No Japan-Ease

            With the recent earthquake and consequent tsunami in Japan, then with nuclear plants exploding there has been little rest in Japan. In a CNN article on Japan it may be that a reactor core is leaking its radioactive contents. This is very worrisome not only for the Japanese but for those who import their crops. If Japanese water and food have Iodine-131 and Cesium-137 (the radioactive elements) then everything else might too. Not only that but some of the Iodine-131 and Cesium-137 has reached Colorado and Oregon but "thus far -- 'are far below levels of concern'" (http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/23/colorado.oregon.radiation/index.html).
            However I think this begs the question that, if Japan is such a small island and is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis, why did they build nuclear plants? When dealing with highly radioactive material you can't take the conventional means of building a strong plant/storage unit and say "that's good enough" because something will eventually knock it down or damage it in some way. With radioactive elements good, probably isn't good enough.

New Religious Movements

                New religious movements are often called labeled cults. The media often portrays these groups in a negative light and/or publishes a story about a mass suicide. Perhaps the most famous mass suicide is the one led by Jim Jones of the People's Temple. Jones created a new "world" in the island of Guyana called Jonestown. When some members left they reported physical and mental abuse. With that, a Congressman named Lo Ryan went to Guyana and while he was leaving he and four others were shot down. After, Jones ordered the suicide.
              With Jones' charisma and his absolute power as the leader of the group, his disciples obeyed. He ordered this suicide because he was convinced American troops were coming for them because of the Congressman. 914 people were killed in the suicide. The members drank a liquid laced with cyanide but those who tried to escape were shot.
               If the media constantly portrays these religious groups negatively then that might push the decline of religion in America even faster. Really, I think the ratio between benign religious groups and fanatical ones is 2-1 because the only groups that garner mass media coverage are the fanatical religious groups. Would these fanatical groups scare people away from religion or good?


 

No fly zone

              Today in the news on the CNN channel the reporter was talking about how Qaddafi's compound was bombed. In one part of the building there are two circular holes which are speculated to be from some kind of missile. 

              America has already invaded the Libyan air space to  enforce a no fly zone. America and its allies invaded with the view that it was a strategic move protect the civilian population in Libya. Again the U.S. is taking things into their own hands in an international cause. However, in this case we don't know the far reaching consequences which could lead the U.S. to a prolonged stay in Libya or if resistance will surface from Libya or surrounding countries. 

              Invading Libya could almost be seen as a declaration of war because we have bombed military locations and the act of invading could be viewed the same way. Without knowing the consequences of our actions, this might prove to be another Iraq-like war. 

To Fight Terror With Terror

             If the U.S. has pledged itself, or at least quite a few of our presidents have sworn, to fight terrorism wherever it is then shouldn't we also focus on our home? There are few reports of home terrorism but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Not only that but to fight terrorism elsewhere the U.S. has used very brutal methods in return. Can't that be considered terrorism as well?
            Using probable cause as justification for incarcerating many people and some suspected terrorists the american government put them in Guantanamo Bay Prison. There they suffered various acts of torture by U.S. soldiers and guards. In a segment of a book I read by Noam Chomsky called Hopes and Prospects said that (I'm paraphrasing here) the torturers where supposed to find a connection between the suspected terrorists and a terrorist organization, and the less they came up with the more they needed to find that non-existent connection.
            In fact the government has tried to justify their use of torture with the Torture Memos which provide arguments for the use of torture. America has, even if not openly, committed war crimes and suppressed its own citizens with laws that restrict civil liberties such as the Patriot Act of 2006. If the United States commits itself to a war on terror ti should use different methods than those of the terrorists themselves because then what is America? Does the end justify the means?

Reconstruction Again and Again

            So first comes Reconstruction after the Civil War where they had to rebuild the country. President Andrew Johnson instituted the Black Codes which gave blacks the right to own property and legalized marriage; and the government created the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth Amendments which emancipated slaves, stated citizenship rights, and gave everyone the right to vote, respectively. But the country also had to keep up the economy, just like the present.
           Today we are only just beginning to pull out of the 2008 recession. The government is still carrying out the plans it made like the stimulus package which helped create jobs, provided bailouts to major companies, and cut payroll taxes. It also extended unemployment insurance, reduced taxes, modified mortgages to help save homes. Those weren't the only steps to revitalize the country because the Federal Reserve created historically low interest rates, emergency funds for financial institutions (like banks), and also guaranteed bank deposits.
            These "reconstructions" are very similar because the government helped pave the way to a better society. However, that does not mean that the people never had to help out. They saying "you have to spend some to make some" is really very relevant because, if you only use the money that you have it won't make much of a difference because you are already financially troubled.
            From the past we have the ability of hindsight so we can learn from mistakes made and try to correct it, such as the Reconstruction we have done in AIS. By learning what sort of ideas worked it could help all that much more in the future.

Libya's Reconstruction

            So we all know about the recent trouble in Libya. The people against the government, nothing we haven't heard of before. However, this situation is much like the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. People are fighting for their rights and they don't want to live in fear anymore. This is what the African Americans probably felt about their situation. In both cases even though violence awaited them in some form, they did not back down. The people had waited too long for something to change, and now they are making that change come from their own hands.
            "Snipers from Libya's government forces fired on mourners attending a funeral for slain protesters Saturday, killing at least 15 people" (http://www.libya-watanona.com/). Under Gaddafi's rule the people of Libya have suffered many violations of constitutional rights. Their constitution guarantees that peaceful gatherings or protests will be allowed to assemble. Yet the government open-fires on those who are attending a funeral. That doesn't sound violent enough to warrant gunfire on the mourners.
             The people of Libya, should they succeed in ousting Gaddafi from power will have to make revisions to the law and perhaps in other aspects like their constitution, etc. After the Civil War the United States certainly did.

            But hopefully the ending will be different because even though blacks were granted equality under the law, they really weren't treated equally until the civil rights movement 100 years later. I hope they resolve this conflict and reunite as a whole nation soon.

Everything in its Place

           It's funny how much people are used to labeling things immediately. I've been watching a T.V. show and even then the characters label others in various ways. Even in AIS one of our teachers showed  a sort of political scale, where radicals were on the far left and reactionaries on the far right.
           Is it really that simple? I think it's a bit more complicated because there may be people who are very radical on only one issue and that shouldn't define that person right away. People want to have a neat little cubby to tuck everything in to. But what happens when they can't?
          Humans, it seems, have always labeled, such as in the South before the Civil War when slavery was the southern way of life. There was a very clear hierarchy and for those that made money from it, that was how it was always going to be and they liked it. But, then along come the Civil War and and everyone's place in their cubbies were rearranged and thrown out.
          If people didn't label the world how would things be defined, made sense of? But immediately defining people, ideas, objects really only relates its first impression, not its whole being. The world is too complex to tuck away neatly with a nice, simple label.