This is a very hard topic to write about, the shooting in Connecticut that just recently happened. Reading this article about what happened made my stomach churn and made my eyes water. First, before we delve into everything behind it, I just want to clarify the facts.
The shooter is dead, although nobody knows who killed him. There is no factual evidence yet that there was a second shooter and nobody knows if the shooter shot himself. This took place at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newton. Police officers believe that the shooter might be a father of one of the students attending the school, thought a motive of his is not yet known. This man had two guns and he frightened and took many lives.
There are many loose ends in this case and many facts missing. Not a lot is known about the shooter. But what is very known is the fear of the students. The teachers tried to keep them calm, they are only kindergartners and showed fear at the big bangs. One of the teachers took her students into a bathroom and locked it, trying to keep the students calm. This teacher might have saved their lives and the fact that she could keep calm is amazing. At least 26 people were killed in this shooting, 18 of which were children. The school shut down all the schools in the district to ensure future safety of more children.
Who in their right minds would ever take the life of a young child? Those children had so much more life to live, they had amazing places to go. These children are innocent and probably don't even know much about guns or shooting, yet a gun took their lives. A sick disturbed man took their lives.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Walmart: Good or Bad?
In survey class, we have gotten two contradicting views on Walmart. I'm not sure which one to believe anymore. The first source we got about Walmart was the movie. The movie portrayed Walmart as a corporate giant that's ruining lives and ruining our economy. In the movie, the employees and managers of Walmart told us how this great big company treats them. According to employees, Walmart suggested that the employees use government help for money, instead of just giving raises when appropriate or giving appropriate wages to begin with. They chased away employees to get help elsewhere. They made employees stay over time without the overtime pay, they hired immigrants to clean the entire store at nights, they got rid of smaller "mom and pop" businesses. In this movie Walmart was portrayed as the enemy. It didn't just seem to hurt Walmart employees though, all these employees getting help from the government is really just money from us. Our taxes get used to help these people, when there company and employer could just treat them fairly from the start.
Then we got an article in class titled "Wal-mart is Good For You"
Whoa, completely different idea right? According to this article, a recent study said that Wal-mart benefits our economy. "Wal-mart accounts for almost 6% of retail and food sales in the U.S." And despite being ever viewed as the enemy in manys eyes, still five out of six americans shopped there and 81% of people said it was a good place to shop. These people believe that Wal-mart benefits the economy because it 'awakened' the industry to work just as hard to serve lower prices to consumers. It also says that about 90% of its employees are on a health care plan, completely opposite from what the movie stated.
Which side are you taking?
Then we got an article in class titled "Wal-mart is Good For You"
Whoa, completely different idea right? According to this article, a recent study said that Wal-mart benefits our economy. "Wal-mart accounts for almost 6% of retail and food sales in the U.S." And despite being ever viewed as the enemy in manys eyes, still five out of six americans shopped there and 81% of people said it was a good place to shop. These people believe that Wal-mart benefits the economy because it 'awakened' the industry to work just as hard to serve lower prices to consumers. It also says that about 90% of its employees are on a health care plan, completely opposite from what the movie stated.
Which side are you taking?
Thursday, October 25, 2012
$$$
Money money money, it's a big factor in these races. This race is said to end up being the costliest campaign in history. Both parties are said to have topped or be closed to topping 2 billion dollars worth of costs with ads, direct mail, and all the other forms of getting their words out.
Both president Obama and Romney were at 1.5 billion at the end of September. And although Obama has not yet provided us with the amount of money his campaign has cost for the month of October, the Romney campaign has said to have raised 111.8 million in the first two weeks of the month.
They both have their fair share of donors, whether they wealthy or smaller donors. People are committed to this campaign and committed to their parties.
Both president Obama and Romney were at 1.5 billion at the end of September. And although Obama has not yet provided us with the amount of money his campaign has cost for the month of October, the Romney campaign has said to have raised 111.8 million in the first two weeks of the month.
They both have their fair share of donors, whether they wealthy or smaller donors. People are committed to this campaign and committed to their parties.
Politics on the defense
As bad as this might sound, sometimes this type of stuff grabs my attention better than the hard hitting cold facts. The headline of this article was "Kids know the 'other guy' is a bullshitter Obama tells Rolling Stone."
The exact quote out of Obama's mouth was, "They look at the other guy and say, 'Well, that's a bullsh-ter, I can tell.'"
Romney and his advisers fired back, saying that it is sad that Obama has to take his comments so far on the defense now. They are stated as saying that the only thing Obama has left in this race is insults and rude comments. He has also, according to this article, coined a term called "Romnesia". He uses this term to address his opponents flippy flop on issues to appeal to voters.
Obama is making many little remarks like so, and I find it sad that he has to go to that level. I find it sad that at any point, any candidate has to get so testy. This literally is the version of adult political bullying. It is not a good role model aura to give off, from two people that are in the running to run our entire country.
In the first political debate, Romney was the same way. More on the defense, more insults and snappy comments fired. I know this is the way to win, put down your candidate, but I really wish that the childish behavior was left behind, so we could actually get a more mature race for our leader. Would you disagree or agree with the idea of the candidates getting a little childish at times?
The exact quote out of Obama's mouth was, "They look at the other guy and say, 'Well, that's a bullsh-ter, I can tell.'"
Romney and his advisers fired back, saying that it is sad that Obama has to take his comments so far on the defense now. They are stated as saying that the only thing Obama has left in this race is insults and rude comments. He has also, according to this article, coined a term called "Romnesia". He uses this term to address his opponents flippy flop on issues to appeal to voters.
Obama is making many little remarks like so, and I find it sad that he has to go to that level. I find it sad that at any point, any candidate has to get so testy. This literally is the version of adult political bullying. It is not a good role model aura to give off, from two people that are in the running to run our entire country.
In the first political debate, Romney was the same way. More on the defense, more insults and snappy comments fired. I know this is the way to win, put down your candidate, but I really wish that the childish behavior was left behind, so we could actually get a more mature race for our leader. Would you disagree or agree with the idea of the candidates getting a little childish at times?
Obama claims to have lead, but may be wrong.
With this election coming to a boil pretty soon, voting is to happen in a matter of only a week and a few days, whoever is pulling ahead is vital information. Obama said in an interview with NBC that he still has the lead over Romney, but he may have been mistaken. A poll shows that Romney is pulling in 47% of voters compared to a 45% with Obama. Although this gap can be quickly filled, it is a very close race.
Obama had a stronger point with woman, more woman supported him. But Romney slashed his 16 point lead, turning int into a tie among the woman. In turn, Obama smashed Romney's 13 point advantage amongst men to a mere 5 points. It is obvious that Obama's loss amongst the woman population is bigger, and the president try to make a comeback from that. He brought up how Richard Mourdock said that a baby during rape can be something "God intended to" Romney's campaign although, even though he is pro life, states that he wouldn't force a child in cases of rape and incest so he furthered himself from the comment. Obama's team is trying to connect this comment to Romney though, trying to get his advantage with Woman voters back up.
As this race comes to an end, things are getting heated and things are getting close. May the best man win. Who do you think that man should be?
Obama had a stronger point with woman, more woman supported him. But Romney slashed his 16 point lead, turning int into a tie among the woman. In turn, Obama smashed Romney's 13 point advantage amongst men to a mere 5 points. It is obvious that Obama's loss amongst the woman population is bigger, and the president try to make a comeback from that. He brought up how Richard Mourdock said that a baby during rape can be something "God intended to" Romney's campaign although, even though he is pro life, states that he wouldn't force a child in cases of rape and incest so he furthered himself from the comment. Obama's team is trying to connect this comment to Romney though, trying to get his advantage with Woman voters back up.
As this race comes to an end, things are getting heated and things are getting close. May the best man win. Who do you think that man should be?
Hollywood and Politics
As I was scrolling through webpages trying to find something
interesting to write about, I stumbled across this article. I was
worried that nothing would attract my attention, I have a hard time
focusing on the news. But this caught my eye because it seemed different
then all the other hard hitting news on the web page. The article is
titled, "Do celebrity endorsements matter?" And the title is concerning
whether or not celebrities have influence in changing your mind and
opinions during an election.
Whether you like or you don't like celebrities, you can not deny that pop culture is taking over our world in a certain way. The things celebrities do and say take up so much of our time, they are everywhere. They have a big pull over certain people and why not use that power to influence their preferred party? The biggest and best example that the article states about this is Oprah's big influence in the 2008 race when she was pushing for Obama. Oprah worked well as an endorsement because she is not one of the crazy celebrities in our day, she is honest and credible and everybody trusts her.
Also these political endorsements that celebrities do need to have the correct demographic picked out. The article states that Eva Longoria recently pushed for Woman to vote for Obama because of Romney's planned parenthood plan. That is obviously something aimed towards young woman adults or just adult woman. In that case, they picked the perfect celebrity to back that idea and issue.
Reading this article was crazy to me. I knew that celebrities were slowly taking over our lives, being all over the news and plastered every around our towns. But I never thought of them using their power to influence something so big and important in our lives. The words they say can greatly impact many peoples votes and even change the outcome of the race.
Whether you like or you don't like celebrities, you can not deny that pop culture is taking over our world in a certain way. The things celebrities do and say take up so much of our time, they are everywhere. They have a big pull over certain people and why not use that power to influence their preferred party? The biggest and best example that the article states about this is Oprah's big influence in the 2008 race when she was pushing for Obama. Oprah worked well as an endorsement because she is not one of the crazy celebrities in our day, she is honest and credible and everybody trusts her.
Also these political endorsements that celebrities do need to have the correct demographic picked out. The article states that Eva Longoria recently pushed for Woman to vote for Obama because of Romney's planned parenthood plan. That is obviously something aimed towards young woman adults or just adult woman. In that case, they picked the perfect celebrity to back that idea and issue.
Reading this article was crazy to me. I knew that celebrities were slowly taking over our lives, being all over the news and plastered every around our towns. But I never thought of them using their power to influence something so big and important in our lives. The words they say can greatly impact many peoples votes and even change the outcome of the race.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)