June 2012
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Assignment #20!
PART 1: Freshman Year a) b) A major news story I remember from freshman year is Obama running for president! During voting, I worked at a calling center making phone calls reminding people to vote. Also during spirit week, there was U.S.A. day and my friends and I painted american flags and letters on our shirts and spelled out Obama ‘08! c) I learned a lot about globalization in...
May 2012
3 posts
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Assignment #19
1. Obama says that interest rates are set to double, meaning that hard working students will be paying about $1,000 extra to get their education. He says that now is not the time to make school more expensive for young people and that interest rates need to go down. I completely agree with Obama. I think that students are working so hard already in school and jobs and are having to stress about...
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KQED TWITTER
@AHA_phoebe
Really cool assignment! Although I agree with Emi, it is pretty hard to write responses with such a limit on how many characters we can use, especially when tagging KQED uses so many already!
April 2012
5 posts
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Assignment #18
1. The Federal Reserve System (the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States.
2. The Fed was created by the United States Congress on December 23, 1913. It was created because the United States lacked any formal organization for studying and implementing monetary policy. Because of this markets were often unstable and the public had very little faith in the banking system.
...
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Assignment #17
My initial thoughts are stress and fear. I don’t have any credit cards, but I have a debit card. With a debit card I can only spend what money I have in my bank, which although maybe it feels easy to spend, I can’t get in debt. I want credit cards, so that I can make big purchases and learn about credit and one day be able to buy a house, etc, but after reading these alarming...
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Extra Credit
1.The average income in the United States right now is $41,663. 2. That comes out to $3,471.91667 per month. 3. I think that as a single person you could live “comfortably” on this, but as a family it would be much harder. When you have a family, you have other people you have to support therefore you need more money. But, in a family usually there is another person working and...
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Analyzing your Facebookishness
a) 674 facebook friends b) 402 friends c) 276 acquaintances d) 9 family members e) 13 friends of friends f) 2 i’ve never met
I think if I shot portraits of all my facebook friends there would be a lot of high school students, specifically kids from Berkeley High and a lot of college students because of my sister’s friends. Then there would be some older people, most of which are...
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Assignment #16
1. ”Well, $500,000 a Year Might Sound Like a Lot, but I’m Hardly Rich.”
2. “‘Sure, it’s an objectively large sum of money,’ they say. ‘But it is far smaller after I spend it.’”
3. ”Come on, we’re all in this together! It’s not like I have infinite money.”
4. My thoughts are that this is complete bullshit. They are...
March 2012
9 posts
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Assignment #15 Part c
1. -One in four Americans ages 16 to 19 were unemployed in February.
-The teen jobless rate climbed from 23.2 to 23.8 percent.
-According to a 1995 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, high school seniors employed 20 hours per week were, 6 to 9 years later, expected to earn approximately 11 percent more annually than their counterparts who did not work.
-The February...
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Assignment #15 Part b
1. The economic situation in Panem is unusual because despite its post-apocalyptic condition, it is quite technologically advanced. “It has high-speed trains, hovercrafts, extraordinary genetic engineering capabilities, and the ability to create extremely advanced weapons.” Still, with all of this, it is a society of tremendous economic inequality, with deprivation and famine.
...
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Assignment #15 Part a
-We use 20% of the world’s oil, even if we drilled every square inch of this country we’d still on have 2% or 3% of the world’s oil reserves.
-Prices are rising now because a major oil supplier is the Middle East, and the oil comes through Iran. With growing tensions, Iran could stop our supply, and prices would soar. Because of this, investors are buying up oil to profit off...
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March Madness Extra Credit
-Host cities for NCAA tournament expected to gain.. “$40 [million] to $80 million of economic impact during tournament week” through local businesses.
-Large groups of people rent hotels and hopefully spend money in the city.
-Some people are discouraged from visiting host cities during March Madness because they want to avoid crowds.
-There’s a bad effect on the economy when people take...
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Assignment #14b
Romney:
1. Ann Romney’s comment reminds me of when Mitt Romney said “[He’s] not concerned about the very poor.” Similar to his comment, it makes her seem ridiculous and ignorant.
2. I don’t think that the Romney’s are being unfairly treated. Although it may be out of context, the Romney’s need to be aware of their status and watch what they...
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Assignment #13a
Dunsmore’s thesis is that many Republicans are using logical fallcies such as straw man and cum hoc ergo propter hoc in order to make it appear that Obama is responsible for the high prices of gas. I agree with Dunsmore that is isn’t Obamas fault and people are just looking for someone to blame because of the reasons stated in the article. I think gas is ridiculously and unfairly...
February 2012
4 posts
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Assignment #12
As the article said, they have been working on a cheaper mixture of metals since 2010. But, if this is going to take years more research, meaning time and money, is it worth it? If it is then I think they should continue researching and eventually make nickels and pennies with the new metals, if not then they should eliminate pennies and nickels. With all the problems in the economy today, we...
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Trickle Down Economics
Trickle down economics refers to the idea that tax breaks or other economic benefits provided by the government to businesses and the wealthy will benefit poorer members of society by improving the economy as a whole. So in summary, investing money in big businesses will in turn make the economy better for everyone.
I think the people in the photo are Reagan, George H.W., Jim Baker, David Gergen,...
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Assignment #11
Romney is trying to find excuses for what he said. Although it may have been out of context, when in context it is ridiculous too. Romney is running for president, he should always be aware of what he’s saying and how it can be interpreted, that is part of the job, making excuses does not cut it.
Romney’s net worth is 202 Million and Gingrich’s net worth is 6.7 Million.
...
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January 2012
6 posts
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Assignment #10, Part A
1.“It’s like having an armed camp, a condition of constant fear.” (p.128/p.24) This quote is showing how Hunter S. Thompson compares the town to an armed camp. How he lives in fear because of dangers around him.
“After only ten days in this town I have noticed the Fear Syndrome clouding even my own mind: I find myself ignoring black hitchhikers, and every time I do it...
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Rick Santorum says college is bad… because Obama...
I agree with the bias of the article, I think that Santorum took Obama’s words and completely misunderstood or twisted them. I don’t think every kid should go to college, it’s not right for everyone, but I do think it’s a good thing to want every kid to have knowledge and be prepared and able to by the time they graduate high school. I think it’s great that Obama...
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Finnish Schools V. American Schools Extra Credit
1. Differences between Finnish schools and American schools:
According to the PISA survey, Finland has ranked at or near the top in all three competencies whereas America has ranked in the middle, at best.
There are no private schools or Universities in Finland whereas America has many.
Finland has no standardized tests (with the exception of the National Matriculation Exam), whereas America...
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Political Party Extra Credit-Objectivist Party...
Dr. Tom Stevens formed the Objectivist Party on February 2, 2008. The Objectivist Party seeks to promote Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism in the political realm. The party is very similar to the Libertarian Party regarding beliefs. The date to form this party was chosen based on Ayn Rand’s birthday. The Governing Board of the Objectivist Party currently consists of: Dr. Tom...
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Extra Credit
1. A crony capitalist is when a person chooses to put their friends in influential or powerful positions such as positions within major corporations.
2. Romney accuses Obama of unethically funneling government money to energy firms so they would support his campaign. He also accused Obama of stacking the board with “union stooges.”
3. I don’t think I can really say if I...
December 2011
3 posts
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"Newt Gingrich Thinks School Children Should Work...
My attitude is pretty similar to that of the person who wrote the article. Gingrich is ridiculous. First off, Gingrich’s comment that child labor laws should change so that poor kids can work as janitors in schools is absolutely dumb. He is overlooking so many facts in this comment and it is scary to see someone who is running for president say such mindless things.
As the article said,...
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Current individuals seeking the Republican...
Michele Bachmann, 55 Stillwater, Minnesota Known for her conservative Tea Party politics
Newt Gingrich, 68 McLean, Virginia Known for his position as the head of the anti-Clinton Republican wave in 1994.
Jon Huntsman, 51 Salt Lake City, Utah Known for being a center-right conservative.
Gary E. Johnson, 58 Taos, New Mexico Known for being the former governor of New Mexico.
Ron Paul, 76...
November 2011
11 posts
2 tags
I chose Johnnie Lee Savory. When searching for information about the crime he was accused of, not much came up. What I found was that he was accused of the murder of his friend and friend’s sister when he was fourteen years old in 1977. Savory has been in prison since then, and apparently, can be proved innocent by a DNA test yet they are not allowing this....
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Hillside Stranglers
Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr are referred to as the Hillside Stranglers. From 1977 to 1978 in the hills above LA, they would pose as police officers, lure women of all ages to them and then kidnap, rape, torture and kill them. Bianchi was born May 22, 1951 in New York. His biological mother was an alcoholic prostitute so he was put up for adoption. The Bianchi couple...
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Tumblr #7 Part 1
-The Black males group is at least two times more than any other group (which is crazy!)
-The fact that the data has stayed so similar from 2000 until 2007 is strange
-Although women have a way smaller percentage, for men it goes black, hispanic and then white least and it does the same for women.
-It is incredibly racially biased, and it is obvious even from glancing at the graph.
-There is...
Occupy Extra Credit
Caroline and I went to Occupy Berkeley. We went to the information table and asked the person there if we could interview him for our government class. He seemed eager to be interviewed but when we asked questions he gave us short, vague answers. His name is Charlie, he is from New Port, Rhode Island. He didn’t reply when we asked what his job was, but said his job now is being at Occupy. He...
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Bobby V. Dixon
1. Dixon appealed to the USSC.
2. Two men, Dixon and Hoffner, murdered Hammer in order to steal his car and sell it. Dixon first was arrested for forgery, then after further investigation, was convicted of murder, kidnapping, robbery and forgery, and was sentenced to death.
3. Dixon’s sixth amendment was violated because the police/detectives continued to interrogate him even after he...
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Current Supreme Court Justices
1. John G. Roberts, age 56, Buffalo, New York. Appointed by George W. Bush. Received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1976 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979.
2. Antonin Scalia, age 75, Trenton, New Jersey.
Appointed by Reagan.
First Justice to take both oaths from different Chief Justices.
3. Anthony M. Kennedy, age 75, Sacramento, California.
Appointed by Reagan.
He was in private...
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Occupy Protests: There's an app for that...
a) I think the use of technology in political movements is effective and rewarding. It has low (or no) costs, is quick, is accessible and overall can gather a group, get a message across or anything of that sort in seconds and to a vast amount of people. Because of technology, many political movements are more successful because more people are exposed to them and have access to information about...
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Assignment 5, Part 1: Swarm
A swarm is created through a blog, forum or something of that sort and can bring together thousands of people with a common goal in mere seconds. In the swarm, people inspire each other and are all equal, the founder of the swarm isn’t the only one with major influence. If a person is going to do something, they can simply post their idea and opinion and say, “Who’s with...
October 2011
19 posts
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Loony Laws
In California, no vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 miles per hour. This law seems especially ridiculous because if there is no driver the car should’t be moving at all, but my assumption is that someone jumped out of their car and it was speeding and caused an accident. Someone either got hurt by the accident or mad about it and made this law.
Also in California, women may not drive...
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Declaration of the Occupation of New York Vs....
In the Declaration of the Occupation of New York, there is no response to complaints. They explain the rationale for separation, “…so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.” They explain the new government, “…we acknowledge the reality…” They have a long list of complaints, “They have...
