Beginning My Reflection

American Icon Reflection:

I am proud of this work because it was one of the first project of the year and I wanted it to represent some of my best writing. I spent a lot of time editing and revising my writing. There was also a lot of research involved because I didn't know any details of my icons past which I needed to include in my essay.

When choosing my icon I made sure to pick someone I was interested in. This helped in my research portion of the project because I had already been to some Eminem websites before. A portion of the essay was about his childhood and the rest included his accomplishments throughout life and how I would like to have similar accomplishments.

A link to my final product can be found here.

H2O Project Reflection:

I'm proud of the H2O project because of how much time and effort I spent on the writing. All my ideas were original and the pictures that I used were taken myself. I am also proud of this particular project because all of my ideas were original. It also felt good to know more about the singer because now I know that we have a lot of similarities.

On top of all the work at school that included doing research, critiques, editing, and revising I had to spend time at home working on this project. This required good time management and to spend an equal amount of time on other assignments from different classes. In order to create an efficient program I spent a lot of time studying how Heal the Bay, Coastkeeper and other programs worked. It was key to have a program similar to other successful programs because the the program need to have a realistic plan. I believe my product turned out as it did because of the time spent after school and all the extra critiques I got.

Final Product:

Neptune's Navy

Paul Watson was born on December 2, 1950 in the North shore of Lake Ontario. He is known for his courage, sometimes considered recklessness, and passion towards animals. All his life he grew up protecting animals, when he was a young boy Paul had shot a kid with a BB gun just before he was about to kill a bird. He sometimes even considered himself "as a fearless and uncompromising defender of animals."

In his attempt to defend animals such as whales or seals he has created Neptune's Navy. He likes to call his crusade Operation Asshole because the process involves ramming one vessel into another. This is just one step to his sometimes awkward procedures.

Moments before ramming a vessel, Watson will radio its captain and say something that is very official, for example: "Please remove yourselves from these waters. You are in violation of international conservation regulations." This sometimes isn't very affective so he will move on to more bizarre tactics such as launching hundreds of points of butter onto the other ship, or using water cannons to launch light bulbs full of paint.

At times he is not successful, mainly because he is willing to risk lives to protect the whales. One incident had led to Watson arresting a whaling vessel on the high seas, but he was constrained by the fact that he had no real authority to do so. He then called officials in New Zealand and Australia and requested that a naval vessel take the Japanese ship into custody. Both countries refused. Australia's environment minister, Malcolm Turnbull, publicly denounced the tactics that the Sea Shepherd crew had used and he had said at one point, "Threatening to put lives at risk or vessels at risk, is completely unacceptable, they must act safely and peacefully. They are not advancing the anti-whaling cause they espouse by threatening lives in this way." He eventually gave the boat free passage.

So at times he may not become successful, but I believe he is becoming a great threat to whalers and may be diminishing the amount of people hunting whales, seals and other animals.

He's Not Black

I think Marie Arana means we have progressed as far as electing a non white president, but we still insist in calling African Americans black. She even says, "We are racially sophisticated enough to elect a non-white president, and we are so racially backward that we insist on calling him black. Progress has outpaced vocabulary." I agree with her completely, I feel it's time for the language to move on and for us to catch up with our progress vocabulary wise.

We have progressed somewhat vocabulary wise, such as we don't call an African American a negro, calling African Americans black in my opinion is not nearly as bad. How racially sophisticated are we anyway? Well I think we have come along way, we have abolished slavery, African Americans have gotten the same rights as anyone else and everyone is considered an equal.

There are many things Marie Arana means when she says we're racially backward. I think she may be talking about how we consider someone to be black or white or Hispanic etc... If someone has lighter skin we consider them white and if someone has dark skin we consider them black. Marie Arana gave an example as follows:"I understand everything you say. I too am a child of two cultures. My mother is German, my father African American. I was born in Germany, speak German and call myself a German-American. But look at me. What would you say I am?" She was referring to her skin, which was light black; her hair, lush and curly; and her eyes, a shining onyx. "I am fifty percent German. But no one who sees me believes it."

That in my opinion is racially backward and we should not be classifying people by their skin color.

Arana writes: "Isn't it time for the language to move on?" How do you feel about this? Why?

Thanksgiving

Part one...

I'm most thankful for my family and friends.

Part two...

I will have a written rough draft to my final product and get all the pictures I'm going to use somewhere where I can access them easily.

H2O Project Progress

I've discovered that cleaning the beach isn't the main problem, its keeping it clean. A group of people can get together and clean up the trash, but it will just get dirty again. That's why we need to follow the 10-step program by Clean Beaches Plan and manage our beaches correctly.

Sometimes when I bring up my project people ask who cares if there is wildlife at the beach, this surprises me because they don't understand that this won't only affect animals, it will affect people and the health of the beach.

The next step in my project will be rewriting my rough draft and get ready for the second critique. I would also like to try and get an interview with a wildlife biologist and get some more pictures.

H2O Product Models

Here is a link to an article that is similar to one I may do.

• It gives a list of things people can do to keep beaches clean, similar to my list.
• Also gives background information similar to the background information I'm giving about dog beach.
• They also describe how it can effect people.

Here is another link to a blog I found.

• I'm using this blog as a model because it includes many pictures.
• It doesn't only include pictures of clean beatches, but shows dirty beaches as well.
• This blog also has a list of ideas to keep the beaches clean.

I can integrate all these ideas into my H2O project and use pictures, and write a detailed article that includes the list of ideas to keep the beaches clean.

Blog #19

In An Eternal Revolution, Orlando Patterson writes about the "struggle of black Americans to be incorporated in the public sphere." He also stated that women and the young have been somewhat excluded and are now more involved. Some other groups he could have mentioned was Native Americans, Hispanics, or Asians. According to Chair Rodriguez a record number of Americans participated in the 08 election.

The process of including one specific group of people into the overall voting population in America is as follows:

• Find the percentage of the overall population of the specific group.
• Find if the majority is Democrat or Republican.
• Then find the recent or past voting records for the majority of the group.

All these groups were excluded in political decisions just 100-200 years ago. Now a large portion of voters are included in these groups and we have the first black president. I agree with an article I read about how it swept away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.

H2O Research Plan

a) All resources Needed
-Visit to PB point
-Camera
-Over the phone interview wildlife biologist/beach goers

b)All People Needed
-Craig Reiser
-Classmates to look over article
-Residents that live around PB point

c)Detailed Schedule
November:
7-Discuss my project with my teacher, and create plan for next two weeks.
8-Create interview questions and Schedule interview with Craig Reiser.
9-12-Visit PB point and take pictures.
13-17-Create questions for beach goers.
18-21-Begin rough draft to article.
22-30-Thanksgiving break/weekend.

December:
1-5-Get article critiqued and begin final draft.
6-11-Complete final product
12-H2O project Due

Election Reflection

Part 1:
I feel that the results of the election were expected to turn out as they did. I am personally glad that Obama won and felt that he deserved to win. Over the next few years it would be great if we can start pulling our troops out of Iraq and start fixing our economy I am also hoping our county can start relying on alternate energy sources. Some people ma be disappointed with how some of the props may have turned out. I'm concerned that some of the props might not help our community the way we would like them to.

Part 2:
My knowledge on civic knowledge has increased exponentially since the beginning of the year. Blogging has kept me up to date and helps me relate things we talk about in clas such as the social contract to current events such as the presidential debates.

I think we should have more class discussion on specific topics. Blogs that concentrate on a specific topic can sometimes make it easier to learn about the topic. When I'm in a political discussion outside of school I feae that I am more educated on the matter. my knowledge on politics also effects my opinion somewhat.

H2O Project Research Ideas

1.Will Global Warming have an effect on the amount of bacteria/Ph levels at any San Diego beach? If so, will it be a significant difference?

For this research idea plan on also concentrating on how the bacteria/PH levels will effect animals in the area and determine if it will be safe for people to go into the water at all.

Global warming will not only change sea levels, weather, agriculture, challenged resources, species extinction, it could prevent surfers and families to play in the water because bacteria/PH levels will continue to rise. Global warming and San Diego says global warming will take effect much faster than has been predicted. "Bacterial levels can increase significantly in ocean and bay waters..." according to Beach and Bay.

Report Warns of Coastal Flooding and Rising Sea Levels in California states, "sea level is expected to rise an additional 22 to 35 inches by the end of the century" and this would inundate coastal areas with salt water, accelerate coastal erosion, threaten vital levees and inland water systems and disrupt wetlands and natural habitats.

2.Is there any other way to clean local beaches and restore the wildlife without having to block off the beach as they did at dog beach?

For this research idea I plan to give a brief summary of how dog beach was closed off for about 2 years and how it helped restore the wildlife in the area and clean up the near by wetlands.

Clean Beaches Plan gives a list of activities and a description of each and how long each one should take. The plan will lead to healthier beaches and better beach management.

For this idea I am looking for a current beach that is closed off or one that has endangered wildlife in the area and conjure an idea based on my research that will restore the wildlife and make it healthier.

ACORN and Voter Suppression

ACORN is a community activist group that operates nationwide and has recently been accused of massive voter fraud by the McCain campaign. According to factcheck, Obama has “long and deep” ties to the group. In the past few weeks, the McCain campaign has accused the group of perpetrating voter fraud by intentionally submitting invalid registration forms. It wouldn't matter anyway, ACORN is not aloud to throw out registration forms even if they are suspected to be fraud. If there is suspicions that a form is fake then, according to factcheck, ACORN says that it first flags all suspicious registrations. Investigator Hayes followed up, confirmed that many registrations were faked, and found a former ACORN worker who confessed to faking most of her forms. ACORN is not just sittng by and letting their employees get away with this, a total of 33 employees have been fired for "suspicious" voter registration activities. Also according to factcheck, ACORN says that such raids are part of "a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression,"

Even though any attempt of fraud will have no affect of the presidential race the Obama campaign effectively pushing back against any GOP-inspired shenanigans. It is also said in Stop GOP Vote Suppression in a recent report in the New York Times found that in some battleground states, for every new voter registered two other voters have been removed. That is just one example of voter suppression, in UPDATED: Voter Suppression Growing Nationwide there is a portion of the article that talks about an incident where a college student was looking foward to voting in her first presidential election. Just two weeks before the article was written she got a letter from local election officials, it stated: "This office has received notification from the state of Georgia indicating that you are not a citizen of the United States and therefore, not eligible to vote." She was one of more than 50,000 registered Georgia voters who have been "flagged" because of a computer mismatch in their personal identification information.

Voter suppression is becoming a serious problem and is a major scandal in my opinion. While on the other hand ACORN is not a very big scandal and can be taken care of easily. For example Freddie Johnson has registered to vote 42 times in Cuyahoga County since the first of the year. Most, if not all, of his sign-ups were solicited by canvassers for ACORN, but this cannot be controlled by ACORN, they have to turn in all registrtion forms by law, and ACORN is firing suspicous employees.

Humanities This Year

I believe the most important "thing" I have learned this year would have to be how the colonies seperated from Great Britain and how John Adams contributed to the seperation.I never really learned about how the colonies seperated from Great Britain. The trial that took place after the soldiers shot into the mob it set a foundation for he seperation and John Adams led the trial. The socratic seminar also really helped me understand the importance of the case and why John Adams thought it was his best work.

The work I am most proud of this year would have to be the Newspaper project. I never learned about the Lincoln-Douglas debates to this extent and writing the article about the Alton debate really helped me with writing overall. This project was a difficult project t get done, but my group worked hard and we finished on time. I also think made a large contribution to the finished product, such as how the layout looked and I also helped fill in blank space on the Newspaper. For example I said we should have four columns and I made an extra article about a gun that was coming out at the time of he debates.

If we had more time to work on the Newspaper I think they would have come out alot better. We had some typo's and allignment issues that we could have revised. In the future I will reread the whole article and edit mistakes/typo's. There was also no one in the group familiar with the program we were using so we had to get tech support alot of the time. During this project I learned alot about ledes, the teacher gave us specific directioins on how a lede shoud look and what it should include. The teacher also showedt us captions, pull quotes, by lines etc.. and other things we might find on a Newspaper that we should include in our project.

08 Presidential Debates Review

I read an article that graded each Obama and McCain on their performance in the first debate. It saidthat Obama won in every aspect. I agreed with the article and also came to a conclusion that Obgama won, after watching the debate online. In this debate Obama and McCain get their first chance to speak directly to the public and tell some of their policies.

Both Palin and Biden made mistakes in the Vice Presidential Debate, in class we discussed that Palin, not surprisingly, beat around the bush and never directly answered a question. Biden also made his share of mistakes, but in my opinion won without ease. In the vice Presidential Debate each nominee gets a chance to give support to their partner and also give some of their own polocies.

In the second Presidential Debate McCain took an approach to attack Obama and point out things Obama either did wrong or mistakes he has made in the past. Obama took it well, and ended up winning the debate constantly correcting McCain and overall doing a good job. In this debate they both had another chance to speak directly to the public, maybe correct some mistakes they may have made in the last debate, and tell some more of their policies.

This was one of my favorite debates because of how McCain got emotional near the end of the debate, it might of been a move of desperation, but in my opinion it wasn't very professional and I don't know what he expected to get out of it. Obama clearly won in my eyes, he stayed professional the whole debate. This was their last chance to talk directly to the public and give their opinions on some major topics.

Presidential Debates

The Presidential Debates have changed alot since they first started. They still mainly have the same purpose. The purpose of the debates is for the candidates to express their opinions on different issues.

In 1858 having a black person as president was unthinkable, but now it is a very good possibility that we will have our first black president. In 1858 women weren't even aloud to vote, now we could very well have a women as Vice President.

Has the Internet Changed How People Approach Democracy?

How has the Internet affected the way that Americans approach democracy? How does the Internet and it's effects fit into the historical context of technology and democracy in America?

In my opinion it has, but it depends on how you define approach. The Internet keeps people more informed while in the 1800's you would have to go to the debates or buy a newspaper. It also keeps people less involved and makes it less personal, people can get an opinion online without knowing the person.

In class we talked about how sometimes the Internet isn't very private, for example if you have a conversation on myspace anyone can view it. So some people might think democracy doesn't protect everyones privacy.

In 200 years from now the internet would have just be a stepping stone to some other technology and they might feal the same way about it as we do the internet. If as time progresses and technology advances people view democracy different it should be changed somewhat according the present needs.

Sources Cited:
nytimes.com

Newspaper Reflection

My group wrote our articles about the final Lincoln-Douglas debate, The Alton debate. It mostly covered topics of their previous debates so we could search for their opinions on a topic from more than one debate if we had to. Some of the topics were hard to find pictures for, such as The Dred Scott case, the only ones I could find were current books or a front of a movie.

All of my group members got their articles done on time so I wasn't worried about missing the deadline. The only problem was none of the group members had any experience in the program we were using for the layout and design. I was worried that we would have a lot problems, but thanks to some of the other classmates for helping we didn't have to worry about not knowing how to do something on the program. Although I am not completely satisfied with how the newspaper turned out I am happy with how I contributed to the final product.

We had extra space on the layout once we had posted the images and articles so I researched some other things that were going on in 1858. I wanted to find the weather or find if there were any criminals wanted at the time, but what I found was the Tom Ball. It was a gun that was coming out and I wrote about the guns features and how it looked.

For future projects similar to this I would like to contribute more to the layout and design than I did in this project. One thing learned while making my article that the more critiques you get from different people the more perspectives you will get and maybe someone will notice a mistake no one else saw. I also learned that having an action verb in your headlines is very helpful, it catches peoples attention and having a short and to the point lede help keep the readers attention.

Some of the group members had a hard time getting along, there were also some that weren't staying on track some of the time. I did everything I could to help and am glad of my contributions I made to the final product and in the end I liked the experience and how the newspapers came out.

Finding My Inner Photographer

Taking this photo I first tried to get one of her eyes at point of interest and shot at eye level so it would be a unique point of view and so her eyes would stand out. The picture was taken extra close so she would take up most of the frame.

In this image I tried to get one point of interest on Ben's face and one on the flowers. I wanted the background to stand out so I tried to use depth of field and have the background stand out.

Lincoln-Douglas and Recent Debates

1.The Lincoln-Douglas debates took place in 1858 in 7 public debates and the key issue of the debates was whether or not slavery would be allowed in new territories of the United States. I thought the Alton debate was very interesting because of what Douglas said, "The federal government should not establish laws establishing slavery because each state deserved to do so itself."

Lincoln had a completely different view. If we would let the states choose for themselves slavery would continue. Lincoln apposed slavery, he supported federalism and wanted it to be up to the government.

In 1854 Lincoln was upset by the anti-slavery agitation which was created by the Actís repeal of the Missouri Compromise shortly after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by congress. He did everything he could to support Anti-Kansas-Nebraska candidates when they were up for election.

2. In class we discussed the recent presidential debates and some some of the candidates policies. What I found interesting is that McCain switched his motto to change from experience while Obama's same motto was change.This put McCain ahead of Obama in terms of number of votes. Even though McCain said he wanted change he did not change any of his policies. So it made me wonder if people were leaning toward McCain because of his skin color. I think changing his motto was just a move of desperation, he changed what he believed in just for a few more votes. Other blogs such as Demographics and Politics and Lincoln vs Douglas & Obama vs. McCain have some of the same views as mine.


Sources Cited:
Finch, Edward. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Freeport, Illinois: Lincoln-Douglas Society: 2000. Available from: http://www.Lincoln-Douglas.org ; accessed [8-9-08]

GIS

A GIS, also known as a geographical information system, is an information system for capturing, storing, analyzing, managing and presenting data. GIS allows people to make user created searches and allows people to analyze data/information. The GIS can be used by many different people, for example it can be to find wetlands that need protection from pollution, or can be used by a company to site a new business location to take advantage of a previously under-served market. Overall it helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared. GIS technology can be integrated into any enterprise information system framework.

In and article called Technology REveals New Worlds to Map, Michelle Boivin uses the system for many things such as working with the military to gather and assess data to help manage military facilities on the West Coast.

Sources Cited:
gis.com
wikipedia
nytimes.com

Racism and Segregation In America

Racism and segregation were a big problem after slavery ended. Schools regected black kids and white people also got priority over a black people when it came to hiring someone for a job.

In class we talked about Linda Brown and she had to walk miles to get to school because her local school wouldn't allow her to attend the school. According to Stephanie Luna in her blog "We Live In a Racist America" forcing the black and white kids to attend different schools made them unequal.

Statistics show that schools are becoming less integrated."thin-school segregation was much less important in the elementary grades than in 7th and 10th grades and that segregation of both types tended to be greatest in districts with nonwhite shares between 50 and 70 percent", according to Segregation and Resegregation in North Carolina's Public School Classrooms, an article provided by ERIC Education Resource Information Center).

Privacy Law

The government shall not pass on peoples property with a warrant. A warrant can only be given if evidence is given that the person is endangering other citizens. Spying on peoples property will also violate this law along with trying to force someone for information.

If this law was active I think it would secure everyones privacy and security. During judicial review I think there would be problems because some people might say it gives too much privacy.

In my opinion this law would be difficult to find loopholes and could be altered to fix flaws it may have.

Blogicon Reflection

What I'm going to improve.:

In future blogs I'm going to try and get more in-depth and has more detail on the story. I would also like to find a video for some blogs. Using a few different articles for information for each blog would help me be more in-depth.

How I can better connect with other blogs.:

I plan to blog about and comment on other student's blogs and have more links to other blogs.

How blogging has impacted my understanding of:

-The U.S.: Blogging has kept me informed on what the president is doing and about elected presidents.

-The Media: I've learned that the media can make or break someones reputation, such as Sarah Palin has had many rumors being spread around in the media.

-Current Events: Learning about current news taught me how events from the past can affect us. On 9/11 the government started making new building codes that are still being debated and I always wondered how they might keep another disaster like that from happening again.

-"Old News": Blogging about the Federalists and Anti-Federalists helped me understand the confusing Federalist papers. When we blog about long stories or text it would be a good idea to blog about them to help our understanding of them.

School Funding Misleads

School Funding Misleads
By: Sesno, Frank and Burman, Len
Published: September 11, 2008

A new Obama-Biden gives misleading claims about McCain and education spending. They said he voted to cut education funding.The ad says that "McCain's economic plan gives $200 billion more to special interests while taking money away from public schools. Not exactly. McCain has proposed a one-year freeze on discretionary spending in general.

In my opinion if this does happen it will only add to the countries issues and give more stress to families. Cutting education funding shouldn't even be argued about, they might lower the funding, but cutting it is out of the question.

Sources Cited:
School Funding Misleads

Financial Crisis!

In class we discussed the issues of Lehman & Merrill Lynch & the Stock Market. We seperated into groups and found possible solutions the government could do. Some groups thought the government should stand by and let the issue resolve on its own. I dont agree with that because there would be repercussions. Others said the government should completely help out and loan out money to bankrupt companies and continue to print out money. In my opinion the government should deny loans to more companies, have more rules to follow while running their company and print less money.

American Icons

In First Big Interview, Palin Says, ‘I’m Ready’. In this article she talks about the confidence she has in herself and how she was ready to step up to her task. This reminded me of the American Icons project we did, in the project we picked someone related to America and wrote about how they influenced us. She not only influenced me she inspired me.

By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: September 11, 2008
Sources Cited:
Interview of Palin

Federalists VS Anti-Federalists

Revised on 9/25/08
Agency Fights Building Code Born of 9/11
By: ERIC LIPTON

Published: September 7, 2008

The new provisions, which include requiring tall office buildings to have better fireproofing and an extra emergency stairwell, started as a result of an study into the collapse of the twin towers at the World Trade Center seven years ago this week. The debate is that it will be too expensive to meet the requirements of the code."The fireproofing and stairwell requirements alone could cost real estate developers $13 million for a 42-story office building, as well as perhaps $600,000 a year in lost rent because of decreased floor space, real estate industry officials estimated."

While others say it is mandatory to make these adjustments for the safety of the people.“We want buildings that stand long enough for people to get out and stairs that allow people to get out quickly,” Mr. Lewis said. “If we reverse any of those improvements, we are not learning from the lessons of Sept. 11.”

The federalists are the ones who want the building code. The federalists believe the government is responsible for the peoples safety. The anti-federalists are the ones fighting the code and are completely against it. Just because it will cost more they are willing to risk the peoples lives that inside the building. The anti-federalists think it should be up to the company to decide if they should make the changes.

I believe that the code should come into affect. The companies shouldn't be complaining about the cost because it would be our tax dollars paying for the projects according to Glenn P. Corbett.

Sources Cited:

Agency Fights Building Code Born on 9/11

Concept of the Enlightenment

They believed that human reason could be used to build a better world. I found that residents were asked not to return to the New Orleans because of Hurricane Gustav. I used this as an example for the concept of the Enlightenment because the government used reason and logic to come to a reasonable decision. The city was having continuous power problems along with flooding North of New Orleans. If the residents rush to move back they could face medical problems because city and state officials were struggling to get power to hospitals.


The article was originally written by By ADAM NOSSITER and JOHN SCHWARTZ and was published on September 2, 2008. The original title was, New Orleans Says Residents Can Return Thursday.

Sources Cited:
New Orleans Says Residents Can Return Thursday

Concept of the Declaration of independence

I learned that all humans have natural rights (life, liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness) and the government will protect those rights. For example, In Pakistan 5 people were murdered and stripped of their right to live. The government will try to prevent this from happening again and protect other peoples natural rights.

The original title was Pakistan Begins Inquiry Into Deaths of 5 Women. It was written By SALMAN MASOOD and published on September 2, 2008.

Sources Cited:
Pakistan Begins Inquiry