Elaboration on Articles

Concerns: I have a few major concerns with the issue of these budget cuts. First of all, our government is denying today's children their right to a proper education. If we want our country to prosper, we cannot have the government trashing any chances of our generation being able to correct the problems that have been created by not allowing us a proper education. My other issue with these budget cuts is that more people are losing their jobs because there is no money to keep people working. How are people supposed to support their families if there is no income? I feel like our nation's children are having one of the most important of their very few rights taken away, the right to learn. Without schools and teacher, it is going to be really difficult for the next generation to be intellectual problem-solvers.

For the Millionaires Tax (Brown) It's Supposed to:

• Supposedly, 100% goes to the schools
• It only taxes "millionaires" (people who make 250,000 a year)
• Help cover the state's budget deficit
• Provide money for local law enforcement
• Prevent deeper cuts to education and other services
• Give money to counties with lower-level offenders that are being sent to jails instead of state prisons

Against Millionaires Tax (Munger):

• Supposedly, not all of the money is going straight to the schools
•   Brown plans to make multibillion-dollar cuts in schools if his tax idea is rejected
• He wants to alter the distribution of school funds by giving less money to some well-preforming schools and more money to low-preforming schools
• The state repays $10 billion-plus already owed to schools before aid should be reduced in some schools to increase it for others
• Legislators' and Brown's budgets are not matching up on how much money the current state's tax system will make
• Nor how much money will be made if the governor's plan would make more or less money if it is approved.

I would solve this issue by first off all sorting out government spending. If we can cut down on some unnecessary spending in our government, it might just save the schools. I am hoping that if the government can be taught proper spending habits, then we can slowly but surely get out of debt. And hopefully, as a result of that, our government will be able to lend more money to the schools to fix the damage by hiring back teachers and bringing back more electives so students will be more excited to go to school. It may take a while, but I hope that this is what will one day occur.

These budget cuts affect me because I am a student at a school that has been dealing with serious budget cuts. All but two of the eighth grade teachers were given pink slips. Those are my teachers who have also become my friends. Our school could lose a group of amazing teachers that make sure to help their students, even if it means spending extra time after school to support students if need be. Not to mention because the budgets are causing there to be less teachers therefore causing class sizes to be larger. Because of larger class sizes, there is way less of a chance that the teacher will really be able to help a student one-on-one for there are forty other students in the class that might also need help. I have about forty-five students in my English class and the only way to truly get one-on-one help is by having the teacher stay after school to help students. Legally, teachers only have to stay a half hour before and after school. However, the dedicated teachers I have stay after school for hours to provide help for their students. I can't imagine what that school would be if those amazing teachers weren't there.

This issue connects to our unit of study because just like when our nation was first starting out, our government has no money and is in serious debt. For instance, when we went through the Louisiana Purchase people were worried that the nation was spending money that they didn't really have. Not to mention when George Washington went into office, he had practically no money to build a nation off of. That is one f the main reasons he avoided war I believe. However, unlike George Washington, our president is digging a deep grave of debt because he is engaging in war and is not paying attention to his spending habits. That is why our schools are having budget cuts: the government has no money to dole out.

I will make a difference by planning a protest. I am hoping to band together most of the eighth grade (and hopefully a lot of the school) and protest against the budget cuts and laying off teachers. At the next board meeting (sometime in April) I am going to try and have a lot of the students group together, make posters, some can write speeches, and protest against the ridiculousness of the government taking away from our education. I will also try to write a letter to the president explaining the importance of making sure we keep our teachers. They aren't just teachers, they are friends who dedicate their lives to the spreading of knowledge. We need them.

Madison's Present 2nd Article

McKenzie Fink

NC Times

Brown Defends tax plans, says money goes to schools

http://www.nctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/brown-defends-tax-plan-says-money-goes-to-schools/article_36584269-4ce1-5794-9995-4a28e3ad4412.html

This article is about how Governor Brown defends the tax he has created, saying all of the money from the tax goes to schools.

The article is about how Governor Jerry Brown is defending his new "millionaires tax" by saying 100% of the taxes would go right to the schools. Not only that, but his plan "would help cover the state's budget deficit, provide money for local law enforcement, and prevent deeper cuts to education and other services." Plus, the tax would give money to counties with lower-level offenders that are being sent to jails instead of state prisons. His opponent, Molly Munger, is saying that Brown is being untruthful by saying all of the money will go to the schools. However, he insists that the tax was created for the schools and that's where the money would go. His tax plan is mainly aimed at the wealthier people. "Anybody who makes $250,000 becomes a millionaire very quickly if you save it. You just need four years," Brown said. "It is a millionaires tax. It taxes millionaires, right? And it's for schools." It seems to be that the government is actually trying to clean up their act, and are actually taxing the rich more than the less-wealthy people. Or is it all just a ruse?

Questions:

1. How much of the money actually is going to the schools?
2. Whose plan actually is better: Brown's or Munger's?
3. Can people really afford the tax Brown is creating?
4.  How does Brown plan to accomplish getting his new tax to be accepted and effective?
5. Will Brown's tax actually work?

Concerns:

1. Will Brown really give all of the money to the schools?
2. Will the tax actually benefit the schools?
3. How does the millionaires tax work (what is the tax on?
4. Why didn't the government have a backup plan in case this happened?
5. What will happen if this tax does not work?

Happy Birthday Mr. Madison! (First Article)

McKenzie Fink

NC Times

"School funding messier than usual"

http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/walters/walters-school-funding-messier-than-usual/article_20dd70ea-19e8-5189-97ac-9eb6717e2ea5.html

The government is really making school funding even more confusing than usual.

This article was about how school funding in California is already difficult enough without the Legislator arguing with Governor Jerry Brown and his plans to overhaul how school money is distributed. The state is torn on which idea they want to use to distribute school money now. The California Teachers Association agrees with Brown's sales and income tax, but the California Federation of Teachers is supporting and state PTA are supporting other ideas. Yet, all sides are against Brown's plans to make multibillion-dollar cuts in schools if his tax idea is rejected. They also disagree with altering the distribution of school funds by giving less money to some well-preforming schools and more money to low-preforming schools. The Education Coalition told legislators that until the state repays $10 billion-plus already owed to schools, aid should not reduced in some schools to increase it for others. To make it worse, Legislators' and Brown's budgets are not matching up on how much money the current state's tax system will make. Nor how much money will be made if the governor's plan would make more or less money if it is approved. Basically, school officials have no idea how much money they are going to be getting from the government and are having to use the "worst case scenario" plans which include sending thousands of preliminary layoff notices to teachers and other employees. School officials have until late May to make the final decisions on whether or not they will fire these teachers but it is highly unlikely that the Legislature will be able to come up with a budget until--at least--after the June 5 primary election. Even then, legislators will not be sure of whether or not voters will approve the new taxes for schools in November. To sum everything up, our government seems to have no idea what it is doing with its money which is effecting the children of the next generation by possibly ruining our education.

Questions:

1. Why didn't the government think about saving money for school budgets if they realized they were losing more money than they were making?
2. Is the situation really that bad or is the government over-dramatizing the issue to try and get more money?
3. What new taxes are being created to give money to the schools?
4. How many teachers will actually be laid off?
5. Will the legislators be able to come up with an income plan fast enough to help the district decide on how many teachers they will lay off?

Concerns:

1. What will happen to class sizes if a lot of teachers are laid off?
2. How will students be affected by the increase in class sizes?
3. What will happen to electives like band, choir, art and more if the budgets are cut too much?
4. Will schools be closed down because the government can't afford to keep them running?
5. When will the government realize that unless they figure out their stuff, our schools will have no money, therefore causing fewer children to be taught, finally ending up with a country full of fools without any education?

KONY 2012

McKenzie Fink
NC Times
"Web star born: Kony video gets millions of views"
http://www.nctimes.com/news/national/web-star-born-kony-video-gets-millions-of-views/article_a4e0ea9b-de66-5b79-952b-0c12de77db85.html
A new video about the atrocities of the LRA group, led by Joseph Kony, has now gone viral in an attempt to bring this monster to justice.

This article is about how the group Invisible Children has created a video about the monstrosities of the LRA and its leader, Joseph Kony. Although the video was created just this Monday, it has over 26 million views on Youtube by Thursday. The video was created to support an effort called KONY 2012 that target Kony and the LRA. Col. Felix Kulayigye, the spokesperson for Uganda's military stated, "Kony is a monster. He deserves to be prosecuted and hanged." Many people agree with this statement and that is why this effort began: to end the 26 year history of the LRA and its brutality against children. Experts have estimated that the once thousands strong LRA now has only about 250 fighters. However, the militia still abducts children to force them to fight or worse. A woman named Jolly Okat was once a captive in the LRA but somehow escaped and is now a country director for Invisible Children. Okat says, "The most exciting thing about this film is that I'm so grateful that the world has been able to pay attention to an issue that has been long neglected. I think it is an eye-opener and I think this will push for Joseph Kony to be apprehended, and I think justice will get to him." Many other people have the same hop too. Sadly, the burst of attention has also brought a lot of criticism on Invisible Children's sites. However, Invisible children has posted rebuttals to answer and doubts or criticism that might arise against their cause. Besides those few critics, people from around the world, celebrities and politicians alike, are coming together to end this monstrosity and create peace in Africa, so kids can just be kids.

This article connects to what we are learning in class for a few reasons. First of all, there seems to be either a very weak or just no government in Africa because groups like the LRA are all throughout Africa. This is like the Articles of Confederation because that was a very weak government, just like in Africa. The chaos happening in Africa kind of represents how the states were disorganized and had no proper government. Also, people from around the world are coming together for an important cause: to save these innocent children from being abducted. In a similar fashion, the delegates from each of the states came together for an important cause: to save the nation by creating the Constitution.

This connects to my life because so many regular citizens have come together to do something great. I mean, this whole situation proves that people can do so much more than just sit by and sadly watch the bad things happening in our world. I am just a kid and often times kids feel like they can't do anything to try and change the world. However, this effort has proven otherwise. We don't have an excuse to just sit by and watch as other countries fall apart. Every citizen can do something to help not only our country, but others.

My opinion is that Kony and the LRA need to be found, prosecuted of their crimes, and sentenced to a life filled with the regret of their wrong doings. These people have abducted, tormented, murdered, and terrified children for no reason! The LRA is not fighting for a cause or any beliefs they have, they are just a group of horrific people who are out to steal children to use them. I don't think anyone would want those kinds of monsters in the world. I just hope that people everywhere will come together to save these poor children. Hopefully, Kony and the LRA can be found before the U.S. government pulls its troops out of Africa. I just pray that no more children will be hurt and can return to their family, if they still have one, and just heal from the monstrosities they had to go through. I hope the combined efforts of people around the world will catch these criminals and children in Africa will no longer have to worry about whether or not they are going to be safe when they fall asleep at night.

UK Bank Tries To Evade Taxes

McKenzie Fink
North County Times
"UK says bank tried to avoid $800 million in tax"
http://www.nctimes.com/business/uk-says-bank-tried-to-avoid-million-in-tax/article_08feb53c-2c28-50ec-b486-8b0ef81e56b7.html

A British bank has been ordered to pay half a billion pounds ($800 million) in unpaid tax that it tried to avoid paying by using loopholes. This bank-supposedly Barclys PLC-carried out two schemes: one was an accounting scheme to make sure they didn't have to pay taxes and the other was to lie to the government to get "repayment" from the government for taxes they never paid. The British treasurer, David Gauke, stated both practices were "wholly unacceptable, against the intentions of Parliament and the spirit of the law." Evidently, the bank in question had signed a code of conduct in which they promised to pay any taxes they were charged with. The bank has now been told to pay more than 500 million pounds in tax. Also, a new law has been created close the loopholes and "prevent further billions of tax from being lost and maintaining fairness in the tax system."

This connects to what we are learning in class because in this situation British citizens are now getting annoyed with Britain's taxing, just like when the British started taxing Americans and they got annoyed. Another situation is during the Revolutionary War because the British people got really annoyed with tall of the ridiculous taxes for a war that they didn't care about. Not to mention that the bank not paying taxes is almost like when the Americans started boycotting British goods. Both situations ended up making the British government lose money. Plus, the British government is really cracking down on that bank now and making sure to set up more laws that would close the loopholes, almost like when the British set up the Intolerable Acts. This article is like a modern-day version of the revolution, except it is about British citizens getting annoyed.

This connects to my life because taxes are becoming more and more ridiculous not only in Britain, but in America and many other places. The government is so needy for money that they will tax as much as they can on anything they can. It is becoming apparent that governments are not paying enough attention to their spending habits because Americas debt is just getting worse and worse and we are stuck paying more taxes. For example, crossing the Lincoln Bridge used to cost only about $8 not too long ago and now it costs $12! Governments need to learn to pay more attention to how they spend their money. Another way this connects to my life is through my friend Louise because her and her family actually live in England.

My opinion is that this bank should have taken a more legal approach to fighting against the taxes. They have good ideas of not wanting to pay the high taxes. However, this bank had a bad way of presenting their thoughts. Maybe if their government was more like ours, the bank could have tried to petition or possibly started an occupy movement or some sort of legal way to fight taxes. I do believe that the bank should be punished because they did not do the right thing. Doing a bad thing for a good reason still makes it a bad thing. The bank could have attempted to handle the entire situation in a better and legal way to keep themselves put of trouble and help the government realize that the taxes are just too high.

Iraq Parliament

McKenzie Fink

North County Times

"Iraq's Sunni-backed lawmakers return to parliament"

http://www.nctimes.com/news/national/iraq-s-sunni-backed-lawmakers-return-to-parliament/article_53fc9994-b122-541b-a877-9605cecd84bb.html

Iraq's parliament met about ending the boycott about the prosecution of of Sunni officials. Some government officials had been banned from Cabinet sessions after the arrest of the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi. The boycott brought government work to a standstill and plunged the country into political crisis.

This relates to what we are learning in clas for many reasons. For example, there were many boycotts when the British started taxing colonists in America just like the boycotts discussed in the article. Also, just like in Britain, people are starting to shy away from the government because they are making ridiculous laws/arrests. The people want the government to have some rules to stop them from acting so rashly.

This article relates to my life because it explains how other governments are not nearly as stable as ours. I don't understand how other governments can be so corrupted. It shocks me at how unstable and cruel other countries allow their leaders to be. Although our government is not perfect, it is WAY better than other countries.

My opinion is that the government needs some rules to keep them in check. The government is acting like the king by acting like tyrants. People are being oppressed and no one is stopping the government. I believe that the government needs to clean their act up or else they are going to lose power over the people just like the king did.

Carlsbad School District Budgets.

McKenzie Fink
North County Times
"CARLSBAD: School Officials Update Budget"
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/carlsbad/carlsbad-school-officials-update-budget/article_09b2b09b-04d6-5760-9ec8-79b08a8f41fc.html
The new budget for Carlsbad School District

This article is about the new budget that has been decided by the Carlsbad Unified School District. They have come up with a different budget than originally planned in June. So, now the school have a budget of $83 million, $1 million less than last year but the same budget as the 09-2010 school year. Sadly, although that seems like a lot of money, the budget is not actually that large for the bulk of the budget, $51 million, goes towards salaries and another $18 million goes to employee benefits. That only leaves about $14 million for school supplies, activities, etc.

This connects to what we are studying in class because we learned that very few children were able to go to school. However, in the New England Colonies, towns of 50 families or more had to, by law, hire an instructor for their children. Towns of 100 families or more were forced to build a school. Also, parents were asked to support the school with supplies like money, vegetables, firewood, or anything else it needed. A lot of the time land was set aside as "school-meadows" or "school-fields" which were rented out to raise money for teacher salaries. As you can see, schools back then were not given budgets, they had to get everything by donation and/or the money they had.

This connects to my life because I attend a school in the Carlsbad School District which means that I am being indirectly affected by the budget cut. Schools and everyone involved with them are affected by the smaller budgets, even though they are giving the schools a little more than they had originally planned in June, in many ways. Schools are losing money, not to mention teachers, because they don't have enough money to be able to support the activities, supplies, and decent teacher salaries (which they don't pay anymore) the way the schools used to be able to.

My opinion is that the government officials that are cutting off the schools funds because they are just greedy is absolutely ridiculous. The money spent on JUST the government campaigns could probably feed all of the hungry people in the world! So, they should be able to spare a few million dollars for the schools! Our government is so self-centered they don't care enough about giving children the proper education for they are not providing schools with enough funding. If schools could just make a deal with the government to make sure the president sets aside a larger portion of money for the schools each year I think a lot of problems would be solved.