In the Kite Runner it talks about how Afghanistan was a nice country until the Taliban came, and took power. Afghanistan was very rich because of their resources, and having the Hazaras be there servants. Being born into a rich family makes you inherit the family business along with your children, but if you are from a Hazara family then you stay as a servant for the rest of your life. Many of the rich Afghanistan children do not recognize that life is completely different if you are a Hazara.

Everyone in Afghanistan accepted the Taliban when they came in but they later expressed an extreme hate for them after they found out what the Taliban planned to do. When Amir comes to America he acts how most Afghans would act if they were new to America; Not having a good job, getting in trouble with the law because they are used to there countries customs, and only being friends with their fellow Afghans. Since most of the people living in Afghanistan were rich, it was a different for them when they move into a small house, and not be able to afford servants.

When the Russians got out of their country they figured they would be called back to their jobs, but the Taliban stopped that. When Amir went back to Afghanistan to rescue Sohrab, he saw that that families were very poor and many of them died on the streets. The Taliban waited for an excuse to kill people while they drove around communities in their red Jeeps until someone attacked them, back talked, or threatened them in any way. Then this would give them what they wanted to kill as many Afghans as they could. Since there was not a lot of money to go around, the Taliban were the richest people and they owned many of the Mansions. They also were the only ones that could eat meat because meat was too expensive for most Afghans.

Wood shop stinks...

For my second semester classes I decided to try out wood shop, because if I learned how to make different crafts then I could put them in my future house as memories and furniture. When I first started wood shop I did very well on the quizzes and tests, which made me think I was going to excel in this class. My first project was a widget, and I thought I was going to do very well at that, turns out my "awesome" luck kicked in and I got stuck with the piece of wood with a fat knot in it, which made the wood harder to cut. I started cutting with a manual saw trying to avoid the knot. Then, when I was cutting I my vice got loosened, resulting in me cutting diagonally across my wood, and leaving a curved and extremely uneven cut. My next too cuts had the same thing happen to them except for different causes. I was starting to really not like my experience here and I felt retarded when the teacher had to help me, almost to the point that it was his project more than mine. The next part of the project was to cut two Dados, which is what the picture is. I am sorry to say but right now at 9:02 pm my mom is telling me to turn off the computer, so...um...ya... I am going to have to get this done soon, so I apologize for any really obvious grammar mistakes. Anyways back to my story, I am cutting the Dado and the teacher sees that I am having trouble and basically does the Dado for me, I thank him and wished that he would do the other one because there is going to be a big difference between mine and his. I started cutting and I was doing pretty well, next I had to take a chisel and take out the rest of the wood. I was also surprisingly doing pretty well at that, and then I got carried away and thought it was awesome that I was completely wrecking the wood. I realized that I had a huge gouge in the bottom and my cuts were too deep and then worst of all the entire Dado was way too freaking huge to securely hold my wood in place. When I saw this I just felt destroyed. Now I have to stay after school on Friday because I want a good grade, so I am doing the whole project over again. Hyperlink-www.whitworthbuilders.com/ MyBlog

Over the summer I went to visit my aunt and see her awesome house.

I was with my family and after a 2 hour trip we were finally coming down the street that my aunt lives on. When I saw the house it was slightly leaning to the right and looked like it was going to fall backwards. My aunt came out to greet us and help get out our one hundred bags full of the different pieces of furniture and the refrigerator. When I first walked in I ran up the stairs and looked over the one room that looks like it is floating over the house because it makes you feel like you are floating. Later that day I went out on one of the Kayaks to go on the lake that is literally behind the house.

The worst part about getting out on the lake is having to go through the creature infested, stinking, unforgiving stream that the Kayak lays on. I tried to convince my dad to get the boat out past the stream and I would meet him there by crossing the bridge, but he said nothing was going to happen, and I would be fine. I grudgingly agreed and got in the boat, the first section of the river was not so bad accept for the thought that the paddle was going to get stuck in the mud and it would pull me in. The middle section of the stream was the worst because of the rotting bodies of animals who had tried to cross the river, but failed because of the burning acid that instantly burns anything that touches it. Luckily for me the Kayak had a protective coating on it that protected it from burning, but if I touched it, then that would be a different story.

I put on my gas mask and as I went past it my paddle got stuck on something, I looked down, but could not see anything, I started to panic and tried to pull my paddle from whatever would be trying to take it. Then I saw it, it was a green grabber plant that was trying to break it down for nutrients, but I thought fast and took the sharp part of the paddle and pulled it back, which cut the plant in half. I started paddling fast and got past the stream and into the lake. After about fifteen minutes I was on the other side and I enjoyed the awesome feeling that I was on water and not sinking.

As I was heading back I heard a buzzing sound and looked behind me and saw the most ugliest fish I had ever seen jumping out of the water. The fish was twenty feet long and eight feet high and its mouth had a cluster of whiskers around it and big eyes that made it look very unusual and creepy looking. I did what I told myself not to do and panicked to get my paddle and get back to shore, as I was rowing I almost fell over because of not thinking of anything but the fish that I had just seen. To make this short I got back to shore and surprisingly did not fall into the acid, because that would just be my luck.

Should the U.S have the most power in the struggle to send aid to Haiti?

The U.S should not have the most control over this situation because other countries need to send in their aid. The U.S is taking control of the landing strips in Haiti, causing foreign aid to land in the Dominican republic, then having to drive Haiti, which is angering other countries. Haiti needs a lot of help and fast, and if the U.S is the only country sending aid it might not get to Haiti quick enough. The U.S is acting very immature in this situation, and the president of Haiti says that "This is an extremely difficult situation and we must keep our cool to co-ordinate and not throw accusations at each other."

I don't understand why the U.S cannot share the one airstrip with other countries, and the airstrip is being called "an annexe of Washington." An analogy would be one adult is helping some children build a swing set and a couple other people come also wanting to help, but the one person is hogging all of the tools used to build the swing set, and the other people are forced to build it with their bare hands. This is another situation of power struggle and hopefully the other countries can come too a compromise with the United States.

Hyperlink-Guardian (UK)

What I have learned...

One of thethings that I have learned in Mr. Fielder's class is that Rwanda was ruled by Belgium, and Belgium gave out name cards, which started a lot of the killing. Before Belgium was Germany, who gave up Rwanda because of the need for money to support them in war. Belgium also put the Hutus in power over the Tutsi causing much tension between the two groups.
I also learned how to write questions that can start a good debate. For instance in the story The Kaffir Boy I wrote a question that goes like this, “What would you do if someone from another race that is dominant over yours called you a discriminating racial name.” This question can be answered by saying You would call him something else or start some conflict, another way is to say that you would turn the other cheek or not do anything.
I also learned how the Aboriginal culture was treated from the movie The Power of One. The Aborigines were sent to different settlements occupied by whites, and were forced to change their culture into the white’s. The only true Aborigines left today are dying and even though some of the people might be Aborigines they don’t keep the culture with them, instead they have modernized and gone to work in the city.
Even though this may sound easy, but I learned how to find a credible source online. I found out that most sights can be edited, and some news websites can be bias, and lie to cover different stories up. I also found out that most history textbooks are false, and some authors have to guess what happened for instance the pyramids of Egypt, we have no solid proof that humans built them, and many stories have come up saying that aliens built them.
One of the last things that I learned is what is happening in Uganda where Joseph Coney is kidnapping young children and making them kill their own families, and turning the children into soldiers. Surprisingly this crisis is not being recognized and that is why Invisible Children is trying their best to get this crisis known. Many of the children that have been saved are scared for life, and some might not be able to ever overcome the events they have witnessed.

Most of these country's natives are in the position where there land is being taken over, or they are having their culture being taken away from them.

In America, the Indians are having there land being taken over by the colonists, and in later years they are moved all the way to California, and eventually overwhelmed by Americans. Some of the Indians in the early times of the British colonizing America the Indians helped them plant crops, and helped them hunt, resulting in the first Thanksgiving. Today the Indian culture still is going, but is not as good as how it used to be back then.

In Australia the Aborigines were having there land taken away from them along with having their culture being forcefully taken away from them. In the movie Rabbit Proof Fence, you see how young Aborigines are taken away to white settlements where they are forced to forget their culture and change into another one.

The natives in South Africa were being forced to go farther from where they originally were, so the Boers could take there land. The natives made a resistance, but were overcome by the Boer's better weapons. The South Africans now are a free country and have their own government, but are not doing so well economy wise.

Rwanda was never really colonized, but they were run by different countries. When Germany was in power they put the Tutsis in power and the Hutus were treated as "garbage". When Belgium took control they put the Hutus in power, and the Tutsis were not treated well. This power change resulted in the Rwandan genocide. Now Rwanda is a free country and is run by Paul Kagame, they are not doing very well, and Hutu extremists are being hunted down by Paul and his army.

One of the wierdest days of my life

I cannot recall most of my day, but starting from 1pm to 3pm I can. It started off with one of my friends asking me to ride my bike over too his house to play Xbox. I said I would, but right after my mom said I have to eat lunch, brush my teeth, and do some sort of workout, that annoyed me a little because I was so close to sneaking out. I was actually happy that I stayed for lunch because my mom made one of her famous George Forman sandwiches that really hit the spot. When I was done brushing my teeth I decided to do forty push ups and forty sit ups, but right in the middle of my sit ups my friend calls me, and since my phone was in my pocket and was set on vibrate the feeling scared the crap out of me because I thought a spider was in my pants. Then I realized it was not when I heard my annoying ring tone. My friend's first words were what I exactly expected,"Where the **** are you, did you run into Tony the towel?" For those of you who don't know him Tony is a skater kid who hangs out with this group of kids, and one of my friends is friends with him, but stopped when he found out he was doing drugs. I told him "no" and said I would be over in a couple of minutes. Now I am going to fast forward to when I have been at my friends house for about an hour. We had finally got board of Xbox and wanted to get a football game going with random kids walking the streets (except for Tony). In the end no one was out except for our friend Bruce who is a beast at football, and is hilarious. Bruce said he had not had lunch and convinced us to go to Subway, when we were in Subway my friend started making fun of the one of the employees making us get kicked out. i told Bruce I had some good food at my house, but he had wanted some pop so we went to the gas station and all of us got a pop. Now here is where the climax starts we are crossing 5 mile and I stop right at the edge of where I can get on the other side, ad a lady in a car pulls up next to me and starts cussing me out, while she is doing this Bruce is also cussing, and Ia m too embarrassed to really do anything, but to tell the lady to drive off. I stayed in this same situation for about 30 seconds, until the lady finally realizes that she is holding up a long line of cars, and leaves. When I am on the other side Bruce is now as high as the sky, and starts doing crazy tricks on his bike and swearing randomly and me and my friend Kevin try and calm him down but are unsuccessful. When we finally get to my house Kevin and I school Bruce in 21, which shuts him up for the rest of the day.