"Is there such a thing as Too Early"?

Iowa has moved their caucus dates up and now we are waiting on New Hampshire as the caucuses and primaries are getting earlier and earlier. Wow! Can the general election get here fast enough????

Iowa Democrats set Earlier Caucus Date

Mr. Thompson

Websites

Here are the links to the 2 websites we looked at in class today. feel free to respond to anything you find interesting or any questions you still have about the campaign season and the process that didn't get dealt with in class today.

Caucus and Primary Schedule

Election 2008 Primary, Caucus, and Convention Phase Jan-Sept 2008

Her is the website that Mr. Decker and I check every so often for updates on polls, the candidates and the upcoming election. Feel free to add it to your favorites.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

Have a great weekend.
Mr. Thompson

pre-reading

Good morning:)

I was called to practice last night and didn't get this post up in a timely manner. Thanks to those of you who commented on the entry below. From here on out, please add your response to the finals questions (12-15) for the pre-reading assignment here.

Exit Polls from 2004 Election

Here is the website with the exit poll results from the last presidential election.

Exit Poll

Any comments are welcome.

Mr. Thompson

Science Fiction

BNW is clearly in the Science Fiction genre, with a fair amout of political science too. Let's assume Huxley is commenting on global trends he's noticing in 1932 and projecting those trends further into the future: "What if?"

Comment on a trend you think he has identified (go for the obvious or the arcane). This will help everyone as an idea base for your BNW papers.

For example:
‘But in Epsilons,’ said Mr. Foster very justly, ‘we don’t need human intelligence.’ Perhaps AH is identifying the trend toward cultures being okay with relegating some people to specific duties that require less brainpower. I have often heard people say, "Hey, we need garbage men too!"

Your turn:)

$,$,$

As we head into our unit on "The Influences on Government" a new article today detailing the money available to the Democratic and Republican candidates.

Extra Credit for the first person to correctly respond with why so much attention is being paid to Iowa and New Hampshire. For example the article mentions how many TV ads certain candidates aired in Iowa alone.

Clinton and Giuliani Hold Financial Leads

Mr. Thompson

"A Political Quiz"

Having a hard time selecting just the right person to vote for next year. Here's a site that is trying to make this job easier for you. Enjoy!

Select a Candidate Quiz

Mr. Thompson

"How far does $2500 go these days"

As we get excited for our next unit, Influences of Government, here is an article to whet the appetite. We spend significant time on money and campaign finance. Enjoy Getting Around The Rules On Lobbying a.k.a. "Since I can't give you the ticket directly let me give it to someone who can."

Mr. Thompson

Immigration: State Right or not?

As we leave our study of the Constitution behind (or do we ever really leave this behind since we refer back to it so often), here is one more article bringing up the hot topic of immigration regulation and how the states vary so much.

States' Immigration Policies Diverge

This will be a hot button topic in the upcoming election so get familiar with it. If immigration regulation is an expressed power of Congress, how can the states pass laws restricting immigration?

Mr. Thompson

Voter Turnout in US

An exerpt from a hilarious article on Americans and their ability and fascination with voting.

Turnout in presidential elections has held steady at roughly 50 percent of the voting age population for the past 75 years. The United States placed 139th among 172 nations whose voting records were measured by Sweden's International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Italy ranked highest, with voter turnout exceeding 92 percent.

Here is a link to the Sweden's IDEA study.

"Americans Seem Willing to Vote for Everything but an Actual Candidate" is the hilarious article that the stats come from.

Mr. Thompson

Symposium

APLGer's here is your chance to earn some credit that you maybe didn't get a chance to do during class today.

The one rule is "you can only post a question(s) about Constitutional meaning or application".

ie Is the military's policy of "don't ask, don't tell" unconstitutional based on the 14th amendment?

What would the Constitution say about a school trying to drug-test student athletes for performance-enhancing or illegal drugs?

Why wouldn't the Framers use specific language to either allow or deny capital punishment rather than use vague language allowing interpretations?

You have until Monday to post. We will review some of the questions posted in class that day.
Mr. Thompson

Pistol-Packin' Teacher Says It's Her Right

English teacher Shirley Katz insists that the 2nd Amendment and current Oregon law allow her to carry her Glock (that's a type of gun for you non-NRA members) in school. Read about her reasons for wanting to carry and the school district's reaction. What do you think the courts will say. Keep in mind they must rule based on the Constitution and state law as the right to gun legislation is a right reserved to the state.

For all kinds of stats and facts about guns in America you can access the following and browse
Guns in America.

Mr. Thompson

AP English

FRI reading day
Beowulf Reading

Read
1494-1693
1761-1771
2190-2354
2397-2424
2507-2914
3076-3183

MON Beowulf due
TUE Grendel vocab test
WED Grendel novel due
THUR Strands test, Beo/Grendel Symposium
FRI Unit Two test

Hillary or Rudy in "08

The most recent poll asks Americans - Hillary or Rudy? See the results first hand. By the way, for you Democrats out there, it is Oct. 4th, 2007 and the election is a long ways out yet. Don't get too excited as there is still plenty of mud to be slung. No, I didn't forget you Republicans. Your work seems to be cut out for you; behind in the polls and in the finances.

Go 3rd parties anyone!!!???

Latest Poll Results

Mr. Thompson

Federalism, not Partition

Wow a possible solution for Iraq...maybe!?

Since you are now all familiar with the term "Federalism" or "Federal System" here is an editorial relating this principle and the government in Iraq. The US Senate voted recently to de-centralize the Iraqi gov't. Some interpretted that to mean Iraq to be divided into 3 sovereign entities. This article clarifies the intent of that Senate vote and speaks of federalism. A great article to be read as we start our study of federalisma nd our own Constitution.

Federalism, not Partition

Mr. Thompson

"In a series of opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel that were written by conservative zealot John Yoo but signed by his superiors, conventional understandings about the meaning of the Constitution were turned on their heads." Newsweek book reviews.

citation for drug facts I mentioned in class (5 yrs, not 15 years), heard Tuesday by the US Supreme Court:
The 100-to-1 disparity: The law includes what critics have called a 100-to-1 disparity: Trafficking in 5 grams of crack cocaine carries a mandatory five-year prison sentence, but it takes 500 grams of cocaine powder to warrant the same sentence.

Why? What could possibly be the defense of this 24 year old law?

Can you say "Hillary vs Rudy in 2008"?

Here is the results from the most recent Washington Post-ABC News. You can check out your favorite Democratic or Republican presidential candidate (sorry Green Party). There is a lot more info in this poll than just the candidates. Questions 18 + 21 provide the data on the candidates, just scroll down to that section.
Please read the info in the opening paragraph about sample size, method of asking questions and the margin for error.

Poll Results

These results should be considered along with the previous blog entry's article on campaign fundraising since money plays such a big part of a candidate's success.

Mr. Thompson

Campaign Fundraising

Hey APLGer's
I know how much you all like money and how many of you have ambition for power (ie want to be president); well here's an idea of how much $ you need to run for that office. We spend some significant time later this semester discussing campaign finance so this would be a great
must-read for all of you so that we can refer to this when we start talking about the influences of money and the "primary season".

3rd quarter campaign fund-raising

Mr. Thompson