We all know that today is the first day of the new term for SCOTUS. D.C. is all abuzz. (Okay, maybe it is not an above the fold story.) Yesterday, the Catholic Diocese of Washington D.C. and the John Carroll Society invited the SCOTUS and other legal professionals to a mass said in their honor. This gives the Church access to the legal heavy weights before they go on to consider what has been hailed as a very controversial social issue docket, and it seems as though the Roman Catholics have a lot to influence this term. Cases of concern include (along with Links to SCOTUSblog):
I caught a snippet of what we have in store on NPR this morning... and Diane Rehm had a nice lengthy discussion of the impacts of the various cases. Anywho, this is my favorite unit to teach, so this year's cases are looking like a windfall of fun! If you are looking for ideas on how to teach the cases, check out my shop for a painless lesson plan. IT'S FREE!!!
0 Comments
I don't know if this is legitimate or not, but I found this to be an awesome example of inventiveness and peaceful protest from our federal workers. WTG.
The media? Biased? NEVER. This quick little interview from NPR's David Folkenflik covers this topic in spades. He talks to James Fallows of The Atlantic (Liberal) and Robert Costa of The National Review (Conservative). These two storied journalists look to factions INSIDE the party, instead of bickering between the parties. Today, I needed NEEDED to have access to LOC.gov. Guessssss whaaaat? It is non-essential. Fear not! Here is your hook up, along with a few other cool websites about the shut down...
1. Archived .gov websites 2. Some fun visual resources... including my favorite which shows time in normal operating conditions versus non-normal operating conditions since 1976... 3. More visual graphics on the proposed FY 2014 budget... 4. And my absolutely favorite budget resource. You can find the FY14 budget broken out comparatively in an awesome visual feast. I have this one hanging on the wall in my classroom. Remember, this is only covering the portion of the budget that is NOT mandatory spending... So, we have talked about Boehner's on-going battle with the extreme members of GOP Caucus... The "THIRTY," as the media is dubbing them... NPR did a nice little spot on them this morning on Morning Edition... and David Hawkings from CQ Roll Call's "Hawkings Here" Blog highlighted this last night as the fight over pulling a clean CR vote will move forward... or if Ted Cruz et. al. will get any traction with piece-meal funding department by department, that was deftly defeated yesterday. As I read through this, I recall the New Yorker article published back in August of 2010 by Jane Mayer, charging that the Tea Party is not grass roots, as least not as much as the TP says... and wonder if the TP is aware of latest poll results expressing dismay with the Shut Down... unless you are from the TP. At the end of the day, this sooo reminds me of about a ba-zillion scenes from my new favorite political thriller, House of Cards (Netflix). I feel like Francis is running amuck all over the hill, and I would pay a decent chunk of change just to be a fly on the wall in the Speaker's offices.Especially when Eric Cantor sent out this lovely little memo about legislative strategy on the GOP side of the Hill. Never a dull day, here folks. >>Update on the HASTERT RULE and the neurotic environment in Congress. Happy Open Exchanges Day, Citizens! Politico put together a great little guide to the Affordable Care Act AKA Obamacare. This is not a glitzy tutorial; but it gives you the broad scope of what's up in the Exchanges.
Now if I can just figure out what Speaker Pelosi is wearing on the iconic Signing Ceremony, life would be good. Polling some great resources on the Shutdown... 1. What is open; what is closed. A great (and easy to read) list of what is (and is not) open for business. 2. Paying our Government Workers. Great for dialing this down to the most local of levels for students of federal employees. 3. A department by department break down of the shutdown. You can get a great feel for what is "essential," and what is not. What this does not get into are individual programs that are non-appropriated funding... or programs that are not policy based, but may be funded by "client" slush funds... 4. Primary Resource: OMB's Directive to shut it down. Fun to take a look at how these things work. 5. Who is to blame? Rs or Ds? Depends on who you ask. Just in case you don't know... 6. An example of how the shut down impacts "recession proof" DC suburbs. To illustrate a point of how these actions impact regions. 7. What Congress is doing between caucus, committee meetings, and floor debates... besides reading Dr. Seuss. Shockingly, they are fundraising. *** Here is an update on their fundraising activities... 8. And to make those of us in D.C. who are crying laugh just a little bit... Here is a little political satire to make your day. I started my morning off like all the rest of you... Government Shutdown. <<:/ SMH>> The media loves the storyline; coverage pulling us this way and that... Go to FOX and see what their talking points are, Go to MSNBC and rinse and repeat. But, we aren't the center of the world. I know our maps in our classroom make us think that. So, why not think about this from an outsider's perspective? Slate has a great little blurb on what this could be "spun" as...
|
Photo via Flickr/Ted Eytan
Archives
September 2017
Categories
All
|