A recent study on how racial discrimination affects American support for Obama and his health care reform revealed some interesting results.

According to the study by Eric Knowles of UC Irvine, the study tested 285 whites, Latinos and Asians for underlying bias against blacks.

About 45 percent of the subjects identified themselves a liberal or very liberal, while 25 percent said they were conservative or very conservative.

The study did not attempt to measure how pervasive prejudice is rather it measures if Obama’s skin color has an effect on the perception of him and his policies.

The results show that half of the participants who were deemed to be most racially biased were 43% most likely to vote against Obama than the other half.

Among those more highly prejudiced participants, 65% liked the health plan when it was attributed to Clinton while only 41% liked it when it was attributed to Obama.

The GOP rebukes the study saying that Obama would not have won and became president if racism existed in a serious level.

I think the study shows that although racism has gone down far enough for us to actually elect a black president.

It did not actually remove some of our preconceptions, ideas or even just negative feelings against people of different races.

It exists in many workplaces where employment decisions are based on a person’s race even though sometimes it is done unconsciously.

Racism will not disappear anytime in the near future. What we can do is work on ourselves to make sure that despite what we think of others, we can be better people by seeing past what we think and see what really is.

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With the holiday season fast approaching, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department got an early Christmas gift when they received a three-year, $874,852 state grant as an aid to their efforts to curb drunk driving.

The grant couldn’t have come at a better time as the holiday’s festivities also bring about parties and events with an unlimited supply of booze – after all, alcohol is most certainly a staple in office Christmas parties.

As a pre-emptive move against the increased number of drunk drivers this season, the grant money will be used to pay overtime compensation for deputies to staff checkpoints, extra patrols, warrant searches, and court stings.

This will largely be implemented in the Sheriff Department’s 12 contract cities which are mostly in South County.
Aside from a 17-day winter holiday enforcement campaign from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3, DUI enforcements will be held on the following holidays:

•    Super Bowl Sunday
•    St. Patrick’s Day
•    Cinco de Mayo
•    Independence Day
•    Memorial Day weekends

An estimated number of 36 people are killed every day by drunk drivers and according to the National Highway and Safety Administration’s (NHTSA), more than 30 percent of 35,000 people killed in car accidents were alcohol-related deaths.

California has seen a 9 percent decrease in the number of DUI fatalities but keeping the numbers down is always a challenge.

The increased presence of law enforcement this holiday, aside from California’s strict DUI laws certainly sheds a whole new meaning to the Christmas jingle which goes, “He knows when you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness’ sake.”

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Tomeka Charee Harris, twenty nine-year old of Fullerton was sentenced to six years in prison for killing her boyfriend and her daughter in a car crash last Jan. 12, 2008.

The high speed car crash on the 91 freeway in Fullerton killed 27 year old Alfred Flores and Zharia Keheian, who was turning two years old the following day. Harris fell asleep while was driving under the influence of methamphetamine.

Her Mitsubishi SUV went through a fence while exiting the East Street off-ramp and crashed into a steel utility pole. Alfred and Zharia suffered serious head injuries before they died.

Harris has pled guilty to two felony counts of vehicular manslaughter by unlawful act and gross negligence while intoxicated.

Driving under the influence, whether the driver is intoxicated with alcohol or drugs, is illegal in California.

While drunk driving may seem more prevalent than driving under the influence of drugs, there are just as many substance abusers as there are drinkers.

In fact, according to a 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 10 million people age 12 and older admitted to driving under the influence of illicit drugs.

Drugged driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving. Drugs can alter perception, cognition, attention, balance, coordination, reaction time, and other skills necessary to drive safely. Even the use of prescription medication prior to driving can dangerously impair driving ability.

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The new S-curve on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge which just opened last September 8, has taken a turn for the worst.

After more than 42 non-fatal car accidents since it opened, a big-rig truck took a big plunge (more than 200 feet) and killed its driver. The 56-year-old Hayward man was allegedly speeding when he lost control of his truck.

According to the investigators, the truck, loaded with pears, was traveling 10 mph over the speed limit when it tipped over the 3-foot-high rail and fell down onto Yerba Buena Island. It is also suspected that the load shifted when the driver hit the S-curve which helped tip the truck over the side.

The driver died immediately after the accident.

Despite the numerous accidents and complaints about the S-curve’s “dangerous” design and the recent fatal accident, the California Highway Patrol believes that it’s safe. They maintain that there is no design flaw and that if people merely followed the posted speed limit, they can make it through the S-curve safely.

Nevertheless, Caltrans will be adding more safety measures and warning signs to get drivers to slow down when approaching the notorious S-curve. 6-inch-wide reflective strips on the barriers will be added as well as a large overhead sign with flashing beacons warning about the speed limit.

According to the CHP, the accident could have easily been prevented as speed has always been a factor in every traffic collision which occurred in the S-curve.

While a lot of drivers would point fingers or play the blame game after an accident, from road defects to faulty designs – most of the time, it is not always the case.

Driver error is still the leading cause of motor vehicle accidents and speeding is a bad driver habit common to most Americans. In fact, more than 1,000 Americans are killed by speeding every month.

Speeding may save time or get you to work promptly but saving your life is more important than shaving a few seconds off your travel time.

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Products and services must meet certain standards before they could be available to the public. For innately hazardous or dangerous products, a warning must be made to inform consumers of the possibility of causing damages or injuries.

In Oceanside, an elderly couple was engulfed in fire when their bathrobe sleeve caught on fire.

Eighty-one year old Evelyn Rogoff was making herself a green tea when their stove’s electric burner set her bathrobe on fire. Her husband, Murray, came to rescue her but was burnt as well. The couple died eventually due to burn injuries.

Susan Brent, the couple’s daughter, sued Blair Corp. for at least $1.9 in damages citing negligence due to the flammability of its bathrobes. Brent alleged that the company failed to warn the public specially its target market – elderly people of the robe’s flammable nature.

Due to the incident, Blair Corp. recalled162, 000 of its chenille robes.

A product liability case may be filed when the action is based on accident-causing defects such as a bathrobe’s flammability. An injured person can bring a negligence claim in addition to a strict liability claim against the manufacturer. These claims may be best pursued through the help of a product liability attorney

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