Mock Trial Recap and Response

Each trial was very interesting and fun to watch. I agreed with both of the outcomes even though i was arguing against one of them. It was very hard arguing for a side when you didn't truly believe in it. In the trials the closing statements had the biggest impacts on the result. they had the biggest impacts because those were the things that were the freshest in the jurors minds. Those would be the factors that helped the jury come to their decision. both of the issues are very relevant in todays society. People need to learn from the trials that no means no and when they are crossing the line. these issues aren't as big in DHS as other places, but people still need to be informed about them and know what they are. The issue that is less known about is Sexual harassment because people don't usually realize if they are someone is doing it. We need to learn and be aware about this issue.

What's Going on In the World

Currently there are many things going on in Egypt. The people of Egypt want a new government and are protesting the old one. My first reaction to this was shock and awe, also a little bit surprised. It has been so long since there have been protests and now we have so many. i think that it is good what the people of egypt are doing and that they want to change their country for the better. The people of Egypt live under oppressive rule and they want to get out of it. The riots that they are doing are for a greater cause and to make things better. The leader of Egypt is a bad man and is not thinking about his country and the people living in it.

Outside Reading #6

This is my final post on "Enemy Combatant". In this post I will include the ending of the book, my thoughts on the ending and my thoughts on the whole book in general. So the book ends with Moazzam Begg finally being released. the government releases him from Guantanamo without charge, compensation or an apology. Basically Begg doesn't find out why he just lost three years of his life, he can only except the fact that he was in captivity because, he was muslim and most people think that muslims equal terrorists. The book ends with him reuniting with his family and then meeting with people from M15 and talking about what ahs happened to him. He says that even though what he has been through was terrible, it made him a better person and realizes what can happen in this crazy world. I really enjoyed reading this book and that is a surprise because I don't like that many books. But it really opened my eyes to how you can be punished based on the color of your skin our your heritage, even if you did nothing wrong. I mean I know how we mistreated blacks because of their skin color, but I thought that the nation was past that and we accepted everyone. This book shows how one act of violence by a few people can ruin the life of someone who looks similar to them but is completely innocent. I would recommend this book to anyone, because it gives people a good understanding on the other side of the war on terror.

Outside Reading #5

Now that Begg has been in Guantanamo for some time, escaping seems more of a dream or fantasy than a reality. He has developed a routine in Guantanamo, but he still wants to get out. Even though he has a routine there are things like the occasionally beatings, interrogations and tribunals. The tribunals are something new. The Bush administration chose Begg and five other men in Guantánamo to face military tribunals. He declined to participate and was told that the tribunal would continue without him. It may seem stupid for Begg to refuse because there might be a way out if he does it. But at this point Begg has realized that there really isn't anyway to see freedom and the tribunals would help them more than him. All the Moazzam can do now is wait and pray for them to realize their mistake and release him. There is really nothing more to say about this section of the book, he is still imprisoned and the U.S. is not believing him when he says that he is innocent.

Outside Reading #4

So in the previous post I was confused about why the United States didn't realize their mistake. But now I know that even if they did realize their mistake they couldn't do anything about it. If the U.S. was to release Begg recently after his capture it would look really bad on the United States and Bush. Even though his capture tales place during the height of the war on terrorism, it wouldn't look to good if they released someone who is wrongly accused. I can see where the U.S. government is coming from but it all seems pointless because he is imprisoned there for two years and then rights a whole book about it and makes the U.S. government look even worse. if we released him back in 02 or 03, probably wouldn't have written a book about it. But then again I don't know this and I am assuming this which is what the U.S. did and that didn't really work out for them. Anyways in the book Begg is in Guantanamo and he is still be interrogated and he is still telling the truth, that he doesn't know anything. Also he now knows nothing about his family and we are left to assume that they know nothing that has happened to him.

Outside Reading #3

In this part of the book Moazzam is being transfered from the Pakistanis to Guantanamo. Even though he is being moved he still has not been told why he is in captivity. Begg assumes that his detention was based on fundraising that he did to help Bosnian Muslims in the 1990's, including going on aid caravans to the war-torn region, and a short 1993 visit to a military training camp in Afghanistan.Also Begg ran an Islamic bookstore and was under surveillance by the M15, since the mid-1990's. Still none of this means that he is a terrorist or did nothing wrong. This is very frustrating because. when you read the novel you are on Begg's side and want him to be released so he can go back to his family. Begg has mostly been confronted by Pakistanis up to this point, but now he is being confronted by Americans. Even though we know that they won't help him, Moazzam does and a little part of me does also. I still don't understand why the United States has realized that they got the wrong guy and just let him go. I thought that we were better than this.

Outside Reading #2

This post is pages 1 to 30. Right from the get go this book makes you dislike the U.S. government. The U.S. government with help from the Pakistani government, seized Begg in February of 2002. According to the United States, they arrested him on assumptions that he had relations with Al-Qaeda and he was recruiting other civilians into the group. Begg was kidnapped from his home in the middle of the night and taken to a strange prison like building. He was interrogated many times and each time he told the truth and said he had no connections to Al- Qaeda. All he wanted to know was how his family was doing. they gave him no answers to this question. So far I like this book because the U.S. is so biased and makes us think that most muslims are bad and terrorists. But this book shows us the other side of the war on terror and how the U.S. makes decisions based on assumptions instead of cold hard facts. I think it is scary how the U.S. will kidnap someone based on their thoughts of that person. they should always be a hundred percent positive on who and what they are accusing.

Outside Reading #1

the book that I chose to read was "Enemy Combatant" by Moazzam Begg. this book shows us the story of the other side on America's war on terror. The book is the story of Moazzam Begg, a muslim who was wrongly accused of being a terrorist. Moazzam was placed in Guantanamo Bay and stayed there for two years. He was realeased in 2005 after suffering through over three hundred interogations and witnessess the killings of two detainees. When he was released, he was given no apologizes or reason for release, they just let him go. As soon as I saw the book it sparked an interest in me. And just reading the inside cover intrigued me more. I look forward to read this book and learn about how the American government accused many wrong people and what is wrong with the United States detention system.

Death Penalty

There are eight stagesd in a death penalty case, and basically seven out of those eight are designed to protect the rights of those accused. The only one that isn't is execution. But the rest help the accused. The accused goes through so many cases to make sure that he is guilty. There is even a trial before the actual trial called a pre trail. This system is sufficient enough to keep people who are truly innocent out of the execution chamber. There may be incidents when the innocent is executed, but their are very few of these, and usually they are just an accident and there is nothing the justice can do about it, like eye witness testimony. Other than those few cases the system runs pretty smoothly. The accused are given several chances to prove their innocence. And let's be honest isn't one chance more than enough.

Methods
Out of all the methods of execution the only one that is humane in my opinion is death by lethal injection. This is humane because in a sense the criminal is falling asleep and not waking up. This is the closest thing to a natural death. Electrecution, gas chamber and firing squad seem to be the most inhumane and cruel and unusual. These are cruel and unusual because the criminal feels pain and sometimes may die slowly and painfully. For instance firing squad isn't an instance death, the first few bullets may not kill you. Same with the gas chamber, they trap you in a room and it takes about thirty seconds before you finally die. the only method that should be used is lethal injection.

State by State
Looking at the map of executions in the US, most of them happen in the South and in Texas. One of the things that surprised was that in the southern states race was not an issue and usually more whites were killed than the other races combined. I thought that in some Southern states like Alabama or Mississippi would have more blacks than whites being executed. But that was me just stereotyping the South. Also barely any women are executed, there are women on death row in the state of California than there have been executions of women in the whole US. It makes wonder if less women are being arrested are if more are being proven innocent. When I looked at methods of execution it was really weird to see that states use other methods of execution besides lethal injection. Since I think that all the other methods are inhumane and immoral, I was dissapointed to see states in the US still using these methods.

Chart
When I first saw the chart I was suprised at the number of states that did not have the death penalty. I thought that the number would be much lower. Another thing that surprised me was how executions have been decreasing over the past decade. In the nineties they were increasing but now it is the opposite of that. In my opinion the main reason for this is that more Americans are against the death penalty now, then ten years ago. So this is probably playing a huge role in the outcome of trials and the number of executions. After reading the chart the Death Penalty Center seems to be nuetral or almost against the subject of the death penalty. They seem to be showing how less and less executions are happing every year and how there are other methods like life without parole.The thing that annoys me the most is that this chart is pretty convincing. It keeps on showing reasons why the death penalty is moral and unjust. One thing that I would add, would be some information to make the site nuetral to both sides.

Abortion

When I first look at each site, I am instantly more drawn to the pro choice website, instead of the pro-life website. The pro-choice website looks professional, it is easy to find things and easy to read. While on the pro-life website, it looks like any random person could make it. It seems like it took the creators ten minutes to make it and the majority of the time was occupied by cutting and pasting. One thing that I did like about the Pro-life website was the statistics. This is one thing that the pro-choice thing did not have. Stats are always good to have because they are true, informative and easy to read. The pro-choice website is more informative and seems to be winning the argument. One of the things that helps it, is that they have a link to show that there is no link between abortion and mental health. While the other site just has a small paragraph about the issue, After seeing these two sites, my thoughts on Pro-life people have gone down. Mainly beacuse of the layout of the site. It seems that they spend more time protesting instead of informing people on the internet.

Parental Notification
If a daughter is 17 or 18 the parent should be notified. They should be notified because if you are 17 you are still in your parents care and most 18 year olds don't move out right away. Parents deserve the right to know if there kid is having an abortion, because it is a family matter at this age. A baby doesn't only affect the daughter, it affects her whole family. At this age a baby is another mouth to feed, someone else to take care of. Parents have a huge say in this, since they will be paying for most of these things. Parents should have a say, but they shouldn't have the power to chose. The choice should alwyas be the one of the person having the abortion..

Father Notification
The father should only be notified if the women wants him to know. And in most cases tthe would woman would have already told the father. Abortion Clinics should not be forced to tell the father against the woman's will. And if the father does know about this he should not have to consent. Again it is the woman's choice and she should not be forced to do something that she doesn't want to do. So the father should only be notified if the woman agrees to it. But he shouldn't have a right to chose. If he wanted to keep the baby, he could talk to his wife about it, but his consent is not necessary.

Illinios Abortion Laws
Well the first thing I disagree with is the ban on abortion after 12 weeks. Illinios should give women the right to abort their baby, if they want to. It is a private matter and they should not have a say in it. Women should not be forced to only have 12 weeks, because there are unknown factors, like money and access to transportation. Another thing that I disagree with is Spousal notification. The spouse should hear this from his wife, but only if she wants to tell him. SHe should not be forced to do this. Also refusal to provide health services is another dislike, because women might need these services for other things. But some good things are a woman's acess to emergency concraception and low income access to abortion. So in conclusion one of the things I would change with the Illinios law would be the 12 week maximum.

Death Penalty

Clifford Boggess should have been executed. He had no societal value as a person, born again Christian or an artist. The case of Clifford Boggess was that people can change and that he was a living example of this statement. The guilty party argued that Boggess was a new man, a better man. I don't believe this, Clifford Boggess was a cold blooded murderer and he would always be one. I do believe that people can change, but that doesn't apply to murderers. In my opinion there has to be something very wrong with you if you kill someone, especially if you admi that you are guilty. Clifford Boggess came from a family of criminals and he continued the tradition. It wasn't that Boggess just killed a random victim, he knew his first victim, Boggess was part of his communtiy and he knew the victim that he chose to kill. If Boggess doesn't feel the effects of the death penalty, he will still be causing stress and continuos pain in the victims family. Without Clifford Boggess the families and othhers would feel relief and be able to move on with their lives. SOme may argue that Clifford is born again Christian and an aspiring artist and that he is a better person. But this is to great of a risk, the government can't go around freeing everyone, that might have changed for the better. Clifford Boggess will always be a bad person and nothing in the world can change that. Death is the only way with this man.

Religion in School

The students at the school should be allowed to express thier religous beliefs. The way the students are expressing themselves is not even that bad. handing out candy canes and pencils, is not disruptive and it won't provoke anyone to take action against that person. Also most of the people who are doing this are probably in middle or elementary school. And in middle school none of the kids care what religion you are, it is just candy to them. in one of the cases the school banned decorations from pencils to red and green napkins. None of these things are disruptive, the school shouldn't be allowed to ban these small things. If the students were carrying signs and yelling, or starting arguments and riots, it would be a different case. These students have the right to freedom of religion and the right to express themselves.

Issues From Last Class

One of the issues raised was what is the boundary line on ones free speech. In the activity we saw pictures of a fraternity party and the students were dsiguised as african americans and Klu Klux Klan members. The issue raised was does the college have the right to punish these students and is this a restriction of their freedom of speech. In my opinion the school has every right to expell or suspend these students. Since most schools have a zero tolerance policy on discrimination, the school has the right to punish these students. I believe that what these students are doing is wrong, disruptive and clearly directed at a group of people. Their actions can provoke people to take action against them and cause a physical disruption. The students should be puni.shed

Danielle's Blog

Religion, what is it? This was the main thought in my mind when I clicked on Danielle's blog. I never really thought that deep into it and this was a chance for me to learn more about it. In Danielle's blog she explored religion, but also Atheism and the many struggles different religions face. Even though America was founded by different religions there are many people in the same country who won't except other religions. Many small religions face discriminance and hate by other major religions. I once heard that religions were made, because they were a reason for war. And this seems true, just look at the facts, there were so many wars because of religion, for example the Crusades and World War II. All religions are meant for peace but all cause war. I learned one of the reasons why this happens in Danielles slideshow. People just need to accept other religions and stop throwing such a fit about it.

Matan's Blog

Matan's blog was very interesting and I was well aware about his topic. In his powerpoint I became more aware of what automobiles were doing to our planet and how we could prevent this. I knew about pollution, and cars played a huge part in it, and Matan's blog only broadened my knowledge of it. One thing I didn't know muh about was the electric car or the hybrid, I knew that it was better for the economy and polanet than the regular gas guzzler, but that is all I really knew about. After seeing his slideshow I realized how it could help us and how much better it is. Matan presented the problem, lack of natural resources and showed us the solution. After seeing this I realized how little we cre about our planet. Most people barely notice what cars do or they dont' care. I know that I was ne of those people, but now I see what a big problem it is. I also agree with Matan on how the electric car is easier said than done.

The Chosen One's Final Slide Show

I open this blog, knowing a little bit about the topic. When I think about Hispanics, one of the first things that comes to my mind is illegal immigrants. In Carl's blog he explores that and deeper. In his slideshow, he explores, immigration and how hispanics can't really make a living because they don't have an education and they can't get one because they need money and the quickest way to make money is to get a cheap job. they can't get a good job because most well paid jobs require an education. So, this is just a giant cycle that hispanics cannot get out of. another big issue focused in this blog was how some Americans think that Hispanics are taking their jobs, and sometimes the Americans response is violent. I learned a lot from the blog of The Chosen One, it has also changed my view on Hispanics. I now realize thart they are facing a huge struggle. The struggle that they are facing is in some ways similar to slaves faced so many years ago. The hispanics come here for the American dream and many never really achieve it. It makes me wonder if it is really better to come to America and face these hardships or if it better to just stay in their home land.

Works Cited

Caramanica, Jon. "The trials of the hardest-working man in hip-hop.(Lil Wayne)(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. 159. 54898 (Dec 23, 2009): C1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .

Caramanica, Jon. "For young superstar Taylor Swift, big wins mean innocence lost.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. (Feb 2, 2010): C5(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .

Greenblatt, A. (2003, November 21). Future of the music industry. CQ Researcher, 13, 989-1012. Retrieved February 11, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2003112100.

Katel, P. (2007, June 15). Debating hip-hop. CQ Researcher, 17, 529-552. Retrieved February 10, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007061500.

D. Stanley Eitzen " American Sport at the End of the Twentieth Century," Annals of American History. http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=387715>

"jazz." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

"Scott Joplin." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

"American film." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/.

"American theater." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

Analytic: Current events

Many people think that gang violence and hip hop are related, like when there is a shooting in a black neighborhood, people think that hip hop has had something to do with it. Because of this many black public figures like Oprah and Hip Hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons have tried to make artists change their lyrics as Simmons said "We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially offensive word 'nigger,' " They want artists to get rid of swears and dirty words in their songs, because they think that it would lead to young black listeners use of those words. Many artists have refused do this, most saying that it would alter their image and less people would buy their music. Rapper Fifty Cent said on this topic "For me, don't expect me to compromise myself," like most rappers Fifty cent has built his music career on his thug image and the whole drug dealer turned rapper ordeal. It is easy to see how hip hop and violence is connected, many young listeners see their favorite artist getting arrested or involved with firearms. Rap legends Tupac Shakur and NOTORIUS BIG were both shot to death, and rap superstar Lil Wayne is going to jail because of illegal firearm possession. What these performers are doing effect all of their fans. If a kid thinks it’s cool to have a firearm because Lil Wayne had one then who is to blame. Changing the lyrics to a song won’t change what is happening. Artists have to realize what they are doing affects millions of people.
Violence is not the only problem hip hop is having. The other problem is happening to every genre of music; it is illegal downloading and piracy. Since the advancement of technology, the music industry has been losing money, cd sales have plummeted and record stores have started closing done all over the country. Less and less people are buying cds and more people are downloading music illegally. As Mitch Bainwol said “At any given time, 3 to 5 million people are on the Internet, downloading music and violating copyright law,” avid listeners download music because it is free and cds are too overpriced. Many artists are mad about this also because they are losing money and they want to be paid for their work. As LL Cool J “The majority of artists want to be compensated,” the people who are downloading music illegally don’t realize that other people are being affected by this, that people are losing money because of what they are doing. In an article about the future of hip hop the author says that most of the listeners that buy cds are rich white suburban kids, but this is not necessarily true, because many rich white suburban kids download music illegally. The main reason that people download illegally is that people don’t want to spend more than ten dollars on a cd especially if they want to listen to just one song. The music industry has tried to fight this by filing lawsuits against piracy and illegal downloading, like Napster which shut down then went back online as a low fee music downloader. Some bands have found ways to make money of this, by offering their listeners the ability to download music off their website for free, or they can donate a small amount to a “penny jar” on the website, that would pay for the album. Surprisingly many people donated to the website. Even though music has been through many changes it still has survived and will always be around.

Analytic Backround

Music has always been around since the beginning of time, people only started recording it in the 16th century. Music is all around us, it surrounds us, there are so many different types of music, but the two main categories are classical and popular. Classical, is usually jazz and other genres that were popular during the beginning of the 20th century. While popular music is mainly rock, country and hip hop. Music allows people to express how they feel and allows others to relax in it. It pumps people up and it calms them down, makes the happy or it makes them sad. Music thrives through people, it runs through their veins. There are so many different types of music; it seems that each person has their own individual genre. Some genres have died out over time, while some have survived through the good times and the bad. For example, jazz was invented after the Civil War and it thrived for a while, everything was jazz. Then something new came and replaced it, but jazz regained popularity again and still remains popular to this day. Music will always be around.
For people who are more visual than audio, there is the American Theater and American Film. Theater became more popular in America after the Civil War and continued to be popular. It became popular after the war because, before America wanted nothing to do with Britain and theater reminded them of it. Theater truly thrived after the Civil War, with its most famous play being Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The beginning of the Twentieth Century was not so kind on American Theater, with the invention of motion picture. Motion picture was first short silent, gag news reels, but then developed into feature length films lasting two to three hours. The first feature film was the silent film “The Great Train Robbery”. The actors in these films were celebrities among the people of America. After the first world war the film industry went through several changes, one of them being moving from the East coast to the West, going to Hollywood. The big change was the invention of sound in films. This completely changed films and it attracted more viewers, which was worse for theater. With the invention of television, the film industry entered a slump and fought through it by making movies people could only see at the movie theaters and gave viewers an experienced that could not be achieved at home. Movie still do this to this day, with films like “Avatar” and “Titanic”, that have special effects and 3d that can only be seen at theaters. The American Theater and American Film, have both been through hard times but, they will always be around because they allow people to escape into another world.

Current Event: Lil Wayne

Rapper Lil Wayne is the biggest star in the US, with "Tha Carter III" being the last album to sell a million copies in a week for the past decade and having formed the hot, new group Young Money. Everyone knows or has heard about Lil Wayne, but now that he is going to jail we have seen less and less of him. He is going to jail because of illegal gun possession and this will cause him to do one thing in life that he has always avioded, stopping. Many people consider him the hardest working artist in the music industry and now that he is going to jail he is working everynight till four in the morning. He has been featured on almost every hot song on the radio, has just released a new album and has formed the group Young Money. When asked about what he lloks in for people that he hires, his answer was work ethic and this is no surprise. Even though he is going to jail this won't stop him, just slow him down. He will still be working in jail on his upcoming album "The Carter IV", because they allow ipods in jail. And even outside of prison people who work for him will be making new songs and new Young Money songs will feature him in Autotune. Lil Wayne will be in commercials, videos, songs and other things. The main thing that Lil Wayne whats to do is to not be forgotten. He and his associates or doing everything to have America remember him. I think that what he is doing is smart, people won't completely forget about him, and it is hard not to. Everytime I turn on the radio I hear a song featuring him. What he is doing is smart a good move for his career.

Caramanica, Jon. "The trials of the hardest-working man in hip-hop.(Lil Wayne)(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. 159. 54898 (Dec 23, 2009): C1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .
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