Les Medias - BMS

Blue Mountain State (ou BMS) est une émission de télé américaine. C'est un spectacle qui affiche la vie des universités d'État aux Etats-Unis. Les sports principaux sont le football et faire la fête. Il y a des épisodes sur tous les joueurs sur l'equipe mais le personnage principale dans la premiere saison est....

Alex Moran: Il est le nouveaux joueur dans l'equip des (Mountain Goats). Il joue le position de quart-arrière. En joignant l'équipe, il s'est fait bizuter par le capitaine de l'équipe. Alex essaie d'etre le joueur de secours pour qu'il ne joue pas trop est d'avoir le temps de faire se qu'il veux.

BMS est du télé-poubelle mais la comedie est intéressant et parfois (mais rarement) il y a des moments avec une lesson de vie. Je recommande que vous essayer de le voir un jour. Voici une bande-annonce de la series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9OfN64_9T8&feature=related

Planning

Using a search engine for finding a website full of valid information is not a good idea because search engines usually dig up ALL sites containing the key words searched. Using advanced search with Google specifies what you're looking for with the web address such as .edu, .gov, .com etc. Some of these web addresses are validated and updated on every website in relation to the address. The ones that can be trusted are .edu and .gov.Some .com sites can also be trusted if the source seems to be issued from an informational valid company/organization, one example of this would be http://www.britannica.com/. Advanced search with Google also specifies EXACTLY what the user is looking for in the key words put in (e.g. WW1 only in the titles of the articles). The most useful feature in Advanced search is the type of document a user is looking for. If the user is looking for quick notes or a generalization about a certain topic then he would put in .ppt (Powerpoint) as the document type. If the user is looking for graph charts then a Microsoft Excel format is the way to go. These searches are most useful because the user can look up exactly what he is looking for by filling in the blanks and running the search once.

Problems children face today

Many parents in today's world are on drugs, paranoid or are troublesome people which could affect their parental guidance and completely ruin an aspect (or more) of a child's life. The example of beating a child will decrease his self-respect and confidence making him easily overrun by life's challenges. If a parent has absolute complete control in a child's life and would not listen on the child's opinion about certain matters involving himself, then the child will be used to giving up quickly on his hopes/dreams/goals. If the parent(s) take some sort of drug, smoke, or drink then the child will subconsciously be willing to be just like his parent(s) and end up taking all these harmful products. Because the earth's children are who will guide us through further growth and more success in the future, if these children are brought up wrong...The earth would completely fall under the chaos of drug trafficking, certain crimes (such as murder or theft), and burglary.

Being a Progressive Thinker

I have some information from a progressive thinker's blog about Rampant Capitalism and how it has affected education in the US (the author's screen name: Fractalman93). He has been talking about how the average wages of a teacher is equal to that of a garbage collector despite the fact that education is the single most important investment we can make in our own future. People who contribute to children and the future are paid very low wages and yet basketball players are being payed millions of dollars for playing in a basketball match. The payment they receive is from friendly competition and not in any way from a certain contribution to the community and the future of people. People would give an arm and a leg to shake the hand of a basketball player yet would not give more than a few seconds of their time to school teachers. Teachers work around 40 hours a week within school then adding 3 hours out of school (per day) for grading assignments, preparing the lesson and organizing their work. That would be a total of around 55 hours work a week with no payment for the usual 3 hours overtime. Even the money provided but most schools for yearly supplies would be around 100-200$ which would apparently not even be sufficient to buy the simple requirements a teacher needs to run his class. Most teachers would spend 4 to 5 times that amount out of their own pockets for printer paper, printer ink, boards and borders. The average teacher salary should go up at least to a point where they can manage all these expenses and still live a very comfortable life. The main solution to this would be having CEOs (earning billions of dollars a year) reinvest most of their money (above 60%) back to the community for education. One could lead an extremely comfortable life earning around 500 million dollars a year after investing most their income.

Possible Moroccan Industrial Revolutions

The industrial revolution of Europe in the 1800s did not touch Morocco at all due to the conservative Islamic religious leaders and the feudal and tribal life led by the people.

After my discussion with family members I am visualizing the process of industrial revolution in Morocco in three phases.

1. French occupation of Morocco brought in a major change in terms of technology, business and industries. The French occupation paved way for building of thousand kilometers of railroads that encouraged trade between various regions of the country. It was during the French occupation many of Morocco’s dams were built. Many present day schools that follow the French model of education also were created at that time.

2. King Hassan II adopted the policy of free market economy in independent morocco and strengthened the infrastructure created by the French. He encouraged trade of phosphates which is one of the main exports of Morocco. He encouraged tourism and created better opportunities for agriculture.

3. The present reign of Mohammed VI would be the third phase of industrial revolution where a lot of importance is being given to manufacturing industries, information technology and green technology

o Morocco signed an agreement as early as in the year 1856 to open up its domestic markets to European traders

o In 1992 morocco signed the law of foreign trade and officially began free trade with rest of the world.

o This is an important step in the industrial growth of morocco

o In 2007 Morocco launched an Industrial Park in the Bouskoura region near Casablanca worth 247 million USD.

o In 2009, Morocco launched a series of Industrial parks in Tangier worth about 900 million dollars to attract Industries and Business companies to the underdeveloped northern regions of Morocco.

o Casa Tech Park was established in year 2001

o Morocco is investing a lot of money in developing airports and ports.

o Morocco has invested 9 billion dollars into solar energy to the remote parts of the country.

o By 2020 Morocco aims to generate 30% of electric need through solar energy.

Socratic Seminar

In the Socratic seminar, Asni's point about the foundation components of a healthy society was promoting education and direct all their funding to them because the society would be in shambles and the only way to recover quickly and efficiently is by educating the future generation to build a promising future. Everyone participated in our class discussion but Zineb helped move the conversation forward by stating her ideas and connecting them to today's modern world. There were very few remarks that objected the statements made therefore there was no debating. Mr. Carpenter dominated our discussion by attempting to shift's the group's thoughts toward the right ideas through methods of hinting us. The best part of our seminar was that people got to share their ideas and change their way of looking at the subject. The worst part is not everyone participated or participated enough. Next time the seminar should be held as one circle of people all in the discussion to get a chance to share their ideas and prevent others from not learning

Current events

'Chemical Ali' known as Saddam Hussein's cousin has been executed in Iraq for ordering a gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja.Ali Hassan al-Majid has been sentenced for death 4 times for genocide and crimes against humanity. Jets swooped over the town and sprayed mustard gas and nerve agents. 5000 people died in the gas attack. The Iraqi government had him executed by hanging Ali. "The execution happened without any violations, shouting or cries of joy," Ali al Dabbagh stated. 3 suicide car bombs struck in central Baghdad shortly after news of his death. This may or may not be linked with the execution. 'Chemical Ali' refused to show remorse in his trials and said that he was acting in the interests of Iraq's security. Iraq's Shia and Kurdish communities will rejoice and be relieved that they're free from the suffering caused to them by 'Chemical Ali'.

Successes and Failures of the Reconstruction Process

Successes:

-Enforcement act of 1870 protected freedmen and people who supported the government choices in terms of racism.

-Government banned Ku Klux Klan.

-Afro-Americans celebrated as they tasted freedom for the first time.

-The freedmen had oppurtunity to find their family members, own their own land, worship their god and be educated.

-The Creation of Freedmen's Bureau provided essential clothing, medical supplies for white and black refugees.

-The Reconstruction Act of 1867 allowed freedmen to vote. This act paved the way for the 15th amendment, which stated that no citizen would be denied the right to vote.

-Sharecroping and Tenant farming for the first time gave freedmen a sense of ownership.

-Reconstruction drove the indutrialization process in the south.

-The fundraising for Reconstruction was successful.

Failures:

-White farmers felt superior to the black farmers and felt dissatisfied and angered with the reconstruction plan.

-The rise and intensification of the racist Ku Klux Klan against black freedmen.

-Born out of this anger and dissatisfaction was the white supremacist group known as the Ku Klux Klan.

-Mass murder of republicans and black people in states such as Arkansas and Louisiana.

-The union is restored however it didn't immediately abolish all slavery groups, the Ku Klux Klan have killed several people who supported freedmen.

-The south's progress in indutrialization was not as prosporous as the northern one.

-The corruption during the fundraising held back alot of the money that was being sent.

-Despite sharecropping, the white farmers evicted the Freedmen and their families by not paying the money promised as a result, the poverty levels did not increase.

Conclusion:

After careful evaluation of the reconstruction plan, I conclude that it was a significant success. The most important aspect of of reconstruction to me are: the sense of ownership that the freedmen got by tenant farming, the Reconstruction Act of 1867 and the Fifteenth Amendment that provided voting rights to the African-Americans and protected them fro Ku Klux Klan. Despite all of what happenned, the Reconstruction Plan paved the way for the

15th ammendment and without these events occurring, african-americans would still be harassed and enslaved by groups devoted to being superior to blacks. If today the African American community is able to vie with whites equally and outperform the white community in certain aspects of life such as sports and music, the foundations were laid during the Reconstruction Era.

News Article

Ever since the war ended and african americans have earned their freedom the process of restoring the war-torn nation.Lincoln created an agreement to forgive all confederates who didn't participate in the war and have all generals andpeople who worked in the confederacy army to stay out of the union. The Government disagreed with this and thought thatThe punishment was too light so they rejected Lincolns agreement and made up their own. All people who vowed to respect the rights of the newly freed people and give up slavery would rejoin the union. Because of the rapid changed being made,a former confederate assassinated our President Lincoln. Andrew Johnson became President and the black people were given 40 acres of land and a mule per family to live upon.

Effects of The Afghanistan War

The war in Afghanistan has caused significant destruction in the civilian community who are choicelessly caught in the crossfighting between the coalition forces and the Taliban militants. In the first 6 months of year 2009, about 1000 civilians have been killed. Many families in Afghanistan are suffering emotionally and economically due to the death of family members and destruction of businesses. One of the most significant impacts of this war, has been the loss of single-earning male members in many families. As a result of this development, elders of many families have stepped in to repair and preserve the social, economic and emotional health of the community. Elders have done this by primarily re-establishing or starting new enterprises that immediately take care of day-to-day survival needs of the family. "I'm rebuilding the shop so the children will have work and they can feed the rest of the family," Ahmed says, surrounded by spades and wheelbarrows. Many a times, families have to sacrifice something to survive these difficult periods. Children's education is the first major casualty/sacrifice in such scenarios. This article also provides a few insights on the coping mechanisms in the community. While the elders have stepped in by rebuilding the community, the women and children are not far behind. Children are wholeheartedly supporting the elders in their business enterprises while the women are doing their bit by baking bread for the neighbours and sustaining their families. In this way the entire community is making sure that young people do not have to sacrifice on their education because of the ongoing war.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8302963.stm

What I learned

From Ken Burn's Civil War video, I learned that, it wasn't only the governments arguing upon the issue of slavery. While the Confederates wanted slavery, the Union were headed towards abolishing slavery. I learned from this video that during the Civil War period, a lot of political parties were being formed,. I also learned that many people from the south said that slaves were happy and would rather continue being slaves rather then be free. Another fact from the video was that slaves were paid 5 dollars in court if they said they were free, and 10 dollars if they said that they were slaves. This shows that at that time, the force of law was very corrupt.

Northern Advantages over the South

-The southern army weren't prepared for combat (lack of discipline and control)

-The Northern Army sent in more troops by train for the first time.

-The population in the North had more than double the population of the South.

-The railroad mileage was higher in the North

-More factories to provide wealth and resources for more troops, food and weapons.

-The North and far more money than the South.

Western Sahara rights activist expelled from Morocco

Aminatou Haider, a Western Sahara rights activist, got arrested and expelled from Morocco for not following normal police procedures and renouncing her Moroccan citizenship. This happened as soon as she arrived to Laayoune airport from Canary Islands on the 11/15/09. It was unclear whether she could return as Moroccan authorities confiscated her passport. Since she had a spanish residency permit, she could stay there if she wishes.

Aminatou Haider is a leading defender of human rights of the Sahrawis, Recieved the Civil Courage Prize from The Train Foundation in New York. (October 21)

Haider was criticizing Morocco after Spanish colonial rule ended in 1975. "I have been threatened with arrest on my return." she said.

Source for Article:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izHUPbbiPruItzDXS2wn-Gn8-4Fw

Source for picture:http://www.aujourdhui.ma/alm_images/Aminatou-Haidar-1788.jpg

Political Parties in Morocco

Political Parties of Morocco are divided into 3 groups. The "Left"side is against all political governement judgements and the way the government runs the country. i.e Democratic Union. The "Right" side is political parties that agree and cooperate with the government with nearly every decision they make. i.e Justice and Development Party. Finally theres the "Center" side which is political parties in very close relations or within the government although can have opinions similar to the "Left" or "Right" sides. When I had a conversation with my mom, she said that the political parties in Morocco are incompetent and barely do anything. Some of the most important political parties in Morocco include the Socialist Union of Popular Forces. The political parties are often formed by rivalry to prove in wat they believe would be best for the country.

Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The first amendment in the bill of rights is the most important because it's freedom of speech that gets people to share their political ideas, talk about what's wrong with their leader/government and thus, helping the government improve. Freedom of speech is also important for people to revolt against a corrupt/inefficient government whenever needed. The 13th amendment is the second most important one because it gives people of other colours their rights and prevents slavery. This will give a population boost since the number of deaths from insufficient medication decreases as the rule of slavery is lifted. 24th amendment is the 3rd most important one because it allows people who do not have the monny to pay taxes to vote for who they believe will lead the country fairly. 14th amendment is 4th most important to me because it allows people BORN in the USA instead of people from there to be elected president, so the nation would have smart minds with different points of view from all over the world. People can have their sons/daughters elected. The 19th amendment is 5th most important to me because it prevents sexism when it comes to voting and elections. The fact that women couldn't participate in political voting was crude and unfair.

Colonists Victory

The colonists first rejected the Parliament of Great Britain in the last half of the 18th century. The colonies joined together to defend the idea of self-governance. They united to form one nation and broke away from the British empire. 1776 is when the colonists made the Declaration of Independence. They made their rights and proved the British king a tyranny. They established a relatively powerful federated government. The United States Bill of rights came directly after, compromised the first 10 constitutional amendments.

Mercantilism

Mercantilism was a sort of government when the English were conquering the Americas. The State had control over human behaviour. They had a shared economic philosophy. The main purpose was to accumulate wealth for the European colonies. Spain and Portugal had strict control over the inhabitants but the English had looser boundaries. In 1650, the English established laws of trade known as Navigation Acts. This would limit the trade back and forth to Britain only.

Migration in and out of Morocco

New neighbours, new neighbourhoods. Ever wonder why people move from place to place and live in different locations? Well, the main reasons why people migrate away from Morocco is to continue their business elsewhere depending on what their job is. Some people migrate to Europe or the Americas to find a job. Others simply like to have a little change of climate for a few years. The young ones who move here probably just found a suitable school for themselves and decided to continue their education elsewhere.

People move into Morocco for the hot weather, beaches, and calm non-polluted society ( except for Casablanca). Maybe handling trading services for various companies or long-term assignments which can only be completed in Morocco. People may also come here to retire and live in the suburban areas.

ESPRAT+G

ESPRAT+G stands for: Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Religion, Arts, Technology and Geography. It's a study method for people learning about the politics and history of Earth. The acronym was created by Don Zimbrick. He used it alot in his teaching. Esprat is basically a framework used by teachers, scientists and sometimes students for studying Social Studies.

Israeli hero's son dies

Aasaf Ramon, son of Israel's only astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in a space shuttle explosion 2003. Asaaf died in a plane crash. The jet was on a routine training flight and nobody knows why the F-16 crashed. Sunday's crash took place in a hilly area south of the city of Hebron. An unidentified eyewitness said the plane flew low over the southern west bank before crashing and there was a huge fire.