Presidents and their unfair public image

     So as is tradition, I am probably about to rant a little bit. I'm not even convinced most of you read or pay attention to what I have to say, but that's ok as these blogs are a good forum to vent. I do not mean to lump all of this class in with the general groups I write about, so please don't take offense.
     Todays post is about presidents and their unfair public image. For the sake of time, I will speak specifically about Bush and Obama. Let's start with Bush. We all know how hated that man was as a president, but do we know why? "Oh he started a false war in the middle east, he was illiterate, he took us to Iraq after 9/11 even though it was a group of Saudi's and Egytpians responsible for the bombing. My dad hates George Bush, so I do too!" These are some of the most common reasons for Bush being dubbed a bad president by the masses. But think about it from his point of view. His presidency was a lose-lose situation. He was not a bad president because of the choices he made. He was "bad" due to unfortunate circumstances. The hijackers from 9/11 were a small radical group not operating out of their respective countries, so there was nothing to be gained from going into either. Reports were given to the Bush administration detailing WMD's (weapons of mass destruction) traveling through Iraq. Bush reacted and dispatched troops. What we found was a government devoid of conscience ruling the nation with an iron fist. Between violating almost every basic human right, oppressing the masses, embezzling most foriegn aid being sent to the country, violating the geneva convention, and commiting war crimes (along with possessing a potetially large nuclear threat), America would have been a laughingstock in the international community. America would also have exposed itself and the world to a massive threat. How would you have responded had you been in his shoes?
     Now This rant is getting a bit long I will cut it off short. The only thing I have to say on Obama is that I do believe he is a "bad" president. Not for the reasons you will see spouted out of every media source or from your friends and co workers. I will get in to that in either the comments or my next post. Until then think on this... If you dislike Obama, why? What makes him a poor president?

Time Management

So up to this point in class, I find my time management noticeably lacking. I work 7-5 Monday through Friday then I have class 6-930. Saturday I have to clean the entire house, drive to pickup billing invoices from 10 therapists, and process paperwork most weekends. (For those of you who don't know, I work from home in the family business, so I never truly leave work). I find that it has become very difficult to stay up to date on my classwork. I'm not complaining though, as I'm sure I'm not the only person with this problem. More so what I'm seeking is advice. How do you manage your time? What is the best way for me to get caught up or even just stay on schedule like the rest of the class? I know the basics. Wake up an hour earlier and get some homework done. Do homework over lunch. Stay up an hour later each night and dedicate time. Work on the weekends when I get the chance. I'm just... well struggling to an extent with this. Helpful advice ould be much appreciated.

ISIS and the relative ignorance of our country...

So today's post may be a bit of a rant... I haven't decided yet. ISIS, for those of you who may not know, is the most organized and well funded terrorist organization of our time. They aren't your run of the mill, psuedo-redneck jihadists that we are so used to. These guys have training, education, structured leadership, an organized agenda, proper equipment, and the means to cause more than just a modicum of devestation. The worst part is, western countries are continuing to fund them. They use terrorism at it's root to generate revenue. The main way they have gained money is by taking hostages, specifically of from western countries. Then, they send videos of these hostages to their governments and demands vast sums of money. If the money isn't paid they behead the hostage on video and send this video to the government and media of said country. The United States is one of the few countries that refuses to give in to their demands as we do not negotiate with terrorists. However, most countries do not have the fortitude to do as we do. I get that this is largely biased and opinionated, and I am not a reputable source but this has just been a very brief, barely scratches the surface, overview of only one of the atrocities this group performs on a weekly basis.

Now with that tangent finished, I can get to the main point of this post. The ignorance the American people... It never ceases to amaze me how any time I mention ISIS, or really most international news, the sheer amount of people that have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. Case in point: just this week at work I mentioned the king of jordan donning a military uniform and actually leading the charge on performing air strikes against ISIS tactical targets. One coworker asked me if ISIS was a band. My mother knew they were a terrorist group but had no clue which countries they were active, or even that they were a realistic threat. If you don't believe me, try for yourself. Ask your freiends, family, co workers, or anyone else you speak with throughout the day. I promise you at least half of the people you ask will have either no idea who ISIS is. If they do, you'll be hard pressed to find someone that knows any actual information on their activities, where they are, how they started, etc. This may seem like a dumb point to you and you may be wondering why this crazy guy is writing so much for a stupid mandatory post for an english class. But my point is this: We as a nation are far too self absorbed. If more of us payed attention to the happenings of the world, events like 9/11 may never even have happened. If knowledge is power, and ignorance is lack of knowledge, then what does our shockingly vast national ignorance of the world say about us?

Rant over.

Handling a Reader

So today the wiki suggested handling a reader (as in whenever you write something you intend to be read by other people) and it got me thinking. How does one handle a reader? The first and most important aspect of handling a reader is before you write, you need to know your target audience. You have to be able to convey your meaning in a way that matches the cognitive level of the intended recipient while also ensuring that they will be able to understand. You can't write a college level essay using every day vernacular and expect to be taken seriously. You also can't write and article or a blog on (and this is completely arbitrary) how to take care of your sick child and fill it with complicated scientific terms. The tricky part to handling a reader is figuring out the typical person that will be reading your work and matching the writing to the appropriate level.

Foreign Languages

So we all know how important it is to properly learn english. It's in every facet of our lives as Americans. However, I don't think our country stresses enough the value of learning a foreign language. In today's world, more and more people are immigrating out of third world countries to join the citizens of more prominent nations, such as the United States or england. That in and of itself is a good reason to study a foreign language as a child. However, I believe there are many other reasons we should all learn at least one language other than english. For one, I believe it could be a huge step towards fighting global racism. (I'm not talking about the overplayed black versus white racism that is so prevalent in american media.) Racism stems from the most primal of sources in human beings: fear of the unknown. (This is mostly a subconscious feeling at this point in time). Learning a foreign language helps combat this in it's very nature due to the fact that to truly get a grasp of any language, you have to learn and study the culture behind the language. This helps bring further understanding of other people and may help bridge the gap between bitter enemies. The second major reason why it's important to learn foreign languages is more academic in nature. Studies show that children who either grow up bilingual or are taught a second language from a younger age tend to receive better grades throughout their entire academic career.

Dog Bites

So this last Friday, my brother was bitten by a stray dog. He was out walking our dog, Dante, and the stray wanted to attack. Unfortunately, Tony was stuck in the middle and the stray did some serious damage to his arm with more than 10 large puncture and tear sites along with a fractured wrist. As the over protective brother of a special needs man I reacted rather quickly in getting this animal away. The whole incident lasted about 20 seconds. In thinking about it initially, I started to wonder what did I do wrong? What could I have done differently? Well now that I'm more rational and he's been treated by the hospital and is on his way to healing I have to wonder how did stray dogs become so prevalent lately? (Both of my brothers and my mother have been attacked in different locations by a stray dog in the last 2 years). This seems to be a growing problem and I'm at a loss as to how to begin working on it. Suggestions?