That makes sense... I never really thought of it that way but I guess some people have to do what they have to do. But I dont think that someone should change who they are just so they can be accepted in the world. What if they dont have the money then that would be really rough...

marriage

As weird as it sounds, I think it makes sense why this person chose this. Put yourself in their shoes, if you wanted to be married, and the 'one' just happens to be a girl, the only way to make that possible is to get a 'sex change' and after all that, the couple wants to have a baby. If you think about it, its not all that odd, because 1) most couples want to get married, if you found your special 'one' wouldn't you want to do anything you could to be married? Also, most couples want to reproduce, homosexual couples or heterosexual couples, they're still a couple. If you really think about it its not that odd.

He or she is still a girl... when you are born a women you are a women no matter how much you want to try and change yourself. B96 was talking about that this morning on the radio. Bailey is right she is legally a guy in the united states but she is still a girl no matter what so she can get pregnant. You can't just make a girl a guy it can't be done

The issue of gay marriage isn't a part of this pregnant guy's story because he was born a woman, but he legally changed his sexual status to a man. Once he did that he was no longer recognized as a female on any government issued ID like his birth certificate, passport, or driver's license and so he got married to a woman. The only thing that I can't understand is why he would want to be pregnant if he did not feel right being a female before he legally became a man.

the man who is pregnant

So on oprah the other day, she had a guest come on that was born a woman, but had a recent sex-change. That wasn't all that was discussed on the show, it turns out that the man was pregnant. This was not one of those rumors going around the internet..... also, she was legally married to a woman not too long ago. What i don't understand is why gay marriage is not legal but if technically he was a woman, that he got to get married to another woman?

Georgia students

Wow, that is some serious messed up stuff right there! I agree with Liz a lot with this. Especially with the fact that these kids need a serious ass-whooping. And that got me to thinking maybe how these things are happening with younger kids now.

Recently society has become extremely PC. I'm sure all of you, if not more than half, got spanked or something to that nature when you were younger. And I am completely all for spankings. But within in the past 5 years or so, these shows like "Supernanny" or "Nanny 911" have said that it is absolutely wrong and unethical to hit your kids if they do something wrong.
I think our generation is the last to have a majority of kids who were spanked.

If the parents are hitting them when it's unnecessary, then yeah, it's wrong. Jeez. I go to the store and see kids throwing themselves on the ground and screaming cause they want something. And most of the time the parents give in a buy it! If I ever did something like that in public I would get the beating of a lifetime.... and that doesn't upset me at all, if I'm gonna act obnoxious, and reasoning doesn't work (it barely ever works on children), then yes, you need to open up a can of whoop-ass.

I guess it has a different effect on everyone, but nowadays if a parent was seen spanking a kid in public they'd get DCFS called on them and get sent to jail for child abuse... and it's totally ridiculous.

These kids need to be taught lessons! If I ever acted up my parents would threaten to send me to boot camp. They'd show me a Sally Jesse episode where bad kids were sent to boot camp and it set me straight.

je-freaking-sus beth. does your fingers cramp from typing so much? LOL loooove ya.

anyways.. i loove csi (las vegas). and i do admit that the kids could've totally got all those ideas from watching that. but since when are little kinds so cynical? i'm not gonna lie, hearing that makes me kinda scared of little kids now and what they're capable of.

PROM FASHION SHOW TOMORROW, NIGEL BARKERRRRRRR. =D hey, at least its friday tomorrow, ok?

Georgia Students

Alright, this whole young children with attempted murder completely freaks me out! I don't know about anyone else, but in third grade I was dreaming about playing hide-n-seek and playing with Barbies. Where is our society headed? What kind of parents do these kids have?? One of my biggest pet peeves is watching bad parenting happen. It's almost as if I can't even do anything about it, when I want to yell in their face. This is one of the worst cases yet. Do these parents realize what's happening? In third grade, all those nasty thought stem from their parents. The students are only imitating their biggest role models. At this young, kids practically worship their parents. It's still OK to hug your mom. Wouldn't you notice if you're kid was taking a knife to school? Also, the fact that the kids know all these procedures and how to get away with this crime, that's just crazy! what kid of kids are they? Special Ed. or not, third graders should NOT be thinking about things such as this. Maybe ,the theory about mind destroying video games is true. Did these kids play too many video games? Is there a way to save societies future??

side note: I might just miss writing these BLOGS...ahhh did i really say that?

NOt gonna lie, as much as i HAtE HATE HATE HATE doing this blog a couple times a week to make sure I don’t have to take finals....I am gonna miss talkin on the blog. Not like as an assignment, but as a way to connect with our class. We don't always get to hear everyone’s view point or options on important topics or just random crap, but on this blog everyone has a chance to speak their minds however they want. It is interesting to see where everyone is coming from and I think we have all gained a greater respect from each other because of that. And as cheesy as it sounds I feel like it has brought our class together more as a family. These blogs make us put ourselves out there on the table for anyone of us to judge. And I think it is a wonderful idea Mr. Spoor. Ok I’m done being lame now.

Peace...

My thoughts on the Georgia Kidds

OK sooo I think these Georgia kids are watching way too much CSI. I mean seriously know. If you see what they all brought to school, it is intense! They even assigned jobs. Like someone was to cover all the windows with paper, there’s a CSI tactic right there, because if no one saw the crime how could it be them right? (Granted I’m sure they police would have figured out that the kids were the only ones in the room when the crime was committed, but in their heads they probably thought they were in the clear). Or how about the fact that they brought little fuzzy gloves so as not to leave figure prints, and assigned someone to clean up the mess. See, they even out smarted the TV show because in CSI the detectives always find a trace of a print or a fiber, but these kids, nope they thought out of the box on this one lol. Ok so I shouldn’t laugh, but come on, like are we serious! Is our society honestly that F*cked up where little 3 foot kids are turning into monsters we have to fear!! And the problem is there is nothing the justice system can really do! They are too young to be sentenced to life in jail, yes I get that, but they should be sent away to some hardcore boot camp and get some reality smacked into their heads. I think one thing that pissed me off the most was when reading one of the articles about the kids planning an attack against their teacher is that professionals were saying they doubted the children could have actually carried out the attack. UMM HELLLLO dumbasses, anyone at any size given enough of those kids with the right weapons and right force could have taken any adult down. Just because they are between the ages of 8 and 10 doesn’t mean anything. If every single one of those kids wanted in on the attack, together they all could have done some serious damage to the poor teacher. Another that really pissed me off and just proved how dumb people are is that professionals were saying that the children probably didn’t mean harm or wouldn’t have intended to kill the teacher. That they probably thought of it almost like a cartoon and that the teacher would just stand up when they were done. UMM WHAT!?!?!? I don’t think so and because they were children who had some learning disabilities and were a little troubled so I’m sure everyone is going to be playing that card in this kids defense. But it’s so bull. I mean come one, just because these kids needed to read “See Spot Run” a year longer then the rest of us doesn’t mean they didn’t know what they were doing. They deliberately planned it. They knew they were going to hurt her or even kill her. I mean if it was so much of a cartoon or if they thought it was so fake then why did they feel the need to cover the windows, why would they need gloves, why would they need to clean it up or cuff her down. If you are able to come up with a well thought out plane, then yeah there has to be something loose in your head, but you are obviously not incompetent.
All I have to say is, thank the lord the teacher is ok, but these kids need some serious hard core, ass whooping boot camp to go to for a year. And we need to start thinking what are we doing every day in our life that is effecting our society in such a negative way. 20 years ago this was never a problem, but within the last 10 years something happened that completely switch our society, our views points and our values and it is only getting worse. We have no one but ourselves to blame.

Karma

Awww Scotty that was so sweet of you. Even if it was $3 lol. Hopefully it wasn’t some scam to get drug money, but then again if it was he probably would laughed at your $3.
I totally get what you mean through about karma, I completely believe in what goes around comes around and I don’t think it is necessarily a religious thing. I just think it has to do with the energy you give off. I see it as the world being a huge mirror and by doing something good, no matter how big or small it will reflect back to you. So by giving off the good energy by helping someone else out, that positive energy is reflected back towards you. OK yeah I just realized how weird that might sound but it makes sense in my head. But maybe it’s a mixture of both. My mom and I always kid around that my grandma had connections up there (with the “lord” or whomever you think it is), because whenever we visit her and help her out as far as giving her showers, rolling up her hair, doing her laundry or whatever the case might be, she always says a pray in our name that night. And then the next day my mom’s knee might act up or it might be raining out but when we leave to go shopping we will find a parking spot right by the entrance so she doesn’t have to walk far. Or like recently, I got 50% off my prom dress that was a really expressive dress because the store was having a one day only sale which I just happened to stumble in and try on dresses randomly. Or like the day my family and I were moving my brother into NIU and he was driving behind us with his friend Tom in Tom’s car and a part on his car fell off while we were on the expressway and so we pulled over and within 5mins an expressway help truck pulled be side us, blocked cars from getting close to us and fixed the car, which was funny because my family and I are always on the expressway and have never once seen one of those maintenance trucks that are there to help you when you have car problems. So even little, simple things like that I see as karma. And maybe it is something higher that helps us out when we help others, maybe it’s just luck.

tesst

Yeah that test the other day was kind of tricky if you didn’t study. I only wish I had been there to play the review game because everything would have been sooooo much easier. But I have to say, with that one probably being one of the easier test it was nice that he let us do test corrections. Some of my friends from class went over what you are talked about during the review game and that helped me through my test corrections immensely. But yeah defiantly was a major bummer that we had spring break and then a huge test and then quarter ends. The distract is so dumb, like why do we end quarters after winter break and then spring break. Don’t they think GPAs would be so much higher if the endings were before a large break? UM YEAH!!! THEY WOULD!!! DUHH!!!. Even if that meant starting school a week sooner then we usually do or spring break being a week later then so be it. I’d rather have the better grades anyways.
And yes I also agree with everyone else that the only class I am really worried about getting through is Spoors and one other. Everything else is smooth sailing. And I really hope I don’t have to take the Final. I think I’m kind of up to date with this Blog thing. Bu I don’t know. It’s hard to keep tract. And for the longest time I totally thought he had said he wasn’t counting the new weeks until Mondays, not Sundays anymore because that gave us time over the weekend to complete the blogs, but I was wrong? I don’t know. Well If I am wrong then I just might have to take the final now which would suck because if I’m already not doing well in this class and I have all my work turned in then the final will just kill me grade. And I really really really want to graduate and take some time over the summer to get better! lol

tesst

Yeah that test the other day was kind of tricky if you didn’t study. I only wish I had been there to play the review game because everything would have been sooooo much easier. But I have to say, with that one probably being one of the easier test it was nice that he let us do test corrections. Some of my friends from class went over what you are talked about during the review game and that helped me through my test corrections immensely. But yeah defiantly was a major bummer that we had spring break and then a huge test and then quarter ends. The distract is so dumb, like why do we end quarters after winter break and then spring break. Don’t they think GPAs would be so much higher if the endings were before a large break? UM YEAH!!! THEY WOULD!!! DUHH!!!. Even if that meant starting school a week sooner then we usually do or spring break being a week later then so be it. I’d rather have the better grades anyways.
And yes I also agree with everyone else that the only class I am really worried about getting through is Spoors and one other. Everything else is smooth sailing. And I really hope I don’t have to take the Final. I think I’m kind of up to date with this Blog thing. Bu I don’t know. It’s hard to keep tract. And for the longest time I totally thought he had said he wasn’t counting the new weeks until Mondays, not Sundays anymore because that gave us time over the weekend to complete the blogs, but I was wrong? I don’t know. Well If I am wrong then I just might have to take the final now which would suck because if I’m already not doing well in this class and I have all my work turned in then the final will just kill me grade. And I really really really want to graduate and take some time over the summer to get better! lol

The Nitti Beat's LAST Post

OK, i'll admit that when i was a young kid i joked about getting rid of my teachers, but never was it more than a joke. i don't think we should see this as positive or negative, but as how parents are teaching their kids. What ever happened to kids and teens respecting their elders and doing things the way their parents would want them to. Me personaly, I blame it 20%-25% on the parents and 75%-80% on the school system. I understand that education is one of the most important things in life, but I think that the pressure on the students could be lesseded. Why is it that if you get one bad grade on one test that could set you back to the point of not getting into the collage you want to get into. All i'm saying is, if you want to get to the root of the problem, look where it started. If the students weren't so stressed, yes i know their 9 yrs old, they wouldn't have plotted this murdur. Anyway, what do you guys think about the NFL rejecting the "Hester Rule".

What is going on in this world...seriously-now children are plotting to murder their teacher. This scares me to think that someone so young could do something so horrible. It angers me that these kids had the mind set to go through with something like this. I do somewhat blame it on TV and video games because video games can be so violent and who knows maybe it is effecting the child psychologically, but then i wonder why it effects some kids and not others, why are some kids at this age even thiking about murder...when they are suppost to be playing baseball and other stuff not plotting a murder.

i tihnk that the worst part about all of this is that fact that little kids are so impressionable. They're obviously getting the ideas from TV shows and movies and maybe even the news. When i was that old i was allowed to watch PG13 movies and even R but when i look back at movies that were rated PG13 them and ones that are rated PG13 now, there's a huge difference. i guess it was only a matter of time before little kids were getting to idea that these things are ok. but whose giving these kids the time to plot against their teacher? shouldn't they be learning or playing tag on the play ground? this isn't going to be the first and last time that this happens either. i just think its really sad that now the elementary schools are becoming unsafe and thier innocence just for being young is being taken away from them so quickly.

I thought the beginning of the test was easy, but it was kind of difficult to remember the representatives near the end.

I heard about the third graders who planned on killing their teacher and I think it is beyond ridiculous. Part of their plan consisted of having a kid tape paper over the windows so no one would see what they were doing, and they also had kids to clean up after them…this is so sick…they are nine years old! How did these kids get this horrible idea?

Shannon's Post

Am I the only one that thought the test was one of Spoor's easiest? For once, we actually went over specifically what was on the test, unlike last semester's final.

Anyways. Did anyone here about the third grade class in Georgia that developed a well thought out plan to stab their teacher?

"11 of the 12 children in the special education class at Center Elementary School in Waycross, Georgia, made detailed plans to kill their teacher and each of the eleven 3rd-graders had an assigned specific task to perform during and after the plotted murder, one of the children was even assigned cleaning the blood after the teacher's death. "

I find that so ridiculous to believe. Police confiscated a crystal paper weight, a knife, and handcuffs from the children. They're not quite sure how to properly punish the students since they're too young to be sent to a correction center..

Obviously something in our society needs to change. Although like Spoor said way back, we need to figure out what's happening to our boys... two girls were the ones who brought in the paper weight and the knife. Maybe what has been causing the boys to turn violent is now also affecting the girls? Point is, where can we find an end to all of this violence?

article: http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4577231&page=1

The Nitti Beat's Post

So, that test sucked. I'll agree that the first two pages were relatively easy, but the rest had to have been the hardest test I have ever taken. Nothing against spoor, but that test was asking way to much of us right after spring break. I am glad however that he did give us the extra day to prepare, but I still don't think that it was enough time. For next year's students I propose that the quarter ends before spring break so that you start out with a fresh slate and you have the rest of 4th quarter to make up any mulligan that you may have. I think by moving spring break back one week that it will improve the GPA of the entire district, not just the school.

The Nitti Beat's Post

I think I did well on the test today. It wasn't that hard, at least the first two pages because those were the questions from the game but the other questions were from tests or quizes we took. Janny, I'm still doing paperwork and stuff like that for college too but I'm almost done...I'm just still not sure if I want to go to the college I'm planning on going to..ugh

eh.. the test was ok. i didnt know every question, but i think i did pretty well. anyways.. is anyone else sick of doing college stuff? like fafsa, and filling out forms, and blah blah blah.. its getting old. i just wanna fricken go to college already. so much paperwork to do =(

scotty, that was so nice of you. i would do something like that too if something like that happened to me.

That was pretty nice of you to do, Scotty. I believe in karma sometimes and hopefully something good will happen to you for what you did.

About the test... I didn't think it was as bad as I thought it would be probably because the first 15 questions were the same ones from the review game, but was unsure on other parts like the liberal, moderate, and conservative matching section.

Scotty, that was so nice of you! I think about karma some times too. I thought your story was gonna be like "he tried robbing me" or some bad incident, but it ended up being a positive one, and that makes me happy.

As for this test.... Geeeeez louise. I'm so glad I took notes today in class, because I tried opening the study guide on my computer, and it won't let me. This class is basically the only one that I have to worry about this last quarter. Well, this and Physics.

And the big wild cat animal thing, that is really messed up. What person decides, "Oh, I can't keep this animal anymore, so instead of probably selling it to a zoo for money, I'm just gonna let it out into society, where I'll probably get charged some sort of fine." Dang, I'll make sure to watch for any giant cats while I'm driving to school tomorrow!


GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE ON THE TEST TOMORROW!

Post.

Seriously this test is crazy. I think we should have had it before spring break because the only night i could study would be tuesday night and i worked and now i am stuck studying til like 2 a.m. Sweet. But next week we will all be 4th quarter seniors... : ). its crazy college is SO close. The only class that i have that im going to have to work in is going to be spoor's class...of course he piles on the work to make out lives miserable-because no one is going to want to be doing all that work. Last week at this time i was in cancun having fun...now i am stuck in cold chi-town with a huge test tomorrow....this suckks

strange

Soo I haven't posted in a long while but tonight something kinda strange happened so I decided to share.
Ok so I had just gotten off work and was sitting in my car letting it warm up for a few minutes when this black dude pulled up next to me. He motioned for me to roll down my window so I did. He was like "Hey sorry to bother you, my name's Devon, I came here from chicago and my girl is in labor right now havin my baby at northwest community hospital and my car's about to die so any gas money you could spare would help me out a lot"
I said " sure man I'll give you all I've got." So I gave him all my money, which was a whopping 3 dollars, he thanked me, I wished him good luck, and he was on his way.
Now I am not a very religious person at all , but I do believe in Karma and this made me feel really good.
Has anyone else had any similar experiences?

Shannon's Response

A wild cat loose is kind of scary... I don't understand how people could think these wild cats could be tamed. It's in their nature to attack, why would you want to risk your life to change that? Just like that clip we watched in survey yesterday where that trainer had over 40 cuts and bites....that's scary. Even scarier to think that a wild cat may be loose somewhere in Illinois.

As for the test, this is ridiculous, there is just so much material, and the study guide isn't a lot of help. The game today did help, but I felt so clueless, I didn't know any of the answers. I'm really nervous for the test tomorrow.

I did hear about the cougar that is out here somewhere!! It's kind of shocking and scary to know that a wild animal might be somewhere in your neighborhood! I think it'll be hard to trace where it is too and to catch it as well. But yea..the test tomorrow..I dont know where to start studying. There is so much to review but I think the game we played today in class was very helpful!

wild cat (cougar) lose in the Northern Suburbs of IL

Sooo did you guys hear about the big wild cat that’s on the lose in Northern suburbs of Illinois?
Haha yeah apparently someone much of thought they could keep and tam a baby cougar until it grew too big to handle and just let it lose.
People in McHenry have called up local police stations claiming they have seen a huge cat walking down their streets or in their front yards. And I guess no one has been able to catch it yet. So be on the look out, it could be heading our way soon.


ugh now it's time to study for that test tomorrow...grosss

earth hour

Yeah about the Earth hour thing, I got some facebook invite about it, but I never heard anymore after that so I didn't think it was really going to happen. And I don't know if it was on the news or not since I decided not to watch the new much anymore because they only talk about negative crap, but if that was something that was suppose to help our environment, you'd think if people actually cared as much as they say, they would have made a bigger deal out of it and get the word out there. I think it would have been something great to participate in but there was no information out there for us. I don’t even know when it happened or maybe it hasn’t even happened yet. Hmmm I don’t know. Good try though.

back from break

Ugh Spring Break is over. How lame! It was one hell of an exciting week and i think a vacation well deserved to most of us lol. But too bad the weather couldn't have been better. It was like we would have one day of summer and then 3 days of snow rain and winter, grrr I think we need to redo spring break next week lol.
well I hope everyone had a fun break while it lasted.
Now we're back to the real world of school where every damn teacher is loading us up with paper after paper after paper....give us a break will ya?

I didn't hear about earth hour until my boyfriend turned off the tv and lights right in the middle of the basketball game, and i was really mad at him. but when he explained what he was doing and about it i thought the idea is really cool. I saw pictures online of all the cities with the lights off and it was gorgeous. I dont know if a lot of people participated it in their own homes, there were no other houses around with lights off or anything like that, but if you think about big cities like chicago shutting the lights off thats still a decent amount of energy saved.

I also didn't know about hour and never heard about it until now. It sounds like a small thing we can do to help the environment and might let more people be aware of it if there were some advertisements or something, but could see how thats hard because of it probably costing a lot of money to put it on as a commercial. Also, going to the people littering at the zoo, I don't see why it's so hard for some people to just walk a little out of their way to make the environment a little better.

I didnt know about the earth hour..i dont think many people where aware of it either...it does sound kind of cool, but more things should be done to save our Earth than conserving energy for a couple of hours. As for litter at the zoo, i think thats so sad. Why dont people care? Since they are visiting the zoo, they should show some respect.

the only thing i heard about earth hour was on facebook. i don't think (or know of anyway) that there was any other advertisments for it so i don't think it was probably that effective. But staying on the subject about saving the earth and stuff, i was at the zoo when i was in texas for spring break and i was completely disgusted about how much trash was thrown into their little habitats. i saw a baboon chewing and eating a black 711 cup. i do'nt understand why you would pay 12 bucks to go to the zoo and litter. they specifically have garbage cans all over so this doesn't happen. it just made me sad that people can be so negligent and uncompassionate.

snow

i honestly cant believe that it snowed over spring break. fortunately for me i was on my way to florida so i didnt have to deal with shoveling and all that fun stuff. it was a good feeling knowing that i didnt have to shovel my driveway and that when i came home today it would all be gone. its time for spring to start living up to its name a.k.a warm weather and no snow.

EARTH HOUR

Okay, so did you guys hear about Earth Hour?
I think that it is very awesome. You hear about all the bad things about the world and everything. All our posts are about sad little things. But this, this is good, you know. We're standing up and it made me so happy to see the list of all the cities participating.
My brother lives downtown, and he said that he watched the Hancock shut off it's lights, he said it was just a great sight to see, cause everyone was actually working on helping the environment.

I shut off my electricity and heat (cause at my condo our heat is electric) for 4 hours. A couple of my friends came over and we played Clue and Operation by candle light. Oooh, and we got some crayons and paper. And we put the crayons over the flames to melt the wax, and then dripped the crayon wax on the paper, it was really really hypnotic.

The only thing that I kinda didn't like about this Earth Hour thing, was the media covered. They're all like "TUNE IN AND WATCH THE BUILDINGS DOWNTOWN TURN DARK!!!" But what the hell, we're supppose to be participating and shutting off our electricity..... why are you encouraging us to turn on the tv and watch something?! That part of it seemed very very very dumb....

So did you guys participate on this and help save our planet from death and destruction?

Shannon's Post

On Wednesday a female brought a gone to to University of Louisville, where she held a social worker hostage...nobody there was hurt, but the police checked her house where she had killed her children aged 14 and 10. She is currently being held in the psychiatric ward...

How could a mother kill her children? I can't even imagine that. I know I annoy my mother a lot, and between me and my two sisters we drive her up the wall sometimes, but I know she would never harm us... I can't even begin to fathom actually shooting young kids, let alone my own children..

Full Article:
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=8079799

Making up posts

I dont know if im the only one, but i did miss a post so I'm making it up now! Spring break is almost over. I didnt do much except work and volunteer some hours for vikes. I'm glad i didnt have any homework or big projects and papers like winter break...

Spring Break

The snow is awful! I can't believe it's going to snow on easter! that's crazy! I heard this year we got over 100 inches of snow! As much as it sucks, it's cool to think of how much snow that is. Also, I'd rather have a snowy winter than a cold and boring one! But when its still snowing on the first day of spring break, that's too much for me!

Ew, all this snow really blows! I'm looking outside and it feels like Winter Break. Well, so much a nice warm spring break....Let's just hope it doesn't snow on graduation!

omg kill me now. i know.. so much effing snow. i had to go out and get groceries yesterday and i couldnt even get off of my driveway. -_- my mom was like SERIOUSLY?! ITS EFFING ALMOST APRIL. ggoooodaaammmiiitttttttuuhhh. is it just me or does it not feel like spring break for those ppl who have to stay in palatine? SUCKS. i'm not a happy camper.. even tho i have no hw over spring brreaakk. but still. i was hoping for NICE weather. i hate thiiiiiiiiis.

I can't believe it snowed during spring break. It was such a nice day yesterday, and now we get stuck with this. This just makes me wish that I got to go somewhere warm over spring break. Hopefully the snow melts soon and doesn't snow again until December.

OMG!!!

I KNOW!!! I can't believe it is snowing!!! Thats so not cool! I didnt think it would because yesterday was so beautiful and there was no way in heck it would snow.... I woke up this morning and I literally almost cried! ITS SPRING!! We shouldn't have snow! Last year we didnt and this year we did it so sad! But everyone have an amazing spring break anyway!! Hope your going somewhere warm like me :)

It's the first day of spring and its SNOWING so bad!! I hate it....it looks like we will probably have more snow for Easter than what we had for Christmas. It sucks staying in Palatine...with the snow and cold weather! Anyways...have a great week everyone!

The Nitti Beat's Post

SPRING BREAK!!! Wasn't today the perfect day for the first day of spring break. It was sunny and the perfect temp. to open all the car windows and go cruising. As far as Obama, I thinks he's a sh*t head and McCain is going to win. Because Oprah endorsed him, i will never vote for him. Democrat or republican, if Oprah endorses them i'm going the other way. Besides, why would she want to pay more tax and vote republican. With all the money she has she'll be needing more write offs. O' well its only politics. Have a good spring break everyone and make the most out of it, because its our last one in High School.

OK, That is the craziest thing EVER! It's not like Obama said that himself!! he was simply listening. That's using deductive reasoning, just because he was listening doesn't mean he believes it. The reporter could have stretched the truth too. I don't understand how one incident such as this should interfere with the government and politics.

I do not understand why it matters if Barack Obama did or did not hear his pastor say those things. It’s not like Obama said or agreed with what his pastor allegedly said. I think people are just coming up with stupid things to try and get Obama out of the race for presidency. It’s crazy how much stuff can be used against you when you run for president.

Game/Obama

The game reminded me a little bit of something that is currently happening. During the game there were times where you would land on "bad luck" or something like that and then it would say that, "when you were 25 years old, you avoided the draft. Your polling numbers have dropped dramatically". Well, Barack Obama has been occused of belonging to a church whose Pastor suggested that United States brought the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on itself and said that blacks should damn America for continuing to mistreat them. Obama refused to believe those statements and said that he wasn't present when those comments were made, but it is kind of hard to believe since he has been going to that church most of his life.

What do you think?

Shannon's Post

I also enjoyed the election game. I played against Janny, and at first we thought we thought I was the democrat and she was the republican, but then I was the elephant instead of the donkey...so we started over. We realized you actually had to click on democrat and republican to make sure you were the right person. I think the game was a fun way to learn more about politics. It not only made sure you knew the different parties' sides to each issue, but also how to successfully run a campaign, what to say, what to do, and what states to campaign in. I agree that we should play this game again, and maybe learn even more about politics.

Yeah, that game was fun. I didn't understand at the beginning. I made really bad decisioins, cause I had no idea what was going on. But then I finally understood it, but it was too late to fix by then. I want a re-match!!

I also liked the game we played. It helped me understand a little bit more about what campaigners do to try and make money. It was confusing at first, but got the hang of it as we went on. Also, I wish I noticed the tip thing at the bottom of the screen. Also, I like those "skeletons in the closet" and those are bad spots that you could land on because it helped me learn some of the choices the campaigners could make to make themselves look better again. Also, I agree with Nitti about the tournament idea, because it would be something to do at the end of the year that would be fun.

I liked the game we played the other day too. It was fun and I think we understood more about campaigns and elections and the whole process. I think most people got really into it and where thinking different strategies in order to win.

I also thought that game we played the other day was real fun. I ran as a republican incubent and beat kyle to win president. One thing I thought was key in that game was, you can't change your beliefs of certain subjects from what you said you believed at the start of the game. Cuz if you chose to solve an issue with something you were against, you would either make no money or lose popularity and votes. I enjoyed the game and I hope to play more fun games like that as fourth quarter rolls around....

The Nitti Beat's Post

The Game was fun, although I lost to Bailey. I also agree with her about it being confusing because i started out making the wrong choices until spoor told me about the tips on the bottom of the screen. I think that we should play the game again now that we all know how to play. I also think that we should play and the top two in the entire class play each other, or even a bracket system to see who the best politician in the class is. The best part about the game wasn't that it was competitive but it made politics fun.

I thought the game was fun, but at the same time really confusing. In the beginning of the game I chose to be a democrat, but when the real game started, for some reason it made me republican. I didn't realize the switch until half way through the game, and found that I had been making decisions based on the other person's rankings.

I agree that the game was pretty rigged. It was fun but i ate losing. the republican person raised and lot more money which is i guess how things are supposed to be are just happen to be in the real world. but the game let janelle get on all the good spaces while i kept having "skeletons in my closet" revealed. I dont trust any computer games though beucase they can control everything, its never left up to luck or chance when the computer is involved.

Game

Very nice Keith! :) Anywho ya how about that game we played today!? That was so messed up haha, I mean its weird all the situations they put us in but its kinda hard to make a choice to spend money or to just skip and see what happens. It also seemed rigged towards Democrats! So not fair :)

I am sure that you have all heard about the three fremd graduates that conflicted with drugs last week. I have heard many versions of this story but i am not sure which is true. It is always very sad and tragic to hear another story about kids who experience with drugs and almost loose their lives. I was talking to my older brother about it and he said that he knew one of the guys. I can't imagine hearing about one of our classmates dying from drugs when we are older. I give all of my love and sympathy to their families and hope for the best.

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Nitti Beat's Post

Come on, are we still talking about spring break. What are the major topics in the news, nothing. None of the things on the news are interesting or out of the ordinary lately. It's not nessesarily a bad thing, but theres no excitement either. This weekend Fremd's automotive club competed in it's first competition in Fremd history. As far as we know we finished second out of five groups. Back to spring break, 4 days until break. Woo Hoo!

spring break

yeah spring break is going to be amazing simply because im sick of school and ill take any and every opportunity to not go. im going up to purdue for a "college visit" so that should be quite interesting and i think im going to florida but im not 100% on that one. either way i really just want school to be over.

I agree, I don't think the rehabilitation centers really do much. Maybe 1 out of every 1000 people or so, the person changes because of the rehabilitation center but for the most part I think it's a waste of money and is really unrealistic that these centers will really have a big impact on a murderer. However, I think the murderer know that their lives are going to suck after they kill someone regardless of the death penalty and they probably don't care too much about the punishment because they don't have much to lose or don't think they'll get caught.

comments on convos before

About what you guys were saying abut the death penalty…. I’m personally all for it! I feel if someone brutally murdered people for the pleasure of doing so, especially those who rape and murder children have no right to live. They took away someone’s life, and that is something that can never be replaced. I feel in this circle of what we call the “justice system” the criminals have more rights then the victims. They took a life away, and therefore their life should be gone too. I know some people feel death would be the easy way out and a bigger punishment would be for them to rot in jail, but I don’t know. I still believe in an eye for and eye and yes like people say that might make the whole world blind, but if you visit other countries their crime rate is so low because of how strict their punishments are. Are punishments here…PSsssssh we’re a joke! We never stick to what we say and we give too many people parole and lets on for “good behavior”. Whatever, we will never have a low crime rate if we don’t start scare the shit out of the convicts. And that’s why I think the death penalty to murders is a great idea. They are obviously cowards if they had to take away someone else’s life and im sure they themselves are afraid of death, so why not do it. They didn’t care about the fear their victims went through while getting their life taken away so why should be care about theirs? I don’t. I hope they feel all the pain in the world and go to hell. They deserve it, and yeah even though I’m a demarcate and mostly liberal, I think rehabilitation centers for convicts is a bunch of bull and a waste of money. They won’t ever change. Maybe a drug dealer, or a robber or a gangster can change, but not a cold blooded murderer. There’s a reason they are called cold blooded killers and no it’s not because of their temp.

im sick of winter

Oh my gosh! I know! I just can't wait until spring. I'm soooo sick of this cold weather. I mean I do love that snow and all, but after a month it's like, ok lets go to the beach now, I'm done! lol. This week the weather has been beautiful!!!! I actually was wearing caprices at some point and a tee with no jacket!!! WOOHOOO!!! But now i heard it's suppose to snow tomorrow (Sunday) and today it was pretty cold, so I'm kind of upset :(. I just want the warm sunny weather back!! I miss it soooo much.. AHH and I am soooo excited for Spring BREAK!!!! which is like this week!!!! Wooohooo

i knooww.. im really starting to get sick of the cold weather, especially cuz i have a really bad cold. summer=my birthday+no school =DD i'm sick of school. its getting so mundane going to school everyday, same routine every day.. ew. =[

i am going to hate to have to actually do something in school after spring break. i honestly can't even imagine having to do homework and actually concentrate in school. i can't wait for it to finally be warm outside for good, im sick of it switching back and forth from 50's to 30's every other day.

Now that spring break is coming so soonly it's getting harder to do homework. but I just keep trying to maintain above a C so I don't have to take finals. Hopefully teachers won't be expecting much from us after break, cause it's gonna be hella hard trying to motivate ourselves to actually do stuff.

Spring Break!

I can't WAIT for spring break, even though I'm not going any where and I have practice, but I'm so pumped just to be able to sleep for unlimited hours. Lately, I feel as if the teachers have been squishing last minute things into this quarter. Luckily, or l hope, spring break will be different from winter break, because winter break was filled with so many projects.

Spring Break

I am super excited about spring break! It means we are so much closer to just getting out of here. And Nitti I understand that you have alot of stuff that you need to turn in and that is awesome that you are going to represent Fremd.... But just think, when you are done with all that stuff you will be so much more relaxed! We barley have much school left!! WHOOT WHOOT!!!! SENIORS! :)

I can't believe it's almost spring break. This year has gone by so fast and I am pretty sure it will go by twice as fast after spring break. Unfortunately, I'm not going anywhere this year=( but I am really looking forward to catching up on sleep and spending a little more time with friends and family!

The Nitti Beat's Post

Spring Break sounds good, but everybody hold on a second. OK, so next Thursday is going to be the last day of school, but what about the time leading up to it. So far all I've heard about is the upcoming tests and projects that have to be done before spring break. In addition I'm going to be in the first group representing Fremd High School and Fremd Automotive in the Drag Race Expo engine building competition at Pheasant Run this Saturday. Also, as soon as spring break sounds, the end of our Senior year is fast approaching, and I'm damn glad because its time to move on to bigger and better things.

spring break is going to be a little bland this year =( i'm not going anywhere nor do i have any plans -_- i think im just gonna catch up on sleep and movies. hibernate for a week =D thats a good idea. anyways.. my boyfriend goes to u of i and his spring break is the week before ours. and that kinda sucks for me. i havent seen him in 2 freaking months. uuhhh yeah. im sooo jealous of all you ppl who are going somewhere. im gonna be here.. in the snow, still cold. i'm so ready for summer, not to mention prom and graduation. but at the same time its kinda saaad. cuz i've grown to like some people at this school and im no gonna see them anymore after senior year.. =[

I don't know how I feel about Spring Break approaching. I'm excited for the week off, and for graduation and prom and all of the fun college stuff. But at the same time, as much as I'm sick of high school and feel like I'm ready to leave, at the same time it's a stage in your life that is ending. I'm not a big fan of change, and although I'm a fan of moving out now, I know I'll be homesick for at least a little while at college. It's just so hard to enjoy high school when I'm so ready to be out of here...

Anyways, I have no big plans for Spring Break, just relaxation and hanging with friends, however, my sister and boyfriend's spring breaks are all different and that kind of stinks, I don't get to see them as much as I was hoping for.

mandie's post =]

i actually remembered the blog!!
in terms of spring break, i am pretty excited as well, break is an important benchmark in the year, because is basically means we are entering the home stretch. i also am going to Arizona and am excited to get away from the gross snow/mud/dead grass situation we have over here.
The only bad thing i guess is that somehow 3rd quarter is almost over, and i'm not ready for that, theres still a lot to be done!
on the good side only 81 days of school until we graduate, and all the fun stuff is happening now like housing and room mate surveys!! 4th quarter should be a breeze compared to what we gone through, but it really is going so fast! as much as im dying to get out of here i know ill miss this one day!

i am really excited for spring break. i'm going to arizona to visit my brother. I can't wait for after spring break because after we get back theres only a couple more months left! I am so ready to graduate and for it to be summer im sick of this weather!

I don't know how to feel about spring break being so close...I'm kind of sad because after break we only have two months left before we graduate. I want to be done with high school because I can't stand doing all this work, but at the same time I'm gonna miss seeing all my friends everyday.

I hope you do well at State!! Good luck! But I agree with you. The teachers are freaking out way to much. I can't wait til spring break either. It's goin' be alot of fun. Hope everyone keeps it fun and safe. Back to the teachers. They seem to think that if we miss one or two days that we wont be able to graduate and that's crap!! We will just make up the work or get it before hand. It's not all the hard.

I can't wait until spring break either. Hopefully all the snow will be gone by then and the weather will be nice. I am not really going anywhere for spring break, so am kind of sad about that but days off of school is still good and is just that much closer to graduation.

Death Penalty and such

I'm kinda anti-death penalty but then again I'm pro-life so whatever. I just don't believe that by punishing someone with death makes us just as guilty as he who committed the crime of killing. And that would really suck for the jury, knowing that they ended someones life, harsh. This is a really depressing topic...I don't think I like it much.

Also, I would like to express my frustrations of teacher freaking out when you miss class. So I'm going to state for drama and I hate telling my teachers because they freak out at me, it ridiculous. Personally I don't care if I'm missing Pre-calc or whatever because I generally don't care about it. That's not what I want to do with my life, I want to go into theater so why does it bug teachers so much if I miss their class? Its not like I don't work or anything so whatever.

Megan i love you for changing to toopic. I am really excited for spring break, especially since when we come back, the rest of the year is going to go by so fast! Unlike half of the senior class who is going to boring cancun... i am going to Florida.. holler to Disney World! I just hope that no one goes missing like that one girl from Aruba. No one get drunk at a local bar and leave with the locals. Yay no more snow and cold weather! i am soo ready for spring to come!

CHANGE IN TOPIC

Lets change the topic to something interesting...like SPRING BREAK!!...what is everyone doing? And how is it going to effect you when you get back...cause seriously after spring break i am not going to want to be in school anymore...4th quarter is going to be horrible..

The death penalty

Wow, I completely agree with Shannon. At first, as I was reading her post, I was thinking why wouldn't he get the death penalty? But as I read on, I realized that he is a person and that everyone has the option to change. As wrong as what he did was, does killing him really solve the problem? I never know how to feel about the death penalty, since I can see both sides to the argument. What this man did was disgusting and wrong, but does killing a person make everything fixed?

Update on the man who brutally killed the 10 year old and had plans to eat her...

He was given the death penalty.

After deciding I wanted him to die for his crime, I'm finding myself kind of feeling bad. The jury had the choice to give him life in prison without the chance of parole or death, and after 8 1/2 hours of deliberation they decided on death. I feel especially bad for the jurors. When I first read this case I felt this man deserved death, since he had this all planned out, murder, sexual assault, decapitation, and cannibalism, but at the same time, now his death is the result of the jury. These 12 people now are responsible for signing a man to death, and that's hard to think about as well. Even if he is mentally ill and a murderer...he's still a person. This death penalty buisness is way more complicated than I thought once you take everything into perspective.

Writer's Week... I know, it's old news..

Ok, so I know this is like, two weeks old, but what did everyone think of writer's week this year?
What was your favorite/ least favorite performance? What'd you think about the administration's poem?

I agree with Carrie, the guy who killed the little girl should be given the death penalty. I do not think that anyone as messed up as this guy could ever be rehabilitated…especially if psychologists are saying that he is a threat to society. The other story about the woman who beat and killed the baby as an act of revenge is disgusting. I can not believe that people can be this sick and twisted.

...

Wow people are so discusting. Why would someone want to do that to a baby. For heaven sakes it was only 6 months old! That makes me so sick. I feel horrible. Oh my god. The baby was burned, drugged and beaten! What did the baby ever do to that person. He isn't even old enough to eat on his own. I am so pissed. I hope the person who killed the baby gets what is coming for them. I dont know if I would say death penalty but life in prison for sure. No saine human would ever do that

That is sick about the baby. Seriously what is wrong with the world today, it is sick that somone would think that is justifiable over some stolen item. People need help, it seems like lately everyone is going on these crazy rampages and killing people who didnt do anything. And for the death penalty i just think the criminal should be locked up in high security and have no freedoms what so ever, they should sit and there and live with what they have done everyday no expections...people are getting out of control.

Life

Nothing much to say, revengeful baby killing is absurd, baning swearing does go against our rights and I hate blogging every week and now I'm screwed because I defiantly didn't last week. And I make no promises about the next two weeks either because this week is state, and next week I'm leaving for Africa. I would like to again state my support of some form of make up work for missing blogs, however I also agree that whatever Spoor decides is good enough. OK I'm gonna stop rambling now.

(dennis it was the parents of the killer that want his life spared, not her parents.) in that situation it probably is much better to give him the death penalty. If he is that insane and could actually follow through with something that grusome, he would have serious problems functioning in the real world. Whether or not he is staying in a mental facility or in a jail, someone like that will probably self distract after being locked up for so long.

and about the lady who killed the baby, this is probably the most disappointing thing i have heard in a long time. i feel like this 22 year old never grew up. when you are an adult, you have to realize that things are solved by revenge. she is not only a crazy lady but childish.

It is very sad how far some people are willing to go through for revenge. Killing a baby because someone stole something? Yeah, I guess taking the life of an innocent baby makes up for someone stealing something.... that is seriously messed up.

About the story with the 10 year old girl, I have to first say that the parents are probably amazingly nice for wanting to spare the life of the man that kidnapped, raped, tortured, murdered, and decapitated their daughter. I would probably never want a person like that to live even if I didn't know the person that this happened to.

Wow, that story about the woman killing the baby is insane! I don't know what could possibly motivate a person to do that to a innocent child, it's hard to believe that the only reason she did it was because the mother told somebody she was stealing things from her locker. I am speechless, I can't believe somebody could do that. I feel like there is something more to the story that neither of the women are telling, or else the woman who killed the baby is seriously crazy.

New Topic(s)

Apparently a 6 week old baby was abused and killed in Louisiana this week, by a family friend by act of revenge.

"Investigators have said the infant was beaten on the head, singed with a curling iron and drugged. "

A 22 year old woman did that to a baby simply because another woman said she saw her steal something. How on earth is that justifiable?? Our world seriously makes me sick.

Full Article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5602458.html

Also in the news that's repulsive...

The 10 year old girl who last year was murdered by a man who had a "detailed a plot involving kidnapping, rape, torture, murder, decapitation, necrophilia and cannibalism " is now facing a possible death penalty.

"The victim was found with deep saw marks to her neck in an apparent attempt to decapitate the body," Tompkins said. "It is believed the body was sexually molested after death."

The parents of the killer have asked to spare his life, while psychologists have said he is still a threat to society and has severe psychological problems.

I don't support the death penalty, but extreme cases like this make it difficult. This is beyond repulsive. If this man is still having sickening thoughts about wanting to eat a body after murder then I think I would lean more towards death. He's severely disturbed and we don't need more people like that in our world.

Full Article: http://www.wlfi.com/Global/story.asp?S=7984482&nav=menu591_3

Every time I need to post on this blog I search Google news. and I think it's a horrible reflection on our country that every time I need to post about a current event, there's at least three depressing or sickening things that happened in the past week. Something really needs to change.

whoever made up that law is probably a republican hahahahhah.. k.

anyways.. moving on. i love wrigley field. what an @sshole. dont people respect anything anymore? wow.. it seems that more and more objects of history are getting destroyed or taken away. that pisses me off. i miss marshall fields. i hate macy's. the quality totally crapped. and what the hell is us cellular field? they can suck it. if they change wrigley fields name, we should just boycott it. =D

jamie's post

I really hope that Wrigley doesn't change it's name, cause then like, the white sox and Cubs stadium will have name changes that'll be lame.

And about the no swearing law --- that's really lame. That seems so ridiculous.
1. How can they enforce that?
2. What about our precious Freedom of Speech?

Haha, I'm in Philadelphia right now, and today we went to the Independence Hall and saw the room where the Constitution was signed. It was pretty cool to see it in person instead of in the painting.

I'd like to see how well this law ends up working in the end....

I think the cussing law is crazy. I dont understand how it can be a law that people can't swear in public. first of all, how would a policeman catch every single swear word that comes out of somebodys mouth? I don't think swearing is the most polite or attractive thing, but to make a law against it is outrageous!

And about the changing of the name of Wrigley Field...I really hope they don't do it! I am a huge cubs fan, but beside the fact, as Carrie said, Wrigley Field was brought up with chicago, its part of the city it would be a shame to take that name away. I hope their next idea isn't to build a new park!

Oldest Marathon Runner

In London there is a man named Martin who is 101 years old and participated in the london marathon. This makes him the oldest marathon runner in the world.

Good for Martin!

If I was 101 years old all I'd want to do is sleep and watch I love Lucy reruns.

So him being able to complete a marathon in 5 hrs and 13mins is fantastic.

Cussing

I agree with Keith.

I think that law is a violation of freedom of speech.

Even though cuss words aren't the best choice of words to use when conversing with another people allowed to use whatever words they choose to express themselves.

What I really don't get is that why this law is being made in California.

California to me doesn't seem like the state that would make this kind of law.

I thought California was very liberal.

Plus as was said before no one is going to follow that law.

Swearing just happens.

Sometimes, even for me, it's just the slip of the tounge.

So I don't see how you can punish someone for word choice.

Dumb law.

Just because a law is made to tell a person to stop swearing, it does not mean they are going to follow it. I mean come on, what are these people going to do to enforce the law? Are the police going to listen in on everyone’s conversations on the street instead of catching criminals? If someone is offended by swearing it is their responsibility to let the people around them know how they feel. I do not think that there needs to be a law to tell people when it is the right/wrong time or place to use curse words.

Julie's Post

That is the craziest law I've ever heard! There are so many more beneficial laws that could have been made. What is the purpose of banning words? Words aren't even going to kill anyone. I mean sure, words are powerful and meaningful, but they're won't do bodily harm to another person. I just don't understand what good can come from banning words. Won't this law have the reverse effect, where people will just want to use cuss words more? How will they even regulate this new law? fines?Does anyone else think that this is a little ridiculous?
I don't swear(unless completely necessary), but that is a personal choice. I'm OK with other people swearing, because I feel that it's their choice if they want to. It seems a little extreme to force others to follow a rule because you don't think its right.

Wrigley Field

I really do'nt know what to say about the swearing thing. who is going to regulate that? and anyway what if you drop scissors on your foot and stab yourself. i am sure that first word to come out will not be "fudge."


I read/saw that the new owner of the cubs are planning on renaming Wrigley field. They want to sell the name or something to a corporation like the bulls and white sox did to their stadiums. the new owner was saying that he would be willing to keep the name Wrigley if the Wrigley family was willing to pay up. I was livid when i heard this. Not only because i am a cubs fan but becuase that field is part of chicago history. It's been around a lot longer than the new owner has been thats for sure. They have already taken away Marshall Fields from chicago what next?

The Nitti Beat's Post

Honestly, no cussing. I've said it once and I'll say it again, what the hell is wrong with people. If all these people have to worry about is swearing, then they should consider themselves lucky. Why can't these people put their time and effort into something productive. When will people stop being so ridiculously stupid and just put up with the changing world. If you ask you parents, teachers never swore or anything like that, and now they do. So just ask yourselves its it worth it to make such an asinine law.

I think it is ridiculous. It's so hard not to cuss. It's just words..not actions and it may hurt people emotionally and psychologically but what about the freedom of speech? I don't think many people would take this law seriously.

No cussing....thats kinda a funny law. It is not like it is going to stop anyone..personally i dont care if people swear. I do it all the time without paying any attention. It is stupid to even try and inforce that law. I guess sometimes swearing can hurt other people, but its ridic to make it a law that your not allowed to sware...and that whole freedom of speech they are taking that away from people.

No Cussing?!?

No, I'm sorry but that has got to be the stupidest thing that I've ever heard. Sure, it's a nice idea and all but this world isn't nice and just because you make everyone talk and act nice, doesn't mean they are. What is wrong with these people? Do they really expect people to listen to this? I like cussing. That may make me sound rude and childish but it's true. I'm not saying that I do it to an obsence amount but I don't think the cops should be able to arrest you just because you let the F-bomb slip...that's bullcrap!!

Town Bans Cussing

A town in California has banned cussing... I know that's crazy right? Check it out:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/06/cuss.free.zone.ap/index.html


I did not know that that could happen! What about freedom of speech and everything? I do not know much about anything but I do not think that this is right. I guess it is a "good" but I do not think anyone has the power to make a decision like this.

What do you guys think?

National Convention

So this week we get to play dress up/pretend by having a national convention. I think that this will help us understand more about politics and maybe the whole election over all. I really enjoyed making up my character and their profile. but it was hard trying to research our topic. I was also kinda hard thinking of reasons why my character is Liberal considereing the fact that my character would not be Liberal. Hopefully this meeting thing will turn out ok and we will all get A's!

I think it is really sad that we have to fear going to college. I want to know what happened to schools being a safe place to be. It is bad enough that we have to worry about living on our own for the first time, but now we have the fear of school shootings too. It makes me so upset to see the same thing happening over and over again, and no one is doing anything to stop it. Something needs to change.

There are raesons on why people go around shooting guns at others. Sometimes they wont know the reason on why they did it though. It could be that a person is under a lot of stress and the snaps or some other reason. I think they wont know the reason. Asking them would then be pointless. Then the person if survived would need to go and get a lot of help. who knows why they do it. There people like us and we are very complicated living organisims.

I just wish that shooters that do these things will accidentally mess up and end up not killing themselves, but just injuring, so then we can truly find out why they did it. Like the whole Northern thing is just a complete mystery, cause I don't think anyone ever found out why he did it, so it's just strange and random.

And the ISU thing is just stupid. I don't know what compels people to think that they should write something like that.... It's childish, cause it seems like they're just like "oh, I want my school to be on the news, and I want attention from my friends and family to make sure I'm okay..." like seriously, what is going on inside these people's heads???

Shannon's Post

I agree with Dennis, I think the scariest thing is we don't always know the true motive behind the rampage. If we knew exactly what, and when, and when/what the trigger was...maybe we would be closer to stopping this.

The fact that a lot of the shootings have been taken place in schools is really scary. Schools should be a safe haven, maybe not your favorite place, but a place to feel safe in at least. Not to say other places wouldn't feel safe too....but when you're in school you feel like you know everyone around you...when you're in the mall you can be in danger of getting raped, kidnapped, mugged... so you're already cautious to begin with. I never used to feel cautious that something bad would happen in school before, and now I suddenly have to be aware of everything.

College next year really does make me nervous. I know it's just as likely to happen in high school as college...but being away at a university already makes me nervous..and i can't help to wonder if I'm choosing the right college... what if I choose one and that's where next years shooting is. This whole topic just makes me paranoid.

College threats

It really sucks that we even have to worry about this kind of stuff. People should just be able to go to school without having to worry about getting shot or even having lock down drills for this kind of stuff. It's even worse that people aren't exactly sure why people go on school shootings because they always kill themselves at the end. People could guess that it's because of their peers or family or something like that, but I think it would be better if people knew for sure so maybe their could be an attempt to fix the problem without having to kill people.

All these threats are freaky...its getting kind of ridiculous that we have to be scared now to go to college...like its always in the back of your mind that some crazy person is going to go on another shooting rampage. Its wierd how one school has a shooting then all of a sudden others schools have threats....really anywhere is a treat now not just college, anywhere you go there could be so crazy there wanting to take his life and others....what has this world come too.

Julie's post!!

That is really weird. i guess its true though, that every school is in danger. its kind of depressing how we have to even worry about things like this. at the school that i intern at, pleasant hill, the kids have even learned a lock down drill. it scares me to think that this school has to even think about the potential of having an intruder. also, if the lock down were real, how would the kids react? for the drill, we told the kids that we were just doing a drill, but we never told them what it was for. what can we do to stop this trend of shootings? what do we do to make this happen in the first place?

Collage threats

Honestly, we really can't know exactly why people do what they do and it is a little scary. I have many friends up at NIU and was suppose to go visit them that day. I think that there are people who do it for a reaction and of course they get one. I admit to being scared about going to collage but now we all have to be scared for completely different reasons and it ridiculous. I think the only thing we can do is, however heartless this might sound to the families of the victoms, to let it pass as quickly and quietly as possible.

College threats

Yeah I went to ISU for an interview like the weekend after and my mom didnt tell me about the threats till later cus she didnt want me to freak out. Honestly though, every college has something like this happen and its not like we can just not go to college but its still really scary. Also on the note of colleges, UofI, ISU or Illinois Wesleyan? I can't choose!!! any advice?

Wow

That is freaky! I dont understand what our world is coming to that makes people want to do things like that. I honsetly am scared to go to college. What if that happened where I went? I am sure that I would not be able to go back to school which isn't good. I think that the colleges need to step up and fix the problems that make this happen. Everyone does, these people dont just act this way because they want to, something triggers it.... I just dont get it...

thats definitely freaky.. cuz i basically have finished everything for signing up for uic. and i check my uic email frequently.. and there was a mass email that said there were threats made to teachers/university and people should be on the look out and be cautious. i mean COME ON, im going there next year, i dont wanna die... i got other mass email that they caught the guy. but im still scared sh!tless that that kinda thing even happened.

ISU strange incident

I have a friend whose older brother attends ISU, and the day after the NIU shootings someone found a note on the floor or their dormitory that said (I can't remember perfectly) NIU, now it's ISU's turn. I'm not quite sure if anything was done about it. I have not talked to my friend further on the issue. Some of the people in his brother's dormitory said that it could be a joke, however, who would joke about that? Then again I'm sure that there is some person out there who finds that funny...

The Nitti Beat's Post

Social norms are a big thing now-a-days. The one thing that should also be noted is people's knowledge and work ethic. One of the problems I've been seeing in Fremd lately is that they are less and less street smart and too book smart. Now I'm not an expert in either, but it know my fair share. I also see that people, including myself, are becoming lazy. I was talking with my grandfather and he said that he wishes he had the opportunities we have now. He said that he had to work very hard just to get gas money, where now-a-days some of our parents but it for us. As much as people are going to think that I'm crazy for saying this they need to do it. I think people need to start doing mind challenging puzzles and to get off the couch and do something.

poster

The posters that are shown in the school do not mean that they are correct. it is only what other people think about what goes on in the school. There is, in my own thought, that there is a 25% difference in what there is and what people think of.

I didn't hear anything about the santa barbara thing but i heard something on CNN or something about a university in the las vegas area. they were talking about how there is a serial rapist in the area and the use of the escort system had sky rocketed. students who live on and off campus were living in fear and it drastically changed their daily activities. They were interviewing some students and a girl said that she had picked this school becuase she has felt the safest there. I think that the only thing that can truly be done to help prevent the violence in schools is have metal detectors at all the enterances. But is that a reality? there are very few schools out there that are willing to do this becuase it is a big red flag for saying that their school is not the safest. School on a daily basis isn't really the most fun and i can only imagine what school must be like for the kids who are making the threats.

Jamie, that does sound scary and I am glad everything is ok. I just don't get why we have to live with the fear of something bad happening at school too. I was just wondering, why students want to get back at their teachers? What are the teachers doing that are making students think in this awful way?

social norms posters

I honoestly dont think that the posters around school are having any effect whatsoever. Reading them doesnt effect the decisions I make in the slightest bit. And not to mention that one of them advertises the fact that 40% of fremd students drink. Thats pretty close to half....not something, if i was the principal of a school, that i would want to be sharing with everyone. And on top of that, we cant even be sure how accurate those tests are. Anybody could lie and say that they do or dont drink/smoke and the people who look at these tests wouldnt no the difference. So to sum it all up, the posters around school im my opinion are having no effect, and could completely inaccurate and i think that they should never have been put up in the first place.

i think its sad too that some ppl in our society cab stoop that low and kill people for their sexual orientation or their former teachers. i used to think that all schools were safe environments like home but now not so much.. i was just at uic on saturday cuz i had to take my placement tests.. especially large campuses, its so easy to just blend in and not be noticed. they dont check who goes in and out of buildings. i think that at least having to show a school id to get into some buildings should be implemented. when i was younger, i had my concerns about college, but none of them included my safety and if my school was gonna be shot up or not. i think we need to take gradual steps, not just schools but everywhere, to keep people safe.

Geez, there's like, more and more of these threats and shootings it seems like.
You all probably didn't hear about the threats at University of Santa Barbara.
But yeah, I was on my gmail trying to talk to my brother (he goes to UCSB and is in chemistry), and I saw his status thing said like "What a bad day, and then the channel 3 news comes in to tape it..." So I was like "hmm, I wanna investigate."
So I searched on google for california's channel 3, and then I saw an alert thing that was like "There have been threats sent to a professor at UCSB. Please be on the look out for any suspicious characters, especially in the chemistry building."
And I freeeeeaked out and texted him, telling him to call. And yeah, he said everything seems alright, that they think they found the threatener.

But that's scary, like, students getting back at former teachers.... seriously, all of this seems so much more relevant now....

OK...back to that 15 year old boy that was murdered...


How crazy is that? What kind of person would kill someone due to their choice on sexual orientation. I think that sexual orientation, weather its genetic or a choice, is that individuals choice. I think that people should be open to homosexuality. For the people who don't believe its right, that's their belief, their choice and they should live their beliefs but taking to the extent of killing someone? how could you feel that strongly about someone else's life and someone else's choices? how does the rest of the class feel?

I think that a lot of the violence has to do with the media, movies, and video games. Today kids are brought up so much more different than when my parents grew up. I agree with Melanie that there isn't that much you can do to stop all the violence. You could ban things like video games and movies from young kids, but i think they could eventually find their way around the bans just like kids to do get drugs and alcohol.

I agree with Melanie. It's not only the video games and the movies with violence but how and where people are being brought up, how much love and attention they are getting (sometimes it may be too much, other times not enough) and peer pressure. As much as we are try to reduce violence, it will always be there.

I agree with Julie and Trish when they say that it is up to us, the future leaders, to end problems in our country. But havent't people been trying to do that before us? I strongly believe that our country needs a second look at the rate people are dying, but i also think that violence is inevitabke, especially the day in age we live in. Think of all the movies that are out ... how many of those have shootings or war in them. some may say that these factors don't have to do with teen violence, or violence for that matter, but i disagree. Little kids now are growing up with violent movies, and if that is all they see then how else are they going to act? Thy arn't going to watch the Wiggles or Hannah Montana their whole life. My point is, yes i agree that we need to stop violence, but there is so much we can do.

The Future of America

Did anyone see writers week today 2nd and 3rd? LeAllen Jones told us about life in the ghetto. He told us a few stories of his childhood, and the terrible things that happen there. One of the stories was about a 5 year old boy that was pushed out the window by two TEN year old boys. Now speaking of young deaths. FIVE years old, that's insane. Killed by two kids none the less. I read one of Trish's posts earlier, she's right, what can we do to change this behavior, in the ghetto or even in our own community?

Shannon's Response

The Lawrence King shooting really disgusted me as well. 14? That's much much much too young to die. I don't understand what America is coming to. I know it doesn't help to dwell on the past, but with shootings happening just about everywhere nowadays it's hard not to constantly be scared. I mean just this week there was a shooting at a bus stop where five middle school children were injured and at campuses all around the U.S. copycat NIU threats have been found...including one this morning at ISU. This is so revolting. I hope the news finally does do a story on Spoor's comment. Obviously something is happening to America, if guns are becoming a common way to deal with everyday problems. Mass shootings, or any shootings in general, especially, especially random ones like VT or NIU, should not be tolerated. Something needs to be changed.

Also, Cole Hall, the scene of the NIU shooting, is being torn down… They say they can’t do anything else with the building and it will be replaced with a bigger, more modern building called Memorial Hall….

Lawrence King

This story shocks me. First of all, the fact that fourteen year old children have the ability to have a gun sickens me. Also, the fact that a fourteen year old boy is able to pull the trigger on someone is astonishing to me. Just as Mr. Spoor discussed in class one day, America needs to realize that we have a reoccurring problem happening within young to middle aged males. What stereotype has America created for our men? Does a male show his strength by killing another human being? Does he gain more respect from his peers by killing someone? However, no one seems to pose the question, what is wrong with our boys? What are the males of America being taught?

As for the posters on our wall, I think that they are inaccurate. The designs that they choose to use to illustrate the drug/smoking statistics are ridiculous. They need to show something that is more drastic and has a better affect on people, not ducks.

Lawrence King and Posters

I think that tragedy that happened to Lawrence King is absolutely horrible... I can't believe that people can be so close-minded and ignorant to actually shoot someone for being gay, especially being that young...

And the posters, I think they're really stupid. I agree with everyone with the whole, "Why would they boast and be proud that 40% of students drink" It doesn't make any sense. And those new posters about the 82% with the Earth on it is one of the worst advertising posters I've ever seen. The writing is so small, you can't even read what it says, and the giant Earth has nothing to do with anything, at least what I've seen on those posters.

Posters

I agree with you guys and unfortunately the administration really isn't doing anything about it. Yea, they had one of the counselors come to a few gym classes just to discuss the issues of the posters but I was in one of those gym classes and we didn't even talk about those posters at all. We talked about growing up and dealing with people in the real world. That has nothing to do with smoking or drinking.People do that in the real world too.

My question is what can be done to make future generations less likely to do what some of us do?

The Nitti Beat's Post

Who is the one that decides who is cool and who isn't. Not every body can be athletic and smart and funny. For instance have you ever met someone who is a genious and is very socially awkward, or vice versa have you ever met someone who gets along with every body, but is dumb as a rock. It's just the way the world is. So what if you smoke or drink, that doesn't make you cool or not cool to me. I think that for a person to be completely cool they should be good at something and know it, but you can not exploit this person though because every think is a trade off( you help them and they help you). For me it's fixing cars, for Josh Busheingn its BMX, and for Spoor its teaching. Not every body is good at every thing so why can't people just accept people for who they are and what they do well.

social norms

I also think that the social norm posters don't really do anything. In my opinion they are a waste of time and money. I don't think that saying 82% of people don't smoke or the 3 out of 5 students don't drink really affect people's decisions to smoke or drink. Also, a 3 out of 5 people don't drink is that really great of a statistic. That means that 40% of students still drink. When people are given the test, I'm sure a good amount of people lie, or just fill in random bubbles, and although the test has ways to get rid of people that put in false information, it still isn't very accurate.

Posters

I totally agree. The posters in the hall are so not true. I know that most of the people lie on the test they make us take during english. It is actually stupid to take the test. Who in their right mind would actually tell the school what they do outside of school. It is really funny though. I also laugh at them becuase it is so rediculous and what do they think putting posters up in the halls are going to do for us? I bet half the kids don't even look at them they are too focused on talking and getting to classes.

I don't think that the social norms posters accomplish anything. Personally, whenever i'm walking down the hallway i just make fun of them. I don't think that students will look at them and be inspired not to smoke ciggarets or drink alcohol. They say 82% don't smoke ciggarets, but that means that around 540 students do, and i'm sure more than half of those people aren't even old enough to smoke. I agree that probably most of the students that take the survey don't even take it seriously, and just think its a waste of time.

The poster around the school dont do anything for me. I dont understand why they are boasting that like 3 out of 5 kids choose water instead of alcohol....so that still means 2 out of 5 do and that is still high. Maybe they are trying to discourage kids to not smoke and not drink...but personally a little poster is not going to change anything. They are mostly a joke to some people because the questions are worded funny. If fremd is trying to discourage smoking or drinking they should prob try a different way.

I'm not even sure what these quizzes and posters in our hallways are supposed to accomplish. I'd like to know whose initial idea it was and what kind of outcome they hoped from it. Becuase I know for me when I ever see these posters, it doesn't mean anything to me and I take less than a second to think anything of them. And when we take the test that we base the posters off of, I am completely honest. Why wouldn't everyone be honest? It's totally miscellaneous, no one would ever know who did/didn't do what. So, I don't understand why people are saying that they lied for some of them... Then if everyone was honest we would know the real truth, but I dont think anyone can ever trust that people are completely honest. I remember taking it last year in mrs. brotsos class and one person was like "I dont understand the question.. it says you smoke rarely sometimes or never... but i smoke all the time? what am i supposed th put?" I wont name names or anything, but that was pretty funny.

I don't think the social norms posters are accurate either. People think that it is a waste of time to take these surveys and don't take them seriously. They just fill in whatever in order to get them done. And there are others that lie. I don't get what point these posters are trying to make...people just ignore them or make fun of them.

MELENY'S RESPONSE

Social Norms- I think our school some how covers the truth, I remember when I took the survey I lied about some stuff and I bet that most kids do the same. These kind of surveys never really work because people are driven to lie. I believe that more than half our school smokes and drinks. But that's just my opinion.

Shannon's Response

I also agree that the social norms posters are ridiculous. The quiz itself I don't think is accurate at all, even though they "claim" they have a secret way to tell who lied or not on the test...people still mess with it or don't take it seriously. I know last time I had to was sophomore year and my teacher encouraged us to take it as quickly as possible, and to basically fill in the bubbles without looking at the question sheet. Then, the poster advertisement all over the school is ridiculous as well. 3 out of 5 is not really a percentage to be proud of. I understand the point is to alert everyone that not all of Fremd drinks, but a poster saying 40% of Fremd students drink is not the way to get the message across. I think the meaning of the posters is a good message, but our statistics don't help the message. Until Fremd thinks of a better way to either discourage underage drinking, or let people know they're not alone if they don't drink, the posters should be taken down since they're not helping the situation.

Polotics, Non-evolution, and just life

So I have found it intresting that Mike Huckabee's purpose in the race is comic relief just watch this if you dont believe me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvSXpM5qGmg unfortunatly, we could use a president with a sense of humor...

Unfortunatly, I join this class to late to really get into the whole evolution thing (im not sure to be greatful or dissapointed) and I think it really sucks that something as irrvelent as evolution could effect people so much. Shouldn't the question were asking ourselves is not how we came to be, but why we came to be?

I'm ready for senior year to be over, I can't wait to get out...I thought second semster senior year was the easiest, maybe cus I'm so axious but its harder then I had once hoped.

I don't think that the posters in the halls advertising how many people do/don't smoke/drink will stop people from making bad decisions. I agree with Carrie that it does not seem like the posters are positive because who is happy about 40% of teenagers smoking; don't they want the percentage to be zero? If someone is making bad decisions they are not going to stop just because a poster at school told them to.

to start, i think the social norm posters are not really helping anything. the numbers aren't all that convincing for either side of the argument. 3 out of 5 fremd students don't drink. that means that 40% of the schools students ARE drinking. thats about half which is nothing to brag about. in physchology we just read an article that said that this generation has it's parents too over protected and involved in their lives. It was saying how they care more about their success in terms of money instead of their success in terms of social development. it went on to say that this attachment is what causes so many students to drink in college. i totally agree. you don't need any true social skills to drink and anyone can be involved in it. when you are around other people who are drunk, it doesn't matter how awkward you are beucase the rest of the party prolly won't remember that you were even there and if they do, their perception of you is severly distorted.

Couple comments and new topic ideas

Alright, I want to make a few comments before I provide some suggestions.

1. I must say that the respect I have for Keith has definitely been enhanced by his use of the blog. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for what you believe in and to express that in spite of what your peers are saying or doing. I think that in many ways Keith is one of the only people consistently sharing thoughtful and honest responses. I would challenge many of you who have commented that you want the conversation to change to change it and not just by posting a three line comment about what you want to talk about, but actually making some substantial thoughtful comments on a different topic of interest to you and the people on the blog.

2. Having said that I am as of now imposing a permenent and enternal ban on the topic of evolution. We have not only beaten a dead horse here, but we have dragged it half way to Lake Zurich and then back again.


Anyway, possible topic options at this point:

A. Lawrence King... you can read more about him at the link here. He was 15 and in 8th grade when, February 12th, his classmate brought a gun to school and shot him in the head for being gay. http://www.rememberinglawrence.org/

B. The social norms posters around school... so 82% of kids don't smoke... but that means 18% do... why? What do you think the draw is? How can we encourage this number to go down?

Weather

I totally agree Heather. I'm sick of this weather.
I can't wait to be able to sit outside and enjoy nature.

weather

it's cold out.

and I don't like it.

We be needing some spirng weather.

yeeyuh son!

Bochat's Post

A pretty good friend of mine was at a party this weekend and something happened there where he is now facing sexual assault sharges. I have known him since 8th grade and im sure those of you who went to Sandburg know him as well. I really don't believe he is guilty. Does anybody know how long somebody's jail time could be for rape charges?

how about we change the subject to something besides God or politics..

POLITICS!!!

I don't know much bout politics either but I just hope that who ever understands it ,will pick someone that will help our country!!!!

hiliary

NO MORE EVOLUTION TALK!!!

WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN VIEWS AND OPINIONS! LIFE IS GOOD!

Honestly I don't know much about Hiliary at all. I have not been following politics as much as I would like.

Change in SUBJECT!!!!

OK so I dont know about you all but I am having a really tough time with this political stuff.... It just gets so confusing there are so many words that sound alike or are used for more than one meaning and I get so LOST!!!

How do you guys think Clinton will do with the debates coming up in a week??

Evolution

Ok well...... Evolution as we talked about before means alot of things. It doesn't just mean that we evolved from apes or whatever. It means things change over time. And I dont believe in the Evolution that we came from apes but I do believe that our world does evolve. Things change, like the ice melting or mountains getting bigger. Our economy is changing too! Everything changes we change by getting older and adapting to the world, things like that. But everyone has different opinions on the subject.

why do we always end up talking about something controversial? keith.. i dont think calling nitti's opinion stereotypical crap is nice =(

why are we back to talking about evolution? i thought that boat already sailed away..

i really think people just need to respect other people's opinions and not call them out. whats with the freaking hate? cant we find anything to talk about that we all agree on or at least not kill each other disagreeing?

This topic is old. How many times are we going to argue about evolution and God? It's getting just a bit redundant and annoying...

How about The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
http://www.venganza.org/

Evolution is a proven fact, it happened no matter how much people believe in God. I def dont think God is going to shun you for believing in evolution...there is a lot of evidence of it. And as much as everyone says church and school are seperate...they arent. Isnt that what the moment of silence is for. I totally disagree with taking God out of our pledge and out off our money...its getting ridicious..

10 Major Flaws in Evolution

I suggest that anyone who believes in evolution to read this and tell me what you think!


http://www.epm.org/articles/evolution.html

Keif’s Responses

Sorry for putting the word heathen is my previous post... It was rude and didn't need to be said, I apologize.


DENNIS: Good points. I agree with most of what you have said. I like how you said it was just a couple of people who feel that God should be taken out of the US. I strongly agree with you on that! I disagree on the evolution parts. I understand that some people take it as 'fact' but i refuse to learn something as 'fact' that goes against 18 years of what i have been taught and love. I do not think I should be put into a situation that tells me everything I stand for and live for is wrong and a lie, that evolutionism is the truth and only 'fact'. I am just against it.

CARRIE: I am personally sorry for saying heathen, i will attempt to keep it out of the blog from now on. But i do not agree that evolution is a "FACT". One of the key components of evolution is the theory that the lower a layer of rock (sediment and that type of stuff) is the older it is, therefore that older rocks contain the older fossils. The Bible says; "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there.' and it will move." (Matthew 17:20) Some disagree with me 1000% but I stand firm and believe that with God all things are possible, and He alone has placed every single thing imaginable where it is for a reason and the 'fact' that a rock is beneath another does not mean that it is older. Science can 'disprove' that all it wants, but in the end my faith says it may not be true. So why am I forced to sit in the classroom and learn these "FACTS" which tell me that God is not true and that Jesus Christ did not die for my sins? You may take evolution as a fact all you want but I will not do so! Call me blind, stubborn, and irrational all you want but I will not test nor shake the foundation of my faith for some classroom discussion. It is completely absurd to do so. "The ear tests words as the tongue tests food." (Job 34:3) I should not be forced into sitting into a class that tells me my faith is wrong, sure you don't need to teach my faith but don't test it. Sure I'm not "forced" to sit in class, but I am penalized if I don't. Don't teach creationism, that's fine, but don't teach the false religion of evolutionism either. Again I am sorry about the heathen.

Melanie: I respect your opinion as well as everyone Else's in the class, I may disagree so please do not take anything I say personally. Evolution is not a proven fact. There are just as many things that prove evolution is false as there are that prove it true. go to...
http://www.epm.org/articles/evolution.html
and read about ten major flaws in evolution. I do apologize for saying heathens, it is rude, but I do not apologize for judging people based on their religion and opinions. I am human and that is what I will always do, so does everyone else. I get the shit kicked out of me verbally from some of you guys some times and I see the nasty glares I get the next day after typing one of those big posts. I judge you just as much as you judge me!

NITTI: Your posts are always so blunt, colorful, and filled with stereotypical crap! You really make me laugh some times! So, I defiantly agree that people do need to just leave it alone. They have the right to disagree with it all they want and to try and get God out of everything if that's what they want, I just don't think that is what they should be doing! I disagree with them is what it all boils down to. They have every right to fight and get God off of the dollar bill and out of school, i guess i just think that if they put that effort to other things our country would be much better off! Tacos in Mexico and Raviolis in Italy!! HAHAHA!!! you are crazy! that is so.. I don't even know! but i like it! And I agree with you with the inappropriateness of the funeral attenders, but in reality they have every right to do what ever they are doing, as much as I disagree, WHICH IS A LOT, they have the right to do it. I know it sucks but it is just they way things are.