War On Drugs

Growing up watching television, I saw my fair share of Cops shows.  The people who had their house raided or were pulled over tended to be minorities.  It wasn't until we watched the documentary in class that I realized the majority of drug users and dealers were white, but the media was showing minorities as the problem.  What other examples of racisim in the mainstream media?

The brain and how it creates conspiracy theories

I thought it would be interesting to share some psychology that could hint at why people believe in or create conspiracy theories, which I wasn't able to fit in my part of our wiki assignment.

A part of the brain called the amygdala has been connected to the processing of emotions, phobias, and in particular responses to fear. It "jump-starts" the rest of the brain to start analyzing its surroundings, in order to provide a suitable reason for why events are happening. Psychologists believe that it can explain why conspiracy theories exist, as the amygdala may be promoting the creation of these crazily detailed theories in order to explain tragic events such as 9/11.

Of course, are many other factors that can explain why conspiracy theories still exist in today's society, but this can provide one explanation.

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/why-rational-people-buy-into-conspiracy-theories.html?_r=0
http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/amygdala.htm

The Crucible : Connections to the McCarthy Era

In English class, we have been reading the play "The Crucible" written by Arthur Miller. It was written in the 50's and 60's, around the time of McCarthyism. The play itself is about the Salem Witch Trials, where hundreds were hung for being accused as witches. This really reminded me of how McCarthy accused other politicians and officials for being "soft on communism". This connection between the 17th  century and the 1950's was really cool for me to see. For those of you who have read the Crucible, what are some of the similarities between McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials?

9/11 to now: How we have changed

The decade after the 9/11 attacks reshaped and reformed many facets of life in America. Some of these changes were temporary- an immediate response out of concern for our safety-whereas some proved to be more lasting transformations in American society. The American Lexicon, social or political terminology, was one of the major things that changed drastically in months and years after the attacks. Among the words and phrases that entered everyday language: Taliban, Ground Zero, Radicalism, Extremism, Anthrax, and the Axis of Evil. The usage of these terms dramatically increased and soon became a part of Americans' everyday lives. Not only was American terminology relatively affected, bringing in new words to be used in American culture, however, Air travel was distinctly one of these.

Perhaps the most immediate and obvious changes after the attacks took place in U.S. airports. Approximately two months after the attacks, congress federalized airport security by passing the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which created the Transportation Security Administration. Prior to 9/11, security had been handled by each airport, which outsourced to private security companies. The new TSA implemented procedures that included much more strict guidelines on passenger and luggage screening. Only ticketed passengers could go through security, and an ever changing array of machinery and procedures were introduced to scan for weapons and destructive items. As new threats were discovered after 9/11, including removing shoes and banning liquids. Airplanes themselves also underwent major overhauls: fortified cockpit doors were being generated, and first-class cabin curtains were dropped by airlines. Today, pilots can apply to be come a federal flight deck officer, allowing them to carry a loaded gun and act as a federal officer aboard the plane.

Despite the vast amount of airport and air travel security, today, some critics say some of the new measures are much too excessive and infringe on the rights of travelers, pointing to more invasive searches and examples of passengers being detained. Would you agree with the amount of change we have created in terms of security for our nation? Or would you agree with critics and say that it is too much? Is there a limit? Or do you think American security should not have any limits due to the effects of 9/11?

9/11 Conspiracy Theories

There are a lot of conspiracies on 9/11, but I found some that are interesting. The first one is that the government did it. This is basically what conspiracy theorist do, they question the government and blame them. They argue that there was no "stand down" order. What these Conspiracy Theorists don't understand it that a stand down order is an order from NORAD to scramble fighter jets. Because it was a hijacker situation and not a fighter jet, the order didn't happen until it was too late. Another is that the buildings didn't collapse, they were simply demolished. Another is the planes weren't planes at all, instead they were missiles. 

Post 9/11: Hate crime Trends-Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and Jews in the U.S.

Anti Muslim

According to most recent reports released in May 2005 entitled anti muslim hate crimes rose by more than 50 percent between 2003-2004;while 93 anti muslim hate crimes were recorded in 2003, 141 hate crimes were recorded in 2004. The study proceeds to cite 1,552 cases of anti muslim occurrences including violence, discrimination, and even harassment. Approximately 225 of these cases involved religious discrimination, such as a city's opposition to a mosque. 196 cases involved discrimination in the workplace and 190 cases cited verbal harassment. The report hypothesizes that the increase in anti-Muslim sentiment can be attributed to websites and radio programs whose content propagates feelings of hate.

 State Demographics 

 According to the CAIR report, nearly 80% of anti-Muslim crime was committed in only 10 states. 20% of crimes were committed in California. Incidents occurring in California in 2004 included the assault of a Portuguese man in San Diego who was mistaken for being of Middle Eastern descent. A group of white men yelled racial slurs at him and told him to "go back to Iraq." On December 30, 2004, also in California, a Muslim woman wearing a hijab was pushing her baby in a stroller when a man in a truck almost ran them over near a gas station. When the woman cried, "You almost killed my baby!," the man responded, "It wouldn't have been a big loss.

 Increase of Police Discrimination

One of the most salient increases from 2003 to 2004 is that of discrimination by police such as unwarranted arrests and searches which comprised a quarter of CAIR cases in 2004, whereas in 2003 comprised they only 7% of incidents. One example of unreasonable arrest occurred on June 10th, 2004 in Colorado where a Muslim family's house was raided by the IRS and armed FBI agents who drew their guns. The family was told that an IRS investigation was being conducted and the agents proceeded to ask them questions that randomly incorporated religion, suicide bombing, and personal opinions concerning war between the US and Iran.

 Hate Crime on Campuses

 Anti-Muslim hate crimes have been especially visible on the campuses of universities and colleges nationwide since 9/11. In the Spring of 2003, anti-Muslim rants were shouted towards student Christine Lo's dorm room at Yale. Lo had hung an upside-down American flag outside of her window to protest the war in Iraq. The ranting students also attempted to pry open her door with a plank of wood. Notes were left on Lo's door prompting Americans to kill muslims and releasing statements using threats that compromised Lo's intermediate family members simply because of race and religion.

With all of the information provided above that provides enough insight on how influencing and racially altering 9/11 was afterwards, what do you think? Would you agree or find yourself relating as to why these incidents happened? Or would you oppose them and keep an open mind despite the terrorist attacks? Do you think these incidents, racial slurs, and comments continue in today's modern society? Why or why not?

9/11: WTC Demolition Conspiracy

       World Trade Center controlled Demolition theories contend that the collapse of the World Trade Center was not solely caused by the airliner crash damage that occurred as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the resulting fire damage, but the explosives installed in the buildings in advance. Controlled demolition theories make up a major component of 9/11 conspiracy theories. Early advocates such as Physicist, Steven E. Jones, architect Richard Gage, software engineer Jim Hoffman, and theologian David Ray Griffin, argued that aircraft impacts and resulting fires could not have weakened the buildings sufficiently to initiate such a catastrophic collapse, and that the buildings would not have collapsed completely nor at the speeds that they did without additional energy involved to weaken their structures.
    Among these advocates is William Rodriguez, a janitor at the North Tower of the World Trade Center during 9/11 and was in the basement of the North Tower when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the building. Rodriguez claims that he heard an explosion at the WTC "just seconds before" the plane hit. He additionally adds by describing these explosions," coming from below the first sub-level while working in the basement. "The walls were cracking around me and I pulled a man to safety by the name of Felipe David" who was severely burned from the basement explosions.Rodriguez states how much impact this has had on his outtake of 9/11, convincing him to change his mind as he saw how the commission did it's work after 9/11 and how American media edited out his testimonies about hearing bombs in the buildings (while Spanish media did report his un-edited evidence.)  William Rodriguez is not the only one following the Demolition conspiracy. Another janitor who worked in one of the WTC buildings and equally helped save lives, adds to the theory by describing "explosions"in the lower basement" as well. Kenny Johannemann was working his shift and had encountered the same thing as Rodriguez,being interviewed on live TV on the morning of the attacks, footage that had gone viral and has been used on countless 9/11 truth documentaries. What seems to be suspicious is the fact that Johanneman later committed suicide on August 31st, 2008 after years of depression post 9/11.
The question is: Why? Why would a bomb in the basement be required to go off as the plane hit? What is the purpose behind this? If it was not aimed to demolish the building and yet increased the risk of detection, added more effort, careful timing, and yet would not achieve anything significant really..why would bombs be set off shortly before the plane crash? One source of evidence is good enough, but how about two? What do you think? Do you think what both these men witnessed has any significance to the truth of 9/11? Again, Why would there be explosives set off in the basement? The following links provides much more information and insight on Rodriguez and Johanneman,the American media, and what "truly" happened on 9/11 itself: http://www.911myths.com/html/william_rodriguez.html http://infowars.net/articles/September2008/050908Witness.htm

The Effects of Conspiracy

Negative
 Conspiracy theories can have negative effects on societies. Especially one like the US that is powered by the people. The general basis of most conspiracy theories are distrust in the government and the information provided by the government. If this idea were to spread widely among Americans the general distrust of the government could lead to a state of chaos in which the people of America are rebelling and ruining a great country. Not to mention psychologists have studied patients and linked a slight mental incapacity or even illness in extreme conspirators. Luckily not all people believe in these conspiracy's and do have faith in our government.

Positive
We live in a country where questioning the government is not punishable and is often a good thing. Conspirators question the information presented to them, which is a good thing to do. If no one ever questioned anything the government did then they could get away with far too much. People who have challenged the government in the past have often lead to great break throughs that lead this country to a better place.

In conclusion questioning the government or general information provided to you is not a bad thing, but hopefully that does not lead to taking it to far into unrealistic claims and examinations.

Flash Back, The War on Drugs

     The War on Drugs was a good idea, but flawed. What happened was as the police cracked down on drugs and drug dealers, who were often males. Urban areas were typically short on male influences for children and created a social imbalance. While you might think that how could someone on drugs or that deals them be a positive influence on a child? The truth is not all drug users and dealers are bad people. The lack of role models in the urban cities created this pattern that often the young men turn to the things that got the previous generation of males in jail. Because the older generation was in jail they were not their to guide the younger ones away from crime. I think that taking drugs off the street is a good thing. That being said, holding the people arrested on drug charges for as long as they are is not. There should be some sort of system in place to punish those who broke the law for drugs but also to aid them and provide drug addiction care.

  To recap, The War on Drugs was a good idea, but did create societal imbalances that lead to unhealthy patterns. A system to punish and provide aid to drug users and dealers is a good idea and should be worked out.

Is Osama Bin Laden really dead?

     Is Osama Bin Laden really dead? Although many people believe that he is actually dead, many people are living in the conspiracy that he could be alive. 

     One conspiracy theory is there is lack of evidence. The U.S government had refused to provide any physical evidence to support the claim of Bin Laden's death. They say there is no physical evidence to actual proof of his death that has been offered to the public. There has been many Freedom of Information Acts filed that have requested for photographs, videos, or DNA test results to be released, but they didn't. Second conspiracy that was discussed was that he was killed in Tora Bora mountains but wasn't released because it encouraged them to continue their support for the war. 

      Many people have different opinions on the death of Bin Laden, whether he is dead or still alive. I think he's dead but then I read articles that make me believe he could still be alive.

      What do you think? Is Osama Bin Laden still alive? Or is he dead as many Americans believe he is?

- Claudia Gomez

Historical Events Prior to 9/11

     While researching historical events that could have motivated the attack, I've found lots of interesting facts that I do believe America could have seen the attack coming, even though it was nothing anything could have done to prevent it.
     The Muslim Extremist had attacked US several times which could have heated the situation with US and the Muslims. They car bombs as one of their method of terrorism. August 7 1998, they had planted them into two cars and blew up at the American Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 224 people, including 12 American and wounding more than 5,000. (This car was bombed by the Muslim Extremists in Paris)

 

     At a airport administration in the U.S, the Federal Authorities have suspected terrorists, known to be part of Bin Laden's group, were receiving flight training at the building.  One of the convicted terrorist confessed that he was involved in crashing a plane into CIA headquarters. Reports were sending warning messages that "large numbers of Middle Eastern males" were receiving flight training and could possibly be terrorist attacks. 

In 1990. the first Iraq War and Persian Gulf War happened which led to uprisings in Iraq and the U.S. After 42 days of the attacks, firing both on air and on ground, George Washington declared a cease-fire on February 28,  but most Iraqi forces in Kuwait had surrendered or fled. This situation led to a second Gulf War, it has come to be known as the Iraq War, began in 2003.

   Although there are many more historical events that could have motivated the 9/11 attack, I believe these could have been an alert to many people because the acts that these people had done could have been a message but people refused to believe that there could have been an attack on American soil. The Muslims Extremist attack the US several times and killing hundreds of people should have been a warning to many people because they had injured Americans and could have probably injured more, as they did in 9/11 killing thousands of American people. The President should had done something to had prevented damaged but it wasn't too successful. I could be wrong in the way I interpreted these events or the way I'm putting them but these could been alerts to the Americans to know there was worse coming before they attacked the World Trade center.

- Claudia Gomez

9/11 Conspiracies: Were the Phone Calls Fake or Real?

There were numerous phone calls from all four planes that were supposedly hijacked on 9/11. But were they real?
On flight 11, these phone calls and brief conversations were revealed:

• Madeline Sweeney's phone call: Flight attendant Sweeney placed a cell phone call to American Arilines flight services office, and reached her friend, services manager Michael Woodward, starting at 8:21 and talked for 25 minutes, until the plane crashed. Sweeney related many details such as wounds by victims of the hijackers to seat numbers of the hijackers. ³   There are conflicting reports on whether the call was recorded.
• Betty Ong's phone call: Flight attendant Betty Ong called Vanessa Minter at American Airlines reservations at 8:21, and talked for 23 minutes, until the plane crashed. Nydia Gonzalez also listened in from 8:27. The FBI refused to release a recording of the first 4-1/2 minutes of the conversation, but during the 9/11 Commission's January 27, 2004 hearing, the recording was played

On flight 93, over 30 phone calls were recorded. 

It seems nearly impossible, that nearly half these phone calls were made on cell phones. Cell phones do not have reception on an aircraft, unless it is flying very low, which was a possbility on Flight 93, which flew very low for the last 15 minutes of its flight into the Twin Tower. But the calls were often very cliche and cheesey, saying I love you, tell my kids bye etc. So were these calls faked, or are they actually real? More information on Flight 93's phone calls here: http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/analysis/phonecalls.html

Do You Agree With the Four Planes Crashed and HIjacked on 9/11?

Do you agree that four planes, United Airlines Flight 93, American Airlines Flight 77, American Airlines Flight 11, and United Airlines Flight 175 were all hijacked purposely and crashed into predesignated targets? 

These are the flight paths and the sequence of events shown above. Was every single plane a pre-planned attack on the United States, or were one or more of these crashes accidental?

Conspiracy Theories: 9/11 - Flight 77

Flight 77 is possibly the most compelling of all the plane crashes. Headed for LAX International airport from Dulles, it deviated from it's original scheduled path of travel at 8:54 AM, and 2 minutes later, the transponder was turned off completely. At 9:37 AM, the 757, with a 125 foot wingspan, crashed into the Pentagon. However, the hole was only 75 feet wide. Another strange fact about Flight 77's crash into the Pentagon-- no plane wreckage was found in the Pentagon, only nearby evidence and remnants were found. So you decide-- did Fligh 77 really happen or is this false? Fact or Fiction? http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a5659/debunking-911-myths-pentagon/

JFK Assassination Conspiracies

Currently we are working on the 9/11 conspiracy project, so I thought I would look up some conspiracy theories on President Kennedy's Assassination. One conspiracy is that Jacqueline Kennedy, his wife, planned it. Some people believe that if she did plan it that her motive would've been the whole Marilyn Monroe. Some people believe that the CIA played a role in the assassination of President Kennedy. They believe the motive would be that the CIA was upset with the changes going on in the agency after the Bay of Pigs invasion failed. Another conspiracy is that Vice President Lydon Johnson organized the assassination because he and Kennedy had different political and personal views. He planned his murder so he would not get re-elected. I could go on about different conspiracies, but I will leave this link if you would like to look at some more conspiracies. 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2013/11/21/john-kennedy-conspiracy-theories-assasination/3661891/

 What is a conspiracy theory that you believe could be true or a really weird conspiracy theory that some people believe in?

Follow Up on Religion

Check it out...
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-us-religion-20150512-story.html#page=2

Tuesday May 5th Class

Yesterday in class we watched the final God in America episode which brought us up to religion in America in 2008. Through out the God in America videos we can see a constant push for or against religion and a push back in politics and social settings. Prayer in schools was a debate that went beyond the social boundaries and came to the attention of law. In this case an atheist family sued the school board for allotting time in school for prayer and won. Although it wasn't not over yet, there were still social conflicts that were created by having a different set of believes then those around you. The family received hate mail and the son was outcasted at school.
In conjuction with the civil rights movement there was a religious movement these struggles eventually lead more people to become more accepting of people who were "different" form themselves. Presidents like John F. Kennedy and Obama answered to people who questioned religion in politics. They did so in such a way to reassure the people that while religion or a persons belief set may lead them to make certain decisions, they would not force America into a certain religion. It really highlighted the way you can keep state and church separate but still have people who have a religion or none at all lead a country.
Overall religion has been a part of American culture and will continue to be for a long time so the best thing to do is educate yourself on it to gain a better understanding of others.

Civil Rights after the Civil Rights Movement

When the nation was informed of Martin Luther King's assassination, the African-Americans began rioting and setting their own cities on fire in anger, frustration and revenge of such an important civil rights leader. Although the black communities major leader was no longer leading them, they realized it was still important to fight for their rights and freedom. Soon after MLK's death, the Black Panther Party was formed to advocate for civil rights and change. However, there was a big difference between King's approaches and the Black Panther's. King focused on the white race and the black race coming together as one, to unify and become equal. The Black Panther Party's approach, however, was not focused on coming together with the Whites, but rather fighting for the ability to control their own destiny and have their own power. While African-Americans saw the Black Panther's as an incredible step towards change and power, the FBI and US government claimed them to be a major threat to America and its citizens. This is because the Panther's obtained rights to have their own guns to protect their people from police brutality. Eventually in the 70s, African-Americans rights were progressing - there were 21 black characters in television shows/films, creating something America has never seen before or ever thought possible. Soul Train, pretty much a TV show where African Americans just danced, became a popular TV show that promoted self-love and that "blacks are beautiful". Although we haven't finished the documentary, there has already been a major progression in equal rights for all and it will be interesting to watch the rest of the film to see how much has continued to change from the 60s until now.

Civil Rights Beyond the 1960's (Summary)

After the assassination of King, groups like the Black Panther Party, based in Oakland, began to rise. They brought a new movement they called Black Power; aimed at closing the racial and economic injustices left by the Civil Rights Movement. The Cultural Revolution that this movement started began a campaign called "Black is Beautiful" where African Americans could embrace their own natural beauty and culture instead of being consumed by the lack of positive imagery and examples for black Americans. This movement also ushered in an era where "blackness" became synonymous with how cool you were. Things like having an afro, listening to black music, and dancing in a "black" fashion was appropriated by whites. 21 prime-time TV shows now featured black protagonists. Despite this leap in positive social imagery for black Americans, the Civil Rights movement failed to bring economic independence to black communities. Because programs like Affirmative action, which rose a select few black families out of poverty, the poor blacks were becoming poorer. Left behind by the best and brightest of their neighborhoods, they were unemployed and unorganized, with no ability to pool their resources to help the struggling families in their community. This condition was only further perpetrated with Reagan's policies; both getting rid of Johnson's Great Society and beginning his war on drugs. Those that had turned to drug dealing to pay rent or feed their families had no business and nowhere to turn after losing the resources given to them by the Great Society's programs.

Affirmative Action

We learned a bit of Affirmative Action in class as we were learning of some positive and negative actions that affected Civil Rights. This idea/policy still exists today and is also still a debate. The idea was thought of to stop racism on disadvantaged groups, but some believed it to be reverse racism. For example, if a person needed a gardener and was going to give the job to either a Latino or a White person, because of this idea, they would give the job to the Latino. Then the White man would feel discriminated against because he was White. Do you think Affirmative Action is helping to stop racism or is it encouraging racism and discrimination against White people?

God in America

In post-World War II era, Billy Graham (a rising evangelist) tried to inspire and persuade American people to reconsider joining some sort of religion or faith. He described the competition between faith and patriotism (in the Cold War battle) as "godless communism". He basically preached that without religion, you were a communist. Even the Presidents at the time (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon) believed that immersing oneself in religion was a big step to a better nation. Eisenhower urged Americans to go to church and stated, "Our form of government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith, and I don't care what it is." At a huge rally in New York's Madison Square Garden, Vice President Richard Nixon shared the platform with Graham and reassured the audience, "I'm sure we all realize that one of the most basic reasons for American progress in the past and for our strength today is that from the time of our foundation we have had a deep and abiding faith in God." Graham managed to influence so many Americans - a record number of people flocked to houses of worship. Due to Graham's outstanding influence and status, public schools established prayers and worship inside their classrooms. This eventually caused nonbelievers and religious minorities to appeal to the US Supreme Court to question how constitutional religious expression in public schools was. At this time, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr emerged as, what seemed to be, a modern-day prophet. He called upon the entire nation to honor both biblical scriptures/teachers and the founders' democratic ideals of equal justice.

An interesting story from some history we studied...

As you may remember in the documentary "Freeze" there was the image of the last US personnel leaving the American Embassy in Saigon (South Vietnamese capital) in April 1975.  Here's an interesting story...

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_28013321/40-years-later-one-infant-from-1975-operation

check it out!

SDI and Star Wars

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union. With the tension of the Cold War looming overhead, the Strategic Defense Initiative was the United States’ response to possible nuclear attacks from afar. Because Reagan was adamantly against MAD, he was determined to establish SDI, as it was an important part of his defense policy to end MAD. Not only was SDI important to ending MAD, but (in Reagan's eyes) a strategic initiative to neutralize the Soviet military and their nuclear defenses. Although the program seemed to have no negative consequences,people criticized it for being unrealistic and unscientific, which is why it was nicknamed "Star Wars" It included some abstract and farfetched ideas, many of which included lasers. Although Reagan was determined to get Star Wars going, the idea was eventually abandoned.

Reagan and Gorbachev

With the Cold War reaching back up to a peak in tension it was safe to assume that the American and Soviet citizens were beginning to look for a way to end the war and restore peace. One thing that greatly influence the turning of the war and the beginning of the end of it was the fact that two new leaders were newly introduced to the two nations: Reagan newly elected into office in the US and Gorbachev newly coming to power in Russia. The two leaders met in the 1985 Geneva summit to discuss more limitations on nuclear arms and to talk about scrapping the newly introduced SDI idea that America had. The two seemed to get along in a civil manner, seen joking and smiling together, and seeing the way their leaders were interacting is something that I believe really helped the citizens of the US and Soviet Union to begin to realize that the Cold War needed to end.

SALT II

From 1972 to 1979 the US and Soviet Union continued the SALT talks they had previously negotiated on. SALT II sought to curtail the manufacturing of strategic weapons and was the first nuclear arms treaty that assumed real reductions in weapon count of all categories of devices on both sides. SALT II also helped the United States discourage the Soviet Union from arming their third generation of ICBMS. However, during this time the Soviets began to experiment with a new model called the SS-20. The US gave the Soviets an ultimatum regarding these SS-20's that stated they would give the Soviets three years to negotiate with the US to find a middle ground agreement on the use and allowed number of these weapons. Yet during this time the US gave the Soviets to negotiate, the US continued to try to build up their number of weapons in the hopes of closing the missile gap.

SALT II ended up being helpful for the Soviet Union because it gave them a reason to focus less money on building weapons and to instead start fixing their economy and the damage it had sustained in the arms race. The US had a less optimistic opinion on these talks with Reagan saying the talks were not passed to help close the gap but rather to just get the Soviets to like the US better. What do you think? Were the SALT II talks helpful for both nations, or just one? 

Human Rights and US–Soviet Relations

During the time of Detente, US–Soviet relations were beginning to get better. Thanks to Nixon, tension had been relieved and the possibility of a nuclear attack was fading from people's minds. However, come the era of the Carter administration, things began to take a turn for the worse. Matters regarding human rights in the Soviet Union were beginning to trickle into the media in the West and rekindling the flame of hatred that Americans felt for the Soviet Union. People in Russia were beginning to notice the restrictions that the government had put on their basic human rights and this was causing a lot of dissension in Russia. However, the government did not like this and began to arrest and imprison those who spoke out for human rights and claimed these activists were participating in treason against the government. After some time, a large group of Russian citizens who wanted better human rights policies signed and smuggled to the West a document called Charter 77. When the Soviet government found out about this Charter, the KGB was sent to find and arrest all who signed and/or helped in the creation and smuggling of Charter 77. However, the West was using this document and the information being sent by those in Russia in the media to help fuel the flame of activism that the American citizens were feeling toward Soviet human rights. Protests broke out advocating for human rights in the Soviet Union and the Helsinki Watch was started. This was America's way of looking out for violations of human rights in Russia and helping those who have been punished for speaking out against the Russian government. It may seem as though the US was sticking its nose into someone else's business, but just because they were in Detente does not mean the negativity toward communism had simply vanished in the US. These human rights issues simply gave America another reason to act out toward Russia and rekindle the tension between the two nations. My question for you all is do you think America (and Russia) handled the situation well? What could they have done differently?

Watergate

This Friday, we finished the Watergate worksheet/documentary in class. The Watergate scandal ultimately led to the downfall of President Nixon. The the thing is, was President Nixon really involved in the scandal? If he didn't have resigned, should he have been impeached? I think that, although Nixon wasn't directly involved in the scandal himself, he should have been impeached for everything he did afterwards. After the the crooks were caught after they breached the Democrat offices, Nixon began to do everything he could to keep the people involved from confessing and keeping up the cover-up. He paid people hush money which is obstruction of justice. When the government began to look more closely into the case and discovered that Nixon had something that they needed from it, the tapes, Nixon continued to refuse to hand over the tapes to Congress which is contempt of Congress. And when he did finally hand over the tapes, they had "lost" 2 and "accidentally" erased part of a 3rd tape. Everything Nixon did to keep his cover up during the investigation of the Watergate scandal seemed to be against the laws. Nixon did obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. When the bigger pictures is seen, although Nixon wasn't directly involved in the scandal, everything he did afterwards, from the lying and abuse, should have gotten him impeached. What do you guys think? Do you think Nixon should be impeached if he didn't resign?

Documentary of the Watergate Scandal

Today we took notes on the Watergate scandal and witnessed how it escalated quickly to ending the Presidency of President Nixon. From the video and notes that I have seen and taken, I believe that it was wrong for Nixon to have hidden such important evidence from the jury, such as the tapes. By hiding the tapes Nixon made himself more suspicious, causing a lot of controversy with the American people, making them believe that he was hiding something. Some suspicious things that Nixon did was firing many of his people that worked for him or letting them go for a time off, Nixon had also ordered a reporter to write a report on him, saying that President Nixon himself, had absolutely nothing to do with the Watergate scandal. As the scandal got bigger, many who were involved in the scandal would order money from the White House in order to keep quiet from saying anything, this money was know as "hush money." Before the end of Nixon's Presidency the jury ordered for Nixon to give up the tapes, and after receiving the tapes what seemed odd from the them was that two apparently did not exist, and some had a few minutes deleted from them. From the tapes they later discovered from a conversation with Nixon and his men that Nixon ordered to asked for the FBI to forget all about the Watergate Scandal in order to get away with it, Nixon would've gotten in a huge mess for lying to the FBI, except that a few days later Nixon had ended his Presidency.

Notes on: Johnson, Nixon, Detente and Vietnam

Today in class we took Notes on Johnson, Nixon, Detente and Vietnam, below are some interesting and important notes that I took:

• Continued policies largely consistent with other presidents (Containment, Truman Doctrine, Domino Theory, Regional Defense Pacts)
• Fear of “Soft on Communism”
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on 1964
• "Rolling Thunder”
• Escalation
• Pacification: “Search and Destroy”
• Attrition: Body Counts: Favorable Kill Ratios
• “Winning Hearts and Minds” Relocation Strategy
• Limited War: Attrition

Vietnam and Nixon:

• "Peace with Honor"
• Vietnamization and with drawl of major US combat forces
• Cambodia and Laos in 1970
• Mining of Haiphong Harbor
• Intensified bombing campaign such as Christmas Bombing 1972
• Paris Accords (January 1973)

Vietnam Legacy:

• War between Vietnam and Cambodia  broke out in 1978, border skirmishes with China in 1978 through 1970
• US cost of deaths: 58,000
• KIA: 300,000 wounded
• With 150 billion in dollars

Detente:

• Nixon and China ping pong to Mao
• SALT was on 1972
• Wars by Proxy
• The Middle East: Six Day War and the Yom Kipper War 

The differences of the US and USSR

The US and USSR obviously have very different ideas and beliefs when it comes to government and basically everything else. Although they have major differences, for a while, they still seemed to be able to get along well enough to figure out some sort of agreement to get along better or detente. But eventually their differences get in the way of their agreements and begin making it hard for the US and USSR to have a better relationship. Their beliefs were just too different. For example, Americans are all about human rights and the protection of human rights. But to the Soviets, human rights are a foreign idea, they don't understand it and don't believe in it. So when the US government tried to get the USSR to sign something that involved giving citizens basic human rights, the USSR didn't really understand it and didn't want to accept it, stopping them from detente. The same idea happened with immigration. The US thought that the Soviet Union should allow people to immigrate wherever they pleased, but the Soviet Union didn't understand their viewpoint, creating tension between the 2 countries again.

Nixon's Resignation

Today in class we continued our "Detente" worksheet, we also finished watching a video which involved with President Nixon resigning from his Presidency only because he was accused of stealing something having to do with the Watergate scandal. With the Watergate scandal it cost a lot of controversy between Nixon and the country, causing Nixon to loose most of his political support, later leading to his resignation on August 9, 1974. When the Soviet Union heard about this scandal they were surprised because of the fact that stealing between the Soviets was a normal act, and finding out that just because of a minor "rumor" America had gotten rid of their President seemed kind of silly t them. After Nixon resigned, Vice President Gerald Rudolph Ford took over the office.

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Detente

Today we watched a video which discussed the topic detente. Detente means relaxation in French which is what the USSR and the US wanted to do. During this period the USSR was focusing on avoiding war and having a constructive relationship with the US. The US was focusing on Vietnamization (trying to get the Vietnamese to fight their own war) and was hoping that they could work something out with the USSR so they don't have to worry about Vietnam anymore. It was during the Moscow Summit of 1972 that laid down the foundations of detente for the US and USSR and began the SALT talks.

Ending involvement with Vietnam

Today in class we worked on the "Detente" worksheet, during this period in the United States Nixon had recently been elected for President. His reputation was very strong towards the Americans and as a communist no one viewed him as a weak President, giving the people of America hope that he would be strong enough to pull America from war in a way that they wouldn't get defeated. Instead of having a victory and a defeat, they would end war in a very peaceful way with Vietnam. While trying to end their involvement with Vietnam President Nixon gave a speech to the people who did not protest and did not cause trouble to the Gov. calling it the "Silent Majority" speech. With this speech Nixon hoped to gain support from the American people in order to end war faster.

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World War Two

Here is a summary of last weeks notes:

Tensions early cold war:

communism vs. capitalism, ideals are against each other

Situation in Europe:

-controlled by soviet union

-Europe is still recovering from war

Situation in asia:

-japan is occupied by the U.S since 1945

-korea split into two halves: north korea occupied by the USSR and south korea occupied by the US

-United states in a unique position, better than it was before it started ww2 unlike all other nations

United Nations:

-promote peace

-promote security

-promote human rights

-provide humanitarian assistance

-promote social development

-promote economic development

-promote cooperation and collective action amongst members

Marshall Plan:

-huge aid program to western europe and funded by the U.S. it is to help them recover from the war and keep faith in democracy and capitalism.

Berlin Airlift:

-Stalin wanted to drive the west out of west berlin, cut off the west

-the west began to airlift in supplies

-U.S. won

NATO:

-a take on one, is an attack on all

-defensive alliance

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World War Two Term Paper

As many of you are hopefully aware, we have a major paper worth 100 points due Friday, March 6th:

Last Friday the 13th, each student chose a question that they are going to explore. With the question they chose, their paper should demonstrate completeness of the assignment, critical thinking, advanced writing, and a complex understanding of the topic you are writing about.

Requirements:
1. You must use a minimum of six sources for this paper:
-You must use a minimum of two primary resources
-Four scholarly websites, drawn from the school database
-MLA Format

Post-Break Refresher: Naval Warfare in the Pacific.

Attention Students!

I know it's been a while since we've had class, so I'd like to refresh your brains with what we learned the week prior to break. Our main focus was WWII, specifically: America's involvement in the Pacific. This fighting was against the Japanese, who sought recourses in the pacific islands. America wouldn't have any of that. After the successful, yet disputably unsuccessful, attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan gave America a huge reason to join the second World War. In case you were wondering, there is not a lot of ground for cars and soldiers between the west coast of America and Japan. In fact, its almost all water. Because of this, the two countries relied completely on battle at sea. Fortunately, the invention of the Aircraft Carrier allowed for more destructive warfare. These enormous vessels were floating runways equipped with state of the art aircraft, guns, technology, and men. The country with the greatest fleet of aircraft carriers would win the wars in the pacific. The battle of Midway was arguably one of the most devastating loses for the Japanese. Japan had plans to lure America's navy into a trap, and at the same time occupy the island of Mid-Way for its recourses. America saw right through this. An ambush on Japans aircraft carriers would leave Japan's train of thought in ruins. Losing almost all of their aircraft carriers, 300 planes, and 2500 men and officers, Japan was unable to capture Mid-Way and unable to maintain the upper hand on America for the rest of the war. I hope this helps you refresh your mind on what we talked about, this was just a small battle of a larger war that occurred in the Pacific.

Some Articles on Recently Deceased Veterans of WWII

If of interest!

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-ken-moore-20141225-story.html

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-leon-kent-20150219-story.html

And this guy is actually from the D-Day Documentary...

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-richard-hottelet-20141218-story.html#page=1

The Atomic Bomb

Today, we finished watching "Victory in the Pacific".  This section of the focused on the final months of the war, when the United States liberated the Phillipines, won at Iwo Jima, and the bombings of Hioshima and Nagasaki.  There was much conflict over whether or not the U.S. should have used the atomic bomb.  Some argued that the United States should have had a demonstration of the bomb, giving the Japanese an opportunity to surrender before thousands of civilians died.  This idea was viewed as impractical, and the prospect of a demonstration was shut down.  Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki was bombed 3 days later.  In the documentary, a Japanese veteran was interviewed, and he stated that he was not angry at the United States for using he bomb because he knew that if Germany or Japan had invented it first, they would have used it.  Many people believe that the bomb saved many lives because it meant that the United States would not have to invade Japan, an invasion that would result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of men.  Do you think that the United States was correct in their decision to use their atomic bombs?

"Victory in the Pacific"

Today we continued watching "Victory in the Pacific".  The portion of the documentary we watched today focused on Tarawa and Saipan.  Tarawa was a disaster for the United States Marines.  The military reconnaissance they had gathered was inaccurate, and because of this, when they were landing on the island, it was low tide.  The soldiers had to get out of the boats at a coral reef and wade in chest deep water for a quarter mile to reach the shore.  All while doing this, they were being fired at by machine guns.  Over the course of the battle, 1100 marines died.  The United States learned a hard lesson from Tarawa, that it was imperative that they had detailed plans and extensive, accurate reconnaissance before an invasion.  On the island of Tarawa, there were 5000 Japanese troops.  Out of these 5000, only 17 Japanese were taken prisoner because the rest had either died in combat or committed suicide.  This was another reality shock for the Americans-the Japanese were going to fight to the death or die with dignity rather than being taken prisoner.  At a later battle, taking place on Saipan, only a couple hundred of the 40,000 Japanese inhabitants of the island survived.  This is not all due to the United States marines, civilians and soldiers alike committed suicide by jumping off the cliffs of the island instead of surrendering.  This was a shock to US soldiers, and the Japanese hoped that the suicides of Japanese women, children, men, and soldiers would scare the US enough to have them stop advancing towards Japan.  Do you think that the war would have been different if the Japanese had surrendered instead of committing suicide?

War in the Pacific

Today in class we started watching a movie about the fighting that occurred in the Pacific during World War II.  After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese army took control over the vast majority of the Pacific.  In the Philippines, roughly 70,000 Americans and Filipinos were taken prisoner, forced to march to prison camps.  This march was known as the "March of Death" because the Japanese would torture and kill some of the prisoners because the camps they had were not big enough for all 70,000 people.  Conditions in Japanese prisoner of war camps were far more difficult than German camps.  The Japanese were better than the American soldiers initially because they had more experience in war because of their fight against China, they were better trained, and because of their idea of death before surrender.  This relates back to Samarai codes, and even though everyone fighitng in WWII was fighting until their death, the Japanese took this more seriously because of the honor and dignity that came with dying in battle and the humility and shame that came with surrender.

Home Front 1941-45

      On Friday in class we watched a documentary called "Home Front 1941-45".  It talked about the American involvement in the war.  Roosevelt put together a draft and 15 million men ended up registering for the military.  The only problem with this number of men was that it would be hard to train all of them to fight against the well oiled armies of Germany.  

     The impression of Roosevelt at the time was a positive one.  He would be on the radio all the time talking to the people about the war.  The people felt close to him and regarded him as a beacon of hope.  He had the capacity to inspire and moving the citizens with only words.  The documentary then talked about the role of production in America.  At the time, the US was the mightiest production center on earth.  Every month they put out 4000 tanks and 4500 planes. Factories were working 24 hours a day, and in 9 months, the entire automobile industry shifted to producing war materials. Usually it took 1 year to produce a ship, but now it took just 17 days. This production got the country out of the Great Depression because of its boost to the economy. Since a lot  of the men were not home because they were at war, the women worked at the factories.  This changed the role of women in society forever.  

Since the Japanese had bombed pearl harbor, there was a lot of anti-Japanese propaganda showing them torturing the Chinese.  120,000 Japanese americans were sent to prison camps in the middle of the country.  This was knows as Executive Order 9066.  Most people nowadays call this one of the worst civil rights violation in the history of the United States.

US Position

Today we talked the United States' position on the developing conflict with Germany that eventually lead up to WWII.  The US declared themselves neutral as conflict starting happening and so had to follow the Neutrality Acts, meaning that they couldn't trade with anyone in war.  Even though the US was "neutral" roosevelt wrote a letter to Hitler and Mussolini asking them to stop taking over so many countries.  This did nothing to stop them.  Afterwards, Roosevelt asked for money for defensive measures to be made, but he was limited on how he could help the allies because the neutrality acts restricted trade.  In addition there wasn't enough support from the people to join the war.  This changed slightly when Germany invaded Poland.  Congress amended the neutrality acts by saying that other countries in war could trade with the US if they paid in cash and came to America.  This wasn't very helpful though because it was hard for them to come all the way there.  Finally when France fell to Germany, Roosevelt made more anti-neutrality actions.  Congress passed a National Defense Tax Bill which raised 49 billion dollars for the war effort.  Then the US directly traded with Britain, breaking the neutrality acts, and also made a draft.  16 million men were registered in the draft and Roosevelt started talking about war strategies.

"Over the Edge"

Today we finished watching "Over the Edge".  This video is about the leading up to WWII.  It started out talking about the use of the Summer Olympics by the Germans.  With everyone watching their country, they tried to project an image of the new German, one who was successful and proud.  The only problem that Hitler encountered throughout the olympics was the winning of a black runner from America.  When he won, Hitler got up and left the arena.  This was because of his strong anti - semitism.  In Germany at the time, Hitler was using mass media to brainwash the people of Germany into thinking that Germany was a great place and that they should follow him and his ideas.  He did this by putting radios everywhere even in the streets so everyone would hear what was being broadcasted.  In 1938 Hitler was threatening to take over Czechoslovakia.  Chamberlin, the British prime minister, flew to Germany to have a meeting with Hitler.  He ended up making a deal with him that after Czech, he couldn't take over any other areas.  Chamberlin was celebrated greatly because of this since nobody wanted anther war.  But Hitler didn't carry through with this agreement.  Even so, other countries didn't take any military actions soon after because nobody wanted another war just 20 years after WWI.  So they kept giving Hitler what he wanted.  Eventually, war seemed inevitable. Soon after the people of America started to realize how big of a problem the anti-Jew attitude had become.  One Jewish boy shot a German official, and as a result the people of Germany lit on fire dozens of synagogues in Germany.  It was sort of like a wake up call to Americans, but it still wasn't motivation enough to get directly involved.  Though, America did lend and lease arms to the countries fighting Germany.  There was an incident the movie talked about where a ship called the Sy. Louis, filled with Jewish Germans, landed in America, but Roosevelt didn't let them come into America because he didn't want to spend money and time on them when he had bigger issues to deal with.  As a result they had to go back to Europe and 600 out of 900 were killed.   Finally, America made a peace time draft and started training soldiers to fight.  At the time though America's military was very weak and didn't have that much money so they trained with wooden guns and fake tanks. And that was where the documentary ended.  Do you think that the European nations should have appeased Hitler so much, or should they have taken military action?

Stormy Weather Video Continued

           On Friday, we finished watching the rest of video of the stormy weather. In the video there was a man named Huey Long and he was a demagogue. He was a man who believed that for people to be able to be equal they had to have the same amount of money, His idea was that he was going to get money from the rich people and give the poor an amount of 5000 dollars each month so that they could buy a house, car, food and clothes. But the thing was that even if he wanted to give poor people the money that he got from the rich was impossible because poor people would only be getting about 400 dollars. There wasn't enough money for everyone to have 5000 dollars a month. President Roosevelt didn't like Huey Long because he thought that he was a threat because he thought that his job as a president was going to go away because he thought that people were going to vote for Huey Long for president. Then president Roosevelt started to change the American Perception about the role of government by giving people jobs and he made people think that that was a revolutionary era. When Roosevelt decided to run for president again he won by 583 to 8 people. Every state voted for him except one and he got 60 percent of the votes. Not only in America was there depression going on, almost every country was going through a depression too, especially Germany but Hitler has promised people jobs and that made Germany escape the Depression. The jobs that he gave the Germans were making weapons for World War 2 but the Germans didn't know.

Great Depression; The stormy weather

      Today, in class we watched a video named "1929-1936: Stormy Weather". The video was about what was happening during the depression. America lost a lot of its money. There was an army named bonus army and they were a group of people who were promised extra money but when they wanted their money, America wasn't able to pay them because they were running out of money. The depression wasn't only in America but it was all around the world. Depression didn't just hit people with money, it hit everyone even ordinary people. In the video the person who was talking said "more people with less money". That was true because people had to sell everything they had to pay bills and get money for food. There was refugees where they gave them food like soup. Thousands of people went and they got soup and others had too much pride that they didn't get free soup. With the bank failing, 9 million peoples saving were gone. The bank crushed hundred thousands of peoples lives and people had to sell items they had. People started to blame themselves for the depression because as a person they thought that they failed to America and that was what started the depression. Some people were really scared to end up in the streets and so they started to move to California for more opportunities. Even though America was in depression, they still did things to be entertained and forget the depression that they were experiencing, they made theater where you only paid 15 cents to watch movies for 6-7 hours. They also did jazz dance and swing dance competitions to see who could last the longest dancing and at the end they would win a prize. Also they listened to people on the radio tell funny stories. As time passed, there was a person running for president, Roosevelt was the one that was running for president. He promised people that everything would get better if they made him president. He said that he would get jobs for people, rescue banks, and help farmers. He called this the 3 R's: rescue, reform, and recovery. In the second part of class we went online and saw acts and laws that were passed during the time that Roosevelt was president with the 3 R's.

Connections to the Great Depression

         Today in class we put in a Google document what we recorded examples from our articles that fit in the appropriate category. The categories were lack of economic diversity, income inequality, credit structure of economy, and international trade and debt. We discussed why some of the examples from our articles were the same but they were in different categories. In my group we discussed the income inequalities and how they affected people. We also discussed solutions to what we could do to fix these causes of causes that happened in the great depression. I heard a person say that for maldistribution of money, the bank could collect all the money from everyone and then distribute them to everyone equally but then that wouldn't be fair to the wealthier people. I researched the maldistibution of money today because from 1979 and 200, there was a very big gap in between the wealthier and the poor. I saw that this wont really change ever because if your born into a low income family then your most likely to be a low income person in the future because people don't usually get rich in one day.