Fidel Castro

Well comming from a Cuban family, I have a bias opinion about Fidel. Like many of the other students, I was raised entirely in a Cuban family and therefore I have heard an endless amount of criticism about Fidel and his lack of concern for the Cuban people. My grandparents and father where born in Cuba and my grandmother moved to Miami when my father was four, in an attempt to protect my father from Castro and his tyranny. The move to Miami caused the divorce between my grandparents because, my grandfather was a supported of Castro and communism. A couple of years later he was arrested in Tallahasee and imprisoned for 7 years for conspiring against the United States. He was a spy for Castro.

The stories my grandmother has told me about Castro are horrific. My grandmother used to have a 2 story house with a farm, and was forced to leave all those things to Castro and his government. Aside from material things, she has also told me stories about the countless innocent lives that Castro and his regime took. Basically, ever since my childhood I have been conditioned to identify Castro as well as communism in a negative manner. I dont think that any positive ideas about Castro, from the movie, although may interest me and promote me to reserach into Castro and his reign of terror, will change my opinion about him or what he stands for.

The Car

Well since this week we are allowed to write about what we want, I decided to talk about my car. I drive a nissan 350z in pearl white. My car to me is my pride and joy. I keep it in perfect condition and I wash it every week. It is a 2004 enthusiast package that a bought for $14000. This car stock brings 245 wheel horse power, but with the modifications I have done to the car, I am at about 360 wheel horse power. The modifications that were done on the car cost me about $2300 and took one week to install. With $2300 I was able to buy an intake, headers, test pipe, y-pipe, 3 inch custom piping to a single exit exhaust, a computer to tune, and nitrous. I also bought a set of bronz wheels that cost $1000 and a set of sport max tires, which cost $1500 plus installation. The car looks great and I get a lot of compliments when I take it to car hangouts. The car placed 3rd in Hot Import Nights, a car exhibiton that is held in Miami Beach.

Although I enjoy my car and it brings me a lot of joy, it also brings me sorrow (lol). Well the exhaust on the car is very loud, and so far I have gotten 2 tickets for disturbing the peace because of it. Also I have gotten three speeding tickets and a tinted windows ticket for having 5% tints. My last ticket was for street racing and by far it will be my most expensive ticket. So far I have spent about $2000 on tickets so that my license has 0 points. Aside from tickets and cops, the car also attracks a lot of haters. About 3 months ago some kids from my highschool saw my car parked at a friend's house and decided to egg it and rip my front bumper. Thank God that me and my friends caught them and they got arrested and are currently paying for all the repairs on the car.

Although the car brings me lot of headaches, it is a great car and I think that I am gonna be staying with it for a long time.

Petraeus Warns Against Quick Pullback in Iraq

A couple of days ago I came across this article that caught my attention. There is also a video of general Petraeus's report to congress.This interested me greatly because my brother is currently a sergeant in the United States Marine Core and was just sent to Iraq for the second time in 2 years. This article discusses the strong objection the senior American commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, has against the pullback of troops in Iraq. On Monday September 10, Petraeus presented his argument in the Cannon Caucus room in Washington, where many past debates between Congress and the White House have been held. The general was determined that the strategy, favored by the Democrats, would be ineffective and potentially hurtful to the progress of American objectives in Iraq. He feels that the situation in Iraq “remains complex” and that the only way to successfully complete American objectives in Iraq is “over time.” Many anticipated a lot of tension between Democrats and strong supporters of the war, but that wasn’t the case on Monday because the warnings given by such a high ranking officer, with medals on his chest and four stars on his shoulder, would be hard to argue against. According to the article, Petraeus along with Ryan C. Crocker, where once again put in the uncomfortable position of having to appeal Congress in order for them to give more time for their strategy to work. Due to the amount of time as well as the amount of lives lost, many, especially from the Democratic party, have started to lose faith in the efforts and strategies of the arm forces in Iraq. Despite a lot of opposition, Petraeus’s reassured his audience that objectives in Iraq are being met, and more specifically objectives and actions against “Alkida Iraq” are also being met.

I am a strong supporter of the war in Iraq, and I feel that removing troops from Iraq at this point in time would not be wise, and at the same time would sacrifice all the efforts and progress that America has already achieved in Iraq. I understand that countless lives have been lost, but I feel we are too far in to stop now. I believe that if America pulls back troops and begins to eliminate its presents in Iraq too soon then all the countless soldiers that gave their lives died in vain.

Carlos Mencia

Carlos Mencia is a very successful comedian. His style is basically focusing and making fun of different races, as well as people with physical and mental disorders. He makes people laugh, and I see nothing wrong with that. Honestly he has the right to voice his opinion, although sometimes he may be very offensive. I cant say whether he is right or wrong. He makes fun of all kinds of people, including his race and himself. He is not trying to hurt anybody, he is an entertainer and his job is to make people laugh, and he does. They are jokes and if someone is offended by what he says then they can choose to not listen to what he has to say. He is not a hypocrite nor does he discriminate against anyone. I understand that some of the things he says can b offensive, but they are just jokes, and at the end of many shows he clarifies that he has nothing against anyone and that he is just trying to make people laugh, and ends every show with "if you aren't laughing then you aren't living." I dont think that he should be criticized, and if someone doesnt like his jokes or are offended by his jokes can simply not watch.

Dark Days

The video really opened my eyes to the harsh realities that exist in this country. The life styles of the people in this video surprised me as well as affected me emotionally. Seeing the way these homeless people were living and the radical things they were doing to survive shocked me. The fact of the matter is that in a country run by capitalism there are always going to be three main types of classes by which people are classified, which are: upper, middle and lower class. I am aware that many people in this country are homeless, and I have even been a part of many community service projects, run by my church, that have helped to provide clothes and shelter for homelss people. I had no idea that there were people that actually were creating their own society underground in a tunnel. These people, in an attempt to survive and avoid the troubles of paying for taxes and dealing with the society, began to build homes underground! I was startled as well astonished. I felt very bad for these people and was overwhelmed with joy that the government helped this people move into apartments and gave them a chance to start a new life.

Although these things are sad to see, the fact still remains that the only one to blame if you are in this type of situation is yourself. Most of the people in this video where victims of drug abuse. I believe that this country gives people that opportunity to succeed and amount to what ever you want to be. This is evident in the video when these people where given homes with running water and electricity, as well as the chance to start over and begin to work. I believe that they found themselves in that situation because they simply just gave up and stopped trying. This country gives people countless opportunities and chances and I feel that in this country, not to sound cliche or anything, but where there is a will there is a way.