Blog

I voted early last weekend. When I got the ballot, I was shocked to find out about all of the different things that I have to vote for. In addition to having the presidential ballot, there was a bunch of local officials to vote for, and a bunch of ammendments as well. I had no idea about the local officials. I did not know what they had done or who I should vote for. Also, many of the ammendments were very long and hard to understand without having to read a couple of times. I think that one thing that should be changed is that they should have a simplified version of the ballot. What if someone who is very impatient gets there ballot, they might answer yes or no and not even agree with what they voted for. Also, I felt like leaving the ballot blank was not a choice because I had heard that if there are too many blanks than your ballot can be invalidated, and while I was not sure about that, I was not going to take that risk.

UE

When I was getting ready for college, a lot of people told me that I was going to have to write more, but this was more than what I expected. I have to write papers in classes that should not have anything to do with writing. In some classes, I have more to write than in composition. In my history class, we had two essay questions for a test, and they were due in 50 minutes. The worst class so far has been my University Experience class. I do not like it, and I am not sure if anyone in our class actually likes it as well. I am sort of mad at my orientation leader for telling us all to take it. She said it was a good way to get to know the college and that it was fun. She must have had a different teacher or something because this class is not fun. On top of being at 7:30 in the morning, and it being almost 2 hours long, the projects that are supposed to help us get to know the campus better are more of obstacles in the way of me getting a good grade. Our teacher also wants us to write 3 4-6 page papers on our personal experiences, career goals, and some other dumb topic. These topics are not like research papers, where you can fill in space with statistics. I have to actually write all of that. I do not like writing about a topic that you have to stretch more than it will go. I know that next year, if I meet someone taking it, I am going to tell them they should probably get out.

Joe the Plumber ?

I did not see the presidential debate, but when I started to look around to see how each candidate had done, I found that there had been talk about someone called Joe the plumber. I looked him up on the internet and found a website that had interviewed him. Though the website said that it was a republican website, Joe the plumber provided some fairly valuable points. He thinks that Barrack Obama’s tax plan will put America down a socialist path. The reason why he thinks this is because Senator Obama said the reason why he was taxing him for making more money was to “redistribute the wealth.” While I think that the wealthier should get taxed more, not enough to take their wealth away from them, I think that the money should be used for government spending, and not to just give away as a handout. Mr. Plumber also said that this will encourage some people to just take more advantage of a welfare system that is already being taken advantage of. He believes that while some people will use it to make themselves better, most of them will just take the money and live off of that. While I think that most people would be better than that, what if he is right? The money that is being taken away from people who worked for their wealth could be given to someone who might not even do anything to help themselves with it. I believe in helping people, but only if they are willing to help themselves. If someone is not prepared to do anything for themselves than they should not receive the same help that someone who is. Also, some people are willing to live off of others their whole lives. As long as they are getting enough money to live off of, they do not see any need to work harder. So should they be getting a break while someone who worked harder is slammed with a bigger tax? While I agree with Senator Obama that the wealthy should get taxed more than the poor, on a graduated tax, I do not think that someone should just get a free ticket because they did not work as hard, which is what could happen.

Sun Dome speach

Even though I like having my class early because it frees up the whole afternoon for me to do stuff, I wish for one day that it was not. Senator Joe Biden, the democratic nominee for Vice President was speaking at the Sun Dome on Oct. 8th. I have not been following the election very closely, and I thought that this was a chance for me to catch up by hearing what one of the potential vice presidents thinks about what is happening, what should be done, and how it should be done. Even though most of this stuff is available on the internet, I think that it would probably make more of an impact if I heard him say it, or if I had even asked him a question. The next time that one of the candidates is speaking on campus, if they even do, I am going to try and see them as well, whether it is who I support or not.

History Exam

I got my first history exam back and I was not too happy about it. Back in high school, a 74 would not have bothered me, but the reason why it is bothering me now is because so much more is riding on this grade. My Bright Futures scholarship says that I have to maintain higher than a 3.0 to receive it. If this becomes a habit I could very quickly find myself needing some money. Also, this exam was the first one, and usually the first exams are the easiest. So if I only got a c on the first exam I think that I am going to need to study harder on the next exam. Another problem is that in high school your grade was based on so much more than just your tests, which meant that you had a little room to do bad on a test or two. In this class we only get points for the tests, discussions, and occasionally a writing assignment. The only reason why I did so bad was because we only had 50 minutes to do three identities, where you identify a historical figure in one paragraph, and two essays. I just hope that by the next exam I will be able to write faster.

Song Essay Draft 1

Throughout history, people have told lies to gain an advantage for themselves. One lie that many of the younger generation is exposed to is propaganda. Every government or person in charge of an army has used propaganda to gain an advantage over their opponent. Propaganda can range from telling of atrocities committed by the opposing forces to making the reason why you are at war a more acceptable one. Serj Tankian’s song “Empty Walls” talks about the walls that the government has put up to make the war more acceptable to others. The music video for the song also has pre-school children acting out a war.
The song starts out with the words “Empty Walls.” As the song progresses and the artist eventually says that he wants the listener to “be left behind those empty walls.” This resembles the lies that some governments use to convince those in their country, or whoever is following them, that war is a good idea. One proven example of a war that was fought on a lie was the Spanish-American War, where America went to war with Spain because an American ship had blown up in Havana Harbor, though no one was exactly sure what had caused the sinking of the Maine.
Even though Captain Charles Sigsbee, the Captain of the Maine at the time of the explosion, insisted that it was a coal bin explosion that had sunk the Maine, the United States was looking for a reason to take Cuba from Spain, and a war was the best route (Rivero, The Lie of The Century.) The committee in charge of the investigation concluded that a Spanish mine had sunk the Maine, and because of Spanish failure to protect an American ship when they were not at war with each other, America went to war with Spain (Dyl). Though the war would not be the biggest battle America would fight, it was still a waste of lives because America did not gain Cuba at the end of the conflict, which was the main objective of going to war with Spain.
Another part of the song talks about seeing burning bodies and people dying. This is a pretty good indication that the song is about a war. There is no doubt that there are many people dying in Iraq who are not even combatants. There are at least 88,203 documented civilian deaths in Iraq since 2003 (Iraq Body Count). Many Americans are not aware that so many Iraqis have died in this war. The only number that we are exposed to is the number of dead American soldiers. It is sad that so many American soldiers have died, but they are there because they volunteered to be there. Many citizens in Iraq cannot escape the violence and many of the people who die in the suicide bombs that are supposed to be helping them are just trying to live and do not support the use of suicide bombing as a means of fighting.
Another part of the song is when the singer says “Taunt you to see from behind those empty walls.” This is a challenge to the listener to look beyond what we are being told. Some people who do not want to find out why their government would lie to them would accept the story that they are told, even if all of the pieces do not fit together. It is not wrong for them to believe the government, but they have to ask questions to make sure that their government is not lying to them. If a person gets away with one lie, they will usually try to get away with another, and if that person keeps getting away with them, then they will not stop. There would be no reason for them to stop. Why stop and tell the truth when you can just tell some story that makes everyone happy.
This relates to the Maine. When the Maine was initially sunk, there was an investigation into what had sunk the Maine. After about one month, the investigation concluded that a mine had caused the explosion that had sunk the Maine. While there was evidence to support this, there was also a lack of evidence, such as a lack of dead fish from the explosion. When the results of the investigation were released the majority of people, fueled by yellow journalism, believed that a Spanish mine had sunk the Maine. If more people had have demanded more evidence of a mine, the investigation might have continued, and might have discovered something else that might have led to the prevention of war.
Though the government might not have known that they were lying, they more than likely knew that not everything added up, and that if they investigated the explosion with more effort and time they might have found out that it was the explosion of the coal bin that fit the circumstances of the explosion better than that of a mine. But the Spanish mine theory fit their needs so they did not bother investigating more, and because no one demanded that they provide more evidence, they were able to go to war with any actual reason.The song “Empty Walls” definitely has an anti-war feel to it, and considering that the Iraq war was happening when the song was wrote, it probably applies to the war in Iraq as much as it does to previous wars. All of the circumstances have occurred in Iraq. The government, thought they may have actually believed that there was weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq when they invaded first, is wrong in that there is not any weapons, and we have been there for over five years now. Also the devastation mentioned could also be considered to represent the Iraq war. As was mentioned before, more Iraqi civilians than coalition forces in Iraq. Also, back when support for war was being built up with evidence of these weapons, it was considered to be unpatriotic to not believe the government. If more people had have asked, more time and care might have been taken to find these weapons.