Topeka "renames" itself "Google, Kansas"

Topeka "renames" itself "Google, Kansas", by Sutter, John CNN News, 3/2/10, Tech CNN.com

The mayor of Topeka, Kansas Bill Bunten has an email account, but his assistants take care of most of his Internet stuff. Although, Bunten still thinks that the youth of Kansas could use faster Internet speed. And so he has decided that Topeka should rename itself for a month. "What"? You may ask. Well the answer is "Google". "Google, Kansas". The mayor was quoted saying "It's just fun. We're having a good time of it. "Why"? Another question you might ask. Well, here's the answer. Google is doing a program that several cities are battling out for it to be placed in. This program is called the "Fiber of Communities" program. Google will set up extremely fast Internet speeds. The data transfer rates will skyrocket further than 1 gigabyte per second. According to CNN google will choose 1 or more cities for the pilot project. Bunten has hopes that their name change will get the companys attention, and will choose the new city of google as their test subject.

Renaming the city of Topeka as google sounds very ridiculous, and yet on the other hand it does seem harmless. There is nothing wrong with it. Although if this plan to get fast internet speed doesn't work then mayor Bunten would have gone through this whole thing for nothing. Also the mayor of Topeka barely ever uses the internet. As it was said in CNN.com. That seems very strange.

1. Why do you think Bunten wants faster internet when he would barely ever use internet?

2. Do you think it's ridiculous or silly for Topeka to rename itself Google?

Raised in the U.S., but still illegal

by Preston, Julia
New York Times
Pages 8 to 9
March 15Th

An honors student at Harold Washington College named Rigoberto Padilla was arrested January, 2009. Why? Because he ran a red light? But as you'll soon see the plot thickens. It was then discovered that Rigoberto was illegally brought to America when he was 6. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that over 1,000,000 people have done the same as Rigoberto. According to the article on January 4th, immigrants from Miami Dade College started four months worth of walking. Their route was from Miami to Washington D.C. as a protest to the lacking of granting legal status to illegal immigrants. The four were quoted saying they have a "deep desire for complete citizenship." The four are doing this "citizenship walk" because they have hit dead ends in their jobs because they lack in legal status. They walk for a passage of legislation called the "Dream Act". The Dream Act will provide citezenship to the illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. when they were under sixteen, graduate from high schools in America, and who do two years of college or do service in the military. The national coordinator of We Dream, Carlos Saaverda said this "maybe our parents feel like immigrants, but we feel like Americans because we have been raised here on American values."


In my opinion I don't really get why there really needs to be citizenship and things like that. From my point of view it seems like someone can only be from the place they were first. It's like moving from Ohio to New Jersey, and then you can't find a job because everyone says "sorry you have different nationality." Why do immigrants need the governments permission to live in the U.S.? I can't think of one reason it's a law.

1. Why do you think people might want proof of citizenship in everyday lifestyles.

2. Why "other than jobs and school" do you think that immigrants might want citizenship.