Change?

So Obama has some soundbites today about the need for change. But what is it? The market experienced the largest single point drop in American history today and no one has a plan! Every once in a while in a campaign there is an opportunity to show why you are qualified. Neither candidate has shown why they are qualified. McCain tried to show leadership by inserting himself into negotiations. It was a campaign move, Obama called it correctly, but he did try to persuade 2/3 of his party to vote for the package. Obama sat on the sidelines. What I don't understand is why the campaigns didn't anticipate a need to present their own plans. Even if the package had passed, now is the time to outline how you would try to fix it.

I don't believe that either person is capable of the leadership they claim to be able to deliver. In fact I am jaded. Pelosi failed to lead her majority to vote in favor, Boehner failed to get his party on board and it was a republican proposal! That's bad. To exacerbate the problem Congress has gone home.

The Senate won't act first. They hardly ever do. So now we are waiting. We have no leaders. Our presidential candidates are looking less impressive. Maybe I won't vote this year.

I just want to see a glimmer of hope. I'll vote for Obama if I see that he can lead. Right now he is showing me that he is a junior senator from Illinois. 3 years in the big leagues isn't enough. Change I can believe in? I can't believe it yet.

Overwhelmed

Well I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. Partly because I have done a really bad job at managing my time, and partly because my classes are kicking my trash. I have two classes that both have about 150 pages a week in reading, plus responses. On top of that I am supposed to be working on my capstone paper. Then I have my econ class which is really interesting, except I have no idea what is going on anymore.

I tried to do my econ homework that is due on Monday but I couldn't. I tried to read for my political science class, but I left the book at home. I started researching for my capstone paper, but can't really do much on that right now. I can't work on my 6-8 paper for my poli sci class because I don't have the stuff with me, and I can't start writing my 3 page econ paper either.

I know I am beginning to freak out about nothing, and really by Monday all that has to be done is my econ homework, my econ paper, and a pretty good draft of my poli sci paper. I'd like to say that I'll have a lot of sources for my theory paper due in 10 days found as well. Lets hope.

I only have 12 credits. 9 are super hard (meaning unbelievably time consuming), 3 are a waste of my time. I can do this. I am certain. Graduation is only 15 credits away. I think I can, I think I can...

I love teaching...

So as you can tell from the title, I love teaching. So for those of you who don’t know, I was offered a full time one year lecturer position at a local college here in Utah and I am loving it! A lot of you remember me last year as computer programmer by day and adjunct professor by night. Well, now I get to enjoy my entire day working and get paid twice as much to do it. I love it. Plus, if Chase and I move next summer, I don’t have to quit another job because they only hired me for one year. It really was quite perfect and literally fell into our laps at the last second.

So back to why I love teaching. Yesterday, I taught my calculus class and I had a blast. My students ask so many questions and they are such hard workers. I stayed for an extra twenty minutes after class just answering some of my students’ questions and I really enjoyed it. These students actually care about learning the material and genuinely want to understand what is going on in class unlike my summer class that wanted to sleep through everything. I love watching the dawn of understanding come across peoples’ faces and I feel that happens every day in my classes. I enjoy playing a part in their learning process.

Today made me really smile because one of the cute girls in my college algebra classes brought flowers to my office. How sweet is that? She just wanted to thank me for everything that I have been doing for her and what a great teacher I am. See, this doesn’t happen every day but I get such a swelled head with compliments like that. It’s great!

In quick other news, I am back on the Weight Watchers band wagon and doing much better than I was over the summer. Right now, we’re actually doing a service campaign where for every pound of weight we lose, Weight Watchers will donate a pound of food to the food bank. I’ve actually found that to be really inspirational. So that’s my little piece for the day. Now I am going to go eat some pie. Did I just say that…

Could I support Obama?

Wow, three posts in three days that's amazing. So I am going to do something a little different. I have been thinking the past couple of days if I could support Obama. What really is the "change" he will bring? Having spent 3 months working in the senate, I don't think anything will change until 1 party gets a cloture proof majority (that is 60). The democrats say they can do it this year, we'll see. So enough of the change argument. The president really needs 60 people on his side to do what he wants, and I don't think either party will be that lucky.

So what does Obama say he is going to do? lets look at some issues (the ones that I think are important) and lets see if I agree.

1) Foreign Policy: "I want to use all elements of American power to keep us safe, and prosperous, and free. Instead of alienating ourselves from the world, I want America – once again – to lead… " (http://www.barakobama.com/). Well, duh, I think we all agree that the unilateral approach of the Bush administration hasn't been the best policy, but what about China? They are beginning to become a major power. What about Russia? They are acting a bit hostile. Should another cold war begin (I don't think it will) could Obama lead America through it? Probably not. He doesn't have a lot of experience in that area.

Now, lets be fair. What does McCain say? "The global war on terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, threats from rogue states like Iran and North Korea, and the rise of potential strategic competitors like China and Russia mean that America requires a larger and more capable military to protect our country's vital interests and deter challenges to our security. America confronts a range of serious security challenges: ..." (http://www.johnmccain.com/). Sounds a bit hawkish to me don't you think. But at least he acknowledges potential problems with China and Russia. Is a bigger, stronger better? Realists sure think so. I for one like to be a bit more idealist and think the UN might actually be able to be a relevant body, but I don't know.

Lets face when Obama talks about working with others, he is talking about Europe. I honestly think while Europe doesn't like us now, a democrat won't change things. The EU is changing the face of International Relations, and soon Europe will be more focused on themselves, and won't need the United States for much.

2) Energy: Obama's proposal is to: provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump;Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America. Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. (http://www.barakobama.com/) I agree with most of these points. We need to be greener but it is going to be pretty expensive. So guess what that means. Higher taxes. Not that that is a bad thing. I would pay higher taxes to support these programs. But we can't forget market forces. How will we get 1 millions plug in cars on the road in a mere 7 years (we could be pretty close now, I don't know) what will be done to make the cars affordable for the consumer to buy them?

Here is McCain: "To Mitigate The Threats Posed By Our Dependence On Foreign Oil, We Must Increase Oil Production Here At Home. As Part Of His Plan To Break The Stranglehold Of Oil, John McCain Supports The Development Of Alternate Sources Of Power For Our Vehicles And The Promotion Of Energy Efficiency. John McCain Will Propose A $300 Million Prize To Improve Battery Technology For Full Commercial Development Of Plug-In Hybrid And Full Electric Automobiles" (http://www.johnmccain.com/). So these are just quick bullet points but, it sounds a lot like Obama.

3) Healthcare: Obama says "My plan begins by covering every American. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less. If you are one of the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance, you will have it after this plan becomes law. No one will be turned away because of a preexisting condition or illness" (http://www.barakobama.com/). Is that a single payer system (code for socialized healthcare)? Not necessarily. I like this idea. Having not been insured, privately insured, and now in a group plan, I like the idea of guaranteed health insurance, but can we afford to increase entitlement programs? I watched the democrats and republicans argue for 6 weeks on how to change medicare. The fact is the country can't afford medicare now and this seems like a huge medicare program.

McCain says: "We want a system of health care in which everyone can afford and acquire the treatment and preventative care they need. Health care should be available to all and not limited by where you work or how much you make. Families should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over care" (http://www.johnmccain.com/). Surprise, surprise. This sounds like Obama's plan. I worry about healthcare reform. The current system is broken, I'm not sure it can be fixed. But maybe whoever is elected should consider the Wyden-Bennett bill.

Ok, so now some thoughts on what I consider non-issues. Roe vs. Wade: I don't think we need to be concerned with this decision being overturned. I don't think the supreme court will hear it again. Nor do I think the balance of power on the Supreme Court will change. The Conservatives have the majority, and if a democrat is president, none of them will retire, and I don't think there will be 2 vacancies in the next 4 years, but there might be. And I know federal courts are important, but there is more to judical appointments than abortion rights. Having said that, I am pro-life. I used to be pro-choice, but that changed a while back. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to life. We could argue when life starts. Biology teaches that life emerges at the cellular level. Therefore, anything that is at least 1 cell (that means even the smallest of zygotes and fetuses) is alive. Another part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that we cannot infringe on other peoples rights. Well, I believe that abortion infringes on a zygote's right to live. Therefore I agree with Mccain on the issue.

Another issue that is becoming popular, gay rights. What does that term mean? We were actually talking about this is my human rights class yesterday. To understand gay rights, I think we need to define what a right is. I think that a "right" is something that allows a person to live a dignified life. So my litmus test is "Can a human live a dignified life with out it." I know this isn't perfect, but using that definition, do homosexual couples have a right to insurance, visitation in hospitals, death benefits, and so on. I think they do. I base this on the idea of domestic registries. If we are providing these things to unmarried heterosexual relationships, they should be extended to all. What about marriage. Can a homosexual live a dignified life without being married? Yes. Therefore they do not have a right to marry. On that same line, heterosexuals can live a dignified life without being married. I don't think marriage is a human right. I think it is ordained of God, and I think marriage comes from him, not the state. It doesn't matter what religion you are, marriage is a religious institution. I also believe the purpose of marriage is to procreate. For that reason alone, homosexuals can't fulfill that purpose. Now, I am not saying they can't have a family. That is another issue that I don't want to get into.

So those are some quick thoughts. Right now, I can't vote for Obama. I think his message of change is empty. Nothing looks terribly different from the way things are operating now. I would rather have someone who has experience on the federal level, especially in foreign policy, than someone who has only been in the senate for a few years. That being said, I look forward to the debates because I think that is when we will get a better idea about the differences between the two candidates, but before I can support Obama, I need to know what his "change" will be. Because I think McCain will "change" things as well.

I don't know if anyone is still reading this. If you are I hope my ideas have made you think. Maybe I'll do more of this in the future. I don't know. Fell free to comment, but keep in mind I do not want to start a political debate. Most of us are opinionated, and I have learned emotions take over in debates, and we fail to remain objective.

Oh and if you want to read Obama's Blueprint for Change go here http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf

Reflection

It's Kerri speaking this time. I just thought I would let you know ahead of time since I don't do this very often and I might get a little sentimental today. So as you all know, I listen to country music. I somehow got hooked onto it when Chase and I were engaged. (I think it's because I was uber emotional and you can always find an emotional roller coaster on any country station.) So I am driving to work this morning and they played a song by Alan Jackson that he wrote to remember the events of 9/11. Today marks 7 years since that tragedy happened and the song caused me to reflect on life (not to mention cry my eyes out in the car right before teaching a class). I thought about where I was on that September morning. I was a freshmen in college, still sound asleep since it was seven in the morning here in Utah. I awoke to hear my roommate yelling about something and my first though was what boy drama did I miss out on the previous night. She told me to come look at the tv and I walked to the common room and was frozen in shock. I remember being scared and calling my family to make sure everything was alright. Baltimore isn't anywhere near New York but Washington, DC is. My first class was Russian but we spoke in English that day and discussed the events that we're happening. That day was supposed to be the first devotional so I went to the Marriott Center at 11am. The place was completely full of solemn students reflecting on the events of the morning and listening to our university President give us words of comfort and hope.

As I thought about that day this morning, I felt really grateful for all the important things in life. On September 11, stresses that seemed so important became trivial. People took stock of their lives and reevaluated what really mattered and that's what I was thinking about this morning. I am so blessed. I have an amazing husband who loves me and takes care of me and works like a dog to get his education and still takes the time to make me laugh or let me cry. I have a wonderful job teaching college that I not only enjoy but pays well and has excellent benefits. I live in a great apartment and I can not only afford food but luxuries in life such as cable tv. I have a great family that supports Chase and I. I am just very happy with the important things in my life and that's really what I wanted to blog about today. Yes, life is hard and the unexpected can affect us at any given moment but when we really look at what's important, we might see that life is a lot better than we remember.

The anxiety has set in

Well it has taken a whole week, but my anxiety has set in. I have never been officially diagnosed with anxiety, although I have learned over the past 4 years at BYU that I get extremely anxious when it comes to writing assignments for all classes, especially ones for my major. Sometimes it gets so bad, that my body completely shuts down and I sleep until 3 in the morning and then get up and write furiously for 4 hours and get an ok paper written. I don't really know why that happens. Part of it is because I have a really bad habit of procrastinating which compounds the problem and part of it is probably because somewhere along the line I have convinced myself I am not a good writer and since I am a perfectionist I would rather not try, then to try and fail. I know this is a lie because over the summer I was given 15 minutes to write a section of the Senator's floor statement, and my section made the final cut, and I wrote another statement all by myself that my supervisor really liked and only required a few changes. If I can write for a senator I certainly can write for a BYU professor. I also know that I won't actually fail, but once again I have conditioned myself that anything below a 90% is bad, and anything below a 80% is failing.
So I am sitting in my living room looking at my assignment for my capstone class that is due tomorrow. It isn't that scary, and I know there is no wrong answer, but I can't bring myself to begin the paper. This class is going to be great. in the past week I have learned more about how to research for papers than I have learned in my whole college career. That should be a sign that PLSC 200 should be revamped. I've tried the don't start at the beginning strategy of writing, but that doesn't work so well for me. I am not writing this to get sympathy from anyone, or to hear people say "buck up" cause lets face it, I know I will eventually have to take a capstone, so why quit now, besides "C's get degrees." Instead I am writing to get the anxiety out, and I am actually going to try something new. Instead of writing my paper I am going to blog my paper, so beware, the post might get long. In fact, instead of shutting down this semester, I might actually blog my first drafts. So if you want to read about human rights and democracy I might have some useful things to say this semester. If you don't care, I'll warn you now, stop reading now.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, like most international declarations and conventions went through a series of drafts before being approved by the United Nations General Assembly. Throughout its many drafts, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remained fairly consistent and the drafts are very similar. Some similarities between the first draft, and the final declaration are the right to marry, although the language is different very different, and protection against torture. Interesting differences between the drafts are that the first draft does not include the right to social programs, as well as the right to life of the unborn fetus.

The right to marry is not very surprising, however the specific language between what is known as the "Humphreys Draft" and the final declaration is surprisingly different. Article 13 in the "Humphreys Draft" states " Ever one has the right to contract marriage in accordance with the laws of the State" (Glendon, 272). This language remained in the declaration until the June 1947 draft of the Human Rights Commission where this article is absent, but in the final declaration passed by the UN in 1948 it states in Article 16 "(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage, and at its dissolution." (Gledon 312). The different language is puzzling to me. When the first draft of the declaration, Humphreys drew on many international documents to create the declaration. It makes sense that to appease Islam references to marriage would include the caveat that marriage is in accordance with state laws. This seems perfectly reasonable, however it was changed in the final draft. This could be explained by the influence of Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a noted feminist and as an influential member of the commission, she was able to convince other delegations that equal right in marriage should be included. This could be verified by looking at minutes of commission meetings as well as speeches made at the the General Assembly. Looking for statements from the United States as well as other member states about this article will help determine if this hypothesis is true. In addition looking for newspaper articles quoting other officials specifically mentioning Eleanor Roosevelt and her role may also answer the question.
Perhaps even more interesting than the rewording of Article 16 is Chile's proposal in the June 1947 draft to amend Article 7 to include "Unborn children and incurables, mentally defectives and lunatics shall of the right to life" (Glendon, 282). This language was not in the first draft, and disappears in subsequent drafts. Why would Chile include this? One explanation is that abortions were beginning to occur in Chile and the government felt that it was important to protect the right to life, therefore, they proposed the language, but since the issue was too controversial no other state wanted to address the issue, so the language was never added. This would be very hard to prove. To assess Chile's view on abortion I could look at government documents regarding the issue. Memo's might give insights to a possible concern about abortions. I could also look at newspaper articles to see if there were any pro-choice activists that made the news. If abortion appeared in the news frequently enough it might point towards the attitudes of the citizen's of Chile. To determine if other state's thought the issue was controversial, and that is why they didn't want to address it, meetings of the minutes where this draft was written would be extremely helpful in determining the attitudes of different states. Another explanation to why this proposal was made by Chile but not included is in the balance of power. Chile might have been trying to exert influence in the document, but as a weak state, it could not change much. They thought this was one area where they could contribute, maybe on behalf of other weak states, but in the end the strong states such as France, the United States, and Russia prevailed, and they convinced others not to accept the proposed changes. This could be verified by internal government documents and personal accounts of the negotiations. I would be looking for conversations between Chile and other states about the proposal to determine the motives, as well as conversations between strong states for reasons why they opposed the language, and if they were able to persuade the commission to vote against the proposal. Another source would be the voting record of the commission. If I found that a lot of weak states voted in favor of the proposed changes I could determine that it was a display of power by the weak states, on the other hand, if they didn't, it could be determined that the strong states were victorious.

If you are still reading this, hope you found my rough idea's interesting.

We've been busy

k, I know that it has been a while since we posted. But to be fair, we were without Internet until this past Tuesday. We have moved just about everything out of my parents house and into our new apartment, and we have unpacked most of it. The apartment is feeling like home and we love it. Of course, everything isn't perfect, and the counter top people scratched some cabinets pretty bad before we moved in, but it is livable. We have a two story condo with the kitchen, dining area, and living room on the first floor (with a small balcony off the living room) and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The ceilings are 10 feet high which is great because I spent all of last year ducking my head whenever I walked through our last apartment, and we have central air. Pictures are at the end of the post No pictures of the bathroom or our bedroom because we both woke up really tired this morning and, well, they are in no state to be shown on the web.

This week I also started school. It is my last year! I am finally going to graduate after 6 years of really hard work! The original plan was to graduate in December. However, I have changed my mind. I dropped one of my GEs because I just didn't want to put 8 hours of work a week into a class that I didn't care about. And, since we will be here until next year anyway, next semester I will take Humanities then instead.

So let me give you a rundown of my classes

Biology 100: I am in a class of 100, 60-87% of which are seniors like me. There are only 5 freshmen and the class has no textbook. Every other Wednesday is movie day, and the tests are multiple choice. The first day of class my professor gave us his theory on swearing, and then proceeded to tell us how much fun he has on Halloween scaring little kids. The Professor himself has been teaching at BYU for over 30 years, and is retiring in 3 years. He has never taught Biology before, and is a soil scientist. He really could care less about how hard the class is, and what the administration thinks about his grade distribution, so there is no curve. I couldn't pass a golden opportunity to take such an easy class, so I decided not to drop this one.

Econ 459: International Monetary Theory. Need I say more? The class actually won't be too bad. I will have to learn matrix algebra, but that is why I married Kerri (she is a great tutor). There are 3 papers due, but econ professors can't speak correctly let alone write (my professor's words, not mine) and the only reason we have to write papers is because the department is making us, therefore they will be easy. It is my last econ class, and it is macro, not micro which is good.

Poli Sci 341: Western European Politics. You know you have a winner professor when he shows British comedies on the first day of class. Also, my professor is the one professor in the department that all the other professors rave about. It will be a fun class, 2 papers that are shorter, but I know the professor is a hard grader, but still, I am not too worried. The class is fun, and its just part of being a student.

Poli Sci 470: Human Rights and Democracy. This is my capstone class. What does this mean? I am writing a 25 page paper with the goal of getting it published. It is a seminar course so there are 15 of us that sit around a table and discuss things. I have never taken a human rights course, but I think it will be interesting. In addition to the 25 page paper, there are 3 smaller papers I have to write, and weekly 1 page papers. It will keep me busy, but it also means I can graduate.

So that is the rundown of my classes. We'll try to post more frequently.