New Online Resource: Youth on the Trail

Please take a few minutes to review this youth-created site focused on Election 2012.

http://www.whatkidscando.org/youth_on_the_trail_2012/index.html?utm_source=The+Party+Conventions&utm_campaign=New%40WKCDJuly26%2C2012&utm_medium=email

Share an honest review of what you see and find. I haven't checked it out fully yet, so I value your feedback.

Questions for Review

1. Is this website a good learning tool?  Why or why not?  
2. What are other examples of good learning tools?
3. Why do you think these learning tools work for you?
4. Where can you find these tools?  
5. Or can you make them yourself?

Links, etc.

Great class today Metro AP Gov! Your focus and energy was on point. Anybody watching would never have known it was first period on a Monday morning. I hope you are continuing to develop your understanding of how the Constitution is the foundation of American Government.

The more you think critically about the reasons behind the structure of the Constitution, the more you will be able to apply these concepts to the pivotal political events taking place every day. Keep reading, keep asking questions, and keep listening to each other. Here are the links we reviewed today.

NPR on the new Supreme Court term opening today:  http://www.npr.org/2012/09/30/162039211/another-big-supreme-court-term-on-the-docket

I hope you finish listening to the Rachel Martin and Nina Totenberg conversation. Remember, we left off where they moved from affirmative action to same-sex marriage. Post your comments below.  Not only will you remember more if you write about it, you can also gain hw-bonus points for thoughtful and careful responses. Craft your thoughts on Microsoft, edit and spellcheck, and then copy and paste to the blog.

Here are the NYT homework links:

Presidential Debates:  http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/presidential_debates/index.html

The Supreme Court:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html

For this homework, use the online news story and then type or hand-write your response. Here is the Google Doc link to today's lesson plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/137__clM179KmQbD0ya5nMkAk5NqCa2wWCGustz4hkk8/edit

We have three classes this week and it's a very significant for American politics. Bring it.

Discussion Time!

While reading the intro to chapter two, I came up with the following questions:

1. Should Bill Clinton have been impeached? Is what he did (the sex scandal) severe enough? Does it meet requirements for impeachment? Explain your thinking.

2. Is Congress effective in solving issues such as healthcare reform? Meaning, do they take forever to address issues? Or are they as speedy as they can be? Do they solve issues in an appropriate matter? Or is everything wild and crazy? Why or why not?

3. Do U.S. citizens really have freedom of speech? What does "freedom of speech" mean to you? Explain.

The Ugly Senate Race

Hi everyone! I know I don't have to post on the blog tonight, but I want to voice my opinion. Okay, so I know we've all seen the ads for Linda McMahon and Chris Murphy (If not you can easily find them on YouTube). Personally, they're driving me crazy! All they're doing is attacking each other. The Connecticut senate race this year has proven to be a very difficult, tumultuous one. In my opinion, it's a bad example of a senate race. Let me tell you why:

When any political race occurs, you can expect a lot of competition. That's fine. But all of this bickering between each candidate this year is a little out of control. All I see on those TV commercials is each candidate bashing their opponent. Not focusing on the real issues that are occurring. All they seem to be doing is criticizing each other. One thing's for sure: I'm glad we only have a little more than a month of hearing these ridiculous ads. 

Now let's move onto the center of attention right now: Linda McMahon. When I first saw that article about WWE removing some "edgier" footage from their computers, I knew there would be issues. I knew it. And now look what's happened. It's hard not to know about it. It's all over the news:

Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/wwe-linda-mcmahon-connecticut-senate-democrats_n_1897679.html

Fox News 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/18/wwe-removed-dated-content-but-democrats-still-making-issues-her-past/

Washington Post 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/wrestling-empire-removes-raunchy-video-from-internet-ct-dems-vow-air-content-anyway/2012/09/18/7fa20950-01d6-11e2-bbf0-e33b4ee2f0e8_story.html

Journal Inquirer http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2012/09/24/page_one/doc50606ccfcd5cb690821897.txt

New Haven Register

http://ctsenate2012.nhregister.com/2012/09/19/sexually-suggestive-wwe-videos-posted-again-by-connecticut-democrats/

http://ctsenate2012.nhregister.com/2012/09/14/wwe-yanks-racy-videos-says-not-coordinated-by-linda-mcmahons-campaign/

I don't want to waste space on the blog, so I only listed some of the laundry list of articles anyone can easily find using the power of Google. Just about every news station has covered it in some way. I certainly wouldn't want to walk in Linda's shoes right now. 

At times like these, the question surfaces about whether politicians' backgrounds really matter that much. I don't have a firm stance on this issue; I've been flip-flopping constantly with my opinion. It's 100% possible that tomorrow I'll feel different about it. But for now, I think that backgrounds do matter. How are you going to vote for someone if you don't know where they come from? That's basically saying that you don't know who they are, yet you're voting for them. In this case, background really matters. Yes, all people make mistakes, ones that they may regret later on. That's not wrong; we're only humans afterall. But when you're famous, whether a celebrity or politician or anything else, you really have to watch every step you take.

Personally, I don't like the way this is going. I think Linda is trying to be sneaky about this whole thing, but with modern communication, that's very hard. I don't know a whole lot about what occurred behind closed doors, but I know Linda isn't innocent. She is probably a stereotypical Republican, who cares more about her money than anything or anyone else. She's definitely demonstrated it. I'm not worshiping Chris Murphy, but I'm not on Linda's side either.  She's definitely trying to win this race, as Katherine Perez said the race is like "two rats going for the big cheese".

It's going to be a tough race to the end, and I'm going to do my best to follow it. I want to know: What is your take on this issue? Who is in the wrong here? Is it anyone's fault? Do people's pasts really matter that much? 

Linda McMahon and WWE defend themselves

http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/18/wwe-aggressively-defends-itself-in-ct-senate-race/


Republican candidate Linda McMahon who is currently running for U.S Senate is being critisized a lot.  Footage of wrestling performers is being removed off the Internet by WWE.  There are videos of her in stimulated sex and necrophilia scenes being used by Democrats against her in the campaign.  Democrats seem to want to " get it out there for the voters to be able to evaluate her full record," said spokeswoman for state Democrats.

 I do believe that candidates should be observed and "evaluated" on there "full record."  But not on something that isn't wrong.  In my opinion its her past, she hasnt committed a crime.  From my perspective she shouldn't be judged based on what she did before.  This really shouldn't be a concern to us.  That was aside of her Political life.  We should focus on her Political life NOW.  I also don't agree with the videos being used by the Democrats in this campaign.  To me it isn't fair or right.


How do you think a candidate should be judged?

Campaign Back-Fire

http://ctsenate2012.nhregister.com/2012/09/19/sexually-suggestive-wwe-videos-posted-again-by-connecticut-democrats/

We should be familiar with the connection between Republican Candidate Linda McMahon and the World Wrestling Entertainment. Well during the campaign of Democratic Candidate, Rep. Chris Murphy, he posted a video of a past event to show the “Reality” of the WWE. After a number of views the WWE asked that the Video be removed. WWE said “They are removing this older material form YouTube, complaining that it was being used for political reasons without those using it explaining that WWE is now PG.” As you can see Rep. Chris Murphy’s planned back-fired. Candidate Linda McMahon despite the video is continuing to beat Rep. Murphy in the polls. Does Rep. Murphy have a chance?

The Reflection of the People, CT Senate Race

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/linda-mcmahon-wwe-video_n_1891665.html

As the senate race intensifies, the dirty between the candidate’s increases. In this article, it talks about Democrat Chris Murphy in his quest, to bring in to question the character, of Linda McMahon. He attempts this by posting a video of raunchy acts by the WWE franchise. Only eight hours after being posted the video was taken down by request of WWE. The franchise feels this was a desperate effort on Murphy’s behalf to deflect attention from his imploding campaign. “Chris Murphy and his minions at the State Democratic Party are grasping at straws to come up with anything they hope will divert the public’s attention away from the fact that Congressman Murphy’s campaign is imploding," Abrajano said in an email. "Connecticut voters are clearly unimpressed that Congressman Murphy skips work 80% of the time, that he still doesn’t have a jobs plan after 5,000 days in elected office, and that he’s refusing to come clean about the ethics scandal surrounding the special home loan deal he received while sitting on the House Financial Services Committee.”  If this is true, what does it say about us? Are we that easily distracted, that such things can pull our attention away from the truth? It bothers me that politician’s feel that they can divert our concentration from the battle with cheap shots and irrelevant issues. But this is not a surprise, it happens all too often. When politician’s feel the pressure of an issue that would be important to the people and would ruin their image or campaign they shift course to distract us, and most times we fall into their trap. But it isn’t all bad it is a way to buy them time until they can explain and fix the problem. Although I am not very fond of republicans, I like Linda McMahon’s style. Some of the time, the issues she brings into the light of the public, are important facts we need to know about her opponent. I believe it is now time in the race to put negative ad campaigns away and focus on how each candidate plans to help the people and how they are going to make a change. For example, when Todd Akin made the comments on rape, Claire McCaskill did not run her campaign around his mistake, but distanced herself from it and focused on her efforts to help the people.