Operation Gratitude

1. Today we watched a video on the effects the war has on the troops.
2. If we are still out during lunch tomorrow I want to go help out.

Operation Gratitude

1. Today a couple people went to presentate but we did most of the classrooms yesterday so I didn't go to any classroom.
2. I'm going to finish my letter and I'm going to tell my sister to write one as well.

Operation Gratitude Project

1. Today we went around to classrooms giving them information about what we are doing and inviting them to write letters to our troops and show their gratitude.
2. I am going to write a letter for a troop.

Operation Gratitude Project

1. Today we took notes on Operation Gratitude so we would have an idea of what we have to present tomorrow.
2. To prepare for tomorrow I went on the Operation Gratitude website to look for more information.

Operation Gratitude Project

1. Today I went around campus writing statistics and other information about our troops in chalk with Jessica and Valerie. During tutorials we began to make posters.
2. I am going to look for more information to begin making a powerpoint presentation and I am going to finish making more posters.

Scanners and Pat-Downs Upset Airline Passengers

There is a big controversy concerning the new procedures used in airports. Many people think the new methods are invasive and harmful. Passengers are angry because they have to go through full-body image detectors and probing pat-downs. Security officials say this is a necessary precaution to ward off terrorist attacks. But despite their assurances that this is only to protect the country and keep everyone safe there has been a lot of complaints.
An aviation professor said that two trends are colliding: the usual holiday security increases and the addition of body scanners and new heightened measures due to the recent attempted cargo bombings. Several airports are also short-staffed, which will add to delays.
Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration are really in favor of changing airport screening from familiar scanners to full-body detection machines. The new machines show the body's contours on a computer in a private room away from the security checkpoints. They assure that a person's face is never seen and the person's identity is supposedly not known to the screener reviewing the computer images.
However, concerns about privacy and low-level radiation emitted by the machines have led some passengers to refuse screening. Under TSA rules, those who refuse must go through rigorous pat-down inspections that include checks of the inside of travelers' thighs and buttocks. The American Civil Liberties Union has denounced the machines as a "virtual strip search."
Concerns about procedures are not limited to the U.S. Organized protesters in Germany stripped off their clothes in airports to voice their opposition to full-body scans.
Employees say that resistance to the new methods is what will cause delays. If people consent to the scan it takes 30 seconds, whereas if they refuse the pat-down will take about 2 minutes. Another thing they are doing is that luggage and personal identification will be more closely examined.
Top security officials spoke out to defend their new policies. They insist that the new methods are safe and the procedures are better for everyone. They pointed out last Christmas a Nigerian man tried to blow up a jetliner using explosives hidden in his underwear.
There are currently about 300 full-body scanners now in 60 U.S. airports. TSA is on track to install approximately 500 units by the end of 2010.
There have been misunderstanding about the privacy and safety concerns but representatives argue that TSA’s concern is only the safety of the passengers and the advanced technology is beneficial for all.
Some pilots don’t agree with the screening but many are part of the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program so they don’t have to go through scanners and pat-downs. Pilots are also concerned about the cumulative effects of radiation. Depending on their schedules, pilots can go through a scanner several times a day and several days a week.

Failure Is Impossible for High School Students! (No, really)

by Mira Jacob
West Potomac High School in Alexandria, Virginia has decided to try out a new system and they took F's out of their grading system, they will use 'I', which stands for incomplete, instead. They think this is more effective because it will give students a chance to learn a lesson and catch up, when they do they will be given a grade, like any other student. But there is divided opinion concerning this new method.
An english teacher stated that it's a bad method because not only does it affect the students it affects the teachers. Students will be under the impression that they could do whatever they want and it takes the only tool that teachers had to make students learn.
Others argue that this method isn't meant for those purposes but to benefit those who learn slower than their peers. They claim that if we really want students to learn giving them an F and moving on isn't going to help them; whereas if they get an 'I' and more time to learn/complete assingnments they will understand better.
Some of the nation's highest educational institutions, including the law schools of Stanford University,  Yale University, and UC Berkeley all have non-traditional grading systems. Other high schools like the Big Picture high schools in Rhode Island, which focuses on internships, have found that learning goes better when uncomplicated by grades. They show this is a successful method them because most of their seniors go on to college and they have high college graduation rates

2010's Most Talked About Campaign Ads

Link to video:  video.msn.com

I like this video because it shows a couple funny ads. I think it shows that politicians are trying very hard and spending a lot of money because they are aiming to attract everyone's attention. They can't please everyone but they are doing different things so that more people can relate to their advertisments.

Campaign Ads Turn Vicious

Link to video:  http://video.yahoo.com/watch/8354511/2233

As it was getting nearer to elections all of the candidates began to bring out information to make their opponents look bad, it made them feel like they had a better chance of winning. Republicans began bad mouthing Democratic candidates and vice versa. Some ads simply ridicule the opponents.

Amendment 2 getting mixed reactions

 Midterm elections are a week away and many issues in Florida are driving people to the polls - one of them is Amendment 2, which would allow military members to get discountson their property taxes.

Amendment 2 is what many call a chance to give active military members a tax break while serving overseas.

If this amendment were passed it would allow active military, military reserves, the National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard to cut down on property taxes based on the time they have served overseas.

Officials explained that the county tax appraiser would base a percentage of time spent overseas in a war zone and relay that to a property tax cut.

But there are many disagreements about this issue. Some people are arguing that everyone has to pay property taxes and it isn't fair that anyone should get a discount. Others believe that since they are risking their lifes for us and the country they should be thanked and this is one way to show them we are grateful.

Using tax data from 2009, the state's independent revenue estimating conferences says the breaks would add up to $13-million. If approved, Amendment 2 would go into effect on January 1, 2011.

Meanwhile the Florida Legislature needs to decide what is considered an active war zone, so military members would know if they qualify.

Appellate Court Comes To Central IL

The Illinois Appellate Court held a hearing in Central Illinois today. The appeals court came to Bradley University as part of its judicial education program. One of the cases the justices heard was the appeal of Stephen Chromik. The former Metamora High School teacher/coach is serving time for sexually abusing a student two years ago. Last year Chromik was cleared on charges of criminal sexual assault but convicted on aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The student's family is now suing the Metamora School Board and its superintendent for allowing Chromik to work for the district with knowledge of a previous sexual assault conviction in Tennessee.
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Kilbride says the traveling appellate educational program gives the public and students a chance to see how the hearings work. He thinks this is important because the public doesn't understand how the court system works and this helps them comprehend the system better.

Schools Ban 'Boobies' Cancer Bracelet

A $4 rubber bracelet meant to raise breast cancer awareness has created a controversy because students nationwide are wearing the "I (heart) boobies" wristbands, and running afoul of school administrators.

Many schools throughout the U.S. including California have banned the bracelets because they believe the "boobies" language is inappropriate.

The Keep A Breast Foundation has sold 2 million of the bracelets so far, with the money going to breast cancer research and education programs.

The group believes the catchy slogan is a better way to teach kids about breast cancer than more traditional methods like pink ribbons.

School officials were making students wear the bracelets inside out because they consider the wording inappropiate.

The dispute drew the attention of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued West had a free speech right to wear the bracelet. School officials finally agreed to allow a student to wear it except in the presence of two teachers — one a victim of breast cancer and another who lost a relative to the disease — who found the "boobies" reference objectionable.

Marketing manager Kimmy McAtee argued the bracelets is an easy way for teens to show their support for their cause, most aren't going to wear the pink bow or want to eat yogurt (another way to support this cause ).

State Lawmakers Draft Citizenship Laws Targeting Children of Illegal Immigrants

Lawmakers in at least 14 states anounced that they are working on legislation to deny U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. Arizona Senator Russell Pearce said he and other lawmakers are working on a draft of their model legislation and have consulted constitutional scholars to change the 14th Amendment.
Since 2005 similar measures have been introduced in the congressional sessions, yet they have all been neglected.
It has been argued that the ammendment does not apply to the babies of illegal immigrants because such families don't owe sole allegiance to the U.S. Advocates for immigrants argue that the part of the amendment Pearce is contending clearly was meant for children of foreign diplomats who are born in the U.S.

Constitutional changes require approval by two-thirds majorities in both chambers of Congress, an impossibility now because Democrats have the majority in both houses and most oppose this measure. Even if Republicans do gain power in November and legislation is passed, an amendment would still need to be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, the founder of a national group of legislators critical of illegal immigration, states that providing birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants is an "ongoing distortion and twisting" of the amendment.

The 14 states working on legislation are Arizona, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.

Pearce was the chief sponsor of a 2007 state law targeting employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Police: Fla. gunman kills self, 1 other, wounds 5

A gunman shot himself in his red pickup truck on Monday after he drove through the neighborhood picking off random victims at around 4 PM; he killed one person and wounded 5. Officers refused to release the name of the gunman, his victims or motive. A police spokeswoman says the wounded were being treated at Shands Hospital and had minor to criticial injuries, but she wouldn't give details.

Teen killed, Several Injured in Ga. School Bus Crash

Kenneth Ross Herringdine, 59, the driver a school bus in Georgia lost control along a rural northern highway Monday and the vehicle overturned, killing a 17-year-old student and sending several others students from Temple High School to the hospital. The bus was carrying 12 high school students, it was traveling south on Highway 113, some 50 miles west of Atlanta, around 2 p.m. when it left the roadway and crashed into a ditch.

Authorities said James Rashawn Walker of Temple was pronounced dead at the scene. Carroll County Coroner Sammy Eady said Walker was pinned underneath the bus when it stopped in the ditch. Carroll County Schools Superintendent Scott Coward said the driver was a trainee.

Six patients were sent to three different hospitals and were fortunately in fair condition.

Ricky Stilley / AP

An ambulance leaves the scene where a school bus overturned on Highway 113 between Temple and Carrollton, Ga., Monday.

Education Nation: Rough Graduation Numbers in Washoe County

There is a high drop-out rate in Nevada. The district began a recent campaign "Door-to-Door", they go from door  to door to evry student thats dropped out of high school to try and get them to go back to school. The teams contacted 222 students, resulting in more than 26 percent returning to school, whereas last year it was only 16%.According to Washoe County Superintendent Heath Morrison, the disconnect between students and schools happens long before high school. AFter second grade evryone starts to expect more form students which is when they began to struggle more.