The official site for Mr. Baer's homework

Friday, November 4, 2011

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Development of Our Nation Study Sheet

In addition to the word search review you have already completed,you should be familiar with these terms:
Judicial Branch
Colony
Legislative Branch
Intolerable Acts
Stamp Act
Independence
Executive Branch
Government
Constitution
Mayflower Compact
House of Burgesses
Founding Fathers
1st Continental Congress
Declaration of Independence
Revolutionary War
Mercantilism
Thomas Jefferson
Mayflower Compact
Salutary Neglect
Common Law

Monday, October 17, 2011

Founding Fathers Project

Here is a link to two documents we will need to complete this assignment:
Sign-Up Sheet
Here is a link to the rubric for the project. Your project must contain the following information:
Rubric

Monday, September 19, 2011

Friday, September 9, 2011

A Day Government

Quiz on Tuesday 9/13/2011 on the Principles of Government worksheet, the theories of origin, and the characteristics of government. Please review and prepare accordingly. If you have missed any of the notes for any reason, please see me.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Questions

“Why money doesn’t make us happier”
Please read the article “Why money doesn’t make us happier.” . You need to answer the following questions based on the reading on loose-leaf, only one answer sheet needs to be turned in per a group. Please do not write on this sheet and turn it in when you have finished the assignment.

1. According to Economists does money make individuals happier? Explain.

2. According to Psychologists does money make individuals happier? Explain.

3. In the 3rd paragraph the author states: “According to standard economics, the most important commodity you can buy with additional wealth is choice.” What does she mean by this? Why is possessing the ability to make choices so important?

4. On the scale of 1 to 7, where did the following groups of individuals end up?
a. American Multimillionaires
b. Homeless in Calcutta
c. Inuit of Northern Greenland
d. Cattle Herding Masai of Kenya
e. Slum dwellers in Calcutta
What conclusions can you draw about happiness from these statistics?

5. What reasons did the author give for the meaning of the following quote?
a. "Although economic output has risen steeply over the past decades, there has been no rise in life satisfaction … and there has been a substantial increase in depression and distrust.”

6. If money doesn’t buy happiness, what does?

7. According to the article what does the following quote mean?
a. "Economies can blossom and grow only if people are deluded into believing that the production of wealth will make them happy … Economies thrive when individuals strive, but because individuals will strive only for their own happiness, it is essential that they mistakenly believe that producing and consuming are routes to personal well-being."

8. In conclusion, what is your opinion? Does money buy happiness? Why or why not? Each student should give their opinion on whether or not money buys happiness.
Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness
Economists and psychologists—and the rest of us—have long wondered if more money would make us happier. Here's the answer.
Sharon Begley
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
Updated: 8:41 PM ET Oct 14, 2007
All in all, it was probably a mistake to look for the answer to the eternal question—"Does money buy happiness?"—from people who practice what's called the dismal science. For when economists tackled the question, they started from the observation that when people put something up for sale they try to get as much for it as they can, and when people buy something they try to pay as little for it as they can. Both sides in the transaction, the economists noticed, are therefore behaving as if they would be more satisfied (happier, dare we say) if they wound up receiving more money (the seller) or holding on to more money (the buyer). Hence, more money must be better than less, and the only way more of something can be better than less of it is if it brings you greater contentment. The economists' conclusion: the more money you have, the happier you must be.
Depressed debutantes, suicidal CEOs, miserable magnates and other unhappy rich folks aren't the only ones giving the lie to this. "Psychologists have spent decades studying the relation between wealth and happiness," writes Harvard University psychologist Daniel Gilbert in his best-selling "Stumbling on Happiness," "and they have generally concluded that wealth increases human happiness when it lifts people out of abject poverty and into the middle class but that it does little to increase happiness thereafter."
That flies in the face of intuition, not to mention economic theory. According to standard economics, the most important commodity you can buy with additional wealth is choice. If you have $20 in your pocket, you can decide between steak and peanut butter for dinner, but if you have only $1 you'd better hope you already have a jar of jelly at home. Additional wealth also lets you satisfy additional needs and wants, and the more of those you satisfy the happier you are supposed to be.
The trouble is, choice is not all it's cracked up to be. Studies show that people like selecting from among maybe half a dozen kinds of pasta at the grocery store but find 27 choices overwhelming, leaving them chronically on edge that they could have chosen a better one than they did. And wants, which are nice to be able to afford, have a bad habit of becoming needs (iPod, anyone?), of which an advertising- and media-saturated culture create endless numbers. Satisfying needs brings less emotional well-being than satisfying wants.
The nonlinear nature of how much happiness money can buy—lots more happiness when it moves you out of penury and into middle-class comfort, hardly any more when it lifts you from millionaire to decamillionaire—comes through clearly in global surveys that ask people how content they feel with their lives. In a typical survey people are asked to rank their sense of well-being or happiness on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 means "not at all satisfied with my life" and 7 means "completely satisfied." Of the American multimillionaires who responded, the average happiness score was 5.8. Homeless people in Calcutta came in at 2.9. But before you assume that money does buy happiness after all, consider who else rated themselves around 5.8: the Inuit of northern Greenland, who do not exactly lead a life of luxury, and the cattle-herding Masai of Kenya, whose dung huts have no electricity or running water. And proving Gilbert's point about money buying happiness only when it lifts you out of abject poverty, slum dwellers in Calcutta—one economic rung above the homeless—rate themselves at 4.6.
Studies tracking changes in a population's reported level of happiness over time have also dealt a death blow to the money-buys-happiness claim. Since World War II the gross domestic product per capita has tripled in the United States. But people's sense of well-being, as measured by surveys asking some variation of "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life?," has barely budged. Japan has had an even more meteoric rise in GDP per capita since its postwar misery, but measures of national happiness have been flat, as they have also been in Western Europe during its long postwar boom, according to social psychologist Ruut Veenhoven of Erasmus University in Rotterdam. A 2004 analysis of more than 150 studies on wealth and happiness concluded that "economic indicators have glaring shortcomings" as approximations of well-being across nations, wrote Ed Diener of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Martin E. P. Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania. "Although economic output has risen steeply over the past decades, there has been no rise in life satisfaction … and there has been a substantial increase in depression and distrust."
That's partly because in an expanding economy, in which former luxuries such as washing machines become necessities, the newly affluent don't feel the same joy in having a machine do the laundry that their grandparents, suddenly freed from washboards, did. They just take the Maytag for granted. "Americans who earn $50,000 per year are much happier than those who earn $10,000 per year," writes Gilbert, "but Americans who earn $5 million per year are not much happier than those who earn $100,000 per year." Another reason is that an expanding paycheck, especially in an expanding economy, produces expanding aspirations and a sense that there is always one more cool thing out there that you absolutely have to have. "Economic success falls short as a measure of well-being, in part because materialism can negatively influence well-being," Diener and Seligman conclude.
If money doesn't buy happiness, what does? Grandma was right when she told you to value health and friends, not money and stuff. Or as Diener and Seligman put it, once your basic needs are met "differences in well-being are less frequently due to income, and are more frequently due to factors such as social relationships and enjoyment at work." Other researchers add fulfillment, a sense that life has meaning, belonging to civic and other groups, and living in a democracy that respects individual rights and the rule of law. If a nation wants to increase its population's sense of well-being, says Veenhoven, it should make "less investment in economic growth and more in policies that promote good governance, liberties, democracy, trust and public safety."
(Curiously, although money doesn't buy happiness, happiness can buy money. Young people who describe themselves as happy typically earn higher incomes, years later, than those who said they were unhappy. It seems that a sense of well-being can make you more productive and more likely to show initiative and other traits that lead to a higher income. Contented people are also more likely to marry and stay married, as well as to be healthy, both of which increase happiness.)
If more money doesn't buy more happiness, then the behavior of most Americans looks downright insane, as we work harder and longer, decade after decade, to fatten our W-2s. But what is insane for an individual is crucial for a national economy—that is, ever more growth and consumption. Gilbert again: "Economies can blossom and grow only if people are deluded into believing that the production of wealth will make them happy … Economies thrive when individuals strive, but because individuals will strive only for their own happiness, it is essential that they mistakenly believe that producing and consuming are routes to personal well-being." In other words, if you want to do your part for your country's economy, forget all of the above about money not buying happiness.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Judicial Branch Notes

Background
•In the late 1700’s there were no national courts in place, each state interpreted the law in their own way. There was no consistency across the board
•Often decisions by Courts in one State were ignored by courts in other States
•The framers of the Constitution finally in Article III:
oThe Judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish

What you need to remember is that there are 2 SEPARATE COURT SYSTEMS
•National judiciary spans the country with 100 courts
•Each of the 50 States has their own separate court
oState courts hear most of the cases
•Supreme Court
•Federal Court
oConstitutional Courts
•Court of Appeals
•District Courts
•Court of International Trade
oSpecial Courts- created by Congress to hear cases arising out of some of the expressed powers given to Congress in the Constitution, they hear a much narrower range of cases… sometimes called Legislative Courts
•Military Appeals
•Court of Veterans Appeals
•Claims Courts
•Tax Courts

Jurisdiction
•The authority of a court to hear and decide a case
•Literally: the power “to say the law”

Judicial Review
•Power of the courts to determine the constitutionality of the actions of the legislative and executive branches of government
•The ultimate exercise of this power rest with the Supreme Court

This is the single fact that makes the Supreme Court the final authority on the meaning of the Constitution

Appointment of Judges
•The President appoints
oFree to name anyone the Senate approves
•Most are drawn from the ranks of leading attorneys, legal scholars, and law professors, former members of Congress, and from the State Courts
•Political considerations
oLook at their own political party in making appointments
•Republican president will pick republicans
•Democratic president will pick democrats
oEvery president knows that most of the judges he/she appoints will serve for decades
oAlso look for judges who share their own legal and political outlook- the presidents ideology

Terms and Pay of Judges:
Appointed for life
oUntil they resign, retire, or die in office
oMay only be removed through the impeachment process
•Only 13 federal judges have been impeached
oCheck the footnote on page 465
Congress sets the salary of all federal judges
oChief justice $202,900
oAssociate justices $194,200
Congress provides a very generous retirement package
oThey may retire at the age of 70 after they have served at least 10 years, receive full salary for the rest of their lives
oThey may retire at the age of 65 after they have served 15 years
The Chief Justice may call any retired judge back to temporary duty in a lower federal court at any time

Primary Job: Hear and decide cases

Lower Federal Courts
•District Courts are the Federal trial courts
o649 judges handle some 250,000 cases a year (80% of the federal caseload)
oThere are 91 district courts
oThe 50 states are divided into 89 judicial districts- with one court in each district
oWashington DC
oPuerto Rico
•Each state forms at least one district- no matter the size or population… larger more populous states are divided into 2 or more districts
•At least 2 judges are assigned to each district… but many have several
•Cases heard in the district courts are most oven heard by a single judge
•Jurisdiction
oHave original jurisdiction over most cases that are heard in the federal courts… they are the principle trial courts in the FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM
1.Criminal: is one in which a defendant is tried for committing some action that congress has declared by law to be a federal crime, a wrong against the public
a.Bank robbery, kidnapping, mail fraud, counterfeiting, tax evasion, narcotics violations
2.Civil: involves some non-criminal matter, such as a dispute between two parties over the terms of a contract of a claim of patent infringement
a.Bankruptcy, postal, tax, labor relations, public lands, civil rights, and other laws
oThe only federal courts that regularly use juries to indict defendants and petit juries to try defendants
oMost of the decisions in the 91 federal courts are final and proceed no further through the judicial system
oSome cases are appealed to the court of appeals in that judicial circuit, or in a few instances, directly to the Supreme Court

•Court of Appeals
oEstablished as the gate keepers to relieve the Supreme Court of much of the burden of hearing appeals from the district courts
oThere are 12 court of appeals in the judicial system
oThe US is divided up into 11 judicial circuits, with one court of appeals for each of those circuits
Washington DC has one
o179 circuit judges sit on the appellate courts
oIn addition each justice is assigned to one of the appellate courts
oThe court of appeals only has appellate jurisdiction
They hear cases on appeal from the lower federal courts
They also hear appeal from the decisions of several federal regulatory agencies
oThey handle 40,000 cases a year
oTheir decisions are final, unless the Supreme Court chooses to hear appeals taken from them

How cases reach the Supreme Court
•Some 4,500 to 5,000 cases are appealed to the Supreme Court each year
•Of these, the court only accepts a few hundred for decision
•The rule of 4
oAt least 4 of the 9 justices must agree that a case should be put on the Courts dockets
•More than half the cases decided by the Court are disposed of in brief orders
oFor example: an order may return a case to a lower court for reconsideration in the light of some other recent and related cases decided by the high court
•The court decides, after hearing arguments and with full opinions, only about 120 cases a year

•Most cases reach the Supreme Court by WRIT OF CERTIORARI, Latin for “to be made more certain”
oThis writ is an order by the Courts directing a lower court to send up the record for a given case for its review
oEither party can petition the court to issue a writ
oA cert is granted in only a limited number of instances
1.Typically only when a petition raises some important constitutional questions or a serious problem of statutory interpretation
oWhen certiorari is denied, the decision of the lower court stands in that particular case- so the case is done, it can’t go any further
2.All this means is that at least 4 justices could not agree that the Supreme Court should accept that case for review
•A few cases do reach the Supreme Court in another way- certificate
oThis process is used when a lower court is not clear about the procedure or the rule of the law that should apply in a case
oThe lower court asks the Supreme Court to certify the answer to a specific question in the matter
•Most cases that reach the court do so from the highest state courts and the federal court of appeals
•A few do come from the federal district courts and a few come for the Court of Military appeals

The Supreme Court at Work
The court sits from the first Monday in October to sometime the following June or July
Once the Supreme Court accepts a case, it sets a date on which lawyers on both sides will present oral arguments
As a rule the justices consider cases in two week cycles
oThey hear oral arguments in several cases for 2 weeks, then the justices recess for 2 weeks, to consider those cases and handle other court business
Briefs
oWritten documents filed with the Court before an oral argument
oDetailed statements that support one side of a case and are largely built of relevant facts and the citation of previous cases
Solicitor General
oThe principle officer in the Department of Justice- the Federal Governments Chief lawyer
oThey represent the US in all cases to which it is party in the Supreme Court, and may appear in any federal or state court
oThey decide which cases the government should ask the Supreme Court to review and, also, what position the US should take in cases before the High Court
Conference
oWhen justices consider cases and decide which new cases they will accept
oAbout a third of the decisions are unanimous
Opinions
oMajority opinion
The opinion of the court
Announces the courts opinion and sets out the reasoning on which it is based
oConcurring opinion
To make or emphasize a point that was not made in the majority opinion
oDissenting opinion
Written by justices that do not agree with the Court’s majority decision

One of the last steps that a case goes through we have not visited yet
The last concept is PRECEDENT
STARE DECISIS-->LET THE DECISION STAND

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Americas-To Punish or Forgive

To Punish or Forgive
45 Points
Mr. Baer
These questions must be type written double spaced and be at least 2 paragraphs (12 sentences) in length. Several questions may require a longer response. Please be careful to provide a thorough explanation. These questions will be due 4/26/11 B-Day and 4/27/11 A-Day. DO NOT EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO PRINT them out the day they are due in class. They will be considered late. You will have a 20 point quiz on 4/26/11 B-Day and 4/27/11 A-Day that covers what you would have studied about Reconstruction.
1.Compare Lincoln’s plan for reuniting the nation after the Civil War to the Wade-Davis plan.
2.Describe the circumstances surrounding Lincoln’s assassination.
3.Explain why President Andrew Johnson was unsuccessful in dealing with Congress.
4.State the Provisions of the 14th Amendment and tell how the South reacted to it.
5.Describe the activities of the Freedman’s Bureau.
6.Analyze the myth and reality of Black Reconstruction.
7.Explain why impeachment proceedings took place and what the result was.
8.Describe the scandals and economic crises of the post Civil War period.
9.Define racism and explain its persistence despite the freeing of the slaves and the passage of new civil rights laws, and summarize the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Miracle/Olympic Notes

The Olympic Games
A. Ancient Roots
-1st Olympics 776 BC
-Founder was Oxylos and later continued by Ifitos
-All fighting in the Greek World ceased during games
-Held at sacred site of Olympia
-One event- foot race
-Later became 10 events
-No women as participants or spectators
-The time between two Olympic Games is called an Olympiad (4 years)
-Abolished in 593 AD by Romans as Christianity became official religion of the Roman Empire
-Olympics were viewed as idol worship

B. Revival
- Began in the 1800’s culminating in 1896 in Athens, Greece
- 1st Modern Olympic Games
- French Born Pierrer de Coubertin and Greek Dimitrios Vikelas founders
- At first only amateurs were allowed to compete
- mainly to keep the working class from participating
- Only 13 countries came in 1896 (including USA)
- Winter Olympics started in 1924
- Olympic Flame- symbolizes continuity between ancient and modern games
- Past- sacred flame at the altar of Zeus
- Today - lit at Olympia and carried to host city (1936)
- Olympic Symbol- 5 interlocked rings represents friendship
- 5 rings symbolize five continents at time of modern games

C. Tragedy and Politics
- 1936 Berlin Germany
- Adolf Hitler used the games to showcase his Nazi party
- “master race” was foiled by Jesse Owens
- Terrorism
- 1972 Munich, Germany
- Arab Terrorists attacked Israeli athletes at the Olympic village and killed them
- Protests
- Tommie Smith and John Carlos
- Raised black gloved fist on victory stand as national anthem played
-protested civil rights in US
-Cold War
- USSR vs USA
-Communism vs Capitalism fighting for world domination
- Taken to the playing fields
-USSR not allowed to play until 1952
-Began to immediately dominate winter games

D. National Pride
-1972 USSR wins controversial medal in Basketball
-1960 USA wins hockey gold medal
-Boycott
-1980 US and 50 countries refused to go to games in Moscow
-Protest Russian invasion of Afghanistan
-1984 USSR and 15 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted Olympics in Los Angeles
-3 times in history Olympics were cancelled dues to war
-1916, 1940, 1944

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Government Notes

Election Process:
Primary
• Is not a nominating device
• An election that is held as part of a process by which candidates are chosen
• A preference election
• Different in every state
o Democratizes the election process
o Force would-be nominees to test their candidacies in actual political combat
o Narrows the field
• Caucus
o A group of like-minded individuals who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election (Iowa)
• Convention
o In the early nineteenth century, a party’s presidential candidate was nominated by a congressional caucus
o Members of Congress from the same party would meet and recommend a nominee
o They chose a nominee and discussed issues that would be a part of their campaign
o Today, conventions perform the following functions:
 1. Formally nominate the president and vice president
 2. Serve as the party’s highest policy making organ
 3. Adopt a party platform
o While the nomination of the president is virtually sewn up by the time the convention is held, the choice for vice president is usually made known at the convention or shortly before
o Delaying the choice of running mate is a commonly used strategy to build public excitement and anticipation for the convention
Electoral College
• The Framers of the Constitution were fearful of direct democracy and the “tyranny of the majority” it might produce
• They truly believed the people were not informed enough to be trusted with electing the president
• They created a complex filtering system known as the electoral college, which was intended to insulate the selection of the president from the whims of the people
• The Electoral College is comprised of “electors”—individuals who cast their vote for their states. Electors are free to cast their vote as they choose.
• The procedure for electing the president is outlined in Article II Section I of the Constitution
• Each state has a number of electoral votes equal to the number of Senators and House members it is eligible to send to Congress
o PA-20
o NY-29
o CA-55
o TX-38
o OH-18
o FL-29
• The total number of electoral votes in the Electoral College is 538—one for each of the 100 Senators and 435 House members plus the 3 allotted for the District of Columbia
• Electors are chosen by the political parties in each state
o When votes cast their ballots in favor of a presidential candidate they are actually voting for the electors of the same party as the candidate
o When a candidate wins the popular vote in a state, he or she wins that state’s electoral votes
o Those votes are formally cast by the electors chosen to represent the winning candidate’s party in each state
o WE DO NOT VOTE FOR THE PRESIDENT…WE VOTE FOR THE ELECTORS WHO IN TURN HOPEFULLY VOTE THE WAY WE WANT THEM TO
o Our vote is called the popular vote
Flaws in the Electoral College
• Ever present threat that the winner of the popular will not win the presidency
• There is no requirement that the electors have to vote for the candidate favored by the popular vote
• Is the distribution of electoral votes fair
• The popular vote winner has failed to win the Presidency 4 times:
o Jackson won but John Adams became pres
o Tilden won but Rutherford Hayes became pres
o Grover Cleveland won, but Harrison became pres
o Al Gore won, but George W. Bush became pres
• It is possible that the race be decided in the House of Representatives
• This happens when neither candidate wins the majority
• This is likely to happen when there is three strong candidates vying for the presidency

The president and his powers assigned to him by the Constitution:
• Commander in Chief of the Armed forces
• Makes treaties
• Receives representatives from foreign countries
• Appoints ambassadors, supreme court justices
• Gives annual state of the union address
• Recommends legislation to Congress
• Convene Congress on extraordinary occasions
• Take care that all laws be faithfully executed
• Fill in administrative vacancies during recesses
• Grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against US

Two Party System
• The United States has almost always had a two party system
• Most Americans support one of the two major parties
There are 4 main reasons for two party system
1. History the fight over ratification of the Constitution led to our first two parties
-Federalists vs Anti-Federalists
2. Tradition our nation started with two parties so people accept system as way that “it has always been”
3. Elections our electoral system helps keep two party system in place. Nearly all elections are in single member districts where voters choose only one winner. Most Americans want their vote to count. So they might ignore a third party candidate for that reason.
4. Consensus The United States is a pluralistic society—one with many different groups. Yet Americans can share a broad consensus or agreement on important matters. Small parties that disagree with major parties do not get much support

The Cabinet
• The president receives advice and assistance in carrying out the responsibilities of the office from his cabinet
• A cabinet is made up of individuals from the executive departments, the vice president, and other important officials
• The purpose of the cabinet is to advise the president on matters relating to the duties of their respective offices
• As the president’s closest and most trusted advisors, members of the cabinet attend weekly meetings with the president
• There are secretaries of
o Agriculture Tom Vilsack
o CommerceGary Locke
o Defense Robert Gates
o EducationArne Duncan
o Energy Steven Chu
o Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius
o Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
o Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan
o Interior Ken Salazar
o Labor Hilda Solis
o State Hillary Clinton
o Transportation Ray LaHood
o Treasury Tim Geithner
o Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki
o Attorney General Eric Holder
1. Plans and carries out nations foreign policy state
2. Collects, borrows, and spends money Treasury
3. Manages the armed forces  Defense
4. Manages and protects the nations public lands and natural resources  Interior
5. Assists farmers and consumers of farm products Agriculture
6. Supervises trade and promotes US tourism and business Commerce
7. Is concerned with working conditions and wages of US workers Labor
8. Works for health and well being of all Americans HHS
9. Deals with special needs and problems of cities HUD
10. Manages the nations highways, railroads, airlines, and sea traffic Transportation
11. Provides advice and funding for schools Education
12. Directs services for veterans Veterans Affairs
13. Directs overall energy plan Energy
14. Has all responsibilities of law enforcement  Attorney General
15. Protects US from all internal and external terrorists Homeland Security

Friday, April 1, 2011

Government Link

Differences between Democrats and Republicans:
http://www.diffen.com/difference/democrat_vs_republican

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Homework

A reminder to all students:
Many of our assignments are assigned and completed during class time. Please take care that these are finished within a timely manner. Also, if no specific homework is listed for a given evening, please consider re-reading your notes and typing them up for future reference. Both the Americas and Government classes will be having tests in the near future. The Americas class with be tested on the current unit, which is the Civil War later next week, depending on how much time we need. The Government test will be late next week or early the week after depending on time constraints as well. The current unit in Government is the Executive Branch.
Thanks.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Civil War

Sullivan Ballou Letter:
http://www.civil-war.net/pages/sullivan_ballou.asp
Questions to be answered:
1.Why do you think Sullivan Ballou wrote this letter?
2.If you were Sullivan’s wife or children, would you plead with him not to enlist in the Union army? Why or why not?
3.In how many ways does Sullivan comfort his wife by what he writes to her?
4.Does he have regrets for himself, or only for his wife and children?
5.Sullivan writes that he is "communing with God, my country, and thee." What is his relationship to the claims that each of these make upon his life?
6.Images of "wind" and "breath" appear and reappear in the letter. How are these images related at different times to "God, my country, and thee"?
7.Sullivan says that he is perfectly willing to die to pay the debt owed to those who fell in the American Revolution. What debt, if any, do you feel you owe to Sullivan Ballou and other men like him?

Friday, February 18, 2011

Title IX Sports and Society

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20011019friday.html

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Crossword Maker

http://www.varietygames.com/CW/

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

State of the Union

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/obama-state-of-the-union-_1_n_813478.html

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Olympic Games Notes

The Olympic Games
A. Ancient Roots
-1st Olympics 776 BC
-Founder was Oxylos and later continued by Ifitos
-All fighting in the Greek World ceased during games
-Held at sacred site of Olympia
-One event- foot race
-Later became 10 events
-No women as participants or spectators
-The time between two Olympic Games is called an Olympiad (4 years)
-Abolished in 593 AD by Romans as Christianity became official religion of the Roman Empire
-Olympics were viewed as idol worship

B. Revival
- Began in the 1800’s culminating in 1896 in Athens, Greece
- 1st Modern Olympic Games
- French Born Pierrer de Coubertin and Greek Dimitrios Vikelas founders
- At first only amateurs were allowed to compete
- mainly to keep the working class from participating
- Only 13 countries came in 1896 (including USA)
- Winter Olympics started in 1924
- Olympic Flame- symbolizes continuity between ancient and modern games
- Past- sacred flame at the altar of Zeus
- Today - lit at Olympia and carried to host city (1936)
- Olympic Symbol- 5 interlocked rings represents friendship
- 5 rings symbolize five continents at time of modern games

C. Tragedy and Politics
- 1936 Berlin Germany
- Adolf Hitler used the games to showcase his Nazi party
- “master race” was foiled by Jesse Owens
- Terrorism
- 1972 Munich, Germany
- Arab Terrorists attacked Israeli athletes at the Olympic village and killed them
- Protests
- Tommie Smith and John Carlos
- Raised black gloved fist on victory stand as national anthem played
-protested civil rights in US
-Cold War
- USSR vs USA
-Communism vs Capitalism fighting for world domination
- Taken to the playing fields
-USSR not allowed to play until 1952
-Began to immediately dominate winter games

D. National Pride
-1972 USSR wins controversial medal in Basketball
-1960 USA wins hockey gold medal
-Boycott
-1980 US and 50 countries refused to go to games in Moscow
-Protest Russian invasion of Afghanistan
-1984 USSR and 15 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted Olympics in Los Angeles
-3 times in history Olympics were cancelled dues to war
-1916, 1940, 1944

Friday, January 7, 2011

Olympics Quiz

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/first-olympics7.htm

Sports and Society: Olympics

Sports and Society
The Ancient Olympics
1. With a partner, you are to create a test using the information from the following website.
2. Make sure you have:
at least 30 questions
an answer sheet
3. The test can be in any format you wish
4. Print neatly
5. Bring the finish test to me and I will make a copy

Here is the website:
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/first-olympics7.htm