Post 3: State of the Union

Last night President Obama gave his State of the Union address to Congress.  Everyone in the media this week is reacting to his legislative agenda and the tone he took on his relationship with Congress.  Write your own reaction to the president's speech.  Your reaction must include a minimum of one quote from his speech and must include a minimum of one quote from someone else commenting on his speech that you can agree or disagree with. 

Things to consider in your post (but you are not required to answer):

• Did the president emphecize the correct themes?
• Will this speech help his relationship with Congress? With the American people?  
• Did he spend the right amount of time on domestic v. foreign policy?
• How does this year's speech compare with last year's?

Note:  If you are a more auditory learner you can watch the president's speech on youtube.  Otherwise I have a link to his speech above. 

This post's due date has been pushed back to Tuesday, February 4th so as to give you more time to balance all your work with the crazy winter weather.  I hope that helps. 

Post 2: Syrian Peace Talks

This week foreign leaders, including Secretary of State John Kerry, will be meeting in Geneva to discuss peace and how to get there in Syria.

What is your prediction for the potential for success coming out of the Syrian peace talks in Geneva and how would you define success?

Be sure to back up your prediction and opinions with evidence.

Due Friday 1/24

Response to post 1

A lot of ongoing debate has happened since your last blog post on the topic of NSA surveillance.  A federal judge declared the NSA program unconstitutional, then a White House panel released its own report on the NSA program and now a different federal judge has declared it constitutional.  Today (January 2nd) the New York Times and the Guardian issued editorials calling on the Obama administration to pardon Edward Snowden.

For response post, write a response to either the judge who ruled the NSA surveillance unconstitutional  or to the judge who ruled it constitutional and explain what you agree or disagree with in their argument.

Your post should refer specifically to at least 1 quote the judge said.

This post is due on Friday, January 10th.