DUE MONDAY, 1/11: Current Events Assignment
Ms. Derstine
connect events across time and to recognize significant themes.
Find a news article in an online database (approved sources
are below). Read the article thoroughly. Post a 2-paragraph
response, using the guidelines below. BE SURE TO POST A LINK TO YOUR
ARTICLE!
In Paragraph 1, summarize the article using the prompts below.
Remember that to truly understand the article, you may need to do some
side research!
• Who is the article about? Who are the major players in this
issue?
• What event/issue is this article about? Explain the facts/
opinions of your article.
• When did the story take place? Does it have anything to do with
past events or issues?
• Where is this event or issue occurring?
• Why is this event happening? Is it interconnected with anything
else that is going on or has gone on in the past? What are the events
that have preceded and influenced this?
• How is this story significant? How does this article fit in
with a study of government?
In Paragraph 2, respond to the article using ONE OR MORE of the
following prompts:
• What did you find interesting about this article? What did you
learn from the article?
• What are the implications of your article for you? Your
community? The US? The world?
• What questions do you have after reading this article?
• If this is mainly an opinion article, how would you respond to
the author?
• Predict what you think may happen as this article develops.
Ayan
Ayan Abdullahi
In washington, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid apologized on
Saturday for the remark about president Obama. In which he said, Obama
could win the election because he is a "light-skinned" African-
American, "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one". Obama
was calm about this and said, "As far as I am concerned, the book is
closed." From a new book about the election in '08 Reid made this
remark in private during the election. When the public saw excerpts
from the internet he released a statement about how he used poor
choose of words and he regrets saying it. He said that he's going to
help Obama in the healthcare bill battle.
I think Obama handled that sitution like a president suppose to. If it
was me i would be highly upset because that was an racist remark and
it wasn't professional of him. Also, he affended not only Obama but
most of the African-American community. But he said he's going to help
Obama in the healthcare overhaul and Obama only needs him for that.
"Philip , Elliott . "Reid to Obama: Sorry for 'no Negro dialect'
remark." Boston Globe. 9 January 2010. Associated Press , Web. 9 Jan
2010. <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/
2010/01/09/reid_to_obama_sorry_for_no_negro_dialect_remark/>"
Hennessy C.
Current Events
Officials obscured truth about deaths in immigrant jails
This article is about how immigrants were left in jail and died. The
article talks about how immigrants died in the jail cell and how they
never reported it. Now in 2008 there has been a report saying who
these people were and how they died. These death already filled
thousands of pages. "The Obama administration has vowed to overhaul
the immigration detention system". This article relates to our study
of the government because it shows how much the government can cover
and how these stories come out as a shock.
Secondly, one thing that I found interesting of this article is that
the government keeped this on the downlow. When I first read this
article I thougth it was a lie because I couldnt believe that a group
of people can keep so many death with out the public knowing. One
question that I have is how can society or the president let this
happen? And how they could live knowing that so many people died.
Bryan D.
This entire article was about the treatment of immigrants in the
immigration jails throughout the U.S. The major players of this
article are the U.S the media and the immigrants involved in this
abuse by the jails. this article is mainly about the U.S. not
releasing details about what is actually going on in these jails but
due to some good journalism and reporting they found out that since
2003 103 people have died in the custody of these jails. of course it
doesn't seem like a big number of now but think about how many people
actually go to these immigrant jails instead of just being deported.
This story has been taken place since I guess the beginning of the
immigrant jails because facts show that immigrants are the most
disrespected kind of Americans by Americans. This article has to do
with the past deaths of Boubacar Bah and Nery Romero. This story is
signifigant because its exactly what we dont want our government to be
doing but instead they continue. We are supposed to be like the good
guys but thats not how its turning out.
What i found interesting about this article is actually what was
happening in these jails. In the article it says that the man nery
romero actually needed some medicine for a broken leg but instead of
actually giving him the pain killers when he needed them to get rid of
the pain he felt they let him suffer. Which in turn caused romero to
take his own life and commit suicide. From this article I learned that
just because we live in the U.S. and expect information about the kind
of things going on we never really get th true story about the things
were getting. Like how could they tell us that people are being hurt
in the jails but forget to mention that the jails were the reason for
the hurt because of poor medical attention. I believe that as this
article developes we will become learning more about our corrupt and
evil government.
n.plaetzer
Senator Barnie Sanders of Vermont is going to put a hold on the
renomination of Federal Reserve System's chairman Ben Bernanke. The
only staunch Socialist in Congress blames Bernanke for creating the
basis of the "Bush economy" and, therefore, for causing the financial
crisis. Another reason is Bernanke's refusal to make the Fed more
transparent. Senator Sanders has always fought for social justice and
sees the personal fight as an important political battle.
I totally agree with Senator Sanders in criticizing the "Bernankeism"
of Congress and addressing the basic reason of the financial crisis
and the change of the free market to a predatory capitalism: The fiat
money policy of the Fed's low interest-rates. Moreover, I found it
quite astonishing of myself to agree with a Socialist on such a
controversial issue. Nonetheless, it is also a frightening fact that
it is left to the Socialists to make capitalism more sustainable. This
rare alliance between Ron Paul and Barnie Sanders is an interesting
example of how Congress can work sometimes.
Tatyana McAfee
Miguel Peguero
This article is about a campaign finance case that was presented to
the Supreme Court, the court adjourned without a decision. A key
player in this issue is Justice Sonia Sotomayor the courts newest
member. The cases ahead are thought to be the toughest ones after the
holiday break. The decisions made can greatly influence the national
political landscape before the midterm congressional elections. This
case is puzzling court observers and consuming the political world: a
pending decision on whether restrictions on corporate and labor union
spending on political campaigns violate the First Amendment.
For decades, Congress has outlawed such expenditures, "soft money" and
22 states have similar bans. Both sides agree that a ruling saying
such restrictions are unconstitutional would mean a huge change in the
way political campaigns are funded. The money for political campaigns
come mostly from interest groups PACs and individual contributions.
gregory lespinsse
In my opinion i believe that Deval patrick have a chance of winning because of the tax increase, which not many people support.one way he may be elected is by "hinge on a three-way race that includes both a Republican challenger and a strong showing by state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who left the Democratic Party last year to run as an independent."