Tag Archives: civics

Do Now #41: Grade the President

September 29, 2012, 4:58 pm • Posted by Matthew Williams
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photo by Austen Hufford/Flickr

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Do Now

The presidential election is right around the corner, so it's time to grade the president. President Obama has faced many challenges --- how has he done as he approaches the end of his term? Explain what he has done well or what he could have done better to support your opinion.

Introduction

Much has happened these past four years in our country. President Obama has faced many challenges while in office as he has faced issues with the economy, health care, education, foreign relations, national defense, individual rights, and many more.

A Democrat would argue...... our country faced economic collapse when Obama took office and he helped stimulate the economy onto the road to recovery. He helped the country to avoid this collapse, and although the economy has not recovered, we are in a good position for growth. Supporters celebrate his health plan, the end the war in Iraq, and the fact that he killed Osama Bin Laden. They would argue that his efforts have strengthened democracy around the world.

A Republican might say..... Obama has extended the role of government, has not taken the right path to help our economy, and committed the country to huge debt. They feel that we are not better off today than we were four years ago.

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Do You Have ID?

August 14, 2012, 1:56 pm • Posted by Maxine Einhorn
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Flickr: aprilzosia

In a close presidential election, the new state voter ID laws could have a real effect.

In the presidential election this year, some states will require that voters show a photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, to be eligible to vote. What is more, the address on the ID needs to match the voter registration rolls.

Why has this become such a big deal across party lines? The argument is that these laws are seen as a strategy to swing the vote in the November election by influencing turnout and voting eligibility. As such, the concern is that they are politically motivated.

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Do Now #19: Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China

February 10, 2012, 5:25 pm • Posted by Maxine Einhorn
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Do Now

Should Apple build the iPhone here? Why or why not?

Introduction

Apple is a company that many view as a role model for success. However, Apple like many electronic companies assembles parts and manufactures its products abroad - most notably in China because of the vast pool of cheap labor.

Foxconn, in Chengdu, China is a major producer of Apple products producing millions of iPhones and iPads annually. (Foxconn also includes Amazon.com, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and other tech giants amongst its clientele.) But Foxconn and Apple are now in the news for the inhumane working conditions in factories in China e.g. the long hours, no talking policy on the factory floor, low wages and most notably worker suicides. In contrast to the perfection of the sleek, hi-tech product, Apple is under fire for the Dickensian working conditions suffered by its offshore workforce.

What would it take to reshore Apple – the term for bringing back work that has been outsourced abroad? It seems manufacturers are now reviewing their options (e.g. - Four Northern California companies have reshored products from China to Wright Engineered Plastics.)

Obama’s recent State of the Union Address 2012 called on business leaders to “ask what you can do to bring the jobs back.” He proposed ending tax breaks for US corporations operating overseas and giving incentives to US-based production with a view to reversing the unemployment cycle. There is now a lobby in support of bringing jobs back to America; the iPhone could be made in America if either Apple or the US government really wanted that to happen.

Resource

 
KQED’s News Fix post Jon Stewart Takes on Controversial Apple Supplier Foxconn - Jan. 17, 2012
[January 16] on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart and Co. took on Foxconn, the giant Taiwan-based company that is often cited as the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics, and especially Apple products -- it turns out tens of millions of iPhones and iPads annually.

The huge Foxconn complex in Shenzen, China, however, has become especially notorious for harsh working conditions, which have frequently been blamed for a rash of employee suicides.

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KQED Forum segment Working Conditions at Apple Suppliers - Jan. 17, 2012
Apple is working to head off criticism over how workers are treated in their supplier factories. For the first time, they've made public their major suppliers and also say that they've increased factory inspections. But last week, some workers at a major supplier in China threatened to kill themselves for better work conditions.

Steve Jurvetson/Wikimedia Commons

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Do Now #15: Deal with Debt

January 13, 2012, 5:30 pm • Posted by Maxine Einhorn
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Photo by David Paul Ohmer, Flickr

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Do Now

What should Congress do about our national debt? Should the pain fall on the wealthiest Americans or on government programs, such as Medicare?

Intro

Why can’t Congress agree on how to handle debt? In August this year Congress resorted to setting up a special committee to find a way through the impasse over the budget deficit. The plan was to find reductions by bringing together 12 members of Congress in a Congressional Supercommittee. The goal was $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions over a decade.

As a bipartisan committee - meaning both political parties were represented equally, with six Democrats and six Republicans working together - the hope was that both sides could agree on a way to resolve the crisis.

Charged with framing recommendations on budget cuts for Congress to vote on by November 23, the committee faced clear choices: either to increase taxes or cut entitlements, meaning public programs, such as Social Security, healthcare and education.

Fundamentally this impasse is about political difference, highlighting the gulf between the two parties. Republicans in the committee attacked Democrats for opposing budget cuts to popular domestic programs, programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. They maintain that Democrat leaders insist on over-spending and, as such, adding to the deficit. Democrats, on the other hand, said Republicans wouldn't accept any plan which involved raising taxes for the wealthiest Americans.

This is the deadlock. How is the pain to be divided up – should it fall on the wealthiest Americans in the form of abolishing the tax cuts instituted by George W Bush and reducing taxes, or should it be born by social programs, such as the public programs that provide benefits for the 14 million unemployed Americans? This would put hundreds of government programs on the chopping block to be cut as early as 2013.

Alice Rivlin, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as budget director for President Clinton, said, “Each side was prepared to offer more if they thought the other side was operating in good faith, … Each side distrusted the other. The Democrats were afraid to offer serious entitlement cuts because they thought the Republicans will just take that and not give any revenues … The Republicans said if we offer serious revenues, the Democrats will just take that and they're not serious about the entitlement cuts."

Resource

KQED Forum segment Clock Ticks for Supercommittee.
The congressional deficit reduction supercommittee faces a Wednesday deadline to reach an agreement on reducing the deficit. If the panel does not reach a deal, $1.2 trillion will automatically be cut from defense and domestic spending in 2013. We look at the politics behind the deliberations.

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KQED News segment For Debt Committee, No Final-Hour Deal Apparent. Nov. 21, 2011
Monday is the last day the congressional supercommittee can reach a deficit-reduction deal and still make its Wednesday deadline. The legislation has to be publicly available for 48 hours before a vote, and the clock is ticking. But instead of announcing an agreement, the committee is widely expected to admit it has failed.

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Do Now #7: Occupy Wall Street

October 21, 2011, 3:09 pm • Posted by Maxine Einhorn
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Do Now

What do you think the Occupy Wall Street protests are all about? Do you sympathize or not? Do you find it hard to understand?

Intro

Occupy Wall Street has been going for around a month now and shows no sign of slowing down. Triggered by the demonstrations in New York, protesters around the world are demanding an end to what they describe as corporate greed and bank bailouts while ordinary people lose their homes, with no subsidy to rescue them. The movement has spread from Occupy Wall Street to Occupy Oakland, Occupy San Jose and Occupy SF, where demonstrators camped in front of the Federal Reserve Building behind signs declaring: "We, The People, Are Too Big To Fail" and "Banks Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out."

In solidarity with the protests that began in New York, people across Europe, in London, Spain, and Rome, have held protest marches, largely peaceful demonstrations, against government cost-cutting and failed financial policies in Europe. Nicknamed “the indignant,” the demonstrators continue to take to the streets demanding change. “Organizers of the global protests said there would be demonstrations in 951 cities in 82 countries. On their website, the organizers say they're demanding change and want to let politicians and the financial elite know it's up to the people to decide the future.” Occupy Wall Street Inspires Worldwide Protests

Journalists and the media are confused. They struggle to characterize the movement as left wing, anti-capitalist, green, anti-bank, anti-Wall Street, idealist or hippie. Critics describe the movement as lacking direction. Maybe we will need to wait and see.

Resource

KQED News Fix post Occupy Wall Street -- Bay Area Editions
October 10, 2011, 3:35 pm • Posted by Jon Brooks
The Occupy Wall Street protests have turned into Occupy Just About Everywhere, and that of course includes the Bay Area. Last week, in San Francisco, the city broke up the Occupy SF encampment that had taken root in front of the Federal Reserve building, but the protesters have set up camp again. According to the Examiner, at least 200 people were at the site yesterday afternoon. Here's an Occupy SF protester -- an ex FedEx driver -- who lost his house after his sub-prime loan payment doubled.

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KQED FORUM segment Wall Street Protest Spreads Thu, Oct 6, 2011
The Occupy Wall Street protests continued this week in New York, San Francisco and other cities across the country. Some labor unions and Democratic politicians are now embracing the movement, which has higher public approval ratings than Congress. Will the protests evolve, as some progressives hope, into a sort of liberal Tea Party?

NPR segment Tracking The Media's Eye On Occupy Wall Street by David Folkenflik | October 13, 2011
In recent days, the Occupy Wall Street protests appear to be gathering steam, spreading beyond New York City to other cities across the country. The growing reach of the demonstrations has added to the pressure on journalists to figure out how to cover them.

NPR segment Occupy Wall Street Inspires Worldwide Protests October 15, 2011 — 10:33 AM
Taking a cue from the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, protesters across the world took to the streets Saturday to demonstrate against the banks and what they say is corporate greed.

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Do Now #3: California Dream

September 23, 2011, 2:58 pm • Posted by Maxine Einhorn
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Do Now

How would you feel if you got into college, but couldn't receive funding to go?

Intro

The California Dream Act is a pair of bills signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011: Assembly Bill 130 and Assembly Bill 131, both authored by Assemblymember Gil Cedillo (D-LA).

AB 130 allows undocumented students to receive scholarships/financial assistance that comes from non-state sources (private funds, etc).  AB 131 allows these same students to be eligible for state funded financial assistance -- including Cal Grants, community college fee waivers, and campus-specific grants/loan programs.

Expanding the aid eligibility of students who graduated from California high schools but are not legal U.S. residents has been hotly debated in the state Capitol for several years.  Earlier efforts, while approved by the California Legislature, were vetoed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The bills apply to any student who has attended a California high school for at least three years and graduated or earned a GED in California. “The California State University estimated that some of the 3,600 students who have permission to pay in-state tuition rates even though they lack legal documentation could be affected by the new law. The CSU system enrolls about 440,000 students.” KQED News Fix

Governor Brown signed AB 130 into law, part of the California Dream Act, and it will take effect on January 1, 2012. To hear more about this legislation, listen to the KQED News story below.

Resource

KQED News Gov. Brown Considers California Dream Act
Governor Jerry Brown already signed the first half of the so-called California Dream Act. Brown will now have to decide whether the state can afford the second half.

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KQED News Fix post California "Dream Act" Moves to Brown's Desk
July 14, 2011, 3:45 pm • Posted by Jon Brooks

KQED Forum segment with Jose Antonio Vargas
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas made headlines around the world last month when he revealed in a New York Times Magazine article that he is an undocumented immigrant. The Mountain View-raised Vargas joins us to discuss the public response to his admission, and to talk about his new campaign "to elevate the conversation around immigration."

KQED Forum segment on Jerry Brown and Latinos
Governor Jerry Brown signed the first part of the Dream Act yesterday, which would give undocumented college students at California universities access to privately funded financial aid. The decision follows Brown's June veto of legislation that would have made it easier for farm workers to unionize. We look at Governor Brown's political relationship with the Latino community in California.

NOTE: This legislative package differs from the federal Dream Act, which would include a path to citizenship for those children who came to America originally as undocumented immigrants.

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