Mistakes of the Judicial Branch

     Our Judicial Branch has a bit of a rough history.  While it has made mostly good calls in its lifetime, I believe that it has there have been some times when they’ve made some bad choices, or weren’t completely in control of what they were supposed to be. One such instance was when the issue of whether or not to make the Native American’s move to designated areas.  The Supreme Court was charged with making the decision, and they decided that it was unconstitutional to make them move, which I think was the right choice.  However, the president didn’t agree with them and decided to go ahead and make all of the Native Americans move to the places that we weren’t going to use.  The system didn’t work the way it was supposed to. There were also times when the judicial branch has made decisions that were completely unfair, especially when looking at them by today’s views.  Back in the 1920s a black man named Homer Plessy filed a lawsuit against a railway system because they forced him to sit in a separate train car than white people.  Courts kept ruling against him, and he kept bringing the case to higher and higher courts. Eventually the case made it to the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court ruled against Plessy, saying that separating people by race still kept them equal.  This introduced segregation as a lawful and accepted practice.  Back then it probably wasn’t so easy to realize the unfairness, but today almost everyone sees it.  As you can see, courts around America have made many mistakes, even the Supreme Court.  The judicial branch has not always worked the way that it was supposed to, and will probably continue to make mistakes in its judgment, even if those mistakes aren’t recognized for years to come.

The Hobbit Book Log #10

12/16/2012

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Pages 140-151

           

            This section begins when Bilbo and the dwarves plunge into the mysterious forest of Mirkwood.  A soon as they enter the forest they get a gloomy feeling about it.  They grew to hate the forest more than anything on their adventure this far.  They soon came about a river, which they were warned not to touch or drink from, and crossed it using a boat that was there.  However, the fattest of the dwarves, named Bombur, fell in and ended up in a deep sleep when he got pulled out of the water. They had to go on and carry Bombur, making seemingly no progress.  When Bombur finally woke up, he wept over there not being any more food, when suddenly, one dwarf saw something shining in the woods.

           

            “His heart, that had been lightened by the sight of the sun and the feel of the wind, sank into his toes; there was no food to go back down below.”  This quote that Bilbo says when he is up in the tree gives us a feel of worry for the dwarves.  They are lost, without food, and are unable to find any way out of the forest.  Bilbo, who was not so enthusiastic to go on this adventure, was able to find a shred of joy in being atop a tree and feeling the breeze.  They are lost in a forest, and have hardly any hope.

            In this section, the dwarves send Bilbo up a tree so that he can see what is all around their position.  He is not too ecstatic about having to climb this tree.  I can relate to that because I am afraid of heights.  I can go up Eagle Tower in Peninsula State Park, but that’s pretty much it. I can never get up to high on a climbing wall.  Every time I try, I just freeze once I get to a certain point.  Bilbo is a braver man than I, because he was actually able to climb that tree, and I would never be able to.

The Hobbit Book Log #9

12/9/12

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Pages 125-139

           

            This section starts out with our group of adventurers eating dinner with Beorn.  Afterwards Beorn leaves to take a look outside and the dwarves go to sleep.  When they awaken, Beorn is gone and now so is Gandalf.  Around supper time Gandalf returns and tells the dwarves that he was tracking bear prints.  The next morning Beorn returns and tells them that he was checking to make sure that their story was true.  Beorn gives the dwarves traveling advice and soon after lunch they leave, back to their adventure with refurnished supplies. As they reached the edge of Mirkwood (a forest), Gandalf leaves the dwarves, causing a large worry among them.

            “I am not sending the horse back, I am riding it back!” When Gandalf says this, it is easy to tell that the journey is about to get a lot harder for the dwarves.  Gandalf has been the dwarves’ everything.  He was their connection to hospitality, the one who saved them from the goblins, and the one who saved them from the trolls.  One can only imagine how they will manage getting through the forest without Gandalf.  Also, if his doesn’t come back by the time the dwarves get to the dragon, they are in for a big fight. It will be quite interesting to see how the story progresses from here, we will see if Bilbo is finally ready to toughen up or not.

            As I stated before, the dwarves are very worried of their current situation because they now must journey fourth without Gandalf.  This reminds me of when Bret Favre left the Packers.  All the fans were upset and worried that the Packers would start to do worse as a team.  Not long after Favre left, Aaron Rodgers started to prove himself as a quarterback and break many of Favre’s records.  The Packers were ready to move on without Favre, and now the dwarves need to be ready to move on without Gandalf.  It’s time for Bilbo to become the dwarves’ Aaron Rodgers.

Hobbit Book Log #8

12/1/12

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Pages 112-124

            After our adventurers wake up from their night of feast, the eagles kindly take them down off of the mountains so that they may continue their adventure.  Once they get off the eagles and are ready to once again begin their adventure, Gandalf announces that he will not be continuing on the adventure for much longer.  All the dwarves (and Bilbo, who I wish to remind you is a hobbit) become worried when they hear this because they would have never gotten this far without him.  Gandalf then takes them to someone’s house who he knows of, but this man, named Beorn, is not familiar with Gandalf.  Still, Beorn eventually welcomes them all in and offers them dinner.

            “Indeed we are now a good deal further east than I ever meant to come with you, for after all, this is not my adventure.  I may look into it again before it is all over, but in the meanwhile, I have other pressing business to attend to.”  When Gandalf says this, you can practically feel the dwarves get nervous.  Without him, they surely would have never gotten this far.  While he still hasn’t left at the end of this section, one can only wonder how the dwarves will fare without Gandalf guiding them through the many dangers of this adventure.

            As I have been reading this book, it has started to remind me to the Percy Jackson series.  Much like the Percy Jackson series, this book has many different kinds of warriors, and the different kinds of warriors between the two books are very similar.  For example, they both have warriors who use traditional swords and shields, and they both have people who are able to use elemental-type abilities.  Also, in both books they fight various kinds of creatures. In The Hobbit they fight trolls and goblins, and in Percy Jackson they fight minotaurs and cyclopses.  I find it interesting how books then and now can be so much alike.

The Hobbit Book Log #7

11/17/12

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Pages 102-111

            If you recall in the previous section, our group of adventurers had tried to hide in a tree from wolves.  In this one, the wolves discover them in the tree.  Then, it just so happened that wargs and goblins were showing up because they were planning a meeting.  Worried about what might happen to them, Gandalf tries to fend off the creatures by throwing flaming pinecones at them, starting a big fire in the forest.  However, the creatures tame the flames and start directing them towards the trees that the dwarves are in.  Just before the trees are engulfed in flames, they are all saved by eagles who owe a debt Gandalf.  They are all taken to the eagle’s perch in the mountain where the eagles feed the adventurers. 

            “At best of times, heights made Bilbo giddy.  He used to turn queer if he looked over the edge of quite a little cliff; and he had never liked ladders, let alone trees (never having had to escape from wolves before).  This is an important quote because recently in the story we have seen great feats of bravery from Bilbo.  Also during this part, Bilbo is hanging from someone’s leg, not feeling he can hold on any longer; ready to drop at any moment.  This reminds us that he is still a fragile little hobbit, not completely ready for this adventure. 

            While Bilbo is being taken to the eagle’s perch, he looks down at the land below him and begins to feel queasy.  Being afraid of heights, this experience makes him feel very, very sick. I can relate to this because, while not completely afraid of heights, being at high altitudes makes me feel a little anxious.  I am hardly able to be at the top of eagle tower without feeling that I can’t go any higher.  I don’t think I could be any higher than that.  For me, it’s the fear of falling that really gets to me, just like Bilbo.

The Hobbit Book Log #6

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

11/10/12

Pages 91-100

            This section begins with Bilbo walking away from the mountain where he escaped from Gollum and Goblins.  As he walks away from the mountain he wonders if he should go back to look for the rest of the dwarves in the mountain, but soon finds them at a campfire.  They are all happy to see him, but are very surprised that he had escaped from the goblins.  He told them how he managed to escape, but decided not to tell them about the ring.  As night began to fall, they set out to continue their journey, but they were without food.  As they walked through a forest, they started to hear wolves.  They ran and decided to hide in trees. 

            “I brought him, and I don’t bring things that are of no use.  Either you help me to look for him, or I go and leave you to get out of the mess as best you can.  If we can only find him again, you will thank me before this is all over.”  This quote said by Gandalf shows that he has faith in not only his choice to bring Bilbo along, but also in Bilbo.  In the previous section, we’ve seen that Bilbo is capable of making good choices in a heartbeat and will be able to help the team of dwarves immensely.

When the dwarves run from the wolves they climb into trees.  I can relate to that, but only in the sense of climbing the tree, not running from anything. Well, I probably shouldn’t say that because I may have used the tree I used to climb all the time as a hiding spot for hide and seek when I was a lot younger.  The tree I’m talking about is a very big tree, and used to be very good for climbing.  I would always climb it with friends and family, and it would be used for games like hide and go seek, and playing things like army or something like that.

The Hobbit Book Log #5

11/3/12

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Pages 64-77

            In this section, Bilbo awakens alone from unconsciousness in the dark.  He feels a ring on the ground and without thinking slips it in his pocket.  Not, knowing what to do, he moves through a river to try and find his way out.  He soon meets a small humanlike creature named Gollum who intends to murder and eat Bilbo.  He gives Bilbo a chance to save himself through a game of riddles.  They exchange riddles and answers, and Bilbo ends up winning.  Gollum decides to use his magic ring to turn in visible and sneak up on Bilbo.  When he can’t find the ring, he blames Bilbo and chases after him.  Bilbo puts the ring that he has in his pocket on his finger, and turns invisible, disappearing from Gollum.

            “He guessed as well as he could, and crawled along for a good way, till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel.  It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it.  He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking; certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment.”  This is an important part in the book, because for anyone who knows anything about The Lord of the Rings series could guess that this is the special ring that will turn you invisible. It starts a major part in the story that becomes vital to Bilbo’s own story. 

            During Bilbo’s riddle contest with Gollum, Bilbo is unable to think of a riddle and hesitates to put out a riddle.  Gollum starts to pressure him and backs him into a corner, and Bilbo continues to get more and more nervous.  I kind of know what that’s like because one many years ago time I was in a room with an old dog.  It began to back me into a corner and I got really nervous.  The dog started barking and I screamed.  My dad came in and backed the dog away from me.  It’s really a scary experience to be backed into a wall by something that seems to be threatening you.