Sydney Fredette : Current Event

Link to article

In recent news relating to immigration entrepreneurs  investors  and business leaders are pushing to get a comprehensive bill passed including help for highly skilled and educated immigrant to come the the U.S. and work. This group is setting up a "virtual march" on Washington, this will involve educating as many people as possible about the economic benefits of allowing these immigrants in. Many of these people believe that there aren't enough highly skilled Americans for jobs like computer engineering and software development for the growing demand. Proposals for legislation from both the republican and democratic lawmakers have been brought up in the past few years. These proposals were narrow in scope intentionally with the hope that they would not be entangled with more controversial topics like boarder control. A comprehensive bill now seems very possible with many republicans having to reconsider their stance on immigration reform due to President Obama's overwhelming support from the Latino community this past election, according to the article. Recently a bipartisan group of senators, "Gang of Eight", has developed an outline for a proposal for a "far-reaching immigration plan" of which the details have not yet been revealed.

In your opinion why do you think we should, or should not, allow highly skilled and educated immigrants into the United States and should there be restrictions in place if they are allowed in? Do you think that these immigrants will benefit our economy if allowed entrance?  Why or why not?

Michele Foland Current Event

This article was basically about how Obama wants to create a fair path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and what steps he believes are key to get those immigrants on that path. While reading the article there were two sides to this issue. One political party had absolutely no desire to create this path for illegal immigrants and they thought that they should just get out of our country, but the other political party agreed with Obama and his ideas to create that path to citizenship. The reason why Obama wants to create this path for illegal immigrants is so that highly skilled immigrants can come to our country and provide new jobs for American citizens to strengthen our economy. Obama made it very clear that immigrants who are coming into our country illegally is a very important issue and he wants to act on it as soon as possible and stop this problem.

Do you think that it is fair to provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are already living in our country? Please explain your answer.

Source:
www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/us/politics/senate-panel-tackles-immigration.html?ref=politics&_r=o

Mariana Ferreira Current Event

Recently in China, a woman named Kim Lee married to founder of an English teaching program widely known in China has come to reportedly go to court against her husband for domestic violence. She first attempted getting help from family members and friends but succeeded not and even had her own sister in law tell her she should "stop provoking her husband" if she didn't want to get beat. She finally decided to take pictures of her bruises and scars and upload them onto a social network, she received great feedback from women allover China that did not experience domestic violence giving her strength to fight against the violence she was going through. She proceeded to take her husband to court and succeeded. The reason Kim Lee's story was so important is because she was the first woman, although American and not Chinese to step out against domestic violence in China; which has been a great problem for women in China for a great ammount of time but has become almost a custom or tradition.

; Do you think Kim Lee's actions could possibly cause a revolution in women's rights? Please explain why you think so.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/02/can-an-american-woman-stop-domestic-violence-in-china/272954/

Jack Colaianni Current Events Blog Prompt

To what extent do you believe the National Rifle Association is correct in saying that strengthening background checks for assault weapons  and making them harder too purchase is not the solution to preventing tragedies such as the school shooting in Connecticut?

Principles of American Democracy

We have spent significant time analyzing six democratic principles that were established in our founding documents and examining how they are evident in a modern-day issue. To reflect on and use what you have learned, please consider other current issues or challenges that our country is facing and discuss how one of the six democratic principles (popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, equal protection, or federalism) applies to that issue.

In responding to this post, you must (in paragraph form):

1. Explain a present day issue in our country.
2. Reference a specific current event article that you have used to better understand the issue you have chosen. The article should come from one of the news sites listed to the left under "News Links." Be sure to provide a link to your article so others can read it if they want to learn more.
3. Explain how one of the democratic principles is demonstrated in the example you have chosen. (Please pick a principle that is different than the one you focused on in class.)

THIS ASSIGNMENT IS DUE BY FRIDAY AT 10:30 AM.