The Spanish American War

The Spanish American war was a “just” war. In the 1800s, America was attracted to Cuba’s commercial value, and since Cuba was fighting for its independence from Spain, America stepped in to help. Other factors also contributed to the start of the war: the confusion with the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine, which was thought to be caused by Spain at that time; Americans lives being threatened; manifest destiny…

In 1898, President McKinley sent the battleship U.S.S. Maine to Cuba to protect its businessmen there just in case the war gets worse. But the ship exploded on its way to Cuba! At that time, there were two popular beliefs of the cause of the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine that roamed America. American experts say that it was caused by Spanish’s mine, while Spanish officials argue that the explosion came from inside of the ship.

The government of her majesty of Spain felt sympathetic toward this unfortunate event. They expressed their sorrowness by giving assistance to the victims, attending funeral ceremonies of the 260 dead men, and sending the highest officers of the Spanish state to visit the American ambassador. They also requested judges from two disinterested countries to look over this case, to have as little bias as possible. They made this request because they wanted the U.S. to set the facts straight, to understand their helpful actions since the tragedy.

None of Spain’s actions were revealed to the American people because of yellow journalism. Yellow journalism is a type of media that expresses bias, and sensationalizes topic. This was very popular back then because of the small amount sources the public can turn to (no TV, radio, internet…). So the newspapers (only 2), who favored the america’s version of explanation toward the explosion, literally shaped the public’s mind into believing that.

Now that the American people think that they know the truth, they are screaming to go to war with spain. Not only them, even the congress wanted war! Despite how much president McKinley didn’t want war, because of his experience with the horrors of the civil war, the majority finally convinced him and the war was declared.

America defeated spain very soon (the war only took 113 days), and the U.S. annexed Puerto rico and Philippines as American territory.

Now the big question comes, “was the Spanish American war a just war?” Everyone has their own opinions and argument when it comes to a discussion, and here are what imperialist and anti-imperialist thought about the war at that time:

Speaker	Imperialist or anti-imperialist	Their point of view
Senator Beveridge of Indiana	imperialist	“America was made to organize the world!”
Professor William Sumner	Anti-imperialist	I believe on liberty, that America should leave other countries alone, because they all deserve the freedom that America respect so much.
Admiral Alfred T. Mahan	Imperialist	Other countries are growing, and America must follow the trend, or else we will be picked on.
Hawaii’s former Queen Liliuokalani	Middle	America doesn’t have the right to take over Hawaii, but they can take over other unexplored territory of the U.S.

Despite what other people thinks, when you win something, you are right (as proven through history)! Since America won the war, they should be right and shouldn’t give a chance to the losers to speak.

The Spanish-American War may or not have been just. It depends on the point of view you perceive it by. To the Americans the war was not only just but completely unavoidable. Spain's treatment against the Cubans, reminded America all too well of how it feels to be a colony over ruled and under appreciated. Of course there was also the fact that America wanted to make a name for itself amongts the power nations such as Great Britain, France, and Japan. Spain did not lose any of its grace, at the end of the war America and Spain signed a treaty, which was America paid Spain $20,000,000 and Spain ceded its territory e.g. Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. None of these territories wanted to be an American colony, so was this war just?

Not all Americans, thought America should own territories or commonwealths. These Americans were called Anti-Imperialists. The anti-imperialist's argument was that these other countries didn't want democracy or the Anglo-Saxon's spreading their self proclaimed superiority across the globe. Another argument in this heated debate was that (at the time(1998)) America still had much of it own land to explore and had no need to "explore" another countries land. The arguement of an African American was if the minorities in America must fight for equal rights than other weaker nations should have the same rights that they are fighting for.

Many Americans also supported the idea of going into other countries and exploiting their land and natives. These views have been in the minds of countless people for hundreds of years. A senator from Indiana stated " He [God] made us [The Anglo-Saxons/Americans] skilled in government so that we may manage government among savage and senile peoples". It was also believed that America must broaden it's supremacy onto foreign affairs. There was also the constant imposing threat that if America did not follow suit about spreading its influence as Japan and Europe were doing, it would suffer the same fate as the countries being taken over.

Once America received its new territory from Spain, it set out to prosper as much from these colonies as possible. Cuba had "economic potential" due to its sugar plantations, it is a mere ninety miles away from Florida's coast, and at this proximity Cuba was thought to be a legitimate extension of America. After Cuba gained its freedom, it was in a state of turmoil; with its corrupt government, unhygienic, disease ridden streets and homes, America felt it should respond. President McKinley reacted by setting up a military government to manage Cuban affairs. There was also an amendment added to Cuba's new constitution, called the Platt Amendment. This amendment restrained and limited Cuba's independence, such as disabling Cuba from borrowing freely from other foreign powers, and two navel stations were built on Cuban territory. Many Cubans resented this and America eventually returned governmental control back to Cuba.

The Dominican Republic was similarly related to Cuba in the way its new found in independence brought corruption and disorder to the small island. When the Dominican Republic improved its transportation and education, other countries began to invest in it. Unfortunately, the government was still corrupt and the Dominican Republic accumulated massive debts after its leader was assassinated, and the government was in utter chaos. The American President at the time Theodore Roosevelt set out to eliminate some of the country's debts if America was guaranteed to make a profit off of Dominican goods and products. This agreement went on for two years until the debts were clear. The president who succeeded Theodore Roosevelt, President William H. Taft created a foreign policy call "Dollar Diplomacy". This policy "encouraged US businesses to invest in foreign regions". It also ordered troops to be stationed in the Dominican Republic to withhold US businesses and establish order in the torn Country. The Dominican Republic believed America profits over-exceeded that of the Dominican people. The country fell into debt again and America had power over the country for eight years, spanning from 1916 to 1924. At this time American pulled its troops out of the Dominicsn Republic.

Then Puerto Rico became an American territory the US sent an American governor to have rule over the island. Also US judges were appointed to the Puerto Rican Supreme court. Althoug America controlled Puerto Rico, the Puerto Ricans did not have American citizenship. Some Americans did not want Puerto Ricans to immigrate to the US. Soon the US government passed the Forester Act, this act set up an American government in Puerto Rico. America also sponsored programs to lower the disease risk in Puerto Rico and to rebuild and repaired communities and roads. Seventeen years after the Forester Act was set into motion, the US Congress passsed the Jones Act. The Jones act granted Puerto Ricans, American citizenship, but excluded them from having the ability to vote and represent in Congress. Because it did not cost much to employ Puerto Ricans, Americans invested a great amount of money into Puerto Rican territory and businesses. This led to American investers owning well over half of Puerto Rico's top products, tabacco, sugar, banking, and overseas exports. This did not benefit the Puerto Rican people much, farmers could no longer compete with cheap selling American goods and had to sell their land or get paid very little for their produce. The Puerto Rican people were not in favor of how America took advantage of them, but there was not much that they could do to make a substantial difference. Living conditions in Puerto Rico was atrocious and abominable, and it has not changed significantly in the past decades.

Was the Spanish-American War just? It seems that at the time the war was thought to be: looking back at it now a hundred and twelve years later it does not seem so. America's reasons behind the war may not have been as good intentional as previously thought. America has had a huge impact on the territories it claimed, and the negative impact appears to outweigh the positive it may have brought onto these countries. Does this make the war unjust, or was America's intention different from what it set out to do: was America just taking as much as it could from a valuable opportunity? The answer is not clear nor is there just one plausible explanation.

This week I read a book that tells that the production of global livestock is around 20% of the greenhouse gases on Earth. It also says that many Americans eat eight ounces of meat per day while third-world countries only eat about an ounce. There are sixty billion animals raised(or according to the author grown) a year for food and six billion people on Earth. In the US there's nine billion-chickens, one- hundred million pigs, two-hundred and fifty million turkeys, and thirty-six million cows. All raised industrially. The books says that nineteen billion tax dollars in subsidies go to thirty-one hundred farmers.

While I was reading this I was shocked that agriculture is a bigger part of global warming than transportation. I didn't know that it takes more energy to make our food then actually eating it. This Book made me think about how in modern society we bite more than we can chew and although global warming was just a myth thirty years ago it is surely real now and it is not as hard as you might think to lower you part in it. You don't have to have three different garbage bins, drive a Hybrid, or use Eco-friendly light bulb, although of course having these things help. It's as easy as lowering your intake on meat and staying away from food with more than one major ingredient(at least that's what the book says). I personally think most veggies taste revolting but after reading just a few chapters of this book I ignored the tasty steak and almost painfully ate a few spears of broccoli instead. I guess it's an acquired taste.

I think the author of this book wants their readers to think smartly about the food they eat and is trying to stop the over consumption of food in America and and other developed countries. I also think it's better to know what you are doing instead of doing it blindly. It also might help with these decisions by knowing that choosing the "wrong' one even once is slowly killing you and our planet. Then make the decision of whether you want to continue doing it. It is easier to understand the impact that our food has when you see how it ties into the other major global problems today. The books says that if all the cows that are raised/grown in C.A.F.O.s are put into pastures would nearly destroy all farmlands and forests in existence. Even though we may not be able recycle and re-use the food we eat we can definitely reduce how much we eat and that can make all the difference in the world.

On the diabetes.org website l read a very short article about a study of 4,857 American Indian children that were born from 1945 to 1984. It stated that nearly 600 of them developed some form of diabetes. It also says high-blood pressure raises the death rate by 53% and high-blood pressure raises it to 73%. The article said "The 1,214 most overweight children in the group had a mortality frequency that was about 230 percent of the leanest group." and that 559 of the study subjects died before age 55.
This study answered a few questions, but it raised some too. Why was the study only on American Indian children? It also said 166 of them died from natural causes, did their weight have anything to do with this? If obesity and cardiovascular problems can be predictors of an early death then why doesn't the government try to lower the risks and strive for a more healthy country. Why do they give millions of dollars in farm subsidies that produce unhealthy food? The only answer I can think of is money and connections but that's a different post. Even though 12.3% of 4,857 doesn't seem like much it is still too high a percent than it should be.
I don't think the author of this article was trying to make the reader think a certain way. There were no opinions in the article. It was simply the results of the study. Although I don't think the author would write the article if they didn't want people to know what the results of the research was. Sometimes I get a little thrown off when I watch, read, or hear something that is supposed to be informative but is mostly someones opinions on the subject. Since the writing was on a website called diabetes.org you can be pretty sure it is wants people to know about this condition. It was an interesting article and I would like to research more about their study.

Another Reason for the Inferior Races to Work Harder

Base on modern medical technology and expanse, a patient in need of an organ transplant is usually separated by life and death due to the racial gap. For example, a black patient will probably die because he can’t afford an organ, while a white man survives because he’s rich. I think this is really unfair and I want to do something about it.

As I was surfing through the net just now, an article in RT.com really caught my attention. Its title was “Printing new organs – sci-fi becomes true”! This article is about how bio-printing technology is progressing, aiming to save thousands of people all over the world. At the Federal Scientific Research Centre of Transplantology and Bioartificial organs in Moscow, “the scientists now use a bio-printer. A cartridge of bio-ink containing materials such as proteins and peptides is snapped into a printer followed by cell-friendly biopaper. They then use a computer to tell the printer the desired shape the matter should take. After processing the commands, the machine performs like a laser jet printer dropping individual ink clusters onto the paper. The clusters fuse together and as the layers of matter build, the structure becomes more complex and eventually the biopaper dissolves.”

Everything sounds very ideal; though as the article came to an end, Professor Simon Matskeplishvili, a cardiologist, said, “People would know that this isn’t a cheap thing, this would be a very expensive procedure, very difficult procedure – and not for everybody until 10-15 years [from now].” After I comprehended the comment briefly, my heart suddenly failed. So I guess that the people involved in the racial gap will just have to work their harder for their own sake, because there is no free lunch in this competitive world, you’ll have to earn it!

2 China Schools Said to Be Tied to Online Attacks

According to an article in the New York Times newspaper, there has been a series of sophisticated online attacks done to Google and a few other American corporations, which had connections with two china educational institutions, including one that has close relationships with the Chinese military. These attacks were believed to have begun in early April, aiming to steal trade secrets, computer codes, and emails of Chinese human rights activists.

When some of the institutions’ staffs were questioned, the professor that teaches Web security responded, “I’m not surprised. Actually students’ hacking into foreign Web sites is quite normal”. While another staff acknowledged that every four or five students from his computer science department were recruited into the military, which support the theory of the involvement of the military and the institution.

I have a feeling that these hackers are working for a good cause, because the US government has been hiding a lot of facts from the public, even from its citizens (excluding the idea that they will spread the news). Since China is currently strengthening, this might be a conspiracy that they’re holding. Though I do not feel ashamed even if it’s true, because I know that it takes great skills and intellects (above normal) to accomplish such work, (I also tried it a couple of times, so I know what it’s about), so I am proud of the Chinese.

I would love to follow their footsteps if I have the potentials in me, but I have not discovered any so far.

2/18/2010

Saving the World #1

Today, while I was taking a ride along the countryside, I began wondering about the crisis of global warming. I thought about the rise of water level as a result of the increasing temperature, where one day, the human race will be flooded into the history.

As I was thinking, I came up with a theory that might have the potential to save the world! My theory is that perhaps we can use a machine to suck the water vapor (cloud) from the sky, and release it into the space. This way we can prevent the water level from rising to our feet.

Readers, feel free to comment on my theory and give me suggestions, and please spread my thoughts to others.

Happy Farm? What Happy Farm?

Do you know where your food comes from? Who makes it? How much it really costs? How the animals you eat are being treated and taken care of before they get on your plate? How about what the labels on food products actually mean? I used to not know any of the answers to any of these questions. I did know that many cows live in feed lots some on farms, pigs live in pens, and that chickens live in coops. That is pretty much the extent of what I knew about how our food is treated and cared for. Of course I have seen some of the recalls on tainted meat, in the media but I never really bothered to find out more. Did I know that four-hundred cows and hour are slaughtered in a large slaughterhouse? Or that there are five-thousand seven hundred slaughterhouses in America to kill around twenty-eight billion pounds of beef a year, and that's only cows? Or that the Smithfield Packing Company can butcher up to thirty-two thousand hogs a day? These things are all true and I found this out after watching a little documentary call "Food Inc.".
Food Inc. is about how food industries try to cover up how they really take care of our food and what's in it. Food Inc. also shows how food industrialism affects the lives of Americans and their health. The movie shows cows jammed together with thousands of other cows in feed lots like sardines in a can. The cows stand knee-deep in their own excrement all day and night. Imagine living like this and having to eat something you can barely digest, like gravel. Gravel to us is like corn to cows but we don't have to eat gravel, cows have to eat corn. Grass is what cows have eaten for thousands of years and it's what they love, so why are they forced to eat it by large food companies? Corn is cheap, easy to make, last a long time when stored, and are made in colossal amounts(about two-hundred bushels an acre). When some cows eat large amounts of corn a bacteria builds up in their stomachs called E. Coli. This bacteria can be harmless and even help it's 'host' but sometimes they release potentially lethal toxins that well, can be lethal. It sort of makes me nervous that the meat or the veggies(vegetables can have E. Coli too) I might eat could be riddled with bacteria from the darkest corners of a cows' stomach. There are about one-hundred different cows mixed into a single hamburger and it is extremely likely that at least one of those now diseased cows had E. Coli.
Take the case of a young now diseased boy named Kevin who ate a hamburger from a burger chain called "Jack in the Box" and suffered from E. Coli poisoning. They should change their name from "Jack in the Box" to "E. Coli in the Burger". One day Kevin is playing around, having fun and eating snacks as children do. Eight days later he wasn't able to drink water and had to suck it from a sponge. Twelve days later his parents had to bury his cadaver in a child-sized coffin. His mother and grandmother made it their goal to pass a law that gives the USDA power to close plants that produce meat contaminated with E. Coli or other potentially deadly pathogens. Kevin's law has not yet passed because the food industry is protected by laws and bills. The food industry in protected by our government because many congressmen have worked in these large food corporations and still "look out" for them and make sure it's nearly impossible to sue or make laws that put them in situations they rather not be in.
Do you know who works in Americas slaughterhouses and assembly lines? Or who loads the chickens onto the trucks, and "takes"care of them. Who works at the C.A.F.O.s? The answer to these questions were the least surprising thing to me in all the movie. It's usually illegal immigrants that do the work that no one else wants to do. Illegal immigrants have to do the same mindless labor day in and day out to earn minimum wage. In a way the food industries blackmail illegal immigrants in order to keep them in their grasps. One of the many ways food companies "blackmail" illegal immigrants to continuing working for them is telling them that they will go to jail or worse, back to their home country(usually Mexico). Some illegal immigrants work for a food company for years and if they get deported the company doesn't get into any trouble at all. Why do companies use/hire illegal immigrants? They do this because immigrants work for little pay, are desperate, it's hard for them to find a lasting job, and they have no rights. At all. I don't know exactly what the countries that these immigrants come from are like and I don't know how hard it is to get a green card. But I still think that if they want the rights then they should do what's needed in order to become citizens. You can't go somewhere your not supposed to be and expect to have what the people who are supposed to be there have. Even though these immigrants shouldn't be here illegally they are still people and it is still hard to have your life pulled out from under you.That is why I sympathize for them.
One question of Food Inc. raises is "Whose responsibility is it to make sure our food is safe?". There are many answers to this question. Some people would say it's the governments responsibility to make sure our food is safe. They pass the laws, they have to protect our rights, the government says what can and can not go in our foods and their labels. Other people say that it's up to our parents to make sure our food is safe. They say young adults and children do not completely understand what they are eating and what nutrition is. If parents aren't a hundred percent sure that the food their child is going to eat is safe then they shouldn't feed it to them. I personally think it's our responsibility to make sure the food we eat is safe. If we want to make sure our meat, poultry and vegetables came from a "happy farm" and are healthy we can go to a local farmers market or order it from a validated website. If we do not want to eat something then we usually don't have to eat it, we are not force fed like the poor bacteria filled cows. It's up to us as consumers to change or keep the way our food is being grown. I don't know how I feel about chickens not being able to walk on account of them growing too fast for there bones to catch up or cows having to be fed corn. I think I feel more sorry for the cows because they are bigger so you see how sad they look more. I believe that cows belong in pastures and barns. I also think pigs shouldn't just be overfed and in overcrowded pens but able to play around in the mud like in the book in Charlotte's Web. I don't really care much about chickens, they are kind of annoying but at least deserve to be able to walk. I know that since consumers demand so much products and goods to live and because we are used to it that these companies need to save money to make money and that means saving space and expenses. We can't exactly complain about the treatment of these animals and how safe our food is when we still buy and eat the food in question. We have to change and question ourselves before we try to change and question others. I think that's what the makers of Food Inc want us to do, change our lives to change the world.

Modern Segregation

Nowadays, segregation in America isn’t as popular as it once was during the Jim Crow Era, on the other hand, there are dramatic changes in segregation between the past and the present . Today, Public facilities are no longer separating people by race; segregation is usually economically wise, and children are allowed to attend schools of their will as long as they have the ability, or the money. A superior, or inferior race no longer exist in this nation. But is segregation really over, as President Kennedy declared some fifty years ago?

NO! Segregation is not over; it still exists in places throughout the United States, but in different ways. There are people, either consciously or subconsciously separating themselves from others that are different. For example, black and white students that attend the same school sit at different tables at lunch, or tend to stick with what is familiar with them and that is often time their color. It is sad to even say that the Civil Rights Activist fought for integration, and it was their top priority for equality, but people are still separating themselves because of some insecurities.

I believe the main reason of why some people think they’re worse than others is from the cause of stereotypes, such as people of different race possess different brains! These kinds of beliefs has been long since proved to be wrong by scientist, though a lot of people still choose to believe it. I think they are doing this because they want excuses for not trying. In my school, when teachers ask some students a question, they simply reply “I don’t know? If you want to know why, then it is because that I am (this race), and so I am SUPPOSED to be stupid!”
This is the effect of modern segregation, the impact it had on kids’ brain can change their life, tremendously!

-Kevin
Revised by Amanda

The Civil Rights Movement

It has taken many years for African-Americans to gain equality that was rightfully given to them in the US Constitution and they have overcome many obstacles. I will start my summary after The American Civil War ended(with a little about the civil war) and will end in the late nineteen-sixties because that was the high-point of the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil War was the war between The Confederacy which were the southern-eastern states and The Union which were the northern-eastern states; there was also the border states, the border states were the five states that were between the North and the South they also had soldiers join The Confederacy and The Union. The Union won after four years of war and 620,000 casualties.

After The Civil War between 1865 and 1870 three new amendments were added into the US Constitution, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are known as The Reconstruction Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and forbids involuntary servitude. The fourteenth amendment gives Americans equal rights and make it so that a state cannot take away an Americans "life, liberty, or property". The Fifteenth Amendment is that no state can take away someone's right to vote no matter their race, color or if they were a slave. From 1865 to 1887 was the Reconstruction Period was when America was putting itself back together after The Civil War. It was also when the northern states enforced the three new amendments. During the Reconstruction, the South made black codes that wasn't very different from before The Civil War, for example African-Americans had to have work contracts and if you ran away from work you will be a "fugitive or labor" and a "negro catchers" would be paid five dollars to bring you back, also your years pay would be taken away if this happened which wasn't very much to begin with. Troops (and some abolitionists) were sent to stop the black codes. After the troops withdrew from 1887. After that the South still had many problems and blamed most of them on the blacks. The Redeemers also put poll taxes and counted votes incorrectly to make African Americans powerless and it denied them the rights given to by the US Constitution

The US Supreme Court made a decision in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson was as long as something is "separate but equal" it's okay by law(legal) and now there was an excuse for keeping the races separated and White Americans superior . After this the southern states did not hold back in how much the segregated the races. They made the Jim Crow laws, the Jim Crow Laws were laws that favored White Americans and left the minority races at a disadvantage, usually money and educationally wise. The races were segregated in many places and ways, such as schools, restrooms, drinking fountains,at work, in neighborhoods, hospitals, stores and public transportation. For about a hundred or so years Jim Crow Laws were practiced throughout the South until around the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. These years were the peak of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Civil Rights Movement is when Civil Right activists fought for equal rights among the races. During the peak of the Civil Rights Movement activists worked hard to make and prove that all races were equal and none was inferior. "Brown v. Board of Education" was in 1954, it was the case in which the US Supreme Court declared that ''separate was not equal'' and the integration of public schools in the nation. The Little Rock Board of Education were the first to obey the order and were to integrate Central High school in Little Rock, AK in 1957. There was a rough start with the nine students and the citizens of little were not too quick to agree with the law as hoped, the Little Rock Nine(that is what the first nine African-American students were nicknamed) even had an armed escort follow them from class to class. There were also sit-ins, sit-ins are when someone sits somewhere as a way to protest. One famous sit-in was when four college students sat at a segregated Woolworth store's counter to protest Woolworth's all white policy. The Freedom Riders were people wanted to desegregate buses, bus terminals including the restrooms and fountains in them. They would travel across the South and have white activists in the back of the bus and black activists in the front of they would sit next to each other. This is not all that that happened in The Civil Rights Movement but its what led to it and what led to it and some things that were a part the the movement.