Week 5. 2nd article for my paper!

This week I found another article dealing with the same subject of the previous weeks article, "dont ask, dont tell" policy.  My original articles web address is http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/collins-thwarts-vote-on-dont-ask-dont-tell/?partner=rss&emc=rss  and is from the New York Times.  My second articles web address is http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/23/white-house-objects-federal-judges-injunction-dont-ask-dont-tell/  and is from Fox News.  Stereotypically, TNYT's are very liberal in their writing and opinions and Fox is stereotypically conservative.  This weeks article deals with some aftermath of DADT not even making the floor of the Senate.  Apparently, a California judge is trying to get the DADT policy banned nation wide.  But, being only a federal judge, she would be "overstepping her bounds if she tried to stop it in its tracks".  So this puts the White House "in the uncomfortable position of defending a policy President Obama has said he wants repealed."  Many cases are being seen throughout the U.S. about DADT and its policy.  I personally think that DADT should be repealed and removed from all military actions and rules.  I agree with Federal Judge Phillips that "the policy doesn't help military readiness and instead has a 'direct and deleterious effect' on the armed services by hurting recruiting during wartime and requiring the discharge of service members with critical skills and training."  Even though the article does explain that this will not get in the way of the Presidents fight to remove this policy, it does make you feel as if the President has no choice but to defend it right now; and that the policy will be even harder to get removed.  What do you think...?

Important vote taking place in Congress Today!! (week 4 article)

President Obama is going to be taking a step in a good direction today when he tries to fulfil something he promised to the gay community of America.  He will attempt to get the "dont ask, dont tell" policy banned from the military today, a campaign promise made years ago.  The only problem is that the Senate is full of Republicans, and they plan to stake a full on fillabuster.  If the Democrats can't get 60 people to end the fillabuster, this policy might not get banned until next year.  Unfortunately, "members of a key White House constituency fear that next year’s Congress will be less sympathetic to a repeal of the 17-year-old ban."  So, this could be a big blow to the gay community if this policy does not get banned as promised it would be.  Many senators and representatives have been stepping up either to support the legislation or be against it.  Even Lady Gaga went to Maine and gave a speech urging the legislation to be passed.  The vote is scheduled for sometime around 2:15 today...I guess we can only wait and see.

A week in review

This week in class we had some very interesting discussions.  Going back to Monday, we talked about the Mosque that is being build a block away from ground zero.  Many people in the class had very interesting things to say and a wide variety of opinions.  I personally think that it is nice that we can, as a class, get into a discussion that has to do with ethnisity and religion without anyone taking anything personally or getting hurt.  To know that we are all different with our opinions shows our diversity as a class.  I was fortunate enough to be able to share my opinion a little.  A good discussion takes time and we were lucky enough to have the entire class time to discuss our feelings on the mosque in New York and even the one from Kentucky.  Looking at Wednesday, we discussed and compared two very different presidents speeches.  The speeches were given about the same topics so it was pretty simple to compare the type of speech used and who the audiences were.  It was really interesting to watch the Daily Show clip showing how Obama and Bush do sound alike, or use the same types of words to dipict the same meaning.  Comparing Republicans and Democrats is also interesting to do because they definitly have different opinions on the same topic, like war, as we've seen.  The class also exhibited diversity with politics as well which was a nice thing to see.  After comparing the way they speak and their opinions, I really feel as though Obama has more on his plate and more to worry about; his goals are very different.  All in all, I felt that this week was a very progressive week full of discussion and knowledge.

Crime Blotter Has a Regular: Yankees Caps week 3

This week I saw an article with an interesting title (same title as this blog).  The article is about the statistics of robbers and criminals wearing Yankee hats and other Yankee clothing.  Criminologists and Police Departments have conducted studies and made theories as to why Yankee hats are the most popular.  The Yankees are obviously the most famous baseball team when it comes to selling merchandise, they rule the MLB with that.  The article explains that, "since 2000, more than 100 people who have been suspects or persons of interest in connection with serious crimes in New York City wore Yankees apparel at the time of the crimes or at the time of their arrest or arraignment."  Some New Yorkers feel that the criminals give the rest of the world the wrong image of other non-criminals.  Since the criminals wear Yankee apparel, it looks as if all New Yorkers are criminals and that New York is a rough/bad place to be.  One criminologist went as far as saying that this trend is due to the "Jay-Z effect".  When I read that, I had a crazy reaction.  Jay-Z is known for showing off his Yankee apparel and actually making it more popular than an actual Yankee can.  So, apparently the study has shown that some criminals don't wear the hat because they are fans of the team, but because they are fans of Jay-Z and the way he wears and shows it off.  I honestly didn't know what to think about that because it seems kind of crazy, but at the same time it might be true.  Even outside of New York, criminals all over the place are wearing Yankee apparel.  The man who robbed 72 banks between the 1980's and 90's had a signature look...a Yankees hat; thus nicknamed, the Yankee bandit.  There must have been something important to him about the hat or something symbolic or else I'm not sure why he'd wear it every time.  Personally I think its all a little crazy, but when actually looking at the statistics, proof exists that criminals enjoy wearing Yankee apparel the most.  But, it could just be coincidence since the Yankee organization sells the most merchandise out of all MLB teams...what do you think?

Secret Tape Has Police Pressing Ticket Quotas week #2

This article was about a secret recording made in a police department in Brooklyn.  The recording gives evidence that quotas exist in the Police Departments, dealing with tickets and traffic stops.  The tape was recorded back in April and a Police Captain was heard giving orders to his commanders.  The orders were to have the officers write more summonses per week and that an officer that works every day must be writing 20 summonses per week.  Threats were even made saying that the Captain was not afraid to fire people if they did not follow orders.  Even a few years ago, an patrol officer made a recordings accusing supervisors of manipulating crime statitics and ticket quotas.  Officers have been getting threatened with their jobs if they don't take more of an action to write more tickets and increase activity.  I personally think quotas do exist.  With all this obvious evidence with voice recordings and officers getting accused, its obvious they exist.  I don't think they should exist, cause it just puts a load onto an officer to write more tickets or lose their jobs.  I don't think we need quotas, we should just have honest officers that aren't forced to write more tickets.  It just means we have to be even more careful when we are driving and how we park our cars cause they can get us for that too.

Hostages Safe as Police Shoot Maryland Gunman, as seen in The New York Times

A man, named James Lee, decided to take manners into his own hands when he became upset with the programming on the discovery channel.  His way to do this was to go to headquarters with a gun and explosives and take a few hostages.  After being negotiaged with for a while, the officers eventually shot and killed him, rescuing all of the hostages.  Not surprisingly, this was not his first offense.  In 2008, Lee was arrested for disorderly conduct outside of the building for protesting.  It was said that he paid off homeless people to join his protest, even paying someone up to $1,000.  Lee was against discovery airing shows about war and said the channel promoted overpopulation.  He wanted shows about finding solutions for global warming and promoting sterilization.  A few of the workers for the company were interviewed about their experiences.  Everyone ended up being safe, especially the children from the day care. 

about me

Hey everyone in College Writing I!  I am from Orange, Ohio which is about 45 minutes away from campus.  I am majoring in Musical Theater.  I have 2 older siblings, ones a teacher and one will be a lawyer next year.  Something random about me...I'm a blackbelt in Taekwondoe.  I enjoy being at KSU, Manchester rules!