Amendment 64

While everyone was wrapped up in the presidential election, Colorado and Washington were celebrating their newly passed amendment. Amendment 64 is the recreational use of Marijuana. Colorado and Washington both passed the amendment while Oregon denied it. Although I agree that the recreational use of marijuana should be legalized, I'm somewhat leery on the subject. I believe it has the power to help our economy, which is the driving force behind my support. Not only will it create more jobs and is estimated to be a $36 billioin dollar industry, it would save the country money on sending people with marijuana related charges to jail. Sending these people to prison costs the U.S an estimate of $1 billion annually. On the other hand, I think this should be approched with caution due to immaturity of many people in this country. I wish there were a better method of measuring maturity levels because age doesn't necessarily project that. But even though I'm not confident in the fact that people can deal with marijuana legalization maturely, the benefit is well worth it. The same can be said about alcohol. There are those that "drink responsibly" and those that take advantage of it. Therefore I think this is something that needs to be dealt with carefully but still, something worth dealing with.              

Obama's Early Ballot 

 

     Early Voting began on October 22nd for the people of Illinois. It's estimated that 40% of eligable voters will cast and early ballot. President Obama was one of those people. Earlier today, He flew to his home town to vote in the Martin Luther King Community Center. 

     Obama politely greeted the by standers cheering for him and all the poll workers. He made a joke about the lack of gray hairs in his driver's license picture. He placed his vote and made another joke about not wantingto reveal who he voted for.

     Obama really wanted to be an advocate for getting out and voting. He lead by example and became the first president to vote early. He stressed the fact that it was an easy process and didn't take muchtime. He advised people to vote early so they can get it out of the way, incase of any conflicting issues on election day.  

    



After the Street Fight

 

     In class we watched the documentary "Street Fight" which followed the the 2002 campaign for mayor of Newark, New Jersey. The documentary was very entertaining and had me questioning what happened after the election.

     Sharpe James won the 2002 election against Cory Booker with his dirty tactics. He used any means necessary to become mayor. But in 2006 James announced that he wasn't going to run for a sixth term. 

     Booker ran for mayor of Newark again in 2006, against Ronald Rice. Rice attacked Booker for the large amount of money spent on his campaign, but Booker still won the election with 72% of the votes. 

     Shortly after Sharpe James left office there was a federal investigation in his affairs. James was guilty of selling city owned property to a mistress of his. He sold the property at a fraction of what is was worth, and in turn his mistress sold the property for a profit. 

     James spent 18 months in prison. While in jail he wrote a book about his life titled "A Sharpe View".