Bowling for Columbine

We have recently watched the film “Bowling for Columbine” in our government class. It was a very good movie and I thought it was full of good educational information. The movie is a documentary where Michael Moore goes all over the country to ask people about their views on gun control. Moore did a great job making this documentary and he knew exactly what to say to really get people thinking.

The media plays a huge role in a society filled with guns and violence. Michael Moore investigated the media in this movie and witnessed how it is used in many cases to scare and frighten the people. These people may be living in a nice, calm, rather peaceful community, but the media shows all the violence and scares the people. Take the local news for example, the majority of the stories on there about all the bad that is happening in the area and they take less time to focus on the good. Moore observed this by interviewing people from other countries and comparing their news to the news that we watch in America. Members of the Canadian society agree that while their local news focuses on good things occurring in the area, news in the US is more focused on the bad things happening.

One of the biggest questions asked when talking about gun control is, do guns kill people or do people kill people? I don’t know, let me ask you, do cars make people drive drunk? Do pencils misspell words on their own? Last time I checked, none of these objects have a mind of its own and is completely useless unless someone is operating it. Guns don’t kill people – people kill people. Michael Moore talks about this topic in an article with The Washington Times and he believes this is only half right though. He said he would change it to, “guns don’t kill people – Americans kill people.”

The second amendment gives all Americans the right to keep and bear arms. Just because it’s a right that all American citizens have doesn’t mean you should abuse this right. The people who are killing innocent people are definitely abusing this right. I don’t believe that the people writing the Constitution intended for people to use this right to kill other people.

Society is trying to make communities safer against gun violence. Many schools everywhere are beginning to enforce stricter zero tolerance rules against weapons in school or on school grounds. There doing this to try and create the safest environment possible for the kids.

The only way for the government to end gun violence is for the government to take total control over guns. I think it is impossible for the government to take total control over guns and I don’t believe they should have total control over guns and take the right away from the innocent people who don’t abuse their right to have guns. So what does the future hold for America and gun laws? Nobody knows.

Micheal Moore; Washington Times Article

Abuse or Discipline

If you have read the news lately you will see many articles about some professional athletes who are said to have “abused” either their kids or their wife or girlfriend. Many NFL players have been targeted lately for abuse charges. The big question that is being asked is where the line between discipline and abuse is.

I believe that you should be able to discipline your child and not have to worry about being punished for it. How are you supposed to teach a child right from wrong if you can’t discipline them? On the other hand, I do believe there is a line between discipline and abuse. I think that if you hit your child so bad that it leaves physical marks all over their body, it then becomes abuse and the parent should be punished.

I do not believe that you should ever hit your wife or girlfriend. Any man who hits a girl should be punished. Hitting a woman is wrong no matter what your reason may be. Men should have more respect than to ever hit a woman.

I think that the NFL players that are being punished through the NFL is wrong. I believe that the NFL should not be the one decides the punishment for these athletes and the law should provide the punishment just like it would for any average man who has committed these crimes.

Executive Orders

Along with being president, comes great power and authority. Some say that certain presidents abuse this power while others believe that everything the president does is for the good of the country. I recently watched the film “Lincoln” and thought it was very educational; but the question still comes to some historians who wonder if Lincoln went against the constitution and abused his executive powers to try and pass the thirteenth amendment and abolish slavery in the States.  

At the time, Lincoln had issued more executive orders than all the presidents that had served before him. Does that mean he was abusing his powers as president? Some believe it is so, others don’t feel that way. Even though Lincoln passed more executive orders than any of the previous presidents before him, the decisions were more helpful than harmful making them good decisions. I feel that Lincoln did not abuse his executive powers, because all of his actions were an attempt to abolish slavery and try to end the war as soon as he could. With the entire country in the state of rebellion, Lincoln believed that he had the right to certain war powers, which is a concept not in the Constitution.

If you were to compare our current president Barack Obama to Lincoln, I feel that Lincoln did more for the people than Obama. President Obama is passing numerous executive orders  for the government to take over things such as ways of transportation. He is also trying to take control of things like communication media and health, education, and welfare functions. While Obama is creating many executive orders to control everything about our country, Lincoln was passing numerous executive orders to keep our country together.

I believe that Lincoln is one of the country’s greatest presidents and he should be remembered that way. I think the film “Lincoln” is a great way to honor what he did for this great nation in which we all live in.