Hugo Chavez, Communist President of Venezuela, asked the country for him to stand indefinitely for re-election. Such a question caused uproar through out the nation and now it is split into two parties, pro-Chavez and anti- Chavez. “Hugo Chavez is a Venezuelan soldier-turned-politician who harnessed soaring oil revenues and simmering class resentments to make himself the hub of anti-American sentiment in Latin America.” Mainly the people are in support of not letting Chavez rule the country with total power and are not allowing him to run with out opposition in the upcoming elections. What President Chavez was preparing to do was turn Venezuela into a dictatorship equivalent to the government that Fidel has set up in Cuba. “Not a single poor person we talked to, no matter how much love they expressed for Chavez, said they wanted Venezuela to turn into Cuba. But that is the direction the country is headed.” The people were not in support of his new idea and he has now lost approval within the country. Chavez’ astonishing proposal has truly revealed his true intentions and for this reason I believe he should be removed from office. “This admirer of Fidel Castro’s Cuba and avowed anti-globalist was pushed from office on 12 April - as a result of his attempts to take control of the world’s fifth-biggest oil industry.” His ideas coincide too much with the thoughts of Castro and he could be following in his footsteps, down the same path. I think Hugo Chavez needs to be stripped of his position in office and should not be allowed to apply for any government role within the aspiring nation.

Chavez calls the United States the world’s greatest menace and says he simply wishes to be left alone to do his work. But there is a growing fear that Chavez is preparing to export his Bolivarian revolution to his neighbors. Why else would he need 100,000 recently purchased Russian AK-47s? Why announce plans to increase the size of the army reserves from 50,000 to 1.5 million? Why the ties to guerrilla movements?

The United States does not agree with the balance of power within Venezuela and wants a change within the government. What the U.S. wants from Venezuela is to be democratic; to be an ally, but the longer Chávez stays in power, the farther they will be pushed away. It is important for Venezuela to step away from communist leaders like their current President and to accept a new form of government, preferably democratic or at least some form of free elections. This is good news for the rest of the world because of the fact that Chávez has been set back for the first time, he has finally seen some sort of defeat. If Chávez’ reign continues, then hope will be lost for Venezuela to ever step forward and be an independent, democratic nation.

“Hugo Chavez.” BBC News. 5 Dec 2002. 3 Apr 2008.

“Huge Chavez vs. America.” CBN News. 3 Apr 2008.

“Hugo Chavez.” New York Times. 3 Dec 2007. 3 Apr 2008.

The issue of Global Warming has been circulating around the United Nations for some time now and there still is not a clear response to what is going to be done. Many people are scared that the Earth is going to continue to heat up which will cause the melting of glaciers and higher sea levels. The UN is concerned that if fossil fuel emissions are not regulated then they will simply continue to increase over the next century. “In recent months, business groups have banded together to make unprecedented calls for federal regulation of greenhouse gases” (Global Warming). My biggest concern is that, if Global Warming is such a big issue, why has nothing been done? There has been a lot of talk but no action has been taken. Personally, I think that Global Warming is a natural occurring process because the planet naturally heats and cools. It is important to understand that since we are in postglacial cycles, the planet’s orbit and tilt gives us more and longer summer days, which adds to the heating. More and longer summer days means more heat that is shined on the planet causing it to be slightly warmer which is exactly what is happening now. Also, Earth is still thawing out from our most recent ice age and the planet will continue to heat because of that, eventually we will begin to cool again. Although it is an issue that is planet is warming, it is not actually a big deal because it is a natural process. Even if humans had such a large impact on the heating of the Earth, the UN has done nothing to help the situation. Everybody is so concerned but nobody takes action to aid the problem. If the heating of Earth is such a problem, then the UN should do something, such as actually enforcing the reduction of the burning of fossil fuels and our green house gases. If nothing is going to be done what so ever, then we must simply accept the fact that it is a natural process and that it will eventually subside.

climatehotmap.org. 1999. UCS. Feb 10 2008.

“Global Warming.” New York Times. Feb 10 2008. Feb 10 2008.

ncdc.noaa.gov. 2007. NCDC. Feb 10 2008.

The American economy is looking quite desolate at the moment to many people across the nation. What occurred in the U.S. is that banks were letting people with bad credit get mortgages on houses and pay a fixed rate for a certain number of years. After those years were up their payment rate was raised extremely high and the people could no longer pay these loans, which lost billions of dollars for the banks across the United States. What is essential now for the U.S. to do is to stimulate the economy so that it can boost straight back up again. On Tuesday January 22nd, 2008, interest rates were dropped .75%, which is unheard of at one given time. They plan to drop it even more some time next week after their meeting. The idea is that with interest rates drop, the people will be out spending their money instead of saving it in a bank, this will help boost the economy. Another plan to help make the economy boost a success is that the government is going to be giving out money to U.S. taxpayers. “Sources on Capitol Hill and at the Treasury Department said the plan would send checks of $600 to individuals and $1,200 to couples who paid income tax and who filed jointly. People who did not pay federal income taxes but who had earned income of more than $3,000 would get checks of $300 per individual or $600 per couple” (CNN). If Americans are receiving free money, they are obviously going to go out and spend it, which in turn will help get everything moving again. Another aspect that is worth noting is that many U.S. residents can potentially lose their jobs; if companies are producing less product, then more workers will be getting laid off. “The economy added just 18,000 jobs in December, far below analysts’ estimates of 60,000 additional jobs. Annual job growth has fallen to its lowest level since 2004, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 5 percent” (NY Times). If U.S. residents become unemployed then the economy will begin to fall apart and all hope will be lost. It is essential for companies to not fire their workers because if mass amounts are let go, then the economy will pay the price. If they U.S. were to fall into recession than so will the rest of the world, this issue would hurt them all. What we need to do now is to focus our energy on keeping the economy out of recession.

CNN.com. 2008. Taxpayers would get checks under economic stimulus plan. 24 Jan.
2008.

Nytimes.com. 2008. Fears on Inflation and Jobs Give 2008 a Stumbling Start. 24 Jan.
2008.

This semester has been really fun and we have learned so much from the different books that we have read.  I found it extremely helpful when we had full on class discussions where everyone just goes back and forth saying what they think.  It helps you see the different aspects of the book that you yourself might not have been thinking.  I also found the blogs to be very helpful and I enjoyed blogging about the books we were reading.  For the 2nd semester I would like to continue to use the blogs for new assignments but to also keep using them for book discussions.  This 1st semester has been a great learning experience and I hope that the 2nd one is too.  I would also like to take this time to inform you that wasserman is in fact the man.

I found Borat to be a very funny movie but I can see why many people are taking offense from it.  The real citizens of Kazakhstan find the movie very disrespectful but the film is making fun of their own country.  I would find it hard to find a movie funny if it made my country look stupid, it would really annoy me.  I know i found the movie to be hilarious but others might have found it cruel, there were many jokes in the movie that I could see causing problems.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/mason/mason.html

Isaac Mason:

 Accordingly, when between five and six years of age, I was assigned to the duties of housework, to wait on my mistress and to run errands. When she went out driving I had to accompany her in the capacity of a page, to open the gates and to take down guard fences for her to drive through. That I might be found at night as well as by day my sleeping apartment was in her chamber on a truckbed, which was during the day time snugly concealed under her bedstead and drawn out at night for the reposing place of Isaac’s weary body while he dreamed of days yet to come. I remained in this distinguished position until I was about fifteen years old, when a change in common with all slave life had to he made either for the better or for the worse.

I found it very shocking that this man was put to work at the age of 5, he did little things but he was still working, still being a servant.  Its horrible to think that at such a young age, these people were already being put through hardships.

  My father, as I said before, was a free man and had the privilege of purchasing my mother and my sister, who was then about a year old, for $600. My mother at this time was in very ill health, and it was thought by many she could not live very long. My father not being able to pay the amount asked, had to find a sufficient security before he could obtain a bill of sale. He was fortunate enough to find that assistance in the person of Dr. Hyde, with whom I was soon to become personally acquainted. The remainder of the slaves each received a note from the hands of Mr. H. Wallace, and were directed by him to carry it to a certain person named by him, which act showed that each slave had been previously disposed of. Some were sold and some were hired out for a certain time to pay debts due by the estate.

I was very surprised to read that Isaac’s father bought his mother and sister’s freedom.  I didn’t know that a freed slave could do that, it shocking but also very releaving to know that they family could stay together.

Malachai also had this to say

http://blockhead.learnerblogs.org/

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=5861886&nav=4QcS 

At a company, blacks employees were being harassed and were given racist remarks.  The black employees went to court and won the case because such acts were against company policy.  The workers that had harassed the black employees were fired for the misconduct of the company rules.  The harassed employees are to recieve $250,000 each for compensation for what occurred.  I thought it was horrible that such acts were still occurring in our nation.  I’m glad the the workers won the case and that the other workers were fired for what they did.

The life of slaves was among the hardest and most brutal during this era of time.  Blacks were taken from their homes and shipped across the ocean to be sold as property and then they would work for the rest of their lives.  They worked all the time, everyday of the week and were in very poor conditions with little food, clothing, and essentials.  They were rarely giving breaks and were even considered lazy by theirs masters if they didn’t work fast enough.  Their families were split apart and their dreams and pride were shattered, the life of a slave was torture.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2695729

The link above talks about black children who were denied to go to certain schools because of their race.  The school distrect wouldn not allow the children to attend and I find it horrible, that such acts could still exist today.  Its a stupid conflict that shouldn’t even be taking place, there isn’t a place for such actions in our society.  The courts ruled with the parents and aloud the children to attend the schools despite their race.  The people interviewed in this article found it essential for diversty in the schools for the children to learn to interact in the real world.

I failed to find any satire in this little clip we were given to watch, I didn’t understand the humor.  He talks about reinstituting the draft so that we have more soldiers on the front lines and more protesters in the streets.  He then moves onto how the current Iraq war is very similar to the Vietnam war, he says that both wars proved John Kerry is a coward.  He then says that if the draft is reinstated then the youth will do something so drastic and something so against the antiwar movement.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find the satire at all and I am also having much trouble in finding it in Huck Finn.