A look at the White House, in Washington, DC. We talked today about the federal government shutdown in class.
Dear class,
Welcome to your three day weekend! Here's what we did this morning.
Soundtrack: “Waiting on the World to Change” by John Mayer. Selected because we are waiting on the U.S. government to end the shutdown. Lyrics here.
AGENDA 10/10/13:
Tort Report
Shutdown
Continue Hot Coffee
Grade Check/Work
Homework: Turn in any missing/late work by the end of the day (today), in order for your progress report grade to be updated. Read the blog! Have a great weekend. Tort Report assigned to: Ellen.
Tort Report: Antonio had an article that he talked about, in regards to a lawsuit, but he hasn't emailed it or given me the printout yet, so I can't post it or give him credit (yet) for the assignment. Get it to me, Antonio!
Shutdown: I wanted to be sure to take a little time to address the current U.S. government shutdown and how it is related to what we talked about at the start of the year. Why can't President Obama simply declare a new national budget? Answer: because the legislative branch of the government is what decides new laws and passes the budget. Why can't the Republicans in the House of Representatives get what they want in terms of reforming (or defunding) the Affordable Care Act (also known as "Obamacare")? Answer: because President Obama would veto the legislation if it made it to his desk to sign.
Those are two very simplified examples, but hopefully the class understood that our system of limited government and checks and balances means that sometimes, we have conflicts like this. Hopefully, it will get resolved soon.
Continue Hot Coffee: For the rest of class, we watched (and finished) the documentary "Hot Coffee," which looks at four different problems with the civil justice system. The film finished right at the end of class, so we will have a discussion on it next time. If you somehow lost the assignment, here it is:
Hopefully, you found this film interesting. I saw a few attempts to disengage from it, but most of the class looked into it. For me, it is a really excellent way to show interesting aspects of what we are studying.
Grade Check/Work: We did not have any time left over after the documentary was done for this. However, your grades are always posted (by student ID number) in the room. Unless you do something to change that grade by the end of the day, that is what it will be for your progress report.
Let me know if you need any help or support! Have a great weekend.
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