In 1898, Cuba was fighting for independance from Spain. As you have probalby guessed Spain was controlling Cuba.The u.s got involed(our nosey selfs)for their own interest (Cuba was rich in natural resources such as sugar and is only 90 miles from Florida). President McKinley decided to send help.....so he send USS MAINE. on February 15 the USS MAINE exploded killing 260 us service man! Leaving people confused and wanting answers....did they have any....NOPE! but the newspapers sure did.....

The newspapers needed business, and people wanted answers....give the people what they want right? WRONG! You see back then people got all their gossip and news from the newspapers, they didn't have TV shows and news broadcast like we have today.You can only imagine how the newspaper influenced people back then.When the USS MAINE exploded newspapers made stories up when there was no real story to tell.An headline in the popular "New York Journal" wrote "WARSHIP USS MAINE SPLIT IN TWO BY ENEMIES INFERNAL MACHINE". The american people went wild!!! They wanted Spain to clear out of the northern hemisphere but Spain would not leave Cuba.They wanted war, Congress wanted war, Theodore Roosevelt wanted war!!!One problem............the president didn't want war..............

Now before your like "What the hell declare war already!" You need to know why he didn't

want war! President McKinley had fought in the Civil War. He knew about all the death

and hardships that came with war. He wanted no part in the war. But of course

when your whole country goes against you and you still needed the republicans on

your side what can you do???? So finally president Mckinley gave in ...war was declared

on Spain.Not everyone in America felt the same about the US should take when it

came to foreign situations while all arguments are controversial the two sides peolpe took are Imperialists

and anti-imperialists.Anti-Imperialists believed that Imperialism violates the liberty of the nation's and America's people

.Anti-Imperialists say" if we believe in liberty as an American principle, why do we not stand by it?Why are we going to throw

it away to enter upon a policy of control and regulation?".Meaning that if liberty and justice is our main

rule why are we not obeying it? The major arguments of Imperialists were that since america is the

biggest, richest, and most advanced country.

CAR BOMB FOUND IN TIMESQUARE

Well........how do I say this?Hmmmm, well on May,1.2010 police and a street vendor found a smoking car right here in Times Square, the ignition hole had about 19-20 different keys....(yea that's a whole lot) Although the bomb might not have been next to you doesn't the fact that the center of the Big Apple could have exploded at least scare you or creep you out a little bit????I mean think of all those innocent people, those young kids and the business people just trying to make a living.I mean the USA isn't a bunch of angels but still...(I don't know about you but when 9/11 happened I really don't remember that much....I was confused I didn't know why I was being picked up early.....) we are kind of older now these bombing could affect our futures.Now, think about what might have happened if that bomb DID EXPLODE..yup it would have been a disaster crying people and bodies every were.....Now wait a sec..don't think because they found a BOMB doesn't exactly mean that it's a TERRORIST ATTACK....I really don't know but the video tape did catch a white,40 year old man changing clothes and he left the car.Now who is to say that all terrorists are from IRAQ.Inside the car they found :
-2 propane tanks
-consumer grade fireworks
-2 clocks with batteries
-electrical wires
-2X2X4 metal box resembling a gun locker...
Imagine all this would've exploded......I have only seen these things in movies but it seems they are actually happening....Tell what you think....... ;)

Tiger Woods Speech

Okay let's start with the basics.Tiger woods made a speech apologizing to the public about his actions.Now, what I don't get is why is it such a HUGE deal if he's cheating or not.Sure he's the"world's greatest golfer" but does the public really need to be in on his business? During the speech he asked the media to stop following him and his family.He also said that they had a stake-out on his wife and, followed his younger children to their schools.What bothers me the most is that all the news channels stopped all of their shows just to play a 15 minute speech, but really so many articles about a 15minute apologizing speech?please tell me...........What's so great about it?I meen when Britney Spears shaved her head shiny she wasn't on the 3 O'clock news.She made headlines but not television shows......And by the way, who is he apologizing to? He asked the 'media' to stop following him and his family. He apologized to his 'friends' in the press room. I personally couldn't care less, you made a slip up....What am I supposed to do?I don't even watch golf personally...........So what's the big deal?

Goveg.com

I was recently referred to a website called Goveg.com. On this website I viewed some very nasty videos ,nothing out of the ordinary that I hadn't seen inside of the movie food Inc. but, I did see something that I hadn't seen in the movie.If they did show animal cruelty in the movie food Inc.I was absent.Chickens are the most abused animals on farms and factories.They are placed in small dented cages by the hundreds.The growth hormones that they are given make their breasts so huge that they are not able to take two steps with out collapsing.Most of these chickens die from stress or their weight.No matter if these chickens are sick they are still taken from the farms, no concern for what we eat.
Now that I've seen this video I'm wondering: Why do we even have a Department of Health if we are still eating these animals with mutant hormones injected into them.Okay so they'll close down a small burger place for having dust on a grill or having an old green burger in their freezer but the health inspector sure won't shut down a Tyson chicken factory, even if they have a whole documentary made about their cruelty towards animals.Maybe that's the criteria that all
factories need to pass.My opinion this city is blinded.I mean the website I get all this information from is basically to start you off as a vegetarian, but I don't think I'll ever be able to do that.Maybe the addiction to meat is implanted into our minds for so long that it
seems impossible to let it go.What do you think?????:)Whoa....meat eating, brain washed zombie Americans.:(

food inc.

What if I was a vegetarian? Would I be safe? What about school food? What if a cow had E.coli and then it was sent to our school what would happen to us?

My friend Melody said that if the food is cooked properly the E.coli goes away. I still stay suspicious because she is six months younger than I am and I'm still a child. If anyone has noticed, the food in our schools don't look like it was cooked properly. No offense to the launch ladies that "cook" the food. The chicken always taste bazzar like it's just soaked with water and oregano.Not to question Melody whom already knows how to cook. However the women in the film lost her son kevin to three hamburgers one which had E.coli. Since in the "farms" the cows are knee deep in feces some cows are bound to get it. Don't think that if your a vegetarian or one that your gonna be safe. There are many vegetables that have E.coli as well. The reason some cows get it is because the famers feed the cows corn. Now allow me to tell you what really happens in the industries where our foods are really made. The companies and producers of the foods don't really want you to know what is going on during the process. Do you know what happens to the chicken we eat. The producers geneticly engeer our food. Somtimes the chicken bodies grow at a rate where their little bodies grow at a rate where their little bones can't support them so the chickens notmally pass out and die. From rapid progession. The industries keep the eggs in heating cabnets until they hatch. The workers then just drop the chicks in a shoot to get stamped. The chicks are then raised by farmers whom are paid to keep it all under raps. then sent to factories to die.

food inc.

I'm starting to have these weird feelings when I'm near or going to eat cooked meat,any meat it doesn't matter.I'm wondering when I'm opening my mouth "Will I die from this?" of course don't most people?I'm not saying that I have chicken-phobia, but must we eat with the fear of dieing?E-coli was no worry to me because I've never heard of it before, the main sickness that I was worried about at the most would be food poisoning.I'm sick to my stomach because I know what happens to my food.The whole movie I kept on asking myself:"This is what goes in my mouth? seriously?"I can't thank Food Inc. but, I can't thank them neither, they showed me the truth about something that I didn't focus on and was not any type of concerned about.Even if I do clean my meat, cook it right and everything, the essential question that pops into my head is: "will I die if I eat this?"
Recently me and my mom ordered from Apollo ,it's a restaurant mixed with Spanish and Chinese food.In an attempt to disgust my mother, I flapped the wing of my half rotisserie chicken.I realized were the head had been chopped off,and that I just ate the chicken's leg.The part that I was ready to eat (I realized) was none other than the BUTT HOLE!!!!Yup, it's true I was disgusted, so close to throwing up, too close.I could picture the chicken alive : Not being able to stand up.Too overweight to obtain it's body weight. I tried to show my mom what the heck she was eating but ,she wouldn't listen.I just then realized how American citizens are still so blinded about what enters their mouths, were it's been, and how it's been treated.As a result can't try to eat meat without gaging.This doesn't mean that I'm a vegetarian it means that I know whats going into my mouth and how it was treated.

So.....You Wanted A Summary?

So,here is a break up of our time line:

After the civil war(1865) the north won. The south decided that they didn't want to listen to the north.They obviously were not going to give in.Then reconstruction took effect.The north did not want anymore problems so they passed the thirteenth amendment which guaranteed that slavery was over!!! The south could not care less,they did not want their African American citizens getting comfortable so they made "Jim Crow Laws",thinking they would get around the constitution these codes practically made black people slaves again.During this period of time the fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments were made,these rights stated that all people that live or are born in the United States were citizens,and that each citizen has the right to vote and no other state has the right to take it away from you.Now not all people agreed with this in fact there was a very famous, very important case that dealt with a man named Plessy.Plessy sat on a white train cart (when the train was segregated)and refused to give up his seat.He ended up in court arguing that separate is NOT equal and that this violated the fourteenth Amendment.What ended up happening was that the Supreme Court ruled that separate IS equal .

Then came the Brown vs. Board this case said that separating schools by race was unconstitutional and this court actually agreed!!!They ordered that all segregated schools be integrated this lead to the Little Rock Nine.Nine black students were chosen to be the first black students in a all white school this started a whole lot of chaos.Then came the Children's March of 1963 it is called the "children's" march because mostly 'kids' participated.This all took place in Birmingham,Alabama.In 2008 America elected their very first African American president named Barack Obama.

what happened after the civil war?

1865:

* North wins Civil War-Slavery abolished.

(1865-1880)* Reconstruction Period-As soon as the Civil War ended Reconstruction began.This was "the process of reuniting the southern states".

*Thirteenth Amendment-This Amendment abolished slavery.

1866:

* Civil Rights Act-This act gave blacks the same rights as white people.

* Fourteenth Amendment-This Amendment said if you were born in the united states or living in the united states that you are a citizen and no other state can take that right away from you.

* Black Codes Abolished-Black Codes that were made after the civil war were abolished and former slaves were able to vote.

(1865-1965)* Jim Crow Laws-These laws were made by the south so that they could get around the constitution.These laws practically made black people slaves again.It took one hundred years to abolish!!!!

1870:

* Fifteenth Amendment-This Amendment said that all people that are citizens of the united states have the right to vote and no other state can take that right away from you.

.1895:

* Plessy vs. Furgison-The court cased that ruled separate is equal as long as each race is treated equally.

1950-1960:

* Brown vs Board-"The US Supreme court rules that segregated schools are unconstitutional."

*Federal National Guard-"Federal and national guard Troops intervene on behalf of nine black students blocked from entering all white Central High School in Little Rock ,Arkansas"

1963:

* Children's March-Children marched for rights and to stop segregation between races.

2001:

* 9/11 Twin Towers-Terrorist attack hits the world trade center.

2009:

* Barack Obama elected president-He is the first African American President.

WHAT I THINK OF THESE "STATISTICS?!"

The statistic that I'm most interested in says, "Among black children whose parents are high-school dropouts; half of those children had a father in prison compared with one in 14 white children with dropout parents."It isn't that I'm mad about the statistic it's that I just find it unfair because I don't think they surveyed an equal amount of students ( like half Caucasian half African Americans).It angers me because my father has been in jail once but it was only because of a misunderstanding. Not only that but one of my closest friends father has been in jail as well but she does not know his current location at the moment. Although my teacher said not to be offended by the statistic that it was research, I can't help but feel angery. It seems that it's not fair because a lot of kids have dropout parents not just African Americans. -yamilex:)

critic of statistics

Today we discussed our own opinions of the achievement gap statistics.I personally thought that there would be more African Americans in public schools because of were public schools are located.I was very surprised to find out that African American students only make up 50% of graduating students, but then again I see these examples in my school every day when Latinos and blacks act out and refuse to work, but there are no whites inside my school so I wouldn't know hoe to prove this.I also think that we make most of our new york city public schools because of the area that they are located in but that's not the case either,Latinos actually make most of our public schools,Latinos are around mostly all neighborhoods and there are a lot of us well that's what I think.I learned.....well what I concluded........I concluded that blacks and Latinos are one of the smallest of races who are likely to succeed in life and school. I'm going to change that statistic.........-Melody:)