American studies

A work in progress

2009-06-01T09:17:00.001-07:00

This picture's meaning runs deep. It shows how some Americans stick to the old ways and are unable to accept today's diverse world. These members of the WestBoro Baptist Church protest everything. They literally plan protests of celebrity's funerals and soldier's funerals. Maybe they have nothing to do? More worrying however is their inclusion of children in their group. Children and being indoctrinated with their racist views.

In the picture below the first one , the Church is protesting Jews and Israel. This shows just how much these people hate everything and everyone. These pictures provide and insight into the mind of the racist. Although these views are not common in the north, in southern states many people routinely express their views in this way.

Old Traditions

2009-05-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

Where I live in Northfield , there is a big gap in houses and generally house size. There are 2 categories of house. 1 is the newly built giant house and the other is the 60 year old small house. What I noticed about the two types of houses is that in my neighborhood , only the older houses had flags. I looked at about 100 houses and saw ~15 flags. Not a single large house had a flag. This reminded me of the discussion we had in class where Mr. Bolos mentioned that in his area more small houses had flags than bigger houses. With some careful observation over the past few years , I have noted that the bigger houses were mainly owned by people who have immigrated to the U.S. within the last 20 years. All the smaller houses were probably owned by the same people for 30+ years. This leads me to believe there is a correleation between how long you live in the U.S. , how successful you are and flags. I will have to study this more in depth.

Irresponsible Retirement

2009-04-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I sent a college professor and email requesting an interview, although he could not do the interview he did answer my question. Why do Americans Live above their means? He gave me a very interesting answer that I had not thought of before. If someone is retired and has all their money invested and then the economy goes bad, those people appear to look irresponsible. While they thought they were living within their means , and perhaps for the time they were, the investments failed and now they can no longer pay off their debt. This problem is not easily solved due to the fact that predicting when investments may go bad is very hard. Thus, people always get caught in this trap. I have thought about this for quite some time and cannot help but to think , How does the government prepare for this specific situation knowing that this type of thing is bound to happen ?

Don't Blame the Bankers

2009-04-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

I often hear Americans blame banks, bankers or financial institutions for giving loans to almost anybody. While this was most definitely wrong, the bigger blame should go to the people who took the loans even though they were making nowhere near enough to pay them. As a nation we are quick to point fingers ,but we need to take a closer look at ourselves. If we saved money instead of spending money we didn't have the economic situation might have gone better.

From Modest to Mcmansion

2009-04-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

According to an NPR article (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525283) , the average size of a house in the united states has gone from 983 sq. ft in 1950 to 2400 sq. ft now. This is a disturbing trend because the size of our families is not increasing ,but rather decreasing. What does all this mean ? It means that on average Americans are attaining higher expectations. One reason for the huge increase in house size was the fact that in the early 2000's loans were being given to anyone. This fueled an increase in construction ,which in turn caused house size to go up. Why are Americans growing more greedy? Why was 983 sq ft enough 50 years ago ,but it isn't now ?

Living in credit

2009-04-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Being in the middle of a credit crisis has got me thinking, why do Americans feel it is ok to live so deep in debt? Buying a house that they clearly cannot afford, not thinking ahead and racking up a giant debt. People are complaining now ,but have they looked back t0 2 years ago when they were spending carelessly? Although banks are partly to blame for giving loans to almost anyone , common people need to realize that scapegoating the banks does nothing when they themselves are the root cause of the issue. The average American who wanted an above average lifestyle. I feel like too much of the blame is being put on "wallstreet fatcats" and bankers when most of the blame should lie with the American public.

Aig set to pay out 450 million in bonuses

2009-03-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Even as it is apparent that AIG's failure was because of mismanagement, executives and other employees are set to receive about 450 million in bonuses. This is outrageous considering AIG is bankrupt and those receiving the bonuses are getting them directly from out tax dollars. The government needs to step in here and prevent the people who's actions led to this company's downfall from getting massive bonuses. The latest payment of the 450 million is $160 million dollars. Although Obama's plan already limited future payments, the current ones need to be stopped as well. Although contracts would have to be broken, this is one situation where it would be wise to bend the rules.

Iran has enough nuclear material for a bomb

2009-03-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

The top U.S. military official ,Adm. Mike Mullen, has stated that based on current reports , Iran has enough enriched Uranium to make a bomb. Iran is a radical country with a very crazy leader. Iran's president ,Ahmadinejad,has said on multiple occasions that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. This leads to worrying thoughts. Should Iran actually make a nuclear bomb, they would start to use it for leverage in world politics. At this point it is necessary for the U.S. government to intervene.

Constitution? We don't need no constitution....

2009-02-15T19:49:00.000-08:00

This week Venezuela's president,Hugo Chavez, won a referendum to remove the term limits from Venezuela's constitution. If you are going to so blatantly disregard a constitution ,why have it in the first place? Venezuela is on track to becoming a socialist country and Chavez is set to be president for life. In the end Venezuela's people are the ones who will suffer. Socialism has never worked well so what makes Chavez think he can fix it ? Whenever we look back at the lives of people in socialism vs capitalism ,the people who live in a socialist state always have much lower quality of life. In my opinion Chavez is crazy and power-hungry. Hopefully someone will put him in his place before he goes to far.

Obama's stimulus package

2009-02-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

I read through a breakdown of Obama's Tax plan and the overwhelming majority of the plan appears to be waste. Here is the breakdown:

Health Care: $150.1 billion

Education, Science and Technology: $132.6 billion

$41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion);
$39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas;
$15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500;
$15 billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures;
$10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation;
$6 billion to expand broadband internet access so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link up to the global economy;
$6 billion for higher education modernization.

Energy and Environment: $104 billion

$32 billion to transform the nation's energy transmission, distribution, and production systems by allowing for a smarter and better grid and focusing investment in renewable technology;
$31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long term energy cost savings;
$19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments;
$16 billion to repair public housing and make key energy efficiency retrofits;
$6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes

Unemployment Compensation: $63 billion

Transportation: $40 billion

$30 billion for highway construction;
$10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption.

Misc: $29 billion

$25 billion to states for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education;
$4 billion for state and local law enforcement funding.

Tax cuts : $275 Billion

Foreign Aid : $40 Billion

A better use for the $150 Billion to be used for health plans would be to shred the money up and compost it into soil. At that point we could plant crops into that soil. If the money-soil proves to have enough nutrients, we could use it to replace lost top soil.

The $132 Billion which will be spent on education is not as wasteful as the healthcare money , but certainly we need to cut down the education funding and increase the science funding. The Pell grant increase is wasteful.

The $104 Billion in energy spending is not being put to the right use. Restructuring our energy grids is not as important as funding clean energy programs/technology. The 22 Billion being spent to renovate houses is a barrel of pork.

The next part of the plan is $63 Billion in unemployment benefits. This is one of the reasons why I really didn't like Obama at first. Our nation is in a time of crisis, the focus should be to revitalize the economy not to print money and then incinerate it in a furnace. The money spent does little to help our economy in any significant way.

The $40 Billion being spent on transportation improvement is a good idea ,but is really not necessary in time of deep recession.

The 25 Billion being spent on "high priority needs " is unclear so I am unable to make a comment on it.

The next part of the plan is $275 Billion in tax cuts. This is a sensitive issue due to the issue of implementation. The tax cuts should be very specific such as cuts for people who buy homes. Tax cuts should only be used if the cut significantly improves home sales or other economic issues.

The biggest waste of the entire plan is $40 Billion in foreign aid. This money might as well be sent into space or burned. Actually that would be great. $40 Billion less money means less inflation. Why should we , when we are in a crisis be helping other nations? If we weren't in a crisis this might not be so outrageous.

Overall the plan is wasteful ,but with some reorganization the money spent could be put to the use of restarting our stagnating economy.

Agreement reached on Ukrainian gas conflict

2009-01-18T20:15:00.000-08:00

An agreement was reached between Russia and Ukraine on the price of Ukraine's gas for 2009. The price will be $360 per 1000 cubic meters, double what Ukraine payed in 2008. The flow of gas will resume once the two country's gas companies sign a contract. 80% of the gas that Western Europe gets from Russia comes from pipelines in Ukraine. The earlier conflict was that Russia accused Ukraine of stealing gas bound for western countries. New monitoring systems will be installed to make sure gas is not being stolen. Russia has said it will decrease shipments by whatever amount is stolen.

As gas prices are expected to drop significantly later this year the final price Ukraine pays may end up being much lower. Overall the main thing this conflict shows us is that arguments between a few people may end up affecting millions of people ,as in this case some Europeans were left without gas.

Ukraine Gas conflict

2009-01-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

In the past few weeks Ukraine had a serious conflict with Russia over gas prices for 2009. These discussions culminated in accusations of Ukraine stealing gas and the gas being cutoff. Russia alleges that Ukraine steals 15% of the Euorpe-bound gas. Since 80% of the gas that western Europe gets passes through Ukraine, the shutoff of the gas is affecting all of Europe. The issue over price arises just after the Georgian conflict , during which Ukraine supported Georgia. This pissed off Russia immensely. The whole conflict will still need some time to be resolved.

When I traveled to Ukraine 2 years ago, Russia charged $179 for 1000 cubic meters of gas. This is about 70% less than what Western Europe is charged. A increase was discussed which resulted in protest. Now, Russia is demanding $428 per 1000 cubic meters. This price hike will greatly affect Ukraine's economy which has recently taken a down turn. Ukraine may try to find some leverage in the fact that it owns the rights to the pipelines and if it doesn't get a good price it may deny Russia their use. What is likely to happen is that a middle ground will be found , probably around a $250-350 compromise.

Gaza under seige

2009-01-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Just a few days ago Israeli military officials decided that a ground invasion of Gaza was necessary. Even as the ground invasion continues , Hamas militants continue to fire rockets into Israel. The Israeli military forces say that not harming civilians is a top priority ,but even so it is likely many innocent people will be killed. According to CNN many of Gaza's hospitals are full and patients are dieing before they can be treated. Another source of concern is that since the borders of the Gaza strip are blocked off, there won't be enough food in Gaza. This will soon lead to a humanitarian crisis and if the U.N. does not intervene soon, people will die of hunger. The whole issue is very controversial due to the fact that Israel has the right to defend itself ,but the militants try to look like common people. This causes many civillian deaths to occur. The weapons may be stored in civillian areas and religious sites. By doing this and using these cheap strategies , Hamas is endangering many innocent lives.

Israeli action against Hamas

2008-12-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

For the past three days Israel has been bombing Hamas targets in the Gaza strip. These attacks are retaliations against the rocket attacks that Hamas keeps making on Israeli cities. Israel is now moving its tanks and troops to completely surround the Gaza Strip. Tension is building and according to senior Israeli officials a ground operation may be started (CNN). Throughout the 3 day period almost 300 people were killed ,most of them Hamas militants.

In my opinion Hamas is just asking for it by sending their rockets into Israeli cities and killing random civillians. Israel is taking the right action by moving their troops around the Gaza strip. In case the conflict escalates they need to be ready to defend themselves. Israel knows many of the countries near them and most of the arab world hates them. They have prepared for that hate by building up a strong military.

Hamas has extraordinary zeal when it comes to hating Israel. It is likely that they know that Israel has much stronger armed forces then they do but, their hatred for them transcends common sense. At this point nothing will change their mind and open military conflict is inevitable.

Idle Auto Manufacturers

2008-12-21T21:21:00.000-08:00

After the Auto bailout failed in the senate , the White House announced that it would offer GM and Chrysler 17.4 Billion dollars in emergency funds. This action is unnecessary because giving an unprofitable company more money will not make it profitable. The government should let the Big three fail. If we keep throwing them lifelines , they will just continue to put out bad products and still be unable to deal with the unions. Workers in the auto industry make ,on average, about 70 dollars an hour. Workers in foreign car factories make about half of this. Until these unions cease to ask for such huge wages , American car companies will be choked to death. By letting the companies fail, they would file bankruptcy and could cancel their union contracts. This would open up the opportunity for restructuring their business models.

As of right now GM and Chrysler are temporarily closing their assembly lines. Chrysler announced that it would cease all factory operations for at least a month. Meanwhile GM is shutting down certain plants and laying off workers. Just recently GM announced that one of its Ohio plants was being shut down and all 1080 workers would be left idle. Hopefully the unions will accept lower wages and perhaps then these companies may become profitable.

Innocent until proven guilty

2008-12-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

Almost as soon as our governor , Rod Blagojevich, was arrested the Attorney General , Lisa Madigan, was asking the supreme court to remove his powers. Not only that ,but many other people are already calling for his impeachment or removal from office. What people are forgetting here is that while it is highly likely that our governor is guilty of corruption ,he is innocent until proven guilty by a jury. Calling for his impeachment or having his powers as Governor removed before he is proven guilty is unconstitutional. I have already wrote an article on Blagojevich ,where I criticize his ability to manage our budget and his failure to care about Illinois' natural resources. It was common knowledge that Blagojevich was corrupt ,but now that some solid evidence has come up we may finally be able to throw him in the slammer for a long, long time.

In other news, Bush got a shoe throw at him during a farewell speech in Iraq. To Iraqis the throwing of shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. The person who threw it also shouted , in arabic, " This is a farewell kiss , you dog." Bush responded "So what if a guy threw his shoe at me?" Classic Bush.

Obama's Ascension to the throne

2008-11-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

Soon it will be time for Bush to step down and Obama to step up. This is a critical time because in this transition period terrorists are most likely to strike. On Sunday, Obama said in an interview that choosing his national security team is one of his top priorities due to the nation's vulnerability. Obama is already promising that he will crush the Taliban and fix our economy. One thing that I can agree with him on is that we must stop the recession from becoming a depression. "We shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after. ... The most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession."(Yahoo news). Obama is hoping that the markets have found their bottom and will begin improving over time. Hopefully this is the case and within a year we will be able to see some improvement. While it may takes as many as 10 years to completely fix the economy the first step now is to stop the recession from worsening into a depression. If we can accomplish this it will take less time to fix the issues.

No guns for you

2008-11-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Since Barack Obama has been elected , gun stores have reported staggering sales on semi-automatic rifles. With such an anti gun president , people are worried that their right to bear arms will not be honored. Some gun stores are reporting sales in excess of $100,000 a day. While it may be true that in the future restrictions on these guns will be placed, I feel people are acting on impulse when they go in to buy that gun. In my opinion people should wait a few months and see where Barack is going to go in regards to his gun policies. If he makes a move , that would probably be the time to buy the guns. Depending on the law, old guns may be grandfathered in ,thus allowing assault rifles to be owned by the public even though the guns would be illegal to buy or transfer after. As I have stated in the past , banning these guns would have ZERO effect on crime. If someone will not obey laws against murder,theft,rape and battery why would they even think about obey laws related to guns ?

Meeting Mark Kirk

2008-11-03T06:18:00.000-08:00

Last week I went to meet Mark Kirk. Before the meeting I proffered Kirk to Seals. During the meeting Kirk talked about ways in which he fought the dumping of oil byproducts into lake Michigan. Various Oil companies such as BP dump their waste products into Michigan which in turn causes problems along our beaches. Kirk fought to prevent this from happening and succeeded. While this was a positive, I found out something that made me change my mind about Kirk completely. It seems he started the initiative to ban Assault rifles. If you refer to my first post you will find out why I strongly disagree with this. I didn't have time to ask him any questions ,but if I had 6th free , I would have asked why he supports banning assault rifles. The truth is people support banning these guns without fully understanding why. The word assault implies these guns are used to rob banks or kill large amounts of people. In actuality "assault" rifles are barely used in crime at all. As mentioned in the first article "Assault Rifle " is merely a fearsome epithet. I thought Kirk would have been a full blown Republican ,but sadly he seems more like a democrat.

Illinois' Mismanagement of natural resources.

2008-10-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

Illinois has a serious problem with the management of its parks and fish/game. Governor Blagojevich doesn't seem to care much about the environment or the conservation of wildlife. The problem with Illinois' budget system is that revenue from sources such as fishing licenses , hunting licenses and DNR ( Department of Natural resources ) tickets goes to the overall budget and not to help conserve and protect our parks.

Due to Illinois' 2.1 Billion budget deficit on Nov. 1st , 39 state employees will be fired and 11 state parks will close. The root of this issue is a broken system and an indifferent governor. Blagojevich has a long track record of not caring about conservation and not being able to balance a budget correctly. He has been critized in mishandling the budget , causing deficit and using improper means to balance the budget. He called for balancing the 2005 budget by removing 1.2 billion from the state pension fund.

One of the problems that this issue causes is that because not enough money is appropriated to the DNR , they cannot do their job correctly. Officers are given too little gas and are unable to give tickets to raise money and protect our fish/game. Poachers are decimating populations of animals in Illinois and nothing can be done to stop it because the DNR has no money. It saddens me that our Natural resources and parks are being mismanaged. This issue will have an affect on future generations. If we do not do something soon to change the way the budget works and increase DNR funds , our parks and fisheries may be ruined for a long time to come. The best way to fix this issue would be to take funds from fishing/hunting related tickets and from fishing/hunting licenses and use that money for specifically fishing/hunting related purposes such as conservation and restocking animals where populations have declined. We need to fix this now and not pass this on to the next generation, because by then it may already be too late.

Mccain's new econmic plan

2008-10-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

In what seems to be a last ditch effort , John Mccain revealed his new 52.5 billion dollar economic plan. The plan would guarantee all savings for 6 months in an effort to calm American's fears about bank failures. It would almost cut capital gains taxes and end taxes on unemployment benefits. Obama's campaign spokesman , Bill Burton stated that this plan would have no affect on the middle class and would only increase the incomes of the upper class. The fact that Mccain released this plan makes little difference because he has already lost. Unless a very huge event has a dramatic influence on voters Obama has already secured the presidency. With Obama having an 8 point lead in the polls , there is little that John Mccain can do at this point to win. The electoral vote predictions put Obama at 330 and Mccain at 164. This pretty much sets things in place for Obama to be our next president.

Mud slinging

2008-10-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

This week Sarah Palin made the following statement: "Our opponent though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." She is reffering to Barack Obama's friend Bill Ayers , who bombed various government buildings in the 70's. In my opinion Palin has the right to make a statement like that and Obama cannot say it isn't true. Obama met with Ayers multiple times since Obama's senate campaign. In response to Palin's attack Obama accused the Mccain campaign of using smear tactics. He said that Mccain was more intrested in smearing him than fixing the economy. Obama is quick to call attention away from the fact that he does indeed know Bill Ayers. Although a rational person would probably see that it is unlikely that Ayers affected Obama , the smear is aimed at the people who would only hear " Barack Obama and terrorist". Obama will have to find a way to reach out the the average American , who has no intrest in listening to 2 hour long debates.

Obama agrees with Mccain

2008-09-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

As I watched the presidential debate on friday , I couldn't help but notice how many times Obama said that he agrees with Mccain. Within minutes of the debate's end Mccain's site already had a 30 second video up with Obama saying Mccain is absolutely right multiple times. Obama's counter was a video stating the Mccain failed to mention the middle class even a single time in the 90 minute debate. In my opinion Mccain did better overall with Obama appearing weak when debating foreign relations. Obama mentioned attacking Pakistan and Mccain countered with " You don't say that aloud". One thing I found annoying was that when Obama was talking to Mccain, Mccain looked down. It appeared he was writing something down at times ,but he should have looked at his opponent when he was talking to him. One interesting thing that Mccain said was that Obama provided over 1 million dollars of funding for earmark projects for each day of his term as senator. While Mccain's goal is to reduce taxes and reduce spending , Obama wants to increase our taxes and increase government spending. Let's hope people see that even though Obama may be a good speaker , he is not experienced enough to be the next president.

Melamine in milk

2008-09-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

This week 13,000 Chinese children were hospitalized this week due to the addition of melamine in milk powder. The milk powder producer knew there was melamine in the milk ,but failed to recall the milk in time. Melamine is a deadly chemical purposely added to milk and other products to give the appearance of boosted protein levels. This reminds me of the March 2007 pet food recalls in which rice containing melamine was used in the production of pet foods. The official number of pets affected is not known ,but it is estimated in the thousands. The problem is that melamine can get into human food when animals intended for human consumption are fed with products from china. The FDA says this is not an issue , but these days we buy so many things from China that Melamine and other poisons in Chinese goods is a real issue.

If China continues to have such lax safety standards how can we continue to trust their goods? China's companies are poorly regulated and many officials take bribes. This problem is very hard to solve because the U.S. is addicted to China's cheap goods. People are not educated and as a result more contaminated food will reach us. If something is not done people will die. The question is not if it will happen ,but when.

What does Barack bring other than pretty speeches?

2008-09-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

At this time of political unrest and economic troubles, America needs a president with extensive political experience. Wherever I look, people are worshiping Barack Obama and singing his praises. He stands at a podium and yells about change for an hour and people blindly follow him. Review his political background and realize we need someone with more than just a few years of experience. Everyone always tells me how amazing Obama's speeches are. So what ? A speech means nothing in terms of how well a candidate can run a country. All Obama has done is manipulate America with his empty words. How will Obama help our economy with his speeches ? What will happen when Obama pulls out of Iraq and it becomes a breeding ground for terrorists? Only then will people see that they have been fooled by the great orator. His promises are empty and while things will change , none will be for the better.

Obama on gun control

2008-09-03T07:29:00.001-07:00

Barrack Obama's view on gun control is that assault rifles and .50 caliber rifles should be banned. This view is flawed because even though those two types of guns are currently legal , less than 5% of crimes are commited with them. From The Daily Journal 1993-May-11, by Don B. Kates and Peter Alan Kasler: :

" "Assault weapon" is just a fearsome epithet for common semiautomatic arms, which fire no faster than a civilian revolver, pump rifle or shotgun. Contrary to claims that military-style rifles are preferred by druglords and other criminals, studies across the country show them rarely found in drug raids. And though they represent an estimated 27 percent of new sales, they constitute only 1 percent to 5 percent of the guns used in crimes. Their popularity reflects their use of high-strength plastic instead of wood, making them light but rugged for hunting, camping, pest and predator control, Olympic and other target competition."

There is no reason to ban something that is not causing a problem. If assault rifles were being used in a high percentage of crimes , I would support banning them ,but based on current statistics very few crimes invovle assault rifles. They are no more dangerous than regular guns because newer models cannot be converted to automatic mode. Banning them would only hurt honest people because no matter what is banned , criminals will still have it if they need to. Obama's gun ban may go through ,but the only thing this will do is give the criminals an advantage because common people will not have adequate self protection.

The proper course of action would be to put harder background checks and make sure people are trained in the use of the gun they are purchasing. The key is to develop a system that prevents criminals from buying guns ,but allows honest people accsess to them.