Senior Exhibit Blog #2

I've been waiting to write this blog until I had all the details finalized for the application part of my project. Well, that time has finally come! I've arranged for the Coordinator Supervisory Special Agent from the Organized Crime Branch of the FBI to speak to the entire upper school during activities period on March 27th. He's going to give a presentation, and he's also more than willing to answer any questions thrown his way. This is really going to help with the progression of my project because it is going to pertain exactly to what my senior exhibit is about.
I intend for my final presentation to be a continuation of the facts and scenarios that my public speaker will touch on, but I still don't have an idea for how I can include the audience into the presentation. I'm sure I'll think of something... I'm really not too worried about it. More to come on my final presentation, and I'm also intending to write a reflection blog after my application is complete. For now all I can really do is wait.

The "Equal Oppurtunity to Govern" Amendment

Most American's are aware of the fact that you need to be a "natural born citizen" to run for president. In today's day and age this rule is very controversial, and everybody has their own opinion... I personally don't agree with the natural-born citizen clause. I understand it's purpose, but it just seems bit hypocritical. I mean, one of the underlying foundations of America is the fact that it's a melting pot. People are allowed to come here from all different ethnicities, and I believe that same mentality should be included when deciding who can run for president. It is for this reason that I agree with the natural-born citizen clause being discriminatory. It doesn't really matter to me where you're from. If you live in America, respect America, and have the skills to lead America, why shouldn't you be allowed to run for president? It makes sense to me...

The Power to Pardon

Wow... this is a really difficult question to answer. I understand that if I were the president the power of pardon would be bestowed upon me, but I would have a tough time using that power. Its sad to say but the prisons scattered across our country are filled the brim with convicts... giving me and me alone the ability to release one particular prisoner just seems like too much of a responsibility for me. This country's government focuses on the idea of never giving too much power to one person, or one branch for that matter. I understand the President of the United States as at the top of the food chain, but the whole concept still just seems out of place. The whole thing also seems kind of barbaric and old-fashioned as well. I mean, when I think about the President's power to pardon, I can't help but imagine the way things were centuries ago. For example, when a Roman emperor would give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to determine whether or not a gladiator would live or not... it just doesn't fit with what our government stands for...

Obama's Most Important Advisors

In my opinion, the most important advisors that Obama is going to need once he has taken his oath are going to be the ones that make up the National Security Council. Our country is unfortunately in pretty rough shape right now, and I feel that this past election is going to make us seem more vulnerable to our enemies. It is for this reason that Obama is going to need to focus on our Country's protection and well being, and the NSC is responsible for those things.

Senior Journal #1

This summer I took course in Washington DC that was part of the NSLC (National Student Leadership Conference). The course itself was approximately two weeks long, and while I was there I learned about the fundamentals of National Security as well as the different Government agencies that work together protect our country. Not only did I hear lectures from some highly distinguished members of our Government, I also had the opportunity to take a tour of many different government agencies themselves. I went to places such as the Pentagon and CIA headquarters and was able to get an interesting but controlled view of how these different factions work.

This entire conference helped me a lot with understanding the steps taken for National security, as well as politics in general. I'll admit that I arrived rather nervous mainly due to the fact that I didn't know much about what the conference was based on. As time progressed however, it became more apparent to me that I wasn't alone in this situation... after all, at the end of the day this whole was conference was a learning experience. This isn't to say that there weren't kids that seemed to be experts on everything that were learning about, but the speeches that were given were accessible to people like me, and I never truly seemed to be in over my head with anything.

Another cool aspect of the conference was the mock National Security Council meetings. After we had learned a decent amount about how the National Security Council operates, we were assigned to new groups (which meant new people that I hadn't met before) and formed our own National Security Council. In these smaller groups, we each had our own roles in and had to perform our own responsibilities under a mock crisis-situation. In these scenarios, the sky was the limit and we were allowed to perform any courses of action we deemed necessary as long as we decided on things as a collective. This was done to ensure realism, and after we had made a decision, we would learn about the consequences of that decision the next day on a National or sometimes even global scale. Near the end of the Conference, all the NSC groups convened and shared their successes and failures.

Overall, the conference I attended helped me immensely in understanding the immensely confusing language that is politics. The fact that this entire program was “kid-oriented” allowed me to get a good grasp on what they were teaching us. I intend to use all the knowledge I gained over the summer as well as the knowledge I'm still gaining right now to help me with my up and coming project.

Obama = our next president.

I didn't find out who officially one the election until this morning on the news, but I was following the poles last night and even then it seemed like a pretty clear-cut election. I don't have any problems with Obama being elected. I respect him, and think he can be a great president. Now that the elections are finally over, and the hype is beginning to wind down, all I can really do is hope that our country stays safe. I also want to mention the speech that McCain after Obama was declared the victor... I was genuinely impressed with McCain's words. He was very mature about how he treated Obama (and maturity is very hard to come by in politics) and was also optimistic about America and the American people. I thought it was interesting how McCain was able to be such a good sport about Obama's victory. I mean, if you really think about it, these guys have been attacking each other left and right... but now that its all over McCain can completely pull a 180 and wish Obama the best of luck. I both respect and admire that.

Is torture a legitimate means of combating terrorism?

1st answer: I said yes. The way I see it, we live in a violent and dangerous world, and thus sometimes I feel it only appropriate that we receive important information via violent and dangerous ways. The key word is sometimes... I don't think we should resort to torture all the time, but it can certainly produce results, and thats the important thing. An interesting thing the opening paragraph told me is that information received from torture is "notoriously unreliable". Thats something to keep in mind.

2nd answer: Yes again. The important thing that is being stressed to me is America's own policies on torture. Thanks to the Geneva Conventions, we must treat POW's humanely. I don't still don't think a little treaty from WWII should affect our outlook on current-day conflicts.

3rd answer: Yes. Once again, times have changed, and our world is still changing. To say that the US can't "stoop to our enemy's level" doesn't make sense to me. Torture, in my opinion, has nothing to with morality and whether or not what you are doing is humane. We can use torture to win, and that is very important.

4th answer: No. I decided to go with no just to see what the rebuttal would be. Now it's saying that information gathered via torture isn't unreliable? That is a total contradiction to what was stated before. Basically, there's no scientific proof of whether or not torture is beneficial.

5th answer: No. This final response was more hypothetical than anything else. It seemed to explain how I felt. When it boils down to it, I believe torture should be admitted, but under extreme conditions. I'm not saying it is respectable to torture someone who being cooperative. When it comes to our enemies that tell us anything, then we need to play a little dirty to achieve results. There isn't really anyway to sugar coat that.