1. My favorite section of the class was when we learned about where all the money that the United States doesn't have goes. I didn't realize how ignorant i was when it came to the state of our nation, and after learning that we are 11.4 TRILLION dollars in debt i thought that was a little ridiculous. Also it made me realize how irresponsible some of our nations leaders have been.
2. The least interesting section of the class was the judiciary section. This section was boring to me because that whole section of government isn't as "sexy" as the others. it doesn't have as much to do with the up beat and interactive stuff like the legislative branch does. also i think its a little boring because once you are on the supreme court you don't leave until you retire or die... and that's just not as fast pace.
3. My knowledge of politics and government before this course was very very minimal. Now i wouldn't be completely honest if i said i know all there is to know because that is impossible. although i don't feel as dumb when talking about it. i have also realized that it takes more than being registered and voting to be an active part of our society. that is what i think i learned the most about politics. i learned now that its important to know things like about the county where you live because that history is still affecting us today. knowing things like how a bill becomes a law is helpful, but that is a minor fact. the most important thing that i learned is how politics work, and how i can be an active part of it.
4. My friends aren't that politically active, some of them didn't vote in the fall. But they are the ones that are simply uneducated on the facts that will affect them. Overall my peers are very politically involved and realize that the choices we make today are going to be the laws and decisions that affect us when we are independent of our parents and out in the real world. So hopefully by the next election my close friends will be more active and willing to talk about politics like the majority of our peers already are.
5. To make my commitment stronger to my country i can get more involved. I know that i can do more than just voting. and with me becoming a teacher i know i will be seeing things that i don't like about Illinois education system. i think then i will be more likely to take a stand. I think that a big thing for me will be to participate in local elections and be more active within those because those are the choices that will effect me more than the election of our president.
6. Overall the course was well taught. I would have to applaud you on making the course interesting and witty. That was my greatest fear that you were going to be a boring, comb over, politician filling us with bogus boring information. But i was pleased to find out that you were none of those. I also thank you for being able to relate to us and giving us the respect that we deserve. that last class when we went over the article by Bartlett let me know that you truly care about your students and its refreshing to have that happen. Thanks again :)
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
After going to the McLean County Museum I learned a few things. I learned that McLean was more eclectic than i gave it credit. I didn't realize that there were so many different groups of people collected in the heart of Illinois such as German, Irish, African, Yankees, and upland southerners. it also made me laugh when i read about how the German's thought that alcohol was essential makes me proud to be a pure German!
Things like that little tid bit of information is important to know about the area in which you live. i think its important because the more educated you are the more connected to your location. I think that after visiting something like this it made me appreciate my heritage and where i have essentially grown up my whole life a little more. then you ask, why haven't i visited something like this before. and my answer is blunt, because its not that crucial for my every day life, and when i was younger it was boring. I think of something like that now through the eyes of a future educator. i see it as an opportunity to get students within my classroom active in their histories, and interacting with history. But when i was younger and still today that isn't how i was taught therefore that kind of stuff wasn't familiar to me.
Politics and history of anything connect, not only politics and McLean county. the root of our nations development and McLean counties development is based on the struggles of past politicians, and government to get it to the place that its at now. And learning about the smaller areas of politics/government that occurred in McLean county make the larger scheme of things make sense.
My additional thought about the museum is that its overall layout was very cool. i can see myself wanting to bring student that will one day be in my classroom to something similar to that. it didn't sugar coat things (KKK outfit, ew!) and it was a real eye opener.
Things like that little tid bit of information is important to know about the area in which you live. i think its important because the more educated you are the more connected to your location. I think that after visiting something like this it made me appreciate my heritage and where i have essentially grown up my whole life a little more. then you ask, why haven't i visited something like this before. and my answer is blunt, because its not that crucial for my every day life, and when i was younger it was boring. I think of something like that now through the eyes of a future educator. i see it as an opportunity to get students within my classroom active in their histories, and interacting with history. But when i was younger and still today that isn't how i was taught therefore that kind of stuff wasn't familiar to me.
Politics and history of anything connect, not only politics and McLean county. the root of our nations development and McLean counties development is based on the struggles of past politicians, and government to get it to the place that its at now. And learning about the smaller areas of politics/government that occurred in McLean county make the larger scheme of things make sense.
My additional thought about the museum is that its overall layout was very cool. i can see myself wanting to bring student that will one day be in my classroom to something similar to that. it didn't sugar coat things (KKK outfit, ew!) and it was a real eye opener.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
My familiarity with McLean County, and its political history is very minor. This is most likely due to the fact that I have grown up in Tazewell county, and haven't really been interested in politics until just recently. Honestly i am completely lost when it comes to talking about McLean county besides the fact that i know its large, wealthy, and contains 4 colleges (isu, heartland, Wesleyan, and Lincoln community college).
I know it is probably important that i know about McLean county because i go to school there, and because the decisions that are made by politicians affect me more directly than the decisions made in Tazewell county. Although, the older that i get the more information i seem to pick up about the locations where i live. such as next year i will be living in Springfield (i don't know the county yet), but i have already been researching information about my soon to be residence because i know that if i lack knowledge it will directly affect me when teaching there. also because education has so much to do with politics the older i get and the closer i come to actually getting a real job the more important it is for me to start getting to know what kind of place i want to teach in, as well as the politics that are the building block for the school.
Therefore the answer to the question, "does it matter?" is yes, it matters. obviously i haven't changed that much, but i am progressively getting better at being more educated.
I know it is probably important that i know about McLean county because i go to school there, and because the decisions that are made by politicians affect me more directly than the decisions made in Tazewell county. Although, the older that i get the more information i seem to pick up about the locations where i live. such as next year i will be living in Springfield (i don't know the county yet), but i have already been researching information about my soon to be residence because i know that if i lack knowledge it will directly affect me when teaching there. also because education has so much to do with politics the older i get and the closer i come to actually getting a real job the more important it is for me to start getting to know what kind of place i want to teach in, as well as the politics that are the building block for the school.
Therefore the answer to the question, "does it matter?" is yes, it matters. obviously i haven't changed that much, but i am progressively getting better at being more educated.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Blog Number 5
I am and am not surprised by where if fit on the chart. I knew that when I was taking this that i would be on the left somewhere. I am also not surprised that I am not as far left as some people one, because i didn't know what some of the questions in the test were asking and two because i do hold some right side views. I am surprised at the fact that i was closer to the authoritarian side of things than the libertarian. I just think of my self as a let the people do what they want kind of person... but after learning stuff through the course i have realized that I do prefer a little more control through the government, and accept more of the restrictions that before i was either uneducated on or just indifferent. Because of the results of this test I would identify more with a Democrat, one that is able to see both sides of the argument, sides with the left more, but is definitely not glued to the party. Like i said before i hold some right side views.
Also, resulting from this test, i am somewhere between Nelson Mandela on the left, Jose Zapatero on the upper right, and Pope Benedict XVI on the upper left. Its kind of hard to compare myself to these people one because they are very influential people and two because i don't know who Jose Zapatero is. I prefer being a democrat because they have more liberal views than the republicans. I believe that there should be health care for all people, that we should find a way to get out of the war (or at least stop sending people in), i believe that the government is responsible for helping our economy. whereas the republicans stand on the fact that some of this should be done by the people within the states. whereas i say that the states don't have the power to accomplish the things that our nation needs.
When looking at both the democrat and republican web sites i had a few different reactions. The republicans site was ridiculous and was waaayyyyy harsh and uncalled for, "the democrats are advancing their agenda...your life is now under their scrutiny." From that all i can say is WOW! The picture of the huge democrat about to squish a civilians head. I can almost not even get past that to look at the issues they stand for, or move through the website... just a little uncalled for in my opinion. They are stuck right now with a democratic president, they should embrace it and do with it whatever they can, not bash basically Americans. The democrats website on the other hand is an ode to Obama. I think my favorite part of the site was the Sonya Sotomayor picture at the top. Its an achievement and the first large thing that the Obama administration has done, and i liked to see it as a poster of achievement right there on the front of the website. One thing that i liked about both sites is if you scroll down they both have their social networking links to youtube, facebook, etc... which i think is neat.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Blog Number 4
I read through two articles from politico.com which were both in my opinion very superficial articles targeting Sonia Sotomayor. The two articles i read are Sotomayor hits the jackpot by Josh Gerstein and For a justice, Sonia Sotomayor is low on dough by Josh Gerstein http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/23055.html http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/23045.html#ixzz0GqsxXu7S&A
I read both of these articles not to be an over achiever but because i was surprised how many articles were targeting the fact that she was a normal person with a normal not outstanding salary. With everything else that she stand for such as campaign financing for example. Also this surprises me (kinda) because she has the the merit to be appointed. When watching the video if i got nothing else from it i found out that Sonia Sotomayor has experience (very much reiterated). She has been through nearly every judicial position, graduated from princeton for her undergrad and Yale law school, and has at least 30 years of experience.
Putting aside her merit it is clear that Sonia Sotomayor has overcome adversity in order to be where she is today. Not to forget that she is Latina and in the media's eyes poor. this means of course that she will only be representing the poor, Latino, and democratic people right??? that is what it seems the media and political people seem to believe. although it seems that this is what is going to happen and as Newt Gingrich states, "she's racist" its just another type of diversity on the supreme court just as the black man on the supreme court is an extreme republican. it seems as though they are going to try to find anything at all wrong with her because they didn't get an extreme republican placed on the court.
Overall i get a very negative vibe from the people in the articles that i have read. when you only focus in on a small thing such as someones income and don't even mention her merit or achievements it seems as though you really don't have anything good to say about a person. I understand that the republicans are not all that happy because one she is a "democrat" and two because she is Latina, and that is a large source of their votes. due to this it just makes me believe that they are going to pick on her until she does something that they may agree with. although that may not be true, i fee like no matter what Obama did, he would have been under scrutiny because it was one of his first large moves.
I read both of these articles not to be an over achiever but because i was surprised how many articles were targeting the fact that she was a normal person with a normal not outstanding salary. With everything else that she stand for such as campaign financing for example. Also this surprises me (kinda) because she has the the merit to be appointed. When watching the video if i got nothing else from it i found out that Sonia Sotomayor has experience (very much reiterated). She has been through nearly every judicial position, graduated from princeton for her undergrad and Yale law school, and has at least 30 years of experience.
Putting aside her merit it is clear that Sonia Sotomayor has overcome adversity in order to be where she is today. Not to forget that she is Latina and in the media's eyes poor. this means of course that she will only be representing the poor, Latino, and democratic people right??? that is what it seems the media and political people seem to believe. although it seems that this is what is going to happen and as Newt Gingrich states, "she's racist" its just another type of diversity on the supreme court just as the black man on the supreme court is an extreme republican. it seems as though they are going to try to find anything at all wrong with her because they didn't get an extreme republican placed on the court.
Overall i get a very negative vibe from the people in the articles that i have read. when you only focus in on a small thing such as someones income and don't even mention her merit or achievements it seems as though you really don't have anything good to say about a person. I understand that the republicans are not all that happy because one she is a "democrat" and two because she is Latina, and that is a large source of their votes. due to this it just makes me believe that they are going to pick on her until she does something that they may agree with. although that may not be true, i fee like no matter what Obama did, he would have been under scrutiny because it was one of his first large moves.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Blog Number 3
I am reading this site as I am blogging so all of my reactions are actually occurring as I read. As i first glance over the site i have no idea what is going on. There are a ton of references to different acts, some of which i am familiar with and some that i am not. there are also a large number of abbreviations. Overall it seems to look like when i was on my schools student senate and the secretary took notes of what happened during the day, and the agenda of what the meeting was to look like. Also reading through all of the bills that were to be addressed and other thoughts of the members there are a lot of phrases, and dialogue that i don't understand (goes right over my head!).
Once getting past everything that i don't understand i find it funny that there are time restrictions on certain things. when it states that the first 30 minutes will be dedicated to this party, and the second 30 minutes to this party, and the final hour split between the two parties, but no one can speak for more than 10 minutes i though that was very specific. i understand that it needs to be otherwise I'm sure the arguing could last forever, but i didn't think that 435 highly educated people would have to be given such restrictions!
I am also surprised in the fact that the dialogue is so informal. For example, "I'm gonna have to cheat a little bit on the committee hearings schedule today, because I've got to get to bed earlier than usual and get up early tomorrow." http://www.congressmatters.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/1030/-Today-in-Congress. This is interesting because it makes it easily read by say me, but its surprising because i expected it to be much more hard to follow i suppose. Its also amazin how many things that they are expected to get through in one day... i counted and they have what i interpreted as an agenda with 26 things to get through.
Then when comparing the House to the Senate it seems like senate is much more consise and the house is a lot more broad. the senate seemed to get strait to the point and have things on a strict schedule. this however doesnt surprise me at all for the pure fact that its easier to manuver around 100 people than it is around 435 people. The items that they have addressed is similar to one another, but the senate just seems a little bit more organized than the house.
Once getting past everything that i don't understand i find it funny that there are time restrictions on certain things. when it states that the first 30 minutes will be dedicated to this party, and the second 30 minutes to this party, and the final hour split between the two parties, but no one can speak for more than 10 minutes i though that was very specific. i understand that it needs to be otherwise I'm sure the arguing could last forever, but i didn't think that 435 highly educated people would have to be given such restrictions!
I am also surprised in the fact that the dialogue is so informal. For example, "I'm gonna have to cheat a little bit on the committee hearings schedule today, because I've got to get to bed earlier than usual and get up early tomorrow." http://www.congressmatters.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/1030/-Today-in-Congress. This is interesting because it makes it easily read by say me, but its surprising because i expected it to be much more hard to follow i suppose. Its also amazin how many things that they are expected to get through in one day... i counted and they have what i interpreted as an agenda with 26 things to get through.
Then when comparing the House to the Senate it seems like senate is much more consise and the house is a lot more broad. the senate seemed to get strait to the point and have things on a strict schedule. this however doesnt surprise me at all for the pure fact that its easier to manuver around 100 people than it is around 435 people. The items that they have addressed is similar to one another, but the senate just seems a little bit more organized than the house.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The county that I call home is Tazewell county. Let me give you a little background about my county. The largest city in tazewell is Pekin, and as of 2000 the population of my county was approximately 128,000 people. Some of our major highways are 74, 155, and 474. Tazewell came to be because it was a break off of Peoria.
My elected state representative is Bill Mitchell and my state senator is Bill Brady. The biography information that i have found about Bill Mitchell 87th district includes that he is a Full-time State Legislator; born March 29, 1960, in Decatur; graduate of Eastern Illinois University in 1982, B.A. in Political Science; Decatur City Councilman; Former Macon County Republican Chairman; Sponsored curfew laws and made efforts to cut government waste, reduce taxes and institute juvenile justice reform; Mayor Pro Team 1997-1998 (http://www.ilga.gov/house/Rep.asp?MemberID=948). He is like it states a republican and has served from 1999-the present.
Senator Bill Brady 44th district. Brady is also a Republican (surprise, surprise!) He was appointed in 2002 but was in the House from 1993-2002. The biography information that i was able to find on him includes Born May 15, 1961 in Bloomington; B.S., finance, political science and economics, Illinois Wesleyan University; married (wife, Nancy), has three children (http://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?MemberID=1020).
When i googled Bill Mitchell i found that he on august 30, 2003 he was arrested for DUI and his blood alcohol level was at .186 which is more than double the legal limit of .08. He pled guilty and was sentenced to court supervision for 24 months... ooopsy!
When i googled Bill Brady i found out that he graduated from both Central Catholic High School and Illinois Wesleyan University, which to me are two negative things, but perhaps not to other people... other than that i could not find anything but articles about the big box ordinances he believes will promote economic development in Illinois.
My elected state representative is Bill Mitchell and my state senator is Bill Brady. The biography information that i have found about Bill Mitchell 87th district includes that he is a Full-time State Legislator; born March 29, 1960, in Decatur; graduate of Eastern Illinois University in 1982, B.A. in Political Science; Decatur City Councilman; Former Macon County Republican Chairman; Sponsored curfew laws and made efforts to cut government waste, reduce taxes and institute juvenile justice reform; Mayor Pro Team 1997-1998 (http://www.ilga.gov/house/Rep.asp?MemberID=948). He is like it states a republican and has served from 1999-the present.
Senator Bill Brady 44th district. Brady is also a Republican (surprise, surprise!) He was appointed in 2002 but was in the House from 1993-2002. The biography information that i was able to find on him includes Born May 15, 1961 in Bloomington; B.S., finance, political science and economics, Illinois Wesleyan University; married (wife, Nancy), has three children (http://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?MemberID=1020).
When i googled Bill Mitchell i found that he on august 30, 2003 he was arrested for DUI and his blood alcohol level was at .186 which is more than double the legal limit of .08. He pled guilty and was sentenced to court supervision for 24 months... ooopsy!
When i googled Bill Brady i found out that he graduated from both Central Catholic High School and Illinois Wesleyan University, which to me are two negative things, but perhaps not to other people... other than that i could not find anything but articles about the big box ordinances he believes will promote economic development in Illinois.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
About me
My name is Chelsea Troll and i'm a senior at ISU. I'm an elementary education major getting ready to start the PDS program in Springfield this fall. I live in minier with my parents for the summer and am VERY dumb when it comes to politics. Through this course i hope to get a better understanding and become more educated when speaking about politics and the government purely because my profession will be very tightly linked to government and politics. I voted in the 2008 election and i was astounded by the turn out of the election. I have also voted for some of our school and town votes. That though is about as far as my interaction with the government goes. That is why I hope that this course makes me into a more literate politics consumer!
Blog Number 1
The article that I read is Barack Obama speaks at Notre Dame, calls for 'fair-minded words' by Carol E. Lee - which can be found at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22611.html. Briefly this article is about how both sides of the abortion argument are never going to see eye to eye, Obama stated that there must be a more respectful tone on the issue, marked by “open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words.”
While reading this article I came across a few things that I didn't fully understand. One thing that i didn't understand is when the article talked about people disappointment that Obama has ignored, "lifting the ban on federal funding for overseas clinics that offer abortion counseling and reversing the Bush administration’s ban on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell" What i don't understand about this is how is Obama able to do this or responsible for doing this when it is outside his jurisdiction. I know that he has a say when dealing with oversea affairs, but I feel like this is a little out of his duties almost. Also I know that there is a very close relationship between stem cell research and abortion, but I think that they must keep the things as separate as possible otherwise the argument gets messy. Perhaps my opinion and confusion shows my ignorance, but I'm pretty familiar with the argument of abortion/stem cell research and i don't know what the people expect for Obama to do... you cant make everyone happy!!!
That also brings me to wonder why the critics that were mentioned in the article tend to nag at the way that Obama went around his commencement at the catholic school. They said that he just restated peoples opinions making them think that he agreed with them. If he has stated his side and believes that people should be more respectful of the issue, what do people truly want from the president? I guess my confusion lies in why people are so judgemental, and wont let things be, especially when there is no solution for something as controversial as abortion!
While reading this article I came across a few things that I didn't fully understand. One thing that i didn't understand is when the article talked about people disappointment that Obama has ignored, "lifting the ban on federal funding for overseas clinics that offer abortion counseling and reversing the Bush administration’s ban on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell" What i don't understand about this is how is Obama able to do this or responsible for doing this when it is outside his jurisdiction. I know that he has a say when dealing with oversea affairs, but I feel like this is a little out of his duties almost. Also I know that there is a very close relationship between stem cell research and abortion, but I think that they must keep the things as separate as possible otherwise the argument gets messy. Perhaps my opinion and confusion shows my ignorance, but I'm pretty familiar with the argument of abortion/stem cell research and i don't know what the people expect for Obama to do... you cant make everyone happy!!!
That also brings me to wonder why the critics that were mentioned in the article tend to nag at the way that Obama went around his commencement at the catholic school. They said that he just restated peoples opinions making them think that he agreed with them. If he has stated his side and believes that people should be more respectful of the issue, what do people truly want from the president? I guess my confusion lies in why people are so judgemental, and wont let things be, especially when there is no solution for something as controversial as abortion!
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