In the final days of this campaign season you may hear about ACORN in our news. No not the fabled nut treasured by furry forest rodents, but this seasons voting scandal. In addition to ACORN is voter-suppression, unfortunately there is no furry creature that utterly loves voter suppression. Neither do voters.
I reiterate again that ACORN is not something that falls from an oak tree, but instead the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a non-profit organization whose goal is to increase voter registration. ACORN pays people to go out and recruit unregistered voters however these individuals have found it much easier to just make up fake voters or register people multiple times trough ACORN reaping the buckets of money that im sure a nonprofit pays them... This causes some problems considering people who don't exist can vote. Acorn is being accused of fraudulent voter registration because of this.
Voter suppression does not sound nearly as funny as its squirrel related counterpart in the media. However it does not deserve a silly name because this tactic used by political parties is harsh and unreasonable. Voter- suppression is when the act of voting is made into an intimidating , or difficult task for certain demographics or geographical areas. It is done so that the people in these areas will avoid voting. This is achieved by neglected polling centers, or by making it unaccessible to some people. One type of suppression could be Republican or Democrat suppression either parties suppressing strategic areas that they know will vote for the opposite party. Voter- suppression occurred when the Jim Crow Laws were passed making it impossible for black people to vote. Voter-suppression denies people the right to vote which is everyones fundamental right.
When you hear on the news of ACORN do not get exited at the prospect of Native American cuisine, think scandal. One scandal allows people to vote multiple times (ACORN)wile the other (voter- suppression) causes people not to vote at all. Could the two be used strategically?
Sources:
The New York Times, "The Acorn Story", Published October 16, 2008, Accessed October 28, 2008.
The New York Times, "States' Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal", Ian Urbina, Published October 8, 2008, Accessed October 28, 2008.
The Wall Street Journal Online, "Justice and Vote Fraud", Published October 27, 2008, Accessed October 28, 20
Animals Of The Forest, "What Squirrels Eat", Published October 9, 2008, Accessed October 28, 2008.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Southern Reconstruction (Blog 10)
Modern day issues in the countries southern states can be dated back to civil war era problems. Poor success in education,and a high level of poverty points to the poorly done reconstruction of the south post civil war, setting back many of the southern states namely; Louisiana, Alabama, Arkensas, and Mississippi almost 150 years later.
The reconstruction of the south began after the civil war ended and slavery was abolished. The south's entire lively hood was walking off of their plantations as the slaves were free to go. As told by a civil war historian "Slavery was the first great sin of this nation. The second greatest sin was emancipation, or rather the way it was done. The government told 4 million people 'hit the road you are free to go' three quarters of them could not read or write. The tiniest fraction of them had any profession they could enter." Since there was no rehabilitation for slaves or compensation for slave owners the south suddenly found itself full of impoverished white men, and uneducated freed slaves. The government did not effectively rehabilitate the south after the abolishment of slavery. Considering that most of the southern states doubled as battlefields during the war many of the towns were in desperate need of repair
Even though the slaves were freed of their owners when the Jim Crow laws were instated it seemed as though they where given no chance to move up in the world. The laws put restrictions on marriage, schooling, seating on buses, even banning Negroes from using white peoples water fountains. Some of the Jim Crow laws were "“Marriages are void when one party is a white person and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more Negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.” (Nebraska, 1911). In addition to these laws where “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” (Missouri, 1929). These laws essentially segregated whites from blacks, causing racist factions to form like the Ku Klux Klan. There was no attempt to ween the blacks into normal American society. This racial segregation caused the south to fall behind the rest of America.
Currently southern states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky are the lowest three states with a percentage of people 25 and over who have a high school diploma. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas are the last five states according to ranking of the percentage of people age 16 to 64 in the labor force.
The abolishment of slavery was suppose to put the country on good terms between all people, instead it deteriorated the southern infrastructure. It can be said that- “...a part of American history that isn't easy to face. It tells us that we had a moment in our history when our politics broke down. We don't like to face that. We don't even want to know about it. We like to believe we are a society of security and progress and improvement. Reconstruction makes us face an era when we were something else.”
Sources:
"Abolition & Slavery - American Civil War - CivilWar.com." Home - American Civil War - CivilWar.com. http://www.civilwar.com/content/section/38/70/ (accessed October 2, 2008).
Blight, David. "Q&A: Southern Violence During Reconstruction." PBS; American Experience, Reconstruction: The Second Civil War. www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/40acres/sf_ violence.html#c (accessed October 1, 2008).
"Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal." National Museum of American History. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html (accessed October 1, 2008).
"United States and States - R1501. Percent of People Who Have Completed High School (Includes Equivalency)." American FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1501&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-format=US-30 (accessed October 1, 2008).
"United States and States - R2301. Percent of People 16 to 64 Years Who Are in the Labor Force (Including Armed Forces)." American FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R2301&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_R1501_US30 (accessed October 1, 2008).
Forsyth, Ana. "Ana's Blog". http://anaforsythe.blogspot.com/ (accessed October 2, 2008).
The reconstruction of the south began after the civil war ended and slavery was abolished. The south's entire lively hood was walking off of their plantations as the slaves were free to go. As told by a civil war historian "Slavery was the first great sin of this nation. The second greatest sin was emancipation, or rather the way it was done. The government told 4 million people 'hit the road you are free to go' three quarters of them could not read or write. The tiniest fraction of them had any profession they could enter." Since there was no rehabilitation for slaves or compensation for slave owners the south suddenly found itself full of impoverished white men, and uneducated freed slaves. The government did not effectively rehabilitate the south after the abolishment of slavery. Considering that most of the southern states doubled as battlefields during the war many of the towns were in desperate need of repair
Even though the slaves were freed of their owners when the Jim Crow laws were instated it seemed as though they where given no chance to move up in the world. The laws put restrictions on marriage, schooling, seating on buses, even banning Negroes from using white peoples water fountains. Some of the Jim Crow laws were "“Marriages are void when one party is a white person and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more Negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.” (Nebraska, 1911). In addition to these laws where “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” (Missouri, 1929). These laws essentially segregated whites from blacks, causing racist factions to form like the Ku Klux Klan. There was no attempt to ween the blacks into normal American society. This racial segregation caused the south to fall behind the rest of America.
Currently southern states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky are the lowest three states with a percentage of people 25 and over who have a high school diploma. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas are the last five states according to ranking of the percentage of people age 16 to 64 in the labor force.
The abolishment of slavery was suppose to put the country on good terms between all people, instead it deteriorated the southern infrastructure. It can be said that- “...a part of American history that isn't easy to face. It tells us that we had a moment in our history when our politics broke down. We don't like to face that. We don't even want to know about it. We like to believe we are a society of security and progress and improvement. Reconstruction makes us face an era when we were something else.”
Sources:
"Abolition & Slavery - American Civil War - CivilWar.com." Home - American Civil War - CivilWar.com. http://www.civilwar.com/content/section/38/70/ (accessed October 2, 2008).
Blight, David. "Q&A: Southern Violence During Reconstruction." PBS; American Experience, Reconstruction: The Second Civil War. www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/40acres/sf_ violence.html#c (accessed October 1, 2008).
"Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal." National Museum of American History. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html (accessed October 1, 2008).
"United States and States - R1501. Percent of People Who Have Completed High School (Includes Equivalency)." American FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1501&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-format=US-30 (accessed October 1, 2008).
"United States and States - R2301. Percent of People 16 to 64 Years Who Are in the Labor Force (Including Armed Forces)." American FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R2301&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_R1501_US30 (accessed October 1, 2008).
Forsyth, Ana. "Ana's Blog". http://anaforsythe.blogspot.com/ (accessed October 2, 2008).
Monday, October 20, 2008
Newspaper reflection
First of all I want to say that my groups newspaper came out looking really professional looking. I was incredibly proud of the final product, and even prouder of the effort it took to get there. I personally contributed a very fair amount to our group. The biggest chunk of my contribution was my article analyzing the debate tactics uses by both Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. This took up the majority of my time as i also formatted it on the page of our newspaper, added a headline, and made it as aesthetically pleasing as i could. After finishing my article I helped Jacob our group computer wizz come up with other headlines and captions for various articles and pictures on the page. I also had a say in choosing which picture of Abraham Lincoln we used.
I am most proud of the whole layout of the newspaper, including the name of it, the headlines, and the photos we used. The final product looked very professional, almost as if it were a legitimate newspaper. I give Jacob a lot of credit for our newspaper looking so good. I am proud that i had helped make a newspaper of that caliber.
If I had done this project over I would have spent more time on my article adding more evidence to support my claims and analysis. Though it looks very good I do not think it is my best quality work as i did write it in a rush. To help make my work better i would take advantage of the time given to us in class to review and revise our work with our peers. I think it would also help to have a better understanding of the Lincoln/ Douglas debates as i was struggling to understand much of the stuff that they were saying.
I think that this project was a great way to collaborate and understand the debates as well as news style writing techniques and layouts. I really enjoyed this project as a whole.
I am most proud of the whole layout of the newspaper, including the name of it, the headlines, and the photos we used. The final product looked very professional, almost as if it were a legitimate newspaper. I give Jacob a lot of credit for our newspaper looking so good. I am proud that i had helped make a newspaper of that caliber.
If I had done this project over I would have spent more time on my article adding more evidence to support my claims and analysis. Though it looks very good I do not think it is my best quality work as i did write it in a rush. To help make my work better i would take advantage of the time given to us in class to review and revise our work with our peers. I think it would also help to have a better understanding of the Lincoln/ Douglas debates as i was struggling to understand much of the stuff that they were saying.
I think that this project was a great way to collaborate and understand the debates as well as news style writing techniques and layouts. I really enjoyed this project as a whole.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Nebraska??
Palin's visit to Omaha draws thousands
This article talks abut Sara Palin's seemingly unusual visit to the fire-engine red state of Nebraska. Her alibi was simply "I wanted to come to Nebraska!" The question is why come so late in the campaign, it is almost a given that Nebraska be a shoe-in. However there may be more here than meets the eye.As it turns out her visit was more of a defensive move against the Obama/Biden Campaign. since 1964 all five of Nebraska's electoral votes have gone to the republican party. Unlike most states though, Nebraska can actually split its electoral votes. This means that since the Obama Campaign is campaigning heavily in the state, McCain and Palin actually run the risk of losing electoral votes in the heartland of America.
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