The most controversial matter going on in the United States’ government system is the matter of health care. Republicans hate the bill because they see health insurance as a privilege and that those who can’t afford it should not have it because then they will get it for free while we still have to pay for ours. The democrats believe that health insurance is a right and that everyone should have it.
I personally do not want the health care bill to pass. This is not because I am a republican or I think that people should pay their own bills; however I do not support universal health care. Hawaii had this kind of health care for just their children and the state fell into a financial hole they are still working to get out of. Also with this health care, people who can’t afford to go to a doctor will soon have access to the same specialist doctor that I go to without paying the hefty fee that my parents pay every time. Again I don’t really care about money, but with my expensive doctor being available to everyone, it will make the already long waiting list just longer! Sometimes my colon just does not want to wait for a doctor so when it does act up and I have to go to the hospital, it will take twice as long for my doctor to get there if a lot of people start to see him and that will not be good at all.
Therefore if this new health care bill passes, when I become sick at any point in time, I won’t be able to get the proper or professional help that I need and pay for in a timely manner in which it can becomes critical for my body.
Here are some videos on debates for both sides of the issue:
and
That's all for now!
~Ali
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
God vs. Natural Disasters ~ January 24, 2010
For this blog post, I chose to write on an article in the New York Times entitled Between God and a hard place by James Wood. In this article, James research concluded that back in the 1700’s preachers and men of religious background felt that natural disasters happened because God was either punishing the people or he was just trying to get through to them. Also in recent events when Obama gave a speech about what happened in Haiti, he basically said that since God was on his side and he had luck was the reason why this disaster did not affect him.
Being a devout Christian myself, I believe that everything happens 1) because it is in God’s plan and 2) because everything happens for a reason. I also think that the preachers and so called Holy men of the 1700’ s were way off the target when they put together sermons preaching that this natural disaster was the people’s fault because of their actions. God does put his followers through hard times but that is just to make our faith in him stronger.
Also Pat Robertson was way off in his beliefs that this earth quake was a blessing to the Haitians. I think that it does give the people of Haiti a fresh start however you can not over look that this was a tragedy in itself and completely put the casualties on the back burner. You do have to focus on the good things when tragedy occurs, however, because if you keep dwelling on the bad, the people as a whole will get more and more depressed and they will never see a way out of it.
Finally on the speech Obama made, I think in some ways he was right but in others he was way off. God defiantly did have his hand over us but at the same time luck has nothing to do with it. Sure there are scientific theories and evidence that this happened just because of science, but luck still doesn’t have anything to do with that either.
That's all for now!
~Ali
Being a devout Christian myself, I believe that everything happens 1) because it is in God’s plan and 2) because everything happens for a reason. I also think that the preachers and so called Holy men of the 1700’ s were way off the target when they put together sermons preaching that this natural disaster was the people’s fault because of their actions. God does put his followers through hard times but that is just to make our faith in him stronger.
Also Pat Robertson was way off in his beliefs that this earth quake was a blessing to the Haitians. I think that it does give the people of Haiti a fresh start however you can not over look that this was a tragedy in itself and completely put the casualties on the back burner. You do have to focus on the good things when tragedy occurs, however, because if you keep dwelling on the bad, the people as a whole will get more and more depressed and they will never see a way out of it.
Finally on the speech Obama made, I think in some ways he was right but in others he was way off. God defiantly did have his hand over us but at the same time luck has nothing to do with it. Sure there are scientific theories and evidence that this happened just because of science, but luck still doesn’t have anything to do with that either.
That's all for now!
~Ali
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Anything~ January 20,2010
Paid Parking lots in the city are the most frustrating things to deal with. This past Friday was, my good friend’s birthday so we went to the Hawks vs. Suns game. After the game we went back to my apartment so we could have cake and all that. His cousin parked in a paid parking lot right across the street from my apartment. We put in $3 and the ticket said that we would have to come back down at 4:50 am to extend the time. After that was all taken care of, we went to my apartment and had a great time! When 3 o’clock rolled around everyone got really tired but Kim refused to go to bed so she could pay the parking lot to extend their time. However I could tell that she was really tired so I offered to go down and pay. She agreed so at 4:30 I woke up and went down to pay. I put $3 in and I received the ticket on which it said that the expiration time was still 4:50. So I waited till 4:50 and put $3 more into the machine. After retrieving this ticket, I saw that the expiration time was still 4:50! I was about to call the company however I realized that I left my cell phone up stairs. Just as I was about to head back to my apartment, I heard someone ask if I needed help. I explained my situation to him and he said I was in luck because he worked for the company. He told me if I tipped him, he would insure that my friend’s car would not get booted. I explained to him that I was not going to spend another penny of my money in this stupid lot. After that was said, he asked if I wanted a ride to my apartment, I refused so he opened the passenger door to his car and started to push me in! As soon as he started pushing, another car entered the lot and I managed to run over to it. When I reached the other car I looked behind me and saw the guy speed away from the lot. Regardless to say after all of the trouble I went through, we still had to move my friend’s car and pay an additional $5 for that lot! I hate paid parking lots.
That's all for now!
~Ali
That's all for now!
~Ali
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Teacher Evaluation Reform~ January 15,2010
The article I chose to write on was published in the New York Times under the Opinion tab. This article was entitled “Walking the Walk on School Reform”. I chose this article because, being a future school teacher, I find that it is important to keep myself updated on new things in the school system so that I will be prepared for the job when the time comes.
“Walking the Walk on School Reform” states that the teacher union The American Federation of Teachers’ president Randi Weingarten proposed a new reform in the school system by reforming teacher evaluations. She claims that the evaluations should be reformed because poorly trained evaluators go into classrooms all around the United States and spend an hour or less “evaluating” a teacher’s performance. However there is no way that spending an hour or less with a teacher can give an accurate reading on any teacher.
I agree with Ms. Weingarten’s new proposal to improve teacher evaluations. I believe that without this reform, students will continue to be set up for an unfair education in which teachers are not performing their job accurately. Setting student up with this approach will set them up for failure. By spelling out the professional teaching standards, each teacher will know specifically what their job requirements are and assures that they will carry out their duties.
Also, Obama shared with the nation before being elected into presidency that he wanted to give incentives to teachers whose students do the best with standardized tests. This approach is unfair to teachers across the board. Judging teachers mostly based off of the accuracy of their students is a poor test of what the teacher is doing in the classroom. While how students do on standardized test is defiantly one of the teacher’s main concerns with their students, it is not something that they should focus on solely. Some students are not great test takers, so why should great teachers be penalized for those students who don’t care about education?
That's all for now!
~Ali
“Walking the Walk on School Reform” states that the teacher union The American Federation of Teachers’ president Randi Weingarten proposed a new reform in the school system by reforming teacher evaluations. She claims that the evaluations should be reformed because poorly trained evaluators go into classrooms all around the United States and spend an hour or less “evaluating” a teacher’s performance. However there is no way that spending an hour or less with a teacher can give an accurate reading on any teacher.
I agree with Ms. Weingarten’s new proposal to improve teacher evaluations. I believe that without this reform, students will continue to be set up for an unfair education in which teachers are not performing their job accurately. Setting student up with this approach will set them up for failure. By spelling out the professional teaching standards, each teacher will know specifically what their job requirements are and assures that they will carry out their duties.
Also, Obama shared with the nation before being elected into presidency that he wanted to give incentives to teachers whose students do the best with standardized tests. This approach is unfair to teachers across the board. Judging teachers mostly based off of the accuracy of their students is a poor test of what the teacher is doing in the classroom. While how students do on standardized test is defiantly one of the teacher’s main concerns with their students, it is not something that they should focus on solely. Some students are not great test takers, so why should great teachers be penalized for those students who don’t care about education?
That's all for now!
~Ali
Earthquake in Washington D.C. ~January 13, 2010
Natural disasters claim the lives of thousands of people every year not just in the United States but all around the world. The most memorable ones that have happened in the past ten years are the Tsunami in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Haiti’s recent earthquake was devastating to the country because almost all of the buildings were knocked down because in Haiti, there are no building codes that all buildings have to measure up to. Also because all the buildings fell down due to lack of building codes, when falling, the buildings trapped and crushed people underneath them causing several thousand in the country to die.
If this situation would have happened in the United States, more specifically Washington D.C, I believe that the damage would still be the same however we would have the ability to get back on our feet. Just like when Louisiana was almost completely washed away, our country would rose to the occasion and got matters worked out. Though some would argue that it took way too long for the help to arrive, our country still got the work done. Also, Haiti is a very poor country and very underdeveloped. (Not to say that our country is any richer due to the seven trillion we are in debt)In our country we had the insurance to rely on in order to make everything the way it was before. America had the resources to help our neighbors out by giving them things they needed in the time of great need. However Haiti is right next to the Dominican Republic, with which do not have to best relationship between the two of them. Thus, Haiti had to wait for the help of other counties far away rather than right next door to them. Though the deaths have not had an accurate count, officials think there are thousands dead.
That's all for now!
~Ali
Haiti’s recent earthquake was devastating to the country because almost all of the buildings were knocked down because in Haiti, there are no building codes that all buildings have to measure up to. Also because all the buildings fell down due to lack of building codes, when falling, the buildings trapped and crushed people underneath them causing several thousand in the country to die.
If this situation would have happened in the United States, more specifically Washington D.C, I believe that the damage would still be the same however we would have the ability to get back on our feet. Just like when Louisiana was almost completely washed away, our country would rose to the occasion and got matters worked out. Though some would argue that it took way too long for the help to arrive, our country still got the work done. Also, Haiti is a very poor country and very underdeveloped. (Not to say that our country is any richer due to the seven trillion we are in debt)In our country we had the insurance to rely on in order to make everything the way it was before. America had the resources to help our neighbors out by giving them things they needed in the time of great need. However Haiti is right next to the Dominican Republic, with which do not have to best relationship between the two of them. Thus, Haiti had to wait for the help of other counties far away rather than right next door to them. Though the deaths have not had an accurate count, officials think there are thousands dead.
That's all for now!
~Ali
Monday, January 11, 2010
Who I Am ~ January 11, 2010
What makes me, me? I was born in Missouri but we moved around a lot with my dad’s job. However we go back there to visit family every year so I still consider myself a “northerner”. My father is a Minister of music at various churches so I have grown up a Christian and plan on staying that way for the rest of my life. Having a dad in ministry gave me the ability to jump in and teach kids in Sunday school and in an after school tutoring program at the church from a young age. From this experience, I found my true love, teaching.
Now I am going to college in order to get my teaching degree so that I can help more children understand hard to learn concepts. Though my major is Early Childhood education, I will be working on getting a specialization in Special Education.
I have found that my favorite musical group is Paramore. Also my favorite book is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. The reason why this is my favorite book is because there are a series of hidden symbols that can mean something different every time you read it. I guess that since you can get something out of this book every time you read it, it gives me a fresh reason in why to read it time and time again.
My outlook on life is that everyone should be happy for most of their lives. I know that seems like a very immature outlook, and kind of cheesy but it is truly what I believe in. I try and help others achieve this goal by constantly smiling and doing helpful little things just to make others feel good. These are just some of the things that make me, me!
That's All for now
~Ali
Now I am going to college in order to get my teaching degree so that I can help more children understand hard to learn concepts. Though my major is Early Childhood education, I will be working on getting a specialization in Special Education.
I have found that my favorite musical group is Paramore. Also my favorite book is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. The reason why this is my favorite book is because there are a series of hidden symbols that can mean something different every time you read it. I guess that since you can get something out of this book every time you read it, it gives me a fresh reason in why to read it time and time again.
My outlook on life is that everyone should be happy for most of their lives. I know that seems like a very immature outlook, and kind of cheesy but it is truly what I believe in. I try and help others achieve this goal by constantly smiling and doing helpful little things just to make others feel good. These are just some of the things that make me, me!
That's All for now
~Ali
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