Sunday, May 22, 2011

All Along The Watchtower By Jimi Hendrix
"There must be some kind of way out of here,"
Said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion,
I can't get no relief.
Businessman they drink my wine,
Plowman dig my earth
None will level on the line, nobody offered his word, hey"

"No reason to get excited,"
The thief, he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late"

All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants, too

Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl
*buisness man there, drink my wine,
Come and take my herb.

We Gotta Get Out Of This Place

We Gotta Get Out Of This Place

Animals, Eric Burdon

In this dirty old part of the city
Where the sun refused to shine
People tell me there ain't no use in tryin'
Now my girl you're so young and pretty
And one thing I know is true
You'll be dead before your time is due, I know
Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'
Watched his hair been turnin' grey

He's been workin' and slavin' his life away
Oh yes I know it
He's been workin' so hard, yeah
I've been workin' too, baby, yeah
Every night and day, yeah
We gotta get out of this place
If it's the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
Cause girl, there's a better life for me and you
Now my girl you're so young and pretty
And one thing I know is true, yeah

You'll be dead before your time is due, I know it
Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'
Watched his hair been turnin' grey, yeah
He's been workin' and slavin' his life away
I know he's been workin' so hard
I've been workin' too, baby, yeah
Every day baby, yeah
Wow, yeah...
We gotta get out of this place

If it's the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
Girl, there's a better life for me and you
Somewhere baby, somehow I know it
We gotta get out of this place
If it's the last thing we ever do

We gotta get out of this place
Girl, there's a better life for me and you
Believe me baby, I know it baby
You know it too
Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones
I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love, both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a newborn baby it just happens ev'ryday

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not forsee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the setting sun
My love will laugh with me before the morning comes

I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

Hmm, hmm, hmm...

I wanna see it painted black, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun, blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black
Yeah

Hmm, hmm, hmm...

5 original Poems!

Who Are They?
By Chase

Who are they to take my rights
They cant do this to me
I work just as hard all darn night
Is there a difference that I don’t see?
Do they have some kind of unknown might?
Do they deserve more then me?

Civil Rights Haiku
By: Chase

I’m as good as them
I am no less then they are
But I feel much less

Is it True?
By: Chase

They set us Free
But they set segregate
They won’t let us be
I’m starting to speculate
Are they treating us fairly?

We get what we want
By: Chase?

We get what we want
Whether you like it or not
Voting you flaunt
Like it belongs to your lot
Well we are humans too
We want to start voting
Our minds are not skew
With our help we will be coasting.

FIRST!
By: Chase
We were here first
Your lot is the worst
You took it from us
Now it’s time to adjust
We want some rights
You know we can fight.

Vietnam Video 2

3 diary entries

“During the period that Lieutenant Colonel John James Jones, a hawk-nosed
infantry officer from California, commanded the 40th Inf. Battalion. There was
little doubt in anyone's mind as to who was in charge. Sometimes within an
Army outfit the Battalion Operations Officer or the Battalion Sergeant
Major will try to run the battalion, but when LTC Jones assumed command in
December 1968, he let everyone know that he followed the principles of Unity
of Command and Chain of Command. LTC Jones relied heavily on his company
commanders, usually senior 1st Lieutenants or junior Captains, but he also
made sure that his company commanders knew who their superior was, and
that the orders would come from only one person within the battalion as long
as he held the position of battalion commander. I seriously and honestly
believe that one of the main reasons why so few men from the 40th Inf.
were killed or seriously wounded while in Vietnam was the excellent leadership
exhibited by Jones in the management of the battalion."
-Sergeant Williams, 40th Battalion

"Because of the throng, because of the clashes that had occurred between youth and police, the mood and temper of the crowd were considered of paramount importance for the safety of all. Stress was placed at trooper briefings on the maintenance of friendly relations. There was to be no show of riot helmets or batons. Nor was there any need for them. The mood of the crowd was one of friendliness, consideration, sharing and togetherness. But, I was enjoying myself despite the chaos. Men everywhere. Women everywhere. Life. Love. Joy. People are smoking and getting high in protest of the overseas mayhem. The police believe they can resist and make our cries mute, but we are heard. Always we are heard."
            -Psychedelic Jim, Woodstock, 1969

“I am a native of Tennessee and the daughter of a Baptist preacher and Civil Rights activist. My school was integrated when I was in the first grade, the same year that Arkansas' "Little Rock Nine" had to be escorted to high school under the protection of the U.S. Army. I was victim of acts of crime committed by evil, disgusting white men who threw things at me, and beat my mother. The worst of it all was that I was a little boy who had no choice for being black, but I am anyway. I was brought up being told that blacks are worthless. Why was that? Aren’t we all equal at birth?”
            -Jamal Johnson, 1967

America's Hard Learned Lessons

The 1960’s, a time of activism, and speaking out against what many thought was wrong, led to multiple changes in government and the economy. Conflicts in America took over and consumed politics and civilians in this era. Problems with the civil rights of African Americans, the anti-war effort, and even issues within the government caused trouble on a national scale. America’s government and civilians learned from their mistakes of the 1960’s, such as, civil rights, anti-war protests, the Vietnam War, and presidential elections by changing laws and being more tolerant.
Civil rights were a huge issue during the 60’s, considering African Americans haven’t ever been completely “free,” per say, ever since they arrived as slaves in the 1800’s. Blacks weren’t the only people whose goal was to gain more freedom; women were fighting for equality in the workplace and in society as well. Marches and picket lines were a common occurrence, but positive results for the protestors were uncommon and often turned into violent incidents. Laws against women’s rights and black’s equality were socially unnecessary and had to be changed. We as a country learned our lesson by assimilating to their desires. Even in minor issues such as collegiate sports, affirmative action was enforced and women had to have to same amount of sports as men. Women were granted the ability to cast their vote after this era when the government found that they deserved that right. Like the women, the blacks fought for their constitutional rights during the 60’s, which led to many protests, often violent. Martin Luther King Jr., a pacifist and prominent civil rights activist, led many of the nonviolent protests of the era, but was assassinated by a white man as a result. We learned that blacks had an equal amount of rights as us and were allowed to assimilate completely into our society after the 1960’s.
Anti-war protestors were another cause of disturbance in America in the 1960’s. The government was disrupted due to the “hippy” invasion of America during this time. The president and his associates disliked this group of pacifists because they criticized their role in Vietnam. The whole reason Nixon launched his “war on drugs” was due to the hippies’ lust for it in the first place. He thought if he eliminated drugs, he could eliminate the hippy protestors. As a nation today, we still have drugs, marijuana in particular, illegal, which is an aspect of life we learned from back then. We were in Vietnam in the first place to contain the power of communism from spreading. We were in over our heads then because we were outnumbered and lost thousands of men due to the conscription of civilians to the war. A lesson learned from that was the elimination of a war draft. We no longer have drafts for any war. The Vietnam War led to numerous changes in our government and social life.
Many things were changed with respect to presidential elections at this juncture of the 60’s and 70’s as well. June 17, 1972, the committee of Richard Nixon’s Republican Party broke into the Democratic Party offices to steal official information regarding their strategies for defeating Nixon in the ensuing election. Nixon was accused of covering up the scandal and was unsuccessful in his campaign and was later impeached. This led to many new wave ideas in elections in the future. The media became more aggressive in their following of the campaigns and led to vast campaign finance reforms. So, in light of these scandals, we learned lessons for our mistakes.
America’s citizens, government included, learned many lessons involving civil rights, anti-war efforts, the Vietnam War, and presidential elections, by changing policies and attitudes toward these issues. Since we are a diverse culture, with millions of people, there is an inevitable possibility for contempt toward ideas. Nothing in the country can always be perfect, but we can always learn from what we did wrong the times before.

Watergate Essay

     Watergate is a historical event that many people have heard about. However, many Americans don’t know exactly what happened. It was a scandalous occurrence that changed history. A president wanted to win so his followers created a plan to help him do so.  That led to the Watergate scandal.
     Watergate is a hotel in Washington D.C. that was used as the democratic offices/headquarters. President Nixon was sketched out by everybody so he wanted to see what the democrats were doing. Bernard L. Barker, Virgilio R. Gonzales, James W. McCord, Eugenio R. Martinez and Frank A. Sturgis broke into the Watergate hotel to wire tap the phones and spy on the democrats. A man put a new piece of tape on the door and that’s how they were discovered.
     There is no evidence that Nixon ordered the break in but some people believe he did. The break in occurred on June 17, 1972.  After the burglars were caught, an investigation took place to find out who ordered the break in. Nixon asked the CIA to tell the FBI to stop investigating the scandal so the CIA could take over but they were really just going to cover up what happened. Most of the public wasn’t concerned with the incident until the government learned more about Nixon’s involvement and when he was on the road to being impeached. He resigned before he could be impeached.
     Watergate had a huge impact on The United States of America. Many citizens lost faith in the government. The media is now more aggressive and always looking for scandals. The reporters that investigated Watergate, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, started what is now called investigative reporters.  A lot of Americans no longer trust their government because of that single incident.
     Watergate was the largest political scandal to ever occur. It changed lives and many things about how we run the government today.  Many people don’t trust the government anymore and that ruins how things are run. A lot of people’s jobs were lost because of this incident and some say many republicans switched to democrats because they thought what Nixon did was so wrong. It is an event that will always be remembered.

Vietnam Video

Newspaper Articles Compare and Contrast

Vietnam Articles 
During the Vietnam war the most widely used weapon was the helicopter because it was fairly new technology that could fly low, shoot weapons, and carry soldiers. In the war the main reason for the fighting was to contain the spread of communism. The Viet Cong's tactics of fighting was known as Gorilla Warfare using familiar terrain to their advantage. The Vietnam war was the first war to have the media actually in the fighting, informing the public about what was actually happening. Millions of people were killed in the war of Vietnam during the six and a half year "blood bath."






Similarities 
Both Vietnam and the war in Iraq are types of civil wars because of the way the countries were split in two. The war in Iraq is not popular in the United States and neither was the war in Vietnam. Many civilians from Vietnam and soldiers from the United States were killed in the war and the same thing has happened and is continuing to happen in the current war in Iraq. Both wars were highly unpopular because of the extensive involvement of the media. Both wars had thousands of protesters begging the government to end the fighting and bring peace. 




Iraq Articles 
Unlike the Vietnam war, there is "plenty of conflict" left in the war in Iraq. In this war we are fighting dictatorship rather than communism. Fighting continues in Iraq because after the fall of the dictator, the soldiers have nothing else to live for except to fight for a fake dream of making Iraq a dictatorship again. The economic crises the United States began to face during the war in Iraq causes a distraction from the disapproval of the war. The Untied States succeeded in Iraq more than Vietnam and is having progression in Iraq.








Articles Used:
The New York Times: Iraq
The Brussels Tribunal: Articles from inside Iraq

Works Cited

       (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2011, from http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/Vietimages/Cartoons/levine.ht


      (2011). New York, NY: The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 
2011, from:  http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html


      Khammas, E. A. (2005). Retrieved May 22, 2011, from http://www.brussellstribunal.org/Articles.htm


      Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon. from http://www.watergate.info/


 Farns             Worth, Malcolm. Watergate.info - The Scandal That Destroyed President Richard Nixon. Web. 22 May 2011. <http://watergate.info/>.
"The             Watergate Story (washingtonpost.com)." The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. Web. 22 May 2011. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/>.

         Farnsworth, Malcolm. "What Was Watergate?" Watergate.info - The Scandal That Destroyed     President Richard Nixon. Web. 22 May 2011. <http://watergate.info/background/>.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Political Cartoons



The Political Cartoon shows a caricature of Lyndon B. Johnson buttoning up his jacket as in a real picture of him during his term in office. The difference between the political cartoon and the real picture is that Johnson's nose is unnaturally long to allude to the movie Pinocchio. In Pinocchio the puppets nose grows longer whenever he is lying sending the message that Lyndon B. Johnson was lying during the war. People started to think he was lying because he made it seem like the war was worth fighting and Americans were sacrificing so much for the right reasons but the news created a credibility gap making people question his words. The News became so involved in the war and people at home were able to see the truth about it and what was actually happening over seas. 





This political cartoon shows two American soldiers in the field of battle listening to the radio. As they listen bullets and bombs are flying over their heads and helicopters are flying in the background. The Radio is broadcasting that "The Viet Cong cant win!" And on the bottom caption of the cartoon it reads, "I hope the Viet Cong know this!" This cartoon is saying that the media outside of the war is saying that the enemies will not have the victory even though from the picture, it looks as thought the Americans aren't winning. The Soldiers are saying that they hope the Viet Cong know that they "cant win" because the soldiers know that they are not doing very well and the Viet Cong have the upper hand.


This political cartoon depicts two black soldiers running into the battle of Vietnam with zooming jets in the sky and a huge helicopter that reads US Army on it. In the background two more black soldiers are getting out of the helicopter and the jungle is burning even further in the background. The caption on the bottom of the cartoon reads, "This is proving to be excellent training for civilian life." This cartoon is both a Vietnam cartoon and a racial discrimination cartoon for the us. The mens job in Vietnam is to survive and kill anyone who is a threat. This aspect of war is supposed to "train" the soldiers for life at home because of all the discrimination in America.