Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Things I Have Learned In Political Science

Lets start literal. I learned many things about our political system. I am now more educated about our country and will be able to hold conversations about politics. But I think there are more valuable things I learned in this class. First, I learned many technology skills like; Blogging, making videos, research, and online tools. I also learned how to formulate an argument, take a stance, and hold my position. I also learned, through my debate topic, that even if you do not agree with the topic or the side of the topic you are stuck with you can be successful. With lots of research and hard work I learned to take a side I might not agree with.
I learned many things in this class and I think I will be able to take all of these skills and knowledge with me as I move on in life.

Thank you for a great year Mr. Shoemaker!

Andrew Nagelberg

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Blog Post #5

Youth Impact
I believe that the youth of America has had a major impact on this election. Through the eyes of a teenager or someone in their early twenties take a look at the candidates. In one hand you have John McCain. To a young person McCain is an old, un-cool, republican. He is a physically weak person who agrees with many of the policies of bush, who has been ridiculed by the media every time you turn on the television. On the other hand you have Barak Obama. This is a young man with great speaking skills. A young person you can relate to and who has inspiring speeches. Now if you were young whom would you support? The answer is clear, Barak Obama. It has become trendy to support Obama. If you do not like Obama you are not cool. Though I can see the reasons behind this trend, I do not like the fact that many young people support him just because they think he is cool.
Youth voters did make an impact on this election because a record number of young people showed up to vote. 24 million young people voted in the recent election. That is 18% of the total vote. Wow, doesn’t that say something. That should tell young people that they really can make a difference.

SNL

PG-13



Saturday Night Live did a very funny skit that poked fun at Sarah Palin. I do not believe that his had any impact on the election. I think people know better than to take SNL seriously.

Too Progressive

Wow I cannot believe that the blog I have been following has nothing to say about the election! After so much ranting and raving about all political topics the author says nothing about Obama winning. I would think he would post a video of himself doing a victory dance but there is no such thing. The only thing acknowledging Obama’s victory is a picture that says, “President Obama.” If you don’t believe me take a look for yourself.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Blog Post #4 continued...

Sarcasm is also utilized frequently. The title of a recent post is, “Time for democrats to get over it, John McCain is not George Bush,” followed by this video.



The comments the author makes are so outrageous sometimes I have to laugh. In a post named, “Virginia Bans First Amendment Rights” the author explains that people in Virginia are not allowed to wear clothing promoting candidates to the polling places on November 4th. The author responds by saying, “You know what? F--- it. (not dashes in the real post) I say we all go to the polls naked. I mean…REALLY?!” Sometimes I just have to laugh.

To sum up the recent posts I would use words like; profanity, sarcasm, bush bashing, extreme views, etc. I now realize that the opinions are horribly skewed and I now view, “Too Progressive” as entertainment.

Blog Post #4

It is becoming apparent that the author of, “Too Progressive” is a fanatic. He is so far left wing that it makes it hard for me to take anything he says seriously. For example, the author posed this question, “why does John McCain hate America and our culture??” Every post I read reduces the credibility of the blog. Profanity is a common occurrence in the recent blog posts.

Many of the posts include videos. This video was one of the posts and demonstrates the political leanings of the author. WARNING!!! INAPPROPRIATE VULGAR LANGUAGE!! (Can't embed for some reason so here is a hyperlink) Vote McCain I find this video humorous but the author calls it an instant, “Classic,” once again reaffirming his political views.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Too Progressive

1. My blog is called Too Progressive, “Political blogging from the nation’s capital by Terry Carter.” This is "general Info" blog. It has lots of political news, polls, opinions and more. The blog was started in 2006 and focuses on the DC area. Though I am not sure yet I believe this is a left leaning blog. After further research I can be confident in this assumption because there are posts making fun of McCain.

2. The first thing I noticed was Advertisements. There are so many advertisements all over the site from Barack Obama to ads for books and more. Also, the blog I have followed up till now have been very focused. For example, the China blog is all about my sister's trip to China, The Roots blog is all about the Roots. Too Progressive is a more broad blog. Though it is focused on politics, that is a huge area and there are many different post topics.

3. After reading a blog post I can firmly say this is a very liberal blog. The author uses a lot of sarcasm to poke fun at republicans and McCain. In the post "The politics of fear new version 2.0" the author talks about how the republicans use their campaigns to scare people. It is very harsh

Thursday, September 18, 2008

China!?!.............the roots

My sister has been in china for the past month for her semester abroad from Fordham. She volunteered at the olympics with a bunch of other students including two friends from her school, Regis and Jimmy. Regis is keeping a detailed blog of their adventures. The things they are doing are absolutely amazing. Every day there is some new incredible thing. For instance, the other day they rode camels through the Gobi desert and watched the sunset from the top of a sand dune. Though this is not my sisters blog, Regis and my sister are participating in the same activities so I feel like I am getting an accurate account of the trip.


If you don't know by now, my favorite band is The Legendary Roots Crew. The Roots are a philly based band with a unique style. Their blog is all about events they have done are are going to do. I saw many cool videos of concerts and performances including an interesting one on the Colbert Report. Many people commented on a post about the "Roots Picnic". This was a concert I went to last june and many people on the roots blog agree that it was one of the best concerts they have been to. The roots play a very interactive show and have a lot of crowd participation. One of the best parts were the various covers the roots played becasue they were songs you would just jam to. The blog isn't very detailed but I will stick with it so I can follow my favorite band.