The Injustice of 'nam

Policy is a class where we have been learning about the different roles of government. Whether that be executive, judicial, or legislative. Most recently we have been learning about the different wars and how policy greatly affected them. Our assignment was to choose a war America was in and decide if you thought it was a just war or not. I choose the war in Vietnam which was a very controversial one. Here is why.

The Vietnam ”war” took place in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This took place in the years of 1955-1975. The US entered in 1964 by sending what was called advisors but were, in fact, military personnel. Military forces who fought in it were South Vietnam, US, Viet Cong, North Vietnam, South Korea. Cambodia and China. A unique thing about the war was that nearly two-thirds of the American men serving the war were volunteers. The war which lasted for approximately 20 years, is the longest war in the entire U.S history. During World War II, there were reportedly 40 days of combat per year for 4 years, while during the Vietnam war, there were 240 days of combat in 1 year on average.

One of the main causes was that North Vietnam was trying to invade South Vietnam. A major underlying cause was the spread of communism. President John F Kennedy called it a “domino effect”. If one country falls, all the countries after it will fall with communism. I think this war is unjust because there were no threats to the United States. I feel if there was no backing by the communists and it was just a civil war, it would have been a better idea but with all that support from the Chinese communists, it was a mistake for the US to get involved.

The US Congress was never involved in this and it turns out that Lyndon B Johnson did it on his own by executive order. This was justified because of the War Powers Act. The War Powers Act is a congressional resolution designed to limit the U.S. president’s ability to initiate or escalate military actions abroad. This act requires the President to notify Congress in 48 hours of sending armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30-day withdrawal period. LBJ used it to enter the war.

There is a major flaw with this though. If something were to happen where the US might need to get involved this act might cause a roadblock for US troops. This could potentially make things worse without the US knowing what is going on. Also, this can potentially cause many civilian and innocent people to die.

Something I found which was also really interesting was apparently there was a letter from Ho Chi Minh. This was a telegram from him to Harry S. Truman about how he didn't want a conflict with the US. The US didn’t want to lose their ally, France, so they ignored the letters. A quote from Howard Zinn about Vietnam is “In 1953, a congressional study mission reported: "The area of Indochina is immensely wealthy in rice, rubber, coal and iron ore. Its position makes it a strategic key to the rest of Southeast Asia”. This shows how they were also thinking about what they would gain if they invaded. I feel like this relates to the whole Iraq oil wars which I won't go into now.

So overall I think this war was unjust. There was a big communist threat so they wanted to get rid of that and kind of show everyone that this is what happens to communist. Also, I think they were thinking about how much they could profit off this land with all its resources. Finally, if the war powers act didn't exist then the president could send troops anywhere without having the Congress discuss it.




We see how the various policies of the Congress and the desire to take the resources of Viet Nam got us into this conflict and the result was negative for the US.




Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York. , 2017.





Editors, History.com. “Vietnam War.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history.






Gates , John. “John M. Gates.” John M Gates, discover.wooster.edu/jgates/vietnam-the-debate-goes-on/.

Circuit Bored

I am "currently" in a class called Urban Planning. We are learning about things such as how electric currents work. We had a field experience to the Museum of Science and Industry and learned about the Tesla coil. This also related to the book we are reading "The Devil in the White City" which the building is from that time p  For this Action project we had to build a circuit board and relate it to the internals of a smart house.
  

overall I think this unit was very cool. The math wasn't too difficult and I saw how The Devil in White City and the information about electricity actually worked well together. Some times it feels like more of a stretch but with this unit, I feel like it worked.

A letter to Mr. Hopkins

For about our class policy we are learning about who represents us. We learned about the Aldermen, Congressmen, state senators and so on. This action project is about writing a letter to someone who represents you I choose 2nd ward alderman Brian Hopkins. He is signing a proposal for a new TIF district and major development called Lincoln yards.

Dear Aderman Hopkins,

I want to say I fully agree with your support on the Lincoln Yards Project. I feel that it would make the vacant space actually profitable. Three things that this can do for you bring in tax dollars which you can use to fix other important issues. Also, you will clean up an area that is empty and makes is populated and clean. Also, it can bring in new business which affects the income of the area.

I agree with you that this can bring jobs to their area. The agenda given to supporters noted Sterling Bay’s intention to create more than 10,000 construction jobs in addition to 24,000 permanent jobs, according to the company. Another thing to remember is at the moment the land is mostly industrial or vacant. If Sterling Bay builds Lincoln Yards it will become some of the most valuable residential and commercial property in the city. Property owners there would be paying tens of millions of dollars in property taxes. But the vast majority of this money would—as I said—be diverted from the schools to the TIF. This was by former mayor Rahm Emanuel


Unfortunately, there is opposition to this. Some people think that the money given to the company from the government is uneasy and should be spent in other places. What I think about this is that the government will make so much money from the taxes of the places that it has a change of making it back. To be honest, though I think you gave them a perfect amount because this I a huge project and there are many hidden expenses when building things. My father worked in construction for a few decades and he knows some small issue has the possibility of taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This project is an amazing idea and I think will change Chicago forever. I think this because other big companies like sterling bay will see this massive project and then think maybe they can do the same in another vacant area. Like everything there clearly is some opposition from racially related issues to just not wanting change this can be overcome though. I am fully in support of you during this build.


Thanks,

AP1 Urban planning

For our class urban planning we have been learning about how cities plan out buildings. We also learned about bridges. For the action projects we had to build a truss bridge. It has to hold 10 pounds and not break.





For this project I based this off the truss bridge. We focus specifically on the Pratt truss bridge though it isn't exactly like it but it was based of it. Some issues we had with this was making the sides the same length and height. We didn't think about it before so it is a little bit uneven but we sanded it down so its alight now. This relates to SDG 11. It is about new and more successful infrastructures and with better bridges we can take this into consideration while building new buildings. 


    

Time Flys

At my school GCE lab, we are learning about light, sound, and time. We went on field experience to the planetarium and we learned about relativity and the universe. Recently we learned about clocks and other time-telling devices. We had to create clocks. I made a flying clock. The types of people who would use this are hobbyists who like building things and people who like cool gadgets and novelty items. This is an original idea and I based it off a drone and an alarm clock. The flying part came from a helicopter and that goes back to Leonardo da Vinci Aerial screw design.

Just to restate some of the math

Circumference is 2x Pi x 3= 18.84 degrees for the small blade. The larger blade is 2 x Pi x 6= 37.6 degrees. 

Dimensions of the clock are 5.1x2.7x1.6 inches. the volume is 22.03 inches.

  In conclusion, I made a clock that can fly. I quite enjoyed this type of project where I got to share the info through a video that I made. I had some trouble keeping this video under 5 minutes and I needed to edit it down about a minute or two.


“The Helicopter.” Go Back to the Front Page, www.leonardodavincisinventions.com/inventions-for-flight/leonardo-da-vinci-helicopter/.

Police assembly

I am taking a class called A nations's argument. This is is about the different opinions and how to create a good argument. We had a policing Assembly which is a gathering of people talking to some people in higher positions such as police officer or a community organizer. Police suicides are dramatically higher than average. They are subjected to a lot more job stress which includes regretting shooting people. Also they are frustrated because they can't arrest known criminals. Also bad treatment by the public causes low self esteem.




In conclusion, its agreed that police rates are higher but some people think that the force attracts suicidal people already. Even if this is true the job stress still plays a big role in the cause.

America are you in or out ? ARG AP2

For my class A Nations Argument we are learning about the US entry test. We reviewed some of these questions in class and saw that they are not as straight forward as they should be. They are either too vague or way too many opinions to answer. I also think they should be a few community type questions. I think the community is a huge part of America and it is good to know if these people would help out there neighbor regardless of race, gender, and beliefs.

I choose these three questions because I feel like these questions can be different for everyone and I feel like there are other ways to answer these questions and I will also talk about could be a bit better.
What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?
I think this is a question that is too vague
What is the “rule of law”?
I feel like this type of question is calling to to
What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
I feel this is a way to bring general because there can be many answers such as the peace marches in the '60s or Martin Luther kind JR.
I feel like these are too opinion based questions and I feel as if the questions should be either right or wrong and not led in other interpretations. Not everyone has the same thoughts about morals common beliefs, Some of these questions have multiple answers, and some are too vague. That's why we need to amend some of these. I also think it should be a level of difficulty to it. For example, not what day was John F Kennedy assassinated, but more like who was John F Kennedy and what were some events that took place during his term? Here are some questions that I think would be better to determine if they are ready to be here

How do the three branches work together to prevent a dictatorship?
this will show if they understand why these branches are set up the way they are

If a neighbor of yours commits a crime and the police come to your door asking for information about that person would you help them

This answers if they are willing to assist police and law enforcement

who was the first African American US president?

This is to see if they know recent history.

My amendment is I propose that the entrance exam is changed to be a lot more of a yes-no type quiz like you would have in 8th-grade history. I feel like the questions that can have multiple answers and the ones that can be interpreted wrong or feel too vague.


Someone who agreed with me is a Peer of mine in school named D.S. "That's a very good point OL, I think that you're right. I agree with you." A good friend of mine named SB is willing to cosign this document. Also five out of six reviews in my class supported it.

This image is community helping out in the floods in New Orleans. This relates because this is the type of mindset that I think will be the most successful. That is why I asked the Police question.  Being involved in the community is a keystone of the American lifestyle and is very important.