Health Law Concerns for Cancer Centers

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This article is about the Aforable Care Act.  It talks about how under the new health law, some of the most prestigous cancer centers will be off limits to cancer patients.  There was a survey done by the Associated Press that only four of 19 nationally recognized comprehensive cancer centers that responded to AP's survey said patients have access through all the insurance companies in their state exchange.  According to the article, in order to keep premiums low, insurers must keep a narrow network of hospitals and doctors.  It goes on to explain that by not including top cancer centers, insurers can cut costs.  The article also makes a point to say that the challenges of this problem are going to become evident very soon.  This article relates to APGoPo because it goes right along with the propaganda techniques we were talking about on Thursday.  In this case I think it is safe to assume that this article is using card-stacking to attack the Affordable Care Act.  No where in the article does it mention something positive about the new health laws.

In my opinion, its obvious that we would like for the top cancer centers to be open to cancer patients.  That's just common sense and a no brainer.  However, it is equally important to acknowlegde that under the Afordable Care Act patients with cancer are able to be insured.  Prior to the ACA insurers could deny cancer patients any isurance at all.  It might just be me, but that is just absurd.  Of course if you're thinking about it in terms of money it seems logical.  However, I would hope that human rights are more important than money.  Furthermore, the article only offered stats on the 19 comprehensive cancer centers that responded but didn't tell the reader how many total comprehensive cancer centers there were.  Therefore, its safe to assume that there may be more top cancer centers that are open to cancer patients than the article leads the reader to belive.

Legally Recognize Non-Binary Genders

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On the White House website citizens can make an account and start exploring the many wonders the website has to offer.  One of these fantastic options users have is to start a petition.  In this case someone started a petition to legally recognize non-binary genders.  The article itself is just a petition, however, it does explain that on all legal documents American citizens are to identify as either female or male.  In other countries like New Zealand and Australia they allow citizens to choose "X" gender if they do not identify with male or female.  Also in the UK they recognize another gender, "Mx".  This article relates to APGoPo because it demonstrates other ways of participating in government.  We were recently talking about how voting is the number one way in the U.S. of participating in government, however, there are other ways to participate and this is one! Citizens can create their own petitions and by making an account you can sign the petition via computer.  As the number of signers grows so does the attention it gets by the federal government.

In my opinion I think this petition is super rad and I hope it receives enough signatures to get the governments attention (I made and account and signed it, you should too!).  I think it is important to have at lease one "other" option when identifying your gender.  When I found this petition, I asked myself what even is gender?  And through my pondering I realized I came up with two explanations.  I believe that gender is both physical and mental.  Mental gender to me is a perception of oneself, ones'  expressions, and the roles they feel they need to fulfill.  Physical gender to me is the persons behaviors, outward appearances, and the (as much as I hate to say it) cultural expectations of what is feminine or masculine.  When I think about gender I don't take a persons sex into consideration.  It is very possible to have a gender and sex that do not match.  Sex to me refers to genitalia in which case it is easy to identify as female (vagina) or male (penis).  However, it is not so easy when it comes to gender.  Someone may have the sex of male but mentally identify as female.  In which case, it becomes more important to have another option for identifying gender, besides the traditional male and female.  This is just one example but there are many others.  Personally, I'm not a fan of labels.  I know they help to organize and classify however, they make things difficult.  Which is another reason why I support this petition.  The petition helps us to realize that there are more genders than you may think.  I believe this petition getting enough signatures will be a fantastic start in changing the way society sees people and the world in general.

Personal Reflection

Religion has greatly influenced my values and beliefs.  I used to be a devout Catholic, however, somewhere along the road there was a disconnect.  I realized that I had been conditioned to believe certain things and frankly, they weren't my own opinions.  Since then I've became more accepting of people and their beliefs.  My family has generally been the same way.  I was raised to believe things that they believed.  I also realized that some of those beliefs were not my own.  While I am in opposition to my family on some aspects like social issues, on other aspects I agree with them like on economic issues.  I would say being female has definitely influenced my values and beliefs.  I am for equal rights and equal pay for equal work despite gender.  I don't really think region has influenced my values because I have moved around a lot and although I've lived in North Carolina I don't think its had a profound affect on my political beliefs and values.  In addition, I don't really think my race has taken a  toll on my beliefs.  in everything we read it said Mexican Americans tend to vote Democrat and I don't necessarily fall in that category.
The three U.S. beliefs I will compare and contrast with my own are liberty, equality, and individualism,  As a whole American citizens believe in having many rights as long as they don't infringe on others.  I agree with this belief.  The reason why is probably because I've learned to be open-minded and accepting of others opinions and views.  The second believe that Americans hold is that everyone should have equal opportunities but not necessarily equal results.  I also agree with this value.  The reason I believe this is because I was always told that hard work can get you anywhere in life.  This is why its important for everyone to have an equal opportunity.  The final general belief of the American people is that the individuals rights are valued above the states and individual responsibility are strongly encouraged.  This is the same as my personal belief.  I think it is important for the people to have rights that are above the states in order for the states not to have too much power.  In addition I have always been told if I wanted something I had to take the initiative and make it happen.  No one else is going to do it for you, which is why individual responsibility should be encouraged.

San Diego Sea World Bill

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In California a lawmaker, Richard Bloom proposed a bill called the Orca Welfare and Safety Act.  Speculation about the killer whales treatment in captivity arose after the documentary "Blackfish" came out.  The documentary examines killer whales' lives at Sea World.  They focus mainly on one whale, Tilikum, who drowned one of the handlers.  They think the reason behind the murder was emotional instability due to the lifestyle the whales live.  The proposed legislation would stop the killer whales from doing any performances or entertainment events.  They would only be allowed to be kept for research and rehabilitation.  In addition to limiting human interactions the bill would also prevent captive breeding and prohibit orcas from being imported and exported in California.  The only reason the killer whales would not all be released is because they would probably not be able to live in the wild after being captive for that long.  Some of the former SeaWorld trainers agree with the proposed bill, however, some do not.  Kyle Kittleson, said that 85% of the facts in "Blackfish" are untrue and that this bill is unnecessary.  This article relates to APGoPo because it goes along with a persons political ideology.  Some people may believe this is an important bill that needs to be passed, whereas others may think government has no need to intervene.

Personally I totally support this bill and I hope it gets passed.  I have seen the documentary "blackfish" (and I recommend watching it), and although it does pull at your heart strings that is not my only reason for supporting this bill.  I don't really agree with captivity of wildlife for any other purposes besides scientific research.  It is sad that these killer whales are forced to be kept in extremely small spaces for their size.  They only come out of their cages when they're training or performing.  I think that this bill is important to open peoples' eyes.  Recently it seems as though humans think they're the only ones living on this planet and we'd do anything to benefit ourselves.  However, I think its time for a wake up call and we should start realizing that there are other living creatures on this planet and we should be considerate of that.  The world shouldn't revolve around ourselves.