http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/93362b39-320a-48f9-a60e-c851c0e5a23c.html
This political cartoon was drawn by Jeff Parker and was published in Florida Today. It was posted on November 20th. The cartoon deals with the Chinese space program and how it has grown increasingly more advance in a very short amount of time. The cartoon is portraying this advancement and showing that the NASA may be interested in combining forces with the Chinese in space exploration. I agree with this message because it shows China's dedication to space exploration and how they have been able to accomplish much of what the United States has done in a much shorter period of time. It also plays along with the fact that the United States borrows so much money from China already and they are now wanting to borrow from their space technology as well.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Herndon's new principal
I think that our new principal should be a strong leader and a good representative of Herndon High. They should also be a good listener and be willing to cooperate with teachers and students in coming up with ideas to better our school. I think it would be good if they also got to know the staff and students personally, unlike the last principal who didn't even know most of the teacher's names. It was announced on Friday that Mr. Bates will be the new principal. I think that this was a good decision because he has been here for awhile and really knows the school and the staff already, which could make it easier for everyone to adjust to the change in leadership.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Current Event #6 - Abdullah Pullout Renders Afghan Runoff Vote Meaningless
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1933787,00.html
Afghanistan held a presidential election about a month ago. Karzai, who had previously been president and was running for re-election, said that he won the election. However, the United Nations, which was monitoring the election, said that there was a lot of fraud involved. The United States which provides most of the aid to Afghanistan, persuaded Karzai to hold a "run-off" election between him and Abdullah Abdullah, who had come in second.
Abdullah has now announced that he is withdrawing from the election. He may boycott the election on the basis that people on the Afghanistan election commission, who had tried to cover up the fraud, had not been replaced. Also, winter is setting in, which would make voting in many parts of Afghanistan very difficult. Abdullah had wanted the election put off until the spring and the election commission reformed.
I think that if Abdullah is correct and if enough people in Afghanistan don't think Karzai is the legitimate president, then it may be harder for our government to support Afghanistan in the battle against the Taliban and Al- Qeada terrorists. If there is not a good government in Afghanistan to support, it would be difficult to understand what we are still doing there. On the other hand, leaving things to the Taliban might be even worse, if they again support Al-Qeada.
Afghanistan held a presidential election about a month ago. Karzai, who had previously been president and was running for re-election, said that he won the election. However, the United Nations, which was monitoring the election, said that there was a lot of fraud involved. The United States which provides most of the aid to Afghanistan, persuaded Karzai to hold a "run-off" election between him and Abdullah Abdullah, who had come in second.
Abdullah has now announced that he is withdrawing from the election. He may boycott the election on the basis that people on the Afghanistan election commission, who had tried to cover up the fraud, had not been replaced. Also, winter is setting in, which would make voting in many parts of Afghanistan very difficult. Abdullah had wanted the election put off until the spring and the election commission reformed.
I think that if Abdullah is correct and if enough people in Afghanistan don't think Karzai is the legitimate president, then it may be harder for our government to support Afghanistan in the battle against the Taliban and Al- Qeada terrorists. If there is not a good government in Afghanistan to support, it would be difficult to understand what we are still doing there. On the other hand, leaving things to the Taliban might be even worse, if they again support Al-Qeada.
How did the Cold War end?
As we are approaching the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, historians are starting to revisit the issue of how the Cold War ended. Most conservatives still insist that Ronald Reagan won the Cold War single-handed and therefore deserves to be considered one of our greatest presidents.
The Washington Post had an interesting article about how the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the key symbolic events of the end of the Cold War, actually came about by accident.
Other historians point out that Reagan just built upon what other presidents had done in containing the Soviet Union until it fell apart from its own corruption. I asked my Dad, who was living during the Cold War, and he speculates that Ronald Reagan while doing a good job in the end in negotiating the end of the cold war, may have initially almost caused world war III.
Ronald Reagan's initial idea was to build up the American military with massive spending. Conservatives say that this caused the Russians to go bankrupt trying to compete with the American military buildup. They forget that Russia's other answer could have been to attack western Europe to try and win a conventional war before they fell too far behind in military spending. Andropov who took over the soviet union after an earlier leader died after a few months in office, had been the former head of the KGB and was a really bad guy. Some speculate that he may have been proposing an attack on Europe as a response to our build up. However, the soviet military was so scared at the possibility of a nuclear war, resulting from a conventional attack against western Europe, they staged a secret coup against Andropov which explains why he died mysteriously after also being in power for only three months like the leader before him. Andropov was replaced by Gorbachev, who up to that time was an unknown minister of agriculture. Gorbachev then started reforms over which he lost control and which also led to accidents, such as the fall of the Berlin wall.
In the end, it all turned out well. Reagan, like other presidents before him, negotiated new treaties with the Soviet union which allowed a more peaceful collapse. Reagan did well by negotiating which a lot of conservatives at that time said he should not do. But what Reagan had done was to build on what other presidents - republican and democrat - had done before him.
The Washington Post had an interesting article about how the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the key symbolic events of the end of the Cold War, actually came about by accident.
Other historians point out that Reagan just built upon what other presidents had done in containing the Soviet Union until it fell apart from its own corruption. I asked my Dad, who was living during the Cold War, and he speculates that Ronald Reagan while doing a good job in the end in negotiating the end of the cold war, may have initially almost caused world war III.
Ronald Reagan's initial idea was to build up the American military with massive spending. Conservatives say that this caused the Russians to go bankrupt trying to compete with the American military buildup. They forget that Russia's other answer could have been to attack western Europe to try and win a conventional war before they fell too far behind in military spending. Andropov who took over the soviet union after an earlier leader died after a few months in office, had been the former head of the KGB and was a really bad guy. Some speculate that he may have been proposing an attack on Europe as a response to our build up. However, the soviet military was so scared at the possibility of a nuclear war, resulting from a conventional attack against western Europe, they staged a secret coup against Andropov which explains why he died mysteriously after also being in power for only three months like the leader before him. Andropov was replaced by Gorbachev, who up to that time was an unknown minister of agriculture. Gorbachev then started reforms over which he lost control and which also led to accidents, such as the fall of the Berlin wall.
In the end, it all turned out well. Reagan, like other presidents before him, negotiated new treaties with the Soviet union which allowed a more peaceful collapse. Reagan did well by negotiating which a lot of conservatives at that time said he should not do. But what Reagan had done was to build on what other presidents - republican and democrat - had done before him.
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