The Oregon Mall Shooting: Questions on Gun Control

This week on Tuesday, December 11, 2012, a masked gun fired shots from his semi-automatic rifle inside a mall. The man fired 20 shots killing 2 middle aged people and injuring a third person, a teenager, before turning the weapon on himself. Police did not connect any possible motives of the man, other than it being a random act of violence. The masked man was later identified as a 22 year old local by the name of Jacob Tyler Roberts. An incident like this raises multiple questions on gun control in America. With the mass amount of guns already owned by Americans, it would seem almost impossible to limit those guns from use. One of the most important issues in America at the moment is gun control and America is heavily split on this issue. With the Second Amendment protecting civilians right to own guns, it has been debated whether the Amendment should be kept or nullified. Those who support gun control cite the multiple shootings in the last decade as evidence, while those who are against gun control mention the original intent of the Second Amendment which was meant to allow civilians to have protection for their families. I don’t think there is any easy way to limit guns from being used or to limit random acts of violence like this. The only potential solution that could have some effect is the limiting of the distribution of bullets. Eventually, each gun runs out of bullets and the gun owners will have to buy some from a hunting store which should require more extensive identification, permits and background checks.

The Upcoming North Korean Launch

The recent North Korean plans to launch an “earth-observation” satellite into orbit have led to protests from Japan, China, South Korea and the United States of America. Japan has recently issued orders to destroy the missile should any part of it threaten to fall onto Japanese territory. Japan has already begun preparations by distributing missile batteries across their bases and by equipping Japanese destroyers with a weapon system that will detect and destroy any incoming missile. The U.S., equally against the satellite launch, has stationed warships near Japan to monitor the missile launch. While China is a North Korean ally and acknowledges their right to the peaceful use of outer space, it is still concerned that North Korea might violate United Nations restrictions. South Korea has joined in on the protest, seeing the launch as not only an international threat but as another attempt to influence the South Korean presidential election. Limiting the development of nuclear weapons across the world is at the forefront of the United Nations concerns.  I think that nuclear weapons exist as a means of protecting a country from attack or attacking a country in a war. By building nuclear weapons, a country assumes a more powerful political position in global politics. It can use that power as a preventive measure against the potential enemies. Having nuclear weapons also can lead to international weariness or scorn. I think the main concern of all the countries opposing the satellite launch is that it will lead to North Korea having nuclear capability.

A Palestinian State is Recognized

This week, the United Nations voted on a resolution to recognize the Palestinian State.  The majority of the vote passed despite Israeli and American criticism. Palestine was recognized as a non-member observer state that day, with Palestinians, causing mass celebration in Palestinian cities. Although, Israel still owns many of the territories that Palestine would like to have, Palestine now has a higher possibility of claiming them. I believe Israel will most likely deny Palestine access to the territories they wish to own. My prediction is that the new state upgrade for Palestine may possibly further ruin the peace between the two states and cause even further troubles for Israel.  I think that Israel will deny the existence of the Palestinian state while Palestine will try to further press the amount of territories they should own. Perhaps the recent Palestinian victory will cause their leader to feel slightly more confident and aggressive in pursuing those territories.

Recent Israeli Conflict: Israel vs Gaza's Hamas again

A major event in the news these last few weeks is the reignited feud between the Gaza Strip’s Hamas and Israel. After launching multiple rockets into Israel, some of which had hit near major cities, Israel retaliated after multiple warnings to the Gaza Strip. Israel sent over a military unit to bomb parts of Gaza. The effects were devastating compared to the damage done to Israel. The Egyptian Prime Minister, Hesham Kandil, visited Gaza and cried for the wounded Gaza civilians, calling it an act of “Israeli aggression [that] must stop”. I have been listening to many opinions on this feud for the past week or so. Some suggested that there might be a conspiracy about the Arab countries surrounding Israel, as well as Egypt. The conspiracy is that Israel, after making multiple threats to go to war with Iran,  was supposed to be intentionally distracted by Egypt and  Gaza, so Iran can continue with their nuclear developments without dealing with Israeli threats. In this conspiracy, Iran hired Egypt and Gaza to do so. As it is only a conspiracy, I do not know if this is true. However, I believe there is certainly something going on between Iran, Egypt and Gaza.  Considering the leaders of Iran and Egypt and many of the people of Gaza  share an immense hatred for the existence of the Israeli state, it would not be surprising if they all worked in conjunction with each other.

Thoughts on the Petraeus scandal

Former CIA Director David Petraeus recently resigned from his position because of an extramarital affair with his biographer. He felt the need to resign because he did not think it was right to have a secret affair in the high position he is in.  Also, there was certainly a fear of putting his country at risk if the affair gained public status while he was in his position. If others knew about the affair, he could have been blackmailed or worse. While he still had some dignity, Petraeus decided to resign because it was the honorable thing to do. However, despite resigning ‘honorably’, Petraeus had lost the respect of his family and his country. He was officially approved for resignation by President Obama on November 9, 2012.  After his resignation, the FBI launched an official investigation into the affair, however the affair was already made aware to the FBI and several others before then. Jill Kelley, a woman who met Petraeus years ago, reported harassment from anonymous emails to a friend who worked for the FBI Tampa Field Office. This report ended up being secretly investigated by the FBI shortly after. Without this report, I don’t think the FBI would have been aware of the affair. 

The Results of Tuesday's Elections

This week’s election was quite surprising to many citizens. I was watching the polls with my family and we were waiting to see who would win a race that was predicted to be extremely close. As the results began to be shown on television, I began to think that the race would be tight to the very end. I was also watching the Congressional race polls, particularly for Illinois. The Democratic Party seemed to be winning over strong Republican areas and it made me wonder how the results of this election would affect Congress. Looking back on Barack Obama’s presidency, many of his proposals were rejected by the majority Republican Congress which made it difficult to pass his agenda. At the conclusion of the election, the final House numbers had 234 Republican seats and 201 Democratic seats. I was quite surprised to see Brad Schneider win at the last second, because it seemed that Bob Dold was winning most of the popular vote. He eventually lost only after the final 3% of votes were counted. The evening ended with an electoral win for President Obama. Thus, Obama will be re-elected as President and will now have to ‘impress’ America on his second term. The United States is heavily split on the issues and Obama will have to figure out how to unite this divide during his second term. This will be especially challenging due to a Congress which has a 33 seat difference between parties.

Aftermath of Sandy: Helping Obama's campaign?

After the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, Obama has been eliciting praise for visiting the sites where the damage was most severe. While he hasn’t actually done much for Sandy’s aftermath yet, Obama’s recent visits to New Jersey and other states have shown him in action as President and not simply as a candidate for the Presidential race. Even Governor Chris Christie, the Republican Governor of New Jersey and famed critic of Obama’s work, has been assuring his residents that the President will help the storm-ravaged neighborhoods that have not been supported by FEMA. While the President carries out his duty by helping the nation and reducing panic, Governor Romney has been quietly campaigning. However, he has been careful not to release any attack ads towards the President. This week, the Republican candidate has been “playing it safe”. Both candidates have a few more days before Election Day. We can only wait and see if Obama’s visitations to storm-ravaged states have helped his campaign.

Will Sandy affect this campaign?

As news of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation begins to be revealed, President Obama has begun to make plans to oversee all government organizational responses and storm monitoring. The Democratic candidate for the 2012 Presidential race has recently decided to cut back on his campaign plans and instead focus on the effects the storm might have on America. Currently this is an issue that will affect both candidates. However as president, Obama that will be making the final decisions on government response and will be responsible for the results. If Obama can carry out a successful response to the storm, it might give his campaign a boost and help swing states’ undecided voters make their decisions. Although the storm is having devastating effects, I predict that Obama’s efforts with the storm will give him an advantage in this race.

Did the Moderator of the Second Presidential Debate overstep her duties?

One of the controversies of the second presidential debate was the moderator’s role. The role of a moderator is to facilitate the debate, while remaining neutral. Moderator Candy Crowley was a subject of controversy after the second presidential debate for correcting a statement made by Governor Romney. In the debate, he asked the audience how quickly President Obama responded to the Benghazi attacks and if he called it an “act of terror”. The moderator argued that Obama had responded quickly and did in fact call it an “act of terror”, which in fact turned out to be incorrect. There were two issues with her comments. First, even if she was correct, she overstepped her duties as moderator by correcting Governor Romney. This could have even been harmful to President Obama if he wanted to correct Governor Romney on the statement. Second, her statement turned out to be false, which she later admitted to on CNN. It will be interesting to see how the moderator acts in the next debate.

Vice Presidential Debates

This past Thursday, the Vice Presidential Debate occurred between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. While I didn’t get a chance to watch the debate, I read about it afterwards and saw several clips. The role of the Vice Presidential Debate to me is not on whether I like the candidate but rather how well the presidential candidates were supported by their Vice Presidential candidates. During the debate, Joe Biden came out attacking Paul Ryan because he wanted to change the image of the weak performance by President Obama last week. On the other hand, Paul Ryan was calm and relaxed, while answering the questions. In conclusion, the main contentious topic that you will remember from the debates was the war in the Middle East and bringing our troops back home.

A Presidential Debate Controversy Debunked

This week the first national debates occurred between President Barack Obama and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. This debate focused around how each candidate would help the middle class and around their economic policies. While Mitt Romney seemed quite relaxed as he attacked Obama, the President maintained a professional demeanor as he struggled to fight back. He seemed more interested in his anniversary with his wife, than he did about the debate. After every major political debate, some analyst or political pundit thinks that a hand gesture is a form of cheating. This year, the controversy started when Romney took a handkerchief out of his pocket and laid it out on the podium. Many mistook it for a piece of paper with potential notes written before the debate. In reality, this handkerchief was nothing more than a thing to blow his nose into.  

Romney's 47% Remark

Recently, all of the media is focused on Romney’s political gaff where he said on May 17th that was interpreted as uncaring about the 47% of voters he knew would vote for Obama, mainly in the middle to lower class. What he was trying to say to a private group of wealthy sponsors was that he was going to focus his campaign on voters who were still indecisive. However, the comment was videotaped on someone’s phone and released to the world on September 17th. While everyone can interpret the comment in any way they want, it is unfair because he didn’t know he was being recorded. Nevertheless, even in privacy, it was a ‘poor’ choice in wording that he should have understood, as a presidential candidate. Romney should know how to conduct himself at all times because the media is always watching. This really hurt his campaign because a lot of underclass people were offended.

The Importance of Bill Clinton to Obama's campaign

Recently, Bill Clinton has been speaking during the campaign rallies for President Obama. Former President Bill Clinton is polling with high levels of favorability, as he is seen as the most spokesperson in Obama’s campaign for reelection. I find it interesting how much has changed since his time as President. Some issues have remained unsolved like all the issues in the Middle East. Other issues like the economy have changed for the worse. Clinton has been able to change his identity from a cheating husband and a liar to a president who was able to maintain the economy and keep our national debt down. Now, with the economy in shambles and our national debt in the trillions, people view Clinton as a potentially important advisor to Obama. The metamorphosis from a liar to potential economic savior is interesting and sheds light on just how nervous people are about the economy.

9/11 movie recap

This week we discussed the effects of 9/11 on America and the world. Over the course of 3 days, we watched a movie about 9/11 from the perspective of the firemen and from inside the actual buildings. The movie was intended to just focus on a rookie fireman but on the day of 9/11. The documentary film makers happened to follow the firemen on the call to the WTC buildings. The movie was intense because there were many moments where one of the brothers making the documentary was caught in dangerous situations. I thought the movie was impactful on my understanding of 9/11 because I had never seen a movie from the perspective of the people inside. Most of the movies I have watched have been about 9/11’s impact on the world, only showing the WTC buildings from a distance, collapsing unlike this movie where the filmmaker actually runs from the collapsing buildings. This other perspective helped me gain insight into the terror and suffering that was caused due to the acts of terrorism.

Michelle Obama in the White House

On September 4^th during the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama gave an eloquent speech in support of her husband. Many political analysts praised her speech because it showed how politically involved she was. As a young First Lady with two daughters, in her speech she discussed how Obama’s presidency affected her family. I can imagine that it would be quite difficult to raise a family in the White House under the national spotlight. One of the main things any mother would fear would be the safety of her children, but she also might not be able to spend enough time with the children as she must be focused on her duties as a First Lady and of course President Obama doesn’t have much time to spend with the kids. Yet somehow, Michelle still wants another four years in the White House. Her dedication to both her duties as First Lady and mother are admirable.

A little bit about Obama...

The President of the United States has many roles. One of them is being the face of America. While in the past many presidents were old men who had graying hair, President Obama has been able to capture the hearts of the youth of America. When he first became president, a fist bump between him and his wife became a viral act that the youth respected. Many presidents had their area of interests implemented in the White House, usually tennis courts, baseball fields or football fields. Obama is the first president to have a basketball court in the White House. Recently, he went to a basketball fundraiser where he made plenty of jokes. Other times like in Iowa, he sang to the crowd in perfect harmony. When White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game, the President, who is a White Sox fan, personally called the pitcher to send him his congratulations. This hip, new presidential style may be an important factor in winning over young voters in the upcoming elections.

My opinion on the Pledge of Allegiance

I agree with the new law passed about the Pledge of Allegiance for the following 3 reasons. First, it supports the idea of patriotism and developing a sense of unity. Second, it helps start the day off with a reminder of how lucky we all are to be in America.   Third, the Pledge of Allegiance follows my belief that there should be liberty and justice for all people. There is nothing I would change about the Pledge of Allegiance because I think each word helps all students and faculty throughout schools in Illinois recognize their connection with the country’s values.

First blog: I saw a movie before school began

Recently I went to go see The Bourne Legacy movie at AMC theatres in Northbrook Court. I have never seen the other 3 Bourne movies, but my friends have basically spoiled them for me anyway, so I know what I missed. As I sat down with my popcorn and beverage, I waited to see what the movie would be about. The first twenty minutes of the movie didn’t make sense to me, most probably because I haven’t seen the other three movies. However, there was a point in the movie where everything I was confused about got pieced together and the movie finally began to make sense to me. When the movie finished, I decided that it was an overall great movie because of all the action. My one complaint with the movie was that every time Aaron Cross managed to ‘save’ the damsel in distress from danger, it seemed unrealistic how he just popped in the nick of time. However, this is just a movie so I shouldn’t be taking it too seriously.