hemorr’s blog

REAL BLOGGING: 

*THIS IS WHAT A BLOGGER DOES:

1) select a topic (actually, I am assigning it in this case)

2) read about it, get to know the whole topic, find the facts, become something of an expert by reading about the topic and the background, and gathering ideas from many different writers who have written on the subject – newspapers, on-line news, other bloggers, websites

3) keep track of all the information and usable quotes — and the URLs because you will be linking to them for your readers

4) form an intelligent, informed point of view / opinion about it, based on facts and good, clear critical thinking. Critical thinking is the most important thing of all.

5) write about it (blog about it.) Remember that yout goal is for the reader to gain a better and broader understanding of the topic.

6) include quotes and excerpts from your sources, with words linked to the URL of the original site

7) your blog post should make a strong case — so make it well written, well thought-out, and well supported by carefully chosen sources, quotes and excerpts.

*What should you write?

Discuss this quote, giving the background and the context of the “scandal” Snow is referring to, looking at who Tony Snow is, who he was talking to, under what circumstances this remark was made, Snow’s possible intent, what message he was trying to send, what he wanted people to think and feel as a result of his statement, the accuracy of the statement, why he chose the particular words he used, the ways in which the quote is true, the ways in which it may be misleading — and draw a conclusion about the Truth or Spin factor.

*Let’s look at the assignment step by step:

Here’s the exact assignment:

Discuss this [Snow’s] quote, giving –

1. the background and the context of the “scandal” Snow is referring to,
2. looking at who Tony Snow is,
3. who he was talking to,
4. under what circumstances this remark was made,
5. Snow’s possible intent,
6. what message he was trying to send,
7. what he wanted people to think and feel as a result of his statement,
8. the accuracy of the statement,
9. the ways in which the quote is true,
10. the ways in which it may or may not be misleading —
11. and draw a conclusion about the Truth or Spin factor.

*How can you understand it?

Go to Google and start doing some detective work.

1.who’s Mark Foley?      *Mark Adam Foley (born September 8, 1954 in Newton, Massachusetts) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida.

2.what “scandal” means?      *A scandal is a widely publicized incident involving allegations of wrong-doing, disgrace, or moral outrage. A scandal may be based on reality, or the product of false allegations, or a mixture of both.

3.What’s Capitol Hill?      *Capital Hill is the location of Parliament House, Canberra at the south apex of the land axis of the Parliamentary Triangle.

4.who’s Tony Snow?      *Robert Anthony “Tony” Snow is the White House Press Secretary for the George W. Bush administration. He succeeded Scott McClellan, becoming the third individual to serve in that position under President Bush. It is the second Presidential administration to which Snow has been employed, having worked for President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and Deputy Assistant of Media Affairs.

5.what’s a press secretary is?      *Press Secretary is a senior White House official with a rank one step below Presidential Cabinet level. The Press Secretary is the primary spokesperson for the Administration. The current Press Secretary is Tony Snow.

6.what’s a press secretary’s job is and how he does it?  *Responsibilities are collecting information about what is happening inside the Administration and around the world, and getting that information to the media in a timely and accurate fashion. The information includes things like a summary of the President’s schedule for the day, whom the President has seen, called or had interactions with, and the official position of the Administration on the news of the day.

7.Whose press secretary is he?     *The Bush administration which includes President George W. Bush,

8.What did he do before he was a press secretary?    *Snow was a broadcaster and newspaper columnist. After years of regular guest-hosting for The Rush Limbaugh Show and providing news commentary for National Public Radio, he launched his own talk radio program, The Tony Snow Show, which went on to become nationally syndicated. He was also a regular personality on Fox News Channel since 1996, hosting Fox News Sunday, Weekend Live, and often substituting as host of The O’Reilly Factor.

9.What does “naughty” mean?     * blue: suggestive of sexual impropriety; “a blue movie”; “blue jokes”; “he skips asterisks and gives you the gamy details”; “a juicy scandal”; “a naughty wink”; “naughty words”; “racy anecdotes”; “a risque story”; “spicy gossip”

• mischievous: badly behaved; “he was saucy and mischievous in school”; “a naughty boy”

10.When you use the word naughty, what do people think or imagine?    *Someone or something doing something wrong or not being nice, always doing something bad, mischievous.

11.The word naughty was chosen by Snow for a very specific reason. What was it?    *I think snow chose that word because the definition of the word describes how bad the emails are,Naughty.

*Write about this in such a way that a person who knows nothing about all this could get the whole picture from reading your blog entry. All that work you did to understand the quote and the spin involved? You did all that for your reader, so that when the reader comes to your blog they can understand what that quote was all about. You are the reader’s guide and teacher.

*The assignment was to analyze Snow’s statement from the perspective of spin/propaganda. In order to analyze Snow’s remark, you need good answers to those first 10 questions before you can answer #11.

*YOUR BLOG TOPIC: How much truth / how much spin?

*Tony Snow’s Quote:

• In reference to the Mark Foley Scandal, Tony Snow said, “I hate to tell you, but it’s not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill. And there have been other scandals, as you know, that have been more than simply naughty e-mails.”

• Your job as a blogger is to take that little two sentence quote and analyze it in terms of truth v. spin. In order to understand it, you have to understand much more than those two sentences.

*MY ESSAY ON THE TONY SNOW QUOTE:

Tony Snow said,”I hate to tell you, but it’s not always pretty up there on Capital Hill. And there have been more than simply naughty e-mails,” in reference to the Mark Foley Scandal.

     The background; Matthew Loraditch, President of page Alumni Association warned congressional pages five-years ago about dealing to close with Foley. One ironic aspect of the Scandal has been Foley’s role in the past as an advocate for missing and exploited children warning to pages from a republican staff member to house speaker Dennis Hatert’s admission that he was told about the emails. In Washington called for a federal investigation into Foley’s actions, they have possession of the first set of e-mails in July, they say they forward them to the FBI, they’ve asked the department of justice to look into why FBI did not Pursue the matter then. Rush Limbough finds a way to point the scandal toward what he calls “the Clinton War Room.”

     You Tube provide context an some commentary in addition to some primary documents. Ironists note the Mark Foley campaign ad which doest believe him to be a protector of children. CNN interviewed House speaker Dennis Hastert about what he knows of Foley’s actions. Hastert claims that he did “hot recall” any conversation about Foley’s emails prior to last Friday. This contradicts the recollection of other GOP leaders, including Tom Reynolds and John Boehner, who have said they told Hastert about the emails last winter. Foley’s side of the story is presented by press conference from his lawyer, who told reporters that Foleys was both a victim of sexual abuse and that he is a gay man as well as a alcoholic. Foley was investigated by the House leadership, counseled, an put on a form of private “probation.” When he violated that probation he was forced out of office, despite the political harm to the GOP, that was the right thing to do.

     Robert Anthony “Tony” Snow was born June 1,1955 and he’s the White House Press Seceratary for George W. Bush administration, being the third person to serve in that position under President Bush. Snow was employed once before for that same position, he worked for president George W. Bush, a Chief speech writer, and deputy assistant of media affairs between his two White House jobs; Snow also was on T.V and did broadcast Radio once before. He graduated from Princeton High School, after high school snow obtained his Bachelor of arts from Davidson College in 1977. When Tony Snow said, “I hate to tell you, but it’s not always pretty up there on Capital Hill. And there have been other scandals, as you know, that have been more than simply naughty emails,” he was speaking to Soledad O’ Brien from CNN. The circumstances this remark was made was because CNN in the morning Soledad O’ Brien asked Tony Snow why, “any communication between a 16-year old and a congressman” didn’t raise red flags, massive red flags with others who have known about the communications for months.

     This is other peoples opinion of Tony Snow’s quote; They thought he thinks, “War is more important than a sexual predator. Tony Snow didn’t want justice, he wanted to get it over with.. For example Tony Snow said, “I’ll be glad when we get this out of the way, so we can move on to other things.” Tony Snow’s possible intent was to prove Mark Foley’s innocent and to hide marks wrong doings to get peoples attention away from Foley’s scandal and their attention on to the other on Capital Hill. The message Tony Snow was trying to send was that they need to look at all the facts and everything going on everywhere else because there’s other scandals just as bad. Although Tony wanted the people to think what the difference was between the scandals, up in capital Hill and the Mark Foley scandal is just Naughty emails.The statement is not that accurate because Foley met with some of those boy’s, took them out to lunch, even probably had sex with them, it’s not just “naughty emails.” The quote can only be true if there really is more scandal’s on Capital Hill and It’s not always pretty up on Capital Hill,” quoted by Tony Snow, is the only thing that’s true. The way Tony Snow’s quote is misleading is because he refers to Foley’s scandal as simply emails and you can never tell who Tony Snow is for or against. I think Foley’s scandal is a fake and it’s bogus.

     In conclusion I think Tony Snow knew the truth about everything and he was trying to hide something big. Tony did spin the Foley scandal by only giving half the truth to the media, he spun the Foley scandal because it was hurting the GOP. Either way he was going to have the reputation of a pedophile for ever. So if Tony Snow spun the scandal or didn’t spin the scandal it wouldn’t matter because Mark Foley will always be known as a pedophile and maybe Tony Snow will too.

You have probably already seen the movies Spiderman and Spiderman 2.

If not, tell Mom you have to watch one or both

(”It’s homework, Mom — the teacher is making us watch Spiderman… I swear!”)

• Chose four strengths that you think would be in Spiderman’s Top Five. Write three or four sentences about each of the four, convincing me that Spiderman had outstanding strength in those areas. Each strength should include an example from one of the movies. (Note: I am not convinced by “He had kindness like with Aunt May.” A second-grader could say that. Show me that you understand the strength you’re writing about and understand how it is a demonstrated strength of Spiderman / Peter Parker’s personality/character.)

• Now think of a strength in which Spidey is — well — weak.
• Think of it this way: “Spiderman’s life would be happier and more fulfilling if he had more _______________.” Write a paragraph convincing me.

*Spidermans four strengths that would be in his top five are; creativity: because when he realizes he’s spiderman he decides to earn money for a spidy suite and he designes his own suite for a boxing match. Courage: because after that boxing match he won, he didnt get paid so he was mad and then the guy with the money gets robed and out of spite he lets the man go but then he finds out his uncles dead and that guy did it; so he’s got alot of courage. Bravery: because whenhe roams the streets in his spidy suite helping people he doesnt know whats going to happen or how its gana happen next, and he’s brave when that green goblin comes to get in his face. Integrity: because he never tells lies; from watching the movie I see spidy as a honest man and he presents himself in a genuine way being spiderman. Spidermans lifewould be happier and more fulfilling if he had more humor. I noticed in the movie he was always so serious he didnt seem to want to have fun or laugh for that matter. Humor is his weak strength but his strongest strength is bravery because in the movie he never seemed to be afraid of anything even when he was out saving people.

Amazing. Yes, he really said that. No political humorist made it up. You can listen for yourself: http://www.prisonplanet.com/audio/260505bushism.mp3

This quote gives some insight into how President Bush views his job description.

To catapult the propaganda… what does that mean?

(propagandaIN BRIEF: The spreading of information or ideas, sometimes false or exaggerated, in a way meant to make others accept them.)

*To catapult the propaganda means to throw ideas out in to the world and spread information. Sometimes false or exaggerated and the reason the spreading of information and ideas are sometimes false or exaggerated is to make people accept them, pay attention to them, and get involved with it.

For today, your first goal is to read (and understand) this article in Wikipedia.

*I have read the article in wikipedia and I understand it.

What are your top five strengths?

POST them in the COMMENTS section of this message and talk about them. Your writing should show that you have learned and thought about the 24 strengths and the role thry play in your life.

• • Tell which TWO of the five you feel are most true and reflect “the real you.”

  • Tell which strength you were surprised to see in the top five.

  • Which strength are you most proud of?

  • Which one contributes most to making your life happy?

  • What strength did not make the top five, but you would like to develop further. (Remember, you can learn and develop any strength. )Post comments about at least one other person’s comment. You know, like a conversation or a class discussion. (Remember those?) This will, of course, require you to check back to this post a couple of times

*My top five strengths are curiosity and interest in the world; creativity, ingenuiy, and originality; Humor and playfulness; bravery and valor; and citizenship, teamwork, and loyalty. The two strengths out of five that I feel are most true and reflect “the real me” are humor and playfulness, and bravery and valor. The strength that I wasnt expecting to see was interest in the world because I dont relly pay attention to the world and I dont really care about it. Im mostly proud of my bravery and valor strength beacause it was nice to see that im brave because sometimes im really scared. The strength that I think contributes to making my life happy the most is a tie between creativity, ingenuity, originality, and humor, playfulness because I think if I pretended to be someone else and I wasnt a happy- go person then my life would be very boring and lonely. One of the strengths I would like to develop that wasnt in my top five is humanity because I want love, kindness, and social intelligence, even though I thought I already had it.

ASSIGNMENT:

Send me an e-mail maxlighthouse@yahoo.com

The subject line should have three words: BLOG, URL, and your name

In the message, put your name and the URL of your blog.

EXAMPLE:

subject line: BLOG URL Maxlighthouse

message: Maxlighthouse http://maxlighthouse.edublogs.org

*I e-mailed you my URL, Blog, And my name.

Subject line: Blog URL Hemrr08

Message:Hemrr08 http://Hemrr08.edublogs.org

GOV. / AM. HIST. ASSIGNMENT:

• Go to this website.

You will see a series of 25 opposing opinions (Statement 1 and Statement2).

• On each issue, decide which side you agree with, and how strongly you agree.

Try to answer as many questions as possible. If you are confused by the question, come back to it later.

At the end of the test, they will ask what political party you consider yourself part of. Answer if you can, but if you have no idea, leave it blank. Same with the Liberal / Moderate / Conservative question.

• Click CALCULATE MY RESULTS

You will get a Results Page that describes the group you are part of.

                        My Results: Disaffected

Based on your answers to the questionnaire, you most closely resemble survey respondents within the Disaffected typology group. This does not mean that you necessarily fit every group characteristic or agree with the group on all issues.

Disaffecteds represent 9 percent of the American public, and 10 percent of registered voters.

Basic Description
Disaffecteds are deeply cynical about government and unsatisfied with both their own economic situation and the overall state of the nation. Under heavy financial pressure personally, this group is deeply concerned about immigration and environmental policies, particularly to the extent that they affect jobs. Alienated from politics, Disaffecteds have little interest in keeping up with news about politics and government, and few participated in the last election.

Defining Values
Despite personal financial strain – and belief that success is mostly beyond a person’s control – Disaffecteds are the only moderate supporters of government welfare and assistance to the poor. Strongly oppose immigration as well as regulatory and environmental policies on the grounds that government is ineffective and such measures cost jobs.

Who They Are
Less educated (70% have attended no college, compared with 49% nationwide) and predominantly male (57%). While a majority (60%) leans Republican, three-in-ten are strict independents, triple the national rate. Disaffecteds live in all parts of the country, though somewhat more are from rural and suburban areas than urban.

Lifestyle Notes
Somewhat higher percentage report having a gun in the home than the national average, and 42% report someone in their house has been unemployed in the past year.

2004 Election
Bush 42%, Kerry 21%. Nearly a quarter (23%) said they didn’t vote in the last election.

Party ID
68% Independent/No Preference, 30% Republican, 2% Democrat (60% Rep/LeanRep)

Media Use
Disaffecteds have little interest in current events and pay little attention to the news. No single medium or network stands out as a main source.

Write in your blog about your reaction to the description. Is it accurate? How are you similar to or different from your Typological Group. What issues are most important to you, and are issues you would consider in voting for a candidate or on a law?

* At the end of the test I wasnt expecting such a non-interested group. I thought I might have some interest in the world but I also thought I didnt have any interest in anything. So I guess its accurate because im really not that interested in the world. Although the issues that would be important to me and that I would consider voting for are Domestic issues, Social issues, and Security and Defense.

• Read the article above(Connecting with classroom Websites)
  
• Write a one paragraph response
• 
  

*[my response] Useing classroom websites work very well; Students can get their assignments aswell as check to make sure they’ve completed everything and turned it in. Some students cant remember all their assignments, how to do them, and when to turn them in, an a classroom blog/website provides all of that. It provides assignments, Instuctions, and due dates. They can also lookup reminders and other things to help them not forget and to help them keep track of all their assignments and it also helps the student learn to be more independent aswell as learn how to look things up online.

Re-read “Precious and Her Hair.” This time, read it in terms of Positive Psychology.

• Consider each of the significant characters in the story (not just Precious) –
• What were their core strengths? Give examples to support your ideas.
• What strengths were they NOT using? Did NOT using the strengths make their lives less happy or satisfying? Explain and, as always, give examples.
• Did any characters change in the course of the story, perhaps improving in one of their strengths? Maybe a strength they were weak in became much stronger.
• Which characters were living for which kinds of happiness? (pleasure, flow, meaning)
• If you were a counselor using your knowlege of Positive Psychology, what would you have told Precious?
• How are your strengths similar to and different from Precious’s?
• What else do you see in the story that relates to Positive Psychology?

Write a 300 - 350 word essay exploring these questions and ideas. State your ideas clearly, use examples and quotes from the story and from Positive Psychology sites on the Internet.

*     In the story “precious and Her Hair,” written by Ifeona Fulani theres four significant characters an they all have different signature strengths. The main character; Precious shows, self-control, valor, and ingenuity. Self-control means you can easily hold your desire, needs, and impulses in check when its appropriate. For example when precious saw Neville with the other girls she wanted to walk up to them and say something but she had self-control so she just stayed her distance. Valor means you dont shrink from threat, challenge, pain, or difficulty. For example the smelly solution inorder to grow her hair back was irritating, hardwork, and sometimes painful but she got through the process, she didnt chicken out. Ingenuity means when your faced with something you want, you find an appropriate way to reach your goal.For example Precious wanted long shiny hair likethe other girls so she went to her sister an asked her for help and her sister helped her or gave her a solution to her problem.

Precious’s mother Lucille shows, emotional intelligence, integrity, and hope. Emotional intelligence means you are aware of motives and feelings of others, you can respond skillfully and you notice differences among others. For example when Precious started to pine for Neville, Lucille noticed her dreaminess and the mopeing, she automaticalley knew there was boy problems. So Lucille sat her down for a talk to figure out what’s the problem and respond to help her deal with it. Integrity means you are an honest person, not only always speaking the truth but also living your life in a genuine and authentic way. For example when Precious’s braides fall out, Lucille said, “That were vanity will lead you.” Hope means expecting the best in the future and believing that a good future is something that can be brought about. For example Lucille has high hope for her daughter Precious to have a good future and sheants Precious to expect the best.

Homelia shows, judgement, perspective, and spirituality. Judgement means you think thing through and examine them from all sides. You dont jump to conclusion. For example when precious came to her for help she sat her down and thought things through before giving her a solution to her problem. Perspective means being able to provide wise counsel to others; having ways of looking things through and to make sense to oneself and to other people. For example in the story I remember a lot of the time someone, like Precious, would ask her for her opinion or for some help and she would provide wise answers to them. Spirituality means you have strong and coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe. For example she believes that natural herbs and spices from the earth can help heal or make something better.

Lindy shows curiosity and humor. Cuiosity means you are curious about everything, you are always asking questions, and you find all subjects and topics fascinating. For example when ever something was going on with Precious, Lindy was there listening and asking questions to find things out. Humor means you like to laugh and tease bringing smiles to other peoples face’s. For example when Precious was sad Lindy would make her happy and when the other girls would laugh at Precious Lindy would tease them behind their backs an make Precious laugh.

The Signature Strengths the characters were not using were; Citizenship, Appreciation, Forgiveness, and Leadership. Precious didnt use citizenship because if she did she would of had the other girls and Neville hanging out with her and working on your side. She also should of used appreciation because she would have appreciated how beautiful she was from the begining. Then if those other girls, Precious, an Lindy used forgiveness and leadership they would of never had a problem with eachother because all would be forgiven an they would show leadership to eachother.

The main character ’s the one that changed throughout the story was Precious. In the begining of the story she envyed all of the much prettier girls and she tried so hard to be like them and then at the end her mind changed. She knew she was going to get Neville someday but she realized that vanity is’nt that important. An if I was a counseler I would tell Precious there is no such thing as prettier or better than anyone. I would also tell her not to be jealous because you might think their better than you but in the end you still have your heart.

ASSIGNMENT: Learn about Positive Psychology, then create a blog post about what you’ve learned. positive-psychology, Authentic-Happiness, the three types of happiness.

*Positive Psychology:The concerns of Positive Psychology are three related topics: Study of positive experiences which include; Happiness, Pleasure, Gratification, Fulfillment, and well being. Study of individual traits which include; character, talents, interests, and values that enable positive experience. The study of institutions which include; families, schools, businesses, communities, and societies. Positive Psychology calls for as much focus on strength as on weakness, as much interest in excepting best things in life as in repairing the worst.

*Authentic Happiness:
The term authentic happiness is to happiness that is more enduring and stable as opposed to happy moments that come and go. The three main ingredients of Authentic Happiness are: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Research shows that engagement and meaning are more important ingredients in the recipe for happiness because engagement refers to when we are involved in activities that absorb our attention and interest. And meaningful activities are those that are engaging but also some others serve a higher purpose than our self-gratification. According to positive psychology, happiness has much more to do with living true to yourself- your interests, talents, values, and strengths of character.

*Three Types of Happiness:
The three types of happiness are; pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Pleasure in our lives is what we need in order to be happy. We need the pleasures of a tasty treat, a beautiful sunrise, or laughter, as well as larger pleasures like success and love. We also need engagement to be happy. Our lives must include activities or enterprises that capture our interest. Finally we must have meaning in our life; we must feel that we matter and that what we do matters; we also must know we are valuable, and that our lives make a difference.