Tonight's homework is to watch the presidential State of the Union Address, 6 PM on all major networks: TV and radio. It's always more fun to watch than to just listen; however if you aren't home then you can visit the White House on-line or look at CBS.com or CNN.com for taped broadcasts.
Identify 3-4 arguments and respond to them in agreement or disagreement. The essay should be 250 words or 1 typed page. Read the Walker essay on Coretta Scott King also. We'll discuss it in class and outline it together.
In the 9-10 class we had a lively discussion about Walker's essay and poem: On Stripping Bark from Myself and "The Civil Rights Movement: What Good Was It." Afterwards we read and discussed Choice: A Tribute to MLK Jr.
Identify 3-4 arguments and respond to them in agreement or disagreement. The essay should be 250 words or 1 typed page. Read the Walker essay on Coretta Scott King also. We'll discuss it in class and outline it together.
In the 9-10 class we had a lively discussion about Walker's essay and poem: On Stripping Bark from Myself and "The Civil Rights Movement: What Good Was It." Afterwards we read and discussed Choice: A Tribute to MLK Jr.
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 5:00 PM
10 Comments:
Melissa Tinkelenberg
English 1A 9-10
“Bush’s State of the Union Address”
For tonight’s homework, we were asked to watch George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address. When this was first assigned, a couple thoughts went through my head; I don’t want to have to watch this man talk and I work till 9:00PM then have to drive home from Livermore, I’m going to be up late. I knew that I SHOULD watch it. I’ve been avoiding watching The State of the Union Address since Bush was put into office 7 years ago. I just find it easier to try to ignore as much as possible then to let myself get worked up about things I cannot change. I understand that I might sound ignorant by saying that however, I know me. I know how distressed I become over how our country is run, over decisions our “leaders” make supposedly in the name of what’s good for America. These things have often kept me up at night. This speech was no surprise.
I found the hardest thing for me was to choose just 3 of the many issues he addressed. Many of the things he spoke of sparked tremendous emotion, just as I knew it would.
The first issue I’ve decided to discuss is Healthcare. Bush says it needs to be our goal to make Healthcare more affordable, yet he goes on to say that we need to increase options, not to control it by the Government. When he says increasing options, he means keeping health care privatized. Keeping health care privatized means that health care will remain a luxury, not a right. It also means that we will continue making the wealthy CEO’s of the big insurance companies wealthier. He says we need to increase access to MSA (Medical Savings Accounts.) With those MSA’s you need to use all the money you put in the accounts within the year, or you lose everything. Unless you are someone who often sees an acupuncturist or a chiropractor, these are often a way to just throw your money away. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the money to roll over to the next year, and the next year, so that if you end up with cancer, you can afford your treatment? George Bush has said that socializing medicine would take away our options, I disagree. The rich people, who are the only people who really have any options anyways, would still have options. With socialized medicine, you can still pay out of pocket for treatment if you want a private practitioner, however if you don’t have money, you can still get care. It would make health care a right, like it should be.
The next thing I want to talk about is George Bush’s stance on education. There were a few things he said here that really angered me. “No Child Left Behind” that is the name of the act that holds teachers and schools accountable for a child’s test scores. According to Bush this has been a successful program. I just wish I could ask him how he really knows this. He says test scores are up, that’s great, but does he really have any idea how much schools are lacking now that they have to “teach to the test.” Then to take funding away from the schools that aren’t meeting the expectations isn’t that backwards? Aren’t those schools usually the ones that need the funding more? Then he got into saying that public schools in certain areas aren’t doing their jobs, and that we need to start offering Pell Grants to students to go to Christian based schools. First of all, what will that do to the public school system? It’ll do nothing but take more money away. Second of all, that is his way of pushing a Christian based education on people. What happened to keeping church and state separated?
The last thing I wanted to talk about is his stance on the Mexican, American borders. Let’s throw all this money that we are saving by cutting programs right and left, into stopping Mexican’s from coming into America illegally. We’re building fences, doubling the amount of Border Patrol, using infrared technology to “catch and release” these Mexican’s trying to sneak over the border, HOWEVR we’re not going to close the borders completely. Let’s keep them open enough so we can figure out how to tax these Mexican workers. The way I see what he said is, we don’t want you Mexican’s here, this is important enough to dump all this money into keeping you out, UNLESS we can make money off you working here.
Unfortunately, I was not surprised by this State of the Union Address. All I can say is let’s thank god that we only have one more year to go with Bush as our leader.
Kevin Goh
ENG 1A 9-10
Bush’s State of the Union Address
The state of the union are usually used to summarize a President’s legislative motives for the upcoming year. The address is usually written and sent to Congress; however for 2008, President Bush decided to present in person. After watching President Bush deliver his state of the union address to the American people, I can tell that he is trying to put on his best face in order to lighte the uncertainty in our economy, schools, and the Iraq War.
The diminishing of job offers, stagnant wages and the redirecting of funds are killing the US economy. Bush correctly stating the obvious that, “America has added jobs for a record 52 straight months, but jobs are now growing at a slower pace. Wages are up, but so are prices for food and gas” Slower pace jobs and rising wages all connects to money, and currently the funding is out of balanced. The real culprit is the Iraq War, it sucks most of the funding dry from the necessary job offers which can recover the economy. Moreover, the wages aren’t keeping up with the rising market prices due to inflation all thanks to the war.
Failing American schools and low income students cannot provide a decent quality education because they are not receiving enough federal funding. For instance Bush states, “$300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids. We have seen how Pell Grants help low-income college students realize their full potential. Together, we've expanded the size and reach of these grants. Now let us apply that same spirit to help liberate poor children trapped in failing public schools” Asking Congress to pass a $300 million program to help low income college students is nice and all but how is the president going to get more money, maybe more taxes? It’s important not forget that the Iraq war is a pararsite on education and therefore, schools are not reciving the proper tools and teachers. Low income children are suffering because they are financially restricted from the resources that would otherwise educate them. Even if the Pell Grants passed, it would only be tiny amount compared to the billions of dollars in federal spending every year.
Lastly, President Bush repeately claim that the mission in Iraq is to defeat those darn terroists in the name of liberty. For example. “The advance of liberty is opposed by terrorists and extremists -- evil men who despise freedom, despise America, and aim to subject millions to their violent rule.” Personally, I think the terroists enjoy freedom a lot because they themselves are human beings and have inherited those natural rights. Secondly, I doubt they despite America, I’m sure they watched films from Hollywood and drank Starbucks. They attacked American soil because they are displeased with America’s foreign policies. The war should end ASAP, personally I see all humans as vessels to breed “terror” and therefore, the war on terrosim can never end.
Yolanda Gil
English 1A hours 9-10
“Bush’s final State of the Union address”
January 28, 2008 was President Bush’s final State of the Union address. Bush main topics were peace and war, rising competition in the world economy, and the health and welfare. From these topics, I selected three arguments that I consider vital for the continuation in progress of the nation: Education, Competitiveness, and Immigration.
First education is a fundamental key to stay competitive. The program No Child Behind in which Bush claims that last year fourth and eighth graders achieved the highest math scores on record, the reading scores are increasing, and African Americans and Hispanics have improved significantly. As I understand, the program focuses more on passing math and reading exams, which it translates, schools and teachers only focus in students to pass the required exams and not focus on curriculums like science, art, and creativeness. The potential for every child to become a professional gets block because of such program.
Bush talked about the need to support a program “Pell Grants” which is designed to help low-income families to pay for the cost of attendance to private school or to attend a better public school outside their district. Bush should concentrate in improving public schools by providing the necessary tools that children need to succeed instead of focusing on scores and privatizing the school system. At the end, scores have no meaning because what children need is opportunities to progress in their own interest.
Secondly, to stay competitive into the future, a good education is indispensable. Bush mentioned in his speech that to keep America competitive into the future, we must trust in the skill of our scientist and engineers and empower them to pursue the breakthroughs of tomorrow. I agree but the problem is how he can ask for such a thing if underprivileged children from this generation are already in disadvantage due to poor education. It seems to me that only people that can afford private schooling for their children; will be the ones that can have a better chance to be participants of such breakthroughs. The low-income will remain low income for the reason that the possibilities to obtain an education that will keep them viable in every field for the future is blocked.
Thirdly, Bush focus is to eliminate the flow of illegal immigrants by using thousands of dollars to secure the border. Bush hope for the end of this year, is to have doubled the number of border patrol officers. However, he mentioned that the solution to secure the borders is by creating a lawful way for foreign workers to come to work to support our economy. What he does not mention is who is going to be eligible to come and work and what are the benefits that foreign workers are entitled to have. I feel that Bush should do focus on legalize the people that are already here instead of figuring out a law to bring foreign workers.
Overall, I consider all of the topics that Bush covered very important to maintain stability in this country. Nevertheless, it is nice to know that Bush acknowledges the issues that this country has, but what I would like to see are actions not promises.
Aiko Nillo
English 1A
9-10
"State of The Union Address"
Tonight, George W. Bush gave his final State of The Union Address. And to be honest, really haven't paid a lot of attention to our government since he was elected president.
For this assignment we were to agree or disagree to three issues that Bush would mention tonight in his speech.
The first issue that I will discuss is the economy. I don't really know much about the economy but I always hear talks about recession and how that might come into play soon. Tonight in Bush's last State of The Union Address he discussed about plans to strengthen our economy. He talked about tax reliefs, terminating "wasteful of bloated programs," and "earmarks." But how is he suppose to help strengthen the economy when we have a war going in the middle east still and later in the speech he mentions spending more money on our boarders. To me our economy should be our first priority.
Another issue that caught my attention was education. Bush stated that his No Child Lief Behing Act was working. He stated a lot statistics that showed that it is working but do we really know how many schools he took in account taking those results. There are many failing schools all around America. Some that don't even have enough money to provide new materials for education. And there is the Pell Grants that are support educations. A $300 million program that we're suppose to support but can our economy support that much money.
The final issue was energy power. I really don't know much of his stance before now. But his "American Competitveness Initiative" plan sounded good. This was the proposal of funding research and development of renewable resources. Sooner or later our enegery resources are going to deplete. We're going to need to start using renewable sources.
State of the Union Address
State of the Union Jan. 28, 2008
When Bush gave his speech, he pledge and promised many things. He started out by talking about the resilience of our nation and the many difficulties that our nation faced. He emphasis that he and everyone who attended today is because of and for the people. He said, “All of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people's business. That is the purpose of this body. It is the meaning of our oath. It remains our charge to keep” (State of the Union Address, 2008, paragrapgh 2).
Bush talked about the security of our nation, how it progressed and how it it still needs improvement. He said that it is the people’s responsibility for creating their own economy, “To build a prosperous future, we must trust people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy,” Though I agree that the people should play a significant part, it is also the governmant’s job to insure and govern it in the right path. You can’t just put everything on the people and then blame them if they didn’t do it right.
Taxes was meantion in Bush’s speech, he immediately starts out by pointing out that if “congress” doesn’t take action then our relief funds will be taken away. He stated that he’ll make the tax relief bill permanent and if any bills sent to him that’ll contradict it, will be vetoed (State of the Union Address, 2008, paragrapgh 9). When Bush said he’ll veto “any” bills that’ll raise taxes, what does the word “any” means? Is healthcare, and education also included in this “any”? For the government to spend their tax paying money wisely, he said that he’ll terminate 151 “wasteful or bloated” programs. Again I the clarification of the words that Bush uses are just too general and blend.What is “wasteful and bloated” programs? Will it include programs that the people needs and are using?
He said he’ll make healthcare more accessible by providing more choices and making them private. He pointed out “The Congress must also expand health savings accounts, create Association Health Plans for small businesses, promote health information technology, and confront the epidemic of junk medical lawsuits. With all these steps, we will help ensure that decisions about your medical care are made in the privacy of your doctor's office -- not in the halls of Congress” (State of the Union Address, 2008, paragraph 15). Making healthcare private is not surely a good thing, doesn’t guareentee that it’ll be affordable, but I have to appluad for more healthcare choices.
Bush comtinue on and talks about low-income students and how programs and scholarships are helping them and how we should support them. However he doesn’t talk about how he’ll improve and help help student with low-income, he just states what is done and what “we” should do.
Bush promised many things, yet have done so little to achieve them. Our nation is our people and he emphasis this to an extreme extent. He makes it as if everything is the responsibility of the people and it’s failure is the people’s failure. He puts everything on other people besides himself. Bush does little to achieve his goals and only a minimal of all the promises that he made will be kept.
Eva Hopkins
1/28/08
English 1A
State of the Union 3 Arguments:
One of the arguments that President Bush address’s in his State of the Union speech is that Al – Qaida’s top commander claims that they will not step down until they attack the U.S. in Washington. Bush tells everyone that the U.S. will not rest either until they are defeated. He says that this will make America safer and more hopeful. For those who have loved ones that are fighting in the war far from home, Bush wants to expand access to childcare and jobs for those military wives that have to port in a different city every few months.
Another one of the arguments that he address’s is how slow it took the government to respond to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. He states that he will continue to help rebuild the 80% of New Orleans that was ruined during Hurricane Katrina. He states that he will continue to help rebuild the houses and living areas out there. The mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana criticized Bush in the 2007 State of the Union speech for how slow the government sent out the disaster recovery due to the government being a bureaucracy.
Another Argument is about the illegal immigration that is happening. He says that he is going to secure the borders with fences with the best technology, increasing worksite defenses, and at the end of the year the border patrol agents will double. He also admits that this problem will not be resolved until he creates a lawful way for foreign workers to come to America and support our economy. He is also going to find a sensible and legal way to deal with those illegal immigrants that come here to harm us.
Sean Watson
English 1a 9-10
State of The Union Address 08
Revision
I can’t say to you that I am at all sad that this was President Bush’s last State of the Union address. In my opinion this address is just bad, old fashioned, Republican rhetoric. The President begins by talking about the cooperative spirit of Democrats and Republicans, Bush claims “We can compete for votes but still cooperate for results”, yet he threatens veto bills with mean spirited disdain for Democratic Congress.
The President goes on to address the issue of the expiration of a tax relief Bill, pressuring Congress to renew the Bill so that families taxes will not increase. The President never mentions that the Bill mainly affects the top 1% of Americans. Bush states he will slash “bloated” and “unnecessary programs: Like the Healthcare Bill for poor children he vetoed last year. He continues to put responsibility for everything on Congress urging “Congress must do this…” or “I call on Congress to …”
Our President says that the No Child Left Behind Act is succeeding. Ask any teacher –it is not. The reform movement in public education has deepened the burnout experienced by our nation’s teachers, leaving them feeling under valued with teacher success tied to student performance. Our children are under- educated and unprepared for competition in the global market. Bush speaks on the topic of poor children trapped in failing public schools: code for privatization of public schools into for–profit charter schools like post-Katrina Louisiana. He claims that we need to allow a lawful way to let foreign workers come here and support our economy. Why doesn’t he just say hey, “America we should exploit Mexican Immigrants for cheap labor"? I leave whom ever may be reading this paper with the following definition of Rhetoric, empty talk: fine sounding but insincere or empty language.
Source list:
White house Online
Webster’s dictionary
Professor Wanda Sabir
Kenton Low, 1A MTUWR 8 -9 am
Presidential Address: January 28, 2008
28 January 2008
I did watch the Presidential Address and seeing President George W. Bush Jr., saying that we need to do something with economy, securely, dependence on oil and coal, social salutary, Iraq war spending, housing financing. The most important thing on my mind right know is the economy and the housing market. When I see the economy and the housing market declining it make wonder how good the government is is spending our tax dollars. President Bush talks about in the first minutes of his speech are that that he talks about how the housing market is a slump and how to deal with it. President Bush talks that the Federal housing Agency is looking for helping of the ease of the housing foreclosures’ and whole it is not slowing down it will only get worse because of the economy.
The dependence on forgin oil is a big problem and alternative fuel is the answer but there is a problem that and that is where we are going to the fuel cell storage tanks and how much it will cost to make it. Another idea I to cut the federal gas tax by 0.10 cents and that will cut the pinch at the gas pumps. The cutting of the federal gas tax will befit everyone because people can pay less for regular unleaded, prime gasoline at the pump.
President Bush is asking for more funding for the support in the war against terrorism. President Bush is asking for another 80 billion dollars in funding the war in Iraq in fighting the terrorism. The war is are ready cut into a lot of funding that was funding for restoring education, cutting federal funding for high schools though out the nation. The federal tax dollars should go to projects for like the low income and the middle class families that are hard earners in paying taxes.
Nadia Hassan
English 1A
8:00am-9:00am
President Address State Of Union
President Bush speech to the Union Address was very interesting to me. I kinda agreed with him and then I had some disagreement with the speech. The first disagreement with him was when he said “To keep this economy strong we must take challenge of entitlements. social security and medicare and medicaid are commitments of conscience and so it our duty to keep them permanently sound. Yet we’re failing in that duty. And this failure will one day leave our children with three bad options: huge tax increases, huge deficits or huge and immediate cuts in benefits. This is the true because now days, they are hardly give out Medicare to people who need it. They’re cutting them out one day by day. And they’re out there with no insurances because they don’t have money and can’t afford it.
And the other argument that I would like to state was when he addressed “ For too long our Nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes and to terrorist.. Who could cause huge disruptions for oil shipments and raise the price of oil and do great harm to our economy” which I think its true because America always depending on other countries for oil and destroying them the same time for oil. Like the war in Iraq.
The last argument that I would like to state was when President Bush said “ These men are not given idle words and they are just one camp in the Islamist Radical Movement. In recent times, it is also become clear that we face an escalating danger from Shia extremist who are just hostile to America and determined to dominate the Middle East. I got annoyed when he said they’re from an Islamist Racial Movement I believe the theorist are really making all Muslims look bad. Islam is not for them to kill innocent people for no reason so he shouldn’t compare every Muslim like them because Muslim don’t kill innocent people.
Michael Dacoron
English 1A
9am-10am
In Bushes State Of The Union Address 2008 He Explains how he want to build a future with energy security and he is just relying on the brains of the intelligent Americans and researchers and entrepreneurs and empower them to a new generation of clean energy technology. This is good Bush actually cares for our environment and want it to be healthy and clean. The common problem nowadays is the either oil and gas. We really need to find other alternatives to run our cars because gas prices keep on getting higher and higher each day. It is also really bad to mother nature its already bad when people litter all over the floor.
I like the way Bush showed some love to the troops in Iraq. I have family and friends in the war right now and just to see them come home safe. It keeps me at ease with a sign of relief because we are out here living fine an dandy not worrying if we are going to get shot tomorrow or even bombed at, when troops are out there risking their lives. I had a friend who just recently came back home for the holidays, he came home in one piece but his attitude and personality was really different. Some people can get really traumatized from their experiences in the war. I heard a couple of crazy stories.
Bush also address poverty in the US there is help from strong education initiatives and humanitarian assistance. He also explains that the US aids more than half of the worlds food to the poor. To keep this up he want to purchase crops from farmers and this will help us build agriculture and will stop the famine. These two problems I like because they relate to each other. The less fortunate or the poor who rely on educations so they will have a brighter future will be helped out with food too. That’s really what we need to survive in the world. People really take food for granted sometimes and I think its just ignorance when people waste food. My mom and little sister is going to the Philippines on Feb 8 and they cant wait to go back home and feed the whole family. That’s all they expect back from us is food.
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