BLog 21, Im Back on Track!!!

Well for the past couple of weeks. it has been and issue for me to set down some time to write my blog and I am finally back on track. This year was a hard year for my family, but i am still thankful for many things. The first thing im thankful for was my new computer; last summer was my first summer with a real job, so i was able to save up enough to buy my own computer. The next thing im thankful for this year is how my family was able to stay together when my father passed away from his colon cancer. Overall, this year had it's ups and downs, but i cant wait to see what next year brings us.

Three things that i will accomplish for my project by dec 2 include; get a boat tour with coastkeeper; have a rough draft of my article; and get a interview done with sarah.

Part 2

For my article, im thinking about how much boats affect the pollution of San Diego bay. I am thinking about talking to surfrider, coastkeeper, and wildcoast, to see if they know anything.

Part 1

Election Reflection:
first of all, I believe that McCain would have been a better choice for our country. McCain has more experience then Obama and he was a POW, which to me, shows that he has been thought a lot. But, Obama has many ideas that are also good. For instance, his plan to find other ways to create energy will help our world survive a little bit longer. With racism still flowing through our country, especially in the south, it is possible that Obama might be killed. I hope this does not happen, because he has a loving family and it would also break the bonds between the whites and the blacks.

Civic Knowledge:
I believe I have a good amount of information about our countries politics and it's economy. I feel that I actually understand what people are talking about outside of school and with friends and if someone says something that I disagree with, I know how to explain my evidence to him.

#15 Vote Supression

The word ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which is a non-profit organization that registers votes for elections.

Blog #15

Newspaper reflection

I contributed an article about the transatlantic telegraph cable and how it was destroyed by the chief electrician. I also included a picture of where the cable lines traveled. I wish I was able to contribute more time to the entire project, but I had a family emergency come up; so I was not able to be at school the entire week. Next time, I will try and tell my group that I will not be there if something comes up.

PICTURES

Segregation, Then and Now

The supreme court case of Brown Vs. Board of Education helped ignite integration in public schools; but it was not able to erase segregation completely.
Brown Vs. B.OE supreme court case was about two black girls named Linda and terry Lynn Brown who had to walk through a railroad switch yard to get to there all-black school(More info here). The Browns believed that the segregated school violated the 14th amendment. Just 48 years before, the case of Plessy Vs. Ferguson, concluded that,

"The object of the [Fourteenth] Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political, equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either."—Justice Henry Billings Brown, speaking for the majority

After much debate on the Brown Vs. B.O.E case, the supreme court took back what they said about the Plessy Vs. Ferguson case and concluded, "We conclude that the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Segregation then

In the early 1900s, segregation was everywhere. Every part of life had one for whites and another for blacks. Some things included in segregation included; drinking fountains, buses, schools, shops, and even where people were allowed to live. Many southerners thought we would always have segregation, but because of two young girls, everything changed.

Segregation Now

Even though we don't have special drinking fountains for each race, there is still segregation in our classrooms. Instead of just having to do with the color of your skin, it also relies on how rich you are. People who are rich usually go to private schools and so they fellowship with people that are also wealthy. The same thing goes with people who are poor. The video below shows graphs and examples of segregation in today's schools

• NA. "Brown vs. Board of Education." Landmark Cases. Supreme court historical society. 2 Oct. 2008 .

• "The 14th Amendment of the United States." Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 2 Oct. 2008 .

• NA. "Plessy Vs. Ferguson." Landmark Cases. Supreme Court Historical Society. 2 Oct. 2008 .

Dred Scott V. Sandford

Describe a an important Supreme Court case that took place before 1865 in it's historical context--what precedents were set, whatimpact did they have and what is the case's relevance today?

It first began with a black man named, Dred Scott suing Mrs. Emerson for false imprisonment. He believed that because he and his owner, Mr. Emerson, moved to a free state, that he had also become free. The first case case was won by Mrs. Emerson, But Mr. Scott's lawyers wanted a new trial. Finally, in 1857, the case appealed to the supreme court. Sanford, Mrs. Emerson's brother, believed thaht Scott could not sue because, he was not a citizen in the contex of the constitution. The supreme court finally came up with the decision that, ". . . . . . We think they [people of African ancestry] are . . . not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word "citizens" in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. . . ." Chief Justice Taney, hope that his final decision over the case would prevent other cases over slave rights, but just the opposite happened.

Blogicon Reflection

1. What are you most proud of on your blog?
I am very proud of how I fooled Randy into thinking that I created my logo using some sophisticate software; but all I did was use the background tool on the blogger.com website. It took me a while to find my awesome picture and I feel like it shows how big our world is.

2. What will I improve during my future blogs? How
I will try to be more detailed in my writing. I will do this by actually finding articles that I enjoy.

3. How can we better connect our blogs?
A good way to connect our blog is to make it a requirement to comment of at least 2 blogs each Tuesday and Thursday. This will get people to at least read other peoples articles and maybe they will see something that interests them so that they might write about the article also.

Sparring in Spanish

Sparring in Spanish

September 19, 2008
-by Jess Henig
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sparring_in_spanish.html

The Spanish Americans are such a huge part of our country that even politicians are trying to create hate against the other candidate. Obama was the first one to try and sway there opinion by saying that the radio host, Rush Limbaugh (R), was calling Mexicans "stupid." He also goes on to say their Rush Limbaugh and McCain are friends; eventhough Rush had said earlier this year that a McCain nomination would "destroy the Republican party," and said he would rather vote for a Democrat over McCain. McCain then goes on to post an ad saying that, ""Obama and his Congressional allies" for the failure of the bill, but the truth is that it was a Republican-led filibuster that stymied it in the Senate and forced Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid to pull the bill from consideration."

American Roots

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091103023.html
Reviewed by Fergus M. Bordewich

Sunday, September 14, 2008; Page BW03

THE HEMINGSES OF MONTICELLO

An American Family

By Annette Gordon-Reed

Norton. 798 pp. $35

This is a review of a book called, "The Hemingses of Monticello." It talks about how Jefferson was a strong believer in Natural rights, but he also strongly believed in slave labor. These facts contradict the first line in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;" which was written by Thomas Jefferson. Back then, people viewed the word "Men," as only referring to males. But today, it has been changed to refer to men, woman, and any race. I feel that it is confusing how a man like Jefferson believed that slavery was immoral, but he had many slaves under his name. In class, we were learning about teh Declaration of Independence and natural rights.

Success!!!

Large Hadron Collider activated successfully

From correspondents in Geneva September 11, 2008 08:51am

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,24328608-5014239,00.html

Today, marked the first of many tests for the Hadron Collider. The large Hadron Collider, is the largest and most complex machine ever created. It cost over $11 billion to make and will help answer many question we have today about modern physics. The machine will send protons just below the speed of light in opposite directions so that they will collide and form unseen types of particles. It will also recreate on a small scale, the explosions that happened when the big bang created the universe. I didn't realize that the article had to be related to something we learned this year; but I picked an article that i felt was interesting and could affect the entire world.

The government needs to come to the rescue.

Wall Street’s Fears on Lehman Bros. Batter Markets

By JENNY ANDERSON and BEN WHITE

Published: September 9, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/business/10place.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=lehman&st=cse&oref=slogin

One of the oldest and most successful investment banks is looking tot he government to help them after the selling of their stocks wiped nearly half the value of Lehman Bros'. stocks. The Lehman Bros. has survived over 157 years and through the great depression. People with strong federalist beliefs think that the government should step in and help stabilize the economy by buying stocks from Lehman Bros. They did this to several other companies and it looked like it was a success. I believe the government should help them because the Lehman Bros. has been alive for over 157 years and it would be a bad decision if the government did not help them.

Genes That Hold Us Together.

Gene regulation makes the human.

By Rachel Ehrenberg

Web edition : Thursday, September 4th, 2008
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/36201/title/Gene_regulation_makes_the_human

Scientists believe are speculating that there are special sections of DNA that do not code for proteins; and that these section's real role is to regulate when a certain protein is to be made. They believe that these regulatory strands gave us the ability to evolve from a primate to a human. This is connected to the class because, just like during the enlightenment, people loved using science to solve government's problems. I believe that this is a big breakthrough in showing how we become human beings during our development stage in the embryo.

Life, Liberty, and Crime.

Abramoff Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Corruption

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402321.html?hpid=topnews

By Del Quentin Wilber and Carrie Johnson

Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 4, 2008; 5:29 PM

From what I read, Abramoff was a strong republican lobbyist who was sentenced to four more years for charges of tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy for plying public officials with gifts in exchange for official actions. This is connected to the idea of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, because he is cheating that idea by bribing officials with meals, gifts, trips, other valuable items, to cause the officials t side with Abramoff and his co-workers. Also he will be losing these rights when he goes to prison. I believe that this happens more then we know and that if we want to keep politics fair, then we need to spend more time in investigating these problems.