Bellringer 8/29/14

I think the parents are partially to blame for allowing their child with such a high caliber weapon as an Uzi. I personally believe that nine year old children, male or female, should be allowed to shoot guns at a shooting range that are to their caliber and won't create problems in the recoil. Automatic weapons such as Uzis shouldn't be allowed in the hands of any children or citizen unless they are military personal; the problems with the gun safety issue is that people think its either all guns or no guns. Honestly, military grade weapons like automatic weapons should exist only in the military and civilian level guns like shotguns or rifles should be allowed if people wanted them.

Bellringer 8/28/14

The first article talks about the legislative branch and how it operates. It talks about the different parts that consist of Congress including Senate and House of Representatives.
The second article speaks about the rules of the president and his cabinet. It defines responsibilities of the president as well.
Third article is about the judical branch and how that operates; this includes lower courts as well as the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court justices can hold offices for life unless impeached, removed, or convicted of a crime. Right to trial by jury is also mentioned.
Fourth Article gives an outline of how federal and state laws interact and how to bring more states to the union.
Fifth Article recognized the imperfect sight of the Founding Fathers for a perfect government so this article speaks about how to amend or change the Constitution in any way. Two thirds of Congress has to agree to propose an amendment and three fourths of states to make amendment.
Sixth Article says that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land and is the highest law. Federal and state judges must uphold this document in every way possible.
Seventh Article mentions the ratification and establishment of this document. In this section all the names of the men who signed it are in the Constitution.

Bellringer 8/27/14

There are students from North Carolina State University that have developed a type of nail polish that detects date rape drugs to prevent sexual assault. The way this nail polish works is that a person stirs a drink and if a date rape drug is in it then the nail polish changes color. This is a way to prevent the rape culture or reduce the sexual assault at universities. This is a good idea that would decrease the amount of sexual assault. There might be drawbacks that include upping drugs or finding different drugs that can't be detected.

Bellringer 8/26/14

Since the knowledge of a militant group from the Islamic State in Syria has become widespread the U.S. has authorized surveillance flights over the area to locate the regime. The plan is to have intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions within the Syrian borders to try and oppress this military regime that operates in both Iraq and Syria. Although President Obama has not confirmed what actions would be taken, it is believed to be an increase of airstrikes within the Middle-East and these two countries in particular. They also plan to attack and undermine the support for this regime by the Sunnis.

Bellringer 8/25/14

Northeastern California was hit with a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that rattled many stores. It mainly hit the Napa Valley including San Francisco and the wineries or olive oil stores. With the drought that is still going this earthquake put a major deficit in the wine industry and an overall loss of about $100 million worth of business revenue in the surrounding area. The earthquake is the biggest in the area in 25 years and many historic buildings are deemed unsafe to enter right now. There is the possibilities for aftershocks and therefore Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency to help relieve some of the residents and make sure everyone is safe.

All along the state of California there are breaks in the Earth's surface that might rub against each other and spring up suddenly, these breaks are called faults and the exact location of the springs are called fault lines
An initial report is out right now that this earthquake was caused by the Franklin fault line. The most dangerous fault line in California is usually the San Andreas fault line and it is also the most famous. There might be an actual conclusion of which fault caused the earthquake within a few days.

Bellringer 8/22/14

       Within the nation of America there are many organizations and systems that fail and are big problems. These problems are ones that have existed and persisted throughout many generations to escalate into a behemoth. Three of the most prominent problems are lack of leadership within politics, racism, and police brutality.

     Everyone complains about the government and with good reason, the functionality of American government has fallen into the gutter bowl. It is not so much the people in general but the lack of dispersed leadership in each branch and level of government including local, state, and federal. A way to fix this is dissolve the government into an anarchy and start over with some new leaders or just take the ones that aren't listening to other people out of office and have a new generation of leaders produce a better environment.

      As the older generations pass away and lose their voice the new generations take up the mantle and change the tone of what the public says. Although this is a common theme we do not live in a post-racism society because with the new tone the generations keep racism alive by the jokes and gestures. The topic of racism is always brought up during school when teachers talk about the Civil Rights movement but we never explore the subject more than textual analysis; there is nothing taught about it since it happened in the "past." A way to fix the present situation of racism is to raise more awareness, try to deplore people from making racist jokes, and to spread the message of loving your neighbor as we love ourselves.


The next topic goes almost hand in hand with racism since most police brutality incidents occur because of racism. This can especially be seen in the NYPD police force that has a horrid reputation for attacking African-Americans that pose no official threat and are unarmed; such as the case of Eric Garner where a caring black man who had just broken up a fight was murdered by four police officers that didn't even get charged. There is also the case of Trayvon Marin that shows how assumptions and prejudices have created a divide between police protection and abuse of power by police officers. Police brutality has wide ranges and spreads across the whole nation. A way to fix this is to stop the idea of racism and to give some form of punishment to the officers that attack without any reason.

All three of these are very prominent problems that occur every day to normal people and affect the entire population of the U.S. The lack of leadership in the government has created a faulty government that barely functions together. Racism is barely glazed by teachers and the general population keeps it alive in many different ways including jokes. Police brutality creates a public that is afraid of the very people that are supposed to protect them in any situation they can.  Perhaps these problems won't be fixed in a quick fashion but they need to be fixed soon in order for America to thrive at her best.

Bellringer 8/21/14

http://www.alsa.org/news/archive/ice-bucket-challenge.html

http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082114.html



I think the ice bucket challenge is a good idea and concept but the overall execution is becoming a different animal to tackle. I believe it has a specific purpose and awareness since there has been almost a 39 million dollar increase of charity funds towards ALS disease. I feel that the challenge was a good starting idea to bring awareness to the disease but it has blown more into a game of tag then a helpful way of awareness.

Bellringer 8/2/14

This article talks about the corporate taxes and how America is raising taxes for corporations. It talks about a certain company that went overseas for lower taxes. The article also talks about how some multinational companies are owning the world economy by their movements.

The purpose of taxes is to create and have money for different national programs or institutions.

I believe the people that have the most money need to pay the most taxes to contribute the most to the nation as a whole.

Michael Brown Shooting BR 8/19/14

1. Local police made the mistake of shooting an unarmed kid named Michael Brown. 

Another mistake that was made was to increase police force and allow for some police brutality within the town of Ferguson.

2. Excessive force is an increase of aggression or violence towards a person without any instigation on the victim's part. I do believe that excessive force was used in this case because of the increase of violence of Ferguson and the surrounding counties including the police using tear gas on citizens. 

3. I would bring together the people and let them talk it out politely and have them come to a general consensus and agreement on the issue. 

Bellringer. Letter to myself

Dear John,

By the end of the school year I will learn how to work more efficiently and will have handled an exceptional workload. I also want to socialize more and reach out to more people to help friends with anything they need. I will graduate from high school and continue on to college.I want to learn more about the world and how it operates as well as more scholastic things like math. I hope to improve my math skills and also improve my work ethics to a degree that is always growing to more potential. The only thing I want to change about my school year and myself is how to create a balance between my work and social life and also my money handling skills.
In a year from this date, I see myself preparing for college and or meeting my new roommate for college. I will have written all my essays for college and be proud of them and the college I go to. In college I will strive for my best and ask questions when I don't understand something.I will also do my best to actually write long-handed letters to all my friends wherever they may be. My expectations will be and are to work hard and not slack off on what work I complete and to enjoy my life as best I can. Another expectation I hold for myself is to not lose my character or personality in any setting at any time, no matter what. Plus I will always be there for the people that I care about. 

Smile Always,
John Terwilliger

Bellringer, Letter to yourself

Dear John,

By the end of the school year I will learn how to work more efficiently and will have handled an exceptional workload. I also want to socialize more and reach out to more people to help friends with anything they need. I will graduate from high school and continue on to college.
In a year from this date, I see myself preparing for college and or meeting my new roommate for college. I will have written all my essays for college and be proud of them and the college I go to. In college I will strive for my best and ask questions when I don't understand something. My expectations will be and are to work hard and not slack off on what work I complete and to enjoy my life as best I can.

Smile Always,
John Terwilliger