Jeremys AS

The American Progression

2009-06-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

This photo perfectly represents what I think the United States is going through right now. We are the man in yellow, wearing blue jeans to represent the heart of America. The umbrella is there to protect him from his challenge. We have the American flag to protect us from everything that might harm us. The quote at the bottom says exactly what we need to do in a time of peril like this: "Hold your head up, don't look back, forward march." We have to start anew like we have done before, and we need to fulfill our full potential.

Ready for War

2009-05-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

Over the next five days, the country of Israel will be holding the biggest war drill in the country's 60 year history. The need for such a drill is due to the rising tension between Israel and their adversary to the east, Iran. Most experts believe that Iran is currently trying to develop nuclear weapon capability, and Israel must be on their heels. The drill will include: "simulated rockets, air raids and other attacks on infrastructure and essential facilities, and use of weapons on civilians" (CNN). I believe that Iran will have nuclear weapon capabilities in the next two years, and if the US and Israel don't somehow make peace with Iran soon, or destroy their nuclear plants, anything is possible.

Suicidal Military

2009-05-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

An U.S army base located in Kentucky is shutting its doors for the next three days in order to hold an anti-suicide event. Over the next three days, the base will hold an "suicide stand-down training event," in which the intent is to show each on of the soldiers that their life matters. And this is not the first on, they had something just like this earlier this year. The events are due to a extreme rise in suicides on the base, and in the military as whole. There have been 64 suicides in the army this year, and 11 of those occurred at the base in Kentucky. According to CNN, "more soldiers killed themselves in January of this year than died in battle." That is crazy to me. What are the commanders and generals and whoever else leads the military doing to cause this uprise of suicides. You cannot blame 64 suicides in 5 months solely on the soldiers themselves, the leaders must be pushing them to do this. We need military commanders who are compassionate to their own soldiers, even during a war. This is very upsetting to me, and Obama should definitely make some changes aat the top of the military.

Playing with Patriotism

2009-05-12T04:56:00.001-07:00

The use of the flag here shows how it can be used as a sales tool. It is likely that a child is not more likely to buy a toy car if there is an American flag on it, however, it could impact the parents decision to buy the toy. If there is one truck with a flag, and the exact same one without, and the child does not care which one he or she gets, I would say that most of the parents would choose the one with the flag. Even though its does not prove anything, in terms of patriotism, the feel more patriotic inside, and they believe that their kids are more patriotic.

9/11 Conspiracies

2009-03-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Ever since the day after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, conspiracy theorists have been creating myths about what happened on the terrible morning. From the planes being government planes, to explosives being planted in the towers to help them fall, people have created these myths most likely for a couple of reasons. First, our government has not been the most truthful government in the past, from Nixon to Clinton, so maybe people thought this was another lie, except on a much greater scale. Maybe some people could not believe that something like this could happen in our country, so it had to be an inside job. But whatever the reasons are, I think it is horrible that people could think up these things. The amount of disrespect that it shows for the victims and the victims families is incredible. Yes, the Bush administration did not make the best choices after 9/11, but there is no real evidence to prove the theories. Now that 8 years have past, and all the theories have been debunked, the theorists should show some respect to the victims and stop these myths.

Read an article debunking the theories here.

Obama Press Conference-Staying Cool

2009-03-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama held a news conference on Tuesday night in which he addressed questions from reports about topics ranging from the economy to stem cell research, and in his usual cool and calm way, he answered the questions with ease. When you compare how Bush and Obama answer questions, they both seem to think about what they are going to say before they say it, but Obama just sounds smarter when the words come out, and I think that is a big reason he got elected.
He continued to say that this economic struggle will not end quickly, that we have to work at it for awhile. I know that politicians always lie, but this is exactly the opposite of what he said while he was campaigning. He said that he will put in new financial regulations that will help this crisis end, but he has put in no such regulations. He said that in this speech in Dayton.
So, so far the Obama administration has been rather boring. Even though he has only been in office for 2 months, they really haven't done anything that big, except giving taxpayers money to companies that use it for bonuses. If Obama wants all those promises to come true, he should start working on it.

Why So Serious?

2009-02-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

At the 81st Annual Academy Awards last night, something happened there that will be remembered as one of the great moments in Oscar history.It happened when the winner was announced for the Best Supporting Actor category. When Alan Arkin opened up the envelope, and the name Heath Ledger came out of his mouth, the crowd erupted with joy and sadness. Heath Ledger was an Australian actor who starred in Movies like The Dark Knight and Brokeback Mountain. But the best part wasn't the fact that he won, it was the acceptance speech that his parents and sister gave. They didn't want people to think about his unfortunate death, but rather his incredible career and all the great work he did. I thought those moments were marvelous.

See the speech here.

Yes We Will

2008-11-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

Now that Barack Obama is President, everything is going to change on January 20th right, uhhh, no. I am so happy that Barack was elected, and I think that he can make good changes to our country, but its going to take a lot of time. Even if congress passes a new bunch of laws and new plans, and Barack signes them, they could take a year or more to go into effect. Also, Barack has a lot on his hands- Economy, Irag, Global Warming, Health Care...., the list goes on and on. He is going to make little changes at first, and the bigger things will start to take effect in a couple of years. So Americans, sit on your couch, watch American Idol, and be patient

Get me a pen, I'm keeping score of the Debate!!

2008-10-02T19:23:00.001-07:00

As I watched the vice-presidential debate tonight, on CNN, there were 6 round "Analyst Scorecards" in which six different political analysts keep score of the debate. When the analyst thought that a candidate had said something very helpful to their cause, they gave them a point on the plus side. When they said something that was hurtful to their cause, they gave them a point on the minus side. There were 3 analysts that seemed probama, 1 procain and 3 in the middle. I think this thing is terrible. If someone turns the debate on in the middle, or towards the end, it could possibly have an impact on the way they vote. If someone is on the fence, and they want to know what happened in the first part of the debate, they might just look at the scorecards and see what the "professionals" say, which is wrong. People deserve to hear what other people think, but I think keeping a scorecard of the debate is a little over the top.

Why The Cubs?

2008-09-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

Its a question I have been asking myself for my whole life. Why does this city love the Cubs so much more then the Sox. I am Sox fan, so you might think I'm just complaining about a lack of support, but if you think about it, why does this city love a team that losses most of the time. The Cubs havent won a world series in 100 years, the Sox have won two in that time period, and one in 2005. Maybe its because fans like the feeling of having hope for the next year, but wouldnt that make them Sox fans because the Sox have actually delivered recently. Maybe it's because the Cubs play on the Northside, and the Sox on the South, and people think the Southside is "dangerous," but its not, I have been to the park a lot of times, and I have never once felt scared. Whatever the reason, the Cubs are in the postseason this year and the Sox chances are looking good. If, miraculously, the two teams meet each other in the World Series, that the winner of the series will be considered the best team in Chicago, and the will will earn more respect from the other side of town. So dont feel bad Northsiders, when we are parading through your side of town.

Moms the Word

2008-09-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

As my dad and I drove home from the disappointing sox game today, we turned are radio to xm channel 126, CNN headlines. The discussion on the station was between a male and two females, and it was about whether Sarah Palin can be a good mom to her kids and fulfill her do if elected vice-president. One of the ladies, presumably a democrat, was saying that there is no way that Palin could do a good job of being V.P while taking care of 5 kids. One example that they used was that she brings her baby to governmental meetings in Alaska, and that there is no way that she could do that in Washington. I totally disagree. What, is her newborn baby secretly a Iranian spy, I don't think so. There is nothing wrong with bringing her child to meetings, especially because she will no longer be nursing him at the time of her potentially being elected. And as for the other kids, its not like Palin is a single mom. She does have a husband that is a loving father, who will obviously be able to take care of the kids while moms at work. Yes, there are some things that only mothers can do for there kids, but its not like she will be across the globe all the time. Yes, if elected, she would have to travel a lot, but I think that she will still have enough time to be a good mother to her kids, and a grandma to her coming grandchild. Thats another thing, her pregnant daughter. Yes, maybe if mom told daughter a little more about that subject, maybe this wouldn't have happened, but it comes down to the daughters choices, and all the blame should not go to the parents.
If elected, Governor Palin would be able to fulfill her job as a v.p and as a mom, but not necessarily in that order.

Here is a link to a video on the subject.(sorry for the title of the vid, not my vid)

Conservative Uproar

2008-09-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

As I watched the RNC tonight, I was amazed at the amount of blows the Republican party leaders threw at the Democrats, but it is exactly what they wanted, and exactly what they needed to do. I started watching at the start of Rudy Guiliani's speech. He did exactly what he needed to do, tell America why we need to vote for McCain, and why(in a veryyyyyyyyy strong way) we cant vote for Obama. I must say that I dont agree with everything Rudy said. Throughout his speech, and in fact in all of the RNC speeches so far, one of the main talking points in their speeches has been about McCains war record. Personally, I think that someones war record should not be a reason to vote for that person. I understand that people think that because he served in the army, he's a true "American Hero". But isnt Obama a American Hero too. All those people on the south side of Chicago that received help from Barack most likely think that he is just as much an American Hero as McCain. Yes, there is a big difference between almost sacrificing your life to save others in a POW camp and helping save peoples lives in Chicago, but don't they both require a hero to do the job. However, our president should not just be a hero. He should be someone that has confidence to lead our country and enough courage to stand up to foreign powers. I believe that both candidates have those qualities, but there will be only one winner. Who will you choose?

Protests in the News

2008-09-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

During the last few days, there have been a couple of protests that have been in the news. First, the protest outside of the RNC in St. Paul Minnesota. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised when I saw the images from the protest. Look at the image on the left. It looks like to me that the police officer was somehow pushed to the ground, so I don't disagree with his action. A lot of people are mad with the actions of the police, but I think that they did a good job of controlling the protest, and the protesters just got out of control.

The other protest that is making headlines is the one of CPS. Senator James Meeks lead over 1000 CPS students, and their parents, up to New Trier on Tuesday. There was so much hype leading up to the "protest", but nothing really happened. Everyone around here is happy that everything went smoothly, but is Meeks? If something would have happened, would it have brought more attention to the issue, or are people already paying enough attention. I think that by just coming up here was enough. The way Illinois funds schools, is definitely messed up, and what happened on Tuesday will hopefully get lawmakers thinking.

The final protest, and the most important right now, is mine of the Currents status of the Chicago White Sox. They have been outscored 43-12 the last 6 games, boasting a powerful 1-5 record. They are currently tied for first with the Minnesota Twins for first place in the AL Central. The Sox have a tough series coming up this weekend against the first place LA Angels(of Anaheim). Luckily the game, is at home, where the Sox have been very strong. Unfortunately, the Twins play in there Dome against the Tigers. where they scarcely lose. If you don't want to choke in the final month Ozzie, tell your team to STEP IT UP.