Current Connection: 2.1

*note: I picked this article because it seemed good for a current connection. I do not agree with this article!

In an article entitled "Obamacare-hating voters have been suckered by right-wing spin" posted in the Los Angeles Times, David Horsey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, writes about how right-winged people do not know that Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act are the same. Horsey mocks said "right-winged" people on how they love the Affordable Care Act, but they hate Obamacare. In his article Horsey brings up several examples of said "right-winged" news broadcasts. Horsey is trying to make a point on how dumb Americans are; thus, making his article seem as if Americans have been brainwashed by the "right-winged" people.

"Of those who ended up featured in an appallingly hilarious clip on Kimmel’s show, not a single one knew that Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act are one and the same thing," says Horsey. The author would like to point out that many Americans who don't know this fact are making fools of themselves. Horsey means to tell all Americans that there are people in the United States that have no idea about Obamacare/Affordable Care Act. By people Horsey means the people people that have been "suckered by [the] right-wing spin" as said in his title.

Also in his article, Horsey wrote, "All but one of the interviewees expressed dislike for Obamacare and gave a variety of reasons for hating it -- it is socialist, it has holes in it, it forces everyone to buy into it, it is anti-American and, I’m not making this up -- it will lead to gun prohibition. They like the Affordable Care Act, however, because it is, well, affordable." The author, trying to say that the Americans who are against Obamacare are dumb, makes his article seem as if the republicans are providing unreasonable reasons on why the bill should not be passed. In other words, Horsey wants everyone to know that Obamacare/Affordable Care Act is not a bad bill to pass. Horsey mocks all of the "right-winged" people by writing this statement.

When bashing the "right-wings", Horsey stated, "Republicans, Fox News and radio talkmeisters such as Rush Limbaugh have done an expert job demonizing the healthcare plan from the day it was brought before Congress in 2009." Horsey wants all of his readers to know that the republicans are all talking bad about the bill and not wanting it to pass ever since the bill was brought up. The author abliges the idea that republicans do not like this bill and always have not agreed with said bill. Basically, David Horsey makes this statement seem that republicans are the basset hounds of the world and didn't even pay close attention to the bill and that they just did not like it from the start.

The connection I would like to make with this article is my own with my parents and friends. Michael, a young man, is one of my friends and has suffered from a terrible car accident that damaged his back. Hurting for money, Michael cannot afford surgery to fix his back. Even though he has insurance they will not pay for his surgery. Obamacare, wanting to cover everyone, will pay for his surgery. To me that is the only goodness coming from the bill. My parents on the otherhand are business owners and cannot afford to give all of their employees the Obamacare health care. That is the only flaw I have with Obamacare. I do know that there are several flaws with this bill, but that is the only one I can relate to my family at the moment.

In conclusion, David Horsey believes that people who disagree on Obamacare are not so smart and in his article he mocks them. The author sees nothing wrong with the bill and more than likely agrees the bill should pass. Providing his evidence he made the "right-winged" people seem dumb and not knowing of what they are talking about, but in general they actually do know what they are talking about. Why does David Horsey mock these people? What makes him believe that Obamacare/Affordable Care Act is actually a good idea?

Horsey, David. "Obamacare-hating voters have been suckered by right-wing spin." Los Angeles Times. 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.

CC #2: Applying for Colleges

In a recent article written by Richard Perez-Pena entitled, "Online Application Woes Makes Students Anxious and Put Colleges Behind Schedule", Perez-Pena talks about how students are rushing to send in their application to colleges. Since colleges are now going to online applications students are constantly applying to all sorts of colleges online. The early application deadline is coming to an end thus making students apply as fast as they can.

Perez-Pena interviews Jason C. Locke, associate vice provost for enrollment at Cornell University. "I've been a supporter of the Common App, but in this case, they've really fallen down," said Locke. Common App, also known as Common Application, is where students apply online for their colleges and lately this website has been malfunctioning. The author of this article intentions are to let his readers known that something is going wrong with the website used to send in college applications.

"Colleges around the country have posted notices on their admissions Web sites, warning of potential problems in processing applications," writes Perez-Pena. The author in a way tries to warn students, or whoever reads the article, that colleges are sending out messages on their personal websites to warn students before hand. Most students do not expect any malfunctions to happen when they submit their information to colleges, and when every little bit goes wrong the students freak out. They have every wright to considering the reasons why.

To give a better understanding of what has been going wrong with the college essays the author uses a 12th grader from Manhattan as an example by saying, "When she entered her essays into the application, what appeared on her computer screen was a garbled mess. Some words were mashed together; others were split in two by random spaces; there were swaths of blank space where text should have been; paragraph indentations were missing." No one would have known what was gong wrong with these applications if Richard Perez-Pena hadn't used an example. Most people had no idea what was going wrong with the website considering they had not really heard anything until this article was released.

My connection would be to my school considering that all 12th graders had to submit a application to our community college, UACCB. Since most or none of the students knew how to submit an application to colleges a representative from UACCB came to our school to help us out. Almost every senior applied online to a UACCB except a few who had difficulties with their information.

In conclusion, the article that Richard Perez-Pena posted helped many kids including myself on this information he has posted. Not very many people knew exactly what was/is going wrong with Common Application. I especially had no idea. Now that this is posted students will more than likely wait to apply to their colleges online.

CC #1: Minute of Silence

     Arkansas has recently decided to make a law where all schools in Arkansas have to have a minute of silence. Just a few months after the bill was a passed an article by KOLR10 News entitled, Minute of Silence A State Law for Arkansas Classrooms, was released to inform people in Arkansas who had not heard of this new law. KOLR10 interviews Alan Wilbourn, man with the Fayetteville school district, and Tim Kennedy, chairman of the local chapter for the Arkansas Civil Liberties Union, about the minute of silence each school has to partake in the mornings.
     In the interview, Mr. Wilbourn states that, "it's purely an opportunity for students to spend the sixty seconds of silence however they choose." The one minute of silence is created for students who need a little quiet time to think about their lives, their day, their friends, etc. Alan Wilbourn wants local or non-local citizens to know that the minute of silence isn't just for nothing, but the student can choose how they want to spend their free minute with no interrupting vocals from anyone.
     "You start with the idea that 'Well this is just a moment of silence,' and then advance from that position into where they would approve of prayer in public schools," says Tim Kennedy. Even though prayer is an option for these students that doesn't mean that they're all going to prayer. Many of the students just continue on with their bell work or anything else a teacher hands them. Mr. Kennedy may not stand by prayer in school, but there is no need to jump to conclusions in which he wants everyone else to do so as well.
     Alan Wilbourn argues with Tom Kennedy, "If you want to pray in your head, that's fine, that's totally up to you and that's been an option at school since time began." Wilbourn brings up a good point that yes some students in this school may pray, but they've had that right before the minute of silence was put into a law. Kennedy believes that the minute is just an excuse to get prayer back into schools. Alan does add that praying is one of the options during the sixty seconds.
     My connection from this article is towards my school in Batesville, Arkansas. During the minute of silence my classmates around me usually just continue on with the bellwork we have received. I do not know very many students who sit at their desk and pray or think of their lives and such. Most of my classmates actually talk during this minute therefore I know they are not paying any attention towards the silent part of the minute. Of course there may be students in my school who pray, but that decision is up to them and not me or the school boards.
     I actually agree with the minute of silence, because in that whole sixty seconds with no sounds I can focus more on whatever I am working with. A lot of the time I usually do think about my life and what is going on. I have problems at home I usually think about, but the minute still helps me by giving me 'me time.' My opinion is that we should not get rid of the minute of silence, because that minute can be helpful.

CC#3: Makers of Crystal Skull Being Sued

     An article posted back in December 2012 written by Benjamin Radford entitled, 'Indiana Jones' Makers Sued Over Crystal Skull, talks about the true meanings of the crystal skull portrayed in the film. The whole storyline of the movie is also apparently "s based upon a national treasure looted nearly a century ago from the small Central American country."
     Dr. Jaime Awe, an Archeologist in Belize, filed a lawsuit on a Wednesday last month. "This real-life Indiana Jones is suing on behalf of the nation of Belize over the Crystal Skull artifact." Apparently, the crystal is an artifact that was stolen 88 years ago by a family in Belize. Since the crystal skull was used in the latest 'Indiana Jones' movie back in 2008, Dr. Awe is demanding the return of the skull.
     "Awe states that the crystal skull described in the film was stolen by a British explorer (and sometime archaeologist) named F.A. Mitchell-Hedges during a visit to the Maya ruins of Lubantuun in the jungle of Belize in the early 1920s." F.A. Mitchell-Hedges daughter, Anna, was said to have found the skull in the ruins. After taking the skull back to England where she hales from, she examined the skull in 1959 after her fathers death.
     "It's unlikely that the lawsuit will go anywhere — mostly because (apparently unbeknownst to Awe) it's based on a famous hoax." An editor of Junior Skeptic magazine, Daniel Loxton, researched this topic and discovered that Anna Mitchell-Hedges has changed her story a few times. "The first account stated that she and her father found the skull together beneath an altar in a ruined temple in 1926. In a 1983 account she claimed she was with a worker who was felling trees in the jungle and saw something shiny beneath the stones and dug it up on the spot. Then she claimed she found it after being lowered into a hidden temple with ropes (ironically, in a scene reminiscent of an Indiana Jones film)."
     I am making a connection with myself. I enjoyed this movie very much so and I would have never figured that the crystal is actually a real artifact. I just thought that Stephen Spielberg randomly thought up this idea for another movie.
     I believe that this lawsuit should just be dropped. Who cares if the crystal skull was taken and used in the movie? The movie was a success and is loved by many people.

Book Review 1: TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY

Have you ever considered suicide an option whenever your life slow escalates down? Hannah Baker, a teenage girl, decided this was her only option to get out of her problems. In TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY, author Jay Asher shows us almost through Hannah's eyes all of the troubles she endured. In my opinion, she should not have ended her life so sudden.

The main theme of this book is on how to choose the way to handle your problems. For instance, Hannah had problems trusting her friends and for that matter trusting anyone. She went to parties and had friends, but her friends seemed to not care so much for her as she did them. Instead of just ignoring these people and gaining new friends, Hannah decided she would make matters worse and make 13 tapes on why these certain people made her kill herself.

The authors style on this book really made me angry. I absolutely despised on how one second you could be reading a part where Hannah was describing her past and then the next part you would be reading what Clay was doing and what he thought about the words he just heard on the tape. I couldn't really understand where the writing was going. One second I felt as if I was there in Hannah's room and then the next second I was sitting on a bus. I disliked that feeling. I wanted to just be in Hannah's room thinking on why she decided she wanted to kill herself. This book actually is very unique compared to what I've read. Just like I said before, I felt as if I was in two places at once.

Hannah. I have decided to talk about Hannah, even though she is not the one narrating the story of the book, she is the main character. Hannah is a teenage girl who has normal teenage problems. People treat her awful behind her back, everyone lies about her, and to start all of this off she has just moved to a new town where she wants to feel accepted. Some times as I was reading her story I compared myself to her. Because I too go through these exact same problems as her. I do like Hannah. For a few moments I felt as if we could be the same person. The only dislike I have on her is that she decided to end her life to get away from her whole mess. That is not the way Hannah should have handled the situation, but she did.

The setting is simply Clay listening to Hannah's tapes and going around the town to the places Hannah's tells her listeners to go. For instance, Clay goes to peoples house, restaurants, and even a certain classroom in his own school. During this time he brings in other characters that are in the book as well.

The connection I must make is to myself. Hannah and I have gone through the same problems, as well as many other girls. Personally I felt as if I was reliving these problems over and over again as I read. I know what it is like to have friends who do nothing but lie behind your back, but instead of committing suicide I simply ignored them all. Nobody needs people like that in their lives.

Would I recommend this book to anyone? Yes, I would. I would recommend this book to just about every teenager in the world. Not just girls, but boys too. Every teenager going through any problems should read this book. In fact, any teenager or anyone for that matter, who is thinking about committing suicide should definitely read TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY.

My American Dream

     I am proud to be an American Citizen where I can be free and have successful dreams for me, my country, and my fellow civilians. As an American I can dream for myself; i.e.: job, children, religion, etc., I can even dream for how I think my country should be and how everyone in this country should act.
     My own personal dreams come first. Ever since I was a small child, I dreamed about marrying the perfect guy, having wonderful children, and even being in the medical field! In fact, now that I am older I have even planned my life out. First off, I would go to my dream college, ASU. The University in Jonesboro, Arkansas seems as if it would be fabulous in so many different aspects! Unfortunately, that would not be the only college I would go to, I would also have to attend a medical college somewhere near home. Perhaps I will go to the college in Little Rock, Arkansas. Right now I cannot decide if I would rather be a Obstetrician-Gynecologist or a Dermatologist. The next step in my life would be to marry the man of my dreams, the man I believe I could share the rest of my exciting life with. If this man is not Catholic than I would love to have around 3 children. If my future husband turns out to be Catholic, than I guess I am just in trouble! Would that mess up every bit of detail that my dream consists of? No, more than likely this would not. Religion was never really a real big part of my life growing up. To be highly truthful, my family never even went to church! In the end, I would like that my future children do go to church.
     The way that I believe this country should be ran is based on good, old fashioned Christian views. For instance, freedom of the religion is in our country's Constitution and we have taken that amendment a little too far. Never have I been so sick to hear everyday citizens just like me say, "We wish that you not call it Christmas, but call it X-mas. It's more politically correct." Shame on the people who say those words. Christmas is about celebrating Christ! That's practically the main reason we celebrate that day! Christmas in the day of Jesus' birth, not the birth of "X".
     One more item that I dream will change is how everyone these days are so ignorant and rude. Every American citizen should be polite and caring towards one another. Not cursing another being because they made a mistake. Plus more and more people these days should stop watching biased news channels, such as CNN, and get their facts wrong.
     My dreams may never come true, but if my personal dreams don't and my dreams on this country and it's people do. I will be the happiest American alive.

CC#2: Gun Control

     A recent article, Got'cha! Obama Demands January 2013 Deadline for Gun Control Proposals, an anonymous writer speaks upon the issues on gun control. Ever since the New Town shooting many people have stood up to say they want rights to guns taken away. Some disagree with intentions of keeping their guns for their own protections.
     "[Obama] called for stricter background checks for people who seek to purchase weapons and limited high capacity clips," this is a good idea for this country. There should be background checks just to see if some people are compatible to even own a gun for hunting. There are certain people in this country that disagree with this. They still believe that no one should have guns.
     Obama has been quoted on saying, "The fact that we can't prevent every act of violence doesn't mean we can't steadily reduce the violence." Obama brings up a good point. There will still probably be school shootings, as in the one that recently happened in New Town, because some human beings might be perfectly fine when they first get their arms, but may sooner or later snap and cause problems.
     Obama said that seeing people of different backgrounds and political affiliations going on to prevent such violence is "encouraging" to him. Obama did make sure to tell people that he does believe in the Second Amendment. This might help Democrats go on with helping him to still have guns, but just to background checks.
     I believe that there should be some type of gun control, but the government should not take all of our guns away. So I am agreeing on a certain extent on gun control, but disagreeing on going to the extremes with taking everyone's guns away.

CC#1: Trillion Dollar Coin

     In FoxNews recent expository article, "Legend of trillion-dollar coin grows as White House declines to rule it out" they explain how congress is addressing this new topic. Telling their readers that congress is not denying that they are thinking about making a trillion dollar coin. They are also reporting that congress isn't approving it either.

    Why would congress even think about doing such a crazy thing? Wouldn't they just toss the idea away? Perhaps toss it where no one would ever find it? Not exactly. Recently White House Press Secretary Jay Carney "hedged" as he was asked if the trillion-dollar coin was a possibility and "then he hedged again. And again." Now the legend of the coin as seemed to grow thanks to Mr. Carney. Instead of just simply telling the US that the coin is just a rumor, he hedges towards us. Maybe Carney wants us to believe that there might be a possibility of this coin when there really isn't. He's playing with our minds.

     "Lawmakers are now railing against the idea, which has -- left unchecked -- has become a seemingly legitimate point of debate." Now that the White House Press has just only irritated these rumors they have started something far beyond what they might have been looking for. Or maybe the White House Press actually wants everyone to throw a big debate over this issue. "The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a petition urging people to oppose the use of trillion-dollar coins to address any debt crisis." Launching this petition might actually help certain people in this country understand that this new coin will not be good for our country. This new currency will only cause inflation.

     NRCC Chairman, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. was quoted on saying, "This scheme to mint trillion-dollar coins is absurd and dangerous, and would be laughable if the proponents weren't so serious about it as a solution. I'm introducing a bill to stop it in it's tracks." The proponents of this idea have pointed out that Treasury secretary can "mint and issue platinum bullion coins and proof platinum coins." Meaning that they, Treasury, do have the power to make this false coins.

     In conclusion, the looks on making the trillion-dollar coin are looking quite interesting since there are no approvals and no denials. Who knows, the government might just make these coins without even thinking about all of the horrible outcomes that will emerge.

     I disagree on the whole concept about the trillion-dollar coins. I don't think that Treasury should make these coins since they will only lead to a big, terrifying mess for America.