Crap I consider Important for Presidential Candidates

Presidential Qualities:

1. Knowledgeable of situations in and outside of the country

2. Wealthy enough to back themselves up while in office

3. Not Hillary Clinton

Presidential Issues:

1. Foreign Affairs (Including war in Iraq/ War on Terrorism)

2. Alternate Fuel Sources

3. Taxes (Keep Goin’ down)

4. Social Security (Either that or become great friends with mutual funds and the stock market)

Hillary Clinton:

As one of my qualities for a decent presidential candidate I said that I did not want Hillary Clinton as President and so there it is.   I will however anylize Obama and McCain.

Barack Obama:

on foriegn affairs Obama wants to end the war in Iraq, take the leader of Iraq and all the other surrounding countries and basically have a “Pow wow” and try to make everyone get along and encourage deplomacy.  It’s great in theory, but here’s the thing, it might work if they are kintergardeners and if they still liked barney and had that inferal “I love you” (Please kill me now) theme song stuck in there head, but they’re not.  What they are are leaders of countries, and even if they do decide to come to this meeting they’re going to have a good amount of they’re millitary parked outside witht the exception of Obama, becaues oh that’s right they’re not there he pulled them out, duh!  I don’t maybe he’ll bring some people from Blackwater to back him up if he can afford it.

John McCain:

On the war in Iraq MacCain wants to do the same thing as Obama with one subtle difference, keep the millitary, and with good reason.  I mean what does it mean to be a GI Joe? big muscles and big missles right? Rioght.

More to Come

Student Apathy Post

In regards to student apathy, it apparently means not to give a damn, and with that I could probably just stop here, but I won’t because my “give-a-damn” is not busted.  The question I ask my self is “do I really care?”  Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t.  With student apathy all I will really do is just analyze it to a certain degree and then just leave it alone like a dirty, smelly, disgusting, flea ridden hobo.  But anyways I guess I’m like that but that’s neither here not there. 

            In the article there was concern of students not being active in programs and groups.  My opinion on this is just to leave them be.  In a way college is for every one.  Some people came here to party and have sex, some came here to get away from their parents and most came here to learn, and it’s a persons decision whether or not they wish to be active in their community, and irregardless of the fact people at this point in time should not be forced into participation unless they really want to.

            Another bit of analysis in regards to people playing videos as a proclaimed scapegoat for secluding themselves from others.  This is not true for example Halo 1-3, Guitar Hero 1-3, and Super Smash Bros. just to name a few games that tend to draw crowds and participation.  Of course there are those people when they get a new video game, lock themselves in their dorm for a day and a halve and beat the game.  However after that small amount of time the door opens and they are as social as ever.

            In conclusion people have the right to do what ever the hell they want and the public really shouldn’t care what some one is or is not doing hands down, end of descusion, court adjourned.

Granitsas Post

Well I feel somewhat overjoyed this time, because the essay was less than five pages, but that’s beyond the point however.  Granitsas writes about how America doesn’t care that much about foreign affairs, and also exclaims how we had a higher understanding during 1948 to 1972. In my humble opinion I believe America had a higher sense of foreign affairs back then.  It was probably due to the ending of World War Two, the Korean War, Vietnam, and the Cold War.  After 1972 however it declined and started looking towards the economy for some reason which I really don’t know why, maybe they got bored and wanted to start making money. 

Another point Granitsas brings up is how America is tuning out the world by being semi-isolationist.  I don’t see how that’s possible because everyday Americans are influenced by so many other countries and cultures.  South East Asia manufactures cheap plastic toys that go into happy meals.  Our Saturday morning cartoons are mostly straight out of Japan and dubbed in English.  Our music (if it’s any good) is also influenced by other cultures such as salsa, mambo, ska, or polkas even.  Finally video games made by Nintendo are huge in America such as Mario, Pokemon, Metroid, and many others.   So regardless of the facts of our declining interest in foreign affairs we are still affected by the world, and who’s to say that we as Americans don’t care?

Globalization…or is it (Finished Product)

There is a common misconception among people making the huge error of confusing globalization with a successful form of capitalism.  I mean sure capitalism may have possibly created globalization, but globalization is not by any means capitalism.  In fact if you take some time to think about it globalization is just a new name for an old idea.  That idea of course is known as Imperialism, aka Colonialism.  The only difference between Imperialism and Globalization is that instead of taking over countries and FORCING ideas, cultures, and religions upon the happy-go-luck inhabitants, globalization acts more as a Wal Mart or Amazon.com where you have your own choice of what you want to assimilate.  In reality it’s like picking between a box of Lucky Charms verse Fruit Loops, except instead of cereal, there are ideas, cultures, and religious movements, and someone save us if Scientology is the top seller.Globalization is not a new idea, and I will explain in great painstaking detail.  First I should ask “What is globalization?”  To answer that question it is really the spreading of ideas.  Ok, now that we have that out of the way we can start tracking it back in history.  The first incident of recorded globalization that I am willing to go back would probably be the Rise of the Roman Empire,  They conquered the known world at that time, which would have been southern Europe, bits and pieces of the Middle East, and North Africa, and probably some other territory as well.  Well anyways what they did conquer they gave the residents they conquered the option of opening up to their ideas of civilization, and that is what they did to the known world at that time.  The next example of globalization is the spread of Christianity.  There was a guy by the name of Paul, well he wrote a lot of letters to churches in the areas close and far away from Jerusalem.  In doing this he spread ideas to people in areas of the known world at that time.  These incidents happen many times through out history but the next example is set in the 1200’s.  Now this is a stretch, but the Black Plague is another form of globalization.  It made people in many different areas sick and dead, but something astounding came out of this, and that was the search for a cure.  The combined efforts of European scientists searching for the cure and the cause were on their minds for centuries.  They figured out the cause, but never found the cure, that was until the brown rat came along kicked the black rat’s butt.  Then there was the Renaissance.  It started in Italy in the early to mid 1300’s.  This was basically a period ranging from the 1300’s to the 15-1600’s, and incorporated the spreading of ideas in the areas of art, music , philosophy, science, technology, and other ideas of that sort.  It was spread through out the whole modern world at that time, which was basically Europe.  It then evolved to Colonialism in the Americas and Africa and Asia, then to the industrial revolution, which was the spread of industry and capitalism.  (Side Note:  This is when Capitalism really took a big role in heading the globalization front).  After World War Two the world entered into the Cold War, which lasted from 1950 – 1988ish.  The main powers in this war were Capitalism and Communism or better known as United States verse The Soviet Union.  Now it is true that both of these powers both used globalization to spread their ideas, but the one that was better at it was Capitalism.There is also the misconception of the definition of communism and capitalism.  What people might not understand is that communism is the complete opposite of capitalism.  “But don’t opposites attract?” Well most do, but in this case it is like big fat ugly chick (aka communism) trying to win over the heart of tall dark and handsome (aka capitalism).  If the ol’ chap is straight in the head he’ll turn her down immediately, and probably cause her to go into a mental breakdown or just go emo.  Besides in order for communism to work the total amount of capitalism should be nil.  Besides if there was then the government would cease to be doing its job.  For example take Russia, nice country, some decent real estate, but back when it was the Soviet Union it tried to integrate capitalism, and it kind of fell.  It did this mainly because Communism and Capitalism don’t mix, it’s like water and oil. My own opinion of globalization is the spread of technology, information, and cultures, but there are other definitions such as the ability to have open trade with any country, which includes trading products to completely moving a company out of a country and capitalize there.  This is technically known as NAFTA. To be quite frank the word globalization wasn’t coined until the Clinton administration, and if it is really such a bad thing then go ahead and blame him.  So like I was saying Globalization is not a new idea.  The term itself has been in existence for sixteen years, and the basic idea of it has been around for centuries.  Despite the longevity of Globalization people these days can’t seem to make up their minds about the idea.  In reality there are two parts of Globalization, a huggy- kissy- feely version that employs people to “get along” and then there is the “I’m making money off of everyone out there” part, and people just can’t seem to take one without the other, and when this happens they tend to blame companies like Nike and other American companies.  What people do not understand is that it is not really Nike who is at fault and is being harsh on workers overseas, it’s the companies bought out by Nike that are going past those boundaries.  However people are blaming Nike for enforcing the mistreatment of workers even though there presence is not there, and by that I mean a CEO of Nike is probably not going to be there during the work day to oversee the production.  The only thing that Nike is a hindrance to people is that it is basically taking jobs out of America by the boat load, which brings me to my next point.  The second thing people often complain about is not enough jobs out there to support livelihood, and the major companies are to blame, because they take their work else ware.  Some people might say that that company is being un-American, or possibly even communistic, but that’s not the real reason. The real reason is that people always want more, and in this case it is the blue collared worker saying “I want more money for just pushing a button for 8 hours straight with 30 minutes for lunch and two 15 minute breaks”, and thanks to his union he gets $7.14 an hour or more, because that is just at minimum wage.  Thanks to unions corporations such as Nike have left America for cheaper labor, and so they can afford to pay advertising and the other fees that go along with a huge company like that. In other words it is kind of like that kid’s rime-game-thing about Joe.  Oh you know, “Hi my name is Joe, and I work in a button factory, I’ve got a wife and three kids. So one day, my boss said ‘Joe you doing anything’ and I said ‘no’, so he told me to push that button right there”.  And the thing goes on until Joe starts to complain or get arthritis or carpel tunnel syndrome and he calls his union to get better insurance, and he still can’t pay his taxes.  Maybe his wife and three kids should get jobs instead of living off of his biweekly salary.   Globalization is not new by any means, and even though it has been around for quite a while the results have been seen throughout history.  Globalization is the sharing of information, ideas, beliefs, technology, and up until recently commerce, capitalism, and politics.  Even though some of those ideas shared have been bad, such as terrorism, a lot of ideas have been beneficial, and there have been more good than bad, for example the Nobel Peace Prize recipients and their ideas to better the world, the Free Masons, Shriners Children’s Hospitals, and many other philanthropic organizations.  And in that same manner the world could be easily described as a clock. All the good people of the world are the metaphorical gears making everything work, and the people who are against everything are wrenches, and when those wrenches decide to act upon there own ideals it makes the world stop for a little bit, and then the problem gets fixed and everything is back in running order.  So what is Globalization?  Who knows, it is a conglomeration of things ranging from capitalism to ideologies and from file sharing to communism.  In reality it could be considered history working in the present and the future. Through the ages we have shared the miracle of music from Mozart to Metallica, Benny Goodman to Spike Jones, PDQ Bach, and Weird Al, and from cave men banging rocks on the ground to Stomp.  Of course in 1492 Columbus widened our horizons by proving that the world is not flat. In the 1940s we shared bullets, and in the 1950s we shared suburbia and baby boomers.  In the 1960s we broke through the atmosphere and made it into space.  In the 1970s we shared love, the 1980s we shared drugs and the 90s we shared the Backstreet Boys, Hanson and other crappy Boy Bands, and in this new millennium we have a shared sense of terrorism and a realization of how much influence one man could have from have the world away.  I guess Disney had it right. “It’s a small world after all”.

Guess What Nike Isn’t Killing Our Economy

This video we watched in class was somewhat inspiring to me in a few ways.  First off it’s not really Nike who is being harsh on workers over seas, it’s the companies bought out by Nike that is going past those boundaries.  However people are blaming Nike for enforcing the mistreatment of workers even though there presence isn’t there, and by that I mean a CEO of Nike is probably not going to be there during the work day to oversee the production.  The only thing that Nike is a hindrance to people is that it is basically taking jobs out of America by the boat load, which brings me to my next point. 

The second thing people often complain about is not enough jobs out there to support livelihood, and the major companies are to blame, because they take their work else ware.  Some people might say that that company is being un-American, or possibly even communistic, but that’s not the real reason. The real reason is that people always want more, and in this case it is the blue collared worker saying “I want more money for just pushing a button for 8 hours straight with 30 minutes for lunch and two 15 minute breaks”, and thanks to his union he gets $7.14 an hour or more, because that’s just at minimum wage.  Thanks to unions corporations such as Nike has left America for cheaper labor, and so they can afford to pay advertising and the other fees that go along with a huge company like that, so just cut Nike some slack and look in the mirror or at your union, your choice.

Barber Post

This time we are reading the essay “The Educated Student:  Global Citizen or Global Consumer?”  by Benjamin Barber.  And as suggested by the title the topic is globalization.  Barber made his essay interesting by chopping it up into five different segments, an introduction, “Consequences of De-Funding”, “What We’ve Learned”, “Citizenship in the World”, and “Coming Full Circle”.  I guess he did this to add variation, but it does tend to make those nine pages go a bit faster however dry the piece may be, and by all means this piece was pretty dry.

Well getting on with it I suppose, I did what I usually do and that is reading the passage assigned until I lose my focus, fall asleep, or go into a coma for futilely trying to understand complex writing.  And to no surprise of mine this feat happened rather fast.  So I did what I did with the first Harry Potter book, skip the first chapter and jump to the good stuff, and that’s when it occurred to me.  I really have no interest in what this guy is saying.  Well, I take that back, I have enough interest in his work to pass the class, but it’s my blog so I’ll say what I want.

Barber speaks of a correlation between the past and the present, and talking mostly about the Declaration of Independence and 9/11.  In 1776 there is independence and in 2001 there is interdependence.  And so for nine pages he goes back and forth making correlations, using examples to support them and shelling out his own points of view as well.  This article was well done, but it was just long *cough cough* and boring *cough cough* oh … uh … excuse me. He does finally wrap it up at the end by adding on the “student is now the master” theme.

The Origin of JohnButJack and Other Tidbits of Information

 This is my 9th grade Algebra and 12th grade Stats teacher, Mr. Fleming.  As you can clearly see, he’s not a normal teacher, however he was a helluva good one though.  He bestowed upon me the nickname JohnButJack simply for the reason that my real name is John, BUT if usually go by Jack, ego JohnButJack, and he’s been calling me that name ever since.  Mr. Fleming was also an IUP graduate.  As a teacher he usually wears a bow-tie which is plainly seen here in the picture.  He makes fun of anyone and everyone, within reason, and daily wonders when he will be fired because of this (Just kidding).  He is however a highly respected teacher at my old high school.

However to others he is probably considered to be an evil man either from stories they have heard, atrocities they have seen, or their own traumatizing experiences.  One of those stories is about a student who fell asleep.  Now you’d probably expect anyone to tap someone on the head to wake them up.  Not Mr. Fleming.  My sources have told me that Mr. Fleming TPed the kid.  Well at least he has a sense of humor.

At the Beginning of each year he always gives this speech to his students.  “You know who I am, and yes the rumors are true”, “I like peanut butter cookies, and I take them as bribes for bringing up your grade”(side note: this never worked, I tried, and all he really wanted were the cookies), and “It is my goal that by the end of the year that I make someone cry”.

However this teacher has influenced me to go to college with a purpose, and that is to become a teacher.  So to Mr. Fleming I say thank you for encouraging me yet embarrassing me both at the time.

Sniper Kitty

Gibbens Post

            I don’t really know what to say about this essay.  If I could sum it up in one complaint I would say that it was too long, of course this is coming from the person who read the last Harry Potter book in one week instead of six hours like the rest of the world.  I don’t know maybe I have ADD, because I noticed that kept going off track every other paragraph, but hey that’s really beyond the point.

To get to the point Giddens talks about globalization, with the conveniently titled essay of “Globalisation”.  Ok, well job well done there’s the point and I can pack up shop and go eat dinner now, right?  Unfortunately not, so I guess I’ll speculate more.           

Well aside from being really long, and a bit too dry for my tastes the author keeps misspelling globalization with the word globalisation.  I don’t know why that is, but he keeps insisting on calling it that, even though my computer keeps correcting it.  I don’t know, maybe he used a Mac.           

Well I’m already four paragraphs in and I haven’t made it to the main focus of my analysis, so here goes nothing.  All Giddens really explains is the idea and its history, taking the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Anyways he explains it and gives examples of it and blah blah blah, and if you were bored form reading this essay, well so was I as I a previously stated.            

He then talks about the skeptics and the radicals, and for some reason at that point my mind started to drift off towards the direction of Star Wars with the Rebels and the Empire, then I realized that that had nothing to do with the topic at hand.             

Then after all that with the Skeps and the Rads he then talks about the money aspect, and everything else possibly related to the whole idea, and relates it to Morse Code, then more modern technology.  He goes through his whole spiel of explaining “globalisation” and the different views associated with it, and finishes up with positive afterthought and sums it up with how we live.             

Like I said before, I didn’t think that much of this essay.  To me this essay was not bad but neither was it great.  It was average, bland, run of the mill.  At least his title lived up to my expectations.

Norberg and Nye Post

Well folks, I have to admit that this week’s assignment intrigued me to actually put some heart into my writing, just because the author made me a tad P Oed, and by a tad, I mean a little. and by a little, I mean a lot.  Anyways Mr. Norberg asks me to take off my shoes and find out where they were made, and now they’re cold, just because I forgot to put them back on, but then again that’s my own darn fault.  Oh and just for anyone who does car my shoes were made in China.Secondly he makes the huge error of confusing globalism with a successful form of capitalism.  I mean sure capitalism may have possibly created globalism, but globalism is not by any means capitalism.  In fact if you take some time to think about it globalization is just a new name for an old idea.  That idea of course is known as Imperialism, aka Colonialism.  The only difference between Imperialism and Globalization is that instead of taking over countries and FORCING ideas, cultures, and religions upon the happy-go-luck inhabitants, globalization acts more as a Wal Mart or Amazon.com where you have your own choice of what you want to assimilate.  In reality it’s like picking between a box of Lucky Charms verse Fruit Loops, except instead of cereal, there are ideas, cultures, and religious movements, and someone save us if Scientology is the top seller (to those who do follow this religion I did not mean to offend).   Thirdly, he calls Vietnam communist then capitalist, so I’ll ask him this question “Can you please make up your mind?”  Besides in order for communism to work the total amount of capitalism should be nil.  Besides if there was then the government would cease to be doing its job.  For example take Russia, nice country, some decent real estate, but back when it was the Soviet Union it tried to integrate capitalism, and it kind of fell.  It did this mainly because Communism and Capitalism don’t mix, it’s like water and oil.Finally he then says that he is not an “antiglobalist” after bashing globalization for a majority of his essay.  In reality he is a liar. Personally I hate it when writers claim the great truths and realizations for others, but never attempt it themselves.  So to Norberg I say “grow some backbone, it’ll help while you stand.”  Now for the second essay.

As for Joe Nye the Essay Guy, all he really talks about is the difference between globalization and modernism, and his reaction to the “anti-globalization” propaganda floating around.  I also think that Nye’s view on globalization is a bit out of focus.  He seems to be of the mind that America is the one heading the organization of the world through this idea of globalization.  Even though America would probably like to be named the leader of this effort it really isn’t.  In fact no one is.  What globalization is, is the process of anyone who owns internet capability and preferably a high speed connection can assimilate themselves to be whatever they want to be.  Thinking more on it, it’s kind of like high school where you have the popular kids and everyone who thinks they’re anyone tries to be their friend by doing what they do.  In realization America is probably one of the more popular kids and some countries want to be like them.  Then you have those kids who don’t take to trends and shop at salvation army or good will and end up being better off than most of the people in their class, just because they didn’t follow something blindly without asking questions.  Today that country is most likely Switzerland.  They’re rich and neutral.  What a lifestyle.