It's Time to Say Goodbye!

As the Fall semester comes to an end I reflect back to the beginning of this class and realized how far I have. I learn a lot of new information in this class. I think what new information that took me off guard was the war between the Israeli's and the Palestinian's. I never knew that there was this war going on for years over a piece of  "Holy Land" that was owned over 1,878 years ago by the Palestinian's. I also learned new information on what determines a person to become a democrat and a republican based on certain views. I did not have a clue between the two parties and what made a person a democrat and what made them a republican.

Blog after blog I believed that i have developed a new set of skills. The skills I have developed is to how to debate and squash an opponents side with strong facts and strong arguments. Skills I have acquired in this class was during the news breaks I learned to conduct research that was appropriate for the matter and factual and not a persons opinion.

In the class we discussed our political identities. Before I started this class I had not a clue between the differences between a Democrat and a republican. After learning what each political party stands for I finally understand and took a political identity of a Democrat. I believe that being a Democrat stands for who I am as a person when focusing on most issues but certainly when it comes to the vies of abortion, education, global warming and gun control. What I also learning about myself in this class was the ability to handle an entire class fully based on the web. At first I was extremely nervous that I was not going to have enough time or motivation but I did it and surprised myself a lot!

If I could change something about this class it would have been the discussion boards. Sometimes one or two people would answer the board but it would never seem to spark a debate like i had hoped it would. It seemed like for the most part when a couple of people answered the board we all had the similar feelings towards the topics.

In the future I feel prepared to take on any class because I took this class. I feel well prepared to make strong arguments and handle a large work load. This class showed me how to handle the work load while also working three jobs and going to school full time by taking three other courses. Like I had said earlier, this was my first semester at college and I am glad this class helped me manage my work. This class helped me realize that I can handle it all in a busy work and school life. I can now make efficient and strong arguments when debating with people or when writing a paper due to this class. In my English class the other day I was writing a research paper and one of the paragraphs had to be an argumentative paragraph. My teacher said it was one of the best argumentative paragraphs he's ever seen. That is all thanks to this class!

My favorite topic to write about was about September 11th.
I was only in kindergarten when it happened and I remember it to this day. What fascinated me the most about this topic was the documentary on 9/11. I never knew 9/11 from a politics point of view and only really saw 9/11 as a tragic day in American history. Learning all about Al - Qadea's involvement in American stocks and their friendship with President Bush was absolutely astonishing to me. I really enjoyed this topic during this class.

It has been a very long 15 weeks and I have to say as excited I am to have a winter break I am going to miss this course. This course helped me develop many things such as becoming a Democrat, a hard worker and are strong opinionated person with even stronger arguments.

Drones, Drones, and More Drones

 A drone is designed to fly 10,000 feet in the air without being undetected. Drones can be very helpful to getting the inside scoop on things.  Drones help the US to monitor pollution in areas and help US border patrol to catch illegal immigrants from crossing in the southwest deserts. US drones even fly over countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. There are two types of drones in this world. There are predator drones and there are surveillance drones. A predator drone is designed to help carry missiles and bombs to attack a certain target. A surveillance drone is designed to be small and always carry a camera on them. Some can even be microscopic. But the type of drone that causes the real issues and moral compass's to fly off the hinges are predator drones. Some believe that the US should not being using predator drones because they cause more harm then help. I believe that the US predator drones should be continued to be used to take out dangerous targets from other countries and when it comes to weighing the pros against the cons I believe that the pros indeed do outweigh the cons.

People will argue that drones cause more enemies then create allies. In 2011 a US drone was shot down in Iran. This was very alarming for some people because there were beliefs that the drones technology could be studied and then sold to china to be then later used against the US. Then a year later in 2012 China Displayed 25 drone models. This caused an even greater alarm for the US and those against drones. The people who are against drones will argue that China would not even have that predator drone technology if it was not even created. Those against drones will argue that drones have done more harm to those around then the actual targets. They will argue that since Obama has been in office the number of civilians deaths are larger then the terror targets deaths. This is however not true but the number do remain very close. Since Obama has taken office in 2009 2,200 civilians have been killed by predator drones dropping bombs. I do agree that this is a very high number but it also saves millions of lives around the world and also provides comfort to those who may be on the terrorist attack list next. 

The pros of predator drones out weigh the cons. The pros of predator drones allow the US to help fight the terrorist from different countries and protect the US. If it weren't for these drones the total of civilian deaths would be much larger then just 2,200. Drones are helping national security by getting rid of all the enemies and also helping by cutting the pentagons 10 year budget by downsizing the ground controls like army and navy and increasing more drones. I believe this is an excellent pro to why drones need to be used to target other countries. By using the power of drones we can help control and hopefully eliminate the ongoing threat of terror in the US and other countries. Even Obama himself said "many of the challenges out there can be dealt with by air power, intelligence, special operations, or innovative technologies like drones".

The Holy Land!

Since 70CE the rulers of Israel have been a continuous battle between the Israeli's and Palestinian's. During World War II is when the modern state of Israel was created. This added flames to the conflict between the two groups of people. The modern state of Israel was created in 1948 when the Jewish with the aid of the British and United States defeated the Arab Palestinians out of this land. This angered the Palestinians because they felt that they belonged there and that their own neighbors had allowed other people to kicked them out! The Palestinians want their "home land" back and the Israelis are not giving it up because it was not their "home land" in the first place. In this Conflict the Victim's are the Israelis and the aggressors are the Palestinians.

When talking about this issue among my friend who has some knowledge in this conflict she believes that the Palestinians are the victims and who are being attacked by the Israelis. My friend said, "Palestinians are the victims because Israelis are telling them to leave the land even though Israelis already have control of the land." My friend also states that "Israelis also were bombing Palestinians during Ramadan and were basically watching it from the mountains as people died." What my friends views are stating is that Israeli is this big bully who are forcing people out of their homes and out of  their resources. Hamas a Palestinian terrorist group is not the bad guys but is helping regulate the Gaza territory that Israel is trying to take full control and starve out the Palestinians. Hamas is there to help protect since the Israelis have such a strong military and American power as well that is trying to attack Gaza. While my friend does make a very valid point and I respect her views I however do not agree that Palestinians are the victims here.

Israelis have no choice but to hit Palestinians with the same force as the Palestinians hit the Israelis with. Many will argue that Israeli has the right to this land because it is their hold land. That however, is not why I believe that Israeli is the victim. Israeli is the victim because the Palestinians are the real big bully with the attacks from the terrorist group Hamas. The Hamas is the Palestinians military force but Hamas is nothing like a military. Hamas is a terrorist group. A terrorist group is a group that inflict terror upon people because they do not like them. Hamas is a bully and does not fight fair as they continue to fire rocket attacks and send suicide bombers into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. When it comes to Israel controlling the trading in the Gaza Strip it is fear of the Palestinians importing weapons to attack the Israelis. This fear is inflicted from the Terrorist group Hamas! I believe that once a terrorist group is involved it no longer becomes a war or conflict. It becomes an issue of a big bully trying to scare off the people from the land by harming and killing
innocent lives.

To Vote or Not To Vote Trump. This is the Question.

As we approach 2016, the race is on for our next president. We have at least 3 major democratic candidates and at least 15 major republican candidates running for this years election. When it comes to the Republican debates on T.V one name seems to rise above all and be the name everyone gives attention to. He leads the polls for about 107 days now and is about the 20% for support from the people. His name is Donald Trump. When it comes to election day I will be voting no to Trump and I hope you do too!

According to the Republican people Donald Trump is just what this country needs. Trump supports free enterprise and favors less regulation of the market. This is what the Republicans want! Less government and more people orientated. The Republican people believe that Trump can make America great again. They believe that because trump was bankrupt four times he can get America out of Trillions dollars of debt. Trump even says "I've used bankruptcy laws to do a great job for my companies." Trump also says that, "We own $19 trillion and we need a businessman to bring us back."

Trump does not deserve to be the president of the United States. The Republican people will argue and say that he is great for our economy and our business and that is what we need right now. I do agree with rebuilding our economy and the business but Trump is not the guy for that. Trump is a businessman and a television personality not president material. Trump does not believe that immigrants should live here in this country. He believes that they cause crime and that "our prisons bursting with illegals." This just goes to show that Trump does not like change and helping those in need. Trump also shows inappropriate and child like behavior for all of the world to see. On many occasions Trump has taken to Twitter to air his 'dirty laundry' as they like to say. On November 12 of this year, Trump tweeted out that "Total fool @KarlRose is part of the Republican establishment problem. An all talk no action dummy." Trump also tweets out inappropriate tweets towards woman as well. He once sent a tweet to Arianna Huffington saying, "@ariannahuff is unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man- he made a good decision." Just because your the type of person to say how you feel does not give you the right to be rude, disrespectful and share it to the whole world. These are qualities a great United States President would NEVER have. America does not need Donald Trump to be their president when he cannot even respect the people that live here. Vote NO for Trump.

Guns Don't Kill People, The Loose Laws of Gun Control Kill People.

When it comes to guns in America there needs to be stricter laws and regulations. The actual guns in America are not the issue. The people who own and the way they obtain the guns are the issue. The numbers behind the
gun deaths backs up the reason for more stricter gun laws. 87 people die per day from guns and in 2011 11,346 people died from gun deaths. The laws the allow to require guns need to be more strict when regarding background checks and where you can buy guns. For example preventing people like the two men Adam Lanza and James Holmes who killed innocent adults and children from legally obtaining guns. The laws that regard when it is acceptable to use your gun like stand your ground laws also need to be rewritten so there's no way to abuse this law like it already have been. For example in the Trayvon Martin case. 

According to the second amendment “the right of the people to keep and bare arms shall not be infringed”. The law abiding republicans believe this law is perfect and helps prevent violence. Republicans argue that you have every right to protect yourself and every right to pass laws to obtain a gun. Each state has their own ability to write and pass gun laws. With this ability it allows laws to be a strict and as loose as they want when it comes to background checks and ‘stand your ground’ laws. All of these gun laws in the eyes of the republican’s are “just fine” and there's no fixing needed. 

America as a whole needs to get on the same page when it comes to gun laws. Guns will never not be available to the public. So instead of trying to get rid of the guns, there needs to be strict and concrete laws for the public to follow. I do believe that having tight dr gun laws will all guns to not fall into the hands of those who do not respect guns. The solution is taking basic laws involving background checks and making them become the same intensive and strict background all around the United States. When it comes to the stand you ground laws and protecting yourself they need to clearly state that, a person should not aim to kill and aim only to harm. By allowing the law to only harm people and not go for the kill it can allow for cases like Trayvon  Martins to not become a one sided story because Trayvon would be able to speak for himself and be able to tell a jury what happened that night as well. Stopping the publics access to guns in America is impossible but preventing unwanted deaths and murders is possible. 

A Greener Earth is a Cleaner Earth

There are two types of energy issues In this world, Global warming and climate change. Global warming is a man made energy crisis and climate change is the natural causes behind the earths warming. Fossil fuels have been around for the past 100 years helping power industries and transportation. Scientist say that these fossil fuels the release carbon dioxide which create greenhouses gases. When a person speaks about global warming these greenhouse gasses are what has caused the climate changes in the environment. However when a person speaks about climate changes that person believes that the climate has been changing since the 1970’s when the cloud decreased by one to two percent. When it comes to preventing these greenhouse gasses it depends on whether you view the environment changes are global warming or climate changes 

Those who are a climate change kind of person believe that the earths warming is natural causing. A republican’s point of view is the the earth is going through natural changes and these fossil fuels do no damage and help American survive. According to a group who opposes regulation of greenhouses gasses called Heartland, believes that kids are being taught controversial curriculum saying that “humans are changing the climate”. Republicans believe that fossil fuels are a major part in helping the economy and the environment. They believe that the XL Pipeline will help the economy in a major way. What the republicans didn't realize that this pipeline will cause great harm to the environment.

I am a global warming person. I believe that these fossil fuels are destroying the the earths environment. Without drastic change by 50%  in 2025 the fossil fuel won't matter anymore because the greenhouse gasses have cause the earth to become extremely hot. These fossil fuels are not natural causing the warming of the earth. For instance look at the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused a pipeline to break and pollute the ocean. This giant oil spill endangered the animals, their habitats and the water around them. By allowing the XL pipeline just sets up a disaster like the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This pipeline is not something that will help the economy and the environment. It will just help improve the economy while ruining the environment. The pipeline will create 200,000 jobs and create $5 billion in tax revenue for the economy. What the republicans don't see is the environment issues that happen while building and using this pipeline. Getting to the bottom of the Sandhills in Nebraska would be extremely messy and create a “apocalyptic landscape”. The pipeline will cause health risks by contaminating the drinking water reservoir next to the pipe when something goes wrong. In the end America needs to start heading towards cleaner energy like solar, hydro and water energy.  America needs to be able to make sacrifices to give up money and help pay for cleaner options to save ourselves and our planet. 

Obamacare

On October 23rd 2015 the Republican House of Representatives decided to vote against Obamacare with a "reconciliation bill". This is not fair to the American people. Obamacare is a law to help those in need of health insurance. It helps Americans to find affordable health insurance and also improve the quality of overall health care in the United States. Part of Obamacare in the Health Insurance Marketplace. This allows Americans to find and enroll in the best affordable insurance for their families or companies. Also thanks to Obamacare, insurance companies can no longer reject you or your family if someone has an underlying or sudden illness. Obamacare also allows specific savings in Medicare without affecting the coverage and quality of the health insurance.

According to the Republican House of Representatives Obamacare is " an attack on our constitution". They believe that Obamacare is just another reason for the government to get involved where they don't belong.  As a Republican House of Representative believes that health care should remain private. On October 23rd the House of Representatives voted on a "Reconciliation bill" to get rid of a main part of Obamacare. The bill wants to get rid of the "independent Payment Advisory Board". The board helps handling the savings in Medicare without affecting coverage and quality. Well the Republicans believe that the government should control trillions of dollars of federal money. This bill is considered considered a fast track bill which means in can pass the U.S Senate vote with only 51 votes instead of 60. Currently the U.S Senate has a 54-64 Majority towards the Republicans.

When it comes to Obamacare I believe this is one of the best outcomes from President Obama's terms. Obamacare helps American citizens. Yes the government is involved a lot more then some would like in this issue but it is for the better. The government is helping the economy become more affordable when it comes to things that we need, like health insurance. Obamacare helps the citizens of American finally get afforadable and reasonable health care.

The Post 9/11 World and How we Live It

President Bush after receiving the news that "America
Is under attack"

The terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001 in America will forever change the way the citizens live their lives socially and economically. 19 Members of Al-Qaeda hi-jacked four planes. Two out of the four planes crashed purposely into the Twin Towers in New York City, New York. The third plane had crashed purposely into the Pentagon and the fourth plane was taken over by civilians and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The after math of 9/11 was devastation and destruction around America. 9/11 Caused so many people to be afraid of flying and caused a lot of damaged in property in the areas where the planes had hit. The after math of 9/11 caused US troops to invade Iraq to find Saddam Hussein, the face of Al-Qaeda. This lead to the longest war the United States of America has ever been involved. It led to $6.4 Billion of American money being spent every month in Afghanistan and over 1,800 US Fatalities. As the post 9/11 war is over we still have troops over in Iraq and Afghanistan to this very day. In order to help keep the citizens of the US safe the Bush administration created the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act allows federal and local agencies to search any personal records such as emails and phone records without a court approved search warrant. Some people may say that all of this post 9/11 solutions is uncalled for and against the liberty of the people.

In the post 9/11 world some people believe that Bush's administration did it all wrong. According to Ron Paul he believes that the Patriot Act is considered " Unpatriotic and undermines our liberty". People also believe that no matter what you do, the threat of a terrorist attack is never going to go away. Even after 9/11 there were many threats of people running around with poisonous pens like in the James Bond movies. Even now in 2015 in Boston after the Boston Marathon Bombing there were threats of another bombing going to happen around the fourth of July celebration. This Patiort Act doesn't help stop these threats so therefore it is useless and against our liberty.

Growing up in a post 9/11 world I will never know what it is like to not be under a terrorist attack threat. I was only in kindergarten when those to planes hit the towers. What I do know is that nothing extreme like 9/11 will ever happen again because of the precautions George W. Bush took to keep this Country safe. However I am not for the war in Iraq or president Bush. When it comes to the post 9/11 world I find myself on the liberal side of the patriot act and the war. America is safer to
day because of the patriot act. It allows the government to look into any suspicious activity without alarming the person they are looking at. When it comes to winning the "war on terror" I believe that as for America we look strong and we disrupted the Al-Qaeda network by killing Osama Bin Laden. But the threat of a terror attack will always be around and the "war on terror" will always be alive because Al-Qaeda is not dead. 

Citizens United Act Changing Campaigns Since 2008

 Citizens United was an act passed by the Supreme Court in 2008. This act gave big corporations and organizations the free speech to say and do whatever they want just like the general public when regarding political campaigns. This act allows billionaire corporations and people to donate to non-affiliated political campaigns as much as they like. This act also allows Super PACS, Political Action Committees, to spend as much money as they want on campaigns either  for good or bad. Corporations and people with billions of dollars should not be able to control the entire political campaign. Just because they have money to wave around and need to get rid of it because it’s burning a hole in their pocket. Greed and Money with power is not what America is about.

The power of money causes Super PACs to produce whatever campaign ads they like. Most of these ads tend to be hateful and unrealistic ads against their opponent. While the citizen united act does state that Super PACs should not coordinate with the donors about the campaigns they still do. In 2012 pro Romney PACs were putting out anti Gingrich ads in Iowa. This led to Gingrich’s polls to drop dramatically because of these attack ads. Sometimes the power of the money can also be from people that may want favors in return. As Gingrich and Romney made their way to South Carolina, there were many pro Gingrich ads. These ads were created by Gingrich’s Super PAC. These were funded by Sheldon Adelson with the $10 million he gave to this PAC. Adelson spent so much money on Gingrich’s campaign there is a very high and likely chance he would like to have a say once Gingrich becomes president.  More republicans also tend to spend a lot of money on the Super PACs of their choosing. In 2012 $38 Million dollars was spent on republican campaigns alone. While in Florida pro Romney there were 12,768 TV commercials being shown. Pro Gingrich ads were only at 210 TV commercials being show.

Some will argue that Super PACs are great for democracy and we need them. They will say Super PACs are transparent. By being transparent they mean that all of the Super PACs information is public information, due to free speech and all. This allows you to understand and learn about the donors past and present. Those who believe super PACs are great say that they help remind us how corrupt the government really is. Super PACs show us that individual donors are 80% of their money raised. Those for Citizens United that it is great for educating voters and helps spread awareness.

            I found myself continuing to flip flop between the liberal and conservative viewpoint on the topic of Super PACs. As I continued reading on about the PACs and watching the videos about the big corporations and organizations I found myself slightly leaning towards the liberal viewpoint of these issues. I see the hateful Super PAC ads and I cannot help but say to myself that cannot be legal. Unfortunality it is true, the United Citizens act allowed these giant corporations and organizations to put out these hate ads and most of it is not true. What I find even worse about these hate ads, most people end up believing what the ads are saying. I do not think these hate ads are fair. Just because you have all the money in the world so to speak, that does not mean you can create hurtful and untruthful campaign ads to win. I strongly believe you need to have a clean and fair campaign to win. How could you vote for someone who can create untruthful ads and not have remorse? Would you want a president who could lie to you so easily?

 

 

Me, Myself and I

Left to right: Cameron, Courtney,
 myself and Cassidy (June 2013)

Hi my name is Kayleen Anusevitch and I currently live in Malden, but I used to live in many different places, such as, Woburn, Massachusetts and many cities in Florida. I am the oldest of my three siblings and the first one in my family to go to college! I am studying education in hopes of becoming my own teacher one day. I like to consider myself a very easy going, passionate and open person. I never judge a book by its cover and I am a firm believer in the golden rule, "treat others the way you want to be treated".

My Friends and I at a Bruins
Game on St. Patty's Day (March 2015)

During the months of late September to early April you will find me in front of my TV watching every single Boston Bruin game. I am a true, bleed black and gold Bruins fan. Not one of those "oh my god he's so hot" bandwagon fan! I never did play ice hockey, I wish I did. When I went to my first hockey game back in 2010 I instantly fell in love, the crowd chanting "Let's Go Bruins". The quickness of the players feet skating up and down the ice was mesmerizing I never wanted to leave the TD Garden. Besides my love for hockey, I also enjoy spending my time volunteering at the James L. Mckeown Boys and Girls Club of Woburn. I spent all of my time at "the club" from middle school till the day I graduated high school. I give back to the club for all of the things they have given me to help me grow into the successful and thoughtful adult that I am today. 

In this picture is my boys and girls club family.
 This picture is from when I received the highest award
that they give out each year, which is the "Youth of the Year" Award.
This award is given to someone who best represents what the
club is all about which is giving back to others, a great role model for
the children and goes above and beyond everything that they do.

I have many goals that I would like to achieve in my lifetime. I believe that it is very important to have short term and long term goals.Sometimes you can lose sight of your long term goals and quickly forget why you made them in the first place. That is why you should always make short term goals to help you stay focused and keep on the right track. One of my short term goals for this year is to achieve and maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher this term. A long term goal that is effected by that short term goal is that I wish to transfer to a 4 year college after my two years at Bunker Hill and in order to transfer schools I feel that it is most helpful if you have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Another short term goal that I set for myself is to go above and beyond as a lead teacher at work at the after school program. A long term goal that will be the outcome of me being successful with that short term goal is to get a promotion and become the site coordinator at my job.

I hope after reading this blog you understand me and the way I live my life, as a passionate and caring person. Always remember, "Be who you are and say what you feel, Because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind" -Dr.Seuss