It is that time of year when everyone has one eye on the calendar counting down to our December break. Congress is no different and you saw a new sense of urgency this week as they tried to wrap up some key legislation before adjourning for the session. Congress conducts business for two years. A new session will begin in January with the swearing in of newly elected members. The session between the election in November and adjournment is referred to as a lame duck session. Members who were not reelected fully participate, but the party who “wins” in November has little incentive to conclude business, knowing that come January they will have many new members. This is acutely felt in the House this year as the Democrats have lost the majority and come January the Republicans will take over. The big bill on everyone’s mind was the tax bill. Congress finally decided to keep tax rates steady for another two years. Republicans interpreted this as good for the economy as it gave the wealthiest individuals money they could invest while many Democrats were critical of continuing the lower tax rates for the wealthy as a contributor to the deficit. Hidden among the thousands of pages of rules and regulations was a one year reduction in the Social Security tax. So keep on the lookout for a 2% raise in your paycheck come January when the FICA (Social Security tax) is reduced.
Happy Bill of Rights Day!
We took time off from our busy schedule to celebrate Bill of Rights Day on December 15. This is a great time to pause and think about how fortunate we are to live in a country that respects and promotes individual liberty. It is amazing that so many people do not know their basic rights, but you did a great job outlining our five essential freedoms under the First Amendment: freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition. Bill of Rights Day was formally declared in 1941 when President Franklin Roosevelt asked all Americans to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the passage of the Bill of Rights. So when you walk into room 246 and see the bright lights you know it is time to celebrate!
South Asia
We used our chapter 25 worksheet to help build background on India and to use the vocabulary that helps tell the store of this country. Much of the history we learned about India was reinforced by our speaker, Captain Sexana. His PowerPoint presentation walked us through the rich history of his country and gave us a sense of the size and diversity of his nation. We also saw a clip from the NYT on outsourcing and interviews with young Indians and how they view their future. Our reading from The Economist gave us a well written argument on how India’s growth could outpace China’s. We took the opportunity to make a list of factors that would support investment in India, what the challenges are, and where we would invest money for future growth: India or China.
Our finally video was “India Rising,” an Emmy award winning documentary by PBS NOW. The video points out the reasons for a fast growing middle class in India and its impact on your life style. The growth of the middle class is causing prices for all commodities to increase. Are we on a seesaw? As India rises does it mean our own standard of living will decrease?
As we completed our study of India, we started on a quick preview of some of the statistics that help tell the story of Pakistan. This country has been described by Vice President Biden as the “most dangerous country in the world.” We will look at the statistics, do some reading and watch a few videos and then you can make up your mind…is Pakistan a dangerous country?
To add to the mystery of Pakistan and the US relationship with this “dangerous” country, the CIA announced on Thursday that they were pulling their top spy out of the country as his cover was blown by the Pakistan military intelligence agency. This is becoming a real cloak and dagger story with many twists and turns.
Naval War College Guest Speaker Series
Our speaker series started off with two dynamic and engaging speakers: Commander Sene from Senegal and Captain Sexana from India. Their PowerPoint presentations covered the history of their countries and brought us up to contemporary times. You could quickly see that both officers are enthusiastic supporters of their homelands. Their vivid descriptions and positive attitude make me want to apply for a visa and book the next flight.
As an audience, I want to compliment you on your attention and great listening skills. Speakers appreciate a good audience and I know our two international officers will go back to the Naval War College with glowing reviews. Next time, let’s work on questions. Speakers always enjoy thought provoking questions as it shows you were listening and it gives them the opportunity to bring out additional points. Our next speakers will be February 14 from Kazakhstan and Germany.
Current Events
This is an ongoing assignment and by now you should be earning high scores. You have a week to do the assignment so that is plenty of time to find an article and write your two paragraphs. When you need an event from a certain region let me remind you again that you can’t just go to the computer and type in the region. We must use our text and your map work to determine which countries are in the region of study. Some search engines put Afghanistan in South Asia while our text considers it part of Southwest Asia. By doing the regional map as your first assignment on the syllabus you know which countries are part of the region we are studying. I will return the assignment and you have the opportunity to revise.
Wrap Up
We are just about at the end of our 2010 school year and my goal is to finish our South Asia syllabus and return the tasks to you prior to our break. If we can finish our multiple text study of Pakistan (that will require you to do the few pages of reading in your text this weekend or on Monday evening) then we can all go home for the break without any formal homework. Yes, I know...keeping up with current events, watching the news, and knowing what is happening in the outside world are ongoing tasks, but it would be nice not to have any formal worksheets, papers or assignments, so let’s put in that extra effort.
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