Thoughts on Mock Trial

I thought the mock trial was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the preparation that went into it. I thought my case was really interesting and there was some really good arguments both sides were able to use in their defense. My case was Susan Williams V. David Jones, and it dealt with the alleged rape of Susan Williams. What I enjoyed most about the trial was being able to prepare a cross examination. Although my cross examination wasn't unbelievable, I still thought it was fun to be able to "burn" somebody on the witness stand and strategically get them to say what I wanted to prove. I also really enjoyed being a witness. I actually went into full character and acted the part really well. I even threw in a Boston accent for fun.  Although we lost, I still don't understand how it could have been seen as a unanimous decision by the jury.  There was a legitimate argument presented by us that Susan Williams said "No" and that there was resistance. And the law states that any type of resistance infers that it is rape. I even got David Jones to admit to rape while on the witness stand so I really think we could have won this trial. Regardless, I had a lot of fun with my case and it was also interesting to see the second case as a juror. As much as I hated the women in that case, it was probably the most obvious case of sexual harassment.
This mock trial really got me interested in law, and how its fun to be in those types of situations. Maybe law school is somewhere down the road for me.
 Peace

State of The Union

Like much of his speech, Obama had powerful statements about what needed to be done for economical improvement, but the question is: Can the government and Obama follow through? Obama said that by freezing annual domestic spending for the next five years the country would be able to reduce the deficit by $400 billion over the next decade. He mentioned that the freeze will bring cuts to like community action programs, and military spending. There have already been pay cuts for federal employees. These cuts will only account for annual domestic spending which only accounts for a little over 12% of out budget, the $400 billion may sound like a lot of savings, but with projections of a 6.2 trillion dollar deficit accumulating in the next few years the $400 billion sounds like pennies. The president asked millionaires to give up their tax break and mentioned that a permanent tax cut extension is out of the question budget-wise. Obama highly pushed the concept of investing. He said by investing in innovation, education and infrastructure, America will become a better environment for businesses and job creation. In order to help businesses Obama asked congress to lower corporate tax rates for the first time in 25 years. What was really interesting to see was the kind of awkward feeling the crowd had with members of different parties sitting next to each other. At times you could tell people weren't sure weather or not to clap. And there were often strange moments of silence. It was a bit of an uncomfortable feeling but I think it was good for the address to be given with the audience the way it was. In the future I think this will be beneficial to relationships in Washington.

Hidden Bias

The results I received on the IAT test, say that I strongly prefer European Americans when compared to African Americans.  I was surprised by the results because I don't truly think that I'm a prejudiced person. I don't agree with the results but its interesting to see. The reason for these results is because of how I took the test. I don't know if this environment that I'm taking it in, or how the test is given, if it can be considered accurate. I believe that the keyboard and the changing of sides for words really is what affected my test results. To me it wasn't a matter of whether those were hidden biases being exposed, but more of the test not being taken in the most productive way. In think this because it wasn't as if I was always putting negative words on the African American side. I would put words such as "nasty", and "awful" with whites too. That's why I don't believe this test was very accurate.
From reading the introduction page to the website I was able to learn a bit more about what these results mean, and where biases, prejudices, and stereotypes come from. Although many people claim to not be racist, which most aren't, we do have predispositions on certain things. Right now I can say that I don't believe I am a prejudiced person, or stereotypical, but I have made reference in the past that could possibly justify that I am. We learn this at a young age. I don't have a dislike for black people, I just have grown up in an environment where most of my friends are white.  I agree with what the website said in how if our communities were more integrated and had whites and blacks working together, then it would be easier to erase these hidden biases.