May Blog

1.  My destination in life is to become a teacher.  I believe a teacher is a very respectable job and only a certain type of person can do it.  Also, being a student, I can tell when teachers are unfair and dont make the class enjoyable and I want to have the chance to make students like school.  I also want to help to educate children because they are the future of our society.  To become a teacher I'll have to go to college.  Getting good grade in college could be difficult. Also, because of the economy, not many teachers are getting jobs.  Therefore, it could be difficult to find a job in education.

2.  A strong belief of mine is a good family and home environment.  Lots of children go through families with abuse, divorce, etc.  I have many friends with divorced parents and it really messes with the childrens lives.  My parents are still together so it is very important to me that my children grow up in a good, loving family. 

3.  School this year was very different than last year.  Classes defffinitly got harder; my grades dropped to the lowest they have ever been this year.  Though, being an eighth grader, I realized I was a lot less self concious about myself and what people were thinking of me.  In seventh grade I did not want to even walk anywhere alone and I felt like people were always judging me.  This year I felt more comfortable about myself. 

April Blog

"Crash this Train" by Joshua James

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avpYJyGVnPc

This song talks about many things that go wrong with our county but mainly war.  It talkls about how the troops need to come home.  It also explains how the government trys to "blind us" with things like "United We Stand" but really America is not all that free.

February Blog

In George Washington's Farewell Address, he made a few warnings to America.  He said that a strong central governemt works best and that political parties are distracting.  He said that religion was important to have in the government.  He also warned against having premanent foreign alliances and an over powerful military.

In a New York Times article about Andrew M. Cuomo, the separation of church and state is taken much too seriously.  Cuomo, governer of New York, did not respond to a call from a Vatican advisor who said that Cuomo chould not take communion in Mass the weekend of his inauguration because he lives with his girlfriend and supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage.  Andrew Cuomo just responded that though he is Roman Catholic, his religion is a private matter that does not need to be disscussed in politics.  By saying that, that is keeping religion out of our government which is not what George Washington advised America to do.

In Dwight D. Eisenhower's  Farewell Address, he made warnings to America.  He said to put national intrests above politics.  He also said that crisises, like the economy and terrorists, cannot be easily fixed.  He said we should not spend beyond our means and that a balaced approach has to be used to help the economy.

In a Newsweek article, it shows America not listening to Eisenhower's warning about over spending.  This article said that the Obama administration wants to build a high-speed rail.  They think it would benefit our nation, but the history of Amtrak shows that it would not be profitable.  The government wants to spend $53 billion over 6 years to construct it, but it would cost $500 billion over 25 years in subsidies.  The government made Amtrak with the idea that it would make a profit but Amtrak took more than $35 billion in subsidies and it is increasing by more than $1 billion every year.  Therefore, this would be a waste of money on the governments part.

January Blog

Gangsta Paradise

His life had changed to the point that he is not the same person.  He is that kind of gangster others want to be but it is dangerous and they could wind up dead.

He has dreams and wants money but the only way  he thinks he can get it is by being violent.  Every day could be his last.

Everyone wants money and power but they will do anything for it without thinking.  No on is there to make a good life for him.

It is very possible for a person to live a non-violent lifestyle in a violent community.  A perfect example is Martin Luther King Jr.  He lived in a time that was very violent towards African Americans but he believe that they should get their rights by being non-violent.  His non-violent lifestyle deffinitly worked because even though it took a while, there is no longer segregation to that extreme.  Things like those non-violent movements lead up to greater change like now having the first African American president.

December Blog

Adam Smith was born in Scotland.  When he was fourteen he entered the University of Glasgow to study moral philosophy.  He developed a desire for liberty and free speech.  In 1750 he met someone who he worked with.  Together they developed ideas on politics, economics, and religion.  Their writings became the Scottish Enlightenment.  In 1759 he published the Theory of Moral Sentiments which included lectures from previous years teacher at the University of Glasgow.  He then developed the idea "communication depends on sympathy between the individual and the wider community."  His focus later changed to economics and he wrote the Wealth of the Nations.  It was the first book to suggest a free trade system.  The free market system was based on supply and demand.  He also believed wealth was in the essentials of life instead of things like gold.  Adam Smiths ideas influenced many later economists.

Capitalism is "an ecomomic model that calls for individual households and privately owned businesses to control the economy."  Perfect competitionis where privately owned businesses decide what and how much goods or services to provide.  The prices of labor, capital, goods, and services and based mainly on market forces.  Prices fall when supply exceeds demand and prices rise when demand exceeds supply.

The government deffinitly should have bailed out the auto industry.  If those industries collapsed it could lead to a collapse of the whole U.S. economic system.  Although it caused more taxes it works out in the long run beacause without huge industries like that our economy would not work.  Also many of the industries have already paid back portions of the money.

The Articles of Confederation

1. The Articles of Confederation were articles that made a national government with limited power. 
2. The key features of the articles were no chief executive, laws needed approval by nine of the thirteen states, congress did not have power to tax citizens, they could only request tax money from states, congress did not have the power to draft an army, no national court system, any changes to the articles must be approved by all thirteen states, congress did not have the power to collect state debts owed to the federal government, and congress did not have the power to settle disputes among states.  
3. They did want want to make a strong, abusive central government.
4. The key problems were the lack of leadership from central government, the central government could become too powerful, states often chose not to pay taxes and the federal government didn't have the funds to operate effectively, there was a possibility of not having an army if no one volunteered, issues could become too big for the state courts to handle, it was nearly impossible to make changes to the articles because any one state could stop an amendment that all the other states wanted, they could not have money if the states refused to pay, and disputes among states often could not be resolved.
5. Congress not being able to tax citizens or draft an army probably caused the most issues because if the states refused then the government would have no money and no military.
6. There should have been some form of tax and drafting system so it wasn't abusively forced but it was still required.