We Need Cleaner Energy!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/business/04windsolar.html?ref=solarenergy

Maintaining a good environment is not only a responsibility of the citizens but also the government. I don't believe that the power of controlling all energy productions should be given to the states because out of laziness they will end up using coals and fossil fuels.

The article that I posted about explains why the demand for wind turbines and solar panels are plummeting day by day. The biggest reason is credit crisis. Businesses and companies have laid off many workers. This situation explains why most of the Metro students (141 out of 285) thought that we should invest in cleaner energy. If they are seeing that there is no change coming about then they are more likely to pick that choice.

I believe that the students at Metro really care for the environment because they want a better future ahead of them. They know that if they don't worry about the environment they will have a very difficult time keeping up with it when they are older. Like I had said before, WHATEVER WE DO ALWAYS AFFECTS US! Using fossil fuels and coal for energy is not only bad for the environment but it is also hazardous to our health. I understand that maybe they may have chose this choice because it was easier to understand yet they at least care for the environment because they know everything about coal and fossil fuels and why we need cleaner energy like solar and wind energy. I can say that they are informed about the issue because in physical chemistry class we are learning about renewable resources and how we can use those to prevent from pollutions and high levels of Carbon Dioxide. All Metro students do care because if we have a good source of energy that don't harm anyone then the number of people suffering with diseases will decrease. Many people show that they don't care on the outside but when it comes to helping the nation they will never step back.

 

I couldn't understand too much about the Keystone Pipeline Project so I uploaded this video from YouTube that explains a little bit about it.

 

Land of the Free, Home of the...Uneducated?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/200902/problem-america-wont-solve-in-our-lifetime-education

As I looked through the MBA Mock Election Results I noticed that although Education placed second in terms of what issue we felt was most important to our country it was only 34 votes compared to the 155 "economy" won in first place. A big part of me wondered "well aren't these students the future of our country? shouldn't we give a bit more focus to that?". Despite my opinion I decided to withhold it until I had some grasp on the situation of Education the United States. The article I found here combined two of my favorite things, psychology, and politics. the article really enlightened me to some issues about education that weren't just about politicians throwing mud at one another over not single-handedly fixing America's school system. The article goes into various topics such as the persistent racial gaps in schools, how American students feel about their education system, and even includes some hard numbers that will make you really want to understand why we are lagging behind so many countries in terms of education.

Education

The words that I wasn't sure about were mandating implement & merit pay
merit pay ; an additional pay to an employee (whose work is superior) like school teachers
mandating; a command
implement; an agent/ an article of equipment

http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/Prepare/pt4.html
That's a website that has information on college tuition .I chose this because the most popular positive position says that the most important change that should be made s more financial aid for college students , two times the federally funded work study jobs all over the next five years . If You look at the link above it shows the average prices of colleges & I chose that because your financial aid may be a very person and touchy topic & you don't always desperately need it in certain situations and the prices range so you should chose something affordable and of interest . Colleges Break down the fees in different costs and you use your money on different things so everything depends on how your going to spend your money . Ex; are you going to live in a dorm ?  That is a good way to create jobs though.. I must admit that but here's another link that helps explain http://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/content_payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=10064
I think that metro students support this the most because they want to succeed without having to worry about the money factor and they want other people to get a chance to succeed by getting one of those newly created jobs .It affects juniors and seniors more than most underclassmen cause they may still fell like they just got to high school so why worry about college ,not realizing these 4 years are going to go by quicker than any one can imagine . Not everyone is informed on this issue because not everyone is interested and not everyone has the time to do their background research like some people may know a lot of what they need to know by the time comes to apply for financial aid but others may learn as they go along .

National Debt :(

I found this site that has some interesting facts about  the national debt

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/27-things-that-every-american-should-know-about-the-national-debt

This site though has actual data and you can learn a lot from it.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/numbers 

As we all know "we should cap federal government spending at below 20 % of the national gross domestic product."  was the winning thought about the national debt. This means that they want the government to spend 20% less on foreign goods than the total value of goods and services the US earns a year. I honestly believe that this quote only one because the other one had the phrase, raise taxes. That's what stood out in that quote. Though not all of us have a job we do know what tax raises are and how they can effect our family. I do believe the students did not fully understand the issue. If they did they would realize they voted for an option where the plan is to only cut spending by lowering the percentage of how much we can spend. Look at all our debt and look at all the products that say something other than made in America. Point being our gdp is not that high and if or budget for spending is 20% of that amount there goes not only all our bells and whistles but our fuel sources.  

Government Incentives..

This article is about government plans on how to be more eco-friendly. One main way is Incentive. How do they do this by tax credit...http://auto.howstuffworks.com/what-are-the-government-incentives-for-electric-cars.htm

Healthcare - Metro Election Results Analysis

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/health/states-face-tight-health-care-deadlines.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Additional Facts:  http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm

The popular position on healthcare in Metropolitan Business Academy is universal healthcare is beneficial because it makes the fees that citizens have to pay to insurance companies more affordable and lowers costs. The majority believes that universal healthcare enables prevention of diseases and illnesses, while also circumventing costly emergency care. Most students feel that everyone has the right to healthcare. I found two sources that explains the issue in depth. The first article describes how now that the presidential election is over, citizens of the United States are really pushing for the Affordable Care Act to go into full throttle. The Affordable Care Act requires every citizen to pay for health insurance. Citizens are urging President Obama to inform the public more about the Affordable Care Act and eradicate the low level of conceptualization. The second source that I found gives detailed descriptions about the pros and cons of universal health care insurance. These sources connect to Metropolitan Business Academy's stand on the issue because both sources highlight the reasons why people are supporting universal healthcare, which is the popular stand. I think that the students support this position the most because they want themselves and their families to be protected, even if they do not fully understand what healthcare insurance entails. I do not think that the students are informed about this issue because from reading the article I posted, citizens are dissatisfied with the low level of understanding about the Affordable Care Act. I do not think that Metropolitan students know what premiums and medicare are, despite them being mentioned in the popular stance. Although I believe that the Metropolitan student body has a low level of conceptualization, I also think that the students have high moral awareness. They know that if a parent or loved on fell ill, they would want them to get the best care and recover as soon as possible. I think that the popular vote on healthcare stems from the familial values and ideals of the students. To me, this shows how much our morals and ideals affect our political opinions.

Universal Health Care

http://www.ramcigar.com/health-care-reform-expert-talks-pros-cons-of-various-politicians-proposals-1.2948139#.UKkc3eTTaac
The article touches upon some of the pros and cons regarding universal health care.

I think Metro students voted in favor of universal health care for a variety of reasons.  Universal health care would cover all tax paying Americans who are uninsured.  In addition, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), would lower costs for the individual by raising taxes on the majority and cutting from Medicare and Medicaid.
Metro students are affected by this because Obamacare will take effect when most of us are 18.  We would all be covered over the Affordable Care Act.
I don't think they are fully informed about this issue mainly because of the geographic liberal bias which praises Obamacare.  This will eventually be seen as an entitlement, or "right" as the option words it on the poll, and will cover anyone even if they don't pay for it.

Economy

http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements

These are the countries the United States has a free trade agreements with.

I think metro students voted the free trade agreement position because they believe that the importing of goods can create more jobs stimulating our economy. We feel free trade is the foundation of jobs in America and expanding it can only benefit us.
This effects us because we will also be a big part of this economy come the next 2,3, or 4 years. Jobs will be very important to us coming out of college. We all want to know that we won't have to be living  in our childhood houses after graduating college with no job. This also effects a select number of students who have parents struggling to find jobs. Also, since our country is on the verge of dropping off into another recession, we want a plan that will stimulate this tough economy so we aren't in our senior year of college struggling to find a job.
Despite this, I don't think that Metro is very educated on this topic, because of its complexity. There are so many different ideas on how to improve this economy that it get confusing. Even most of the students in our AP class weren't educated on any of these political topics or issues until entering this class.

Education: Key for Economic Growth

SOURCE : http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/bank-of-america/archive/2012/11/education-reform-pushed-for-economic-growth/265267


Hi Everybody,

   I found this article on www.theatlantic.com and it's from the thoughts of Bill Gates and how he feels that the United States' education system is failing to produce highly skilled workers that the economy needs. 

  

   I figured this related to our Metro's election results on education because most of students voted that educational priority should be expanding financial aid for college students and double the number of federally-funded work-study jobs over the next 5 years. But do they know why? Did they know that the U.S. economy has a strong demand for highly skilled workers? I think our peers supported this position the most because it makes a lot more sense to them. I think that they believe expanding financial aid will help them and their families afford college.One of the main reasons jobs higher people is because they've received higher education.They meet that qualification and have been exposed to those skills that employers look for. 

   This affects Metro students because most of us plan on going to college, most of us are informed about this issue to the extent that college opens many doors in the future for jobs and careers and that college cost a lot. Also, that the government is apart of what helps us get loans for school. I don't think metro students have enough knowledge. Especially on some of the things in the article above because we're not fully exposed to them just like how we're taught to write a essay or how to analysis text. 

Energy and the Environment

http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/demonstration-planned-for-keystone-xl-pipeline/2806

When I looked at the results for the Metro mock election, I saw that out of 245 people, 141 voted that America "should invest in clean, renewable sources of energy, especially solar and wind power". That's what President Obama believes as well. Climate change is something that is becoming more and more of an issue every day, and we are feeling the effects of it (Hurricane Sandy anyone?). The weather patterns we're dealing with have been very unusual. Two hurricanes within two years? That's a little unusual, don't you think? 

As I was reading the results, I stumbled upon something called the Keystone XL pipeline. I had never heard of it before, but it's actually a big deal. This project is about constructing a pipeline stretching from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast in the United States. It's supposed to extract from the tar sands in Alberta to create fuel and send it to America. That way, we no longer have to depend on Asia for our fuel, because there has been a lot of controversy about that lately. Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?

Well a lot of environmentalists don't think so. The Keystone fuel has been called "one of the ‘dirtiest’ and most polluting fuels on earth". It would pump 900,000 barrels of oil into the atmosphere every day. So as you can see, environmentalists strongly oppose this whole idea. People who support is claim that the fuel isn't that dirty, and that the emissions per barrel will be minimal. And it would be beneficial getting fuel from these rich sands because that way North America reaps the benefits of it, not the Middle East. 

So it was interesting learning about this whole idea in general, and I think it does have good potential though. But no matter what, I agree with the majority of people at Metro about this-we need to invest in clean energy regardless of whatever else happens. We need to innovate, not rely so much on a depleting resource (fossil fuels). 

American Politics Today: W. W. Norton StudySpace

American Politics Today: W. W. Norton StudySpace

MBA's Reflection: Economy

http://trade.gov/fta/

This isn't really an article, but it seemed to be an interesting site to take a look at and have a basic comprehension why our school chose B as an answer to help encourage our economy. Please look at the site, I'm sure you'll like it as well. Remember, fixing the economy is not an overnight process.

Honestly, the results for this question on improving the economy was very laid out. But the majority of the students chose that the U.S. should continue to cultivate more free trade among other nations to create more jobs and markets to activate our  troubling economy. Government can be confusing most of the time to people, especially us students. I assume that as these students were reading the possibilities to reconstruct our economy, they probably had a better sense of choosing B because it makes the most sense out of the other three results. Remember, level of conceptualization, meaning they chose an answer that had the most common sense. Or who knows, students might be concerned with their parents' jobs. Some of them  might not get paid enough. Also, the students are choosing and deciding what's best for our country by stepping into someone else's shoes- those people that are suffering poverty and homelessness because they have no job.

2 Terms !

I'm not sure about everybody else but i'm glad president Obama got reelected again  because i feel as though the the first 4 years was to fix the damage that was done to our country before so now he needs the next four years to finish doing what he said he would do but as a country we have changed in many different ways but i feel as though i have a better future now that Obama is now president again because Romney had a way different take on things and he could never stick to one story , he would always contradict himself in many ways or he would be very blunt about things and this election scared some people i know personally because they didn't want Romney in office and obviously now there are no worries about that though !  Obama has many strengths and weaknesses such as any other person but at the end of the day in MY opinion he has good intentions and he knows how to put action behind his plan .So when they announced that he was reelected on the radio around 2 something in the morning i felt very relieved but i want to know if the class thinks he won because he was the better candidate with the better plan or if Romney was just to bad to be voted in office so they chose Obama instead or if the class thinks that  Obama Fully Deserved this win ! http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/president-obama-wins-2012-election-victory-speech-17661714 There's the link to president Obama's Victory Speech ! WooHoooo !

ELECTION RESULTS follow as states start reporting in

Check out this website to find out:

 what states are voting for who
popularity vote calculation
electoral votes (updated every min.)
the exact # of votes the candidate got per state





http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2012-election-results

Election Day Media Opportunity!

So, you have the day off. Find out where people in your neighborhood vote. Walk, catch the bus or ride your bike to the polls. Bring your phone. Take some pics. Then, post what you find out and see via the link below.

http://www.publicinsightnetwork.org/form/pbs-newshour/e226e54200e3/election-2012-your-voting-story

American Politics Today: W. W. Norton StudySpace

American Politics Today: W. W. Norton StudySpace

A Very "Juicy" Article

Hi everyone, I was just relaxing, scrolling down Aol.com when I spotted this very opinionated but interesting article that relates to our unit on public opinion:

ttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/joshua-ostroff/voting-for-mitt-romney_b_2065012.html

I wonder what Romney supporters have to say about this...?