Current events?

Question

CURRENT event?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15017291/...
---This is the first one. It is a really short article...Can u help me on deciding what kind of questions i can ask the class, to carry on a discussion.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13018902/...
This is the second article, which is about airport securtity, what kind of questions can i ask the class that will lead discussion, such as is it right to have so much security?

Answer 1

Ask open-ended questions: How much? Why? What do you think about...? What if...? etc.

Topic about Vitale murder
1. At what age should minors be tried as adults?
2. Should a minor ever face the possibility of capital punishment? Why or why not?
3. Can extenuating circumstances make a difference in sentencing for minors? Why or why not?

Airport security
1. How much safety is necessary for airline travel?
2. How much inconvenience is acceptable for airline passengers?
3. How much money should we spend per ticket on airline safety?
4. How much extra time should be allowed for security screening at airports?
5. Do you think airport security is just reacting to known threats as they are discovered? Or do you think there are other vulnerablities that need to be addressed? Explain.

Answer 2

Hopefully, you're planning on this being more than one day's discussion.

Regarding the second issue, begin with the observation of Benjamin Franklin, who rightly observed, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."

Making the case that national security in the USA is being driven by incompetent paranoid personalities should be pretty simple, as should be the case that unwarranted, draconian incursions into the private lives of US Citizens is tending to become normal.

This ties in to the notion that *every* uninspected container is potentially dangerous (3 uninspected ounces of sarin or tabun, if aerosolized, could be disastrous; the same applies to bioterrorism agents and ingredients of explosives).

Alternatively, it could be 3 ounces of deodorant, after shave, anti-fungal or other harmless product: putting the items in the cargo space of the plane significantly reduces the likelihood of an in-flight disaster (but doesn't eliminate it).

The idea is to make people so uncomfortable that they turn against each other. Thus, "security policy" mass-produces paranoia and deputizes all the Walter Mittys who imagine themselves to be the guardians of freedom and morality and "all things decent."

You'll probably want to introduce a few specifics in that regard, then present the article. Give the students a few moments to read it, or use an overhead projector so everyone's "on the same page."

Then invite each student to rebut or defend the Bush regime's policy.

Respecting your first issue, several thoughts come immediately to mind. As you are doubtless aware, lethal injection is being challenged in the courts as a cruel and unusual method of killing prisoners. Having previously been a staunch advocate of the death penalty, I now believe it should be eliminated completely.

If you're up to the challenge, guide your students in a discussion of the morality of the death penalty, and show how LWOP is actually more effective in accomplishing the legitimate social aims claimed by supporters of the death penalty.

Challenge your students to recognize that slaughtering prisoners, whether one at a time, or a thousand at a time, is nevertheless committing the massacre of those persons; hence, the moral authority (for the death penalty) is devolved to mob rule.

Ask under what circumstances ought popular opinion, which in the USA elects representatives who craft law and policy, be allowed to determine when someone is flogged or hanged or otherwise lynched, or when someone is electrocuted or poisoned to death.

Ask them to define self-defense, and to determine whether a 16-year-old should know that killing another person apart from self-defense is wrong.

Ask them to devise a scale, indicating by age the degree to which a person should be able to know the wrongfulness of murder.

Here's an interesting twist on that idea: (1) ask them to devise the scale *before* you mention anything else about the case to the class; (2) then present the facts of the case, emphasizing that the 16-year-old had the sophistication to organize a theft scheme that funded an illegal drug operation; then (3) ask them to devise the scale again, based on their new knowledge.

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Answer 3

1. He was convicted last month of first-degree murder with the special circumstance that Vitale was killed during the commission of a robbery.
---- Did the "special circumstances" add time or how did they affect the verdict?

2. If a passenger brings a container larger than 3 ounces from outside, it will still have to be put in checked baggage.
-- couldn't this still be a securtiy risk, since who could determine what those 3 ounces are?