Solutions Brainstorming

1.  Violence in the city:
- This interests me because there are daily homicides, arson, etc. in the city, and there are rarely any events like this in the suburbs.  

2.  Distribution of wealth:
-  Why is a lot of money is concentrated in the suburbs and very little money in the city?

3.  Uselessness of some downtown areas:
-  What could be done with all of the run down buildings if they were all fixed up and used.  Business could use them, bringing money and people to the area. 

Documentary Project

Click here to see the Bag It! Presentation.
http://www.slideshare.net/davidgellebrecht/bag-it-5986240

Research Question

Ideas for research Questions:
1.  What has been the significance of interrogation for security purposes in the United States and what arguments for and against it exist?

           What has been the significance of interrogation for national security purposes in the United States and what arguments exist about where the "breaking point" is?

2.  What are the different views on interrogation methods in the United States and what is the "breaking point" where interrogation should or shouldn't occur?

3.  How has interrogation advanced in the last decade(s) in the United States and how has this contributed to the arguments regarding interrogation?

4.  What types of interrogation in the United States are used to extract information, and how has this upset our citizens and other countries? 

5.  How do interrogation methods between the United States and other countries differ, and how has this caused disagreement and problems for national security?

Research ideas:

-  Specific events.
-  Has it been productive in the past?
-  Other countries opinions?
-  Breaking point?
-  Common misconceptions?

Topic Proposal

A topic that I am interested in for my Human Rights Violation project is torture relating to terrorism or government support in the United States.  Some people believe that it is against human rights to torture a "terrorist" or another person who has information that is crucial to national security.  However, I believe that it is fair if this person has information that is not obtainable otherwise, and could possibly save hundreds of lives.

Interesting and helpful links:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Investigation/story?id=1322866:  Describes the CIA's interrogation techniques.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/mar/13/usa.guantanamo:  An article about Guantanamo Bay and American torture tactics.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/torture-info.htm/printable:  A HowStuffWorks article on how torture is used to retrieve information.

Some questions I have are:
1.  What other countries use extreme tactics to get information? What other countries do not?
2.  Do different countries have different viewpoints on this subject?
3.  What is an alternative to using these methods?  What do other countries against it use?
4.  Are human rights more important than the safety of our country?
5.  How much torture is too much according to the DHR?

Post-Seminar Maus II: 1st Half

Questions that I have after the seminar:

Was the characteristic of the father being "cheap" stereotype based, or was it actually a trait of the father?
     I think it may be a trait, but it is also a stereotype of Jews, which makes is slightly odd to throw into the description because it is so stereotpical.

Were the masks just used as a symbol of the writer "being in the others' shoes?"  So that he could write the story better, he took their viewpoint.
     I think the masks were used as a symbol of the writer transporting himself into the shoes of the victims to allow him to write better.

Why were animals chosen, particularly mice?
      This is a question I am still quite confused about. I think that the story would have been the same without the animals.  However, there was a discussion about how the animals were used to classify the different groups of people, but this could have been left out, or done in another manor and made plenty of sense. 

Why do you think the books starts with such a long introduction?
     I don't think the book needs such a long introduction.  I think that it should be cut down, and go straight into the description of the Holocaust, then it can spend more time in "real life" later in the story, after we have been exposed to the real plot. 

Two articles from The Democratic Republic of the Congo

1. My article is about how the “Lt. Col Mayele of the Mai Mai Cheka rebel group was captured in a joint operation in North Kivu province.” During his wrath, between 300 and 500 women were raped. Peace keepers were criticized for not stopping the violence, and it began to cause problems amongst all different groups, so the capture of Lt. Col. Mayele is necessary. “A UN spokesman said Lt Col Mayele, who was arrested in the province's Walikale region, was in custody at a Congolese military court in the provincial capital, Goma.” This capture was important because in 2009, over 8,900 people were raped, and his capture helps to decrease the amount of rape in the Congo. The only question I have regarding the subject is how much will his individual capture help, and how many other leaders need to be caught to eliminate the sex crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11480809
2. The second article I read describes how “The United Nations today finally released a delayed report implicating the government of Rwanda in genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite a vigorous campaign by Kigali to quash the allegations.” This is a big controversy in the Congo because the leaders of the Congo now are the same leaders helped to end the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994. The report that was filled discusses more the 600 specific incidents of war crimes, some of these include the Rwandan army rounding up men, women, and children and butchering them. The report states, “The soldiers threw the bodies of the victims into the latrines. They also killed several dozen people [refugees and Zairians] at the villages of Luberizi and Mutarule. After the killings, the bodies of over 60 victims were found in houses in the two villages.” The report is then ended by saying, “These crimes will be re-examined in the analysis of the specific question of the existence or not of an intention to partially destroy the group of Hutu refugees, which is the essential element in the crime of genocide as defined in international law.” This is an important situation because it has to deal with war crimes, which have to deal with the whole world. It also is very stressful and embarrassing for the government of these countries because they are the ones who tried to abolish the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994, so it would be a disgrace and very condescending if they were behind another genocide.

Discussion Review

I think that our group's discussion went very well.  We were able to dive into topics that we originally thought were not nearly as clear, or practical as we thought.  I have a few questions left, such as the role of Leopold's family, and the role of that in his choices.  I am also anxious to find out the role of King Leopold's Ghost as the story develops.