Political Cartoon #1

This cartoon is basically showing the irony of the Foot Hood killings. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist, killed 13 people during the Fort Hood Massacre. After soldiers would come back from Afghanistan with post traumatic stress disorder, they would go see Hasan for help. The problem is, Hasan really needed the help more than they did. Hasan is an Islamic Extremist who would go under ramages on Muslims being attacked by Americans. Hasan was not willing to fight against Muslims, but ended up killing his own people. Hasan was one of the only people the Americans could go to for help as a psychiatrist, but he was actually on the side of the extremists, the same people they were fighting. Those who went to Hasan for help were the ones who could tell something was up, that Hasan held extremist views.

http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/9b9f7e45-c595-4733-9d02-3e5c0c587c92.html

New Principal

Well first off, Mr. Bates was announced as the new principal of Herndon High School on Friday! As the new principal, he should have should have great leadership qualities. He needs to be able to lead and encourage students with great enthusiasm. He also actually needs to be involved in school activities, instead of being visible to students once in a blue moon. The new principal needs to be approachable as well, and needs to be able to listen to problems the school is facing and effectively change them. Also, I hope no silly new policies are implemented.

Personal Response: Swine Flu, What to do?

For the past few months, all I feel like I have been hearing about is swine flu. Swine flu this, swine flu that. The media has certainly not helped this by hyping up the coverage about H1N1. Some people argue that schools need to be closed to stop the spreading of this flu. I do think that if the amount of kids out in each class gets too out of hand then maybe schools do need to close. However, right now schools schould be kept open. Children just need to wash their hands before meals. Also, if anyone is sick, they simply should not go out in public until he or she is better. The government also promised a swine flu vaccination but there is a shortage in the number of vaccinations available. That and, the vaccinations came out so late that they are predicted to be to late to even be helpful. I personally am weary of getting the vaccination because I believe the government was under so much pressure to get them out to the public that they may not be as tested as they should be.
I heard one statistic on the radio that said an estimated 60% of the population is predicted to get the swine flu this season. In my opinion, people need to just keep up with washing their hands and maintaining healthy immune sytems, schools should close if necessary, and people who are sick need to stay home until they are well again so the rest of the public is not uneccesarily exposed.

Current Event #6

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/31/obama-fresh-signs-economic-growth/

Obama: Fresh signs of economic growth

I read an article from the Washington Times to get a more conservative point of view this week. Even though the economy is slowly beginning to grow, Obama laid to rest this excitement about a growing economy. More important on his mind is the huge number of unemployed Americans. September marked a 9.8% unemployement rate, and the article stated that October may in fact be higher. Obama made it clear that even though the economy is doing better, hard times will still be ahead.
I personally find it great that over July to September, the economy grew 3.5%. I also realize however that no one should be celebrating just yet. Just a few months ago, some were even predicting a second Great Depression. So though the economy is beginning to grow again, the unemployement rate is still substantially high. The employement rate is a key factor in a prosperous economy. I agree that one of the most important issues right now is stimulating the economy to be sure that jobs are created and saved. This new month of November should not top October's unemployment rate.