The Truth About the National Defense Authorization Act

Last week, the Senate voted 93-7 to pass S 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act. Congress has passed this Act every year since 1961. The Act sets policy and outlines financial and legal specifications for the U.S. Department of Defense, such as benefits for military personnel and purchase of equipment. The ACLU, Occupy San Francisco and other left wing groups are hysterically protesting that one of its provisions encroaches on civil liberties, and Obama has threatened to veto it. Section 1032 states that suspected terrorists related to al Qaeda and 911 shall be detained indefinitely by the military without a civilian trial until the end of authorized military hostilities.
The Senate Foreign Service Committee leadership asserts that the controversial provision merely codifies existing law. Liberal columnist Glenn Greenwald writing for Salon agrees, “…it doesn’t actually change the status quo all that much.” In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004), the U.S. Supreme Court held that U.S. citizen and suspected terrorist Yaser Esam Hamdi could be held indefinitely as an “illegal enemy combatant.” However, the court qualified it by saying that U.S. citizens have the right to challenge their enemy combatant status before a judge. U.S. citizen and accused terrorist Jose Padilla, aka the shoe bomber, was arrested in the U.S. and held by the military without a trial for three and a half years. The Fourth Circuit has upheld his detainment.
Section 1032 applies to both terrorists arrested overseas and on U.S. soil. An amendment failed that would have exempted U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens are not included in the mandatory detention provision, instead the bill states that they may be detained, and an amendment was added giving the president the option to give them a civilian trial instead.
A compromise amendment was adopted which recognizes that existing laws regarding U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism shall be respected. An amendment by Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to limit military detentions to only those captured overseas failed by 55-35, and an amendment by Mark Udall (D-CO) to strip out the entire detention provision failed by 67-31.

Feel The Groove-Young Miz

Cece's Interlude mike

The Real Me

Hello fellow followers. This specific blog is about myself. Ive decided to write in rhyme schemes so read end enjoy. Is life really fair? Is the feeling there? And I closer to my dreams or am I really near? Can I Grasp to a dream or am I feeling air? My shoes are torn from chasing dreams I need a different pair. Sometimes I think, " Do I make the right decisions". Its kind of hard to choose whats right in this life I'm living. So I sit there and think about my destiny and hope and pray that my biggest dreams don't get the best of me. That's if I Achieve it, to try and proceed it, then reach and grasp it, I don't need a casket, because my dreams will forever live in me, and every body else just looks at me with envy. I try to be open, I even act Friendly, so maybe all my fans will give letters they would send me, applaud me for my greatness, admire all my greatness, because I finally made it all I needed was some patience. Look at whats behind me, that is just the past as I said if I pursue my dream will it ever last? Will i be famous drinking wine out a class? or will I be in a mansion counting everlasting cash? A change of course might result to me as tragic, I got to keep flowing and do it systematic, look forward to the future and be thankful what it holds, hold on to your dreams even if its old and molds. I am real bold, but when I hit the stage I'll probably tell myself that i wish I've never aged, the goal is the gold but right now I'm beige, mother always told me to never be afraid. That night I prayed now I'm on the right path, I wrote God a note and yet he didn't write back, now I guess that's where faith comes in, since he loves me I'll receive blessings from him. He's the one that has given me this power, to express myself musically, and less than an hour, I will stand tall, tall as a tower and reign supreme on all haters like a shower.

Global Warming

Global Warming is really effecting the world as we know it. It is a fact that the average rise in temperature globally is 1.1 degrees. The startling fact is that parts of Alaska, Canada, and Northern Russia they have experienced a rise in temperature by 5 degree Fahrenheit. This is because they are in the Northern Hemisphere where there is less water. Less water means less of the new found heat is being taken away by the vast ocean.

If your still a skeptic than listen to this. In the last 16 years "the front of the Columbia Glacier has retreated more than eight miles" (Pringle, Global Warming10-20). And Montana's Glacier National Park will have no glaciers within a couple of decades. The Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland lost more than 300ft. of its thickness.

In 1995 more than 500 people died in Chicago alone. This was because the heat waves at nighttime left "no relief from daytime heat stress" " (Pringle, Global Warming6-25. With the heat in 1997-1998 from El Nino we can see how easily there could be widespread infection.

Some people think that the warming up of the planet would be a good thing. And yes, some things would flourish. They include pests, livestock, diseasesed mosquitoes, and parasites. Clearly you can see that global warming will definitely not help improve the world in the years to come.

To slow down global warming drastically we need to look at the main sources of carbon dioxide which are coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The problem is that this would basically shut down, "the coal and oil industries, oil-exporting nations, the automobile industry, and many manufacturers" " (Pringle, Global Warming15-30). So because these powerful companies don't want to lose money they hire "shanky" scientists to deny that there is a global warming problem. It will be a slow change but there are already some things being done. 

Hybrid cars have been out on the market for a couple of years now. They use a small gasoline engine and high powered electric motor to drive the car. These vehicles get exceptional gas mileage and pollute considerably less than the conventional automobile. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are almost ready for production. The next step to have hydrogen refilling stations around the world.

Until we find a solution for global warming we need to make widespread knowledge that this is not a joke. It will not go away if people believe that it doesn't exist. We are the cause of global warming so we must take action against it. If it is ignored than the effects could be horrifying. 

Ablum Sales of The Decade

Hey everyone, this is mike Rosario and I think the music industry is changing a bit. Technology is getting better every year and the Internet is becoming a new source of music. Some people think that the Internet is affecting physical album sales. Is the Internet affecting physical album sales? I think it is because here we have sites that lets you download free music instead of buying the physical album. Maybe there are people who are under financial distress who just burn Cd's  and play the songs in accomplishment as if they bought the album. It has said that album sales has declined by 30 percent over the last 5 years.

 Alternately this affects the artist who puts out the music. For example Drakes Thank Me Later was leaked on to the Internet two weeks before its release. Apparently it had sold 447,000 copies in its 1st week.  Here's a picture of Thank Me Later



The outcome of the number could of been much greater if it hadn't got leaked on to the Internet. That's still a great amount of sales to be accomplished for this decade. Some say that declining album sales are not effecting everyone and that some people still buy albums.

 For example Lil Wayne's Carter III had been leaked a week before release but managed to sell over 1,000,000 copies in its first week. Now that's what I would call a great album for it to sell one million copies in the first week. Overall in that year of 2008 in which it was released it had sold around 2.88 million copies in the u.s. in to days date the average number of album sales are about 100,000 to 300,000  for the first week. this is bad for the industry compared to a couple of years ago. here's a picture of The Carter III below

 In 2003 50cent's album The Massacre had sold over 800,000 in the first week. Here's a picture of The Massacre.

 As the years progressed and technology grew the declining of album sales began. Its not the same any more because most people use the source lime wire to download albums and songs. I personally think that if lime wire was not around that physical album sales wouldn't be in jeopardy. Music artist would'nt have to worry about their album being in jeopardy because those Internet threats would not be around. Inother words the internet is a useful but harmful tool that could effect physical album sales. I am pretty sure that the artist would like to sell a lot to help out their careers. in the future there could be an extinction of album sales at the rate this is going.

The Price Of Fame

No body has predicted the unsuspected rise of Drake. He is a rapper from Toronto Canada and has plans on changing the rap game. His new album that's out is called Thank me later. The album reflects on his life and how he interacted with people that he has met. here is a picture of the album below.

Drake is a prime example of what i would call successful. Like every one else he had to try hard and pay the price of fame. Now the price of fame is what i call what it takes to be famous. The price of fame is not cheap but it pays off. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to acheive a goal and to focus on completing that goal. From the past till today the price of fame has increased.

More and more people want to be famous and they will do everything in their power to do so. They pay money for advertisements, blank CD's, equipment for a studio and many more items. I my self is putting together a CD for advertising purposes in order to get my name known as a young rapper. I beleive that I have the credentials to pay for the price of fame. Furthermore, the price of fame doesn't necessarily mean you have to pay. Its basically the struggle of getting something done.

This topic basically applies to everyone around the world because they want to be famous but do not want to pay for it. The meaning has been misinterpreted but I understand what is need to be done. Three years after drake had been discovered he had dropped an album called Thank Me Later. Thank Me Later is a work of art that has been completed. The Price of Fame could be a theme tha applies to every one who can relate to it. Drake is my favorite rapper and he gives me inspiration. The price of fame isn't free and it doesn't cost much either. Its how you perform and get the job done. When i get as famous like Drake I will thank him for paving that path and giving me that will to pursue this dream.