Why are Veterans Being Ignored?

With the lack of urgency to appropriate disability funds for Veterans for the Iraq War, and the surge in homeless veterans upon us, why is there no public outcry to help these men and women?.

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What tough economic issues do returning veterans present to the US?
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What political voice did these people have before the war? Why are they not being listened to now? Where is the outrage from congress? Why might some look upon complaining Vets as unpatriotic?

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Why are veterans being ignored by Americans after they return home?

Homeless Heros

On this post we are going to try something different. I found the following post on someone elses blog. I am a firm believer that it isn't necessary to reinvent the wheel constantly. Lets read the linked post, and respond there. Please be respectful of each other, and identify yourself as a high school student at QHST.

Do we have a right to "marraige"?

Should Art in Public places be regulated by government oversight?
Is "art" protected under the first amendment?
Do all members of society deserve equal protection under the law?
Are all people under the law equal?
What is the legal argument against gay marriage?

The Article

Penumbra Rights, Merck, and Texas Pre-teens

Should the government mandate the use of Gardasil

( to prevent HPV) in school-age girls?

CSMontior article 2/13/07

NYTIMES Article 2/03/07

Merck homepage

Gardasil information


Updtaed Atricle from Saturday 17th
EXTRA CREDIT
If you get a chance please post a response to this blog. ----> here

The Truth

Lots of information.... How has your view of AL Gore changed because of this movie? What is the former VP telling us in this movie? What can be done? What are we to do now that we know of the "Inconvenient Truth"?

NYTimes Article.

PS ..... This is the other blog I was talking about in class. After leaving your comment here about the in class movie click on the hyperlink and post a second comment on Mr. Tesler's blog. For bonus points click and post a comment here.

Private Contractors Doing America's Work

After watching the documentary "Shadow Company" and the spontaneous visit by Michael Logozzo (Ferrara's Brother) we have many different views of the work of "private contractors" in Iraq. How are the two different? What similarities did you hear from both the movie and the guest speaker?

Do you think the "mercenaries" portrayed in the documentary were fairly depicted?

How did Michael Logozzo come to have such an interesting life? What is one thing that you will remember from his visit and the movie?

An interesting comment by Michael Z. "There is always be war. War is necessary." (please feel free to respond here) I know Sam and Pyne had much to say today and didn’t get a chance. I would love to hear from you both.

PS.

Here is the contact info and website link of Nancy's brother.

PS.

Here is the contact info and website link of Nancy's brother.

Michael Logozzo (director of facilities, Afghanistan) (Roshan )

Email: Michael.logozzo@roshan.af

Roshan Website: www.roshan.af

$$$ TO SCHOOLS?

How much money has been awarded the NYC school system on the court’s most recent decision? What was the court’s decision? What was the dissenting opinion? What does the last paragraph of the article imply?

Spitzer (governor elect) has carefully made a statement regarding the matter,

”We must provide more funding than this constitutional minimum, so that all of New York’s schoolchildren have an opportunity to thrive in the 21st century workplace…”

How has his opinion on the matter changed since the election?

Public $$$ for Single Sex Schools?

After reading this article (click here) we tried to take the a serious look at the legallity of publically funded same sex schools. The questions we left off with was; Why fund public schools at all?

What court rulings are connect to this case?

What needs to change in co-ed public schools to remove the percieved necessity of same sex schools?

Same Sex Schools

Are same sex schools, legalized discrimination? What are the benefits of same sex schools? What are the drawbacks? What danger does allowing same sex public schools pose? How can legislators guarantee equity in funding? Has the Supreme Court ever addressed the issue? How did the format of the disscussion help you better understand the topic? What further question do you have around this topic?

If you want a leg up on the debate in class READ the decision of the SUpreme Court in 1982 (Mississippi University for Women et al vs. Hogan)

30 Seconds of Personality

Today we touched on the images and phrasing politicians use to help get their message across. After looking at print ads from Peter King and Kemp Hannon we viewed several commercials on YouTube.com

What images are these politicians using in their commercials?
What catch phrases are they using?
Who seems to be the target audience for these ads?
What information do we learn about the candidates from these ads?

What do all the ads (print and video) have in common?

Media and Elections

How can we effectively get information about candidates running for political office? How much do TV commercials influence our opinions? Why is voter turnout in the US so low? Are voter “apathetic” or do they feel their voice is falling on deaf ears? Who actually votes?

PLEASE remember to collect and bring in any political mail, or TV commercials for Wednesdays class.

Not to be seen!

Should video footage out of Iraq be censored? Whose responsibility is it to “fact check” video authenticity? What danger does watching these videos pose to US troops? Whose best interest is being served by showing the videos? Whose interested in censoring these videos? Does the US government have the right to remove video clips from the Internet?

Laguna Beach

Click on pic to read full article.

Are 12 year olds in this country ready for this? How successful will this MTV / There.com endeavor be?

Whose Space?

What new information in regards to MySpace is being revealed in these articles? When 20yr “bloggers” (Web Log authors) spark articles in the NYTimes what implications does this have for the flow of information in our lives? Are MySpace users being deceived? How has your view of MySpace changed? Do website hosts such as MySpace and there.com have moral responsibilities to their users?

9/11 Illness

After reading Illness Persisting in 9/11 Workers, Big Study Finds write a brief reflection. How has money played a role in the care of 9/11 cleanup victims? Who is at fault for the illness? What chages in finance need to be made to correct the problem? Is healthcare a federal, city or individual responsibility?

If you would like to read a follow up article just published on the imes website before you write click here.

Stanley also linked a more controversial article on the same topic from the NY POST.

World of Warcraft

This is the first article for our class. In the NYTimes article "Online Game, Made in the US, Siezes Globe" what seems to be the biggest cultural difference for the games slow success in the mainstream US? According to the article what demographic of Amercian Society seems to be left out of this market? How might future software developers tapp into this market?