Iran Backing Syria

On Saturday, January 26, Patrick J. Mcdonnel of the Los Angeles Times wrote an article called "Iran Issues Threatening Warning Against Attack On Syria". The article discusses how Iran has declared that if any foreign attack occurs on Syria, they will take it as an attack on them. The United States, Netherlands, and Germany have deployed Patriot Missile batteries across the Turkish border, with about 400 troops reports say. These can be used to either intercept Syrian jets, or Syrian rockets. NATO claims that these Patriot Missile batteries are strictly for defense purposes, but Iran thinks otherwise. This is a huge problem because Russia has joined this discussion also, and is backing Syrian and Iranian gains. Like predicted before, the Syrian conflict is slowly turning into an international conflict, and through these small measures taken by the western world, the Middle East and Russia can erupt. In my opinion, the western world should just back off and let Syria solve its problem alone, but it is already to late for that. Foreign countries have mixed into many areas of this conflict, and pulling out now can be a huge deficit and waste of time for these countries.

Don't Tread On My Gun Rights

On January 19, 2013, Molly Hennessy from  the Los Angeles Times wrote an article called "Some Give Up Their Guns As Others Rally Against Tighter Laws". It discusses how in Dallas Texas, there are two distinct groups of people with the issue of guns. Some come to a local church and turn in their weapons to "get them off the street", others go to rallies to oppose the new gun laws. Many opinions were stated, but the majority of people oppose having gun laws. Not only in Dallas are people divided in this manor; every state has division like this. At the local church, people turn in their guns for money, and to keep the streets safer. People came to give their guns back, and they received their money back. But at the gun rallies, people were arguing that guns are what keeps the distance between you and a gangster, and that it provides safer environments all around the United States. My opinion in all of this: the people at the rallies are correct. Studies have shown that citizens who were armed and were attacked by a gunman had a kill rate of 2.8, but whenever they were not armed and the police showed up, the kill rate was 8.3. Also, states with license to carry permits have significantly lower assaults, robberies, shootings, and homicides then states who do not. All those people at the church went in to turn in their guns because of the money behind it, not because they agree with their ideas. This shows how people are blind to the facts, and just chase the money. Our country was raised with guns, gained its independence with guns, and until now had guns. No president, and no congress can take that away from us.

Into the Wild....

This weekend, I went to Angeles Crest Forest to go shooting. When I was there, I remembered I had an English blog due, so I asked my Dad to go out into the forest so we can walk around a little. When I went there, there was no one there, so I felt comfortable just walking around like I am lost and looking around at everything. It started off when I came to this tree that had a broken branch and it was drooping down. There were leaves on it, but mostly there were pine cones. I was looking at this branch until I realized the mere height of the tree. It was towering over the forest, and through my approximation I would say it was hundred feet tall. After this tree, I kept walking and I started to hear gunshots (the forest was near the shooting range), and at that moment I saw a squirrel run across the floor. I was surprised it was not running around on the branches, because the forest floor is a dangerous place for a little guy like that. After this, I reached an amazing view point of the mountains next to the forest, and stared at the majestic peaks for about ten minutes. Here, my mind was cleared and I felt no exhaustion, no stress, nothing. I felt a sense of comfort knowing that the forest and the mountains were embracing me at this moment. When I went home, I thought of everything, and realized that I like being in the nature, either hunting, fishing, camping, or even walking around at a local park or playing sports there, more than going to the local mall and walking around. No doubt I love the city life also, and appreciate everything it brings, but being in nature and doing one of those  activities are my favorite past time.

My Favorite Independent Reading Book (and My Least Favorite)

From all the books that I learned about through this independent reading assignment, the one that I will most likely read and was my favorite to listen to was "Crocodile Hunter: The Incredible Life and Adventures of Steve and Terri Irwin". It was the one I want to read because it describes the wild life very well, and shows all he adventures of Steve Irwin. Steve Irwin was one of my favorite TV shows growing up, and having a book written just by him talking about his experiences is very interesting. He also talks about the sense of family in the book, which I really respect because I think family is also very important in life. Even though he passed away, I want to learn about him and read this book.

The book that I did not want to read was "Me Talk Pretty One day". I do not want to read this book because it just did not spark any interest in me. The ideas and themes discussed in the book was not that interesting to me, and in a sense it was boring. The type of books I would like to read are adrenaline pumping books, and books about my favorite people, and this just did not fall into those categories. No offense to the person who read it in class though.

President Karzai and Afghanistan in 2014

On January 10, 2013, David S. Cloud and Alexandra Zavis from the Los Angeles Times wrote an article called "Karzai Faces an Altered Landscape in Talks with Obama". It discusses the plans President Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, and President Obama are going to make so troops can leave Afghanistan. The whole goal is to have Afghanistan fight its own war from now on. But that does not mean we are not going to leave troops behind. President Karzai requests that some troops stay behind for training and protection of key sectors around the country. Congress recommends that 6000-9000 troops stay at Afghanistan when all troops are taken out. But President Obama believes that only 3000 is needed. At this moment, 65,000 troops are in Afghanistan. The plan is to bring in however many troops are needed into Afghanistan and then start redeploying all the former stationed troops back home. These troops are going to be targeting Al Quada members only. Taliban has gotten off the list in Afghanistan, but is still a target in other areas around the world. The way in which Al Quada will be targeted in Afghanistan is through drone strikes and special operations with the use of special forces. The troops that are going to be deployed there as a safekeeping will not engage in offensive objectives unless given the order from the Pentagon. Hopefully, at the end of this, the troops being deployed there do not get into contact into another war.