Back In Baghdad

Iraqis are trying to come back to Baghdad and live. They do not want to live as refugees. A Baghdad school bus driver and his wife and two children left their refuge in Syria to return home. They returned last summer. It had been two years since they had fled their home of al-Dora. This family had left because the al-Qaeda terrorists had killed the wife and son of Hammadi’s brother. Hammadi is the bus driver who returned to the city.
Hammadi works for $10 per day. His wife, Shada, helps by baking bread. They have two children named Ibrahim and Sajda.
The author of this report had lived in Baghdad for five years. He returned for a period of two weeks to witness the changes in the city.
There are several signs of change in Iraq but even though things seem positive there is a lot of tension in the country. The first sign of change the author sees is that he arrives on a big Airbus A320 plane. This must mean that the threat of a missile attack is less than before. While driving through the city he sees more changes. There are more shops and businesses open than there were one year ago. There are no lines at gas stations. Generators do not have to be used as much for electricity because 4-6 hours a day electricity is provided. There are several new restaurants and there are now murals painted on the protective walls that have been built around neighborhoods.
The biggest change is how the Baghdadis view the U.S. military presence. A year ago most Baghdadis saw the Americans as the source of their problem. Now they view Americans as those who are stopping the violence. “People think the Americans are like Superman, who can do anything.”
The worry now is what will happen when the Americans leave. Will the peace survive?

Lion

After 28 years of being Zimbabwe’s political leader, Robert Mugabe, has not won a majority of votes for the presidency. This is a great change for Zimbabwe and the article states that it is a change for the better. Mugabe is the last of the old type of rule and he is one of the many leaders who helped their country out of colonial rule only to push it back into being poorer than it was before. There has been graffiti out through the capital city of Harare that says “Zuakwana” which simply means “Enough”. This graffiti has been seen on and around political posters for Robert Mugabe. The people are tired of Mugabe’s policies. Inflation in Zimbabwe is running at an annual rate of more than 100,000%. Many people of Zimbabwe are leaving the country because of the political problems there. The leadership is ruining the country.

Biofuel

After reading the article I don't like biofuels. The biofuel industry is growing with Iowa in the United States leading the way with more than 50,000 jobs for turning corn into fuel. Brazil is the leading country it produces enough biofuel to supply 45% of it transportation fuel. One SUV tank of fuel could feed a person for 365 days. By taking food the price of food is rising. In Brazil the main problem is deforestation. The reason why trees are being cut down is that farmes can have more to farm. "Deforestation accounts for 20% of all current carbon emissions. Sugarcane is tghe best biofuel. I dont see much good coming out of this.

The Ghost Of Memphis

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential people. He change the United state by fighting for black rights. After 40 years of his assassination people still remember him. I think that if he would not have gotten shot than he would not be remembered by so many. He wanted to live along life. It must have been hard always knowing that you had a good change of dying cause of all the rights you pushed for and the people you did not want change. I never knew how young he was and that he had a pillow fight just before getting shot. He was a good man.

Patriot Games

To boycotts the Olympics would be plan stupid. You would get nothing out of it. China is doing wrong things with the games coming up but to not go would hurt the athletes and lessen the glory of the Olympics. When the games come each country should stop what ever war, battle, and or problem they are in. Just like when the Greeks did it. The athletes work hard to get there and to not go do to a boycott and make them wait until next time were they will probably be slower. Jesse Owens did one of the coolest things every. If people are mad about the china is treating its people than get the Olympic board to do something.

Postcard Bhutan

We take major advantage over what we have. The people in that country could not vote for a really long time. I think it is funny that when there king told them to vote they did not want to cause they were afraid of change. The country dose not even have one stop light. I have never heard of that. They got the important things like Internet that all that matters. They really get into campaigning. It's cool how the king just told them that from now on the people will pick the governments.

Smoke

There was a study done that showed by 2030 more than 8 million people will die each year from tobacco related causes. That is crazy. Smoking is nasty. Yet so many people do it. I wonder why. But have 8 million people die each year is out of control. How do you get people to quite smoking?