Ivy - War in Iraq

I watched the debate on TV Friday night and McCain says that we are winning in Iraq, but what does it mean? My opinion is that we shouldn't be in Iraq in the first place. We should be trying to capture Osama Bin Laden. He is a bad guy who people think has weapons of mass destruction. That is worse than Iraq's terrorism. Iraq has "little" terrorism. Weapons of mass can be used for "big" terrorism. That is bad, very bad!

Sarah Palin- Enhancing McCain's candidacy or destroying it?

Sarah Palin has done poorly since John McCain introduced her as his V.P. candidate. When she goes head to head on Thursday against Joe Biden, I wonder what she will blow next? She has upset many Republicans, some of which are switching to Barrack Obama. Between her lack of experience and silly answers on interviews, Sarah Palin is looking worse than Dan Quayle. (He is considered the least intelligent V.P. from 1988.) David Frum, a former speechwriter for President G.H. Bush said, “... Dan Quayle never in his life has performed as badly as Sarah Palin in the last month."

However, she is still drawing many women and individual voters. My question is, "Will it be enough for the win?" (I hope not!)

Article from:
New York Times, "Concerns About Palin’s Readiness as Big Test Nears,"
Elisabeth Bumiller and Patrick Healy contributed reporting. September 30, 2008, on page A16 of the New York edition.

Wanted: amateurs to help track earthquakes

Scientists are picking random people around the U.S.A. to help figure out when a earthquake is arriving. They use a motion sensor that if your computer fell it would immediately contact the hard drive and the hard drive would protect the data, like a force field.
I think it is very interesting and cool that people can determine when a earthquake arrives.
"The Quake-Catcher system was put to the test in July during a magnitude-5.4 quake that was centered in the hills east of Los Angeles. The temblor rattled a large swath of Southern California but caused little damage. Fewer than a half-dozen laptops with the software sensed the quake, and only three sent back clean signals seven seconds after the fault ruptured."
"Almost anyone can participate by equipping laptop computers with special software or installing quake sensors at home."


Article from www.CNN.com/technology on 9/26/08 by The Associated Press

-- Samantha Primm

Elizabeth's blog -- House Rejects Bailout/ Stock Market Plunges

On Monday, the House of Representatives rejected the Bailout 228-205, according to a story in the New York Times. Now what is the Bailout? The Bailout is the president's plan to buy the failing mortgages from the insurance companies and other Wall Street investors. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson thinks we will need $700,000,000,000 to buy the bad loans. But he thinks that "the failure of the rescue plan could dry up credit for businesses big and small."

Many Americans think that if the problem isn't fixed soon that we might go into another Great Depression because the economy needs credit. The tumble that happened today in the Stock Market certainly supports that argument because 777 points is more than the crash that began the Great Depression (although the plunge in 1929 was bigger in percentage terms).

If the problem is a significant one then I think it should be fixed but maybe the Bailout is not the best solution. But is it as serious as President Bush says? Could he be mistaken? He was wrong about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq .

Jeremy- An overview on the debate

Bearish on the debates by Gail Collins in the Austin American-Statesman on Sept. 30, 2008; page A11
The article I read was an overview on the Presidential Debate. The article discussed the debate in a not-so-articulate manner. The article also talked a little about what they went over in the debate. Now that I have the tension all built up I will tell you what they went over. They went over: Economy, Foreign Policy, and National Security. I think that the debate favored Obama, even though McCain had much more knowledge about the subjects. I think that McCain actually didn't do well in the debate. My favorite quote is, "The real tension after all was getting McCain there in the first place. A simple trip to Mississippi turned into a saga featuring many rapidly changing storylines: Cancel the debate!, Maybe cancel the debate!, No debate unless Congress passes a financial rescue bill!, No debate unless Congress has a plan to pass a financial rescue bill!, Oh, what the heck."

Iraq--McCain Gets Superior

John McCain has tried to put a spending freeze on everything but veteran care and troops in Iraq. He thinks Obama has tried, and is still trying, to cut the funding for the soldiers in Iraq. Now, John McCain kept getting mad at Obama, and, as somebody said, Obama is accusing McCain of continuing to mess the country up like it started 4 years ago. To me it is the other way around. McCain is accusing Obama of deliberately trying to lose the country the war in Iraq. McCain even got superior. He said that Obama didn't even know the difference between a strategy and a tactic. He said himself that we are winning in Iraq. There are still key people to put right. He says that Obama doesn't that we are winning. 

Daniel - Obama doesn't like McCain

"McCain, Obama fight for title of 'most qualified' " - CNN.com - 9/27/2008

In the presidential debate John Mcain said, “ We can work out a plan for this break out on Wall St. ” Obama replied,“ I’m optimistic about having one plan”.

What is that supposed to mean? Does this mean Obama just does not like Senator Mcain? Or is he just an independent worker?

Obama also said “ It is a better economic recipe than the-- the policies of President Bush that John Mcain wants to—wants to follow.”

Barak Obama is accusing John Mcain for messing this country up even more. Proving my opinon that Barak Obama does not like John Mcain.

The Financial Crisis

There has been a financial crisis in mostly Main Street and Wall Street as some of you may know. McCain wants to cut the tax on everyone, and, if I'm not mistaken, give the money to already wealthy companies, like oil companies. He keeps saying that Obama has the made the wrong decision to raise the taxes. The flaw with McCain's choice is that there are too many loopholes; instead of trying to find a way to close the loopholes, he just added an additional tax cut. 

Obama's plan to raise the taxes was partly for the benefit of health care, and also make what people are buying. That way, it would still look the same according to free enterprise. 

Also, McCain saw his point denying the importance of 18,000,000,000 dollars. 

In my opinion, Obama clearly won.

Logan-The Devastating Foreclosure

In The New York Times article "As Homes Are Lost, Fears That Votes Will Be, Too." Over 1,000,000 people lost their homes so will get disqualified
from the election for telling the election board an address they had. Ian Urbina reports, "The state[Ohio] requires that election officials send a notice to all registered voters verifying their address 60 days before an election to check the accuracy of the voter rolls." Because of the horrible economy, they couldn't afford a new house. They were stuck! In Missouri 250,000 told the post office they were moving, where 22,000 told the election board. Around 228,000 people in Missouri won't get to vote. It isn't fair if the people who need better taxes, economy,etc. can't vote? Is it?

As Homes Are Lost, Fears That Votes Will Be, Too.
by Ian Urbina page A18

McCain vs. Obama: Nuclear Energy

McCain wants to get 43 more nuclear power plants by the year 2023 to give people jobs. It’s one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet. Also, every single one of those 43 power plants gives out 10 metric tons or 22,046 pounds of nuclear waste per year. Where are we going to put all of that? There isn’t enough safe space: it will decay and be very dangerous. What Obama is thinking of doing is much better because it takes advantages of one of the bad things happening in the world: global warming. He plans to use solar, wind and water power. Because of global warming, the earth’s climates have been intensified: when it rains, the rains are heavier, when the sun is out, the rays of light are more intense (the ozone layer is decaying), and when the wind blows, it’s even stronger. Another advantage of wind, water and solar power is that there are no emissions, except for electricity! :) :) :) ;)

Sources:
CSPAN for video of debate
internet

Ms M. -- Debate Defines Expectations

Response to the 1st Presidential candidate debate airing on television Friday Sept. 26 at 8pm CST.

I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and directness of both candidates in this first debate. I think that each man made his priorities for his administration very clear. Obama seems to be concerned with issues at home like education, health care, and the economic crisis, while McCain predictably showed more interest in military matters abroad. For the first time in many Presidential candidate debates, I felt like the men were more interested in showing their differences than trying to look like political twins (which they never are). Also of note was the interesting responses to the accusations the candidates made against each other. I just love it when the gloves come off and they swing with bare fists! The "spin" of the allegations was pretty much transparent in terms of McCain's jabs at Obama. That man knows how to block a shot! McCain, on the other hand, seemed to keep returning to his scripted points, particularly in respect to the question about how the economic crisis would affect his plans for the upcoming administration. McCain did kick back impressively with his expertise on foreign policy even though he tripped over the name of the Pakistani president. I do not agree with his opinions, but I respect his knowledge of the conflict. Still, Obama definitely came out on top, keeping his cool, refuting jabs at his record, and really answering the questions instead of parroting the scripted line. I really enjoyed this first debate and I can not wait to see the V.P. candidates face off.

Presidential Debate Tonight

Hello class!

As some of you may know, the first presidential debate takes place tonight at 8 pm. If you're able to, I highly reccommend you watch it! The debates give citizens a chance to hear more about the candidates' views, and candidates a chance to distinguish themselves from one another.

If you watch the debate, please post any questions, comments, and responses on the blog. I'll be posting my own reflections and thoughts sometime over the weekend.

Have a great weekend!

The Assignment

Each week the bloggers will:

1. Read a news story that relates to American Studies
2. Compose a blog entry that includes:

• The source of the article read
• A short summary of the event
• A quote from the article
• Opinions about the event
• An historical connection (extra credit -- green card)