Dixie With Love

Recently at the University of Mississippi (otherwise known as ole miss), the new chancellor has just asked the school band to stop playing Dixie With Love at sporting events.

At the end of this song which also happened to be the battle song for the confederate army, the students would chant “The South Will Rise Again”. This is the reason that the chancellor asked the band to stop playing it. For many fans and students of Ole Miss, this feels to them that it disrespects their southern culture.

A little background… Dixie With Love is a mixture of Dixie and Battle Hymn of the Republic.  (i would go to about 6:48 to get the part that was removed)

I personally am torn on the subject because I think it is part of tradition… but on the other hand I can definitely see how people could take it as racist and football recruits.

CLIMATE GATE

Ladies and Gentlemen, Children and pets, I have breaking news…. AL GORE IS A FRAUD!!!

The whole climate gate situation has suggested that climatologists have been tampering with records and documentation to quiet climate change skeptics.

So I’m going to give y’all some links to look at and you can decide for yourselves. But I highly suggest looking at this site, and all these reports from credible news outlets:

The Telegraph

Real Clear Politics

US News

Fox News

NY Times

All of these sites provide good info on the situation. I would really like people to comment (Earhart and Megan would be especially).

Oh and since this is my blog, I find that it is the opportune time to congratulate the President on his acceptance of the noble peace prize… 9 days after he announces he will be sending in 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. CLASSIC

And everyone should watch this clip, as well. It is hilarious! China Cold Open-SNL

Juba out.

Great Depression and New Deal

The exam over the Great Depression and the New Deal will be on Monday for B-Team and Tuesday for A-Team.

Click Here for the Notes

Where the hell is Matt?

No, I don’t mean Earhart.

So, I know I’m a few years late on this but, a few days ago I saw the “Where the hell is Matt?” videos for the first time. There’s something so – brace yourselves, this might be the only time I ever say this – inspirational about them. Most of us are at the time in our lives where we’re supposed to figure out what we’re going to do with the rest of them. Well, all I’ve got figured out is that I’d like to see everything. Although I’ve never really seen much of anything, I think traveling is a big part of developing as a person; just getting out of your bubble. I’d really love to hear about where y’all have been, where you want to go, what interests you about traveling, if you want to move away and if not then why, etc.

This is the original video Matt Harding made that gave him his start:

This is the second one he made after being sponsored by Stride Gum:

16 years ago today…

My original blog post consisted of me complaining of the double standard that consists in performances, citing the Adam Lambert AMA “stink” and the older Madonna and Britney kiss that made parents “protect the children,” when I realized the ridiculousness of what I was about to post for the world to see. I saw the post as merely something that was in the news and people were freaking out about rather than something I truly cared about. Honestly it didn’t outrage me when parents freaked out about his performance, because I’m sure I would have been a little pissy if my ten year old was watching that as well (though I do think it is the parent’s job, not the network, to decide what their children watch on TV). Not that I’m going on a tangent again… because really, who gives a flying flip.

Now something that did catch my attention and that I am very passionate about is a law that was passed on November 30, 1993. Sixteen years ago today the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was passed into law. For those who are not familiar with the law it is a policy banning gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military. Right now the United States continues to be the only Western nation that forbids openly gay people in their military. The law was passed by former president Bill Clinton, who in his bid for the Presidency had promised to allow all citizens, regardless of sexual orientation, to serve openly in the military. Obviously didn’t keep his word on that. Sixteen years and there has been no policy change…I ask, why? The law states that:

“Sexual orientation will not be a bar to service unless manifested by homosexual conduct. The military will discharge members who engage in homosexual conduct, which is defined as a homosexual act, a statement that the member is homosexual or bisexual, or a marriage or attempted marriage to someone of the same gender.”

The law is “justified” because they say homosexuals:

“Would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”

The person is not discharged unless they are suspected of being homosexual and an investigation is done proving that the person is homosexual or has homosexual “tendencies”. So… are they saying that before these people “came out” to the military as homosexual they shot and killed and fought for their country just like their straight brothers and sisters, but as soon as they came out, oh boy, they are disrupting the “unit cohesion”. That sounds like a load of BS to me.

I came across an article from the Center for American Progress that had many statistics that I had never even imagined concerning this policy. Since 1994, when the law was put into action, over 13,000 military personnel have been discharged and over $190.5 million has been spent on this policy in just the first 10 years alone. Is this not insane that there has been so much money spent on not allowing gays to fight when all of that money could have been used toward getting us out of this war? The diagram below shows how many soldiers have been discharged from 1994-2006.

“I will end ‘don’t ask-don’t tell,’”

President Barack Obama told the public at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a gay civil rights advocacy group. President Obama was also quoted saying:

“We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country. We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage … especially when we are fighting two wars.”

I hope he keeps his promises made on the campaign trail.

Some great articles I found on this include two fromThe Huffington Post: Obama HRC Speech and Former Troops Speak Out, The Washington Times, and CNN.

Discrimination of ANY kind is absolutely unacceptable! Please comment on your views on this policy, I would really like to start a discussion on this topic.

Megan.

UT teaching students to think!

Hi my name is Megan Hodge and the only thing you need to know about me is basically take everything Juba (Thursday Blogger) says, flip it to the very left of the political spectrum, and there I am.

Okay, so a few days ago I was talking with a  coworker, an intern from Texas State University, about my disinterest in the University of Texas as a college of choice for me. It isn’t necessarily UT that I am discouraged by, but really large Universities as a whole.  Economics professor Dan Hamermesh made a comment in a recent Daily Texan article saying:

“We are not Austin Community College or Texas State University. We should be training the leaders of tomorrow to think.”

So…what is the purpose of TSU and ACC? Do the students attending these colleges just sit in a classroom like drones, not thinking and not progressing with life and thought? Athough I am not saying that all of UT feels this way, I think that big Universities like this feel that because their students pay over $20,000 to attend they can look down on smaller colleges that are offering an education to people maybe less economically fortunate. Or an education to those who may not have been the most mature and brightest in high school but now see the value of an education. A comment left on the Daily Texan article read:

“I’m not surprised a professor at this university considers UT to be the center of the universe. If we are really trying to help the community we should be supporting everyone’s attempts at education rather than being critical of the places with less prestige.”

I completely agree with this and think that any person trying to better their life by going to college or the armed forces or anything beyond high school for that matter  should be applauded, not looked down upon because they payed $3,000 instead of $20,000. In an editorial written by the University Star newspaper at Texas State to combat Hamermesh comment they wrote:

“Maybe one day Texas State will be a research institution. But until that happens, it will always be home to bright, eager young minds who will have a significant role in shaping the future.”

AVID

Click Here to create a gmail account.  When you choose a user name you should make it as professional as possible.  Mine is mattearhart@gmail.com.  Just make sure that your Email is not “diva57″ or “playa69″, as colleges are going to frown on those addresses.

Once you’ve created a gmail account. go to google documents.  In google docs you are going to write your papers about “Where ya’ come from, where you are, and where you want to be”.  Click Here for the Assignment Decsription.  As you type remember to save your essay.  After you’ve saved for the first time return to the ducuments home page and check the box for your essay.  Then click on “Share” and “invite people” – you should then invite me to “edit” your document by entering my Email address in the required field – mattearhart@gmail.com

You should get most of your essay finished today.

On Tuesday we are going to begin to make posters to accompany our essays.  Remember to bring any pictures or materials for the construction of your poster on Tuesday.

AVID

Your first task is to peruse the list of clubs and organizations at Anderson.  Click Here to get started.

Your second task is to create a digital version of your resume.  Include a club or organization that you’re going to join in the near future.  Save it as your “last name” followed by “resume”.  For example, mine would be EarhartResume.  Then Email me the resume as an attached document – mearhart@austinisd.org.

Your next task is to spend 20 minutes practicing SAT math questions, followed by another 20 minutes of SAT critical reasoning questions.  Click Here to get started.

Once finished, you may use the remainder of the period to work on assignments from your other classes.

 

 

 

Who To Blame?

Hi my names Juba, and the only thing that you need to know about me is that I’m always right.

I’m going to give my thoughts on the mass murder at fort hood.

We all know what happened on November 5, 2009, but immediately after we had to know why it happened, and who we can blame it on. All of the big network news stations started analyzing why it happened minutes after the shooting, and today The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is convening Congress’ first post-attack public hearing. The Houston Chronicle says that the purpose behind the meeting is this:

“correcting the system so that our government can provide the best homeland security possible for the American people”

Since when is there a system to search for mentally unstable psychiatrists in the army? Psychiatrists are suppose to be the people that talk people out of running into a building and shooting it up, not doing it themselves. So how are you suppose to have a system to stop it when it happens about as often as the Mizzou football team wins a national championship? THERE CAN’T BE A SYSTEM. It doesn’t make since, things like that never happen.

Maybe he was becoming more “radicalized” but it’s illegal to punish someone for practicing a religion to an extreme.

So here’s my point, No one can be blamed for the mass murders at Fort Hood except for Nidal Malik Hasan, and there is not much anyone can do to prevent something like this happening in the future. If our society begins to look for people that might commit mass murder I think that a lot of people would be offended and there would be chaos.

That’s just what I think, feel free to comment and let me know what y’all think.

JUBA OUT.

In Good Humor

I’d like to start off by saying hello to my fellow Anderson students and other internet passer-bys.  As my first post, I’d like to give everyone a little stress relief as the fall semester starts to wind down and finals begin to approach ever so menacingly.

For starters, I give you: My Life is Average.com, my nightly reading. As opposed to sites like F My Life.com and My Life is G.com, the stories on MLIA well, simply, don’t suck. They tend to be more realistic and believable, especially in an eccentric place like Austin.

Secondly, I give you my recent favorite: Yahoo Laughs.com. Which, I warn you, can be offensive and crude at times. The beauty of this site other than its sheer hilarity is that it just sort of makes you feel smart. It is built at the expense of people who ask extremely idiotic questions on Yahoo Answers. Some of them I’m sure are jokes, some of them just make you ashamed at the failure of education in our world, and some of them, like I said, make you feel brilliant. Frankly, most of them were just asking for it.

I’d love to hear some feed back and about some other sites y’all frequent that serve humorous rolls in your lives.

Thanks!

Rebekah Hurst, Contemporary Issues