Blog 3

I think Will Ferrell is doing much better than most Saturday Night Live members as a solo actor because he relates a lot of issues in a very satirical way. Most of his movies are straight out die from laughter funny. He makes people laugh over issues that we might not see by watching the movie, but can understand by analyzing it.
Just like in Scream, most people including myself enjoyed the trilogy, but would have never guessed the critique behind it all. Like stated in the article, most horror films are based on a murder that is somehow related to a dramatic issue with his or her mother. Either a death, or just a bad relationship with their mother, but something along that line. I feel as though that is true for most horror films. For example, in Chainsaw Massacre, the main reason for his killings and making new faces for himself, is because of a birth defect that he had been born with because of his mother. Most stories relate back to a maternal figure.
In addition, I read in the article, that you can tell peoples feelings and ideas based on the horror films of the decades of which they were released. I find this very interesting and true. Horror films in the past were more of horror and not gruesome murders and violent deaths; today, that is all you see. I think that the genre of horror films relates more to the thought and views that people as a whole have on the world at the time, than any other movie, but these views are not straight shown and hidden within the plot of the horror films themselves.

Military Engineer

Having Military Engineers is a great idea. Their main purpose is to look at height of buildings, its structure, the amount of people in that area at that specific time of day, etc... In addition, look at the weapon type and the angle at which the weapon will be dropped and the extent of the explosion. All this is taken into account by the engineers to help determine the amount of civilian casualties that might occur if this particular air strike was to occur. This is good to know to help minimize the amount of civilian casualties. An air strike has a particular purpose. Its purpose is to destroy a specific target, not to destroy that target and kill Innocent lives. In that past, we have killing thousands of innocent civilians. For example, the bombing of Hiroshima. We destroyed our target, the main purpose of the bombing, but in addition affected millions of lives with radiation, as well as killing most of the people. What is the point in that? Today, the U.S. is coming up with ways to achieve our goal of destroying our targets without killing thousands of civilians. As said by Marc Garlasco, we are coming up with weapons of low density casualties to help eliminate the excess killings of those lives who we do not need to diminish. I think that in addition to these weapons, military engineers can count and help eliminate civilian casualties and therefore help decrease the unnecessary violence and anger that might stir up against the U.S. due to these civilian killings, while acquiring a target.

Blog 2

Why are we in Iraq? Former Cabinet member Douglas Feith stated "we are in Iraq to defend our country from any future attacks," not so much to take down those who attacked us. In my point of view, we are in Iraq because after the 9/11 attack, we as a nation did not feel the power over other nations as we have felt before. In the past, especially during the Cold War, the USSR and the U.S. were the 2 dominant powers of the world. I feel as though the main reason for our action to start a war in Iraq, was to gain some power back, to feel as though we are the dominant nation of the world. I feel that President Bush needed to make a statement saying, that here we are, the United States, and we are the most dominant nation today. 9/11 gave President Bush a reason to start a war and use it as a cover up to seek more power over other countries. Today, life is about being wealthy and powerful. People as a whole need to have power to feel important and to make a statement.

In the 1910's and 20's, Ford started producing their first automobiles. It was the biggest set of news around that time period. We as a nation became more technological, being able to travel in a personal automobile that can take people places. Ford's company started to grow, and moved his company to Detroit where he started the first assembly line. After this, other companies have evolved and started to compete with Ford to be the top automobile manufacturer of the time period. This started many complications for workers and the companies themselves.

Even though life in the past was different and the people spoke with a more proper tone, wealth and power existed. Ford started an automobile company, which grow exponentially, but later was competing for the top spot, because others wanted to feel the power Ford had and become as wealthy as his company was. Though this is on a minor scale to compare an Automobile Manufacturer to Nations powers and wealth, the idea and themes are still the same. Whether it is one person or a nation as a whole, people feel the need to be wealthy and acheive a great amount of power.

Blog 2A

60 minutes had an interview with a former Cabinet member. He stated that the main reason for going into Iraq was to defend our country from another attack. The debate on this, is what about to take down the man behind those attacks? If our purpose was to defend our country and not to get Hussein, was this war a necessary act or did we take it too far? In addition, Douglas Feith stated "few people are pleased about the war, it was and still is the right thing to do for America. I think the president made the right decision given what he knew." Myself, and millions of other citizens can argue on that point.
On the daily show, Jon Stewart talked about the 5 year anniversary of the war. She showed clips of people proclaiming that the war is unnecessary, and should end. In another clip, during an interview, a Cabinet member is told that millions of people feel that this war is unnecessary, and his answer "SO." Between the two shows, shows a major contrast of issues towards the war. The cabinet members don't care about the people's thoughts and inputs on the war. They do as they please. In addition, the main reason for this war was to defend our country and not to take down the man behind it. As a citizen, this makes me question what authority the people have in our government, and question democracy as a whole.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/03/60minutes/main3992653.shtml
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=164644&title=iraq-the-first-5-years&tag=generic_tag_iraq_war&itemId=107569

Blog 1

No member of my family is in any kind of military force, therefore, the Iraqi war has not effected my family as drastically as it has others. Many of my friends have brothers or sisters who are currently serving our country and are over seas. Thankfully, no harm has come to them. One of my good friends is in the Naval Academy and is currently over in Japan. He hopes to take his career further and help out with the Iraqi war. As a close friend of his, I am afraid of the various situations that might occur if he ever does get shipped over. It is hard to think about the "what ifs" of a family member or friend that one personally knows that is currently serving in Iraq or is close to it. It is hard to imagine all those family members that must have thoughts constantly running through their heads about a loved one over seas. It is harder to imagine losing a loved one who has served this country. Thankfully I do not have to deal with this hardship, and hope that this war will end soon, so those who are dealing with these hardships are relieved of their worries and stress.

I can't say I watch or read much about the Iraqi war these days. I remember when the war first started. The media coverage was constantly supplying the citizens of the U.S. information about what is occuring in Iraq, as well as showing the actual bombings and killings by soldiers and Iraqis. These days, I do not see much media coverage about the war or as far as I can see. Most of the time, when I do hear information about Iraq, is when a tragedy has occured. For instance, the media announced that 6 troops have died in Iraq several weeks ago. In addition, this past month was the 5 year anniversary of the war. The media had mass amounts of coverage about the war because of the 5 year anniversary. When tragedies and anniversaries do not occur, I personally do not hear too much about the war. In a way this can be a good thing. The media can be very biased towards the efforts of troops and the way the Iraqi war has occured. Much of what is exclaimed by the media is opinions and not actual facts of the war. I think that if the media was not biased and just presented the information about the war without their own opinions, much of what we hear wouldn't cause a stir up between politics and families with loved ones in the war.