Sunday, December 23, 2007

No required posts during the break. Next required posts are for the period of January 3-13-08.

FYI: The following is your next test. Due in class on January 8, 2008.

Civil Liberties Organizational Test
2 points possible per case
Show that you have a notecard indicating all the necessary information to show understanding of each of the following cases related to CIVIL LIBERTIES and the major topic that this case is known for (include any TESTS that are created). (Include: Case name, Brief facts of the case, Decision of the Court, Constitutional reasoning or precedent that was set)

1. Gitlow v. New York
2. Powell v. Alabama
3. Mapp v. Ohio
4. Gideon v. Wainwright
5. Near v. Minnesota
6. Griswold v. Connecticut
7. Roe v. Wade
8. Brandenburg v. Ohio
9. Schenck v. United States
10. Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell
11. Miller v. California
12. Texas v. Johnson
13. Miranda v. Arizona
14. Tinker v. Des Moines
15. Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
16. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PN v. Casey
17. Bowers v. Hardwick
18. Lemon v. Kurtzman
19. Weeks v. United States
20. Furman v. Georgia

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Please take the survey below. If you have any "other" topics you think should have been included, post them to the blog.

Anonymity is overrated, so please include your name and hour. This counts as your post for this week, but feel free to post something to the blog anyway. Again, if you think there is something missing from the survey, feel free to communicate it here. Your responses may or may not change or add parts to the class, but I'm interested in your feedback either way. Obviously, a large part of our charge is to learn government and politics AND to get ready for an AP Exam in May. That can't change, but maybe some input on the "delivery method" will make it more meaningful or significant for you (or maybe it's perfect right now)!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=U6sYgA0PP94eVHkh3mUoOA_3d_3d




Thanks to John B for the following. It is interesting:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/"WASHINGTON (CNN) — Is Mike Huckabee the new Howard Dean? That's what one prominent conservative thinks, and he's warning his fellow Republicans not to nominate the former Arkansas governor.Rich Lowry, an editor of the conservative publication the National Review (which endorsed rival Mitt Romney this week), writes on the Republican Web site Townhall.com Friday that nominating Huckabee would amount to "an act of suicide" for the party."Like Dean, Huckabee is an under-vetted former governor who is manifestly unprepared to be president of the United States," Lowry writes. "Like Dean, he is rising toward the top of polls in a crowded field based on his appeal to a particular niche of his party.""As with Dean, his vulnerabilities in a general election are so screamingly obvious that it's hard to believe that primary voters, once they focus seriously on their choice, will nominate him," he adds.Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, has gained ground in several key primary states largely due to his appeal to Republican evangelical voters. Recent polls have suggested he now holds a double-digit lead over Romney in Iowa, and is in front of Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson in South Carolina.And in the latest sign Huckabee's campaign is gaining serious momentum, veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins — the architect of Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide re-election victory — has signed on to help manage the operation.Not so fast, says Lowry. According to the conservative commentator, nominating a Baptist minister would turn one of the party's assets — its message of social conservatism — into a liability."[A] Baptist pastor running on his religiosity would be rather overdoing it," he wrote. "Social conservatism has to be part of the Republican message, but it can't be the message in its entirety."In response to Lowry's column, campaign manager Chip Saltsman defended Huckabee's electability and record as governor."Rich Lowry should know that four of the past five U.S. presidents have been governors, and all but Ronald Reagan were from the South," Saltsman said. "Mike Huckabee's candidacy is picking up steam because his optimistic, conservative message is resonating with voters who are looking for a leader with vision and experience. He has been elected four times for statewide office, twice as governor, in a Democratic-state because he places a premium on results, and that's what the American people are looking for."
– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney"

Sunday, December 09, 2007

What does Oprah have to do with the presidential election? Do we need a talk show hostess to tell us who’s best qualified to run this country?

The edited questions above were posted by "Tuffy" on the NY Times blog. See other postings and the story at the link below.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/oprah-in-des-moines/

Lineup for the Sunday morning shows:

Rudolph W. Giuliani’s advisers reportedly see his upcoming appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” as a “firewall that must bring to a halt two weeks of troubling news for their candidate.”

Mike Huckabee might also want to use his interview on “Fox News Sunday” as a firewall against troubling news in the midst of weekend coverage about a convicted rapist paroled during his administration in Arkansas and his position on AIDS in the 1990s. Senator John McCain is also booked on the program.

One Democratic candidate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., is on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

And then there’s Senator Chuck Hagel, the maverick Nebraska Republican, still not a candidate, on CBS’s “Face the Nation” along with Senator Jay Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia.

Their colleague Senator Dianne Feinstein is set to appear on CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” as is Representative John Boehner, the House minority leader. President (not General) Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan is also scheduled.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/sundays-breakfast-menu-dec-9/