Fighting Youth Voter Apathy

I thought that this was really funny and is a good way to encourage youth to vote.

Question of the Week

With the upcoming election, will people actually go out and vote? Voter turnout has been declining. Why is this? What can be done? I really hope that Canadian youth will really go out to the polls and vote, I think it's super important

20 Ridings...

This made me laugh. Voter turnout has been very low in previous years, what can people do to increase voter turnout and to combat voter apathy?

Question of the Week

It's really interesting to see how Ghadafi feels that the war is unjust looking at everything that has happened. It makes me wonder how people justify their actions and how people filter things in order to make decisions that are seen as being so terrible and stupid by others around them. This goes not only for Ghadafi but also our own governmental figures.

Gadhafi, in letter, asks Obama to end air strikes

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20110406/us-us-libya/

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appealed directly to President Barack Obama on Wednesday to end what Gadhafi called "an unjust war." He also wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year.

I think that it is very interesting that Gadhafi, after all of the terrible things that have been said about him would call this war "unjust". 

Nazi Saboteurs' Spectacular Failure Detailed In Newly Released Spy Files

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/04/pastorius-nazi-saboteurs-british-spy-files_n_844332.html

I have a huge interest in history so I thought that this article was interesting. It's interesting how things hidden away from what seems to be so long ago still resurface and are of interest. What would have happened if these plans would have worked?

Did the American Dream Emigrate to Europe?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-white/did-the-american-dream-im_b_845680.html

It seems that we've been talking about the American Dream a lot in most of my classes lately so the article title really caught my attention. The article ended up being about employment and the economies in Europe and the States, and how Europe is thriving in comparison to here.

I really enjoyed some of the comments, some people really thought that the article was very one sided and that the US is actually doing better than the states. I think I am going to do some more research on this topic.

Class Reflection

It was interesting skyping Kierra Ladner in class. Despite some technological issues at the beginning overall I think that it was very insightful.

Students welcome debt cap, slam other budget moves

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1237054.html

The article itself was interesting but I felt that the comments below were even moreso.

Comment 1...

Post-secondary education is a privilege and not a right. People seem to forget that... what happened to the days when you only buy what you can afford.
I am someone that went to university and graduated debt free. My parents did not help me. I worked through high-school to save up money. I worked through university and full time in the summers to pay for my school. I didn't qualify for loans but my parents weren't able to help me either.. so I did what I had to do! I took three courses in a semester that I could only afford three courses..
And let's face it. A tuition reduction doesn't make sense. We are below the national average, and if you compare our tuition fees to the States, well, there is no comparison. Not everyone needs a tuition reduction - there are plenty of rich people attending universities. Why would we save them money? What we need is exactly what was in this budget, student assistance.

Comment 2...

How in many European countries, post-secondary education IS a right for those that academically qualify, as are trade schools and technical colleges. It is considered part of the education system and is tuition-free. Countries such as France and Germany also pay a stipend to the students.
Now are France and Germany richer countries? (other than an educated populace)No. Do they have more natural resources? (other than an educated populace)No.
Well, what's the difference? They have an advanced, proportional social democracy that stresses the well-being of the citizens over the needs of a soulless multinational.
Strangely, we can always find an extra billion or two to let our Dear Leader's narcissism and fascist fantasies play out, or 100 billion + to support toys for big boys and the military-industrial complex, but for the people? No. We can build prisons to slake the mouthbreathers bloodlust, but think, THINK. I
If there was a fairer education system, maybe we wouldn't need the prisons. Maybe we wouldn't need more welfare, maybe our taxes would be lower, maybe we'd be a better country.

Comment 3...

I wish university students would quit complaining about funding..if you cant afford it ..DONT GO! Go to Community college..we need more trades people than lawyers anyway.Right now the only loans to ''forgive'' would be med students IF they go to rural areas to work it off.

I thought that these were all really interesting and different views and reactions to this article. With a lot of work and support from my family I was able to pay for my whole first year without requiring any student loans. 

Bullied kids ‘reaching out for help,’ says longtime teacher

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1236912.html

Four Nova Scotia teens have committed suicide in the past 3 months due to bullying, especially online forms. At least that has been what has made the news. A girl in my own community where i grew up almost committed suicide two weeks ago for the same reasons, although this did not make the news.

I liked this article because it was of a different perspective than a lot of other bullying articles that have been in the news.

Teens Killers Kruse Wellwood, Cameron Moffat Sentenced as Adults, Get Life in Prison for Kimberly Proctor Murder

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Teen+killers+Kruse+Wellwood+Cameron+Moffat+sentenced+adults+life+prison+Kimberly+Proctor+murder/4556638/story.html?id=4556638

I thought that this whole case is rather disturbing. Since when are 16 and 17 year old boys aggressive sadist necrophiliacs? Ones that act on it?

I really agree with the decision that they get charged as adults, the crime that they committed is horrific and definitely deserves to be treated as such.

Canadian Bar Association

A few weeks ago we did a lobbyist simulation where people were assigned to act as lobbyists in order to effect change while the government is creating a budget.

Me and Laura chose to act as the Canadian Bar Association. The Canadian Bar Association is a group that represents over 37 000 people who work as lawyers, etc. They work towards procuring funds to ensure justice is fair and achievable for all who have to go through the court systems.

The thing that I spoke about was getting more funding so that legal aide is more accessible everywhere in Canada for everything. Laura spoke about a plan to get divorces and child custody battles to happen more rapidly and without jamming up the supreme courts. 

Class Reflection

I haven't really been keeping up with my blogging for this class, but I'm going to be completely caught up by Friday I hope. I've been busy writing term papers and was gone away for a sustainability symposium that I was on the planning committee for.

I really enjoyed Don Julian when he came to speak to the class. He is a really good speaker and I felt that he offered a lot of insight. He seems like he has had a lot of amazing experiences and like he is extremely knowledgeable on a variety of topics. I would have liked to be able to spend more time getting to learn from him.

I also really enjoyed last Tuesday's class on corporate agriculture, I've been doing a lot of research into it, it's an area of high interest for me. I really enjoyed people's reactions. I think that being in a major where things like that are common knowledge, I forget that the majority of people have no knowledge about origins of food and how terrible our current food system is.