Words

Persuasive essay written for english 11 class:

The Country First

September 11, 2001, the day we will never forget. The tragic events of that day, most notably the destruction of the World Trade Center brought the concept of terrorism to a whole new level. Never again, would the United States of America tolerate such another attack. In less than a month, the United States had spearheaded an attack centered towards Afghanistan to “drain the swamp they [the terrorists] live in.” (Donald Rumsfeld). Within less than two years, the U.S. would find motives for the mobilization of even more troops; this time targeting Iraq. The purpose was an ambitious one: to liberate the Iraqi people from the tyrannical clutches of its government, and to neutralize any weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein was presumed to have. Yet, how prepared was our military for such a task? Even before the events of 9/11, over 100,000 troops were spread across 130 countries. With the arrival of a new threat however, the U.S. military has suffered serious strains in its attempts to secure a foothold in the war on terror. Due to its shortage of manpower –especially in the regions of Iraq and Afghanistan– a draft is clearly needed in order to relieve the faltering military and defend the American public.
Signs of a stressed military struggling to accomplish its tasks have been emerging ever since the Iraq War. Earlier this year, the Foreign Policy magazine carried out an extensive interview on 3400 military personnel of high rank –both active and retired. In one particular survey, 88% of them agreed that “The war in Iraq has stretched the U.S. military dangerously thin.” Another survey question revealed that 60% believed that the military was considerably weaker than what it had been 5 years ago. An additional 80% agreed that the U.S. would not successfully be able to handle more military operations should they arise. Finally, an interesting scale given asking the health of certain branches of the army, with 10 being extremely concerned, the interviewed “reported an average score of 7.9 for the Army and 7.0 for the Marine Corps.” Therefore, a sizable draft is necessary in order for America to respond to another external crisis.
While these surveys all focus around external operations, it also brings to surface an important question: can the current military even defend its own homeland in the case of a possible attack? Earlier this year, the current Defense Secretary Robert Gates tackled this very problem after a “400-page independent commission report” claimed the U.S. was clearly not able to defend its country from an outside attack. His conclusion stated the “Pentagon must use the nation’s citizen soldiers to create an operational force that would be fully trained, equipped and ready to defend the nation.” Of course, with so many soldiers abroad, a military draft would be convenient in filling these domestic forces.
However, the manpower limits of the U.S. army currently add pressures to soldiers serving abroad as well. According to the Associated Press the U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George Casey has stated, “that the Army is under strain [in Iraq] from years of war-fighting and must reduce the length of combat tours as soon as possible.” Unfortunately, that is a prospect that will be hard to meet. As early as 2004, the military had been making serious attempts to keep troops an additional three years in Iraq despite the fact that their terms of enlistment had expired. Furthermore, of the 1.7 million troops that have served in Iraq, 600,000 (more than one-third) have been sent more than once. For many of these 600,000 troops, the heavy demand for soldiers has further decreased the time interval between one deployment to the next. Consequently, it is not surprising that the desertion rates have risen over 80% since the start of the Iraq War. “Desertions and unexcused absences have increased,” says General Casey, “You’re seeing folks not showing up for deployments.” “It’s a combination of not enough dwell time, and having to go back [to war]…” says Lawrence Korb, a former Pentagon official. Many may argue that a even with a military draft, desertions will take place. However, with a sizable military draft will come more soldiers to alternate between and replace other troops, decreasing the stress of soldiers and ultimately leading fewer soldiers to desert.
US military’s current ambition to become the aggressor by sending troops abroad in order to fight terror and spread democracy has drawbacks both abroad and domestic which requires more than what the regular army may be able to handle. To help relieve the pressures a draft would be the best answer to sustaining its tasks. Due to the magnitude of the threat that all Americans face, young men should be willing to sacrifice a little time in order to help defend America and its freedoms. While defending our nation is important, the effort in attacking abroad is equally important because it allows troops to disrupt many of the terror activities, which would otherwise be left alone to develop and eventually strike more destruction.

Bibliography:
“The U.S. Military Inex.” Foreign Policy. 2008. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4198&page=0>.

“Global Deployments of US Forces.” Global Security. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/global-deployments.htm>.

Montero, David. “More troops for Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense Department says.” Christian Science Monitor. 26 Feb. 2008. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0227/p99s04-duts.html>.

“US Army desertion rates rise 80 percent since 2003 Iraq invasion; highest rate since 1980.” International Herald Tribuen. 16 Nov. 2007. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/17/america/na-gen-us-military-deserters.php>.

Barnicle, Jeremy, and Leif W. Haase. “Legions Stretched Thin: The U.S. Army’s Manpower Crisis.” Century Foundation. 1 Oct. 2008. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=pb&pubid=490>.

“US army battles to keep soldiers.” BBC News. 6 Jan. 2004. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3371225.stm>.

Baldor, Lolita C. “Gates: Review military’s role in homeland defense.” My Way. 25 Nov. 2008. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://apnews.myway.com//article/20081125/d94lpcd80.html>.

McMichael, William H. “Desertions highest since 2001.” Army Times. 18 Nov. 2007. 17 Dec. 2008 <http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/military_desertions_071115w/>.

GROUP: CHAI YOUNG LEE, JEREMY YOON, SIMON JEONG

Date of Visit: December 13, 2008 (Saturday)

Chai Young Lee
AP US History
Period 6
12/17/08
Upon arriving at the Manassas National Battlefield Park, I found myself slightly disappointed. Rather than my expectations of grand museums with many artifacts to view, most of the Park consisted of the vast open battlefield for visitors to explore. However, my initial doubts were quickly gone as I walked around the battlefield myself. Tall grass was strewn across the rolling landscape along with many trees, and standing in the middle, I was awed by how large the field was. The place was very serene and if none of the cannons or memorials been set up, I would never have guessed that more than 150 years ago, two battles had been fought here by thousands of men.
Immediately following the South’s attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln announced a proclamation asking for 75,000 volunteers in the army. In the process, Lincoln had termed the South’s actions as being a “rebellion”, which further antagonized the South, who now accepted Lincoln was clearly opposed to the Confederate States. Not long after, Virginia, along with three other states seceded (adding four more states to the seven that had already seceded earlier). With Virginia now being part of the Confederacy, the only obstacle in between Virginia and Washington DC was the Potomac River. Realizing this, Jefferson Davis (Confederate President) immediately dispatched troops near Manassas, later appointing P.G.T. Beauregard (who had won a victory at Fort Sumter) as the commander. Meanwhile, with Richmond now becoming the Confederate capital in early 1861, the North had looked towards Virginia as well. On July 21, 1861, General Irvin McDowell of the North Commanding 35,000 troops would formally meet General Beauregard’s 22,000 troops near Bull Run, Northern Virginia. Despite both armies’ lack of training, they were equally confident that winning this battle would be the only factor necessary in ensuring complete victory of the wars.
The early stages of battle seemed to favor the Union troops. Colonel Ambrose Burnside and his men engaged a small force lead by Confederate Colonel Nathan Evans on a place called Matthew Hill. Two more Union brigades arrived, outnumbering Evans, and scattering their men back. General McDowell, thinking this marked a victory boldly shouted “Victory! Victory! The day is ours.” Unfortunately, the alleged victory was not to be. By the battle’s end, Confederate forces had regrouped along Henry Hill farther back and had retaliated, sending the inexperienced Union troops scrambling back in panic. Many civilians from Washington, who had come to leisurely watch what they had expected to be a Union victory, also began scrambling back, adding more chaos.
The First Battle of the Bull Run marked some important realizations. First, it convinced the North that the war would not be won swiftly. Furthermore, many of the young men, who had never fought before, were not prepared for the horrors of war. J.W. Reid, a Confederate soldier who witnessed the first Battle of Bull Run wrote letters back home describing the horror: “The dead, the dying and the wounded; friend and foe…some crying for water; some praying their last prayers…the field is yet quite red with blood…” Obviously, both sides realized a need to decently train their troops, especially for the North whose troops, when fleeing had been impossible to control.
As our group explored some more, we also learned about a civilian home caught in the middle of the battle. Inside, lived an 85-year-old widow named Judith Henry along with her daughter Ellen. Though her son and daughter tried to remove her to a safer area, she was returned on her insistence on returning home. When Confederates took over the house, Union artillery fired upon it, deeply wounding Mrs. Henry (and eventually killing) her. Judith Henry became known as the only civilian to die in the First Battle of Bull Run. Perhaps this event was a clear indication that the Civil War would not merely affect the lives of soldiers, but the lives of all Americans.
One year later on August 28, 1862, the Union and Confederates would meet again on the same grounds. Robert E. Lee of the Confederates engaged John Pope’s men in the Second Battle of Bull Run, which lasted until August 30. This time however, men on both sides, who were hardened by war, were more determined. By the end, more than 20,000 troops lay dead, around five times more casualties suffered during the first. Lee claimed the victory however, and for the first time, Confederates had the opportunity to strike inside Union soil (which they did later in Antietam).
Visiting this historic site, I was able to see firsthand and experience what it may have been like to be fighting a battle during the Civil War. Standing in the middle of a vast battlefield I became humbled at the fact that I was standing in the same grounds  where many soldiers had given up their lives in order to defend the beliefs of the North or South. I felt a sort of respect for the South even though in the classroom, I had always thought of them negatively because of their rebellion against the Union, whom I had always believed was the “good” side.
I would definitely recommend this site. It provides visitors to walk and explore the actual battlefield as opposed to the same old style of reading off from museum displays.

Bibliography:
Davis, William C. The First Battle of Manassas. Eastern National, 2008. 1-48.
“Manassas National Battlefield Park.” Manassas. 10 Nov. 2008 <http://www.nps.gov/archive/mana/home.htm>.

Draft two of crucible analysis paper (not perfect) for english class:

Witchcraft: Being Content

“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” – H.L. Mencken
Though the Puritans did often have fun on certain occasions, the above quote stated by Henry Louis Mencken gives an overall picture of the lives Puritans lead. As Arthur Miller directly states in “The Crucible”, novels were not allowed, nor did their beliefs accept “anything resembling a theater or ‘vain enjoyment’” (1217). Thus, it would seem that this Puritan society, the “candle that would light the world” would instill strict discipline in all members in order to live out a decent life according to God’s will (1217). While this would suggest that validity of the quote above, there was one thing that the citizens of Salem did not consider: individuality. Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” sends a powerful message that every individual will attempt to achieve happiness based on the influences of their surroundings and their status.
In the same way, the children of Salem who danced that one night were looking for happiness in the form of entertainment. As Rebecca so truthfully stated that children have “their silly seasons,” this dancing indicates the children’s’ response to the lack of fun in the Puritan society (1226). Because of the innate urges for entertainment (something inside all children), the Puritan society (which discouraged too much fun) influenced the children to break the rules.
When Parris told Reverend Hale that he had seen the girls dancing the previous night, Hale, with a tone of surprise asked, “You permit dancing?” (1231). This tone of surprise implies a few concepts. Most importantly, it indicates that adults, regarding children as “young adults” assumed that they all had uniform ideals of living, one of it being not to engage in “vain enjoyment” (1216, 1217). In fact, as we know today, adults and children have very different ideas  (an example of individuality) about what happiness is. In the case of Reverend Parris, it was “to win people and God to his side” as well as getting rid of the fear that “They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption” (1216, 1221). Based on the circumstance, it is probable that Hale would have wanted happiness through getting rid of this devil if indeed one was present in order to receive acclaim. Thus, young children dancing was an unprecedented form of entertainment to the adults, who immediately began to illogically connect the supernatural to their misfortunes, based on their firm belief that the devil existed. Therefore, Reverend Hale attempted to obtain happiness based on the fact that he was the minister of Salem.
Now that the entire witchcraft hysteria had begun, new opportunities existed for people to obtain happiness through revenge. A fundamental evidence of this is the fact that following Tituba’s “confession,” many of those present do not hesitate to point fingers. Mrs. Putnam exclaims that after Goody Osburn had cared for her babies, “My babies always shriveled in her hands!” At the same time, Abigail shouts a series of names herself, screaming that “I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil!” or “I saw Goody Bibber with the Devil!” (1234, 1235). For the adults such as Mrs. Putnam, Tituba’s “confession” clearly is plausible for it fits perfectly into the idea of a devil that exists. On the other hand, for Abigail, trying to feed this new hype is a perfect chance to gain satisfaction and content by ridding certain individuals she despises (e.g. Elizabeth). Abigail was clever in doing so for in a society where everyone was so sensitive to the “Devil’s grip”, the firm belief of a living witch was enough for the church authorities to begin actively judging people. The authorities (perhaps subconsciously) would have seen this opportunity as a pretext for confirming to the population of their usefulness and thus receive some degree of happiness by maintaining power. This is clearly shown through Danforth who states that he “cannot pardon these [Proctor, Rebecca] when twelve are already hanged for the same crime.” (1266). Though he had been confronted with the suggestion that the girls had hoaxed the witchcraft hysteria, he refused to give truth a chance. The only other option for which they could not hang was through confession.
In all of this, Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” may be stating that we as humans all have different ways of trying to obtain happiness, but at the cost of others in the society around us. We can see several examples of this today. The difference in the wealth of different countries may be one. While citizens of first world countries work hard in order to obtain more money, other less fortunate societies around us are generally for the most part ignored.

Probably no one will deny today that they would like to win a large sum of money through the lottery. Perhaps it is so attractive because (though chances are small), it will give money, something that the rest of society works hard for. However, while some may buy lottery tickets and hope to win, there are others who will attempt to gain money by deceiving others with the pretext that they won the lottery. The scammers most likely scam others in order to win large amounts of money themselves (probably finding it easier to scam rather than legally trying to win the lottery).
A lottery scam begins when an unsuspecting victim receives a letter, email, etc, from what appears to legitimate organizations. It is important for everyone to note that this does not mean that you have won. The message then goes on to say how the person must pay some fees in order to receive the money. It is also important to remember that you cannot win a lottery unless you purchased a ticket! Unfortunately, many people will still buy into these scams, and for good reason: it is simply too good to ignore. In New Jersey, a grandmother named Ann Mowle, who first received a letter telling her she had won $2.5 million dollars in October of 2006, simply would not listen to police advise telling her to ignore the calls. Detective Robert Bennett stated that, “In her mind she knew it was wrong, but she was still committed and obsessed with this scam.” In the end, tragedy struck as the poor women eventually committed suicide. Investigations revealed that she had spent $248,000 hoping to receive the money. Though the people behind the scam were never caught in this case, others have.
In Vancouver, two brothers, Stephen and Bruce Ironside were convicted of operating a lottery scam that targeted U.S. residents. Victims were told that they had won a lottery, and asked to pay some money in order to receive the prize. Ultimately, the victims lost around $3 million in losses. The two brothers were sentenced to 41 months, and 51 months respectively. In another case in Jamaica, Kerry Ann Graham, 26, deceived an American citizen. From January 2005 to January 2006, she asked the American woman into giving her money in order for her to receive $3.5 million worth of money. She was sentenced to three years in prison.
In yet another case this year, 9 Israelites were arrested in Israel for a telemarketing lottery scam. It was discovered that they had been calling people in New York, asking in some cases for around $40,000 in order to receive an international sweepstakes prize. When discovered, they had obtained more than $2 million dollars. Because this crime was recent, no word is yet of the verdict but we can expect the scammers to be sentenced multiple years in prison.
Above are some of the many examples, all proving that lottery scamming is all too real in today’s world.

Recently, I’ve been noticing that there were many changes in the world I was unfamiliar with. I had already known the existence of the European Union, which was created to somehow help benefit the countries there. However, soon I realized that there was also an African Union. Doing a quick comparison through google between the EU and the AU, it seemed fairly similar in terms of economic growth. However, even more recently, I’ve come to understand that there also exists a South American Union, which according to Wikipedia was finalized just last week on May 23, 2008. It seems a bit strange why all the continents seem to be forming into one union, even though it may bring about beneficial economic changes. Would this mean that the currrencies for each three continent would be combined into one currency for that continent the way most of Europe uses the Euro? What can we expect in the future, a North American Union and one in Asia as well? These are just some of my speculations as I’ve only just recently begun to see these changes.

Andrew Lee wrote a blog post titled “Top 10′s” which basically attempt to summarize how the this year’s sophomore boys act. I’d like to be honest and say that the guys at KIS are the “gayest” bunch of guys I’ve ever met. Ever since I first came in 7th grade up till now. I noticed that in the yearbook it said that sophomores were “lacking in maturity.” I’d like to confess that that is how the guys really behave. It seems that our minds are still focused on our childhood past. I don’t think anywhere else I go will I find groups of guys singing the Pokemon theme song when we’re together, or laughing at jokes we know arn’t funny at all. Of course, as many of you may know, we even have nicknames for certain people such as “Baby G” or “Scooby” or “Hobbo”.

It was also fun reviving past memories by going to some random Yu-Gi-Oh store in Seoul and negotiating with the store owner to buy Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I ended up spending at least 50,000 won on them, only to find buy gameboys and pokemon games two weeks later. Others may see us as weird, but it was a unique experience I had and I will miss it.

Procrastination. It’s the single thing that many students like to pull off before a test, a homework, project, or any other kind of assignment thrown at them from school. Many students also complain about the amount of time that they have to complete certain assignments. But face, it. We all know in the back of our minds that the stress we receive is actually no one else’s fault but our own. Okay, maybe you might disagree with me, but for me, that’s certainly true. I procrastinate because I never feel like doing something when I know it’s not due tomorrow. That’s my style of working. I always do something the night before (unless the assigment is very, very large). So what do I do during the time when I could have been working on school work? I usually fool around of course, like many people; especially since many KIS sophomores seem to be addicted to a new online tetris game. So I always cram quizes or sometimes even tests the night before. Sometimes it works, and I get an excellent grade. Sometimes it doesn’t and I embarrass myself. In those cases, I always tell myself that I should change my hahbits, but it’s too late for me. The hahbit is deep inside of me. However, I hope to be able to change my hahbit before I enter grade 11, when I’m supposed to be working by butt off.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://kr.youtube.com/v/Gv3qhdmT0nw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

What does a nuclear bomb, missle, toxic chemicals and guns have in common? They’re all products of science! Above is a short video I found titled: science leads you to killing people. Yes, it is probably highly sterotypical and shows mostly unrealistic scenes from movies of destructive forces. However, when connecting the idea to the real world, I think that science is responsible for many deaths in this world. Because of new weapons of war, it has increased greatly the casualty rate. This not includes only military soldiers, but civilians as well. Just take a look at the nuclear bomb for example. The first one built in the 1940s involved over 100,000 top rate scientists working diligently. The result is some complicated nuclear chain reaction that occurs inside a shell that releases tremendous amounts of energy. A worthy achievement one might call it, but it was completely unethical. It cracks me up how the United States keeps trying to have other nations around the world from obtaining and using these bombs. Have people forgotten? The United States was the only country stupid enough to use them; blowing up two cities and killing hundreds of thousands of harmless civilians just to save the lives of their own soliders. But since then, to my knowledge no nation has tried to punish the USA. Why? Because they were the only ones with the new powerful scientific nuclear bomb. Until the cold war came along, but that’s a another story. Today, war is just getting worse with new more sophisticated weapons with the aim of completely destroying the enemy. It is also incredibly simple for some weapons to end up in the hands of wrong people and when it does, think of all the terror it will bring. However, it all boils down to the fact that certain people wanted to use science for selfish purposes. Please disagree with me and argue if you will.

We all know about the grim reality of all the unpleasant things that haunt this world. We read and see the gruesome images of all the poverty, war, and problems in this world. Yet it occurs to me that for many people including me, these disturbing images that we see are things that are not given much thought. “Thank god”, we say. Thank god that we arn’t in poverty, or affected by war. Yet, here I am going to school, eating at least three meals a day, and all I seem to do is complain. Complain about the stress I receive in school; about the food or what clothes to wear or whatever. Sometimes, it feels that I am so oblivious to the truth that I am very lucky to be alive here in a wealthy country, that I sometimes wonder how I would react to any disaster that impacted me. Would I be angry? Sad? I can only imagine what it would feel like. For many poor souls, everything they lived for are being taken away in one quick moment, and thus, I must realize that in the face of danger, everything about myself is worthless. I should be thankful.

I just read Andrew Lee’s blog post about the new website iminlikewithyou.com which KIS students have been logging onto frequently to play some online games. I would like to add more to the idea and to prove that examples such as these show the big mistake in allowing students to carry around a portable mac.

Back a year ago, when our principal annoucned that KIS would be the first International School to start a one-to-one computer policy, we didn’t know what to expect. It meant that parents would have to pay more money, something we weren’t all too happy about. Yet, when we did receive our macs in August, the offset was pretty clear. Let’s admit that most students today, in a time when there are so much entertainment “crap” out there in the internet simply can’t resist that urge to start using the mac primarily for fun. I guarantee you this is the case for most students. Every day in every class there is someone playing another game of Warcraft, DOTA, tetris, or whatever game they managed to somehow get their hands on. The teacher always believes that we’re using the macs for educational purposes while in class, but the truth is we usually don’t. We’re always logged into MSN messenger, or facebook, or playing some random video game online while the teacher has no clue since the macs faced away from the teacher.

We were told that teachers would now get access to be able to see everyone’s screen while in class, but to date, I don’t know of any teacher that seriously uses the new program. What happened? It’s turning KIS into a place to play more games together rather than a place for education. So teachers, a student may be talking to you in an innocent voice; they may appear to be very attentive in class, but you never know what’s behind that screen.