Senior Project - teen drug abuse in USA

This semester all students in the class of English Social Studies have to write a senior project. I chose to write about the increasing drug abuse amongst teenagers in the US. I read an article where the headline said the following: "Teen Drug Abuse Triples in 10 Years in USA". My main question will probably be why the numbers of teen abusers in USA has increased so drastically the last years. I will post more updates about my senior project later, but this is what I've decided so far.

Happy New Year!! Here is my first blogpost in 2010..

This post will be about the new health reform in the U.S.

I watched a video of Obama where I spoke about the new health reform plan, and I was asked from my teacher to write about it here on my blog. Obama starts his speech with making it clear that if you already have health insurance, and you’re happy with it, no one will make you change it. Under this new plan it will be against the law for an insurance company to deny you coverage because of a preexisting condition. It will also be against the law for insurance companies to drop you’re coverage because you get sick or water it down when you need it the most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cab on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime. He also says that no one should go broke because they get sick, and something needs to be done. Insurance companies will also be required coverage for preventive care. These are only a few of the main points he covers in his speech about the new heath reform. I believe Obama has understood the importance of a safe health system, and the changes he does can make a great difference in the American society.

The United States Constitution..

In class today a women from the United States came to tell us about the United States Constitution. She moved to Norway recently, with her husband and her two sons, and now she travels around in Norway to teach the students about the Constitution in the US. She told us that every year 1 000 000 people from all over the world come to see the original document of the constitution. People often get surprised that the document only consists of 4 pages. It is divided into 4 articles, and it tells us about the structure of their federal government, the relationship between the federal government and the states, and how to change the constitution. Further on we discussed why the government exists, and why it's such a big and important part of the American society, and we agreed on the following points:
· The government controls the economy and the taxes.
· The people need to have rules and laws to follow.
· The government participates in making a balance in the society and between the different states.
 
The United States constitution starts with the following sentence: We, the people of the United States in order to form a perfect union. Further on it says something about their assignment that consists of establishing justice, promote the general welfare, provide for the common defense and secure the blessing of liberty of themselves.
 
It was very interesting to learn about the constitution, because it tells us a lot about the US society in general. The women who came to hold this presentation was very engaging, and made most of the class participating in different discussions.

The Winner Takes All - Elections in Britain

Today we learned about the political system in Britain, and one of the topics we read about in our book was called ”the winner takes all”. Counting the votes in Britain are still done by hand, and while people are counting these votes, the candidates for the election are waiting in another room. This is some very nervous hours, because the system of representation in the UK is the “first-past-the-post” This means that only one candidate is elected, and that is the candidate with the most votes. If there are four candidates, one vote can decide who gets elected to parliament. The other candidates can go home and get on with their normal lives. This also mean that the people who have voted for one of the other candidates but the person that wins, have, in a sense, wasted their vote. Is this unfair? Many people think so, because of this system makes it very hard for middle-sized parties to have a voice in their country.

"Lions for Lambs"

Two weeks ago we saw a film called ”Lions for Lambs”, witch is a 2007 American drama film about the connection between a platoon of United States soldiers in Afghanistan, a U.S. senator, a reporter, and a California college professor. Two determined students at a West Coast University, Arian and Ernest, follows the inspiration of their idealistic professor, Dr. Malley, and attempt to do something important with their lives. The two of them make the decision to join the war in Afghanistan. Now, as Arian and Ernest are fighting for survival in the field, Dr. Malley attempts to reach a privileged but disaffected student, who is the very opposite of Arian and Ernest, his name is Todd. While Dr. Malley chats with Todd, a mission that Arian and Ernest is a part of goes terribly wrong. The two boys ends up in enemy territory, and the movie ends with both of them getting murdered by the enemy, Taliban. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. Senator Jasper Irving, is about to give a bombshell story to a TV journalist that may affect Arian and Ernest's fates. As arguments, memories and bullets fly, the three stories binds more tightly together, revealing how each of these Americans can have a big impact on each other and the world.

Professor Malley wants Todd to get involved, and I believe that he means that Todd needs to wake up, and do something with his life. He is a very talented boy, and Dr. Malley tries to make him understand that he has to use his talents. Todd is very critical towards how the political system works in America, but at the same time he does not want to get involved and do something about it. When Dr. Malley says to Todd that he needs to get more involved, it almost seems like he wants him to join the war, but that’s not what he means. I believe he wants Todd to get involved and, for example by joining a political organization, and getting the opportunity to make a difference in the society.

"Bill Clinton is involved in the Monica Lewinsky scandal"

Today in class we got one assignment each to write about in our blog, my task was; Bill Clinton is involved in Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Monica Lewinsky is an American woman who admitted to have an “improper relationship” with president Clinton when she worked at the White House in the periode from 1995-1996. The affair became known as the Lewinsky scandal.

In April 1996, Lewinsky's superiors moved Lewinsky from the White House to the Pentagon because they felt she was spending too much time around president Bill Clinton. Lewinsky confided in a co-worker named Linda Tripp about her relationship with the President. In 1997, Tripp began secretly recording their telephone conversations regarding the affair with Clinton. In January 1998 Tripp gave the tapes to the Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and these tapes made him to investegate the case further. Noteworthy for its revelation of Tripp's motivations was her reporting of their conversations to the literary agent Lucianne Goldberg. Tripp also convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts that Clinton had given her during their affair, and not to dry clean what would later be infamously known as "the blue dress."

Clinton denied having had a sexual relationship with Lewinsky, and on January 26, 1998 he said the “famous” sentance “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky”, in a conference at the White House. Clinton also said, "there is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship"which he defended as truthful on August 17, 1998, but under pressure from Starr, who, as Clinton learned, had obtained from Lewinsky a blue dress with Clinton's semen on it. Clinton admitted that he lied to the American people and that he had inappropriate intimate contact with Lewinsky. Clinton claimed that because certain acts were performed on him, not by him, he did not engage in sexual relations. Lewinsky's testimony to the Starr Commission, however, told that Clinton's claim of being totally passive was a lie.

Both Clinton and Lewinsky were called before a grand jury where Clinton testified via closed-circuit television ans Lewinsky in person. Given an opportunity to say some final words on the matter, Lewinsky told the jury, "I hate Linda Tripp."

The Nobel peace price for 2009 is rewarded to: Barack Obama!

Today in class we wrote a note to the president of the United States, Barack Obama. He is soon to visit Norway due to his reception of the Nobel peace prize. Here is me and Karoline's greeting.

Dear Mr. President.
Your position in the United States comes with a lot of money. We believe that you have done the right thing by donating the peace prize money to charity. We hope that you choose a charity fund that is associated with working for peace since the prize was given to you due to your actions toward gaining peace between the United States and the middle east.


We truly hope that you will take a visit to our high school, Sandvika VGS, on your trip to Norway for receiving the Nobel peace prize. The reason you should visit us, is because our school is one of the leading IT school in Norway. We have recently been chosen by Microsoft as one of 30 Pathfinder schools in the world. There are many great and interesting students at our school that has involved themselves in your election. The students here at Sandvika are eager to learn more about how the political system works in the United States.


Best regards, Camilla and Karoline