Cartoon #6

Haiti and Hate By - The Jerusalem Post, Dry Bones * Posted 1/18/2010 by Yaakov Kirschen. This cartoon has angels looking down from the clouds and remarking about how humans always wait for a natural disaster, like the earthquake in Haiti, to help each other. Then afterward, we go back to war. I think that this is sad but true. It would be nice if countries would't have wars because of differences in beliefs. However, since we all know that will always happen, it is comforting to think that there is still a world wide code of conduct: when there is a natural disaster, stop fighting and help save innocent lives.

Question #5

In the next year, I hope the economy improves so that I can get lots of scholarships. It probably will. I think the situation in the Middle East is still being underestimated in regard to time. I don't like the fighting, but now that we decided to interfere with other cultures on a different continent, we should see our changes through. I don't think the US is necessarily on the "right" track, but we are on the USA track.

Cartoon #5

I read a cartoon by Adam Zyglis - The Buffalo News posted 1/7/2010 titled "Fighting Terrorism".
It compares the intelligence agency with terrorist, saying that they are both "many autonomous cells with no central leadership". I don't know if that is true. It might seem like the CIA and whatever other agencies are ineffective at preventing terrorism, but the reason that the underwear bomber guy was such big news is because that kind of thing almost never happens in the US. I have never personally experienced war, and I am very grateful for that. As far as I am concerned, the government has done an acceptable, but not perfect, job at sheltering me from bombs.

Cartoon #4

I read a cartoon by Joe Heller posted in the Green Bay Press-Gazette on 12/19/2009. It was about poverty/healthcare reform. It showed a couple, the guy looking at a movie poster for Avatar, and the woman looking at a homeless family freezing and holding up signs. The woman says "What were you saying about wanting to see skinny, blue people fighting for their lives?" I thought this commented on two things: lack of health care/homelessness and how most people are too absorbed in their own lives to notice those things around them. I agree with this cartoon in that I think we need a system to help people who are jobless and homeless. I also think that a system would be put in place faster if more ordinary citizens really supported it. Most people think it's a nice idea, but when it comes down to it, who really wants to give up giving presents to pay for the wellfare of some homeless stranger?

Question #4

I love Thanksgiving because there is all the food and family without the stress of getting/giving presents and the year being about to end. My whole family and cousins help to cook our big meal together. We all get crammed into someone's kitchen and "help" everyone else a little too much. Somehow, everything still always tastes great.

Question #3

I think that displaying religious symbols is good. All the symbols that I see around the winter holidays are about love, forgiveness, peace, etc. Even if people express their devotion to these principles in different ways, they can still be coexistent.

Cartoon #3

I read a cartoon by Nate Beeler for the Washington Examiner, posted on 12/11/09. It depicts the Health Care bill as a tangled ball of Christmas lights as tall as a person. There are two donkeys looking at it disheartenedly, and one of them says "I'm inclined to say we should just plug it in and break out the eggnog." I guess this is supposed to mean that that the Health Care bill is a big mess right now, and it will take a lot of work to clean up. Also, there is a big deal about getting it done before the new year, which means before this session of Congress ends. If that is going to happen, then a lot of work needs to be done. It may seem impossible, but what I got out of the cartoon is that making the Health Care bill something manageable can be done, just like untangling Cristmas lights.