The American system of Government

Today we had a visit from Lee Ann Potter, an American woman that works as a director of education and volunteer programs at the U.S National Archives in Washington DC. She is traveling around in Norway to teach Norwegian students about American studies. When she was in my class, she where talking about The American System of Government.

For the first time I can remember, I wrote down the U.S Constitution. We got a picture that an artist in US has put together. There were many license plates put together, and if you read them in a way that you just write the words as they sounds you could see that the license plates formed the Constitution:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union establish justice ensure domestic tranquility to provide for the common defense promote the general welfare secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.

I also learned something about why we have Government in many countries. Something I knew from before is that the federal government is divided in three “branches”. This is because no one of the powers should become too powerful.

It was a really interesting theme, and I learned a lot. It was different from other classes, so that made it interesting to follow.

the House of Lords

The Parliament has a second chamber of Parliament, which is called the House of Lords. It is the Upper house. Through centuries they have lost their power. Before they could stop laws and influence the budget. Now the function of the House of Lords is to be a revising chamber. They only revise what the House of Commons decides and pass it on. In one year it ca be as much as 1000 changes that is made, but even if the House of Lords protests, it is not normal that the House of Commons change anything. But the Lords are useful to make a second look at the legislations.

Voting Rights Act

In 1965 a new immigration law was decided ending discrimination. It was signed by President Johnson (1963-1969). He was a Democrat, that earlier had signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. One of the new laws was that everyone should get to vote, no matter what color and raze they had. It was called the National Voting Rights Act of 1965. It was established to provide the states with a discrimination history, to vote practice. They were not allowed to change affecting voting without approval from the Department of Justice. The law applied to states that had used a device to limit voting and only 50 % of the population was registries to vote.

Voting Rights Act is considerate a landmark in the civil rights legislation. Some Republican members of Congress wanted in 2006 to remove it, because they meant it represented an overreach of federal power.

It started after the Civil war in 1865. All earlier slaves got no voting rights later they just found more reasons not to let colored people vote. In the beginning of 1900, 10 Southern lands wrote new constitutions, but some were still disqualified. The 15^th Amendment established some voting rights and the Congress got some authority to regulate voting process.

It took many years before black people got to vote at the same level of white, but in 1965, the law was finally decided and black people had the same voting right as everyone else.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act

Norwegian sports

Today I’m going to write something about typical Norwegian sports. We say that Norwegians are “born” with cross- country ski on their feet; because this is the sport most people in Norway do in the winter. We have normaly a lot of snow, so there are good oportunities to train and be successful. The sport that Norway represents most in world contests are cross-country skiing and biathlon. People like Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Bjørn Dælih has won a lot of contests and is well known outside of Norwegian borders.

Cross country skiing is a typical winter sport that not only Norwegians to, but it is popular in countries that has snowfields. It is part of the Nordic skiing sport family, that includes ski jumping and a combination of cross country skiing and ski jumping that is called Nordic com

bined. The Biathlon just adds a rifle marksmanship to skiing, but it has the same object, to first reach goal.

Cross country skiing is a funny and exhausting sport that I think everyone who h

ave access to snow and skis should try.

A mark in the history

In class we saw a movie that was called 9/11. It was a documentary made by two brothers. They were just filming and documented the days on the fire station Ladde 1 when the attack found place. The movie starts filming days and month before the day. They circle around particularly one man that is new to the stati

on and have to go through all the things the newcomers always are going through while waiting for their first real fire.

The movie shows everything that happened 11th. of September 2001. One of the brothers was inside the building and we se how the firemen react and what they do. We hear people falling down on the roof and when the first tower collapse. We see when they ran to get out of the building and how it looked like afterwards. On the same time the other brother is filming the incident from the outside. He sees when the planes crash and collapse. He can see all the pain and confusion in peoples face and how they react. Both two believ

es that the other is dead, so the happiness when they meet is big. No one on this forestation died, but many other firemen did, while trying to save people out of the building.

United States of America is a country I believe have a lot of pride and dignity. They are the most powerful country in the world and seem impossible to destroy and hurt. But the attack 11th of September 2001, showed a vulnerable United States. The people saw it as an attack on everybody that live in the country. It was personal and meant to hurt and make damage. It was a terror attack by Al Qaida that was planned for many years. The Americans were stunned by this attack and could not believe why this was happening them. It lead to the war against terror, were George Bush decided to attack Afghanistan were he managed to stop the Taliban. Later he attacked Irak. All this was to get one step closer to get rid of the terror in the

world and I think also many Americans wanted revenge after what had happened in 2001.

The Europeans saw it as a terror attack on the world’s most powerful country. It was ment to make a mark in the "Perfect" history of America. Maybe some of the reason was that Al Qaida and the Middle East needed to be seen and they wanted to let everyone know what they were capable of. Many have reacted on the way George Bush handled the attack. Since he declared war against for example Afghanistan it is possible that he made things worse. Even more people lost their lives, most civilian, so I can't see how USA is much better then Al Qaida was. The Europeans took some kind of distance against everyth

ing that was happening. Everyone reacted with fear and stunned faces when is happened, but it is not that easy to get the real feeling when it is not happening to your own country. Also They Europeans are not as vengeful and rebellious as the Americans, so they had reacted differently.

The whole world froze for some seconds when they saw what was happening in the United States in 2001. Most people actually remember what they did this exact day and can still describe what they felt and did. It affected everyone and every country. Al Qaida took terror to a new level and it is scary to think about that is might happen again when the idea first is planted in peoples mind. It is the most comprehensive terror attack in the United States history, both when is comes to material damage and how many people that lost their lives.

I think that movie 9/11 is the best film I have sees about 9/11. That is because we are right inside the attack and we can see everything and all the people that were affected. I was not long from crying because it really affects me to see this. Too many innocent people died. I have been in New York and seen this place my self. It was just one big hole in the ground, and they had started to build something, but I don't know what. It was really tought to see this place, because it has so many bad memories. The walls that surrounded the hole were covered with pictures, poems and names of those who died. This terror attack is something that I think always will be in peoples mind and remind everyone of how terrible the world and some people have become.

To our Korean friends: a blog post about the Norwegian weather

Today the weather is cold, but there is sun outside. In Norway we have 4 different seasons. Winter, spring, summer and autumn. So we have snow, rain, sun and more rain. It is big differences on the seasons every year. Some years it is lots of snow, and in the summer it is warm, but other times we almost have no snow at all and it is rain and cold weather in the summer. I hope this winter will bring lots of snow, because I love to stand on my Snowboard and take a walk in the snow and see how beautiful everything becomes in the winter. I like the winter, but summer is the best time of the year because we dont have to wear so much clothes and big jackets. I can just walk around in shorts and a t-shirt.

George Orwell

He war born in 1903 and died in 1950. Hes real name was Eric Arthur Blair, and he was an english author. The most famous books he wrote were political novels “Animal Farm” and “1984”.

He was born in India, but his mother took him to England when he was 1 years old. He went to school 5 years old, and he must have been really good because he war recommended to one of the most popular schools at at time, St. Cyprian’s School. Later after one years at Wellington he went to Eton. Later he has written that he was happy here, but he did not study that serious.

Orwell was the person that used the words “The cold war” and he used it in an article in october 1945.

In the weekend I have worked on my job at Coop Mega to save money to a “russebuss” and I started thinking about what a waste of money it is. In Norway we have a tradition that starts in the end of April and lasts to 17th of May. In about 3-4 weeks we are driving around in big busses that we have used about 6 month to build and decorate. Not everyone have busses but I live in a place that is known for using money on this so I follow the others. We are 21 girls that has a bus we call Wackadoodle. We have also paied someone to make a song about and just for us, that we play wherever we go. It is a really sick tradition, where many people pays 50 000 Norwegian kroners each to make this bus. Some busses are compeating to have the biggest stereo equipment and in 2008 a buss hired the stereo that Metallica used on a tour.

But anyway,

those weeks are filled with drinking and drinking and more drinking. So it is actually a 3 weeks long Party. It is the worlds secound biggest party. In some of those events that is arranged

there is 10 000 18 and 19 years old teenagers that listen to music and dance. I have looked forward to this since I was like 10

years old, and now it is my turn. In about 5 month I’m going to take on red baggy pants and jump around like an idiot with my best friends. I Can’t wait to experience the biggest event so far in my life!!

A life i can't recognise

From the little part of the book “Down and Out in Paris and London” by George Orwell I have red, I think it seems like a good books with a lot of insight in a life that I have never experienced. He describes a life that very many people lives every day even in Norway. That is something everyone should know something about and maybe do something about it and help those who need it. I did not understand every word, but it is a good story and I think it was exiting to read.

Does it matter?

Does it matter?-losing your legs?

For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter?-losing you sight?
There’s such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter-those dreams in the pit?
You can drink and forget and be gald,
And people won't say that you’re mad;
For they know that you've fought for your country,
And no one will worry a bit.

G) What three effects of the war on a solider does this poem touch on?

- I think he means that in the first verse the man is loosing a body part, and someone feels sorry for him, but at the same time a rich man come home from hunting and sets down eating muffins and eggs.

- In the secound vers he talk about loosing his sight and getting blind, people will always be kind, but somewhere someone don't care and turns his head to the light and sees things abround.

- In the third verse he is telling about loosing his dreams, you can drink and be glad. People know that you have fought for you country, but no one will care to stop and listen to you.

H) It is often argued that the two great wars were fought by working-class men on both sides and that the people they fight for, were often more fighting against. Does this poem reflect this attitude? Explain!

- Yes, this poem reflects this attitude. In the first verse it says that when one man has lost one of his bodyparts another some home from hunting and gobbles in his muffin and egg. This shows the difference on people. One man is coming from the war with just one leg while others come home from hunt and get miffun and egg. Some are rich and others are just normal and working-class, the rich people get the advantage on everything.

I) This poem has enjoyed a bit of a revival of late. What reason do you think there might be for its newfound popularity?

- Today people are really into war and think it is really interesting to read about. Many movies and books are on the market and become best sellers, for example “Max Manus” and “the fire and the lemon”. So I think this poem is popular today because people think the theme is interesting and inportant.

From the documentary of Siegfried Sassoon I learned the following facts:

- war was going to be men fighting against each other one by one

- The army’s were thrown into the fights without experience

My hometown

So here is something about me hometown Bærum. This is the most snobby place in Norway and most of us don't like to say we are from Bærum when we are visiting another place in Norway. People react with words like “daddy’s girl”, snob and “Blærum”. That is not so nice because most of us who live here are not spoiled and arrogant at all. Okay, I can admit that we sometimes think it if fun to play rich and snobby, and that many of the people here are like that all the time. But it is actually a really nice place to live. And most people are nice and it is a safe place to grow up. Forest and nature are not many minutes away. In the winter the snow is not far away either and we have a lot of ski slopes here.

In Bærum, Sandvika we have the longest shopping center in Scandinavia. It i

s really long and of course the most popular clothing store is placed at the end so you have to go all the way through to get there. In your way you see more and more things you want, and suddenly all your money is gone before you have reached the store you were suppose to shop in.

But I have a break now, so more updates later J

About me

My name is Hilde and i am 18 years old. I live in Bærum, 15 minutes from Oslo. My classes in school are English, Math and social studies. Besides of school and homework, I work at a food store called Coop Mega. I have worked her for about 1 1/2 year and it's startig to get really boring and uninteresting so I think Iwan't a new job soon. On my free time I work out and have fun with my friends. This is a school blog that I have to use in English class, so its going to be a lot about different subjects we are learning about in class. :)