Tying the Boston bombing back to the roots of terrorism in these United States

As you know since the 90's Americans have been on the lookout for potential terrorists and terrorist organizations, this has become even more true after the recent Boston bombing. They targeted life. "They targeted liberty. Now somebody has attacked pursuit of happiness", says Ron Fournier of the National Journal. As we can see terrorists prefer to hit us at home, such is the case with 9/11 and the beltway sniper, they targeted everyday people in and effort to take Americans loved ones and their peace of mind. Terrorists work in a sort of almost unstoppable way, being only a few people that get into the country undetected can make an impact large enough to rock the nation. "knee-buckling blows that led to an obsession over domestic security", is how Ron Fournier describes the terrorist attacks made on Americans in the last 20 years. We have all seen the jumps in security, from schools to airports, people seem to be more alert and almost paranoid of what could happen at any given time. We live in a constant state of alert, and try as hard as we do we will most likely never be able to stop the few that slip through wishing to cause our nation harm.

http://mobile.nationaljournal.com/politics/why-boston-bombings-might-be-scarier-than-9-11-20130416

The Boston Bombing: Terrorist Act or Civilian Disruption?

The Boston bombing last week at a marathon has raised many questions about the safety of America, and posed the question of who is behind this deadly act of terror? A U.S. government source said Monday, "no international terrorist groups were behind them", which leads many to believe they could have worked alone. This also leads many to believe that the government is lying to the public about the current situation. I believe many feel that the boys may have been backed by a terrorist organization, but the remaining boy will not admit to this theory if it is true. Investigators have been asking Tsarnaev if there were,"more bombs, explosives caches or weapons", and he has replied and said there were not. The people of the world may just view the bombing as a one time radical event that was relatively small scale compared to others now that they know there were no more explosives involved. I could also be wrong, for there are many people in the world who will connect with this text in some way and say that there are likely going to be more attacks but only time can tell.


Article- http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/22/us/boston-attack/index.html?c=homepage-t

Time to Buckle Down

            Now more than ever is the time for president Obama to step up to the plate and take a swing at large issues in American politics, to get everything done that he wishes to accomplish it must all work smoothly and without problem. CNN's Gloria Borger states, "here we are: gun control, immigration reform and the budget -- all front and center, right now". The budget is by far the most important item on the agenda, therefore it drags other items along and is not stopped by smaller bills but simply by vote. Since the democrats seem to gain the minority vote they would like to provide more programs for immigrants that would wish to be Citizen's. Later on in the article the CNN worker stated, "It doesn't solve our problem with Latino voters by itself, but it helps." By giving the immigrants voting power it will strengthen the Democratic Party to some extent, which I believe is exactly why Obama and many others are for the new bills which make citizenship easier to obtain. Lastly the gun bill is almost unworthy of being mentioned, almost 90% of people agree with the background checks before the purchase and sale. In comparison with the side effects of the budget agreements that have not been met the gun issue looks relatively small, but don't count it out. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/08/opinion/borger-crunch-time/index.html?c=politics&page=2

Current connection 3B

Comet Pan-STARRS

          The comet Pan-STARRS will be at it's brightest this weekend due to its passing before the sun, but may still be hard to view for many people. The comet was at its best view point Sunday but the article suggests having an, "unobstructed view to the southwest at twilight", if you are wanting the best results from your comet watching venture. Many people must deal with light pollution which is an obstruction close to cities due to the fact that it blocks the naked eye from seeing much of outer space. It is much easier to view the stars and comets out in the countryside where there are fewer houses and street lights. The article also suggests,"Pan-STARRS may start dimming after Sunday", this was the tenth of March and it is still visible now but not for long. The comet is slowly moving and becoming more visible from the Southern Hemisphere and less visible from the North hemisphere. There's not much time left to catch a glimpse of the beautiful comet as it drifts across the night sky, just remember the few simple things you need to get the most out of your comet experience, a view and a dark sky.

The article URL is - http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/03/08/naked-eye-comet-pan-starrs-at-its-brightest-this-weekend/

Cody 'Robo' Campbell

                                                        Cody 'Robo' Campbell

      Robo was a very loved and appreciated person whom everyone respected and even admired and sadly on 2/23/2013, my 17th birthday, Cody died of a single self inflicted gunshot wound. This current connection will be done on the current event of him passing, though I would like to relate it to a song by Jason Aldean that's not very resent. The song title is 'Laughed Until We Cried' and it's easily found through any Internet search. 

      Robo was a good friend of mine, and even though recently the bad seems to overshadow the good in this situation we must remember the good times we've had. The song lyrics state, "oh man we were living, couldn't waste one minute", and this was very true of the relationship I had with him. When we talked or were working together in shop it was always about what was happening around us and what we needed to do, there was never an idle moment. We were always doing something productive in or outside of class, but when we weren't working we were living life and having fun and making memories. Another of my favorite lines of the song is where it says, "sitting there reminiscin', we sang and talked and traveled back in time, and laughed until we cried", this was very true of the FFA trips we went on. Cody taught me all about the mechanics competition and I was on his team, so we always had plenty to talk about and remember from previous contests and such. He was also one of my singing buddies who always sang along to country songs that we love to sing at the top of our lungs during the bus rides, especially 'Redneck Yacht Club'.

We not only lost a friend on that day, we lost an FFAmily member who was dear to us all. He will be greatly missed, and I just hope that one day we will be able to remember more of the good times and none of the bad.

The Great Northeast Snowstorm of 2013

                                                  Current connection   2/11/13  11:05pm  Isaac Davis  3B  

                                    The Great Northeast Snowstorm of 2013

         Though here in Batesville we may declare it a massive blizzard if we get more than six inches of snow, in the Northeast parts of the country people are experiencing a true blizzard. The article states, "hundreds of drivers had been caught on highways by Friday's fast-moving storm", many drivers were stranded with no way home. Just recently in Batesville we got about 11" of snow, which turned out to be more than enough to basically shut down the city for a while. I personally braved the storm and drove east to where it had not snowed as much and power was not a problem. The article also mentions, "About 650,000 lost power in eight states at the height of the storm", this was one of the first times that this many homes were powerless. Electrical power at my house is normally not a problem for some reason, we live toward Cushman and seldom lose power. Here in the most recent storm we were without it for a while, but once Entergy got caught up we shut off the gas fireplace and were back to normal.

Sandy Looters- Crime or Desperation?

 

          I believe that in the case of the looters during hurricane sandy, what they were committing were crimes of greed and not of desperation. They were not stealing diapers and food, but rather TV’s and electronics as well as alcohol. They knew what they were doing and proceeded to do it anyway knowing it was wrong. I have never been in a disaster situation before like the one in Coney Island during sandy, so I do not know exactly how to react to such a thing, or what kind of shock would be involved. One thing is for certain though, stealing out of greed and not only taking what you need is beyond wrong. When you steal electronics and the power is out in the city it is purely out of greed, and you must think about who you are hurting such as the shop owners who already are having problems due to the hurricane. I believe that stealing food or clothes or diapers that you need for you or your kids is understandable. “People were running out of Rite Aid with diapers and wipes” the article says. A person must do what it takes to get by in a time of need. The stores may not be open for people to purchase the goods or staples they need and may not be planning to open for weeks leaving people to have to steal goods to get by. But I believe that there is a fie line between stealing in greed and stealing to get by. As for the shop owners, one stated, “Next time I’m getting a gun.” I believe that I would do just as he would, for you never know what will happen and if you own a liquor store like him, there are not many people who are going to break in just trying to survive. That is definitely where looting goes extremely wrong, it goes from getting what you need to taking advantage from another in the community to get ahead and leave them in a bad way.  In conclusion I believe that there are different rules that apply in a desperate attempt to survive a disaster. But people should not take advantage of each other in a disaster situation, but instead come together to fix the community. I also believe that there is a fine line between looting and surviving, and as I have shown many crossed that line in Cone Island.