Littlebowl87’s Weblog

After reading the article, “An Internet Jihad Aims at U.S. Viewers”, from The New York Times it was very disturbing to me. I mean I know things like this are going on all the time, but this story goes into the harsh details and it’s just awful! For these Al Qaeda followers to post all these blogs and videos about hating on Americans and that the only way to go is to follow the Al Qaeda is absolutely insane. Samir Khan states, “I will do my best to speak the truth, and even if it annoys the disbelievers, the truth must be preached.” and what truth is this? That blowing up things and people is the only ultimate way to solve all their problems? Because that seems a little too extreme in my book. But thats what this guy is, an extremist. Why aren’t these guys being taken down or something? I mean they are a posing threat to this country and asking others to join them in chaos. What the hell is wrong with these people? SHUT THEM DOWN!

The lady in this article is absolutely AMAZING! “In a Competative Middle School, Triage for Aches and Anxieties,” Pam Palmieri is a middle school nurse that sees about 70 to 100 students daily. There are kids aging from 11 to 12 that go to see her, all with different aches and pains leading up to the same ending result, feeling better after seeing Mrs. Palmieri and going back to class. She has all kinds of medicines for just about every sickness and disorder in her office and knows how to treat just about everything. This lady works her butt off to help these kids and she loves her job! For her to see dozens of  sick (not all of them are sick) kids daily then go home and be a mom to four more kids is just so wonderful! The only problem with her job is the parent of these children blaming her for their own mistakes. It’s not fair for her to watch over these kids as if they were her own and treat them so well, then get yelled at for helping them is unacceptable.  It was just an awesome article  to read and shows you that there are still genuine people out there.

I know that this article from The New York Times is an article evryone can relate to. “Pssst: Facts Prove No Match For Gossip,” is about the evolution of language and how gossip has a olt to do with it. Now, the article talks about an experiment that was done with 126 students. Each student was given the same amount of money and they had to give and take money to their fellow students, if a student refused to give up his money then he would save up a certain amount rather than losing money. The whole point was to see which students would say who where the bad players and why and who were the good players and why. Students stayed away from those who they heard were not giving up money and flocking to those who were giving up money. So it’s all about reputaion, the good and the bad. I know especially all through out high school majority of the stories I heard were nothing but gossip and rumors. Even today and at work there is people gossiping every where and all the time. You can’t escape it, it’s what we do, we talk. But the thing is are you going to believe what you see on your own or what you hear from others, especially hearing it from people you trust? Why do we seem to be comsumed by gossip? It’s just a bunch of words that can have meaning or cannot depending on how you view the information. Gossip is something that will never go away, unless the world ends. People can’t help but talk, especially if it’s some juicy information…

There are more than 100 people lacking dental insurance, which mean a rise in BAD teeth. “Boom Times for U.S. Dentists, But Not For Americans’ Teeth,” from The New York Times, was a very interesting article. 27% of children and 29% of adults have untreated cavities. Whats really sad is that it’s the lower to middle class society with all the dental problems. Dentist fees are raising and that puts a dent in someones wallet who does not have the money for it, so they just don’t go to the dentist. There is talk of therapists coming and preforming surgery, drilling, and teeth being removed on children since real dentist don’t want to see the children of lower class families. So the high class people get the real dentists while the lower class people get hand-me-down, less qualified dentist/therapists…oh yeah thats really fair. IT’S RIDICULOUS! ’Sorry, I just accidentally drilled the wrong tooth and sliced your kids gums’ DENTISTS SHOULD TREAT EVERYONE. But since they are so consumed by their enormous salary, dentist would rather just get the money than help someone in need. Dentists income has grown faster than inflation, and why is that? The article says that dentist tend to care more about the money than their practice and that dentist would like to help people that can’t always afford it but, money is more important. DENTISTS ARE MAKING MORE THAN DOCTORS! I think that is a little crazy becasue dentist just work on teeth, where as doctors can save your life and usually make you feel better when you are sick or injured. Why do they get to make more money? There is a problem though with this whole dentist boom, the average dentist is 49 and pretty soon they will retire, and who will take their place? No one…There are not enough dentistry schools out there to train new dentists, so what happens when the old dentists go away? They say there there is not going to be a shortage of dentists but, you never know what is gonna happen in the future.

I read the article, “Failing Schools Strain to Meet No Child Law,” in The New York Times and after reading it, I would have to say that it was actually shocking. I thought schools now a days were suppose to be more improved in the learning department, but to read that only 4 in 100 students  at Woodrow Wilson High could do grade level  math and english, that is really bad. More than 1,000 out of 9,500 schools in California are “chronic failures” and the numbers are rising. THIS IS AWFUL! What happened? There are a bunch of schools at risk for being shut down along with teachers and principal’s getting fired. No child is suppose to be left behind with this law but, children are being left behind. This law is suppose to help improve schools and take action to keep failure out, but schools are crumbling. So why is this law not being put affect to it’s full potential? If I was a parent I would be so enraged at the fact that nothing is being done to help the kids. Where is the drastic change that is needed here? Kids need hope, something to grasp, they need to grow and learn! because if they don’t what hope is left for them in the future?

After reading the aricle,”For Scholar of Race, Noose Case Draws Spotlight,” in The New York Times  it made me angry because I despise people who commit hate crimes. First off it’s cowardly and secondly it’s just plain wrong and completely uncalled for! For some one to hang that noose infront of Madonna G. Constantine’s classroom door is absolutely ridiculous! Unfortunately there were no cameras to catch who ever hung the noose. Constantine is a well respected professor on the campus of Columbia University, so many other people are just as upset. What is the college going to do to prevent possible future hate crimes aginst professor Constantine? and are they going to install cameras around her office or atleast in the hallways of that building? I really hope nothing else happens because it’s just one of the most awful things that can happen to someone.

From The New York Times an article, “Boy,14, Held in Plot to Open Fire at School,” the title is pretty self explainitory. “It could have simply been big talking by a kid who thought that he was bulied previously, and he was going to exact his revenge,” says District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. HELLO!?? This guy can’t be serious! Just ‘Big Talking’ THE KID WAS GOING TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH HIS PLAN! Right after the Clevland high school shooting there is this story…Another 14 year old boy who was picked on decided he too wanted to shoot up his middle school. Oh but this one had a plan and lots of guns to attack everyone, not like that makes it ok or anything! The only reason why he was caught is because the boy called a fellow outcast and asked him to take part in his PSYCHO plan, the other kid freaked out and alerted authorities. BUT what would have happened if this other kid decided to partake in the plan? Would the two boys have been caught before it was too late? OR would there have been another tragic accident? This is what happens when people have blinders over their eyes, people get hurt. This could happen at any school! There needs to be better security. The only problem is tighter security would limit some of the last standing freedoms for students at school. No body wants to live in fear, but is putting tighter security in schools a right choice?

After reading the aticle, ”Generation Q”, in The New York Times  I would have to agree that our generation should speak up more because if we don’t, how will problems get solved? If we don’t speak up then no one will know what we are upset about and nothing will be done to stop the problem. It’s like when Rosa Parks sat at the front of the bus, that was her taking action in what she believed was right. Sure there were a lot of upset black people having to sit at the back of the bus, but did they ever do anything about it? Parks was the one who put her foot down and stood up for what was right. So maybe we should all take a stand and do something for what we believe in instead of being upset and just talking about it. 

I have read and heard of so many stories like this one. There is lack of security at school, someone gets pissed off for being picked on, they come to school the next day trigger happy, and people get shot either ending up badly hurt or even killed. Why isn’t something being done to stop school shootings? After this type of incident has happened SO many times, why is it not getting through anyones head that there is a problem here? In this story, a 14 year old boy came to school shooting 4 people and then killing himself, all because he was suspended and people made fun of him. The high school the boy attened, Success Tech Academy in Clevland, was only for kids who have very high grades, test scores, and who have to go through an interview process to be SPECIALY CHOSEN to attend the school.   The thing is, this kid had a history of violence and was very unstable, so why was he let into this special school considering his history? AND the school has metal detectors that were not in use along with a security guard. Had the metal detectors been in use, would this terrible incident even have happened?  I just think it’s ridiculous that this type of thing keeps happening. Something totally could have been done to prevent this, so why wasn’t it prevented?

The article from the New York Times, “Immigration, Black Sheep and Rage,” frustrates me because it’s all about people not wanting to accept the fact that this world is constantly changing for everyone. An extreme right-wing party called the Swiss People Party are fighting to keep foreigners out because they feel that the foreigners are contaminating their society. This party created a poster in which there are three white sheep standing on a Swiss flag and one is kicking out a black sheep. The party sees this as creating security. I don’t understand how it creates security when they are not being threatened by these foreigners. In fact these foreigners are the ones picking up all the slack that no one else seems to be doing. The party also says that the poster is NOT racist when it clearly is. “The black sheep is not any black sheep that doesn’t fit into the family. It’s the foreign criminal who doesn’t belong here, the one that doesn’t obey Swiss law. We don’t want him.”