Translate

Friday, April 24, 2015

War Powers of the President

The president is a very important figure in the U.S. military. As commander and chief, he controls a significant part of the militarys actions in times of war. In the constitution, article 1 section 8 clause 11 says that Congress can declare war, and the president directs the war. Article 2 section 2 of the Constitution names the president commander in chief. These two sections require that Congress and the president work together in war time, with congress declaring and funding war, while the president directs it. Over time the president's powers over our military have been expanded beyond what the constitution originally allowed through the 20th and 21st amendments. These amendments allowed the president to deploy troops without congressional approval. This power was given to the president during the cold war because it was believed it would make the country less vulnerable to attack because we could react and deploy troops more easily. This was used to start the Korean War,  Vietnam War,  and many other conflicts. To combat the president's ability to deploy troops without approval, Congress passed the War Powers Act which required the president to alert congress within 48 hours of deploying troops and he must withdraw the troops within 60 days if he does not get Congressional approval. This act prevented the president from having total control over the U.S. army.

Friday, March 6, 2015

World Poverty

            Poverty is a huge issue around the world, affecting billions of people. In America we are relatively isolated from extreme poverty, which makes us much less aware of and sympathetic for people who suffer from poverty. About half of the world lives on less than $2.50 a day, and about one sixth of the world live on less than $1.25 a day. This means these people barely have enough money to provide food for themselves and their families, forget common luxuries that we have in America like cars and electronics.

            One of the effects poverty around the world, is people living in poverty cannot afford sufficient shelter or clean water. One billion people around the world do not have access to clean water, which can lead to deadly waterborne illnesses. These illnesses are often treatable, but those who are forced to drink unclean water usually cannot afford medical treatment.  This cycle makes it very difficult for those in poverty to remain healthy. In many tropical countries that have high poverty rates, also suffer from malaria which is one of the biggest killers in the world.
           As you can see, poverty is a huge problem around the world. People on every continent suffer from it, even in some of the richest nations on earth. Although it may be impossible to help all people who are in poverty, it can be helped immensely by charity and other efforts.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Lord of the Flies



            In Lord of the Flies for a large section of the book, it is unclear who the protagonist of the book is. When the book begins it has two main characters that emerge from the jungle first. “The beach between the palm terrace and the water was a thin stick, endless apparently, for to Ralph’s left the perspectives of palm and beach and water drew to a point at infinity; and always, almost visible, was the heat.” It seems that these two boys would naturally become the protagonists, but later Simon and Jack also seem fit for the role of protagonist. Later in the book when Simon and Piggy die, it seems like Ralph is the protagonist and Jack is the antagonist, but I do not entirely agree with that. I think the book was not a story about good guys and bad guys, I think it was more about human morality and how we act without authority or threat of punishment. The protagonist was the entire group and the antagonist was the group’s slow decay.
            One thing in this book that is different from most other survival books about this book is that there are never any threats to the groups lives except for themselves. Most of the time in books like this there is a famine or a hurricane, something that threatens the wellbeing of the characters in the book but in Lord of the Flies there is never anything like that. They even make up their own threat in their imaginations in the book. “He still says he saw the beastie. It came and went away again an’ came back and wanted to eat him” I believe the reason William Golding did not add something like that, is so the book would show how a group would decay on its own without authority. I think that the group probably would have remained more united if there had been a threat. They would have had a common enemy so they would not have become enemies of each other.
            I think that the overall theme of this book is the importance of authority and rules. When people learn that there is nothing stopping them from doing whatever they want, the entire idea of remaining civilized is ignored and replaced with greed and a grab for power. On the island when they attempt to make rules, it fails because they have no way to enforce the rules. Everyone on the island has an even amount of power, so no one is in a position to enforce rules.