KOREAN WAR PART 2?

In “Korean War Part 2” by Choe Sang-Hun In Seoul, he talk about how sixty years ago, after the war ended, tension on the Korean peninsula is rising.

 A secretive totalitarian Communist has ruled the starving, controlled population in North Korea. In South Korea, protected by the United States Troops, produced “one of the world’s most technologically advanced economies.” North and South Korea are not at war, but there not at peace either. North Korea declared the armistice that ended the war and kept peace with South Korea for 60 years, last month.  They threatened South Korea and the United States to launch a “pre-emptive nuclear strike”.  United States responded to them and sent B-2 stealth bombers over to South Korea. Being cautions, the United States said that they would spend 1 billion dollars on more missile defenses in Alaska and California.

Because of the threats, South Korea polls say that two-thirds of South Koreans want their government to have their own nuclear arsenal, not depending on the United States military strength.  Professor Han Yong-sup at the KNDU (Korea National Defense University) in Seoul said, “The third nuclear test was for South Korea what the Cuban Missile Crisis was for the U.S. It has made the North Korean threat seem very close.”

I don’t think that North and South Korea should have departed. They should’ve never to war. And I do feel that they should be one again and help each other out in a way.  I think the United States should stay out of it to. They should be worrying about their people safety not others.

SISTER'S IN ARMS

In “Sisters in Arms” James Dao talks about how the U.S military is lifting the ban on women trying to be in combat. And what would happen to the nation’s armed forces.

May 15 is when the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines have until to submit plans about carrying out the policy. 200,000 jobs should now open to women. Armed services are now trying to develop “gender-neutral standards” for all of the jobs. The Pentagon said that they vowed not to lower the standard for women to join combat units. The Army allows women to pass their fitness test with fewer push-ups than men and slower two-mile run. Women make up 15 percent of the 1.4 million U.S military. 18,000 women are currently deployed to Afghanistan.

People question on whether women have physical strength for tasks such as walking for miles and wearing heavy armor. Also carrying packs that weigh 100 pounds. Sergeant Pearsall said, “I didn’t sit around thinking: I’m a women; I don’t think I can carry this gun. And I can’t speak for the men but I feel that when bullets were flying, they didn’t care that I was a woman, as long as I was pulling the trigger.

I think it’s a good idea to open women up to joining the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. But I don’t think that it’s a good Idea to lower the standard rate just because there women. If women want to join the Army I think that they should be able to do whatever men could do, or even better. Women shouldn’t get the special treated just because there women. I think if they did get the special treated, men should too.

Cyber War

In CyberWar by Patrica Smith, she talks about how the United States might be facing "Cyber Pearl Harbor". And how it could wreak havoc on our computer networks, and possibly our lives.

The world's most valuable company is Saudi Arabia's state owned oil company, which is valued at an estimate of 7 trillion dollars. On August 15th more than 55,000 employees from Saudi Arabia was home celebrating the Muslim holiday.  That gave the hackers a perfect time to do damage.  At 11:08 75 percent of Aramco's PCs had a virus on them.. Emails, documents, and spreadsheets were all erased and replaced with images of a burning American flag.  When the virus stopped it made 30,000 and more computers useless.  The attacks left a message to United States and other nations saying that the world is vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The biggest source of cyber war concerns are Iran and China.  China, mostly try to steal Pentagon secrets, they don't do damage.  But Iran is trying to.  American officials say that Iran had computer attacks on America's largest banks, like Wells Fargo and PNC bank. Last May, Iran said that they have been attacked by a Virus called "Flame".  It deleted data from laptop computers, from Iranians who are leaders and scientists.  Iranians say that the attack may have come from America or Israel.

I don't think cyberwar is a great thing, but, I do think it's better than actual fighting a war.  In the article Richard Clarke said, "It proved you don't have to be sophisticated to do a lot of damage."  I like that quote, because I think its true.. You don't have to be over the top smart to make an attack to damage computers.  You just have to know how to do it and what your doing.  Cyber war is a big problem and it wouldn't hurt if people help stop it.

TIME FOR A RAISE

In " Time for a Raise?" Patricia Smith talks about how Barack Obama wants to increase the minimum wage to nine dollars an hour. President Obama said if he could change the minimum wage it would help people with groceries, food banks, and rent. It would help people and their businesses. Some states already set their wages higher than the federal law which is $7.25.

Other people disagree with change. They think that if Obama raise the wages to nine dollars an hour, it will lead more unemployment. The United States unemployment rate is at 7.7 percent, which means that there is about 12 million people looking for jobs. Low-wage job losses would hurt the young people the most. They have a higher unemployment rate which stands at 12 percent. John Boehner, Speaker of the House said, "At a time when the American people are still asking question, 'Where are the job?' why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people?"

Business owners think that if the wage would raise, it would put pressure on other wages.
Labor groups say that, "raising the minimum wage puts more money in the hands of people who are likely to spend it rather than save it- providing a boost to the economy."

I think it's a good thing to raise the wage to nine dollars an hour because its more money for people.
Its not much but it still something. I think that a good amount of money for a teenager if they have a job. I have a job, and it pays 7.25 an hour. I wouldn't be complaining if they raise it. That's more money for me. But I still think that if they raise it, some people might lose their jobs, because some companies cant afford to give people that amount.

POST 22 HARLEM SHAKE

In “Surprise Hit Was a Shock for Artists Heard on it”. James McKinley Jr. explains how Hector Delgado (former reggae artist) and Jayson Musson (rapper from Philadelphia) found out that there voices could be heard on the song “Harlem Shake”. Harry Bauer Rodrigues is the producer and the writer of the song. He recorded the song under the name Baauer. Rodrigues never had permission to use parts of their songs in his. Mr.Delgado and Mr. Musson are now trying to get money from "Mad Decent Records" who put out the single.

Licences are needed from the music producer and record labels to use samples from music. But Mad Decent Records "sometimes lack the resources to have lawyers vet releases and instead rely on producers to make sure recordings are free of copyright problems."

According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Harlem Shake" has sold over 816,000 digital downloads. The song was released on Jeffrees, a sublabel of Mad Decent, last May. The label offered the song for free downloads, but started charging in June.

Mr. Delgado's sample in the song can be traced back to his single "Maldades" in 2006 that was released on machete records. Harry Rodrigues said, "The dude in the beginning I got off the Internet, I don't even know where," he told The Daily Beast about finding the recordings. The sample of Musson " do the harlem shake", comes from a 2001 rap called Plastic Little. Musson thanked Rodrigues for doing something useful with his music.

I think both Delgado and Musson should letcompensation just because there voices are in the song. If not, then Harry Rodrigues, shouldn't be aloud to use them. I don't think they should get any more than 100,000 dollars for it each.
 

FOUND POEM- FAN OF SPONGEBOB

Erionna Green

Journalism

Mr. Petro

FAN OF SPONGEBOB

NICKELODEON CARTOON SERIES

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS MY FAVORITE TELEVISION CHARACTER

I LIKE THE FACT THAT HE’S YELLOW

I LIKE THE FACT THAT HE WEARS PANTS

THE SHOW IS FUN

IT’S A CARTOON AND AN OLD FASHION ONE AT THAT

PATRICK STAR, SQUIDWARD, AND EVEN MR. KRABS ARE SUN &FUN

SPONGEBOB A FUN LOVING SPONGE

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/arts/television/12stan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

I chose this article to compose my poem because I wanted to write a poem about my favorite TV show, or my favorite cartoon character. My favorite TV show is “Tom & Jerry”, but my favorite cartoon character is SpongeBob. I decided to go with SpongeBob because I talk about SpongeBob all the time. So it would be easy for me to write a poem about him. I really don’t think my poem has a point to make. It just me talking about being a huge fan of SpongeBob. I thought at first it was weird to find an article and write a poem about it. I was thinking about plagiarism. But it was actually easy for me once I found an article that I like to write a poem. I think creating a found poem is worth making because it can  give people imagination and creativity.

CHOICE BLOG #19 KIM KARDASHIAN

In "Kim Kardashian Keeping Up With Beyonce? 'Booking Out Entire Hospital Floor For Baby's Birth"http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/109006/Kim-Kardashian-Keeping-Up-With-Beyonce-Booking-Out-Entire-Hospital-Floor-For-Babys-Birth, Rebecca Merriman talks about how Kim Kardashian, has been doing some serious planning into her delivery for her baby, and booked a whole entire floor at a Los Angeles hospital for privacy. Kim Kardashian is following the footsteps of Jay-Z and Beyonce when they booked a floor to a hospital. She is taking the delivery very seriously. A source told Daily Star, "Kim's taking the preparations for childbirth very seriously,she wants everything to be perfect and, luckily for her, money is no object." Kims been reading a lot about how monumental the first moments of the baby will be like and wants her child's entry to be idyllic to the world. But after her pregnancy, Kim is thinking about getting surgery to get back her bikini body back. Joan Kardashian, Kims aunt said, "She can have a tummy tuck, every part of her body has ballooned."
I think its nice that Kim and Kayne is having a baby, but I think its kind of weird to book a whole floor to have a baby. If she wanted a private birth she should do it at home.

SLAUGHTER OF THE AFRICAN ELEPHANTS

In “Slaughter of the African Elephants,” Samantha Strindberg and Fiona Maisels talks about how people kill elephant to use their tusks for many different reasons. According to a study, 62 percent of African elephants disappeared from central Africa between the years of 2002 to 2011. Forest and savanna elephants have been killed by poachers across the areas of Africa. But the forest elephants are the ones that are being “pushed to extinction”. Forest elephants have a huge role in forest that they inhabit. When they move through the forest, they create a trail used by the other animals, and they eat and drop quantities of seeds over miles. These seeds help grow new trees into the forest, which let the forest be healthy and clean air. When poachers kill elephants, such as the mother’s elephants, babies are still depending on the mother’s milk. The baby elephant start to die slowly from starvation, being heartbroken and alone.

I think it’s wrong to kill elephants. Elephant play a huge role in Africa.  They break down trees to help other animals, they dig waterholes in dry river beds that other animals can use as a water source, and their foot prints create deep holes that water can collect in. Even though we kill other animals, we kill them for food. Its wrong for people to kill animal for skin, fur, and for elephants, their tusks. Elephants help the forest grow, and without elephants, there probably wouldn't be any forests.

HISTORICALLY INCORRECT CANOODLING

In "Historically Incorrect Canoodling" Stephanie Coontz talks about how a lot of people are saying that people really don't care about marriage, so their sex life and love life are coming apart but on Valentines day it reminds people how romantic people are.

Valentines day was created by the Roman Catholic Church. Younger people later made it into a holiday to "celebrate romantic love and sexual emotions." But no one believed that being in love was a great and glorious thing that should be leading to marriage.

Before Valentine was a holiday, he was a Christian priest in the third century. Legends say that he was executed because he refused to follow the rule against conducting marriages. Back in that day young people ignored the warning about what would happen if they were active with sex and love. 200 years ago people was not conducted to have candlelight dinners or secret meetings. People would get married to get property, political alliance, or working at a farm together.

100 years later the Europeans and the Americans agreed that marriage should only be about love. They also agreed that younger people should choose their own partners. But other people sad that this would only lead to discontent. Marriages can lead to disappointments.

Valentine day is a holiday to celebrate love. And I think love and sex is apart of it. I think marriages wont work if you don't love one another. If you don't love one another your sex life and your love life would fall completely apart unless you try to fix it. But you don't fix, it can lead to divorce, and I think divorce is a painful subject.

UNFRIENDING FACEBOOK

In “Unfriending Facebook” Veronica Majerol explains why younger people don’t go on Facebook anymore and how some of them delete their account. Facebook is the largest social-network site in the world. While Facebook have been in the world for many years, “more than 50 percent of Americans said they think Facebook is a passing fad.”

Why They Quit

People quit because of the privacy issues. Some people question Facebook on how they handle the quantity of data that’s collected from the users and how much control Facebook has to delete their own content. While other people not wanting the world to know everything about them. 19 year-old sophomore, Zach Peterson deleted his account after 4 years because when he bought a new car, he posted a picture on Facebook for his friends. But everyone knew about it, even people who he didn’t know.

People deleted their Facebook because there just not interested. Mary Carney, a senior at Clemson University said it’s a waste of time and said it could be used better on studying or others things.

I had a Facebook before but I deleted it after 3 months. It was boring and I didn’t see the point of going on it every day to see the same thing. And there was drama, a lot of it. People talking about other people and fights. Who got beat up and who didn’t want to fight. People would post stupid things also. I didn’t have time and it was annoying.

Not a lot of people go on Facebook like they used to. They either go on Twitter or Instagram. But I think in a couple of years Twitter and Instagram are not going to be popular like they are now.

Sometimes I think younger people go on these websites because there bored. But I don’t think there a point. There talking to the same people they talk at school or on the phone, and when they go online there going to talk about the same thing. So it’s just silly to me.

THE NEW FACE OF AMERICA

In " The New Face of America" Veronica Majerol talks about how the first time more minorities are being born in the United States than whites are. 22 year old Jessica Ramirez was born from a Colombian mother and a Mexican father. She was growing up in Phoenix, Arizona. She went to a mostly Latino school so she thought she fit in and was normal there.In the article it said, " The Cenus Bureau announced last spring that minority births-- Hispanic, black, Asian, American,Indian,Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Alaska Native-- now outnumber those of non-Hispanic whites." William H. Frey, senior demographer said, "This is an important tipping point, transformation from a mostly white baby-boomer culture to the more globalized multiethnic country that we are becoming." The minority population are no longer concentrated in major urban areas. They are now outnumbering whites in 348 of more than 3,000 counties across the United States. In the last three decades, immigration to the United States has been highest from countries such as "Mexico, China, India, and the Philippines. Another factor for contributing the shift is social changes. Multiracial and multiethnic Americans are the fastest growing demographic groups in the United States. I think its a good thing whats happening. It helps people to communicate better.

GIVE LANCE ANOTHER CHANCE

In "Give Lance Another Chance?" CNN talks about how people should give Lance Armstrong another chance to redeem himself. Lance Armstrong is inspirational and an icon of hope because he recovered from cancer and breaking records in the cycling world. But over the years he was cheating. He didn't lie once or twice. He lied for a decade. Some people think that he don't deserve a second chance. Randy Cohen from the Ethicist column in The New York Times Magazine said, "The important ethical question isn't whether Lance deserves a second chance. Chance to do what? Cheat in seven more Tours? Lie about it seven more times? Bully seven more teammates into doping? He behaved badly and is rightly censured." Jeff Pearlman, the author of "Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton" said that he doesn't think that Lance Armstrong should race again. He thinks its not an option because how old he is. Kevin Powell think the story of Lance Armstrong is a tragedy and an opportunity. " Its a tragedy because he lied for so long to many people. Lying is not the way to live one's life, ever especially if you've positioned yourself as a role model and a hero." "Armstrong has a window of opportunity to help clean up doing in cycling and in sports in general, and must do so while taking total ownership of his role." I don't feel that he should get another chance. He lied for decades and people believed him. When he had the chance to tell the truth he didn't. People looked up to him and he disappointed them.

Civil war

In “Civil war in Syria Raises Questions about When to intervene,” Ja’anai Delany from PBS News Hour Extra talks about the Syrian civil war and how people had to leave their homes because of how dangerous it was. Also about 2.5 million people are in desperate need of food, medicine, and shelter.

“Who is Involved?”

The war in Syria is between the military loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and anti-regime protest fighters.

“Should The U.S Intervene?”

The United States and their allies support the anti-regime group and they said that they won’t intervene militarily unless President Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons. Hillary Clinton, the United States secretary said, “A lot of people are trying to figure out what could be an effective intervention that wouldn’t cause more death and suffering. We are thinking about all of this. There are all kinds of both civilian and humanitarian and military planning going on but the factors are just not there.”

Monitoring and tracking the fighting

The Free Syrian Army has untrained men with AK-47s, rocket launchers, and homemade bombs. While the government and the Assad supporters have warplanes, tanks, and other advanced weapons. To track the violations of the international human’s right law, Amnesty International USA uses satellite images to see the real impact of shelling, road blocks and other destruction throughout the country. The pictures will make it easier for them to tell who is controlling which geographical areas.

I don’t think the United States should intervene with the war because if they intervene it would probably start more problems.

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY:WHY YOUR KIDS ARE MORE ANXIOUS DEPRESSED

In “All work and No Play: why your kids are more anxious depressed,” Esther Entin talks about how kids don’t have enough free time or that their free time are different from their parents free time when they were younger.  Peter Gray, a Ph.D. professor of Psychology said, “It is hard to find groups of children outdoors at all, and, if you do find them, they are likely to be wearing uniforms and following the directions of coaches while their parents dutifully watch and cheer.” Researchers compared the kids in 1981 to kids in 1997 and found out that kids in 1997 “spent less time in play and had less free time.” 18 percent was spent in school and 145 percent was spent doing homework. They said that children only spent about 11 hours per week of playing. When children have free time, they direct there free play and solve their own problems. Gray said, “Children who do not have the opportunity to control their own actions, to make and follow through on their own decisions, to solve their own problems, and to learn how to follow rules in the course of play grow up feeling that they are not in control of their own lives and fate. They grow up feeling that they are dependent on luck and on the goodwill and whims of others.” I don’t think kids have lost their play time. I see kids outside playing in the park. I don’t feel like homework get in the way. Teaches have been giving kids a lot of homework but they can get it done in about 30 minutes if they stay focused and then they would have enough time to play. Sometimes I do feel like the parents are guiding their kids and sometimes the kids don’t have a say of what they want to do. I never was in that situation so I wouldn’t know a lot about it.

Schools closing...

In “Philadelphia superintendent identifies schools he intends to close” Kristen A. Graham talks about the superintendent closing schools down for money savings. 37 schools are closing to save the school district 28 million dollars. 22 elementary schools, 4 middle, and 11 high schools would be closing in March. The superintendent said that the decisions for closing the schools down were made for two goals. It was “boosting academics throughout the district and ensuring its long-term financial viability.” “If we don’t take these actions now, we actually have no money to spend,” said the superintendent.  Schools would be closed and sold. Some schools would change grades k-6 to k-4. Elementary schools that went up to fifth or sixth grades would not become k-8. New schools would come out of old buildings. Schools would swap buildings. Abigail Vare Elementary, in South Philadelphia would move to Gorge Washington Elementary building because it’s in better shape. I don’t think they should close all of those schools down but if they are desperate need of money it’s the right thing. But it’s sad to see people losing their jobs and kids going to schools they don’t feel comfortable in. If Parkway was closing, I would hate to go to a different school because then I would have to meet new people and teachers.

do we have the corage to stop this

In “Do we have the courage to stop this?” Nicholas D. Kristof talks about regulating guns after what happened in Connecticut. 5 to 14 years old Americans are 13 times likely to be murdered with guns. A firearm takes a life every 20 minutes. Kristof explains how the United States won’t ban guns, but they should reduce them. One of Kristof Facebook followers said, “It is more difficult to adopt a pet than it is to buy a gun.” 10,000 lives would be saved every year if people could reduce guns deaths by one-thirds. “We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years,” President Obama said on television.  The last sentence that Kristof said in his article was that, “Some of you are alive today because of those auto safety regulations. And if we don’t treat guns in the same serious way, some of you and some of your children will die because of failure.” I agree to what he’s saying. People out in this world killing people and themselves for stupid reasons. I think they should reduce guns but not only that but I think cops should only have them. People sell illegal guns from private place or buying them from guns stores but there under age. In my opinion I think they should have something where people can give their guns away and get money for doing it. Innocent lives are gone because someone decided they want to shoot that person.

MARIJUANA LAW JUST CREATES CRIMINALS

In “Marijuana law just creates criminals” Hakeem Jeffries talks about people getting arrested every year for possession of marijuana. In 2011 50,000 people and more were arrested in New York City for possession of small amounts of marijuana. The majority of the people were black and Latino. In New York City, they spend about 75 million dollars on arresting people every year. When in New York, more than thousands of people are stopped, questioned, or searched, under the “stop and frisk” policy. When younger people get stopped by a police, the police often searched them. If the police find any marijuana, even a small of it, they are arrested and punished with up to three months of jail or a $500 dollar fine. The problem is that police are arresting people and millions of dollars are wasted from law enforcement. Also more than 1,000 lives are damaged or going to be from having a criminal record.  If the government were planning on legalizing marijuana I think there making a wrong choice. If they legalized it, people would abuse it and maybe die from it. The government won’t get any money from that. I don’t think it’s just one part of the world that abuse marijuana. It could be everywhere around the world. They should close the marijuana shops too. I don’t think there is a need for one. And what if kids into it. Their body can’t handle it and might get an injury from smoking it.