Last chance for writing a persuasive paper!  If you haven’t done this yet hand it in lose 20% of your grade!

Currently there is a huge debate in the United States over federal government spending.  In a time of economic crisis, many believe that the federal government also must “tighten its belt” and dramatically cut spending.  There are some programs which are popular to cut, like foreign aid, but this makes up only about 1% of the federal budget of $3.55 trillion in 2010.

Take a look at the federal budget of 2010 (I checked the sources – Wikipedia is accurate).  What programs would you cut?  Should no programs be cut?  Either way – why or why not?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget#Total_spending

Note:  make sure you post your blog following the proper format

your email should be the made up email of:   “firstname.lastname@block#.org” like “jebadiah.farrand@block4.org”     

If you don’t do this, I cannot find your name easily and you might get a zero, or make things harder for me.  Follow the directions or lose points.

Connecticut, Massachusettes, Iowa, and Vermont (which was the first state to allow civil unions in 2000) are the only states in the U.S. which allow gay marriage since California’s Proposition 8 was passed, making all previous California gay marriages null and void.  A number of states allow “civil unions,” which offer many, if not all, of the rights of marriage without the title of “marriage”: New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey.  Should gay marriage, with the title of “marriage” be legal in all fifty of the United States? Why or why not?

Note:  make sure you post your blog following the proper format

your email should be the made up email of:   “firstname.lastname@block#.org”

like “jebadiah.farrand@block4.org”     

If you don’t do this, I cannot find your name and you might get a zero, or make things harder for me.  Follow the directions or lose points.

Oregon passed the Death With Dignity Act in 1994, allowing doctors to prescribe lethal medicine for people with terminal diseases.  It remained the only stated to do this, until last week, when Washington (state) passed a similar law. Initiative 1000 allows people with less than six months to live to ask their doctors to prescribe a life-ending dose of medicine. Some of the requirements in doing so are that the patient must “make two oral requests, fifteen days apart, and submit a written request witnessed by two people, one of which cannot be a relative, heir, attending physician, or connected with the health facility where the patient is being treated or is a resident” (Ellis).  What is your opinion on this new law, specifically, AND the issue in general: should people who wish to die be allowed to do so?

Ellis, Madeline. Health News. “Washington Adopts ‘Death With Dignity’ Act Legalizing Assisted Suicide.” 3 March 2009.  http://www.healthnews.com/medical-updates/washington-adopts-death-with-dignity-act-legalizing-assisted-suicide-2724.html

Should recreational ( for fun, not medicinal) marijuana be legalized in the United States?

Remember to comment on  someone else’s post in order to earn full credit.

Should legal immigration to the United States be encouraged or discouraged?  Currently the US lets in an average of 1 million legal immigrants a year (counting green cards).  In 2006 about 170,000 of them came from Mexico, China: 87,000, India: 61,000, Cuba: 45,000, Iraq: 1600, and many other nations in smaller numbers.

What do you think about these numbers? Are these people a benefit to or a strain on our country? How? Should we have less, more, or the same amount of legal immigration. 

Do not comment on illegal immigration – save it for the debate. Be sure to write a five sentence (at least), thoughtful, paragraph.

Don’t forget to make a post AND a comment on another student’s post.  Many of you are getting half credit.  Each must be a paragraph for full credit!!!

Do you think your public school education has prepared you well for your college career and/or life in the real world? If yes, why? If not, who is responsible–you? your teachers? the content we teach? What do you think could have been done better? What do you think has been/is done well? Please do not use the name of a teacher at HHS unless you are making a positive statement.

If you write your paper on Education you may talk about anything persuasive on the American Education system – school choice, charter schools, a focus on skills or trades, making college mandatory – anything you want.

 IMPORTANT:  be sure to post the email as follows “firstname.lastname@block#.com” or I can’t give you a grade!!!!

***Remember – post your own thoughts in at least a paragraph, and then respond to someone else’s ideas in another paragraph!

***Also:  If you are doing the blog, don’t forget to do 1 page of research/prepared remarks for the classroom debate on this topic.

Everywhere you go it seems things are being censored – movies, the news (do you ever see body bags coming home from Afghanistan – you did during Vietnam), music, the school newspaper, language in the classroom, and even in the halls.  Do you think that censorship has gone out of control?  Or are their important reasons to limit what is said, written, or pictured (think of the effect on children, culture, or the school environment)?

IMPORTANT:  be sure to post the email as follows “firstname.lastname@block#.com” or I can’t give you a grade!!!!

***Remember – post your own thoughts in at least a paragraph, and then respond to someone else’s ideas in another paragraph!

***Also:  If you are doing the blog, don’t forget to do 1 page of research/prepared remarks for the classroom debate on this topic.

Herbert Spencer was a 19th century English philosopher who took Charles Darwin’s idea of “survival of the fittest” and applied it to people; he called this “Social Darwinism.”  The main concept is that if in the natural world, animals and other living specimens die off when they are not strong enough to survive on their own, leaving only the strongest or “most fit”, then people should not be supported and should be let to “die off” also.  If they were supported, by welfare or direct aid, it would weaken society as a whole.

Think about how this pertains to the impoverished and diseased people of the world, particularly Africa.

Do you agree with this, or disagree? Please explain your answer.

***Remember – post your own thoughts in at least a paragraph, and then respond to someone else’s ideas in another paragraph!

***Also:  If you are doing the blog, don’t forget to do 1 page of research/prepared remarks for the classroom debate on this topic.