When I sat out and observed other people in society I didn't really notice any social problems where I was but I did start to notice the changes from things that used to be social problems but aren't really anymore. For example, on campus I noticed the people on campus and how incredibly independent everyone was, including women. In the past women weren't able to go to most colleges - I know there were exceptions - let alone did they walk around as confident as they do today. Another thing I noticed was people in relationships that were walking around with their significant others, holding hands and whatnot, but one thing I noticed was that it wasn't the men walking with the women or vice versa. In the people I saw they just walked hand in hand together, not one person more dominant or controlling, were in before men seemed to be "walking" their girlfriends. I know not in all cases, but it made me think about all the progress that has been made socially.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prison5oct05,1,1451030.story?coll=la-headlines-California&ctrack=1&cset=true

This article is about the overcrowding of California's prisons. On this past Wednesday Gov. Schwarzenegger declared that it is now a state of emergency. In hopes to solve the problem, the governor plans to transfer inmates to various prisons in different states including Oklahoma, Indiana, Arizona and Tennessee.

This seems like an ineffective way to solve the problem, since you can only get a few of the prisoners out, but there are still more coming in. And, who decides what prisoners are going to get transferred? The good ones? Or the ones that cause trouble. It seems like either way is going to be bias. In the article it said that some of these inmates are living triple bunks and that they have even begun to convert gyms and other normally uninhabital rooms into cells. If they have been doing that for a while, then they have been aware of the issue for some time, so why wait until we are in some state of emergent to do anything about it? For example, if you are running out of gas, its a good idea to get some more before you completely run out, otherwise you will be in more trouble than you were in the beginning. Sure, its not the same as prison space, but the same type of logic applies.

It also seems to be a convenient time to be bringing this up, since the gov. Is running for re-election, he wants to make people happy, and get more votes. Like we were talking about in class, people want to feel safe, and if he can somehow appeal to our want of safeness and security, then he will receive more votes. Since he is in the place of power to begin with, he is able not to say, "well I am doing something to fix this crisis." The other cannidates can say what they intend to do, but the gov. Can get the ball rolling and have something more to show for it, and this can help his campaign as well.