Vocabulary charts are due each Friday. Students pick 5 vocabulary words from their outside reading novels and complete the vocabulary chart (available on download page).

Reading guides are completed with the student's outside reading novel. The reading guide PowerPoint explains each question and provides an example. (The reading guide and PowerPoint are both available on the download page.)

Answer the questions on your own paper.
homepage.mac.com/cohora/ext/sept.html

Oct 13 2008 8:00 AM EDT By Shaheem Reid, with reporting by Jennifer Vineyard
Young Jeezy Talks About Presidential Election
'Both parties can do the job, but if I had my pick, I'm definitely going with Joe and Barack,' rapper says.
There's less than a month until Election Day, and Young Jeezy is still putting the word out for everyone to get to the polls this year. The Snowman is leaning heavily toward the Democratic side, especially since Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.
"I like Joe [Biden] a little bit better than Sarah," Jeezy said recently. "I understand she's the soccer mom and all that, and that's good. But if something happens to McCain, then what? Do you want a soccer mom to run the country? That's cool. I mean, she can run the house, though. I like Joe, though. Definitely. You got to be tough. I mean, I'm definitely not saying anything against what women do, but at the same time, Joe's firm, Barack [Obama]'s firm. They're straight to the point. They don't beat around the bush. Both parties can do the job, but if I had my pick, I'm definitely going with Joe and Barack. Too much more serious things going on."
One of those things is the nationwide economic crisis — Jeezy named his album to reflect the nation's current monetary difficulties.
"Yes, we are in a Recession," he said. "Ask [President] Bush, he'll tell you. We got to stand up. We got to be 'We the people' on this one. It's on us, you know what I mean? That's what we got to do. We got to stick together. I really wanted to get me on [the album], expressing my feelings, my concerns about what's going on. I wanted to make good music around this time, but I also wanted to drop a couple gems about what's going on in the economy and stuff like that. Sometimes we look over it. We don't tap into it until election time."


Reply from a 32-year old female user from Grand Rapids, MI.
Hypocrisy (10.13.08 | 11:31 AM)
Wow, so many people are quite ignorant. First of all, I am “qualified” to be both president and VP. Sarah Palin is “qualified”. I believe you people who use that word are actually searching for the word "competent," but since you don't actually think for yourselves and are only fed information, it’s easy to misplace definitions, I suppose.
Secondly, Palin is actually the most experienced when it comes to the EXECUTIVE BRANCH. NO ONE ELSE has experience. Congress experience does NOT equate to executive experience. Congress has an approval rating of about 7%, due to the insane corruption in the houses, and we want to elect a senator as VP? Either one is a worse choice than any governor from either party. Joe Biden in JANUARY 2008 stated in the Democratic primaries that Barak Obama would be the worst choice of the eight or so candidates running for the nomination. Now he is the VP choice for Obama? WTF?
It is ridiculously hypocritical that once a female gets on a national ticket, the party that is supposed to be all for minorities (because all Republicans are sexist/racists/inbred of course) completely tears her up with absurd accusations and dim-witted statements about her personally. I don't know how the drive-by media gets their insane messages of hate and intolerance through to the masses disguised as "fact", but lift the veil of ignorance people and actually do some research of your own before you vote.


Answer the following questions in complete sentences using the article and the reply. Support your answer with text evidence.

1. How do you feel about Jeezy’s comments on Sarah Palin?
2. Why did Young Jeezy name his album “Recession”?
3. What distinction does Hypocrisy make between “qualified” and “competent”?
4. What is the ironic statement Hypocrisy makes about Joe Biden? What is she trying to show about Biden with this statement?
5. Why does the 32-year old female user chose “Hypocrisy” as her user name?

Assignment: Create a Venn Diagram for Palin and Biden

Clash of the Veeps!

Democrat Joseph Biden and Republican Sarah Palin squared off in their first and only vice-presidential debate on October 2 in St. Louis, Missouri. The two clashed over the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, and energy plans, among other hot-button issues in this year's presidential race.

Palin, the governor of Alaska, spent the evening trying to drive home the message that she and running mate John McCain, an Arizona senator, are mavericks who are "known for putting … politics aside to just get the job done." A maverick is a person who isn't afraid to act independently. Biden, a Delaware senator, countered that claim by trying to link McCain's policies with those of President George W. Bush. Biden said that McCain has "not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table." Senator Biden claimed that he and his running mate, Barack Obama, would be the team to bring about change in Washington, D.C.

The debaters sparred over the economy and taxes. Biden says the Democrats' economic plan will cut taxes for 90 percent of Americans and only raise taxes on people who earn more than $250,000 a year. Palin and McCain propose lowering taxes for businesses so that they can then pump more money back into the economy.

On the war in Iraq, Biden pitched a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops to "end this war." Palin compared his plan to "waiving a white flag of surrender." Obama voted against going to war in Iraq and opposed sending more troops in 2007. McCain supported the war and troop surge. Both Biden and Palin have sons serving in Iraq.

When talk turned to energy policy, Palin criticized the Democratic candidates for opposing offshore drilling of oil. Biden criticized McCain for voting against alternative energy plans.

Why do swing states matter?
Mixing red and blue makes purple, and no two people know that better than Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

States that usually vote Republican are sometimes called red states. Blue states are likely to vote for a Democrat. Purple states are those in which no political party has most of the voters' support, so the votes are still up for grabs. They are also called swing states, and experts say they are going to play an important role in this November's election.

Swing states are important to candidates because of the Electoral College. That is a group of representatives chosen by voters in each state to elect the president. The number of electors for each state is based on the number of that state's senators and representatives in Congress. The candidate who wins the popular vote in a state on Election Day usually wins all that state's electoral votes. A candidate must win 270 out of the total 538 electoral votes to become president. The total electoral votes in the red states and the blue states are about the same. This means the candidate who wins in several key swing states will probably win the presidency.

"The places worth campaigning are swing states," Columbia University political science professor and author Andrew Gelman told Weekly Reader. "If [presidential candidates] can swing a few thousand votes that can make a difference between winning and losing the election."

Experts have identified 11 swing states that will be key in this election. As the presidential campaign heads into its final days, Republican McCain and Democrat Obama are expected to target Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The four states bring a total of 85 electoral votes to the table.

Recent polls show that the candidates are neck and neck in some of these states. McCain is leading in Florida by 50 percent to 43 percent, and Obama is leading in Pennsylvania by 48 percent to 45 percent.

Other battleground states include Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin. This has the candidates crisscrossing the country, making sure to visit the swing states. McCain and Obama both recently visited New Hampshire, where McCain won the Republican primary earlier this year, but Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in Democratic primary.

In the next several days, McCain plans to visit Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are on Obama's schedule.

Voter turnout could also affect which way the purple states swing. Researchers say the 2008 election will see a flood of young voters and growing numbers of Hispanic voters—especially in the Southwest U.S.

"The election could be very close," Gelman says. "There probably won't be a lot of surprises, but it would only take one or two [swing states] to make a difference."

Questions:
1. Why do the presidential candidates campaign heavily in swing states? Support your answer with evidence from the article.

2. Why are swing states also known as purple states? Support your answer with evidence from the article.

Complete steps 1 and 2. You will need to write your responses on a separate sheet of paper that will be turned in.

Step 1:
*Visit Obama's website.
www.barackobama.com/index.php
*Visit McCain's website
www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/
www.johnmccain.com/
*Create a dialectical journal on 3 quotes per website (6 quotes total). [A dialectical journal involves making a T-chart, writing the quote on the left side and your response to the quote on the right.]

Step 2:
*Follow the link to the "Vote by Issue" quiz.
www.votebyissue.org/election2008/q.aspx?q=5
*Take the quiz.
*Write down which candidate the quiz shows you agree with on the most issues.
*Were you surprised by your results?
*Write down the issues that are most important to you and which candidate supports YOUR same stand on those issues.

Download the persuasive techniques notes from the download section. Print or copy these notes. Use these notes to match the following quotes to the correct persuasive technique.

1. “How can we trust her as VP when her own daughter is pregnant and unmarried!”
2. “I’d like to address our economy, but first I need to talk about our dependency on foreign oil.”
3. “My opponent says he will lower taxes for the rich, but do you know how he defines “rich”? He defines it as making less than $42,000 a year!”
4. “If my opponent is elected, children and the elderly will lose their healthcare benefits!”
5. “TIME magazine supports our campaign.”
6. “I am going to fix our economy, help small businesses, and make this country better.”
7. “If we pull our troops out of Iraq, the country will fall apart! They need an American presence to remain stable.”

a. Appeal to Emotion
b. Generalities
c. Over-Simplification
d. Avoidance
e. Misrepresenting an Opponent’s Position
f. Testimonial
g. Personal Attacks

Directions: Look under the download section for the pictures titled "Political Cartoons". Use these cartoons to answer the following questions. Answer in complete sentences.

Cartoon #1
1.Who is standing at the door waving? How do you know who it is?

2.What does the bowl say that this man is holding? What does this man holding the bowl represent?

3.What does the sad man’s hardhat say? Who does this man represent?

4.What is the main message of this cartoon?

5.Which political party does this cartoon support?


Cartoon #2
1.Who does the man at the door represent?

2.Who do the children represent?

3.What does the candy represent?

4.What is the main message of this cartoon?

5.Which political party does this cartoon support?

The project information and rubric are both available under the download section.

Read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" p. 101-104 in the Lit. book. (Use this link to read the story online https://students.springisd.org/StudentTextbooks/LanguageArts/HS/American%20Literature/Unit1.pdf read the page numbers at the bottom of the textbook pages to find the story)

IMAGERY
Imagery is the collection of mental pictures ,or images, in a literary work.

Visual imagery is most common but a writer can also use other sensory details that appeal to the reader's sense of sound, taste, smell, or touch.

Edwards' sermon is filled with images meant to frighten listeners into seeking God and avoiding hell.

1. What frightening images occur in the first two paragraphs? To what senses do they appeal?
2. What sensory details does Edwards include in the fourth paragraph? What effect does the imagery have on the reader?
3. List five additional images in the sermon, each of which appeals to a different sense.