Bell Ringer 3/27

Seeing that our system is not broken, I don't believe it needs to be fixed. The president should still be in charge of appointing them and congress should still be in charge of approving them. The American people should only be "in charge" of what they are currently in charge of.

Bell Ringer 3/24

An Ebola outbreak has killed at least 59 people in Guinea. All the symptoms first appeared last month. The disease is mainly spread from infected people, objects belonging to infected people, or the meat from infected animals.

Supreme Court Cases

Religion- Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004) - The U.S. Supreme Court heard this case which was based on religion in schools. The problem was the words "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. On June 14, 2004, the Supreme Court held Michael Newdow, as a noncustodial parent, did not have standing to bring the suit on his daughter's behalf. The mother was previously given sole custody of the daughter. The Ninth Circuit's decision was thus reversed as a matter of procedural law, so it did not consider the constitutional question raised by the case.Minority- Ricci v. DeStefano (2009) - The United States Supreme Court heard a case regarding racial discrimination in New Haven, Connecticut. Eighteen city firefighters, seventeen who were white and one who was Hispanic, brought suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 after they had passed the test for promotions to management and the city had nevertheless declined to promote them. New Haven officials invalidated the test results because none of the black firefighters who passed the exam had scored high enough to be considered for the positions. They stated that they feared a lawsuit over the test's adverse impact on a protected minoritySchool System-Roper v. Simmons (2005) - The U.S. Supreme Court held in this case that it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute persons for crimes they committed before age 18. Matthew Simmons was sentenced to death for the murder of a woman when he was 17 years of age. 

Notes 3/20

Inferior Courts

• District Courts
• 677 judges that handles 350,000 per year (80% of the fed caseload)
• 94 court districts
• 12 judicial districts
• Secret Courts
• Multi-Judge panels to combat terrorism
• Decide if alien terrorists should be expelled from the country
• District Court Jurisdiction
• Dist. Courts do not hear courts within original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
• Dist. Courts hear both crim. and civil
• In crim. cases US is always the prosecutor
• Federal District court ruling is normally final
• Court of Appeals
• Created by Congress
• Ea. dist has a court of appeals (12) plus 1 for the fed circuit
• Each court has 6-28 judges and 1 supreme court justice
• normally 3 judge panels
• Court of International Trade
• A fed trial court only tries civil cases that arise out of nations customs and trade related laws
• 9 judges- chief justice appointed by the President and Senate

3/20 Bell Ringer

Judicial Restraint to an extent. I believe in a healthy balance of the two but Judicial Restraint more so.

Chapter 18 Sec. 1

David Hackett Souter

Bell Ringer 3/19

What is your opinion of Flight 370's disappearance? Is this an issue that should concern America?-
It's very scary that it would just disappear, and it is absolutely an issue that should concern America, because American citizens could potentially be on these flights and They should be concerned about their citizens' well being.  

Bell Ringer 3/18

1.  explain the situation dealing with Ukraine and Crimea. - Crimea doesn't want to be apart of the Ukraine any longer so they're splitting and joining with Russia.

2.  Do you think the US should be involved in the situation? - No. Just because we're a world superpower doesn't mean we need to be the world police. That's what NATO is for.

Presidential Report Card

Presidential Report Card

Joey McGuire              8^th period                     3/19/2014

Name of President: Bill Clinton

Number of Presidency: 42nd

Years in Office: 8 years

In the following ten categories, grade your president from an A to an F. (You may “acknowledge” border-line grades with a – or a +).  You will need to give a 50 word justification as to why your candidate scored as they did. 

Category	Grade	Comments
Ability to handle and deal with a crisis	B	He did decently with all the conflicts he faced while in office (See foreign policy)
Ability to work with Congress and Cabinet	A+	Even though Congress was overwhelmingly Republican he still managed to set budgets for the 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 years, leading to a decrease in public debt. Also he increased minimum wage by 20%.
Character and Integrity	D-	While in office Bill had an extra-marital affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Education	A	Bill Clinton is a very educated man, being a lawyer before his political career. His Alma maters are Georgetown University, University College, Oxford, and Yale Law School
Empathy	A	During Clinton's First presidential campaign (Circa 1992), he uttered the famous words, "I feel your pain", which was defined as one of Clinton's strong points in his campaign and presidency; that is the ability to connect to the people.
Foreign Policy	B	Clinton had to decide if the USA should get involved in the violent conflicts in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Haiti. He dealt with the problems until demands of withdrawal arose and he did as the people wanted and withdrew.
Relates to the common man	A	After his scandal he explained how he was just one of us and the way he spoke was very personal and relate able.
Persuasiveness	A	He could pretty much sell anyone anything, just because he knows how to speak. Secondly, he relates to the common man and that alone is very persuasive to many.
Political Experience	A	Clinton served as the 50th Attorney General of Arkansas in 1977-1979, The 40th Governor of Arkansas from 1979-1981, and the 42nd Governor of Arkansas from 1983-1992 prior to his presidency in 1993.
Public speaking & Communication	A	Bill is considered one of the "greats" as far as presidents go, and you can't be a great without being able to communicate with the people. This is one thing that Bill was extremely good at. He related to the common man and he empathized with people to get done what was needed done. He is an excellent speaker and an excellent president.

Bell Ringer 3/12

1.  Why did air traffic control fail to notify authorities that plane was so far off route. - Because they just figured they'd get back on track.

2.  Research and explain possible causes for the problems with the plane.- It could possibly be some kind of terror attack, seeing that there were two stolen passports on the plane.

Bell 3/11

1.  Should pharmaceutical companies put people ahead of profits? Absolutely. That should be the general morals.

2.  Should government be able to compel pharmaceutical companies to provide life saving medicines? I'd think so, seeing that it's for the general wellness of the society

Campagin Ad

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?

Fundamentals- John McCain, Negative, yes, probably the same, and perhaps because I wouldnt want someone stupid running our country.

Convention-Nixon, Negative and Positive, not quite, it wouldn't be so vague, and no.

Law and Order Democrat- Humphrey, Positive, yes, it would be negative in 2014, and no. 

Bell Ringer 3/10/14

http://usat.ly/1inMTAa

1.  Summarize what you believe to be important in the budget. I think that it is a good idea, but it is far too socialist. I think the lowering of tax on the poorer income payers is a good idea but raising the tax on the top teir so significantly would be ridiculous

2.  Who benefits the most from the proposed budget? Lower income people

Lecture Notes

• Executive Branch
• President
• Vice President
• His cabinet
• Roles of President
• Chief of State
• Ceremonial head of government
• Chief Executive
• Has both domestically and abroad
• Chief Admin
• Manager of Executive Branch
• Chief Diplomat
• Commander in Chief
• Head of Military
• Chief Legislator
• Main author of public policy
• Chief Policy
• To be President
• Natural Born Citizen
• At least 35 (JFK was youngest ever elected)
• Lived in U.S. for at least 14 years
• President pro tempore- Person in majority party with most years of seniority in senate
• Presidential Term
• 4 year term
• Originally no formal limit
• George Washington set precedent
• FDR broke the precedent by serving 4 straight
• 22nd Amendment prevents this from happening again
• 2 Terms or 10 years is max
• Presidential Pay
• Determined by Congress
• Can't be decreased during a term
• President may not receive any other pay for work but makes $400,000
• Extras
• Mansion
• Air Force One
• Personal Body Guards (Secret Service- Continues protection after they are out of office)
• Camp David
• Health Care (Continues out of office)
• 
  

Bell Ringer 3/5/15

if the president dies what do you think the order of succession is?- Vice President, Speaker of the House, etc.