Self Evaluation

I've never enjoyed group projects. I prefer to work on my own because it really difficult relying on others. Especially now that we are in college, everyone has a different class schedule and work schedule, so it difficult to meet and actually brainstorm ideas. Emailing and texting helped me communicate with my group members but it was difficult to gather everyone in the group together at one specific time. As far as the issue, we had originally picked it because it was something we could all relate to and something that can happen to any of us. Hate incidents, hate crimes on a small scale, usually verbal assaults, can be heard every single day around campus. I'm even more aware of it now that I studied the issue. Its also an issue that will probably never be eradicated completely, even though ideally we'd like to eliminate hate. But hopefully by making people aware and informed about the numbers and incidents that have happened in the past, we will initiate a spark in students to be more tolerant of others and share in the community of a university.

Hugo Chavez

Chavez's constitutional amendments were defeated two days ago by a very narrow margin. His reform proposed a bunch of amendments: lower voting age to 16, abolishing presidential term limits, reducing weekly work hours, making the banking system a federal priority, making the president in change of reserves, and expanding social security benefits to certain workers. I think the unlimited presidential re-election is a horrible proposal. This would not allow for change if the government became very corrupt. Prior to 2000, consecutive second terms were not part of the Venezuelan constitution. In Chavez's last re-election, he won with an overwhelming majority. The controversial nature of the referendum might have been caused by the 69 proposed amendments, which led to the defeat of the referendum. Chavez has claimed socialist reform but does it in an extreme manner and these new amendments would undermine any sense of a democracy in the country.