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| January 13, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
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THE OPINION PAGE a
By Lauren A.
Grade
Today during snack our teacher Mr.Brown
walksup during announcements and tells
us "I need more arguments! There is none on
this and this and this and oddly enough there
are none saying how the President is doing a
good job! "
Half the school laughs and givesthese smirk-
ing grinsthat I can't stand. Iknow that he was
doingthisjust to make us mad enough to write
something, and it worked. I promised myself
that tomorrow on Mr. Brown's desk would be
an editorial telling just how great George W.
Bush is. This is it.
First of all,alot of people are sayinghow the
war on Iraq is abad thing. Allthese protesters
who have no idea what they're doing saying
we were killing soldiers. If they enlisted in the I
army, I think they knew they would have to be
ready at any moment to give up their lives by j
enlisting. If you don't want to be killed, don't
enlist.They volunteered their lives,it wastheir
choice, and no one made them.
They said we killed innocent Iraqis. How
would you know, were you there? Well my dad
spent four months in Iraq and he and all his j
friends know by experience that we onlykilled
people in uniforms.
They say we're wasting money. Would you
rather have us spend money on rebuilding the
White House after they hijack that? Osama
Bin Laden and all of his terrorist buddies are
obviously not about to call a truce with us
soon, so what do you expect us to do, sit in a
circle and sing while they destroy the United
States and kill millions of people at a time? I
wouldn't.
There are many other issues George Bush
is being questioned about , and I will give my
opinion on a few of them.
People are saying it's bad he's for the death
penalty. I want you to think about some mass
murderer cominginto your house inthe middle
of the night and killingyour mom, dad, siblings
and then walking next door and killing your
neighbors. Do you want this guy to be killed
or just say, "You did a bad thing, we are very
disappointed" and fine him $50?
SoImight be exaggeratingon hispenalty but,
hey, O.J is still running around wild, isn't he?
Also, people are blaming George W. Bush
for the weather in New Orleans. Weather is
unpredictable,how canyou blame that on him?
I don't believe in global warming myself, but
even if there is global warming all the experts
say it will be in the future, so it couldn't have
been the cause of the hurricane. After blaming
the weather on him, you said it was his fault
the National Guard didn't come to the rescue
the minute the storm ended, like superman.
It takes 24 to 72 hours to travel to any place
in the world depending on the place and the
unit of the Military.The Governor of Louisiana
took almost a day just to call the FEMA and
declare a state of emergency.
It's not that hard to pick up a phone! I'll
admit FEMA failed partly,but who really failed
were the Governor and Mayor in Louisiana
who, knowing about the storm a week ahead
of time, could have made some preparations
to the levees or had everyone evacuate town.
These thingsstart small,and soif the governor
had called FEMA to call the President , I'm
sure he would have evacuated the town, they
just had to ask.
One example of a reporter who doesn't even
know what he'swriting, really."Faced with the
greatest natural disaster in Modern American
history,Washingtonrumbled and failed.But the
Red Cross the nurses and doctors of Woman's
Hospital, the Texas Army National Guard
helicopter crews, and the ad hoc bartenders
at a Bourbon Street sports bar were among
the many who fought to comfort , protect ,
and save."
Washington (a.k.a the government) failed,
but the Texas Army National Guard helicop-
ter crews didn't? Actually those helicopter
crews are part of the government, so how did
Washington fail?
Why George W. Bush is a
good president
By Sarah Van Sciver
Grade
If
Americans were required to answer ,
the following question, "Who has been ,
the best American president since World ,
War II?" would their answer be George W ,
Bush?
Bush has lead us into a false-cause war.
We went to war partially as a response to
9/11.
The Clinton administration's advice con-
cerning terrorism protection was ignored ,
additional terrorism protection wasn't at-
tended to. We never got Osama Bin Laden, '
and we removed Saddam Hussein from '
power without considering the effects this "
would have on our nation.
What Bush and many Americansfailed to *
realize was that when Saddam Hussein was *
dictator, although he washorribly brutal to «
hispeople,he controlled the fundamentalist «
Muslims in Iraq, many of whom are poten- «
tial terrorists. He hunted down and killed «
many who, since he has been overthrown, «
are being recruited for terrorist organiza- «
tion, like Al Qaeda. «
Unlike Osama, Saddam was destroying ,
potential terrorists, not enlisting them; ,
but the US overlooked how to continue ,
Saddam's control over terrorists. We also ,
are attempting to rebuild Iraq. In his cam- (
paign, didn't Bush say, "I'm not a nation (
builder."?
Oh and by the way, have we discovered
any "nukular" weapons or WMD? Bush's
goals overseas were noble,but not thought
through. We have not achieved our goal
to end terrorism, and we have not made
as much progress as hoped in the Middle '
East. '
Another related concern is that Sep- '
tember 11th is being used as an excuse for '
imprisonment without trial. Government '
privacy policieswere also complicated after '
September 11th. Everyone has the right '
to a just trial, even terrorists responsible •
for 9/11. Whatever happened to America <
serving as the world's icon and example <
for civil rights and.prisoner's rights? Bush i
and American citizens want to see wrong- <
doers imprisoned, but this is no excuse <
for failing to abide by laws set forth in our ,
Constitution. ,
Under President Bush's power, the US is ,
running the largest deficit in our country's ,
history. Now that's scary. Didn't Bush cam- ,
paign for fiscal responsibility? Our countryis t
losingmoneyunderhisadministration.Taxes
havebeen lowered mostly on the rich,which
is not beneficial monetarily, by any means.
Jobs are going overseas, which is another
economical concern, which Bush seems to
ignore.And billionsof dollars are paid out for
agricultural subsidies, paying for food that '
the market doesn't want or require.
So, our economy is certainly not boom- '
ing, our deficit is huge, and we're messing *
around overseas. What's more, we have an '
ironic little blunder by with Bush. We're '
fighting terrorists,who use their fundamen- •
talist religious beliefs as an excuse for their «
unforgivable crimes. And here we are, with «
Bush using his Christian fundamentalism «
as ajustification for all of his actions. Most «
of the Midwest isfundamentalist Christian «
-sothiswasbiginhiselection,but America ,
isn't a theocracy. t
In our conflicts inthe MiddleEast,wehave ,
learned that people should seek religious ,
moderation, and their countries should be ,
ruled by logic and a quest for life on Earth, ,
not mass death and destruction. Yet Bush (
is constantly preaching about God and
Christianity, giving more sermons than
straightforward addresses to his country.
It's dangerous for the US to be the world's
police, for voters to vote for presidents in
a non-theocracy based on their religious
beliefs, to run a huge deficit , to rush into '
the Middle East without looking before we '
leap... I'm sickofPresident George W.Bush's '
blundering, bungling, and babbling. '
Blundering, Bungling, ;
Babbling Bush ;
By Kaitlin Zeiman
' Grade
Science includes theories
that can be defined and
defended so that they can
eventually be proved or dis-
proved. Intelligent Design
has no factual means to
prove it false because the
whole concept of "Intelligent
Design" is that it is smarter
' than we are and is higher up
1 than we are. Therefore , it
' can't be disproved because
' we have no meansofknowing
' whether it actually exists or
' not no matter how hard we
1 try. In this case,
• Intelligent Design cannot
¦ be included in science due to
< itsinabilityto ever be proved
p or disproved. Although it
i is a good idea for science
, classrooms to state the pos-
, sibility of
, Intelligent Design, I don't
, thinkitisacceptable tospend
, anywhere near asmuchtime
, or effort in explaining Intel-
p ligent Design as is spent in
explaining Darwinism. Dar-
winismis ascientific subject
that belongs in a science
classroom and although I
believe Intelligent Design
' theories should be taught
' in school, I highly disagree
' with them being taught in a
' science class.
' Also, at the present time,
1 there is no real evidence
' for Intelligent Design. The
» evidence offered includes
* "irreducible complexity, "
> the thought that beings
» are very difficult to form
? by the successive modifica-
» tions offered by Darwin and
» "specified complexity," the
, characteristic trademark of
, intelligence.
, These two pieces of evi-
, dence are not real evidence,
, but they are more like pro-
t cesses ofelimination.Neither
of these proposed pieces of
evidence provide real bio-
chemical or anatomical evi-
dence for Intelligent Design.
Therefore, at the moment, I
am biased toward believing
' the better-defined and better
' defended theory of evolution.
' For these reasons, I believe
' that Darwin's theory of evo-
1 lution has earned its place
1 in science classrooms and,
1 until abetter theory becomes
i available, it should keep its
¦ place.
Darwin vs.
; IntelligentDesign By James Fargher
Grade 9
One of the ever-present questions being asked today
is, "where did we come from?" For centuriesscience
and religion have bickered over the argument, rising to
the climax with Charles Darwin's Origin of Species.
Scientist have constantly stood by the theory of evo-
lution, the big bang theory and others, whilst religion,
the Roman Catholic Church in particular, has always
preached the idea of intelligent design,the idea that the
universewascreated by ahigher power.Although science
makes an excellent argument, we have to consider a few
things before taking it as genuine proof.
Firstly although the Big Bang is accredited as the
beginning of the universe, the overbearing question
remains "who lit the fuse?" Are we to believe that the
core of matter simply exploded on its own accord? Does
this mean a pencil can spontaneously combust because
it'smade of matter? Science gives us no answers to why
this mass suddenly exploded , or of the time before the
blast.
According to Darwinism, all of nature is based on
random occurrences , the Chaos Theory being one of
the theories heralded as being the answer. Nature is not
random however.
Everythinginnature isbased on strict rules: the human
body is built on the ratio of the number phi, branches on
trees grow in the exact pattern of the Fibonacci Series.
All aspects of nature are living proof that the creation of
the world was no random happening. On the contrary it
would seem that it waspreordained ,planned even. Even
Albert Einstein,the father of general relativity said, "God
does not play dice with the universe."
On that note, Darwinism claimsthat life simply "hap-
pened." Atoms just happened to fuse together to form
living creatures with complex biological systems and
actions.
Darwinismexpects usto believe that the materials built
themselves without any help from the builder. How can
atoms, with no mind or wills of their own, coincidentally
fall into the right sequence to form organisms that do
have thoughts and reactions? Only an outside influence
could possibly move the fundamental building blocks of
the universe into the precise arrangements to from the
beginnings of life itself.
As we progress further and further into the research of
our planet's past, we find more and more amazing facts
stating that the remotest factors all fell at the exact mo-
ment in time to create life. Have we really come so far as
to think that out of a deck of octillions, Earth chose the
right sequence of cards to allow life to flourish? Billions
of coincidences would have to occur within a finite time
to even support a livable planet.
Correct energy levels, close and far enough away from
the sun to both warm and not overheat the planet, the
right matrix of gases to form an atmosphere, the right
meteors and asteroids to hit the young Earth to release
those gases, the strong magneticfield ,mild pressure lev-
els, mild weather conditions, the list goes on and on.
It is an arrogant thought on our part to believe that
we are the most intelligent life forms, and if we couldn't
execute such a feat, nothing else could.
Of all the hundreds of planets discovered by us, only
Earth can support life. Onlyone planet. Science continues
to reveal more and more incredible facts about life, and
Earth itself, that can only be explained by either coinci-
dences nothing short of miraculous, or by an intelligent
design, a building plan.
Earth's ecosystems (without us humans) function
flawlessly. Are we really to believe that all the miracles
of nature we see around us are the work of random oc-
currences?
Intelligent Design vs. Darwinism
' By Anthony Salomone
' Grade
The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment
System: to both teachers and students alike
across the Commonwealth it brings absolute dread.
As current state regulations stand , the MCAS
tests are long, boring and completely necessary.
Being a student who took various MCAS in three
' years of my public school education , and with
' comparison to my newest experience in a private
1 school , I feel justified to offer an opinion on the
1 tests and education or lack thereof in preparing
' for them.
• I would not go so far as to say that testing
' should not be required for students at any point
1 during their educations ,though restrictions could
• be made on the grade levels tested , preparation
i requirements and importance of the results in
i determining funding. Currently, according to the
i Commonwealth's Web site, MCAS testing is re-
, quired for students in grades three to 10, excluding
, nine. That amounts to testing almost every year
, sincethird grade, with passing of 10th grade tests a
i requirement for earning a high school diploma.
I remember from my experience that teachers
, would need to spend a great deal of time prepar-
, ing explicitly for the coming test(s) the in spring.
Such work left much less time for valuable actual
learning in the classroom. Therefore , the MCAS
tests did not in any way enhance my education ,
but hindered it by mandating that my teachers
spend time getting ready for the test only.
The amount of time used for preparing is so
great because the state bases its performance
' ratings on the MCAS score results. Schools need
' their students to do well as part of the condi-
' tions of state law and the federal No Child Left
1 Behind Act. The Department of Education and
' the public should realize the negative and sig-
1 nificant impact the current MCAS tests have on
1 students across the Commonwealth. One might
• only consider what is more important: educa-
> tion or test results.
'T 1
i
; MCAS - Benefit or Detraction?
By Kalie Marion
Grade 9
MCAStests are created to sepa-
rate children into different
levels of intelligence. Of course not
all the tests are accurate but most
of them classify the bright students
from the students that need alittle
extra help.
There are four ways the tests
are graded: Advanced , Proficient ,
Improvement and Warning!Failing.
By giving these grades, the schools
cangroupthe children into different
classes at their skill levels. Not all
children are required to take the
testing, but most public school
students are enrolled in the tests.
Although MCAS tests are some-
times made out to be hidden de-
mons on paper, public schools need
MCAS to separate the education
levels of students. Students take
time out oftheir classroomschedule
to take these tests that can seem
like a repetitive cycle of learning.
Time and effort is put in to learn-
ing the materialthat will cover the
English,Math, Science and History
parts of the MCAS. I think taking
these tests is an important part of
the education system because it
places childrenintheir appropriate
classrooms.
Colleges also look at the MCAS,
and if the grade is high, then the
percentage of students being ac-
cepted intocollege ishigher.Ithink
that the MCAS could improve their
questions alittle more, but MCAS,
no matter how intimidatingor frus-
trating they may be,are anecessary
part of the education process.
1
ToTestor not to test
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