BR 4-14-14

Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon or a Pediatric PA
$429k or $96k

BR 4-10-14

$325 for rent and utilities, because shelter is obviously important for survival
$75 for cheat economical food, because food only takes backseat to shelter
$50 for clothing and accessories, because clothing needs replacing every now and again
$50 for investment into 401k, because it will potentially give me more spending money in the future without being a huge expense if the stock plummets.

BR 4-8-14

Obama signed two executive actions to try ensuring equal pay rights and to try strengthening the existing laws. These will make it easier for workers to see how much their colleagues are making. Being able to access this information will allow workers to see if they are actually being compensated fairly for their work or not. These actions are mostly for the purpose of making sure women are being paid equally for equal work. These are being filed as a part of the "Equal Pay Day."

Citizenship Test

92% Pass

BR 4-7-14

1. A U.S. Citizenship test should be administered for any immigrant wishing to become a U.S. citizen.
2. A background check from the native country should be required.
3. Proof of residency and a birth certificate from the native country should also be required.

Discrimination Homework

What is happening in the picture?
Many Native Americans are packed up and traveling down a dusty road. There is somebody passed out along the side of the road in need of some attention or help. Many are forced to walk along this road, as there are very few stagecoaches.

What is going on in America during this time?
The Trail of Tears; American settlers are taking all the land previously possessed by the Native Americans. They force the Native Americans westward in order to allow the settlements to expand.

What do the people's faces reflect?
They are crying and all have faces in agony or sadness. The woman with the most emphasis is wiping away her tears with some piece of clothing. These faces suggest bitter depression and suffering.

Give an example of how this might happen today.
The U.S Government could pass legislation to take away all Indian Reservations and force them into homelessness. This racial persecution would be very similar to what is happening in this instance.

BR 4-2-14

The most difficult part about this project will be restraining from casually answering questions asked during class without raising my hand first, as it is a habit to just answer the question.

Vocab Notes

1. Heterogeneous: society is composed of different people or cultures

2. Immigrants: legal alien from another country

3. Reservation: public land given to the native americans by the united states government

4. Refugee: somebody who moves to another country for their protection

5. Assimilation: adapt a culture to majority's culture

Section 1:
-The population of the US today is prominently white and historically has been as well.
-Immigrants arrive in record numbers every year since the 1960s.
-Populations have grown:
     african american, hispanic american, asian american
-Minority populations exceed white populations in the following states:
     California, Texas
-More females than males

Why is there so much focus on discrimination against african americans?
1. african americans have been the victims of consistent and deliberate unjuust treatment for a longer time
2. african americans constitute a huge minority group
3. most of the gains in terms of equality have been brought about on behalf of the african americans

Native Americans
-when american settlers arrived, there were many native americans
-a few years later, this number dropped drastically
-this was due to american settlers bringing foreign diseases from europe
-Trail of Tears: Native americans were forced westward
-Indian Education Act of 1972 attempted to fix problems

Hispanics
-anybody who speaks spanish
-can be any race
-largest minority group today
-Divided into four main subgroups:
     Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Central and South Americans

Asian Americans
-chinese laborers were the first asians to come to america in large numbers in the 1850s and 60s.
-they faced violence from whites who felt that they were taking their jobs.
-WWII all japanese were evacuated to the pacific coast, even native born.
-Chinese exclusion act of 1882-80 years.

Section 3:

-Those who oppose civil rights often believe you cant change morality by passing a law

Civil Rights Act of 1964:
-passed after the longest debate in senate history. (83 days)
-made four major changes:
     voting provisions
     public services could no longer deny access based on race
     federal funding programs could not discriminate for the same reasons
     employers could also not discriminate as well as labor unions
Civil Rights Act of 1968:
-aka the open housing act
-could not refuse selling or renting a living space to a person due to race

Affirmative Action:
-requires employers to take positive steps to fix the affects of past discrimination
-employers must meet quotas for minority groups/genders
-reverse discrimination: discrimination against majority group; they are denied opportunities so minority groups have more opportunities.
-California, washington, michigan, and nebraska voters passed measures to eliminate all affirmative action plans
-The Bakke Case:
     Allan Bakke sued the University of California because he was denied access to their medical school due        to affirmative action.
     He won.
-Justice Sandra Day O'Connor predicts in 25 years the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary

Section 4:

An American Citizen is a person that swears allegiance to the us and is entitled to its protection and privileges of its laws
-earlier on it didnt matter whether somebody was a citizen or not, but higher populations called for more importance to the situation
-14th Amendment was the first constitutional definition
-any citizen is subject to the jurisdiction of the judiciary of which they are a citizen
-A person can become a citizen in one of two ways
     1. By Birth
     2. Naturalization
Citizenship by Birth:
-90% of citizens
Citizenship by Naturalization
-legal process by which someone can become a us citizen.
-congress has exclusive power to provide for naturalization
-naturalization is done individually typically
-collective naturalization is when an entire group becomes citizens through en masse; normally happens when the us gains a new territory
Loss of Citizenship:
-every american citizen has a right to voluntarily abandon his citizenship; expatriation
-it is unconstitutional for congress to take away a persons citizenship based on something he has done, even if a person is involved in another countrys affairs
-naturalized citizens can lose their citizenship through denaturalization
-marriage does not make a person a citizen; only shortens the time of the naturalization process
Immigration:
-congress decide who enters and leaves the country
- quotas for immigration are like a cap; they limit the number of immigrants that are allowed to enter the united states
- immigration act of 1965 did away with the quota system; preference is given to immediate family of current american citizens
-we are currently under the immigration act of 1990; basically just adds preference to those with occupational talents and allowed more people
People can be denied entrance based on their characteristics
-criminals
-mentally ill
Deportation:
-legal process by which aliens are required to leave the country
-biggest reason for deportation: illegal immigrant or convicted of a serious crime

BR 4-1-14

Yes; as technology in safety becomes available, car companies should take full advantage of it.

Cameras will definitely make a difference in driving. Most accidents occur because the person is too careless or lazy to turn around and look to make sure they are safe to back up. Integrating cameras into the cars will allow the lazy people to see more clearly behind them without actually having to turn their heads.

BR 3-31-14

     Racism is definitely still an issue today. The main difference today is that racism goes in all directions, rather than the typical white against black persecution. Today black people are racist towards white people, white people are racist towards black people, Hispanics are racist towards Asians, and the list goes on. With that being said, occurrences of racism are far less common in this day and age than they were a few years ago. Racism has been on a steady decline for years now.

BR 3-27-14

     Supreme court justices should serve for life, because we should have a constant interpretation of the constitution for longer than a few years. The cases will be consistent, but also changing as society develops as the justices gradually change. Serving for life also practically eliminates the competition between political parties. The ideologies of the parties could pose a bias for either party if the competition became too great, and court case findings would differ between arguing political parties.

BR 3-24-14

     A outbreak of Ebola has occurred in Guinea. It is estimated that at least 59 deaths have a occurred as a result of this disease. This disease is marked by a viral hemorrhagic fever. An outbreak like this is of great concern in a nation like Guinea, where the medical practices and technology are underdeveloped compared to those of other nations. Proper sanitary action is required to prevent further spreading of this deadly disease.

Recent Supreme Court Cases

1. Religion:
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

In 1999, Cheryl Perich started teaching at Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford, Michigan. While Perich led students in prayer and taught a religion class several days a week, her job primarily consisted of teaching grade school art, science, social studies and music. In 2004, Perich left on disability and was diagnosed with narcolepsy. In 2005, after being cleared by her doctors to go back to work, the school told her that they already hired someone else. Perich then threatened to file suit, so the school promptly fired her for "insubordination and disruptive behavior."

The court unanimously agreed with a prior decision that "the Establishment Clause prevents the Government from appointing ministers, and the Free Exercise Clause prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own."


2. Minority:
Ricci v. DeStefano

This case was in regards to the racially discriminatory employment practices by New Haven, Connecticut's fire department. Eighteen of the city's firefighters sued them on the basis of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Most of these firefighters were white with one hispanic. They sued because they were all denied promotions to management positions, even though they all passed the management exams. Furthermore, the positions were given to black firefighters who apparently did not meet the requirements of the exam.

The Supreme Court heard the case. The Court held 5–4 that New Haven's decision to ignore the test results violated Title VII because the city did not have a "strong basis in evidence."


3. School System:
Fisher v. University of Texas

A girl was denied admission into the University of Texas. She argued that it was on the basis of her skin color. Surprisingly enough, she was actually white, which totally goes against the grain of most previous racial discrimination. She put the blame of this on the basis of her black friend's acceptance into UT with the same or lower academic credentials.

The court ruled in favor of the girl and forced the university to remove race questions from their application. But also, the school had the right to accept a certain number of black students.

     

Notes 3-20-14

Structure and jurisdiction of courts.

Inferior courts
-function beneath the supreme court

District courts
-94 district courts
-12 judicial districts

Secret Courts
-little known about multi-judge panel
-FISA meet in secret and are entitled to secret search warrants
-allow them to monitor terrorist threats.
-Alien Terrorist Remove court: decide whether those identified as alien terrorists by the us attorney general should be expelled form the country.

Jurisdiction
-do not hear cases within original jurisdiction of the supreme court
-hear both criminal and civil cases
-us is always prosecutor in criminal cases
-in a civil case the us can either be the plaintiff or the defendant

Court of appeals
-where the case goes after district court
-each district has 12 court of appeals and one court for federal circuit
-each court has 6-28 judges and one supreme court justice

Court of international trade
-federal trial court only tries civil cases that arise out of the nation's customs and other trade related laws
-9 judges- chief justice appointed by the president and senate

BR 3-20-14

Judicial Restraint. Judicial decisions and rulings should be consistent from case to case. Overlooking precedents makes room for bias to come into play.

Chapter 18, Sect. 1

Alito, Jr., Samuel Anthony

BR 3-11-14

1. The moral aspect behind the pharmaceutical business would be hard to manage. They should put people ahead of profits if they can, but this is much more easily said than done. After all, it is a business like everything else.

2.  No.

BR 3-19-14

I  believe it's something more than just a mechanical malfunction obviously. There's something more to it than just coincidence, but it's hard to tell what exactly is going on. No it shouldn't concern America. There were only 4 American passengers on it. It was not likely directed at America.

BR 3-18-14

1. Ukrainians became upset because they felt that the current President was affiliated with Vladimir Putin and he was wrongfully elected. They had an uprising. Russia becomes concerned with the people uprising in Ukraine, because Russia wants Crimea. The people of Crimea were forced to vote to secede Ukraine and to become a part of Russia. United States threatens to step in and fight Russia if they don't let Crimea remain a part of Ukraine.

2. If not the United States, somebody should step in. Ukraine is being "bullied" by Russia and need to understand what they are doing is wrong.

Campaign Ad Analysis

1. Who is the ad targeting?
2. Does it send a positive or negative message?
3. Do you think the ad is effective at delivering its message?
4. How is the ad different that it would be portrayed in 2014?
5. Would your vote be affected by the campaign ad?

Leader 2 (Clinton, 1992)
-Democratic Voters
-Positive
-Yes
-It would be a more negative or attack type of campaign ad most likely.
-Yes

McGovern Welfare (Nixon, 1972)
-Voters
-Negative
-Yes
-It would be portrayed much in the same way, maybe with more advanced technology though.
-Yes

Family/Children (Bush, 1988)
-Voters
-Positive
-Yes
-It would be a little less positive most likely.
-No

BR 3-12-14

1. They lost contact with the crew of the aircraft completely.

2. The airplane's tracking mechanism may have gone bad, and other mechanical problems may have occurred, causing the airplane to experience more difficulties.

BR 3-10-14

1. Morals within the pharmaceutical companies should be adjusted. This would be difficult though, as these companies are businesses, and they have to keep a business approach to selling a product. 

2. People who are less fortunate. 

Notes

Executive Branch
-Includes President, Vice President, and his cabinet
-responsible for carrying out law
-president is head of the executive branch

Roles:
-chief of State: acts as ceremonial head of government
-chief executive: has power both domestically and abroad
-chief administrator: manager of executive branch
-chief diplomat: head of foreign policy
-commander in chief: head of the military
-chief legislator: main author of public policy, shapes congressional agenda
-chief of party

Qualifications:
-natural born citizen
-be at least 35 years of age
-have lived in the us for at least 14 consecutive years

President pro tempore of the Senate: the most senior senator in the majority party has generally been chosen to be president pro tempore

Term:
-four year term
-originally no formal term
-FDR was first to be elected to more than 2 terms
-22nd amendment prevents more than two terms or 10 total years

Pay:
-determined by congress
-cannot be increased or decreased during a term
-cannot receive pay for extra work
-Benefits: mansion, air force one, personal bodyguard, camp david, health care
-currently $400,000

JFK was last president to ride in open vehicle.

BR 3-3-14

Vice President

BR 2-28-14

1. Yes.

2. No; changing the dress code in this way will not stop gang violence. Gangs are sometimes inevitable.

3. No.

BR 2-27-14

Not really; they receive funding or scholarship moneys from the school, but they do not receive money based on a set amount of time worked. Scholarships also typically only go towards tuition or room and board costs as well. Being employed by the university would not force you to use the money received towards tuition or room and board. 

They should only be paid for the costs associated with education. They should not receive any money in excess with that. 

Senate Bill: Highly Qualified Teaching Reform

S 101

One Hundred Thirteenth Congress

1^st Session

S. 101

To create more influential and effective teaching institutions for the betterment of our nation’s future and to hold teaching standards to a higher level.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 11, 2014

Mr. Scott Nesland introduced the following bill; which was read once and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

A BILL

To make the qualifications for teaching higher by means of higher post-high school education or teaching workshops and a more in-depth qualification exam to reinforce the knowledge of the teacher.

            Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

Highly Qualified Teaching Act of 2014.

SEC.2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES

            (a) Congress finds the following reasons for teacher qualification reform to be necessary for the betterment of our nation. It is the norm in many other successful nations that teachers be held to the highest standard of any employment. After all, teachers are the ones to determine how intelligent and disciplined the future of our nation will be. “It is known that having a college degree is linked to higher pay, according to a 2010 Educations Pays report from the College Board. ‘The median earnings of bachelor's degree recipients working full-time year-round in 2008 were $55,700,’ reads the report.” That's $21,900 more than what individuals with only a high school diploma earned (education.yahoo.net 2 facts). With that being said, the teachers in countries like China are also rewarded for being held to such a high standard with a much higher yearly salary in comparison with the United States. This leads us to the simple conclusion that higher qualifications for teachers will lead to a more advanced, disciplined future.

            (b) The purposes of this Act are to raise the intensity of the degree required to become a teacher and also to further the education of current teachers via teaching workshops and online classes.

SEC.3. PROVISIONS

(a)    A stricter required examination.

(b)    At least a master’s degree for priority consideration in employment.

(c)    A log of continuing education hours (teachers must accumulate a total of 50 hours yearly of continuing education).

            (d) If teachers or institutions fail to comply with the regulations set forth, they will be warned, monitored by officials at the state level, and eventually reach termination if continued. States will report back yearly. The penalty to the states will be no government funding raised by this bill.  

SEC.4. APPROPRIATIONS

            (a) Forcing all teachers to meet such qualifications at first glance may seem to be rash. With that being said, teachers will receive sufficient government funding to assist them in continuing education and scholarships to help attain higher level college degrees. Teachers and teaching students must attend land grant institutions to receive this financial aid. It will cost no more than 200 billion dollars. All teachers will be granted at least $50,000 as a yearly salary.  

(b) In order to raise sufficient funds for such financial aid, the national tax on alcohol and tobacco products will be raised by 1%. This should provide plenty of money to fund this bill.  

BR 2-10-14

North Dakota was the 39th state in the USA.
North Dakota's state capitol is Bismarck.
North Dakota's largest city is Fargo.

BR 2-5-14

Absolutely; the government is providing the individual with the money. They have the right to decide what it is spent on.

BR 2-4-14

1. I would fund it through taxes. I would legalize marijuana and tax the heck out of it. This, if done correctly should provide sufficient funds for the war in no time.

2. I will ask for an army of volunteers and give them great tax breaks, as well as many great national healthcare benefits.

3. The soldiers will receive mail on a weekly basis, delivered by UPS.

4. I will ratify the treaty with Bridgeport, as it has the least amount of risk. We have less to lose with this treaty than the others.

BR 1-31-14

No. I would not endanger the environment unless I knew for sure what profound effects it would actually pose.

Lecture Learnings

1. Congressional pay raises are limited by the President's veto and also fear of losing seats in the next election.

2. Congress has the power to regulate commerce.

3. Direct taxes must be apportioned based on population.

4. Congress cannot pass laws to tax exports.

BR 1-30-14

1. No. Here we are used to these types of situations, therefore we are also equipped to handle them.

2. It would be different, but I would also feel superior in these situations. My snow-handling abilities would far surpass the abilities of most of those people.

3. D. All of the above. It fits into each of these categories in its own way.

BR 1-17-14

No he is not justified. He volunteered his time into a contact sport. He should realize that stuff like this can happen. The athlete did not mean to hurt his coach. It was an accident and it can't be proven otherwise.

Senate Outline

  The Senate
The Upper House of Congress
Intended to not be bound totally by popular opinion
Represent     entire state                                 
A continuous body:        There is never a time in which all seats are up for election at once                                                                     
Term Length:     6 years                              
Term Limit:           Unlimited                           

Originally elected by     state legislatures                                       

17 Amendment changed procedures to election by voters.

Before this amendment the Senate was nicknamed the  millionaires club                                   due too the purchasing of seats.

Only one senator for each state is elected at any given election

Exceptions                 Death & Retirement                       

Formal

1. 30 years old  
2. citizen of U.S for 9 years 
3. Inhabitant of state

Informal

1. Money, party, name familiarity, gender, race.

Other Senators can exclude a member with a majority vote

This has been done on  3        occasions

Senators  have the power to punish their colleagues for disorderly conduct

With a         2/3            vote the senate can expel one of its members

This has been done      15        times

14 of which were during the                  Civil War                     

                                   

BR 1-16-14

It doesn't surprise me. Teenagers see all of the stress and fighting on the show, and they eventually realize they don't want to risk becoming pregnant at a young age.

I have not seen the same effect in Barbour County. From what I can see, the teen pregnancy rates seem to be about the same as they were a few years ago.

BR 1-15-14

John F. Kennedy; he was the youngest or one of the youngest Presidents throughout history, he delivered many powerful, charismatic speeches that stand today as meaningful.

BR 1-14-14

John D. Rockefeller and Joe Manchin.

Mary Poling

BR 1-13-14

No I'm not okay with how West Virginia is being represented in this article. It's no news though. West Virginia has been stereotyped on the basis of education for many years now. I've grown up listening to it and nothing has changed about it. I, personally, plan to make something of myself and to achieve great things throughout my life. By doing so, people like me along with others will break the mold to show people around the nation that we're not all "inbred retards" or things of that nature. Eventually, this might turn the tables and form a society where West Virginia is looked upon as a higher educated state.

BR 1-9-14

1. They should be able to. The terrorist threats can be contained pretty well with the use of technology, technology that they Olympics will surely have access to.

2. Me? No. Are you crazy? They could totally kill me.

BR 1-9-14

1. The child's parents should be.

2. I don't know how I would handle the situation unless I was actually in the situation. I wouldn't want to lose the child, but I also wouldn't want the child to go on living a pointless life.