Proposal for Portfolio #1

Divorce: An American Tragedy

The topic that I have chosen for this portfolio is divorce and how it is causing problems with citizens of the United States.  As the years go on, more and more people are settling on divorce and taking all the consequences that come with it.  It is actually somewhat surprising the amount of couple that are split up by a divorce and throwing away everything that they once had.  That’s what I’m going to talk most about in my paper.  Marriage is a very big thing and if you think you can’t live with them the rest of their lives, couples shouldn’t get married!  That will eliminate the chances of divorce.

            Not only is it an American tragedy, it also can be a family tragedy.  The idea of splitting up a family is one of the hardest things for me personally to fathom.  Think of how your children are going to be affected after such a big change in their lives.  Why would couples want for something like that to happen unless one of the spouses is the one breaking down the relationship? This will be tied into my paper trying to show all the different tragedies that appear after a divorce and what it can do to a family.

            It is important for people to read this paper about divorce.  After reading this I hope that the people reading it will realize some of the effects caused by divorce and what it does to our country.  Also, make people think more about taking the big step of marriage and make sure the possibility of divorce is out of sight and impossible for it to happen. When thinking about it, there are more negatives when it comes to divorce than positives… Well guess that depends on who you ask!  But mainly my paper is going to be about the negative aspects of divorce.

            My intended audience varies.  I want my main intended audience to be people that are in a relationship and thinking about taking the next BIG step of marriage.  Mostly people ranging from 25-30 years old considering these are the main ages when people begin to get married or at least the topic of marriage has crossed their mind.  Also, I would like married couples that have children to read this article too.  I want them to read it because I will be talking about how divorce will break down a family as well  After reading this, I want them to consider all possibilities and try realizing if the decision that they are making is the correct one.  If the possibility of divorce is completely out of the picture after reading this paper, I think you’ll be ready for a long lasting marriage!

            Summing it up, my paper is going to make people realize most of the tragedies that will appear when divorce is the option a couple makes or even a family makes. The option of divorce should be your last option considering all other options.

           

Belluck, P.  "States Declare War on Divorce Rates, Before Any 'I Dos'."  New York Times  2000, April 21:
section A, p. 1, 14.

Mahoney, R. "Divorce, nontraditional families, and its consequences for children." 1997, November 20.
2000, June 25.

Zachary, G.P. "America:  Straight-Laced Public Yawns at Scandal".  The Wall Street Journal  1998, Feb 9:
section B, p.1

Stanley, S.  Marriage in the 90's: A Nationwide Random Phone Survey.  Denver, Colorado: PREP, Inc. 1997.

Response 3 "Thoughts on the Trial of Casey Anthony" Revolution (July 24, 2011)

The Casey Anthony trial was a trial that the media made known for the whole country to know about and to follow step by step for the six weeks it took to come up with a verdict. Many people were shocked, stunned, and even unbelievably upset with the verdict because of the thought that she was guilty. The court system is set and the ruling stands on the jury’s decision that she is not guilty and there is nothing that is going to change that.                        

            Even though just about everybody that followed the trial thinks that Casey Anthony is guilty, there is nothing that actually proves that she was guilty. She was announced innocent based on the evidence of the trial wasn’t enough to prove her guilty. People that were following the case should know that and stop causing a big uproar on the verdict and just let it go. Casey Anthony’s family and her receiving death threats aren’t going to do anything but make the government spend more money in protecting her and her family. The only thing people are doing is causing more trouble to here and doing nothing but bringing more attention to her. Why would you want to do that if you think she’s a murderer? Not a good idea!

            The New York Times, in a July 5 article, “Casey Anthony Not Guilty in Slaying of Daughter,” summarized problems with the prosecution case:           

“There was no direct evidence trying Ms. Anthony to the death of her daughter. Forensic evidence was tenuous, and no witnesses ever connected her to Caylee’s death. Investigators found no traces of Ms. Anthony’s DNA or irrefutable signs of chloroform of decomposition inside the trunk of Ms. Anthony’s car, where prosecutors said she stashed Caylee before disposing of her body. The prosecution was also hurt by the fact that nobody knows exactly when or how Caylee died…”

            For Casey Anthony to kill her daughter and leave no evidence whatsoever is nearly impossible with today’s technology and ways to determine if she was guilty or not. The death of Caylee Anthony was very odd and mysterious but without sufficient evidence, it is difficult to say somebody killed her without some kind of evidence leaning their way to support their opinion. Personally, I think it’s ridiculous that she even got prosecuted because there is no way of telling that she killed her daughter and threw her in the back of her trunk. This was just made up and they just hoped it would stand up in court. In today’s system, it is nearly impossible to make something up and not think it is going to be double checked to see if it is true That’s a typical cop for you though…

            Just about everything that could be shown that she was innocent and didn’t kill her daughter, was brought up and went her way. There was no opposing evidence to prove that she killed her daughter. Not even a witness saying that she was abusive to her or even yelled at her in a sense that she was being hateful to her daughter. Without even a simple statement saying that she was abusive to her, it would make it very difficult to take action against her and say that she killed her.

            In the article it states,

“ This case was never about “Justice for Caylee,” as was incessantly proclaimed. The fact is that child abuse is epidemic in the U.S. (the real reason for which has to do with the dominant property relations in which women are viewed and treated to men, and children as the property of their parents.) In Florida, children die from abuse at a rate of almost four per week, yet there and elsewhere the system allots almost no money to social programs aimed at alleviating abuse.  They really don’t care about the suffering of deaths of thousands of children. But, this death offered an opportunity for a national morality play about evil women/bad mothers, and for whipping up hysteria against the fundamentals of due process and justice, and that was in line with the overall atmosphere the system is actively creating right now. And that is why Caylee’s death gave rise to the reactionary spectacle that is still unfolding at this moment.”

            The huge uproar of Casey Anthony “killing” her daughter may have had some plus sides to it because now action is being held on the rise of eliminating child abuse. Now people may start caring more about what happens to many children each and every day that are victims of child abuse and start doing something to eliminate it. Unfortunately, Casey Anthony won’t be able to have a normal life but luckily something is starting to get accomplished in preventing cases like these in the future. More and more people will start donating to programs in preventing child abuse and finally it is starting to get recognized that this is a major problem and can’t be ignored any longer!

Hacker??? Response 2

In today’s world, it has become so easy to hack. We hear about hacking all of the time. People get their email accounts hacked and emails containing viruses are sent to all of their contacts. People are always watching movies for free online, because someone stole them. People make purchases online and pay using a credit card, hackers can find the credit card number and them make ridiculous purchases and make an innocent person be eaten up with debt.  These are all examples of hacking that we are involved in so often, but never really give them a second thought.

Most hackers are extremely intelligent. They are computer experts! They make it their goal to crack the system of networks, web servers, and email servers. Most people just do this because they want to, as a hobby. Since one single person doesn’t have as much money as large company or business, they go for them instead. They want to make money, they want a profit.

Very commonly, a hacker and a cracker are confused. A hacker is someone who wants to know how things work. They like to move things around and experiment. They enjoy doing this type of thing. Some people are talking into doing this while others have a burning desire to find out all that they can about a certain system.

A cracker makes it their goal to break security measures. Some put their habits to good use by just being used as testers for the system they are working for. The majority though, are using cracking for negative reasons.  Cracking is a kind of hacking but is only used for criminal, malicious behavior. 

By: Mason Kirk

Politcal Compass Results

http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-2.00&soc=2.36

Result: Left Authoritarian

Simply Me! Response 1

Questions about me...

1)  Where did I come from??

I come from a mid-sized town here in Kentucky called Winchester!  There is only 1 public high school named George Rogers Clark so just about everyone knew everyone.  I'm a very family oriented person where I like to spend time with them in town.  Along with my family, I enjoy speding time with friends also.

2) What are my experiences in writing??

I don't have many experiences in writing other than taking English classes my entire life in school.  The only experiences I have outside of school is at work.  I am in sales at Lowe's and when I make a large sale to a customer,  I am known for sending thank you letters directly to their house thanking them for their business at Lowe's and hoping that they come back to us.  I find this to work exceptionally well because I keep in close contact with a lot of my customers.

3) Write something defining my beliefs...

I believe that everyone was put here in God's country for a reason.  The difficult part is growing up and trying to figure out what your purpose is to society.  When trying to determine that, you have to spread God's word and do everything for him.  I'm a Christian and not scared to share it with anyone.

4) Why am I in college?

I'm in college to try and figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life.. I'm currently a Finance major hoping to become a financial advisor or possibly even a Bank president one day. That would be my dream job but first I have several more years of school before I can make my dreams happen. 

5) What kind of culture do I consume?