective programs that will successfully accomodate the homeless. The newly elected governer has already hired a homeless coordinator, and important step in the fight agaisnt homelessness. Only after the government makes choices that will permanently end this problem rather than ignore it can the issue truly be remedied.

Women Veterans Face Homelessness

Thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are joining over 100,000 veterans of other generations living on the streets and in shelters. Preliminary data from the VA suggest that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans make up 1.8 percent of the homeless veteran population. As of September 2009, more than 3,700 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have already been seen in the Department of Veterans Affairs' homeless outreach program. Of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, more than 10 percent are women. Not all homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans use VA services however, so the real number of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may be considerably higher. In addition, because the homeless population is transient, and because many people may experience homelessness off and on over months or even years, correctly measuring the homeless population is difficult.

Last Minute Push Keeps Poverty In Check

Recently in New York, there have been fears that many more people would fall into poverty due to the recession. Currently 19.9% of the city's population lives in poverty. Without a flood of food stamps and tax benefits for low-income families, about 250,000 more New Yorkers would have fallen into poverty. Many people feel that most poverty aid programs are ineffective but in reality, some are essential to preventing more poverty. The Center for Economic Opportunity explains further in this article:

Not every antipoverty program meets its goals and deserves to be protected,” the report by Dr. Mark Levitan, the center’s director of poverty research, says, “but calls for across-the-board cutbacks to programs that help low-income families cannot be justified by the assertion that when it comes to poverty, ‘nothing works.

It is essential to identify and expand on successful programs such as this recent one to maximize effective aid to those in need. If unnecessary programs are cut and the money is allocated more efficiently to more effective programs, poverty and homeless levels could be drastically reduced.

The Long Road to Eliminating Homelessness

The Long Road to Eliminating Homelessness

Part I:

America is known as the land of the free and the home of the brave, a beacon of hope to many.  One of the reasons so many people immigrate to the United States is the promise of the “American dream”, the chance to live a better life. However, it is not as easy as it seems to live a successful life in the U.S. today. Homelessness has become an increasingly apparent issue in our country as more and more people are forced to live on the streets. It is estimated that around 3.5 million Americans are likely to experience homelessness in any given year.[1] A variety of factors lead to homelessness such as poverty and high housing prices.  A surprisingly large portion of the population is subject to homelessness. In fact, in 2005, 13.3% of the U.S. population, or 38,231,521 million people, lived in poverty. Both the poverty rate and the number of poor people have increased in recent years, up from 12.5% or 1.1 million in 2003.[2]

 Especially in times such as these with a weak economy, it is understandable that poverty rates would be up. With companies laying off employees, many people are left with no source of income. Even with a job, many working people cannot support themselves on low income. In fact, a survey of 24 U.S. cities found that 13% of persons in homeless situations are employed.[2] A recent U.S. Conference of Mayors report stated that, in every state, more than the minimum-wage is required to afford a one or two-bedroom apartment at 30% of his or her income, which is the federal definition of affordable housing.[2] These conditions mean that homelessness is now a more prevalent problem than ever.

 Even more troubling is the fact that now more families and children under 18 are being affected by homelessness. When parents can no longer afford to support their family, children are forced to adjust to a life living on the streets or in shelters too.  According to data released by the Urban Institute in 2000, children make up about 39 percent of the homeless population nationally.[1] The fact that so many children are affected by homelessness is especially troubling because this does not set them up for a successful life. Children who are homeless are more likely to drop out of school and therefore end up unemployed in the future. Furthermore, homeless youth are at a higher risk for anxiety disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide.[3]

In addition to the increase of homeless youth, more elderly people are now becoming homeless now. Ellen O’Brien, a senior strategic policy advisor at the Public Policy Institute of AARP, stresses that due to the focus on homeless youth, “The fact that 3.7 million older adults do not have sufficient cash income to meet their basic expenses too often escapes attention”.[4] While homelessness is one of the most pressing issues facing our nation, there are various programs dedicated to helping those in need.

Part II:

Because homelessness is so prevalent in our nation, the government has implanted many programs aimed at helping those who live in poverty or on the streets. Homeless shelters and soup kitchens are common in inner cities highly concentrated with homeless people.  The government funds many shelter organizations that take an involved stance in reversing homelessness. When homeless people seek help at a shelter, most are encouraged to take an active approach in becoming self-sufficient. These programs are especially important in lowering homeless rates because they can help rehabilitate unemployed homeless people. Soup kitchens offer free meals to those in need and are essential in aiding the homeless or people living in poverty. I worked at the Bay Area Rescue Mission in Richmond and served lunch. Around twenty people came in to eat a meal which, according to the coordinator, was a slow day.  Food banks are also an effective way that the government is helping the issue of homelessness. Food banks such as the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano receive food donations both from people and companies. They then sell these food items to soup kitchens at significantly reduced price. Since it is a non-profit organization, the food bank only makes enough profit to cover the costs of running their business.

The government also protects unemployed people through Unemployment Insurance. Unemployment insurance works by providing states with strong incentives to supply their own insurance programs to citizens. This insurance “is funded by a combination of revenues collected through the national tax on employers, state taxes on employers and a portion of workers' payroll taxes. All contributions to state unemployment funds must be deposited into a national unemployment trust fund maintained by the Treasury Department. Each state can withdraw money from the fund at any time to pay unemployment benefits.”[5] Another method the government is testing is the “Housing First” method. This strategy targets the chronically homeless and gives them their own apartment and access to social workers as a way to get them out of the street. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a chronically homeless person is one with a "disabling condition" that can be physical or mental, or someone with an addiction to drugs or alcohol, and who has been homeless for at least a year or three times within the past three years.[6] While this method is effective in helping the chronically homeless, they are actually a minority of the entire homeless population.

One of the main ways the government is attempting to cut down on homeless levels is through welfare checks. The welfare system in the United States is designed to provide needy families with enough income to survive until they can find a steady source of income. The current program, called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), is a block grant program from the government. However, welfare does not always provide relief from poverty because “current TANF benefits and Food Stamps combined are below the poverty level in every state; in fact, the current maximum TANF benefit for a single mother of two children is 29% of the federal poverty level”.[7] It is clear that while many of the programs that the government have implemented to aid the homeless are essential, many are in need of reform to correctly address the issue.

Part III:

Homelessness is possibly the most widespread issue that our nation faces on the home front today. With such a large percentage of the population affected by homelessness, it is crucial that this issue is addressed in the most effective way possible. The main problem with most government implemented programs is that they are inefficient. While it is clear that all programs aimed at helping the homeless help a portion of the population, they are worthless to other parts of the population and even detrimental to some. The key is to identify which programs are the most successful and expand on those while cutting programs that are unnecessary or inefficient. For example, the “Housing First” strategy is very effective for certain groups but it does not appeal to a large enough group to be worth it. While many people may benefit from this program, as a whole it is inefficient. In fact, a survey published by USA Today in October 2008 says that in New York City, 2,747 families applied for shelter in September 2007, an increase from the 2,087 who applied the previous September.6  

However, it is not always easy to identify which programs are successful. Due to inaccurate methods of measuring homelessness, data tends to be slightly erroneous. For example, one method of measuring homelessness is through eviction notices, but analyses in New York showed that only one in five welfare families facing eviction actually became homeless.[8] Therefore it is also necessary for the government to reform their methods for measuring homelessness to be more accurate. If the programs are evaluated with flawed statistics, then it is impossible to know which programs are truly successful and which are ineffective.

In order to better aid the homeless, it is important that the government expands programs that have already shown success. TANF was implemented after the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program was cut following the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The previous program supplied better aid to those in need and homeless levels have increased since its departure.7 To fully remedy the problem of homelessness, the government should be cutting only unnecessary programs and keeping those that provide effective aid.

            One of the most helpful things the government could do to improve this issue is to not only expand successful programs, but fix any flaws with them. In an interview, a homeless man named Jesus Rodriguez explained that he does not like shelters because “they and their friends say they have been robbed, attacked, or gotten sick. But they said they would much prefer to live in their own apartment and hope to get subsidized housing soon.” [9] If the government focuses on fixing problems with successful programs, they become even more successful and the homeless levels can be drastically reduced. 

            Perhaps the most effective method the government could make use of to lower homeless rates is to address the problem at its source. Poverty is the main cause of homelessness so it is important to focus on creating and expanding programs that prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. Since minimum wage is not enough income to support a family7, raising minimum wage nationally could provide a beneficial effect to the point where other programs would later become unnecessary and could be cut. Furthermore, programs designed to help low income families pay for housing or an overall reform to housing costs could drastically cut down on poverty levels and therefore homelessness.

            From working in food banks and soup kitchens, I saw firsthand the power that volunteering has. By volunteering and supporting programs that help those in need, it is possible to make a difference. Organizations such as the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano or Bay Area Rescue Mission are dedicated to helping homeless people or those living in poverty and by supporting them I feel that I also made a stand against homelessness as a whole. I was always aware that there were a vast amount of homeless people in our country but, living in a sheltered neighborhood like Lafayette, the force of this issue never really hit me. By traveling into poorer neighborhoods and working with fellow volunteers to help the homeless I realized just how close these people were to me. The whole experience of volunteering changes the endless statistics and percentages into real people. From seeing the hardened families coming into the soup kitchen just to get a hot meal, the issue of homelessness became something a lot more tangible to me. While the government can choose which programs to implement and which to cut, it is the volunteers that support these programs that make the real difference.

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[1] Romeo, Jim. "Homelessness in America Is a Growing Problem." Gale Databases Opposing Viewpoints In Context. 2009. Web.

[2] "Homelessness Is Caused by Poverty and a Lack of Affordable Housing." Poverty and Homelessness. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web.

[3] "Youth Homelessness Is a Serious Problem." Youth Homelessness Series Brief No. 1 (May 2006). Rpt. in Poverty and Homelessness. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.

[4] O'Brien, Ellen, Ke Bin Wu, and David Baer. "Poverty Among the Elderly Is Widespread in America." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. 2011. Web.

[5] . "Unemployment Insurance." Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 15 Nov. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. http://www.2facts.com/article/i1500630

[6] "Chronic Homelessness." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 14 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 Apr. 2011. http://www.2facts.com/article/i1300630

[7] "Homelessness Is Caused by Poverty and a Lack of Affordable Housing." Poverty and Homelessness. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 12 Apr. 2011

[8] Burt, Martha R., Carol L. Pearson, and Ann Elizabeth. Montgomery. Homelessness: Prevention Strategies and Effectiveness. New York: Nova Science, 2007. Print.

[9] David Abel.  (2011, January 31). “Harsh life under the Zakim Bridge :Wary group shuns homeless shelters”. Boston Globe,p. A.1