Survey all over town

Now that we have spoken about surveying, this is a really good article about how beneficial surveying is. It also points out that it's extremely necassary, because if you base your decisions off of just the people who come to town meetings it can be very one sided.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/us/04middlebury.html?ei=5070&emc=eta1

How educated are we?

This is a quiz my mom showed me and was recently talked about in The Tennesseean. It is all about our government and how it works. Apparently many people fail it and I'll be honest I did too. Anyways, here's the link, enjoy everyone!

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

Assignment over Thanksgiving Break

In the next week you need to complete the following assignment:

Go to this website and find topics you are interested in and select TWO interest groups that focus on those topics. (Some weblinks don't work, so keep trying until you find one that does). Once you have settled on TWO websites you need to write down the following information:

1. Name of the interest group
2. Their mission statement or specific focus (usually found at the "about us" button)
   
3. Their political alignment (liberal, conservative, non-partisan etc.)
4. Any legislation they comment on OR are trying to get into Congress
5. (Extra credit) Find a piece of past legislation this interest group supported or was involved in getting passed (some links on our blog will help with this)
   

Britain Plans Bank Bailout Worth Hundreds of Billions

As European leaders continued to clash over measures to ease the financial crisis, Britain announced a three-part multibillion-dollar bailout for its beleaguered banks, and Spain moved to mount a separate rescue of its own banking sector, The New York Times’s Landon Thomas Jr. and Carter Dougherty reported.

At a news conference, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, pictured above, insisted that the crisis had begun in the United States. “This problem started in America with irresponsible actions and lending by some institutions,” he said. “In some cases nobody actually knew what irresponsible lending was done.”

As a result of the crisis, he said, “the global financial market has ceased to function.”

He depicted the British measures as far more radical than had been forecast and farther reaching than America’s $700 billion bailout.

“We have led the world today with a proposal to restructure our banking system,” Mr. Brown said. “We are taking the steps that I believe other countries will take in the future.”

In a theme that ran through the meeting, European ministers promised to avoid a bankruptcy like that of Lehman Brothers, which elevated the crisis on Sept. 15. “We’re not going to tolerate a Lehman Brothers scenario,” said Christine Lagarde, France’s finance minister.

The idea behind the British plan is to increase the underlying capital the banks rely upon as a cushion against losses, which most analysts and investors say is no longer sufficient given the combination of a recession-bound economy and the drying up of most forms of short-term liquidity.

for the full article http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/britain-announces-bank-bailout-worth-hundreds-of-billions/

Do you think that America is to blame for the finacial crisis happening in the world? Why or Why not? Do you think this plan will work? Are there any similarities between America and Britian on how to resolve this economic crisis?

A 5 year low on wallstreet

Wall Street continued to fall on tuesday with a 500 point loss which brought Dow down nearly 900 points in the last 2 days. The Federal Reserve's plan to improve credit markets failed to make investors confident agian. Chairman Ben Bernanke's pessimistic econmomic outlook in a speech this afternoon made it worse. Do you feel comfortable investing with the current economic crisis? What can be done to ensure the confidence in investors?

WOAHH! CBS Poll SAYS....

A poll held by CBS recently shows that Obama indeed does have a whapping 6 point lead over MmCain! Obama with 48 prcent of registered voters and McCain with a slight fall behind of 42 percent! Which is crazy because 12 percent of democratic voters said that they are backing up McCain, And a quarter of those who supported Clinton, are now pulling for McCain instesd of Obama..the Democratic candidate!? I am litterally sitting here going WHHAAAAATTT?

All of this is leading back to what we took notes on in class today..all of this talk of betraying the whole idea of voting for you candidate because of the political party he (or in this year's case she), represents. These are now being put into categories in my head as these so called "Ideological Terms"...If it had not been for the Swi-man, i would have no idea why these people would be voting for someone of the opposite political party they were once so accustom to..

In conclusion..Watch The Political Debate In Our Own City!!! Tomorrow night at 7:00pm, i am pretty sure thats the time..
peace out

Vice Presidential Debate!

The Vice Presidential debate took place tonight. Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden. There was a lot of talk on the War in Iraq and our economy. What are you views on the debate? Who do you think took the victory?
There was a lot of disagreement on if we should bring the troops home from overseas or not. Mccain/Palin think it would be best to stay, while Obama/Biden think its time to bring them home. In your opinion, what do you think would be the best choice for Nation's sake?
One last thing to think about. Palin states that the climate change is due to the cyclical temperature changes on our planet. She doesn't believe that climate change should be blamed just on man. Biden argues that climate change is clearly man made. Thoughts on this topic?

Important reminders

A few things for you to think about:

1 -- The first presidential debate for our class is THREE weeks away...are you going to be ready?? (Issues sheet is due in TWO weeks for those going first)

2 -- We have about 2 1/2 weeks left in this grading period. Be sure you are making up work and turning in your assignments on time.

3 -- I expect to see MANY of you in my room at lunch doing test corrections.

Palin..advertising gimmick or a smart choice?

What are your thoughts about McCain choosing Palin as his Vice President? Agree or Disagree with his choice. Why do you think he made his choice of a women who has been a senator for a country of such a low poplutation and coming from a state such as Alaska? How do you think Palin will handle the pressures of becoming the VP in the future?

What about the green party?

The third major American Party...that most Americans don't even know exists.
What's really crazy is we have obama who's black and hillary who is a woman and these facts are extremely controversial and bring attention, but the green parties candidate is a BLACK WOMAN. Have you heard anything about her?
She is Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia.
Though, only 13 of the 50 states will have her on their ballots she is still a candidate for president. She is not on the Tennessee ballot, so you won't get the chance to vote for her sadly.

Look at www.votetruth08.com will tell you all about her and her running mate Rosa Clement. Alot of the websites about them are a little confusing and run by supporters, so I would go to www.gp.org for straight info on the green party.

Sarah Palin Controversy

There is currently a lot of controversy going on about McCain's choice for VP, Sarah Palin. For those of you that haven't heard, the controversy is about Palin's "5th child", Trig Paxson Van Palin. The thing is, Palin didn't tell anyone that she was pregnant until she was seven months along and no one noticed before then. Why didn't they notice? Well its because she wasn't showing at all. However, her 15 year old daughter was. It looks like Palin's daughter, Bristol, had Trig and her mother is pretending that it is her baby. Bristol had been taken out of school on and off for 5-8 months because of infectious mononucleosis. Suspicious right? Thats what I thought. 

Read more about this controversy by clicking here and post comments about whether or not you think Palin lied. If you do think she lied, why do you think she did it and how might it affect the upcoming election?(remember that Palin is pro-life) 

Choices

Just giving the class something to think about more deeply: Why do think Obama didn't pick Hilary to get the rest of his votes?

Unity v. Diversity

Read the following quotes on diversity in America. What is your response? This is especially relevant for Nashville since there is currently a bill in the Metro Council that proposes to make English the only language for all Metro government publications.

"We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, and we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, and not as dwellers of a polyglot boarding-house." Theodore Roosevelt

"We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams." Jimmy Carter

Register to Vote!

If your eligible to vote now ,why not register so you can help decided the next president for this upcoming election? Or, if you wont be eligible in time why not help a friend who can. To get a copy of the voter registration form click the link below.

ftp://ftp.nashville.gov/web/vote/Voter_registration_application_revised.pdf


Thanks,
Michael Glennon

Obama vs. McCain

Well we all have our different opinions about who should be the next president. Please post comments on who you are voting for/ who you would vote for and why. Please compare and contrast the different views of Obama and McCain. Also try to make a brief overview of how each of their campaigns are progressing.

Thanks,
Taylor

Welcome!

Welcome to the AP Government blog. For those of you who were in AP US last year, you will be familiar with the process, but there will be a few changes.

Rules:
1) All posts should have to do in some way with government/politics (which includes a lot!)
2) No foul language of any sort will be tolerated
3) Any web links posted to the blog also need to be appropriate
4) All posts and comments are to be treated with respect (though you don't have to agree!)

Suggestions:
- I will pose questions to the class from time to time, especially those that are relevant to current events. As the year goes on feel free to ask your own questions to the class. Make sure your questions are clear and concise and really encourage open discussion.
- You may ask me questions about homework and assignments, but let's keep those to a minimum. If it is something that you think the entire class needs to know then feel free to post it on the blog. Otherwise, send me an email.

Requirements:
- You will be required to add one post or two comments every 9wks.

I look forward to what you have to say!