I have been talking with several people on my floor about the surprise visit by Bush to the troops in Iraq. They all have mixed views on the subject. Stephanie Gojmerac believes that "it was just a cheesy way to get publicity for the next election." Others stated that they thought it showed a lot of courage from Bush to enter such a hot zone in the war.
Stefanie Robb said that "[she] didn't read up about it... but [her] opinon is that he did it because he knows he won't get many votes for next year to run as president and he is sucking up to the american society. But, [she] thinks that was great of him, and gives him 2 thumbs up. That is the only smart thing he has done since he was in presidencey."
Randy Spence, a freshman at Duquesne University, said that while he knew that it was a polical move, he said that he couldn't fault him for showing support to troops still over there. "I still don't like his policies, but I can't fault him for the Iraq trip. Morale needed a boost, and that's a great way to go about it."
This is going to be an interesting topic of discussion for a couple of days and maybe even for a week more. I think that Bush is at least doing something and the more I think about it the more I see that Bush is trying to do something to help the country trust him more. At least he knows and admits to when he has made a mistake.
Oh well. This is my last on this topic. Hopefully you will all have feelings on the subject and submit them to the blogging world.
Tiffany
Today when I signed on to finish up some homework I found this article in my AOL news box. It is bascially an article stated how Billy Graham is defending the movie. He believes the movie is not antisematic because it shows how we are all responsible for Christ's death through our sins. Now I don't know much about Graham, but at the end of the article it says that Graham only apologized last year for disparing remarks he made against the Jewish community during a conversation with Nixion in the Oval Office 30 years ago.
My question is how can a man who only just apologized last year about remarks he made that apparently offended the Jewish community say that this movie is not antisematic? I have no clue what those remarks were that he made, but still I find it highly unbelievable that this man can determine whether or not the film is antisematic. The article also stated that Graham saw the movie in a private screening about a month ago. If the movie was so dramatic and he wanted to back it up, why did it take him a month to make a statement about it?
At a screening of the movie in August, Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League told readers that the movie falsly portrayed Jewish leaders and the Jewish mob for causing Christ to be crucified. This is the first I have heard about this statement and I found it after the statements made by Graham in this article. I feel more ready to believe Foxman than Graham because of the research that I have done on the film since I first heard about it at the Conference.
In a question and answer section found on the ADL website concerning this play one of the questions asked was "Is the ADL trying to censor Mel Gibson? Doesn't he have the right to make any film he wants?" Their response was as follows:
" ADL has never tried to 'censor' the movie. We are requesting a process similar to successful projects on the Oberammergau Passion Play and other sensitive artistic productions. ADL is urging Mr. Gibson and Icon Productions to consult with interfaith professionals and New Testament experts to ensure a historically accurate and theologically responsible depiction of the crucifixion that is devoid of anti-Semitic dimensions. We are asking Mr. Gibson to assume sensitivity and moral responsibility, which are obligations of all good people, and particularly artists who influence many around the world."
So if you are one of the many people out there who believe the ADL is just trying to censor the film and get the movie they want made than maybe you should take a look at the link I provided above. I believe that they are just trying to get Gibson to make a film that will be a more moving and accurate portrayal of what Christ went through in his final hours on earth.
Maybe I am just getting worked up over nothing, but I was incredibly disgusted by the fact that the film makers were portraying things in such a way that so many of the Jewish population are getting upset over it. I have many Jewish friends and I believe them when they say that the film puts them into a bad light. From what I understand the Jewish mob scene was incredibly wrong in that the mob probably had about 20-30 people in attandance and the film shows a crowd of about 100. What is so wrong with reshooting that sceen with less people? I don't know, this is just how I feel. If you feel differently I suggest that you ignor everything that I have said.
Tiffany
In a search on the net, I found this bloggers entry on his reaction to the visit. The entry basically said that the trip to Iraq was nothing but an attempt at getting voters interested in Bush. I think that the author of this entry has a few ideas on what to do about Bush in the presidency. I realize that this web log is for people in the democratic party, but really some of the comments surprised me. They range from people wishing a happy thanksgiving to slamming the author for a comment on landing on an aircraft carrier (which from what I understand from a friend of mine it is an incredibly dangerous feat).
After reading some of the comments on the above blog entry, I became increasingly interested in the fact that he didn't take a ton of press with him. I thought it was a showing of his chacter that he didn't let it leak that he was going over to the base and doing this for troops. Maybe I was wrong in my earlier comment about him doing it just for press.
Mike Allen, one of the reporters allowed to go on the top secret mission. In his two page ariticle for the Washington Post, Allen recaped the events leading up to the landing in Iraq. Apparently most of the Secret Service staff didn't even know about the event. I guess I just don't know how I feel after reading that article and from what I have heard. You figure it out for yourselves.
Tiffany
All I have been hearing since Thursday is how Bush showed up in Iraq to surprise troops for Thanksgiving. An article put out by a local CBS news station called his trip a way to silence his critics. The trip was also called a campaign move. Granted the move was a way to show Bush's oppenents what it meant to run against an incombant president, but it was also a morale booster for troops in Iraq over the holiday weekend.
Personally I think that Bush should be concerned with the way the so called peace missions are going in Iraq. As I have stated before, I am more than a little bit concerned about the fact that there have been more deaths since the war ended than there were during the actual war. Granted he needs to keep the morale of his soliders up, but again, as I have said before, how many more have to die before we bring our men and women home?
Maybe I am just being a tad bit harsh. Let's be positive a bit. It was an excellent gesture that he took time out of his Thanksgiving to go to a hanger in Bagdad and give support to the men and women there. However there is this other side to the fact that there are many other people based overseas that didn't get to see their families and he only visited a fraction of those serving over there. I mean come on now.
My heart really does go out to those families that didn't have their loved ones around for their Thanksgiving dinner. Some families will never see their loved ones again because of this war. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a family member in such a way. I pray everyday that I won't have to go through what they are going through. All the conversations they will never have. All the children that will grow up without a father because their daddys were overseas and died for their country. I am also very thankful for those people overseas that are there protecting us in a way that we can never be thankful enough for. There are no words that can express the amount of thanks I have for those men and women over there making my future a better place to be in. I pray for an end to the deaths even though I know we are a long way from the end of the hatred and saddness. I pray for those men and women still in Iraq and the surrounding countries, that they find a way home to their families safe and sound.
Ok. I think that I have rambled enough on this subject. Bye for now!
Tiffany
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today that 9 Spainards were killed in Iraq. This is a new attempt on the opposition of the United States to prevent the US allies from trusting the US. I feel that this is an outrage. We are staying in Iraq even after the war has ended to help the country gain democracy and we have more men and women dying for the cause than we did during the war. It really does sicken me to think about all the deaths that have occured in this month alone. I also feel terribly for the countries that support our efforts in Iraq because their men and women are dying for the position held by Americans.
Spain is not the only country losing men and women. A few weeks ago 19 Italians were killed in a suicide bombing. How many more people, domestic and foreign, have to die before we pull out of Iraq? I guess that I am just tired of hearing about all the death and saddness families are facing. Another reason I am getting so scared about the war is that my brother is actually considering joining the armed forces in an effort to go over seas. I am in no way saying that he shouldn't join. It will help him in the future, but I really don't want to see him go overseas with all the fighting still going on.
I would really love to see an end to all the violence, as I know most of you do. Hopefully in the future there will be a way for us to solve problems of this nature without warfare and death. I know, I know. Wishful thinking, right? Well, I am only 19 years old and I have big dreams, some of which do involve world peace.
Tiffany
This week is causing me to shut down! I have so much work that I need to finish and so little time to do it in that I just don't want to do anything at all and I end up playing Wave Race on my GameCube! How crazy is that?! OK, now that my blow up is completed maybe I can talk about something of relavance such as Scheduling. I know that I didn't have any problem with my schedule for next semester. I'm taking a ton of Education classes and no English classes, but I can handle it.
I know that a lot of people are having difficulties in this area such as Karissa and my roommate. Not to mention everything else that has been goin on in classes lately!
Let me do a recap and layout of my week.
Monday:
Journalism 11:00-11:50 - Got to leave class early, but I had to use this time to work on my project for the class.
Kristallnaucht 4:00-5:00 - Was a very enjoyable and faith gaining experiance.
Tamburitzans 5:00-12:00 - Ok. I know that that time length seems a little bit messed up but really it's not. Practice was in Rankin which is about an hour from here. I arrived at 6 and practice went until 10, then I had to stop at home in order for my dad to bring me back and we didnt leave until 11.
Tuesday:
STW 9:30-10:45 - Talked about upcoming projects and let me tell you, it's a lot.
I GOT A BREAK!!! However, I used this time to work on homework in the Music Lounge
Connections 1:00-1:50 - I highly dislike this class because we never do anything really productive in it.
MGW 2:00-3:15 - We discussed the reading. Not hard, but a little bit boring.
Back to the library at 3:15 until like 4:30 when I went to dinner and then to work.
And there is sooo much more to add to this list it isn't even funny. This is just the beginning of the week too. If I make through until finals I will be a very happy person. I can't wait until Thanksgiving Break. I need a couple of days off, and it just so happens that the 26th is my birthday! So that should be fun! I know though that I will end up doing a ton of work those couple of days that I will be home.
Ok I think that I have bored you guys to death enough. I'm going now!
Tiffany
I was at Rev. Pawlikowski's presentation yesterday and I was greatly shocked at the way the discussion progressed. When Mr. Cunningham started his section on Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" and showed us the trailer for the movie I was in a total state of agast. I could not believe the violence that was set to be in the movie. Cunningham's presentation quickly overshadowed, in my opinion at least, what the topic of that particular session was about and that was "Why teach the Holocost in Catholic Schools?"
Cunningham told the people present that he and several others present that day, including Pawlikowski, had recieved a leaked copy of the script. After reading the script they found several historical inaccuracies. The biggest, they believed, was that the script as it was made it look as if the jews were to blame for the death of Jesus. Vatican II, however stated that it was not the jews, but Pilot to blame for His death.
Cunningham and his associates sent to Gibson an 18 page report of their findings. Since then numerous events have taken place such as a lawsuit against the ADL (Anti-Defamation League). Personally, I hope that Gibson takes into account the suggestions made by the panel. They are strong suggestions and will make the movie a powerful portrayal of the last 12 hours of Our Lord.
Respectfully Submitted,
Tiffany
I hate doing research papers for the specific reason of the Works Cited page and in paper citations. I could write the best paper ever and still end up with a B because of the stupid rule about the way things are supposed to be written. A friend of mine however told me to go to this site that helped you to make the bibliography of things in MLA format. All you have to do is go to the site and type in what you want and it will give you the bibliography, or so that is how she explained it to me at least. So if you want to check out the site the address is http://www.easybib.com (I tried to make this a link but it wouldn't let me. hmm.)
Tiff
Ok. As some of you know, I have been on an amazing high of happiness over the last couple of weeks. This was directly due to the fact that my ex-boyfriend and I had gotten back together after three years of being apart. Now what you have to understand is that we broke up only because we felt that we were too young to be dating and stayed close friends. Well, a couple of weeks ago we decided to give it another shot seeing as it turned out that neither one of us ever stopped liking the other. Well, this evening he broke it off again under a myriad of reasons. I just feel like my heart has been broken into so many pieces it isn't even funny. So just to let you guys know, the rest of this entry will be a poem that I have written pertaining to this situation and, well, if you guys don't like the mushy stuff I would suggest you stop reading this now.
Tiffany
Second Chances
Second chances are a joke.
You start off rich and end up broke.
Rekindled love is just a dream.
One could even think it was a scheme.
You are shot down with a beam of light.
The beam of feelings gone out of sight.
Friendship balances on the edge of a knife.
Can we overcome the sadness and strife?
"Try, try, and try again," they say.
"Something good will happen one of these days."
But all that I have in the end is a broken heart.
Even the smallest of the pieces are still coming apart.
The men of my past have torn me to shreds.
You have taken those and turned them to tiny threads.
Who knows what the future could have told?
Who knows what time held hidden in its folds?
Now is the time to find a way to cope.
Now is the time to rediscover hope.
This road has been traveled many times before.
The path is clear and packed to that distant shore.
Maybe there I can find relief.
Put behind me all hatred and grief.
Finding what's inside my heart so grand.
This is the beginning of my master plan.
From there who knows where I will be.
Hopefully, I will be very, very pleased.
Ok. So I'm not off to a good start on my Goals for my blogging experiance, but today I had to go to this Connections presentation on Sex and STD's and I was incredibly sickened and brought to reality as to how these things affect a person's life. I know for a fact that my views on the subject are totally changed! I would suggest reading this blog with a totally open mind because if you don't you are going to think I am totally off my rocker!
The presenters today showed us how easily STD's can change a persons life. When a male or female contracts these diseases they do incredible damage. Nine times out of ten a person won't even know that they have a sexually transmitted disease until it is too late, and because you can't see the disease or know that it is there one can very easily pass the disease on to their partner without even knowing it.
Did you know that you can use a condom and still become infected with an STD? All it takes is one drop or one quick touch before you can have a disease and all of that can happen before a couple even gets to a condom. Or even that the storage of a condom can take lower its effectivness? Well it can! So even using a condom isn't always safe as they say it is.
They also showed us a slide show of some of the diseases and how they affect a person. It is incredibly gross what some of these things look like. The other thing that really grossed me out was the fact that some of the diseases can be contracted in areas other than in your genital area! One example they showed was an example of a guy who had an std on his mouth. He could transmit that disease to whoever he kissed and he could lie to that person and they can come down with the disease just as easily! It was incredible the kind of damage people can have done to them.
They told us that it was sad, but women and children get the worst of it and I agree with them. If a woman contracts one of these diseases she can basically kiss having children goodbye because if it is a viral std there is no way she can have kids without some affect on the child. Now I may be jumping to conclusions here, but that scares me. The fact that someone can actually pass an STD onto a child while they are being born just makes me sick.
Some STD's a person can get are Gonorrhea, Herpes, Syphilis, and Hepatitis B.
There are at least 20 more known STD's out there today. There are more out there yet to be known and thousands of people a day are diagnosed with an STD. If you are sexually active, go and get tested please. It could save your life and the life of your partner.
Here are some sites you can go to to do a little bit of research on the subject or just go to google and type in STD or Sexually Transmitted Disease and you will find a ton of sites to help you!
http://alwaysyourchoice.com/ayc/sex/std/std.php
http://www.niad.nih.gov/factsheets/stdinfo.htm
Ok. I need to start making a sincere effort at keeping this blog up. I have really really slacked off and I think that I deserve a bad grade on the next portfolio for how bad I have slacked. ANY WHO!
Goals:
1) To start making a better effort in reading and keeping up in this class.
2) To start making a blog everyday in order to keep my average in the class up.
3) To start participating more.
Hmm I can't think of anything else I left out. Laters!