Just and Fair Voting Strategies

After seeing the documentary in Mr. Gwaltney's class this week about the 2000 election, specifically with the drama that occured in Florida at that time, it got me thinking about the many ways and outcomes that could have turned out differently if there were small changes and rules in our voting system. There were so many unjustices pulled off in certain counties of Florida that election, it was astonishing, but mostly the election was a representation of the flaws in our democratic system. Personal gain, power, strategy, and manipulation all went into play during that election, and people were willing to do illegal, unfair things to get the outcome they were hoping for.
If the government enforced a law that felons are allowed to vote or even the exclusion of complicated voting techniques like the butterfly ballet, then the outcomes of all elections would be alot more accurate of all the people in America's opinions.
I am open to other ideas to cleanse our voting system, but I think it IS obvious that our voting system does in fact need cleansing. Some of the impurities that officials have introduced into our so called "free" and "just" government are embarrasing and need to be put to an end.

Celebrity Political Influence

A couple months ago I was having a conversation with one of my volleyball coaches about musicians and their influence in the media and on the political world. Specifically, this coach was saying how she did not appreciate the Dixie Chicks and their comments about President Bush and wholeheartedly believed in the "shut up an sing" policy. Her main reasons backing this belief was noticing how influential bands can be on kids because young people absorb everything around them like a sponge, not filtering out the stuff they should make their own opinions on. Since they have no control over this absorption, in my coach's opinion, then celebrities, like Green Day or the Dixie Chicks should not voice their opinions on these issues.

Now my opinion on this is widely different. I recently went to a couple Bravery concerts and they make their political views clear when they say things like "this next song is about our f****** up political situation!". Hearing the band say this reminded me of the conversation I had with my coach and how my views haven't changed.

If I had the power and ability like any celebrity does, I would use it to its advantage. Of course I would never want to brain wash anyone and I respect other people's veiws, but I completely understand when there is something political that a celebrity is appreciative or frustrated about and acts out according to that. I also hate when people say that "musicians should just not give their opinion about anything". HELLO, all songs are written talking about their OPINION on something. It's like telling authors not to write themes and meaning into their novels. Everyone has the right in America to have the freedom of speech, and if someone has a large way of saying it (through song etc.) then I support their approach.

Ellen shocks the audience once again! =O

Today on the Ellen Show, Jenna Bush came to promote her new book at the work she has been doing with UNICEF. It has been a few years (probablly more like months) since this party monster became more low key in order to advertise this book.

There was a huge shock when Jenna decideds to call her mom and dad right there on the show! Even though Jen's done alot of crazy things, that's pretty wild if you ask me...!!! She is worried her parents will be angry since they weren't warned about the call, instead the President uses this time to look positive on television. He says cute and adorable things to his daughter about how much he loves her and the audience reacted in a unified "AWWwwwwWW". The point of this call was because Ellen didn't believe Jenna could actually reach her parents on the phone whenever she wanted, and Jenna did prove it.

Even though I question whether this was really spontaneous, it was fun having the President talk informally to Americans and on a show where a lesbian is the host. Maybe he's trying to use his daughter though, promoting her current positive situation, to overshadown his current negative situation. If that was the case I would be disapointed in him as a President and father. Although, at this point, I have been shocked too much where I am numb to most of the President's bad actions now.

happiness

As I was searching the editorials in the New York Times, I came across one that discusses the simple idea of happiness. The happier someone is the less likely they will be sick or feel bad. Usually when someone is around their fifties they tend to be their unhappiest, probably because of midlife anxiety. Surprisingly, it is found that paraplegics are not unhappier than healthy people and people who live with teenagers are the unhappiest of all of the unhappy people (I WOULDN’T WANT TO BE MY PARENTS)!
A recent study found that Americans were no happier than they were at the end of World War II. Also, life satisfaction in China declined between 1994 and 2007, even though economically they were prospering rapidly. It is true though that the rich are happier, but that is usually just for a short period of time. Those rich happy people find someone even richer to be jealous of and satisfaction soon settles back to its prior level. We always set our expectations higher than where we are settled.
Ways we can increase satisfaction for a long period of time include free time or social interaction. Also, vacations or more time with family and friends are likely to produce more lasting changes in satisfaction.
Our government should spend money to help promote leisurely yet pleasing activities like these, rather than trying to increase the nation’s economic wealth, and everyone will be a lot happier!

HYPOCRITES

In this cartoon is shows Hillary Clinton voicing her opinion on imporoving gas milage in cars, which she believes should be alot better. Then, it shows her in her special car that someone surely drives her around in that uses alot of gas because it's big. The joke is that Hillary is a hypocrite when she says these things, like most candidates.

As much as I agree with Hillary's beliefs on improving gas milage, I do wish all the candidates would support what they were saying and promoting. It's not just Hil who has trouble doing that, all of them are liars at some point.

And concerning my views on gas milage, hopefully at one point we will find or develop another resources besides oil to make transportation run. Something more enviornmentally friendly and won't potentially run out.

Big Corporations

The cartoon says "The Board has decided to let you go for poor performance. Take your measly quarter billion severance package and hit the street!"

On the side wall it says "really big corporation".

Obviously we can tell that these are business men at a business meeting in some large city in America.

The meaning to this cartoon is that big corporations are taking over this country and all the money in it. Some of the most highly paid employees of this country are those involved with big corporations. I mean it is absurd, and the punch line of this joke, that a man who is getting fired gets paid more money in his severance package then most people make in their entire year’s salary.

It seems outrageous how some people can make so much money, such as these business men (which btw a lot have to climb over people, figuratively, to get to the top and do a lot of dirty work) while a lot of others have to suffer in poverty even though they are good people. Hopefully, one day, big businesses and corporations will not be as scandalous and filthy rich as they are and the economy will equalize in this country.

SNL Clinton Skit

On Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago, Amy Poehler (SNL cast member) opened the show pretended to be Senator Clinton. The plot of the skit was that Clinton was announcing to her opponents, over television, that she was obviously going to be the next president and wanted to give thanks to those who ran against her. While giving thanks to most of them with a snide and discrete rude comment, it was entertaining to see the way the skit was unraviling. At the end, she announces how she'll be in office until 2016 and she'll be proud to see which one of her opponents now will be the next president and she'll support them wholeheartedly whil her and Bill will be the secretary of defence for United Nations and the Pope.

I tried to find a link but apparantly it was not funny enough for someone to post on you tube =/

My main point of this post is what Gwaltney has been saying, we have two families running the white house for twenty year- bushs' and clintons'. Is this a good thing? I don't know, I can't really think of any negative effects except if you didn't like the first one the first time around you probablly won't like the next member from that family.

It is a good thing I was a fan of Bill because Hillary's views are pretty similar and I do think she'll be in office until 2016 like SNL joked about. Even though they were mocking the candidates, alot of what is funny about those skits is that they are true. Hillary is probablly going to become the most powerful woman in America and after her years as President she will move on to something even bigger, something concerning the world. Most likely a position in the UN like SNL mocked.

Not a very factual post but I recommend trying to find this clip and I think it'll be more understandable to those of you who did not see this skit.

-JSLD

Vietnam war=Iraq war

Since the internet on both my home computers has been down for the past two days until now, I needed to do something with my Saturday afternoon that could entertain me as much as facebook or AIM. I decided I would go to Blockbuster and see what movies I might be interested and I came across a miniseries that aired in 1999 called "the '60s", directed by Mark Piznarski. I am not going to make this blog my critique on the movie, but I'd like to compare the 1960s with our present time. More specifically, I'd like to compare the war in Vietnam with our current war in Iraq.

After seeing this film I realized how many close ties the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam have and how comparable and almost intertwinable the two tragic events in our history and present history are. When the soldiers were sent to Vietnam, they fought for our country, the country they respected and trusted. Those soldiers sacrificed their lives because, even though they were not told the details of why they were truly there, they had faith in the United States where they believed they would not be put in this type of situation unless it was necessary. Except, when those soldiers came back home, as like most solidiers who came back from war, they were changed men and some distanced and detatched themselves from society. Most reacted this way because they thought back on the sins and evils they commited and didn't really understand why, or what they were fighting for.

Also, if not importantly, American civilians were being lied to about the war, its meaning, the tragedies occuring there every day, and the depth of evil behind it. The government was secretive about most of the events happening there and most people would believer the Vietnamese were the enemies, that they should hate those people because there most of been something they did wrong to our country, that is why we are over there fighting. Ya, that's right, the thousands of familes, children, in Vietnam who were tortured, were all conspiring to hurt the U.S. in some way. Of course there is the lie that this was against the communism in Vietnam, but most of the people who were killed in the country were not affiliated and had no control over their corruptful government.

My main message of this blog, if people still can not see the similarities of the two wars, is hopefully the war in Iraq never gets as bad, or is as bad, as Vietnam was. I fear that there are secrets the government is not telling us and we do not know the extremeties of our current situation over there. I fear that our soldiers are going to come back home mentally changed and unstable. I fear that this war will not end because of stubborness. There is no winner in war, and until we realize that, then only more damage will be done.

Torture!...or is it?

An editorial piece in the New York Times discusses how the Bush administration has dishonored the history and squandered the respect of America that we have taken so long to gain and worked so hard to get by creating secret prisons where people are held without charges, tortured, and killed. After September eleventh, President Bush allowed for an extralegal detention camp, specifically the one at Guantanamo Bay, where the Central Intelligence Agency operatives could extract information from prisoners who were captured and held in secret. Except, we are now using techniques that are tortuous and embarrassing towards our country.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declared that these tortuous acts did not violate the standard of “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.” This allowed the White House to keep on torturing the victims.

What is truly unbelievable about this is the fact that it is the United States that is now the creator of such a disgusting prison. A country where justice, habeas corpus, and equality are all raised with dignity and pride. The United States helped with the collapse of communism, but now we are imitating some of the negative attributes we condoned in the past.

It is unfortunate that we are using torture to try and obtain truth from these prisoners because experts in these matters generally agree that torture produces false confessions. Also, it is very possible that many of these prisoners are not actually guilty, but they do not have a fair chance to try and become free. We need to give these prisoners their rights, especially if we plan to have other countries follow our actions.

Let's DO something already!

Recently, I read in a New York Times news piece that George W Bush announced a plan for countries to figure out their own way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. People have been arguing that Bush will not step up to the plate and take this global warming problem seriously. The officials at the Washington forum said legally-set international targets were the only way to tackle climate change.
President Bush wants each country to figure out on their own how to tackle global warming. The ministers, diplomats, and officials attending the United States-sponsored forum on energy security and climate change.
Their solution is for the US to not make this issue a voluntary one, because our lives are at risk. Bush has consistently opposed mandatory cuts on emissions in other countries. Instead, the President has promoted voluntary approaches. Bush wants to set up long term plans that just show that we’re interested, not that we intend to do anything immediately.
This is ridiculous. Global warming is not an option anymore and if we are going to be involved in other countries political situations then we should be if it concerns our air as well.

-JSLD

Acceptance

This political cartoon is comparing issues the President of Iran is for and the Republican Party of the United States is for, specifically, the issue of homosexuality. Recently, President Ahmadinejad announced that he did not want any homesexuals in Iran.

The joke is that the Republicans have always been against homosexual rights in the United States like gay marriage etc. and that they would have used that same idea for the 2008 election.

Even though this may be a stretch, it is embarrasingly true. We are suppose to be a country that is looked up to and more advanced and modern in our ideas of acceptance. In actuality, history has shown that the U.S. is pretty much as accepting, if not behind, in accepting other cultures, religions, and sexes as the other countries in the world. I mean this in a negative way, for instance, we had slavery a lot longer than alot of other countries who had banned it.

Concerning homosexuality, my personal view (which I have to admit may be biast considering I am a Los Angeles girl) is give them the rights they deserve! If we seperated church and state like we are suppose to do, then how could gay marriage be an issue? People always use the bible, even government officials, to denounce homosexuality.

This is more than an issue of rights and laws. This is an issue of judgment and acceptance. Look at yourself and imagine if you did not have equal opportunities as other people because of something you were born with. This is laughable. This is ridiculous. This is so frustrating and I am willing to do what it takes for equality and to teach others the importance of acceptance.

Iraqi Refugees

This week, I decided to write my post based on the editorial piece I covered earlier in the week. The New York Times opinion piece "No Way Out" discussed the huge problem of Iraqis who are trying to leave their home country and become American citizens. This is especially unfortunate for those Iraqis considered traitors because they assisted America's war effort. The Bush Administration refuses to accept this problem as their responsibility. There are nearly ten thousand identified Iraqi refugees in desperate need of resettlement in the United States. American officials initially promised in February of 2007 to process seven thousand refugess by September of 2007. September is here and only nine hundred out of the ten thousand have made it to the United States, no where near the initial goal.

Applying for refugee status is expensive, risky, and there is no gurantee of success. One other option for refugees is to apply at the American Embassy in Jordan, but the officials located there are limited and the process is demanding. There is an estimated time of eight to ten months before Iraqi's can hope to arrive in the United States after they have referred to American authorities.

One solution the author gave in this editorial piece is that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should give a senior member of her starff responsibility for helping this cause and speeding up the process.

In my opinion, America has a moral obligation to help these Iraqi's who risked their lives to help us. I can understand how it is hard to choose who to help out of those ten thousand refugees, but America needs to take responsibility for destroying Iraq. A way our country can redeem itself is to help those people and families we hurt along the way.

Also, as much as I understand and respect the many countries who decided not to be involved in this war, that does not mean they should not have a sense to help humanity. Why should it only be America's job to open themselves up as a home for these refugees? There probablly are some countries like England and so on that are accepting these people, but there should be alot more going out of their way to help these damaged lives. It is hard for the United States to take in all ten thousand due to immigration quota, but if countries around Iraq and in Europe stepped in, and those ten thousand could be spread out among those many countries, then it would not be a burden at all. I do not understand how I could be a neighbor of Iraq and just stand there and see all those helpless, homeless, and vulnerable people begging for help due to war without doing anything I could to help them. Helping people in need (even if it is just being welcoming) is not political and countries should be able to do this without involving themselves with the war.

voting in presidential elections

After having a discussion last AP government class about the influence our vote had towards the outcome in a presidential election, I began to think if it was even necessary for the citizens of this nation to participate. One way to see this is that the voters are simply wasting their time going to the polls near their house on election day. Also, the feelings one has after voting of satisfaction and helpfulness towards making a better America can be ridiculed as an overexageration of one's place towards the outcome.

Although, even with all this said and done, I can not imagine not voting for my first time in the 2008 presidential election. I will even be disapointed with the millions of Americans who decide not to vote come election day. If it were my choice, I would modernize the voting system we have in elections and have it strictly be a national vote without any electoral influence. But that does not mean I will not vote with the format we have now until that is accomplished because I want to be an involved American- especially concerning politics. If people are complaining about the electoral college's vote in their state, then they should have chosen better people that represent their state more accurately. People need to be just as concerned voting for their state's electoral college as voting for the President of the United States because of the reasons stated above.

I support groups like "vote or die" (celebrity based) or any other organization focused on getting more people to vote in presidential elections. If everyone in the nation voted, then maybe our government would allow the people to have more responsibilty and influence in the next election. Maybe they would place more trust in the people of America to make a educated decision. Because, I do feel like my trust is violated, and my knowledge underestimated, but until a Utopia of government policies, laws, and amendments are made, I need to support the system we have now and put my voice and opinions out their by voting.

-JSLD