Tag Archives: GOV

March 14, 2014 · 2:32 pm

ACT Groups and Mission Statements

Our first ACT assignment in Government class is for students to align themselves with friends who have a common goal. Once you’ve done this you have a couple of tasks. #1, your group must come up with a name. That name should encompass what your group is all about. You also need an acronym which is the initials that spell out your group name. Then we need a mission statement. The mission should answer the question, “Why you exist – or what is your organization’s core focus?

Your mission statement should be:
Short
Memorable
Inspiring
Market focused – who do you serve?
What you want to be remember for…

Finally it should pass the T-shirt test. Would it fit on a T-shirt? Would you wear that T-shirt? Finally, would your staff wear it?

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March 12, 2014 · 10:56 am

2014 ACT Syllabus – “That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men.”

Go here to find PDF of semester long syllabus for A.C.T!
Go here for general guidelines for A.C.T! reading and writing.
Go here to find a PDF copy of Probationary contract.

We’ve spent a solid Marking Period exploring Amendment 14 to the Constitution. We’ve concentrated on defining your rights and responsibilities as an American citizen. And we’ve participated in an extensive study of the American Civil Rights Movement. You’ve done a great job. Judging from exam scores, I think you have a broad working knowledge to build upon. I also believe that you know exactly what can be done, in defense of your rights, if you go about that battle in the most effective way possible.

Our next step is to take to the streets. Action Counts Today will teach you how to challenge your government in regards to those things that matter most to you!

The study of United States government without corresponding involvement, relegates its study to irrelevancy. The idea is not only that you know your rights under the Constitution, but that you exercise those rights throughout your life. It is my hope, that by stressing A.C.T! as a significant portion of government class, both in time spent and percent of a final semester grade, that you will begin a tradition of working within your government and Constitution to create a more accountable state and a more just world.

Good luck…let’s get moving.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

it’s up to We the People to do the bending

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February 26, 2014 · 10:25 am

Civil Rights – Two and Two / Blendspace Survey

Assignment due posted to Google docs by 11:59 PM Wednesday February 26. One posting per group. Bring a hard copy to class (one per student) on Thursday. Fifty point assignment.

‘Civil Rights – Two & Two / Blendspace survey’ on Audioboo

We’ve spent the Marking Period looking closely at US Citizens rights protected under the Constitution; we’ve concentrated on Amendment 14 and the rights (or lack there of) for Southern black citizens. We’ve also looked closely at how the Supreme Court dealt with these rights in the issuance of two landmark decisions – Plessy vs Fergusen (1896) and Brown vs Board of Education (1954).

The Brown decision launches the Civil Rights Movement. Without it, there’s no legal basis for the non-violent movement to reach success in the courts. For it to change American society success in the courts was essential. What I want you to do now – is survey pieces of the movement that I’ve linked in the Blendspace below. Each of the links – represents a significant event. With a partner choose two (thirty minutes on each) of those posted below and do the following:

Watch it and talk about it
Make notations on everything that you learned
Evaluate the event thru Amendment 14 (what was its effect?)
Evaluate the event thru Brown v Board (what was its effect?)
Turn in your posted notes to Mr. Wood on Google Docs
Bring a hard copy to class on Thursday. Be ready to talk.

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February 23, 2014 · 8:46 am

Michigan’s – Defense of Marriage Amendment (2004) in Federal Court

Go here for more information on DeBoer v Snyder. Go here for coverage at the national level.

This week (DeBoer v Snyder), a lawsuit will commence in Federal Court brought by April DeBoer and her longtime partner Jayne Rowse residents of Michigan challenging the state’s DOMA law. The two women, both nurses in Oakland County, seek to adopt the three special-needs children they have been raising together since 2010. Each has already exercised her right to adopt as a single parent. But under a Michigan law that forbids unmarried couples from jointly adopting, neither is legally recognized as the legal parent of her partner’s children. The case challenges the constitutionality of Michigan’s law passed in 2004 which defines marriage as only between and a woman.

The state of Michigan is defending the law based on its 10th Amendment rights of the state to determine its own sovereignty on the issue. The 2004 Constitutional Amendment was passed by a majority of Michigan citizens. April and Jayne claim that their 14th Amendment rights of equal protection are being violated.

By the time a new law permitting gay marriage in Illinois takes effect June 1, same-sex couples will be free to marry in at least 17 states (contact the Yampolsky & Margolis Criminal Defense in Las Vegas for legal help). Four more states either recognize civil unions between gay couples or honor same-sex marriages consecrated elsewhere.

In Michigan and 32 other states where state laws or constitutional amendments bar same-sex partners from marrying, elected officials defending the status quo are under siege. Freedom to Marry, a nationwide advocacy group, counts more than 40 pending lawsuits in which LGBT plaintiffs seek to invalidate restrictions on same-sex marriage.

Stay tuned….