02/26/09 Homeless shelter out of TRASH??

Hey all! Just thought I would share this with you.

Recently, a 12-year old built a homeless shelter made from...TRASH!

He won $10,000 and a dell laptop for his creation. The 12-year old also won another invention contest and during his trip to Chicago (a part of the contest prize) he really noticed the vast amounts of homeless people on the streets of Shy town. Not only does this project shine light on the many creative ideas the youth has to offer, but it might even solve some over filled land fill problems! Surprisingly enough I found out about this story through A BLOG! Just was wondering if anyone had any thoughts, opinions, or similar stories?? If you'd like the FULL story on this click here: http://greenbuildingelements.com/2009/02/26/12-year-old-makes-homeless-shelter-from-trash/

02/24/09 Authoritative Source

The Budget Crisis May Yield Sea Change in Election Politics

Published in The New York Times on Saturday, February 21, 2009
By: Jennifer Steinhauer

The aricle is entirely about one change proposed in addition to approving the California state budget. Steinhauer claims California is doing what it always does well, re-vamping the way America does things. The highlight issue in the article was the approval of adding a proposed contitutional amednment. Cutting down to the chase, California lawmakers might be suggesting that we throw out political parties during election time. It is being called the "open-primary idea" and most California lawmakers are backing it up. Primary elections decide who a political party nominates as a candidate for the following general election. In a closed primary, people may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party and Independents cannot participate. With the proposed open primary, a registered voter may vote in any party primary regardless of his own party affiliation. Does this mean that voters will start to cross over into different parties during the primary? Well, I think so. I think that many people will begin to disragard their parties because we are allowed to do what is known as "decline to state".
I wonder, could this change the process of our elections? Also, why would California lawmakers add this onto the state's budget agreement?



The article and photograph are both courtesy of the New York Times and was retrived from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/us/21calif.html?_r=1&sq=californiabudgetcrisi&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all

on February 22, 2009.

02/24/09 CA Budget Crisis Interview

I chose to interview my older brother Anders Aguirre. He is 25 years old and a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. In 2007, he was honorably discharged after serving 4 years in the military, 6 months of this time was spent in Iraq in the Al Anbar providence. After life as a Marine, he became a full-time student at University of Phoenix online. In addition to this, he is a full-time dad and husband and up until 2 days ago, worked full-time at a fiberglass manufacturing company. I chose to interview him because not only do I look up to him and value his opinion, but he got caught in the middle of this all. When he left to join the Marines, California wasn’t in the crisis it is in now. And now, it is the reason why he lost his job.

Elena Aguirre: How has the California Budget crisis impacted your life, if at all?
Andres Aguirre: After being discharged from the military, I wanted to pursue a career as a California State Correctional Officer. However, due to the budget crisis, I cannot apply for any state jobs because the state is in a hiring freeze. Also, last Wednesday I went into work. They told me they couldn’t afford to employ me any further because the state budget crisis stopped all construction and re-construction of buildings.
E.A.: How has this affected your personal life?
A.A.: Well, no one is hiring right now which means no money. More importantly, my wife and two kids won’t have any medical, dental or vision insurance. That means I’m going to have to seek medical through the state. Also, this means I have to file for unemployment because I know that no one is going to hire anymore.
E.A.: Do you feel that the new proposal puts California on the road to recovery?
A.A.: I think in order for the economy to get better, we are going to have to do it ourselves. Everyone is complaining that they have no money, but the reality is this budget crisis is affecting millions. If we want the state’s economy, we have to give back for taking so much. Californians can’t just expect the economy to get better on its own; therefore anyway the state needs to cut corners, for now we just have to bite the bullet until the crisis is over.

02/19/09 Rhetorical Strategies

-The tone used in the Bill of Rights is demanding, but assertive in a sense.
-The point of view is that the people should be able to have freedom without feeling oppressed by their government and laws...

02/19/09 Political Argument

The Bill of Rights

Basically, the founders of America wanted to have a set if rights guaranteed to the citizens of America. The Bill of Rights has ten amendments, which declare the rights of people and government. The Bill of Rights was created to ensure that political oppression does not occur in America, as it did for many in Britain...

Reflection on Changes

It's going to be hard figuring out our grades. My biggest fear about the new changes is not clearly understanding the expections Dr. Harris may have. However, I am excited to blog and do a bunch of neat things that you wouldn't expect in your average English class. I'm excited to start fresh with a new, modern English class.

Journal: 02/12/09

I would like to read about more global issues. By this I mean issues that are on a global scale instead of a national one, which we are used to seeing in most courses.

-Why don't canadians lock their doors? (This refers to the movie Bowling for Columbine)

-Explore some of the questions we were asking on the first day of class

-Why does America have higher homicides rates by guns?