Thursday, July 31, 2008

granting sitizenship

I am for not granting the citizenship to those people who are born in the United States. I believe that a citizenship should be earned. Just like anything else in this country. People don't take care of things when it is given to them, however, when they have worked for something, they appreciated more. I believe that with the proper education, we could give the children as well as the adults. The certainty that they will be able to know the information that at this moment, they are not able to understand. I have heard other people say that the educational system within the United States is one of the worse ones in the entire world. This is because the education system has not been changed very much in the United States since the beginning. By improving our education system and adding the questions that are required to grant the citizenship into the education of the children, kids will be able to know most all there is to know about the US plus more. This will make them competent and able to participate in debates and to go to other countries, which will allow them to be exposed to all the people who could help them in the career that they will be pursuing in the future. Right now, because most kids do not know most of the history of the United States, or anything else about the United States, except for the basic things, we have been leading the kids to do things that they shouldn't be doing. Most of them, in part because of the education system, drop out. By dropping out of school, they are not able to become the person whom they would have liked to become. Add to this that some of them don’t get the support from their parents. According to an article titled: Poor Marks for U.S. Education System, published in GENEVA, Nov. 26, 2002, by Alexander G. Higgins, a United Nations study said that South Korea has the most effective education system in the world's richest countries, with Japan in second place and the United States and Germany near the bottom. I believe Students would have to take the citizenship test multiple times to keep this from happening again. However, this will be a practice test. So, when they get to the real one, they will be able to master all of the questions, and they would know the answers. In able to get there citizenship, children would have to volunteer two hours a day. This would start when they are 10 years old. They will be able to do the work on the weekends. By the time they reach high school, they will not have to worry about the hours of community service because they would already be doing them. Also, they would have to have a C or better throughout school. To check every student's progress, a teacher or councilor will pass this on along with two letters and any other info about the students. The schools and the volunteer programs will take care of all documents. The parents would have to pay the necessary fees. Disabled people would be exempt from this process. Some may argue that there will be people that are not going to be able to pay the fees, and this will create a caste system. So, why do we still have fees for everything else? We have fees for airport security, returning something late, and ticket fees. People are still able to pay for these things. Also remember that Children from illegal immigrants are being born in this country. Each person would have to pay 5000 dollars per each child that wants to become a citizen. If some crossed illegally, the government from their country of origin will have to pay the fee. Hopefully, this will reduce illegal emigration because the governments will talk to their citizen about the situation. If multiple offences are committed, unfortunately, the person will lose the right to enter the U.S. in a legal way for his or her entire life. There could be exceptions to the rule. If you are not a citizen, you will get the basic things such as health care, protection if you or your kid are being abused, free advice in any matter, among other things. How ever, if you want to send your kids to school, and if you want to vote, you will have to be a citizen. The people who will make all this possible would be the ICJ (International Court of Justice), Immigration authorities. Funding and Staffing: Normal Means. For the education part of this plan, a new agency will be created. They will evaluate all the paperwork. It will be funded by tax payers. They will determine if a student qualifies for citizenship.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Covenants with god

There are different covenants in the bible. I will tell you about a few of them. God said that men should not eat flesh that still has blood. He also said that if men killed other men by shedding his blood, the murderer should be killed the same way. Everyone would be accountable for his actions. God established a covenant with Noah. He set a rainbow up above and everyone would be able to see it. He would remember his covenant every time he saw the rainbow. No longer would the earth be destroyed nor the lives of people be terminated by water or floods because of humans. He commanded every living creature as well as Noah, and those who were with him, to be fruitful and multiply.
I think the covenant with Noah was more than a rainbow because god would always be watching them. The rainbow was there to remind the people that were living then as well as the people who were going to follow, of this.
God made A covenant With Abram. He was going to give land to Abram. Abram wanted to know how he would know when he would have it. So, god told him to bring him several animals. These were A heifer, a goat, a ram, A dove, and a young pigeon. The first three had to be three years old. Abram cut the first three animals in half. This was a sacrifice that Abram had to do. Also, his people would be strangers in another country. They would be mistreated and enslaved for 400 years but then, they would be set free. They would be having great things with them, and there captors would be judged for what they did. Meanwhile, Abram would be safe, and he would be buried at a good old age.
God also said to Abram that his name should no longer be Abram, but He should be called Abraham for he will be father of many nations because of god. Kings will come from him, and he will have the son that he and his wife always wanted.
The change of Abram’s name to Abraham changed the whole future of history because A new group of people was born. These are who have influence today. Because of his name change, his people were able to do great things. It definitely shaped history.
God made a covenant with Abraham. He told him that all of the mails in his family and those who were not, but were in his house, should be circumcised. Every newborn there after, should be circumcised as well when he is eight years old. Everyone who does follow this will be cut off from his people. I don’t think circumcision is a sacrifice. Another sacrifice that Abraham had to make was to take his only son and take him to a land which god had told him, and offer him there for a burnt offering. Abraham prepared everything just as god had commanded him to. When he was ready to cut his son, an angel from heaven called out to him saying to not do anything to his son because now he knew that he feared god. I guess the angel knew this. The purpose of sacrificing Isaac was to test Abraham and how far he would go for god. I believe that Abraham had a very tuff decision. Abraham proved that his love for Jehovah was so deep by doing what god had commanded him to do.
The blood on Mount Sinai represented the blood of the covenant that god had made with the people. I think The blood of the animals was a sacrifice commanded by god. I have heard that there are movies about these events, but I have not seen one. I also don’t know if there were any cartoons made about this.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

News in California.

This morning I was on my computer. For a few minutes, I kept hearing a dog. I was wondering what was wrong, so I stopped what I was doing to listen carefully. I did not hear anything. The sound that I had heard was interesting. It sounded as if the dog was moving back and forth. When I went back to what I was doing, I felt OK. A few minutes had passed when I heard this rattling sound above me. I stopped again, and I sat to listen. When the sound got a little bit louder, I wanted to get up, but I did not because I thought it was something not important. As I sat there, I felt the floor shaking under me. For a few seconds, I was still trying to process what was going on. When I understood what it was, I attempted to shut down my computer. By the time that I was going to get covered, it had stopped shaking. I went to the living room to see if someone had some info, and they confirmed what I had already suspected. Then, I turned on the radio, and they were talking about what had occurred. They did not have anymore info than I did. I kept listening, and I found out that the earthquake was felt all across California and in Las Vegas. Its epicenter was in chino Hills which is 20 miles or so away from Los Angeles. Neither damages’ nor injuries were reported. I went to one of the other rooms to hear what the people on TV were saying. I heard different numbers for the magnitude of this earthquake. It was not until hours later that I found out that the earthquake was a 5.4. I think the last one that I experienced was in 2005 or 2006. I cannot remember the details of that one. I do remember the one that we had in 1994. I had to sleep in a car. Things were broken, and I think there were cracks on the walls of the apartments in the building that I was living in. When we got down stairs, there were two people. Hours later, my grandma told my family and me that a fight broke out between them. I am glad that I was not inside. That earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7. So, here are some things to have when the next one comes. Water, food for three days, a flashlight, an emergency kit, a radio, extra batteries, another bag pack with games, reading,, writing, and listening materials , an address book, and extra clothes. I am not sure if it was in that earthquake that one of my teachers told me that I had predicted that it was going to happen. She told me this when I got back to school. Apparently, I had made a prediction a few days earlier. I cannot remember saying that there was going to be one. However, a few weeks before today’s earthquake happened, I had to write 12 short phrases to tell a story. The other students had to do the same thing, but they had to use pictures. Here is what I wrote.
House with light on
House up down
Scared kid up room
House is dark
Kid screams
Man under table
Man is up
Man walks up
Man and kid run down
They fall
Wall falls on top
Man and Kid closed eyes.
That was supposed to be an earthquake. OK, I am not sure why I got the two events right. I will be looking out in the future after I write something like this again.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Review of Black Elk Speaks

Review of Black Elk Speaks
The book Black Elk speaks is about A Lakota Native American man from the Oglala banned whose name is Black Elk. This name has been passed around from his great grand father, to his grand father, to his father, and finally to him. This story takes place in different places. There are two things that this book discusses. One of them is a Part of His life as a child, and a story of a great vision. The book tells a lot about Native American traditions. It also talks about the numerous problems and obstacles that they have to overcome.
The book is written in the first person, and he also introduces some people that give more details about a particular story. These people also speak in the first person. It is as if each one of the people who is telling a story, was writing it in a journal.
The book starts with Black Elk telling a story of a woman who wanted the people to build her a tepee. . He describes an offering that they did with a pipe. Then, he describes what a pipe means to them. It seemed as if John Neihardt is putting the reader in a place where he or she could experience what the people in the story were doing. An example is when everyone is passing around a pipe that was supposed to symbolize peace. This act reminded me of other ceremonies that I have heard about that are very similar to this one.
Black elk introduces himself within the first pages. He says that he was born on the little pouter river on a wintery December of 1963.
The book includes stories of battles that he as well as his friends and other neighbors had to fight with the Wasichus which is an enemy tribe that are trying to take away there lands. In this book, the Lakota are fighting with everything they have to keep the things that are sacred to them. The goal is to always keep on fighting and never give up. In one of the battles, for example, iron hawk who is introduced by Black Elk, had to move fast with the group that he was in because there were crows behind them that were trying to attack them. There were only a few people in Iron hawks group. According to him, there were about 40 of them, but the crows had more people with them. They were the Soldiers and because of them, the crows fought harder.
There are several visions in this book, but the major one is the one that Black Elk had. He says that when he was five years old, before he had his great vision, he had heard voices, but he did not give much attention. Then, when he was nine years old, he saw two men with him. When he first saw them, he was very stunned and he could not stop looking at them. Before he saw the two men, he was scared of the two voices. When he had his great vision, A cloud took him up. He goes on to say that he felt bad for mom and dad because he felt sorry for them. The Two men, who were with him, and who had appeared to him before, told him that his grandfathers were having a meeting. He saw 6 old men which were not his grandfathers, but the six powers one of them was the power of the earth, the others were the powers of the west, east, south, and of the sky respectively. He saw his people rejoice and also sick, but he was told that he had the power to restore them to the way they were. The six men gave him different things to prove this. As he went throughout the world, he was doing things for the people. Soon, he was on the ground and he saw his mom and dad as well as A doctor trying to make him feel better because he was not really healthy. For 12 days, he was comatose and his parents were trying everything they could to bring him back to health. Soon enough, he was feeling much better. It seemed as if Black Elk was given a great responsibility which he was determined to carry out. Sometimes, he felt as if nothing was going the way things were supposed to go. Because he was trying to find an answer, he wanted time alone. He did not get the relief that he wanted until the village that he was in reenacted his vision after he told part of it to a doctor. By now, He was able to take his people out of danger. The people, who did not talk to him before, now, came to him.
Black Elk does a really good job at describing his vision. For a moment, I felt as if I was up there with him watching what everyone was doing down here. I could feel myself flying and taking in the joy as well as the sadness that everyone went through.
Black Elk talks about how he had to move around and camp in different places. the roads that led to them, as well as Some of those places were very well described, and I could also see myself in one of those places. For example he talked about when he along with some other people had to camp at the head of a place called, “Spring Creek.
There were several things that I did not like about the story. For example, Black Elk talks about a man who was trying to steel a horse from another man. The man, who had the horse, was guarding the place that he was staying at. He was too sleepy to stay up, so, he woke his wife up so she could keep guard. She told him that she thought there was somebody out there. When he went to see what was going on, he saw that there was someone trying to steel the best horse. After he instructed her on what to do, the thief got up on the horse. This is when the man shot the thief from a little whole that was in the tepee. When the other people heard the shot, they all went to where the body was and some of the people cut him up. Then, they started a fire around the thief. Then, they danced around him and sang songs about the man who had killed the thief.
I found this to be very disturbing and moving. For a minute, I was asking my self if these people cared about any children that this man might have had.
Another example of a story I did not like is that the kids would hurt women and children. Although they were only having fun, and it seemed as if the adults did not care, I found it to be very bad. In one of the descriptions, Black Elk talked about how he with some other kids used to gather sharp spear grass and when they found a man without a shirt, they would stick those things into the man to see if he would cry. According to Black Elk, they were supposed to endure everything.
There are several obstacles that Black Elk along with his people had to face. One of them is the Wasichus, and the bad weather conditions, the US government.
This book will take you on a journey in which the reader will sea starvation, bad weather, battles, dancing, poverty, and sadness. Be prepared to clime the mountains as well as camp with them and see where they take you.
I would recommend this book because of the stories and because one of these will touch a persons hart in one way or another.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

What is a disability?

Somebody who is disabled is someone who does not know how to do something like walk, see or talk. This is according to the majority of people. When we think of disabilities, these are the ones that come to mind. not only am I disabled, so are the,”normal” people. To give you some examples, some won who is not tall cannot reach for something up high. Some won who only speaks one language should also be put into this category because he or she cannot communicate with others. The bottom line is do not use the word disabled when referring to another person because then you would have to include all of the other people as well. Just call someone by there name. It is wrong to say, “I have this disabled friend.” You know that hate, envy, selfishness, cursing, addictions, and any other destructive feeling, thought or action can be considered disabilities. What is a disability? According to Dictionary .com, it is lack of adequate power, strength, or physical or mental ability; incapacity. For this reason, I ask you to not make fun of others that have a visible disability because as I have said before, you have one to. You may not know it, but next time that you go to work, or go out to have fun, listen to what people say to you. You will be surprised

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Changing names.

Have you ever asked your self where does your name come from, or what does it mean? Probably only some of us have heard a weird name. For example, when I was in middle school, one of my teachers said that a girl was named latrine. In New Zealand, A girl whose name was, Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii," is being put on the spotlight. Apparently, her parents are divorcing, and the court has guardianship of the girl, so it can determine a new name. It was embarrassing for the nine year old girl to tell her friends what her name was. Therefore, she preferred to be called K. "It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap," Judge Rob Murfitt wrote. He also released information of other names that parents have given their children. Names like: Hedges, Violence, and Midnight Chardonnay. Some names have been put off limits for parents such as: Satan, Stallion, Sex Fruit, Fat Boy, and 4Real. In Britten, A woman who’s name is Maria Brown, named her baby , now six weeks old, Autumn Sullivan Corbett Fitzsimmons Jeffries Hart Burns Johnson Willard Dempsey Tunney Schmeling Sharkey Carnera Baer Braddock Louis Charles Walcott Marciano Patterson Johansson Liston Clay Frazier Foreman Brown. The mother says that she was following a family tradition which was to give each baby, names of boxing champions. Between Maria and her sister, they have 103 names. In Italy, a one year old baby’s name was changed from Venerdi which means Friday in Italian, to Gregory because the name was considered shameful. His mother says that the boy will still be referred to as Venerdi until he is old enough to sign his name.
Thanks to Mike Carney at,
(http://blogs.usatoday.c)
Poor kids, they will probably grow up being laughed at. A parent should think of the consequence that this will have in their child’s life. Also, when the child becomes an adult, that child may not like the name that was given to him or her. Why do parents have to choos these names; when we have a lot of beautiful names!

Friday, July 25, 2008

about me.

If you have seen my profile, you know a little about me. In every post, I try to show who I am. Now, I would like to take the time to tell you who I am and why I do what I do. My name is Daniel Cubas. I was born in Houston Texas. I was born blind and with cerebral palsy, which is a condition that is caused by brain damage before, during, or after birth. It is accompanied by defective muscle control. Other things could be linked to CP as well. I am going to school, and will soon become a broadcaster. I am also a singer, a writer, and will soon become a designer. I do gigs across LA and sometimes, in other places. Everything I have done has been hard because of the challenges that I face, but that has not stopped me from getting to the place where I am now. I like to read, I like hearing music, I like listening to the radio, as well as movies, I like to have long talks, and I like learning every day. Besides speaking English, I speak Spanish, a bit of Italian, and A bit of Portuguese. I also like talking to people and helping them out with personal problems. It has been a blessing to have so many gifts. However, what I have said so far is only a sample of the things that I could do, and the things that I know. I would like to learn more about myself and other people, but I would also like to share my knowledge. I hope to open the eyes of those who have always, had them close. I also want to tell the truth about the myths that are out there. I believe that if we All work together, we could bring down the wall that has been dividing us for a very long time. Also, my dream is to write a book which would tell my life story