Worthy thoughts: 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Cleveland

     Recently in Cleveland, the Cleveland School Districts plan to close 7 schools. They have to do this because next schoool they face a $47.5 million deficit. Making these cuts will save the district a much needed $74 million in the following two years.
     There will be a total of about 1,000 people losing their jobs. With the 7 schools closing, there will be 835 school employees being layed off and 135 employees that were set to retire will not be replaced. 650 of the 835 employees being layed off are teachers.
     I feel that Cleveland School Districts should not make this many cuts, too many people will be without jobs. They should close some of the schools because they need money, but not that many. This many cuts will make it so that about 1,000 people won't have jobs, so they won't be able to make money for themselves and family.
     This relates to class it has to do with jobs and the economy.
Links:

Cleveland school

Japan

     Recently in Japan there was a an earthquake, a tsunami, and nuclear problems. The U.S. has been helping them financially.
     It all started with an earthquake. It came in as a 9.0 on the Richter Scale and was the most powerful earthquake that ever hit Japan. The earthquake caused a massive tsunami that destroyed citites and farmland in the northern part of Japan and set of warning at the west coast of the U.S. and South America. After this, radioactive leaks and explosions occured in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station that caused partial meltdowns. Also, at another reactor, spent fuel rods overheated and caught on fire, causing radioactive material to be released into the air. Traces of radiation were found in Tokyo's water and in water pouring from the reactors into the ocean.
     As of March 29, the death toll was more than 11,000, the number of people missing was more than 17,000, and more than 190,000 people remained housed in temporary shelters.
     I feel that what happened to Japan was terrible. I am happy that we are doing our part and helping them with their needs. I think that all countries that can help, should.
     This relates to class because it has to do with foreign affairs. In class we talked about what the U.S. is doing to help.
     Links:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/japan/index.html

Earthquake

Tsunami

Nuclear Explosion

Monday, February 28, 2011

Divided Government and Gridlock

   Divide government is when one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of Congress. Gridlock happens because of a divided government. Gridlock is the inability to accomplish a goal. Gridlock can be both a good and a bad thing.
   A divided government can be good because it encourages more policing of those in power by the opposition, limits spending, and the expansion of undesirable laws. It also forces the two parties to get along so that they can be able to work with one another. Its an example of checks and balances.
   A divided government can also be bad because sometimes the two parties will refuse to work with one another, which means that the government shuts down. It can make it so that a law can never be passed. If the president wants to create a law or bill that Congress does not then nothing gets accomplished. This has recently happened. Obama wanted to pass a health care bill, but the Republicans in Congress don't, so therefore it will never happen.
   I think that divided government and gridlock is a bad thing, but can sometimes be good. I feel that the government should always get along, but if there is gridlock then it can't. In some cases gridlock is needed, like if there's a law or bill that the president wants to make that the people don't want, then depending on who's in Congress, it could be made.
   This relates to class because divided government and gridlock were two of our vocabulary words and we took notes on it.
   Links

Divided Government

Gridlock

Egypt

   Egypt has recently had a major change in their government. Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak resigned on February 11, 2011. He was the president of Egypt for 30 years. He told the people of Egypt that he was going to resign in September during the elections, but resigned a few days later.   He resigned due to protests against him that started on January 25, 2011. Because of the protests he told the people of Egypt that he would not run for president in the September election and that there would be constitutional reform. This did not satisfy the people of Egypt, so they kept on protesting.
   The next day clashes broke out between people for Mubarak and people against Mubarak. Some of the people for Mubarak turned out to be thieves and the police dressed in regular clothing. They were doing dirty work as if the nation was split.
   On February 10, 2011 Mubarak told the public that he would not be resigning until September. The next day Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned. The public cheered and was very happy.
   I am happy that Mubarak is no longer the president of Egypt. This is because I feel that it was unfair for Mubarak to be the president for 30 years. He was more of a dictator than a president. The people didn't have a say in what was going on. Egypt should have a government like ours, where the president can't serve any longer than 10 years.
   This relates to class because we discussed what was going on in Egypt and what we had seen on the news.
   Links

Monday, January 31, 2011

State of the Union

     This years state of the union speech was different from all the others. This year President Obama made the Democrats and the Republicans sit next to each other. He felt that if the government couldn't work together then we wouldn't be able to get anything accomplished. He brought up many important topics. He talked about improving education, creating jobs, improving immigration, foreign policy, and the health care reform.
     President Obama wants to improve our nations education. The U.S. is behind in education compared to other schools, we need to raise our math and science scores. Race to the top is a grant that will help the U.S. achieve this goal. Obama also wants to get rid of no child left behind and replace it with a new and better one.
     Obama wants to create jobs. The U.S. has many unempolyed people due to the recession. He wants to create more jobs so that people will be able to work and earn a living for themselves and their families.
     Obama wants to watch our country's foreign policy. He wants to continue to watch the government that we set up in Iraq to make sure that everything is going ok. He wants to watch Iran and Korea because they have been making nuclear weapons and testing them, he wants to watch out and make sure that they're not going to attack us. He also wants to start taking troops out of Afganistan.
      I feel that all the things that Obama said in the state of the union speech were important. All of his ideas are good and will greatly improve our country.
     This relates to class because we discussed the state of the union speech.

Education

     Our country's education is behind compared to other schools. In 2007, we were ranked number 9 in math and number 11 in science out of 18 countries. Since other countries have higher math and science scores, they get excepted into our colleges over us. This leaves people without the opportunity to go to college, get a degree, and get a job. Some of the foreigners who have gone to our colleges have gone back to their own country, applying what they learned there.
     To help our country's education, the government is using a program called Race To The Top. Race To The Top is a grant that gives money to a state that they use to improve their school systems. 12 states have been awarded money: Delaware, District of Colombia, Florida Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Tenessee. Ohio was awarded $400 million; the states that were awarded the most money Florida and New York, who were awarded $700 million.
     No Child Left Behind is another program that was created to help public school eductaion. Congress has given massive funds to elementary and secondary schools that have improved test scores, quality of education, the improvement of standards, and has given attention to minority groups. In 2010 Barack Obama made the reauthorization process of No Child Left Behind on of his top priorities. He is working now to get Congress to initiate reform bills, but Congress wants him to amend the bill because they feel that changes need to be made in order for the bill to work for our country's educational system.
     This relates to class because in class we discussed Obama's speech and this was one of the topics in his speech and one of the topics that we discussed.
     Links:

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

     Don't ask, don't tell is commonly used for a policy in the military. This policy makes so that the military cannot ask people if they are gay because if they are then they will not be allowed to join the military, this is the same for openly gay people. The military cannot accept gay people into it because of a mandate that was established.
     The don't ask part means that a superior cannot investigate a serviceman's orientation in the absence of disallowed behavior, but creditable evidence of homosexual behavior can cause an investigation. The superiors violated this rule, so the don't tell part was created. Superiors would perform unauthorized investigations and harass any servicemen they thought were homesexual. This made "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue, don't harass.
     A bill to repeal don't ask, don't tell was just passed in 2010. It has not gone in affect and it won't until the President, Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs make certain that the repeal will not harm military readiness.
     In September Judge Virginia Phillips ruled that the don't ask, don't tell ban was unconstitutional, that it violated the 1st and 5th amendments. In October she granted a worldwide immediate injunction prohibiting the Department of Defense from enforcing or complying with the don't ask, don't tell policy. The Ninth Circut granted a appeal to take place later that month. On October 19, military recruiters could accept openly gay people into the military.
     In December the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs, Chief of Naval Operations, and Commmandant of the Coast Guard siad that the repeal would cause little diruption. The heads of Army, Airforce, and Marines said that the repeal would cause additional stress on combat focused forces during combat.
     I do not personal believe in same sex relationships, but I do believe that don't ask, don't tell should be repealed. The amendments in the constitution provide rights that are given to every person in the U.S., the don't ask, don't tell policy violates the rights of gay people. Gays who are in the military cannot express the way they feel or talk openly about the way they feel without being forced to leave the military, and openly gay people can't even join. I don't think thats right.
     In class we discussed what this policy means and how it works. We also discussed how republiocans are against it and democrats support it.
     Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_ask,_don't_tell

Third Parties

     The U.S. has a two-party system and it has been that way for over century. Third parties rarely ever win elections, but they can effect what happens in an election. They can draw attention to issues that have been ignored by the two major parties, Democrats and Republicans. The most common third parties are Constitution Party, Green Party, and Libertarian Party.
     The Constitution Party is the third largest party by registered members in America. The Constitution Party is a right-wing political party. The party's goals are to restore the government to its constitutional limits and our law back to its Biblical fooundation. The party's largest focus is on stopping immigration and giving illegal immigrants stricter penalties.
     The Green Party has won elections at the local levels. Most of the peole in the Green Party who have won public office in the U.S. have won nonpartisan elections. John Eder, Audie Bock, and Richard Carroll are the highest-ranking Greens in the U.S. John Eder was a member of the Maine House of Representatives, Audie Bock was in the California State Assembly, and Richard Carroll was in the Arkansas House of Representatives. They emphasize environmentalism, social justice, respect for diversity, peace, and nonviolence.
     The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the U.S. They want to avoid foreign military or economic entanglements with other nations and respect for freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries. Hundreds of Libertarians have beem elected into public office, and thousands have run for office under the Liberatrian banner.
     I believe that the U.S. should not become a third party system, but we should pay more attention to them and let them get elected into office more often. Third parties have many good ideas, concentrate on improtant issues that are ignored by Democrats and Republicans, and are supported by people all over the country.
     In class we talked about how many people are a part of a third party and how they are not commonly elected into office. We also talked about how the U.S. is a two-party system and how we use a winner-take-all system. If we had a three-party system then many people would be unhappy because on party could get 20% of the votes, the second could get 45% of the votes, and the third would get 35% of the votes. Well the second party would win even though only 45% of the people voted for that party.
     Links: