Hearld and Kumar, the weak side of life.

The movie Herald and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay deals with Harold and Kumar whom smoke weed and are locked up after being suspected as terrorists when they try to sneak a bong on board a flight to Amsterdam. Once in prison they are mistreated and then escape, now fugitives on the run they head for Texas to seek their friends fiance who is a lawyer and that they think can help them get out of the jam that they are currently in.  Now I know your thinking, how in the world does this have ANYTHING to do with imperialism and the strong overpowering the weak.
Lets think about it, the United States, the big imperialistic power of the 21st century. Our government gets away with pretty much anything they want within our borders. We can imprison anyone for anything rather they are guilty or not. I would say that is an example of imperialism at its finest. The strong overpowering the weak. When Herald and Kumar board the plane they are just innocent people on a flight to Amsterdam. When Kumar lights his new bong on the plane in the bathroom, air officers think it is a bomb and have them locked up immediately. Upon being sent to Guantanamo Bay they are forced to do things to cops at the prison. No one believes that they were just smoking a bong. They automatically assume that it was a bomb based on their ethnicity and the US flexes its muscles by detaining them under false ideas.
Another time in the movie where imperialism is a underlying idea is near the end of the story. Herald and Kumar find their friends fiance that they thought would help them out of their precarious situation between them and the government. The fiance said he would take care of it and sets up a meeting with some people who can get them discharged from their charges. When they show up its a completely different story. The people who are supposed to help them turns out to be using help as a cover to arrest them and send them back to prison. The friend they thought they could trust to help them turns their back and helps the strong overtake the weak who are Herald and Kumar.
Overall I think there are better examples of movies with imperialistic themes but this one was the first to come into my mind, and it was one of my favorite funny movies of all time.


Image source : http://movierule.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/harold-kumar-escape-from-guantanamo-bay-movie2008/

Canal, life, death, and the whole crazy train.

March 19, 1905
My name is Elroy, I work in panama helping the United States build this massive canal. Why I am here I don't know. There are tens of people who dies everyday here, and many more hurt some even loose limbs. Some die from diseases such as Yellow Fever and Malaria. Sometimes people are working and hit a pocket of poisonous gas and get poisoned and die. If your like me you carry the dynamite to the blasting holes. Some people loose limbs on rail carts hauling materials and those guys are hurt for life if they do not die from infection. You have to be super careful, the smallest mistake could send me into a million pieces. I see a lot of my friends being blown up every day. Well time to go, my break is over.

Twitter life of BigMamaLili

BigMamaLili
Taking throne today, who would've thought it? A lot of work ahead.
January 20, 1891  8:47 am

BigMamaLili
Sources say small group of people want to over throw the monarchy, updates later
February 14, 1892 4:36 pm

BigMamaLili
My people have spoken to me, and I have listened
January 14, 1893 12:24 pm

BigMamaLili
Ministers think I should wait, they think enemy's will take this as a challenge. What should I do?
January 14, 1893 6:27pm

BigMamaLili
Why can't we all just get along??
January 15, 1893 2:56 pm

BigMamaLili
There was a peaceful gathering today, maybe all hope isn't lost
January 16, 1893 3:15pm

BigMamaLili
THERE ARE TROOPS EVERYWHERE, WHAT IS GOING ON???
January 16, 1893 5:00 pm

BigMamaLili
I must step down until this can be resolved so I can save my people
January 17, 1893 6:00pm

BigMamaLili
The congress refused to empower me, annexation passed, there is nothing I can do, I'm sorry people of Hawaii
March 15, 1896

Swine Flu The PANDEMIC......NOT

In 2009 what do you remember as the biggest concern, Swine Flu was mine. Remember all the newspaper articles talking about how bad the pandemic was and the concerns for immediate vaccination. When in reality all that was, was newspapers blowing a not so big problem into a major pandemic. Statistics found on the site http://www.flucount.org/ indicate that over the course of 2009 when H1N1 was in pandemic stage 10,837 people died to the virus, now considering that the U.S. has over 300 million citizens, that means 5 in every 100,000 people died due to H1N1. That is a tiny number compared the 52 thousand that die every year due to pneumonia as said at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/pneumonia.htm. So because of "yellow journalism" or the media's attempt to blow it way out of proportion. We spent 8 months worrying about something that was no more deadly than whooping cough.

No messin arround when it comes to $

In the article at http://www.brucekelly.com/saddam-hussein-kuwait.html you will read about why Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. I think that this was an imperialistic move on Iraqs part. They were not provoked, they just decided to invade and tried to take control of the small border country. In the article you read diffrent reasons why Iraq commited this act of imperialism. Two of which are that they wanted Kuwait to forgive the debt that Iraq owed them, and two they thought that Kuwait was pumping oil that was part of Iraqi soil and not sharing the profit and pumping more than their quota establised by OPEC. This was deffinatly an economic imperialistic move and it ended up being a bad move also. The outcome of this war was that Iraq was pushed back and Kuwait was safe,

Blogging, My personal Opinions and thoughts

How would you like it if you began your history class knowing that you would not have to write a single paper the whole quarter. Sounds awesome does it not? Well that was the idea when I entered into Mr. Meechins American History class this year. I soon discovered that these blogs would be a substitute for the essays and speeches that I hated so much. I was ecstatic when this began, he gave us numerous questions per week that we had to answer in a paragraph or more. The questions would relate to what we were learning at the time. It was an amazing idea, I felt as if I had a say in what I wrote about and if there was a question I did not like or did not feel I could answer to my fullest ability there were others to choose from. Another thing about this assignment was that he gave us 3 or 4 a week, told us we had to have so many completed by the end of the quarter. This told me I could do three week and only one the next week if I felt like it. I felt as if i was empowered and I liked it.

However, a few weeks in we were introduced to another assignment that would be due once per week called a weekly article. It had to consist of  roughly 600 to 1000 words and at least one picture. It did not sound bad at first. However when I found out we were only going to be given one option to write about per week I thought it was a Little crappy. I felt that was a big assignment that if I did not like the topic I would be stuck doing every week. The first topic was not bad and I did it with ease. The second though was tough because I just couldnt find rnough words to say it all. I think if there had been two choices per week I would have enjoyed it way better. It was still a mjor improvement over handwriting papers.

Another reason i though this blogging was a better idea than hand writting it was that it easier to keep track of, especially after the year is over. I loose papers easily so this makes it easy to save my work for later times such as college applications. Also my handwriting is atrocious so having my essays and articles tpyed and in a easy to read format I am sure is easier for the teacher to read. The teacher is also benifiting from this process. They are able to keep better track of a students work. They also cannot loose the work since its all saved online. My teecher also had aministrative rights to my blog so he could log in and make changes to it or show me how I could improve them.
Overall I think blogginh is an awesome idea. More teachers should follow in Mr. Meechins footsteps and try it out, I know it has some kinks but I have greatly enjoyed it, It has made writing easier for me and it allows me learn in a way ive never learned before. I look forward to the future when i look back and see what I thought this quarter, how I've changed and why I enjoyed American History so much.

Image source : http://www.techieblogger.com/2010/01/blogging-2010-way-how-to-stand-out-from-the-competition.html

Cowboys, John Waye and the real John Doe

When you think of cowboys, what do you think of? I know I think of people like John Wayne and the rolls he played in movies. They would herd wild cattle for their living. They drank all the time, got into bar fights, and had shootouts in the street. Seems like they had an easy life didn't it? No school, no law, no rules, just do what ever you want and get away with it. Well guess what, its not all true.

When in reality, cowboys occupied some of the hardest jobs out there. They would spend months out on their own or in small groups with other cowboys, trying to get their cattle to the market. They would occasionally go into saloons but most of their entertainment was done around the campfire because they could not leave their cattle unattended. It was seasonal work, which mean during the spring summer and fall you would work but come winter time most ranch bosses would tell their cowboys to come back in the spring, only keeping a few for the winter months to watch the cattle, These cowboys would live on the ranch and usually have their families with them.

Yes the Hollywood portrayal of the cowboy got somethings right. For instance the clothing worn in most western was similar to the clothing worn my ranch hands in their time. Long pants, with dress shirts, occasionally a vest. Always seemed to be wearing a scarf and hat to protect their face from the harsh sun on their long trips to heard the cattle up. Yes most cowboys kept pistols on their belts, but no they did not usually to get into shootouts in town. Nor were they a cowboys most important resource, that was definitely a horse.On the back of a horse, the cowboy could cover vast distances, and he could herd cattle all day. On foot that would be impossible. Cowboys were actually taught to  not pull your gun first.

Hollywood portrayed cowboys as violent raging drunks a lot of the time. When in reality cowboys were to respect with gentle care animals, children, and elders. Cowboys were also put in charge of large herds of cattle which required alot of trust, so a cowboy was known to keep his word and not go back on his promises

So next time you watch a movie staring John Wayne or any other classic westerns, remember, it was not exactly like that. Most of the stuff they had to do on a daily basis and one wrong move could injure or kill them. If you were injured you might as well be dead because no one will hire an injured cowboy. John Wayne will always be remembered as a western star, and in most ways he was. Just know the real thing is not all that cracked up we once thought it was.

Image source:http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/collection.php?asn=LC-S6-092&mcat=9&scat=35