Final-the year 2040

It is the year 2040 and the world around us is very different than just a few decades ago. Things have changed a great deal over the years and society is very different as we know it. Many things have changed and people view their goals and desires as the utmost priority. The roles for women have changed dramatically over the past 20-30 years and women have become more dominant than ever in American history. About ten years ago, a woman was elected President and women have been seen more in all aspects of the workforce.

Since the President-elect was a woman, there have been more women seen in law enforcement, Congress, the House of Representatives, and even in all the branches of government. More and more women are seen in dominant roles. Since women are making more and more of an impact on our society, many laws have seen this impact. Since the woman President, the abortion law is open and free and all women are allowed to abort a baby at any expense. Free-choice has been in tact for about 5 years now, and the protests are increasing dramatically. Many other laws were put to test such as the Do Not Resuscitate (DNR), Gay/Lesbian Rights, and even the Death Penalty.

School Districts and College Universities have cracked down on their disciplinary and security actions. Schools have gone to metal detectors and searches once a month to try and decrease gang violence and shootings. Universities have created alternative means of communication if for some reason their phone lines are shut down or their computer systems have been destroyed. Many apprehensive measures have been taken to try and prevent tragedies.

Children are still required to go to school until the age of 16. If the teenager wishes to drop out at that age of 16 they must obtain parental consent. At 18, they have the choice to remain in school and graduate, or to drop out. Drop out rates have decreased and many more children are staying in school. They have seen the effects of their preceding generation and the effects of drop outs.

In the past 10 years there have been major developments to assist struggling students. There are programs to help students prepare for tests and to help those struggling with reading and writing. More teachers are staying after school and there are many summer programs to help children keep involved in school work. These developments have made a major impact on the overall average of test scores and have made a big difference in the performance of students.

Welfare is still very vital to those who are in need. Those who need disability because of injuries and to those that cannot work, welfare comes to the rescue. The stipulations for welfare have increased and there are less people relying on welfare rather than a job. Our society’s overall unemployment rate has decreased in the last few decades and many people are living in better conditions.

Even though the President is currently a woman, the organization of family hasn’t seemed to change throughout the U.S. Males are still the dominant gender in relationships and families and still seem to be at the top of most important businesses. But the roles of women have dramatically increased and will continue to increase, but only time will tell if men and women will ever be actually equal.

The organization of family has not changed on many bases. The woman is still expected to be the primary care giver for most families. Men still on average bring home a higher salary and the famous quote “The man puts the food on the table” still applies. Women are rising in many aspects but I feel that women will always be expected to take care of the children and not be the primary income in a household as our society has created this type of culture. Even though there are rare cases where women work and the men are stay at home dads, on average, most women take care of the children and are not expected to bring home the bulk of the salary.

To be a male in our society in this day and age is still the advantage. Women are still expected to be teachers, nurses, secretaries, etc. To be a woman, they are still discriminated against in many aspects, such as sports performances. However, where before the year 2000 it was extremely difficult for women’s movements to gain direct access to the World Bank, now there are no discrepancies between the women, men, or any race. Women are climbing up in the power roles but it is a slow process and is going to take time.

Race is still an issue to some in our country. There are still groups that are racist and there are still many that cannot seem to except the fact of “all men are created equal.” Race is a cultural construct and political and cultural struggles over power have came to shape the contours and dimensions of racism differently in different eras. There have been many conscious and deliberate actions that have institutionalized group identity, but in the past few decades, the actions have decreased. It is against the law to discriminate against any person for a job, sport, or schooling. The gap between races has become extremely small.

In 2040, the government structure has not changed much over the past 30-40 years. We still run a democratic society and have the House of Representatives as well as Congress and all the branches of government. Most things have stayed the same as they have seemed to work well in the past and they have not voted to change our overall government structure is. They have only changed a few ways to go about changing laws.

The Nation-State is still the central institution of global capitalism. The Nation-State is still a major role in global capitalism. The Nation-State may fall apart in the future, but still as we know it for now, it is still the major role in global capitalism.

As before, the Power Elite still dominate government, but things still seem to be running rather smoothly. The power elite are those who obtain a mass amount of power through their job or family. The power elite use their structural economic power, their policy expertise, and their success in the electoral arena to rule the federal government.

Since the government has many important jobs, who is in charge matters a great deal. Things have changed with the woman President and those who are in rule currently have changed the way things work in our systems. The government has raised interest rates and rates the tax rates in every state. Gas prices are through the roof as they are on average $5.52 a gallon in the U.S. currently.

The standard of living is extremely important in our country. The U.S. consumes a massive amount of energy and resources and we have been put on restriction. The government has put a restriction on how much water and gas that each person can use due to a lack of supply for fresh water and oil. Since there is a lack of supply for oil we have seen a massive increase in gas prices over the past 20 years. Spiritual wealth has taken a new toll as students and citizens are forming more groups at schools and public places to worship freely. People are no longer hiding their religion and they do not worry about what other people think about their relationship with God.

As Klare stated in his book, Resource Wars, resources are depleting quickly and eventually we will have to find alternative sources for certain supplies. The resource scarcity is growing and is a major concern still to America. We have been in major disputes recently with other countries over trade agreements and supply issues. More and more drilling is starting to come up dry without any oil and the supply is running dry. The disputes are just a beginning to what we can foresee happening in the future. If the U.S. and other major countries do not start constricting their consumption, the fight for resources will increase. Wars and battles will be fought if something does not change in the future. The government has put a restriction on our use, but it must happen all over the world.

But the U.S. has gone to alternative means when dealing with conflict. They have resorted to trying to use peaceful means as much as possible. Since we have left the war in Iraq, the U.S. has not been involved in too many disputes, and they have settled most disputes easily and calmly. The U.S. has focused on a few theories proposed to the government and use the conflict theory when appropriate.

The U.S. may use too many resources, even to this day, but people are still very sentimental and caring towards animals. Endangered animals are still being helped by being put into care units to help rebuild their population numbers. Humans still fight for Animal rights. But as mentioned in some reading, humans can control the destiny of many things including animals.

Some used to think that the future conflict of the world would be caused by the clash of civilizations. However, that is yet to happen in the year 2040 and it doesn’t look like it is going to happen anytime soon. The U.S. has found ways to make other countries happy and not have so much conflict amongst the world. There is more trading amongst countries, but they all have contracts that are closely followed causing the clash of civilizations to falter.

Parents have changed in the ways that they are disciplining their children. Many parents are getting away from the aspect of spanking children and have turned to less harsh punishment. There has been a major increase of detrimental shootings, robberies, murders, and genocides since the year 2000. Genocide, the mass murder of people, normally accompanies war, but can happen independently, such as the Columbine shootings and the most recent Virginia Tech massacre. Parents must crack down on their children when they are young and help children to control their anger. If this does not change over the next few years, God only knows how much massive destruction might happen.

Freedom is still a major issue to our country and is one thing that put’s us above opposing nations. The rights and liberties of our country is what draw many immigrants to our country. Freedom of speech, religion, and press are the some of the most vital freedoms that some still take advantage of. However, these rights and liberties share the fate of the society.

Some countries still hold grudges or disagree with what we do here and some major instances have happened in the past century to prove it. Events such as: September 11, War in Iraq, etc. Some American’s find themselves asking “Why do they hate us?” America is the universal nation, and some nations believe that America should speak for universal values. When there is a disagreement, massacres happen.

September 11, 2001 happened over 30 years ago, but to most American’s it seemed like yesterday. This attack on America activated a series of political and cultural responses that seemed to map a deeply colonial perimeter of power.

The war with Afghanistan has come to a rest. Even though we went to Afghanistan in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, things settled in the year 2015. All goals were accomplished including, capturing Osama Bin Laden, destroying Al-Qaeda, and removing the Taliban regime. Soldiers still have not been completely removed from Iraq as they still enforce the new government and its’ rules.

Since 9/11 many years ago, the government has cracked down and created more rule sets in certain areas of our society. Airport security has been increased to entire searches, metal detectors, suitcase searches, and security guards aboard the planes. This way the rules could not be exploited by those who don’t adhere to our general rule sets or even those that want to see them overthrown. Visa policies have become stricter and it is a very long process to get accepted. We Americans have accepted the facts of our problems, and have approached the gaps in our rule-sets. Our country has become more secure in the past few decades, but you can only take certain things to certain extremes.

We are still working on making globalization truly global. Luckily, we have not taken any other “shocks to the system” since the massive 9/11 attacks. But if we do not continue to shrink the Gap, our future is looking gloom. We have increased security. We have extended connectivity and expanded globalization’s reach. The Core is still surviving and expanding. We are continuing to expand our rule sets and trying to reach agreement on rule-sets to get Gap countries to convert. We must continue to carefully and forcefully articulate a comprehensive vision of the future worth creating.

Over the past few decades I played an important role to society as I became a teacher at the local high school. I teach our future bright minds of America. I have taught now for over 15 years and I currently teach Algebra to tenth and eleventh grade students. My role may seem to some so little, but it is a major role. All people must attend school where a teacher must partake in the education of all great minds. Everyone, including the President of the United States and Joe that works at McDonald’s, has had a teacher at one time to help them through school. I have played an important role in many children’s lives and plan to continue teaching for some time.

While teaching, I have three children and an amazing husband. I have been an abiding citizen for all my life and fulfill my duties as I vote on every Election Day! As society changes, I adapt, but there are some things that just do not change. Some things such as: family time, Christmas dinners, school plays, and just having a good old time at a picnic. Society may change in major ways, but sometimes, the greatest things never change.

This is how I envision the society to be in the year 2040. I hope that in some aspects it is very true, as for the conflict resolution of America and that women are becoming more equal with men. However, we do not know what the future holds for us and God only knows what will happen in the next 30 years. I know some things may be put to a stretch, but this is how I envision the world by using other’s opinion of certain aspects and my opinion on other aspects. I know how the world is today and I do hope that some of these issues are worked out and fixed.

I hope that certain laws do not become so controversial that civil wars are started, such as abortion or gay marriage. We do not know what the future holds, but we can envision what is to come by what is happening today. This is exactly what I have done and you can draw your own conclusions from books, newspapers, or other research papers, but this is what I believe and feel will happen. I will wait for the year 2040 and we will see how close my visions were.

Agrarian Reform

The Agrarian Reform land reform is in it's most crucial state currently as most of the remaining lands still are to be distributed and are private and contentious agricultural lands. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) hopes to have the land distribution completed by 2008. The following is a copy of the DAR Mission:

• The DAR shall lead in the effective implementation and management of land reform in the country through:
• Land tenure improvement and security, and provision of integrated development services to landless farmers, farm workers, small landowner-cultivators.
• Titling, recognition and development of ancestral domains, and culture-based sustainable development of indigenous communities and people.
  
• Provision of security of tenure and social preparation for access to and use of lands to urban poor.

The first Agrarian Reform law was created in 1959 and called for profit sharing among farms and the division of unused lands. Most of these lands belonged to the U.S. shareholders and the government demanded compensation for all of this nationalized lands. But other than the U.S. opposition the Cuban people greatly agreed with the Agrarian Reform. The Agrarian Reform had certain limitations including: Limited landholdings to 993 acres, expropriated Latifunda, distributed expropriated land to peasants, and nationalized cattle ranches.

Condoms Get a Bad Rap in Malawi

On April 13, 2007 there was an article release called “Condoms Get a Bad Rap” involving the country of Malawi. In a study conducted as part of the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project, men stated three forms of behavioral change. They are: being more selective about their sexual partners, reducing the number of partners, and using condoms. The lease popular form of change being that of using condoms. Some claim that it reduces the pleasure for the male and female and is ineffective in preventing AIDS.

Most Malawians are against using condoms and some even have particular views on the idea of using condoms and the subject of AIDS. One study participant stated, "Everyone knows that he/she is infected and we shall all die because the government has spread AIDS in many ways, such as condoms, injections, family planning methods, transfusions and many more."

Most of the problems relate to the difficulty of understanding transmission of the infection by Malawians. Because an HIV-positive person can live a long and healthy life before the infection becomes obvious, and not all contact to HIV leads to transmission, the link between using condoms now and not having AIDS a few years down the road is hard to prove. In Malawi, the researcher stated that "skin-to-skin ejaculation is the marker of a real man - one who uses condoms is being cheated out of his right to a high-grade sexual experience, or may even be the subject of gossip or ridicule".

Women were described as being desirable partners on the basis of their social position or personality. Some women and girls who came from "good" families were more preferred and were perceived as to less likely have HIV/AIDS. Schoolgirls were considered desirable partners, as they were considered to have had few previous partners than older women.

As I have previously stated in past posts, Malawi has a major problem with AIDS. Many are working to reduce the risks and the spread of AIDS by increasing condom use and this study shows the reasons behind the rejection of condoms and what strategies need to be taken to help reduce the AIDS crisis in Malawi.

Help from:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200704130619.html?page=2

Malawi's future

I feel that Malawi's future is dark. Malawi has many problems with a food drought and the economy is very poor. In the future I feel that Malawi will struggle further with it's economy. The country needs some serious assistance and unless another country steps in and takes Malawi under it's wing, Malawi will fall further into a hole.

Malawi has a scarcity of food and almost the entire population lives in poverty. The country does not sit in a golden spot as far as location goes. The country does not always get an accurate amount of rain, and with a shortage of money, they cannot get the accurate water supply to foods.

I don't see the future of Malawi being promising and I only hope that a more wealthy country will step in to help the country get back on it's feet, help the people with food, and help jobs into the country for families.

One of Malawi's most current problems is the dispute with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and the meandering Songwe River. In November, Tanzania and Malawi planned a project to control River Songwe from shifting a portion at the border between the two countries. Both countries are still working out the dispute and trying to settle the dispute between the two.

Malawi most recently updated their financial situation and revised their Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC).

Malawi's biggest issue happens to be the fact they have food shortages for their people. They also have major problems with deforestation, land degradation, water pollution from agricultural runoff, sewage, industrial wastes, and the siltation of spawning grounds endangers fish populations. Malawi relies heavily upon the export of agricultural commodities and this makes Malawi particularly vulnerable to external shocks such as declining terms of trade and drought. High transport costs constitute a serious impediment to economic development and trade.

The Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (MPRSP) was released in April 2002. The overall goal of the MPRSP is to achieve “sustainable poverty reduction through empowerment of the poor”. Malawi will build a firm basis for consolidation of its efforts in sustainable development.

One other interesting fact about Malawi is that the University of Malawi was opened in 1964, right after Malawi declared it's idependence.

Malawi

The life expectancy in Malawi for the entire population at birth is 36.97 years, which is extremely low. For males it’s about 36.59 years and females, 37.36 years. The reason the life expectancy is so low is because of the high rate of HIV/AIDS which is a massive problem in this country, with approximately 14.2% of adults obtaining the disease. Food or waterborne diseases are at high risks as well, such as bacterial/protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and even typhoid fever. Malaria and plague are also at high risks in some parts of Malaria, all which are causing the life expectancy rate to decrease.
The infant mortality rate in Malawi is about 103.32 deaths/1,000 live births. For males, it’s 107.44 deaths/1,000 live births and females 99.07 deaths/1,000 live births, according to the 2005 records. There is 55% of Malawians living below the poverty line and many do not take in enough money to feed their families. The mean per capita income in Malawi is less than $1 per day. Hunger is a growing problem due to the Malawi food crisis, which is an ongoing severe food security crisis that has affected more than five million people in Malawi. Due to drought, there is not enough maize produced for the people. It takes about 3.4 millions tons of maize to feed the people of Malawi and they only produced 1.25 million.
Malawi has taken on quite a few refugees in the past years. From 1985-1995, over a million refugees from Mozambique alone came to Malawi. In 1996, Malawi also received a massive amount of refugees from Rwandan and Congolese seeking asylum. But having all these refugees seemed to bring in a significant amount of international assistance which is very helpful to Malawi in a struggling time.

The houses in Malawi are usually built by the local people. Around twenty people are involved in building the house. If people have money they will buy their supplies, if not they will make them. After the house is finished, it will stand for about twenty years. The oldest houses in Malawi are fifty years old. The materials that they use vary between the rich and the poor. Poor houses have dirt floors, grass roofs, and no paint. Rich houses have cement floors, tin roofs, and colored paint. All houses have brick walls. The rich have brick with plaster on it. These are natural resources found nearby. All houses in Malawi are one story high. Around eight people live in an average house.

Some conditions that severely affect children is the right to which they are protected for a primary education. But their families are responsible for books, tuition, and cost of uniforms, so those from poor families are at a serious disadvantage. Also, orphanage is a huge problem with 14% of the population being orphans. Opportunities are few and far between for orphans and most end up as prostitutes or breeding street children. Also, there is no age specified for the protection of minors from sexual exploitation which can cause major problems for an adolescent or child.
Women have the right to full and equal protection under the Constitution, but they do not receive the same treatment. Most women have lower levels of literacy, education, formal and nontraditional employment opportunities, and access to resources. Women are also subject to domestic violence, particularly wife beating. Police do not normally take any action in domestic violence, therefore women have numerous problems that they must learn to deal with on their own.

Help from: http://www.answers.com/topic/malawi

Port Huron Statement

Here is the main chunk of it:

We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit.

When we were kids the United States was the wealthiest and strongest country in the world; the only one with the atom bomb, the least scarred by modern war, an initiator of the United Nations that we thought would distribute Western influence throughout the world. Freedom and equality for each individual, government of, by, and for the people--these American values we found god, principles by which we could live as men. Many of us began maturing in complacency.

As we grew, however, our comfort was penetrated by events too troubling to dismiss. First, the permeating and victimizing fact of human degradation, symbolized by the Southern struggle against racial bigotry, compelled most of us from silence to activism. Second, the enclosing fact of the Cold War, symbolized by the presence of the Bomb, brought awareness that we ourselves, and our friends, and millions of abstract "others" we knew more directly because of our common peril, might die at any time. We might deliberately ignore, or avoid, or fail to feel all other human problems, but not these two, for these were too immediate and crushing in their impact, too challenging in the demand that we as individuals take the responsibility for encounter and resolution.

While these and other problems either directly oppressed us or rankled our consciences and became our own subjective concerns, we began to see complicated and disturbing paradoxes in our surrounding America. The declaration "all men are created equal..." rang hollow before the facts of Negro life in the South and the big cities of the North. The proclaimed peaceful intentions of the United States contradicted its economic and military investments in the Cold War status quo.

We witnessed, and continue to witness, other paradoxes. With nuclear energy whole cities can easily be powered, yet the dominant nation-states seem more likely to unleash destruction greater than that incurred in all wars of human history. Although our own technology is destroying old and creating new forms of social organization, men still tolerate meaningless work and idleness. While two-thirds of mankind suffers under nourishment, our own upper classes revel amidst superfluous abundance. Although world population is expected to double in forty years, the nations still tolerate anarchy as a major principle of international conduct and uncontrolled exploitation governs the sapping of the earth's physical resources. Although mankind desperately needs revolutionary leadership, America rests in national stalemate, its goals ambiguous and tradition-bound instead of informed and clear, its democratic system apathetic and manipulated rather than "of, by, and for the people."

From: http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Manifestos/SDS_Port_Huron.html

Malawi details

Malawi began recording history between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. Descendants of these people kept an oral history until the 1500's when written history was recorded in Portuguese and English. The Bantu established political states and government. When a large slave trade took place, this brought Islam to the country. At the same time Christianity was being introduced by missionaries.

Malawi is one of the world's least developed countries. Malawi's economy is predominantly agricultural with nearly 90% of the population living in rural areas. Agriculture accounts for about 40% of GDP and 88% of export revenues. The economy is dependent on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations. The government has faced many challenges including the failure to develop a market economy, improving educational activities, facing up to environment problems, and dealing with the exponential increase in AIDS cases.

Over 60 percent of Malawi’s population live below the poverty line. About 40 % of the population are illiterate. With an economy that is dependent upon agriculture and the rate of population growth more than three times the growth rate of the economy, the economic future is not bright. In 1891 the British Central African Protectorate (known from 1907 until 1964 as Nyasaland), which included most of present-day Malawi, was established.
The population estimates for this country are low, but take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS. The AIDS can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected.

For climate, winter is the best time to visit Malawi. June and July are the coolest months with average daytime temperatures of 70ºF (21ºC), and colder nights especially in the highlands. November to April is the hot, humid rainy season with more rain falling on the higher plateaus than around the lake, with temperatures reaching up to 90ºF (mid-30ºCs). Some roads may become impassable during heavy rains.

Most information from: http://www.answers.com/topic/malawi

Malawi

Malawi is on of the regions that the earliest ancestors of humans lived. From here the roots of language, story and communication were formed. During the colonial period, the country was included into the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, achieving their independence in 1964 with Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda as Prime Minister, Later (life) President. In 1994 Malawi held it's first democratic elections since it's independence, and the current President is Dr Bakili Muluzi. They do run under a multi-party democracy.Malawi was the former British protectorate of Nyasaland that became independent in 1964.

English is the official language of Malawi, however, Chichewa is the most commonly spoken local language. Other languages spoken in Malawi include Chiyao, Chilomwe, Chitumbuka, Chitonga and Chisena. As for religion, the majority of Malawians are Protestant at 55%. There are also some Roman Catholics (20%), Catholics (20%), Muslims (20%), some with indigenous beliefs (3%) and other (2%).

Managing Director Juan José Daboub is visited Africa to help sustain growth and reduce poverty. During his visit, he saw many challenges confronting Africa. There is a major energy crisis facing all of Africa causing a reduction in the expected GDP growth. They believe that the cause of this crisis is the high prices of oil, inadequate and costly generation facilities, and struggling state-owned power utility. These causes are creating a loss of electricity for long amounts of time throughout schools, businesses, clinics, and even households.
Malawi has an issues with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa, aka Lake Malawi, and the Songwe River. Tanzania would be considered one of their allies during the current time.

Click here to see a map of Malawi: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/malawi.jpg

President Carter's book

The book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" has caused major controversy just starting at the title. When asked, President Carter stated that he used the words "Palestine" and "Apartheid" to try and generate interest in the book and to try and get people to read the book to find out the real facts. He uses the word "apartheid" suggesting that the analogy of the hated policies of South Africa is especially outrageous. Carter mentions failures on all sides in the book, including the Palestinians, Israel, and the U.S. However, it is extremely critical of Israel and its policies in the Palestinian territories. "It's based on a minority of Israelis occupying, confiscating and colonizing land that belongs to the Palestinians," Carter told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. Carter places the majority of the blame on Israel for its continuing conflict with the Palestinians. It is causing major conflict by connecting Palestine with apartheid.
President Carter claims that the Palestinian Arabs have long supported a two-state solution and the Israelis have always opposed it. But overall, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" is so biased that it without a doubt raises the question of why would a man like Jimmy Carter write such an indecent book. Whatever President Carter's motives may be, his authorship of this ahistorical, one-sided, and simplistic brief against Israel forever disqualifies him from playing any positive role in fairly resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. That is a tragedy because the Carter Center, which has done so much good in the world, could have been a force for peace if Jimmy Carter were as generous in spirit to the Israelis as he is to the Palestinians. President Carter took a big risk by writing this book and having the courage to speak out against the Israeli extremism that often is ignored by our American media and leaders.

Most of my information came from this site:

http://www.aish.com/societyWork/arts/Carters_Distorted_World.asp

No Logo

In the video, Naomi Klein explains how logos have taken over our marketing world and how logos are seen everywhere. Every time we turn around, we are seeing logos or name brand products on the media. She explains how we are constantly bombarded with advertisements and commercials. We cannot deny them or escape the logos in the world and they cannot be ignored. Marketing has grown into a competition and those who can market their product the best will become the most successful regardless of the product. This way the product becomes no longer the purpose, but they are selling you an idea or a way of life. This way they can technically sell us back to ourselves.
As far as connecting this to "The Yes Men", two men went to the WTO conferece to point out flaws in their ideas. Even though it was a ridiculous idea with the metallic suit and their invention of the suit, it wasn't about the suit itself. It comes down to how well you market the idea. Just as in Naomi's videos, she mentions that it is more about marketing the product more than the product itself.
The other major part of Naomi's video was the fact that producing goods needed to be done at the lowest possible cost. There is a global auction going on and the workers are the pawns. Wages are supposed to go up and the situation improve, but we are actually witnessing a race to the bottom where countries are outbidding each other to who can abuse their workers more. But in order for the company to save money, they have to control the workforce (workers are young and mostly women). We see in the advertisements the scenes and never normally the product.
As we have read about in the role of the State they are supposed to represent the interest of the dominant group. In Naomi's video, the multi-national corporations are the dominant groups. The jobs created by these multi-national corporations should not be held to the same standards as "real jobs." We see that even a story of globalization can be seen in by picking up a shoe, with leather from Argentina, shipped to Philippines, produced by Korean subcontractor, went through Hong Kong broker who was dealing with company in Oregon. In her video we see how globalization is viewed and how people around the world accept it. But we as students must see the affects of globalization on the world and see how we are affected by globalization and be able to form our own opinions on what is happening in the marketplace. Then we will be able to make better decisions on what to buy rather then just who does the best job of advertising or marketing.

Klare-Blood and Oil

In listening to this portion on Klare takes a stance on his opinion of post 9/11. He begins by mentioning the focus of the Bush administration before and after 9/11. Before 9/11 he feels as though the Bush administration was focused on procuring more energy and resources for the United States. After 9/11 the focus turned to controlling terrorism and how to prevent terrorism from happening. Klare then turns his focus to the history of American Presidents and how their actions have impacted the current time.

He first mentions the great President Franklin D. Roosevelt and how he realized that the US was running out of a supply of oil and as our supply diminished we would loose power and prosperity. So he began to seek other countries with a great deal of oil to help the US out. In 1943, he decided that Saudi Arabia was the country with an abundant amount of oil and he made a pact with Saudi that the US would protect the “Royal Family” in exchange for privileged access to their oil supply. Up through the rankings of Presidents this agreement has withstood. Klare’s main argument here is that the US never seemed to be worried about the supply of oil until it was almost gone.

Then when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, this threatened our supply of oil. The US was not the only offer to help save Kuwait. Osama Bin Laden offered to help Kuwait protect them from Saddam Hussein, which is a major shock to me. It seems weird that Bin Laden was the other offer to help out Kuwait and that we have had so many run-ins with Bin Laden. The permanent military presence of the US made Osama Bin Laden an enemy of the US. It all plays out and comes together to explain the reasons for 9/11. Klare explains 9/11 as a “natural consequence” to the US. He explains it as just a chain of events over time. I agree with Klare in this aspect and feel that over time the US paid the consequence for the price of oil. It all comes together in the end....

Ruling Class

The “power elite” according to William Domhoff is the group of upper class, those involved with large corporations, and those who are wealthy. These select few hold the decision making ability in their grip and hold the future of our society in their hands. I see the “power elite” as those who influence us through deciding on laws and guidelines that affect us as citizens. Not necessarily athletes or famous individuals as Dr. Johnson explained during a lecture. Athletes and famous actors/actresses have a certain amount of affect on one’s individual opinion on certain issues, but have no direct affect on how our society works. Those I believe to be in the “power elite” group would be President Bush for instance. According to Mills and Domhoff, both agree that power is owned by those who own the economy, high ranking CEO’s, etc. I feel that we must be very careful of who comes into power by these standards or the U.S. could definitely face some serious issues in the future.

Those in the ruling class seem to be born into the “power elite” status. As we have seen evidence, Bush family, those born into wealthier families are given a better education and are prepared to become politicians, leaders, and even Presidents. I believe that most of the ruling class is there because of their background and their past generations. Wealthy families are one step ahead of others as it takes a vast amount of money to become elected into any political position. It’s just a fact that all politicians must have money in order to be elected. We as a society have painted this poor picture of politicians and we must now accept the consequence. We have elected those into the power positions by which nominee we hear the most positive things about and which one we believe will do the best job based on their history. The ruling class benefits greatly from global conflict being thought of as inevitable. With filtered information going to the lower class standards, society seems to stand behind the decisions made about the conflicts, such as the war in Iraq. But not always is society getting the full background and total plan of what is happening. Some have decided not to support President Bush in any aspects, War in Iraq, No Child Left Behind, etc., but as far as I can tell I don’t feel that they are being totally honest with the public.

In our classroom, we are trying to accomplish a total understanding of global peace and global conflict and what we can do as individuals to help prevent certain actions from happening. To have a true opinion on the current issues in our society, we must have the true story or plan that is being pursued. With the filtration of information to the middle class society, we cannot truly understand the whole concept as we do not get the total view of what is about to happen. Understanding that we may not be receiving totally true or whole information that the ruling class provides us with can help us as students understand that we must us a variety of resources to fully understand a situation. I hope to use all my resources to understand situations and be able to decipher what is happening to our country.

About Me

My name is Sarah VanHorn and I am a sophomore here at WVWC. I do play on the Lady Bobcats basketball team and I am a member of the WVWC Track team as well. I am 20 years old and I am a math education major. I plan to teach high school math near my hometown which is Malta, Ohio. During the first few years, I plan to attend a Graduate School and obtain my Master's Degree in Education. I will be getting married on June 21, 2008 and I plan to stay here in Buckhannon to finish my senior year and student teaching. I am taking Global Peace & Conflict in order to fulfill a general studies credit and it seemed interesting to me.
I anticipate during this course a lot of talk on the current issues going on in our country. I foresee a major discussion on the war in Iraq and many talks on past conflicts, such as 9/11. I am concerned about the amount of reading there is for this course and being able to complete all the reading with the sports that I play. After the first few meetings in class, I feel that the discussions we will have are going to be very interesting and the amount of different perspectives we will have will keep me attentive. With the variety of students in the classroom, I feel we will have many different points of view allowing for very deep conversation. I am excited to see what the future holds in our class and what types of discussions will take place in it.