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About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2009)
Mardi 4 Obama's first hundred days: following through on promises u H aley E ppebly _____________ Staff Reporter Marty people are educated on President Barack Obama's ideal plans for the United States: affordable health care, education for all, investment in alternative energy, and more. What Obama has done for this country so far and the public response to it has been overshadowed by the talk of what is to come. Already Obama is making important changes that will affect nearly everyone with his stimulus plan, proving he will follow through with his policies to better the country. The idea of evaluating a president in the first 100 days in office originated . from President Theodore Roosevelt's actions into watch, Obama issued three executive orders. The biggest called for the closure of the Guantanamo detention center, a facility that for seven years has detained people the Department of Defense determined to be an "enemy." As discussed in Obama's first press conference on Feb. 9, America's unemployment rate is the prime issue at this time. Referring to previous presidents' attempts to revive the economy through tax cuts, Obama noted that they could not succeed by only lowering the taxes of the wealthiest. Reassuring Americans why they voted for change, Obama campaigned to Congress for the American Recovery Biden to help repair the economic situation. This task force's goals are to create almost four million job opportunities, protect energy and natural resources and reconstitute waste. By initiating this task force, Obama demonstrated his concern for the general ideals that initially brought America into this debacle. Affordable health care is not an issue that can be ignored, rather every person should retirement security and revive organized labor movements. Obama not only addresses the present middle class, but states that the task force is to help those aspiring to be in the middle class, staying true to his "spread the wealth" philosophy. Obama and his task force are finding that the economy and the environment are welfare along with the physical state of the country more so than previous presidents have. On Feb. 4, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which he signed Feb. 17 in Denver, Colo., Obama presented the Children's Flealth Insurance Program Reauthorization Act that would broaden the number of children provided health care from se v e n million to 11 million. be covered because without healthy children there is no future for America. Overall, Obama is continuing to appeal to the American population that voted for him by following through with his ideas discussed during the election. Little complaint has been heard referring to Obama's reconstruction actions thus far, which may be because Americans are ready to be delivered from this economic ^ crisis. Opening up to a 1 fresh Democratic-ruled government, most people appear satisfied with the acts Obama has commenced in his first 100 days. in te rd e p e n d e n t. T h e jo b s th e ta sk fo rce h o p e s to create will be what are known as "green jobs," or jobs that provide products and services which use renewable energy resources, reduce pollution, conserve President Barack Obama signs his first bill into office. Obama has made several large-scale changes so far, the biggest of which included signing a $787 billion stimulus package. Photo from CNN.com immediately following his election and has continued to be a basis of assessment. Flaving been in office for just a month, Obama has suggested a plethora of acts. Just three days after the inauguration nearly 37.8 million people tuned and Investment Plan to help the, by no fault of their own, unemployed men and women of the country. In late January, Obama announced he is enacting a Task Force on middle class working families headed by Vice President Joseph Itili . . *1 . . . a a ; n fa m i ■ West Linn High School, 5464 West A Street, West Linn, OR 97068 (503) 673-7843 »fax: (503)657-8710 • wlhs~amplifier@wlhs.wlwv.kl2.Qr.us The Amplifier is published approximately every four weeks by the West Linn High School Advanced Journalism class. Opinions expressed in commentaries and editorials represent only those of the writer, and are not necessarily the opinions of West Linn High School, its administration, faculty, staff, or student body. Editors-in-Chief Adam Holmes Galley Lathrop Managing Editor: Zack Mueller Business Editor: Mary Wood Section Editors News: Jennifer Sitton Forum: Calley Lathrop Features: Lexi Welp Sports: Max Hays Entertainment: Adam Holmes Photo Editor: Hannah Zaayer Staff Reporters: Avery Breyne- Cartwright, Jessica Broberg, Mark Chipperfield, Ty Clarke, Patrick D'Arcy, Haley Epperly, Alison Fieldhouse, Gariy Halver son, Morgan Joscelyn, Shoshana Koon, Payton Nastari, Patrida Palczewska, Sean Pebler, Brit tany Peterson, Mark Poppert, Eta Santoro, Ashley Sheron, Riley Swanson, Nico Varela, Gunnar Wolfe Photographers: Avery Breyne- Cartwright, Jessica Broberg, Ty Clarke, Patrick D'Arcy, Adam H olm es, Shoshana Koon, Calley Lathrop, Zack Mueller, Mark Poppert, Sean Pebbler, Ashley Sheron, Nico Varela Adviser: Ann Breyne S o m e a rg u e th a t th e h ig h e r taxes will simply plummet the United States further into this economic crisis, however, Obama addresses this concern by stating that it is these economic Homework leaves students exhausted iushana f\cju Staff Reporter Students generally receive reasonable amounts of homework per class, but when five other classes and outside activities are thrown onto the to-do pile, students become overloaded. Many students balance after school activities, chores and other commitments. Nearly all experience an overload of homework. Flow do students manage to play this juggling game between the number of hours in a day, hours of homework and the amount of time spent on outside activities, plus relaxation time for themselves? "When I get home, I start my homework, then I participate in my outside activities and then I do my chores. I don't have any down time to myself. I have so much homework during the week, and yes, some is due to procrastination on my part, but even when I don't procrastinate, I still find myself struggling to balance my own life with school," Kyle Harbour, sophomore, said. Due to the amount of activities going on eight and a half or more than nine hours of sleep each night. Only 20 percent of students are obtaining Alexander Earhart, junior, works on his homework after school. Many students complain about being assigned large amounts of homework, with some experiencing physical side effects as a result of the overload. Photo by Shoshana Koon in students' lives inside and outside of school, many find there are not enough hours in a day to complete the tasks at hand. Some students decided that homework is more important than sleep, and therefore stay up extremely late just to finish it. According to United Health Care association most teens need between the required amount of sleep, and almost half are receiving insufficient sleep," Christopher Drake, of the American Sleep Foundation, said. Sleep deprivation can cause students to fall asleep during class, and limit their ability to function/ participate during class continued on page 6
