Graduation

We graduate a week from today. That's awesome. I can't wait for graduation parties and graduation and all night grad. The best part is that all of my relatives are coming up for the weekend and are all going to give me a lot of money. I don't want to have to leave all of my friends though. I have a lot of friends that I will likely never see again after graduation because I simply never see them outside of school. Hopefullly that feeling is replaced by the excitement of meeting new people at UF.

Stephen Strasburg

Stephen Strasburg, the new Nationals pitcher and major league phenom, was given the award of Natinal League player of the week for his first week in the league. He struck out 22 batters in his first two starts, winning both games. He set a record 14strikeouts for a game in his first appearance as a National. The article explains his stats and details of his upcoming schedule. I chose this article because I like baseball and I want to see a local team do well. Ever since Cal Ripken retired the area hasn't had any baseball icons. Ripken was my favorite player and I like the Orioles but they are really ba dlately. I still like the Orioles but I'm happy that the Nationals at least have some prospects for success. It was well-written and I enjoyed.

Senior reflection 2

All AP exams are over and I'm in 6 AP classes. the year should be over. I don't blame teachers for continuing to teach for the remaing month or so because that's their job. It is stupid to have the exams that early and expect students who know where they are going to college to care what is going on anymore. We aren't in school by choice, and we have already reached our goal of getting into college. Get off our backs about senioritis because the last twelve years have been preparation for colleg, well, we are either in college or not by now and AP exams are over so why do we have to keep being tortured?

Current event 2

I read an editorial pertaining to a boycott of Arizona based companies by large west coast cities in response to the severe new laws against illegal immigration in Arizona. Oakland, Seattle, and San Diego have claimed that they will boycott businesses that are headquartered in Arizona to show discord for the new laws. The edotorial says that these are just bluffs because the large cities would not want to spend more money by boycotyting the current companies. The main products that come out of Arizona are traffic cameras that the large cities would have to spend more money on were they to actually uphold their boycotts. I chose this article because the issue of illegal immigration is interesting to me. I think that everyone in America wants money over everything else and the principles that these cities stand behind are shadowed by the money they might lose. It was well written and thoroughly explained how much hippocracy and capitalistic most cities are. I enjoyed the article because it provides a good example for the stance of America: Money comes first.

senior reflection

I wish my senior year football season was better. I don't mean the final record, But rather the maount of fun we had. Freshman year was the most fun I've ever head playing an organized sport. This year, even though I played a lot, was too stressful. It reflects society. People with genuine potential realize their skill and decide that they do not need to work at it. America would be a lot better if everyone had more external motivation to perform at a higher level.

Blog Current Event 1

Lawrence Taylor was arrested last week for raping a prostituute in New York. He is accused of assaulting a 16 year old girl who had been forced to be a prostitute by a man named Rasheed Davis. Davis drove her to Taylor's hotel room, but she managed to text her uncle the details of the situation on the drive to the hotel. Her uncle called the police and they caught Davis and Taylor. Taylor got out on bail and claims that he didn't have sex with her. The article goes on to decribe the highlights of Taylor's Hall Of Fame NFL career and his multiple arrests for drug use and tax evasion since the mid 90's.
I chose this article because I like Lawrence Taylor as a football player because he was one of the best players of all time. I also chose it because professional sports stars are constantly in thenews for their wrongdoings. They are gifted with exceptional skill and are able to do what they love for fame and appraisal. They are obliged to do the right thing as role models for the community becuase they are some of the most recognizable figures on the planet. The article was well written, in my opinion because it wasn't biased and simply showed the facts. I didn't enjoy the article because it's about a terrible crime. It interested me to hear that a Hall Of Fame football player would do that.

Bart Stupak, Coward

The article I read discusses the problem of abortion within the new health care bill. It explains how the bill passed despite the section that allows abortion and for such abortions to be paid for by the American taxpayers. Stupak is a Michigan Democrat who, along with other house democrats, agreed to pass the health care bill knowing that the abortion clause was still part of the bill. These democratic representatives have been staunch pro-life supporters in the past but agreed to the bill anyway. Obama gave an executive order against abortion as a cover up, but his order does not have a higher power than the health care bill, which makes it a gimmick to assuage the anger of democratic voters. I honestly don’t have an opinion about abortion, it should probably be situational and the background and specific decision making by the two possible parents should be under review. It is just unfair to promise a pro-life term of office when they sell out their beliefs to get the bill passed, which would have been rejected without these votes.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/22/bart-stupak-coward/

Editorial 4

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/12/federal-bonus-bonanza/

My editorial is about the increasing benefits packages given to government employees. These government workers perform jobs that are mundane and easily done and are given extra money to keep them happy. The amount of money given to a first year government employee is always increasing while their productivity decreases. The jobs that receive these bonuses are food-service workers, janitors, and secretaries. These are all jobs that can be done by unskilled people and yet they receive a few extra thousand every year. One employee for the department of the Army got thirty thousand to NOT retire. I personally think that the government should get paid based on its results. The results are not very evident so they do not deserve to get pay increases for no reason. People in private jobs that perform the same tasks are paid less and have little or no job security or benefits packages. The government doesn’t seem to be helping the American people as much as they theoretically should, so they should have to suffer the effects of the recession like everyone else.

Three Navy Seals are being brought up on charges for illegally abusing a terrorist after arrest. The men were accused of punching Abed in the stomach and lying to their superiors about it. The story is hard to believe because terrorists are usually trained to tell lies to get American troops in trouble. The editorial has an obvious hatred towards the Muslim “freedom fighter” and is biased towards the Americans. The editorial clams that the man must get a fair trial instead of having the charges simply dropped. The accuser killed four American civilians in Iraq and hung them over the Euphrates River and is sentenced to death regardless. The court has said that they will likely be acquitted of the crime but that they don’t want to look like they are hiding anything. I agree with the article because they were probably baited and the murderer deserved it. Jail isn’t enough for people who do that kind of stuff. They should be tortured and treated like animals because that’s what they do to Americans when they are in their country.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/05/save-the-seals-62961423/

Puerto Rican Statehood

The editorial I chose is from the Washington Times and is about the possibility of making Puerto Rico an official state. It describes the bill currently under review in the house and provides the details of the possibility of putting statehood up for election for Puerto Ricans. The Democrats want it to become a state because it is largley democratic, but the people have recently voted to stay a commonwealth. The democrats have proposed a tricky vote to make the people of Puerto Rico and all former residents vote for remaining a commonwealth vs. statehood, independence, or a hybrid. The vote will be commonwealth vs. everything else and if commonwealth loses then the vote will be statehood vs, an unpopular option to force the people of PR to make itself a state. I think this is a very clever plan because the democrats want more power in congresss and the representatives of PR would help them gain such power since it would likely be a democratic state. It is unconstitutional because they are tricking the pople of the island into being a pawn for the democratic party. It isnt fair and if it passes in the House then the recent election to prevent a cloture vote will allow republicans to filibuster the bill.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/26/puerto-rican-run/

Editorial !

The editorial I chose pertains to the issue of cover-ups and security in the United States under Obama and Bush. The article is about the court cases of two men of arab heritage that were seized and even tortured. These court cases are in question because they were dropped by the American court system and brought to light under the British court system. The men were detained at airports and, under the security system put in by President Bush, were sent to the countries they had been born in to be tortured and later sent to Guantanamo Bay. The editorial claims that Obama has not done anything to fix the abuses of the Bush Administration and claims that it needs to install some credibility to the system and to the Obama reputation. I think that Obama does need to fix the security problems because they are basically racist. Bush implemented a system that profiles people who look to be from the Middle East. Two middle eastern men that were citizens of develpoed western nations were tortured and imprisoned because of harsh regulations and misinformation. The current system needs to change because America does not need to look like a racist anymore. These two stories of foreigners on American soil being kidnapped is very Saddamesque.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/opinion/15mon1.html?ref=global-home

The Haitian disaster should recieve more aid from the world. The news casters present the idea that our recession creates limits to the money we can afford to give to Haiti. Our debt is not more important than the lives of the entire haitian population. Those countries to whom we owe money will understand our graciousness in this time of need.

Joe Heller drew "Mark Mcgwire" and published it in the Green Bay Gazette on January 17th 2010. The cartoon deals with Mark Mcgwire admitting to taking steroids during his career in the MLB, and the effects of his steroid use on his life. i agree with the message that it is embarrassing to see a man lie to congress and recant his story. He used an unfair advantage and shouldn't be in the hall of fame.

Question of the Week

I am still reserved about the success of the Obama administration. Obama can not blame predecessors anymore, he has been in office for a full year and Iraq is still decades from being under control and the policies and efforts he has made along with his administration are not overwhelmingly impressive. I think he has the right path chosen but the execution is what has fallen short so far. I predict that this year will bring a higher efficiency. The Obama Administrtaion needs to work with the economy because the recession is still in full effect and that must be the top priority in their minds for 2010.

The author of The State of American Security is wolverton and was published on 1/10/2010 by Cagle Cartoons. The cartoon deals with the strength of American security measures pertaining to the war on terrorism and portrays the message that our efforts are ineffective. I agree with the message and believe that our border control and checkpoints aren't doing the job because problems are still occuring.