Midnight is the end of the blog

Your comments on the blog have been very helpful and the blog will be making changes come the start of school. So tonight all bets are off and any comments will be approved if they have all the requirements and if they arrive by 11:59 pm tonight. We are excited to meet all of you tomorrow and will discuss this summer assignment. Remember to bring the other parts of your summer assignments (ie: Courage of Convictions essay, Political Quiz, Congress Bill essays) See you tomorrow!!!!

The End of the Beginning

Thank you again to everybody for the hard work this summer on the AP assignment. The site right now is under a "little" construction but I have received all of your comments. They will all be posted by Saturday. But they are being received by Ms. Brant and I so in your comments to the blog mentioning the post time is unnecessary. We are both excited to see you on Monday ready and prepared for a 3-5 on the AP test year!!! On that Monday we will discuss the grading impact of the summer assignment and the pluses of doing it and minuses of not doing it. Until Monday enjoy your last summer weekend!!!

I want to Congratulate all who participated!!!!

So after reading your posts again we wanted to let all of you know that you guys have done amazing. No matter when you posted ALL (school appropriate) will be accepted. We are very excited to see all of you in a week and I am happy all of you are prepared for the school year.

Last Post of Summer

So here is the last option for the summer blog adventure...and it is a really easy one. All you you need to answer are these two questions and enjoy your last week before your senior year begins. Each question should be answered with 2 paragraphs.

1) What are three positives you have found from doing the blog this summer? You need to be specific.

2) What are three things you would change about the blog or the summer assignment? And writing about not doing it is not an option.

P.S. Get that summer assignment done it is due in a week and three days. See you in a couple days.

Economy on the Rise?

First you need to go over to an article at cnn.com that deals with the economy and the deficit..

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/02/geithner.economy/index.html (copy and paste)

1) What are 3 main problems facing our national debt?

2) What are two programs that put our generation into more debt BUT have brought short term relief?

3) What are 3 positives that are our economy will see by the end of 2009?

4) After reading the article please give me your opinion on the economy? What do you think is working and not working?

Please have each question answered in it's entirety and the last question needs to be a solid 3 paragraphs...Also you can use other articles that relate please just cite your sources...Good Luck.

No Child Left Behind Results

Read the article at http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/23/school-district-falls-short-no-child-goals/

Then answer and discuss these questions...

1) What are the requirements to meet Average Yearly Progress (AYP)?

2) Do you think No Child Left Behind is a good way of monitoring and accessing schools? If not what could be better? If you do like it what do you like? (2 paragraphs)

3) Take a look at the chart and see how Valley did? Are we we meeting AYP?

4) Lastly what is the Clark County School District setting as goals to help other schools achieve AYP?

Good Luck!!!

This Weeks Agenda!!

This week people need to play catch up...Whether it is the Courage of the Convictions paper, your Supreme Court decisions, and past comments. I am going to allow past write ups up until this Friday. People need to be get going on these assignments and the next topic will post on Friday!!!! Good Luck and any questions please email us.

Where are the rest?

If you know soemone who is taking AP Gov't this next year and who is not on the blog, please contact them and encourage them to sign up. We are running short on time and this IS a part of your first quarter grade and CANNOT be "made up."

Ms B & Mr. M

Healthcare Reform

1. What are two reasons given for reform healthcare? (cite your source)

2. What are two reasons given to NOT reform healthcare? (cite your source)

3. What type of healthcare plan does President Obama favor and why?

4. Should people be required by law to obtain health insurance? Why or why not?

5. What age group has the most difficulty in obtaining health insurance and why?

6. How much of our total economy is spent on healthcare?

7. Do you favor the Health Care Reform proposed by the Democrats? Why or why not?

Supreme Court Case protecting Students Rights

I want you to go over to one of the following websites and read about one students fight to protect her individual rights at school...(Copy and Paste)

http://kdka.com/national/teen.strip.search.2.1058825.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/25/savana-redding-strip-sear_n_220717.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/04/22/2009-04-22_teen_to_supreme_court_i_was_stripped_of_dignity.html

So after reading the articles please answer the following questions...

1) What is the background of the case? Who is involved and what is the main problem surrounding the case?

2) What verdict did the Supreme Court come to and why did they come to that verdict?

3) What is your opinion on the whole situation and what is Clark County School Districts policy on this situation today? (This answer needs to be to 3 paragraphs)

This is a fascinating case and does affect every single student in America. Good Luck and remember to always be school appropriate in your responses. And have a Happy FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!

No New Post This Weekend

SO after two straight weeks there will be no new post this weekend...but feel free to add comments and to get the boards going. Also don't send 5 of the same comments to me. Your comments have to be approved by myself or Ms. Brant so be patient they will be published. Have a great weekend and a new post will be coming June 30th.

John Ensign..Hypocrite or just Human?!?!?

John Ensign, our Nevada Senator, got himself into a political "pickle" this past week and it just keeps getting worse and worse. Below are six questions you need to answer concerning this issue. I lead you in the general direction of articles but there are many more across the world wide web. Good job last week and if you know of certain people that have still not signed up, let them know that we are in full swing. I expect a lot of discussion on this topic because it greatly affects our state and Senator Ensign's standing among the political community. Have fun and answers will start be accepted Monday and will be frozen on Wednesday but the comments can be placed all summer long. The only answer that has a length requirement is the last question and it should be 2 paragraphs in length.

1. What elected position does John Ensign presently hold?
2. When was he first elected to this position?
3. What office did he hold prior to 2000?
4. In the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, how did John Ensign vote in the impeachment process?
5. To what did John Ensign admit to on June 16, 2009 and why did he admit to it?
6. In your opinion, what should John Ensign do and why? BE SPECIFIC


News Articles: (There a BUNCH of articles at lasvegassun.com and reviewjournal.com but here are some highlights) Copy and Paste!!!!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/06/ensign_accuses_mistresss_husba.html?hpid=topnews

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/18/unanswered-why-he-told/

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/19/we-have-suffered-indescribable-pain/

First Post of Summer: June 11th 2009

First and foremost I only see 12 followers this early in the school year and hope to see a whole lot more in a quick fashion. If you are already a follower let your other friends know the blog has begun. Also I wanted to provide a link to amazon where you can get the book Courage of Their Convictions used for a cheap price...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0140128107/sr=8-1/qid=1244737620/ref=olp_tab_used?ie=UTF8&coliid=&me=&qid=1244737620&sr=8-1&seller=&colid=&condition=used

Now on to the first post... This week we will be discussing the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor and what her impact would be if nominated to the Supreme Court. Below I have provide some links to stories to help answer your questions below. Please read through most of them and then make your post... (Copy and Paste all links)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104534590

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/01/sonia-sotomayor-supreme-c_n_194470.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Background-on-Judge-Sonia-Sotomayor/

This last link has many links to stories but just pick out the few that interest you...

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/supreme.court/

So here is what I want you to tell me about concerning this nomination for President Obama

1) What three aspects of Sonia Sotomayor's background impresses you the most and why?

2) What two aspects of Sotomayor's background are you least impressed with and why?

3) What type of judicial philosophy (liberal, moderate, conservative) will she have? What judicial decisions in her past would have you believe this?

4) Is she a good choice to be on the Supreme Court? Why? BE SPECIFIC

Well there is the first post. Enjoy!! One quick side note is I (Mr. Magness) am running the blog this weekend but I will be out of town until Sunday night. So make your post like you would but it will not be approved until Monday afternoon. So do not panic if your post is still not approved by Sunday. Make your post and then check back Monday or Tuesday to see if your post was approved. Remember to answer all the questions and have fun. Good Luck!!

Welcome to a Summer of Government FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to your new best friend for the upcoming summer months. Your first assignment is to sign up as a follower of this blog to the right ---------------> After you have done that take a look around the sight. To your right you have access to the New York Times, CNN and NPR to keep you updated about current events. There are also links to each weekly show under the links section. Throughout the summer you have to make 6 recap comments by answering the question about a certain show or current event issue. In addition to this you have to also provide at least 15 comments to other peoples remarks. The comments need to be at least 2 paragraphs in return. Posts will come from either myself or Ms. Brant starting June 12th through the rest of the summer.
This blog is a major part of your AP growth and you need to get used to using this blog tool because we will be using the blogs throughout the upcoming school year. You have to keep up with this because you can't do them all the last week before school. Blog posts after one week will be locked and the comments will totaled this will be part of one of your first grades of the first quarter.

Enjoy and any questions please email myself or Ms. Brant.

P.S. We monitor all comments and will inform you if we are not going to accept your response