Thanx....and God Bless You All!

Thank you guys for a great year.
I am so glad to get to know six creative, logical, Christian-minded, influential souls.

There should be great changes coming for His glory!

Be prepared world!

Online Quiz - ONE...MORE...TIME...

Hey gang,

I need you to take the Progressive Online Quiz one last time.
Don't think too hard - answer your questions quickly - then send me the results.

It should only take 7-10 minutes...
I MUST HAVE YOUR SCORE BY NEXT TUESDAY, MAY 29!!!

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/03/progressive_quiz.html

Enjoy God's blessings today!

Mr. J.

FINAL Review

Click here for a FINAL REVIEW help sheet.

The test is comprehensive for all we have discussed this year. It will be 50% multiple choice, short answer and matching; 50% essay.

If you go over your notes and the readings you should do fine.
I will see you guys in a week and a half.

For those of you going on the trip - be safe! You will be in my daily prayers!
For those of you NOT going on the trip....well, you're in my prayers too!

Mr. J.

CEBs - Week of May 7th - the TRUTH!

Ostriches are lovely creatures.

Tall, strong, fast...and cowardly. Whenever danger approaches them they stick their head in the ground (technically, they really don't, but the concept is apart of our language to describe avoiding the truth).

I mean....hey! Why face reality when you can just stick you head down, your tail-end up and just....well....hide!

Like so many in our culture when it comes to the truth.

Click the image to open the video 

or DOWNLOAD a copy (the file is a 926 KB video)

If you are still having problems go directly to the Washington Post archive site at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes12252009.html

So for this, our last CEB assignment, join in a discussion with the following:

1. Do you agree or disagree?
2. Why?
3. Refer to the following article link...

It's true Miss Telnaes' cartoon above was provided before 2009's Christmas (hence the music at the end). But does she have a point?

I mean all you conservative-like folk keep going on and on and on with all the negative...all the problems of our culture. I mean....can't you just shut up and enjoy the life our government and culture has provided you?

Check this out. What do you think?

Ah...I love ostriches....

LBJ's "Great Society" Speech

Hey gang,

If you prefer listening to the speech you are required to read this weekend (Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 "Great Society" speech), here is an .mp3 file to download and listen to.

We'll discuss on Monday so either read or listen to the speech, please. It's a short one...

Oh, and if you need another copy of the speech, click here.

Have a Great Societ....uh,...I mean, uh....have a Great Weekend!

MORE EXTRA CREDIT!

EXPELLED! and the Scopes Monkey Trial

OBJECTIVE: We have gone full circle?...

We just studied the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 and its affects on the education system of America - that evolution was not only permitted to be taught in public schools but protected speech. 

But what about our present education system? What happens when a teacher wishes to explore SCIENTIFICALLY an alternative to the complexities and origins of the universe? 

Watch and analyze Ben Stein's monumental movie, EXPELLED, No Intelligence Allowed and answer the questions below (and you'll get extra credit, even).

DUE: No later than Friday, May 11th

WORTH: 10 points on any quiz/test from this quarter (in other words, the grade of one quiz)

EXECUTION: Watch the film then answer the questions below.

WARNING, the movie is about an hour and a half so it will take a couple of hours.

You may email your answers to me if you prefer:

• Compare the issue the movie addresses with the Butler Act of 1925.
• What exactly did Richard Sternberg, Caroline Crocker, Michael Egnor, Robert J. Mark II and Guillermo Gonzalez do that caused them to be ostracized - be specific?
• Imagine you are a High School science teacher and you want to provoke your students into thinking (that pesky thing we try to do at Classical Christian - actually allow you to think and debate the issues, silly us!). So you ask your students to debate Darwinism and Intelligent Design. Should you be fired for such teaching if the school board declares you may only teach the official doctrine of evolution? Why should they not fire you?
• Henry Drummond, the Clarence Darrow-like lawyer in the movie Inherit the Wind makes the climactic statement:

"Can't you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!" 

          In the movie EXPELLED, Ben Stein interviews world-renowned evolutionist, Richard Dawkins. Compare Henry Drummond's comment with Dawkins' comments.

SEE ME if you want to complete this assignment and I will provide you a copy of the film.

So...have we gone full circle?...

THIS EXTRA CREDIT OFFER IS NOW CLOSED!

CEBs - Week of April 30th - Mawwij!

Ah, romance....

Ann Telnaes' toon for this week should get your heart a-pumping!

Remember to include in your discussion:

1. I agree or disagree with Miss Telnaes' (the cartoonist's) viewpoint.
2. Here's why...
3. Confirm you read the details.

As always, you will still receive 3 points for the assignment [one point for viewing it, one for agreeing/disagreeing, one for your reason(s)]. The discussion ends Thursday night for credit!

And don't forget more comments mean EXTRA CREDIT!

Get out your kleenix...turn down the lights...and get all mushy...

Click the image to open the video 

or DOWNLOAD a copy (the file is a 593 KB video)

If you are still having problems go directly to the Washington Post archive site at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes01132010.html

So...this is how a liberal views marriage in our culture. Western marriage has always been a contract between lustful, unfaithful men, treating women harshly, inhumanly and uncaringly.
It proves - monogamy just does not work!

Is she right?

Evidently, some in our culture think so:

• Child-bearing couples who live together without marrying have increased twelvefold since 1970 - check this out.
• 40% of people polled in an October, 2010 Today poll state monogamy does not work - see the comments here
• According to Sociologist, Eric Anderson, monogamy is a failure; "cheating" is OK - read this!

AND BY THE WAY.....this kind of disgust for marriage is used OFTEN to justify living together out of wedlock, having children without the benefit of a marriage, homosexual relations, adultery, prostitution, etc., etc., etc.

Is this "mawwij" today? Does this prove that monogamy does not work? Or can it really work?....really?

CEBs - Week of April 23rd - When the Bow Breaks!

Ready for another CEB toon from my friend, Miss Telnaes?

Remember to include in your discussion:

1. I agree or disagree with Miss Telnaes' (the cartoonist's) viewpoint.
2. Here's why...
3. Confirm you read the details.

You will still receive 3 points for the assignment [one point for viewing it, one for agreeing/disagreeing, one for your reason(s)]. The discussion ends Thursday night for credit!

EXTRA CREDIT for more comments you add...YOU GUYS DID GREAT LAST WEEK!!!

MICHAEL....this one's for you!!!!

Click the image to open the video 

or DOWNLOAD a copy (the file is a 236 KB video)

If you are still having problems go directly to the Washington Post archive site at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes11182009.html

This one speaks for itself.

Our government has bent over backward to our number one trade import partner (check this out and see the vast difference between what we export and what we import). 

You don't have to be a space shuttle designer to figure this one out - just go to the store....ANY store....and find the "Made in USA" stamp versus the "Made in China" emblem.

What is this doing to our economy?

What will it do for you and your children?

Who really "owns" America?

And what happens, I pray to God NO, if we ever go to war against our "good bowing buddy to the East"?

What happens when everything we obtain has to be provided by a foreign nation.....and I don't have anything against China, Michael....I just wonder what we are doing to our economy?

And how can we change it?

How can you?

Toss in your ideas?....

CEB - Week of April 16 - My good buddies......the TSA!

Ready for another CEB toon from Miss Telnaes?

Remember to include in your discussion:

1. I agree or disagree with Miss Telnaes' (the cartoonist's) viewpoint.
2. Here's why...
3. Confirms you read the details.

You will still receive 3 points for the assignment [one point for viewing it, one for agreeing/disagreeing, one for your reason(s)]. The discussion ends Thursday night for credit!

EXTRA CREDIT for more comments you add...

Here we go!!!!

Click the image to open the video 

or DOWNLOAD a copy (the file is a 418 KB video)

If you are still having problems go directly to the Washington Post archive site at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes03122010.html

I think I've made my objections clear on the TSA and their violation of our 4th amendment rights.

And yet there is one argument used often to disparage my position. If we do not have the TSA, we could have another attack - and NOT by the usual "suspects" but rather…..well….anyone!

Then a story came out about, Colleen Renee LaRose, a Michigan born girl who in 2004 moved to Philadelphia to live with her boyfriend. Raised in Texas, Colleen was just as American as you and me. Grieved by the recent deaths of her brother and father, she went through depression, even attempting suicide.

Sadly, Satan often takes advantage of people's pain - changing their heart to the most false notions, including Islam. She converted in 2007 and became what many call a "radical". In 2008 she posted herself as "Jihad Jane" saying that she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" the suffering Muslims being oppressed by the Western Great Satan. She shared her sympathies to terrorist groups in Palestine whom she believed were persecuted by Israel. All in all, she became a bona fide, Burka-wearing Muslim extremist (or, as I believe - she was just following the basic tenants of the Qur'an). 

She was arrested by the FBI on October 16, 2009 charged in a plot to kill the Swedish artist, Lars Viks, who offended Muslims worldwide with his cartoon of the false prophet, Muhammed (he drew Muhammed with the body of a dog, a high insult in the Arab world). Read more here.

The amazing, and frightening thing - Colleen looks as American as Sarah Palin. And her co-conspirator, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, also know as "Jihad Jamie", who was accused of terrorism as well, could wander around our malls, stores and streets….and no one would know anything about her desire to violently force Islamic beliefs upon our society.

Check this story out and see what I mean.

Radio host Mike Gallagher made the comment in the cartoon - is he wrong?

Watch this video and see Mike Gallagher's alternative idea - PROFILING - http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=994_1262012824

So…..

….maybe the TSA has a purpose after all.

Right?

Or is there another way to identify terrorist threats….even those that look as red-blooded, Apple-pie eating, baseball loving American as you and me?

Should we profile instead?

What do you think?....

Weekly CEB (Due April 12th) ------------ Obama's Health Care Bill

Dudes (and Dudettes),


Remember for your weekly CEBs you need to join the conversation and include in your discussion:

1. I agree or disagree with Miss Telnaes' (the cartoonist's) viewpoint
2. Here's why...
3. Something that confirms you either read the details or watched the supporting videos (even a simple statement like "Yes, Mr. J, I watched the video" will work)

You will still receive 3 points for the assignment [one point for viewing it, one for agreeing/disagreeing, one for your reason(s)]. The discussion ends Thursday night for credit!

Now if you want extra credit, debate with your classmates and provide alternative points. Each counterpoint will be awarded. 

Let the debates begin!!!!

Click the image to open the video 

or DOWNLOAD a copy (the file is a 246 KB video)

IF you are having problems getting to this site, try going directly to the video: http://www.agapegraphics.net/class/CEBs/Health.html. IF that doesn't work, go directly to the link at the Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes01262010.html BUT THEN COME BACK HERE TO MAKE YOUR COMMENTS!

President Obama's Health Care plan is being discussed and debated in the Supreme Court as you read this. Last week while you were on Spring Break 27 states sued the President over his pushing through the ObamaCare bill in 2009. The Court will make its final decision in June.


This bill more than any other in recent history will radically change the way you live and the way your children will live. It will allow government to force you to purchase anything it deems necessary.


If you want to learn more about ObamaCare - check out this little YouTube video from John R. Graham, the  Director of Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute. WARNING - it's not too flattering!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1lxwQ1XauE&feature=player_embedded
[CBS has a summary that kinda explains the entire bill - which only costs $940 Billion over ten years - cheap, huh!]


But this debate is not new and has been going on for several years.
The GOP ("Grand Old Party" - a nickname for the Republican party) has been fighting it from day one.
In January 2010, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, was interviewed on NBC's Sunday TV show, Meet the Press. He was quoted in the cartoon that you just watched.  The cartoonist only showed you a small portion of the interview, implying that the OLD WAY of health care (Doctors and Hospitals making a profit off people being sick and paying to be healed and taken care of) is hurting us all.


But is that what Senator McConnell was really saying? What was said in the entire interview?
Watch it here. (it's only about 4 minutes, 40 seconds)
Or if you would rather read the transcript - it can be found here.


But what will ObamaCare cost you and the American taxpayer?
Check this out! (And add your VOTE to the poll at the bottom of the page)


So - will ObamaCare help us or hurt us?
Health care is SO EXPENSIVE in this country - do you think it needs to be changed? 
Isn't it terrible how the Republicans don't really care about citizens' health and want to keep it expensive to make more money for the big, rich health care industry?
And, what do you think of Obama's plan?

Join the darkside! DEBATE!....

CEB - Week of March 19

Hey gang,

Here's your second online discussion CEB option.

Remember your comments on this blogspot are  due Thursday by 6 PM.

You can still provide me three articles WITH YOUR COMMENTS in your book or via email...OR...you can join the online discussion here on the class blogspot with weekly animated political cartoons from my favorite (and often intriguing) liberal cartoonist, Ann Telnaes. 

Remember to provide in your discussion point two things:

1. "I agree or disagree with Miss Telnaes' viewpoint"
2. "Let me tell you why..."
3. I'M ADDING ONE MORE THING YOU MUST HAVE FOR CREDIT - let me know that you read or watched one of the links below (you just have to indicate something like, "Yes, Mr. J. I read the article on the New American" or "I watched Senator Paul on YouTube")

This week's episode:

Click the image to open the video 

or DOWNLOAD a copy (the file is a 282 KB)

IF you are having problems getting to this site, try going directly to the link at the Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-signs-national-defense-authorization-act/2012/01/03/gIQApgMFZP_video.html BUT THEN COME BACK HERE TO MAKE YOUR COMMENTS!

President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act...over the New Year while you were sleeping. The controversy is over a portion of the bill that essentially allows law enforcement officials detain and imprison American citizens - without a lawyer or habeas corpus (if the President believes the suspect is a threat to national security).


Read about in the January New American article. Or read what The Blaze says out the NDAA.
Conservative Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky tried to warn us this was about to happen on December 31 - see it on YouTube here.
Even liberals hate this - check out what Young Turks say on YouTube.


If you have a few weeks to kill and nothing better to do, you can download and read the massive thing here.

So - is Obama's NDAA bill Constitutional or not? Be specific in your discussion - why is it Constitutional or not.

Join the darkside!....

The NEW and IMPROVED Weekly CURRENT EVENTS BOOK Assignment!

Hey gang,


As promised I'm offering an alternative to the weekly CEB (Current Event Book) assignment due every Thursday.


You can still provide me three articles WITH YOUR COMMENTS in your book or via email...OR...you can join the online discussion here on the class blogspot with weekly animated political cartoons from my favorite (and sometimes aggravating) liberal cartoonist, Ann Telnaes. 


I will provide you a cartoon each Saturday from here until the end of the year with some supporting material that will help you understand the issue. You will need the Flash plugin to view these (oh...and turn up the sound). Then just join in on the discussion/debate.


You must provide in your discussion point two things:

1. I agree or disagree with Miss Telnaes' viewpoint
2. Here's why...

You will still receive 3 points for the assignment [one point for viewing it, one for agreeing/disagreeing, one for your reason(s)]. The discussion ends Thursday night for credit!


Now if you want extra credit, debate with your classmates and provide alternative points. Each counterpoint will be awarded. 
Join the darkside of debate...and engage in the discussion!


Here we go:

Click the image to open the video 

or DOWNLOAD a copy (the file is a 282 KB)

IF you are having problems getting to this site, try going directly to the video: http://www.agapegraphics.net/class/CEBs/DanburyLetter.html. IF that doesn't work, go directly to the link at the Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes04102009.html BUT THEN COME BACK HERE TO MAKE YOUR COMMENTS!

The Danbury Letter  of 1802 was Thomas Jefferson's answer to Danbury Baptist Association from Connecticut.  It was written to address their concern for minority religions, such as the Baptists, and how the state legislature would deal with them. It also provides us the famous "separation between church and state" phrase that was essentially already apart of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution - the Clause which provides us "Freedom of Religion". Read more details at this great Constitution website.

Read the Danbury Letter here.

So - are we secular or not? Is Gingrich right? What does the Danbury Letter have to do with the debate? Or does it?

Join the darkside!....

ONLINE QUIZ ASSIGNMENT - due this Friday, March 9th!

Hey gang,

For this Friday, March 9th, I need you to bring me the results from an online quiz (we actually took a portion of it last Friday but we ran out of time). It's only 40 simple questions - answer them by voting your conscience (0 = "agree less" ranging up to 10 = "agree more"). At the end you will receive a number score and "what it thinks you are politically".

I need to have you bring me all the results the quiz provides when you finish answering all 40 questions.
Oh, and if you are unsure or don't care on some of the questions - just put "5" - that's a neutral vote.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/03/progressive_quiz.html

Email me any questions you have.
Happy quizzying...ing....  :{)

Theodore Roosevelt's "New Nationalism"

You need to read Theodore Roosevelt's 1910 Progressive speech and answer just one question:

• What is RIGHT with this speech?

Here is the speech, in case you lost your copy.
If you also want an .mp3 file to listen to while you read, here's a copy from Librivox - it's 37 MB so be patient.


Come ready to discuss next Wednesday, March 7th with FIVE notions you feel are right about the speech.