hemorr’s blog

If you did the previous assignment, you now know a great deal about checks and balances in U. S. government.

Now the next step.

Your independent study: Research and read about the unitary executive.

Use google — and try using not only google’s “web” search, but also “news.” I would also suggest — especially for visual learners — that you try clicking on google “image” to see if there aare diagrams, charts, pictures — even cartoons — that help you get the idea of this 9or any) research topic.

Essay Topic: Why is the checks and balances system important for America, and how would a unitary executive impact the system and America?

In your essay compare and contrast the two systems.

REMEMBER: “Compare and Contrast” is a particular style of essay.

*MY ESSAY:     With the Checks and Balances system, each of the three branches of the U.S. government can limit the power of the others; this way no singal branch becomes too powerful. Each branch checks the power of the other branches to make sure that the power balances’s between the three branches. The Unitary Executive Theory is a controversy theory of constitutional interpretation that adresses aspects of the powers seperation. The Checks and Balances system is important to America because it’s a important part of the Constitution.

Checks and Balances are both assoiciated with the three branches and the constitution. They both have equal power over eachother. The power of Congress to divies the President of control of the executive branch is limited. The Unitary Executive would impact the system and America because the Unitary Executive theory says that the President posseses all of the executive powers and can control subordinate officers and agencies of the executive branch. Which means the President over powers the executive branch; which also means it goes against the “Checks and Balances” system, because the power between the three branches “are not balanced.”

Checks and Balances system are different because checks refers to the ability, right, and responsibility of each power to monitor the activities of others, and Balances refers to the ability of each entity to use its authority to limit the pwers of others, whether in general Seope are particilar cases of the government are the Legislative branch, which makes the laws; the Executive branch, which enforces and carrys out the laws, and the last branch is the Judicial branch, wich interprets the laws.

Some examples of the Checks and Balances system are; that congress may pass a law, but the President can veto it; the President can veto it, but congress can override it. Also the President and congress can agree on a law but the supreme court can declare it unconstitutional.

The President has control over all three branches. All three branches of the U.S. government have certain powers. The Checks and Balances make it so each branch has a certain amount of power that they use against eachother so no singal branch takes control or has to much power. Except the Unitary theory because it works against the checks and balances system and can impact America because if the President had full power over the executive branch, the President can carry out and enforce any law he wants. Even if its not for the good of Americans. I think the world would come to an end.

print (or write) out the assignment and bring it to your next appointment. (week of October 16 - 20)

On all answers, link to the source where you found your information.

–I. FILL IN THE BLANKS IN THE SENTENCES BELOW

1. What are the 3 branches of our government? *legislative, Judicial, Executive.

2. The ______________ Branch of our government makes the laws.

3. The ______________ Branch of our government enforces our laws.

4. What are the two parts of our Congress? *Supreme court and Senate.

5. There are *100 senators.

6. The ______________ is elected by eligible United States citizens who vote and by the Electoral College system.

7. ___________ and _______________ are elected by voters in their states.

8. ________________ study laws to see if they are correct according to the Constitution.

9. Where do the major branches of our federal government meet and work?

*At the White House in Washigton D.C

10. The *President is the leader of the Executive Branch of our government.

–II. READ how one writer uses the idea of checks and balances to analyze several recent issues in the U.S. and in her state. WRITE a paragraph summarizing what you learned about checks on the Executive branch. *

–III. Print out (or very neatly draw/write) this work sheet and complete it.
* I printed out the worksheet and completed it.

–IV. Anwer these questions:

1. What happens to a law after it is passed by both houses in Congress?
*It goes to the Executive branch so they can enforce it and carry out the law.

2. What kind of a majority must Congress have to reverse a veto?                    *Congress must have 2/3 majority in each house.

3. Are most presidential vetoes reversed by Congress?
*Yes, Congress is allowed to override the Veto.

4. What is advise and consent?                                                                 *Confirmation by the senate of certain appointees of the Governor.

5. Which of the three branches of government have the power to declare war?          *The Supreme court Judiciary; The Supreme court over the President.

–V. Check back Friday for your Blog Essay Topic                                                        *I got my Blog Essay Topic: IRAQ

1) Read the following article.Here is the article from today’s news: *I read the article.

–Death Toll of Iraqis Exceeds 600,000, Report Says

By Nadine Elsibai

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) — About 600,000 people have died violent deaths in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in March 2003, researchers found in a new study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

Gunshots were the most common cause of death, with males ages 15 to 44 accounting for 59 percent of the total as of July 2006, according to the report to be published in today’s online edition of The Lancet, a scientific journal. The estimates were made after a nationwide survey of 1,849 Iraqi households between May and July 2006.

“Deaths are occurring in Iraq now at a rate more than three times that from before’’ March 2003 [the date of the American invasion], said Gilbert Burnham, lead author of the study and co-director of the Bloomberg School’s Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, in a statement.

2) In the comment section of this post, write a) your reaction to the artricle and b) tell what you know about why we invaded Iraq.

3) In your blog, write a longer, researched, thought-through, linked and refferenced post using quotes, links, your own critical thinking and information gathered from numerous sources on this topic: Why We Invaded Iraq: what were the reasons, and were they good enough?*

How did you arrive at an understanding of the Tony Snow/Mark Foley/Scandal/Capital Hill/Naughty emails/Spin assignment?

*Yes, because I couldn’t understand anything about the spin assignment and how to do it until I did the four steps to basic problem solving.

What was the problem when you first approached this assignment?

*The problem was that I know where to begin looking to find all the information for this assignment, but I eventually understood it.

“Why did Tony snow say what he said, and why did he choose those particular words to say it?”

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.