Thailand’s Political Drama Continues

Posted on March 8, 2010 at 7:57 am in

Certainly, the Feb. 26 guilty verdict “will not heal the deeply polarised Thai politics,” Jakrapob Penkair, former Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office and one of the leading figures of the red-shirted National United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, said in an exclusive interview earlier this week.
Justice is blind Image source By Barry Blitt.

To Jakrapob, “the verdict was simply a continuation, and in many ways, a completion of the 2006 coup. It is the first and foremost reason why the verdict will not heal anything in Thailand.”
“A military takeover has been treated as a legitimate source of legal authority,” Jakrapob said. “One does not even have to hear the rest of the case to understand what was actually going on.”
Jakrapob raised one important point: why do the courts recognize the (legality) of the military coup of 2006 as well as the legitimacy of the current government, which was not elected? These are conditions fiercely in conflict with democratic tradition. The full Asian Sentinel article » By Pavin Chachavalpongpun

  • The New York Times - Learning Network – The Political is Personal –
    Overview | Students explore their own personal political philosophies by identifying events, people and experiences that have helped shape their beliefs and writing an essay. Go to this Building Society and ESL Lesson.
  • The New York Times - Learning Network – Democracy in Action –
    Overview | Students consider words that reflect their knowledge and opinions about democracy. They then work in groups to research countries that have recently transitioned to democratic forms of government. Their learning is further enhanced by reflecting on what has transpired in these countries to date.create voter education campaigns to raise awareness of and interest in the government for future voters. Go to this Building Society and Law Lesson.
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Examining Military Coups Around the World -
    Students will consider military coups and their aftermaths, research famous coups… illustrating those events, and write letters from the perspectives of ousted leaders examined during class. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.
  • The Learning Foundation – Making Good Laws: “Is the Thai Constitution credible?” -
    Go to this Building a Healthy Society and Law Lesson.

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What’s At Stake? Mapping Causes and Effects of Developments in Iran

Posted on February 22, 2010 at 9:33 am in

Clinton Raises U.S. Concerns of Military Power in Iran |
“That is how we see it,” Mrs. Clinton said at a televised town hall-style meeting of students at a university in Doha, Qatar. “We see that the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president, the Parliament is being supplanted and that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship.
Her blunt comments carried particular resonance because of where they were delivered, in Qatar, a Persian Gulf emirate with close ties to Iran, and later in the day, in Saudi Arabia. But they built on the administration’s strategy of branding the Revolutionary Guards as an “entitled class” that is the principal culprit behind Iran’s nuclear proliferation and political repression. The full New York Times article » By Mark Landler

Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-FaisalFahad Shadeed/Reuters
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, spoke Monday, February 15, in Riyadh. Original image/The New York Times.

  • The New York Times – Learning Network – What’s At Stake? Mapping Causes and Effects of Developments in Iran-
    Overview | Why is Secretary of State Clinton urging an uprising in Iran? What is at stake under Iran’s current leadership — for the Iranian people and the rest of the world? In this lesson, students immerse themselves in the complicated issues that have brought growing alarm to the international community. They trace and research the issues, and then create a concept map that connects each issue’s causes and effects. Finally, they write an open letter to Secretary Clinton. Go to this Building a Healthy Society and ESL Lesson.
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – The Political is Personal -
    Overview | Students explore their own personal political philosophies by identifying events, people and experiences that have helped shape their beliefs and writing an essay. Go to this Building a Healthy Society and ESL Lesson.

A Jury of Their Peers

Posted on February 19, 2010 at 5:22 am in

The Youth Court System   Judge: Kenny Thai, 14, presides over Colonie youth court

To complete her cross-examination, prosecutor Sarah Carr, 16, had one final question for Andrew G., 17, the defendant in a recent case at the youth court in Colonie, N.Y.: “Didn’t you know it was wrong?” Andrew nodded shyly, eyes averted. He knew that stealing a $4.97 Star Wars action figure from Wal-Mart was not only a petty crime but also a geeky one in the eyes of his high school peers, some of whom were serving on the jury. From the story – A Jury of Their Peers By Jeremy Caplan – Time Magazine

  • The New York Times – Learning Network - Exploring the Youth Court System by Engaging in a Mock Trial -
    Overview | Students learn about youth courts and explore the system further by engaging in a mock youth court trial. Go to this Law and Society Lesson
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Exploring What It Takes to Become a Well-Informed Citizen -
    Overview | In this lesson, students explore education requirements for different professions, and define the skills and knowledge that adults use in their everyday lives. Go to this Building Society Lesson.

A Dose of Reality, a Bid to Restore Magic

Posted on February 5, 2010 at 8:46 am in

Obama State of the Union - year onePresident Obama giving his State of the Union address to Congress. Behind him are Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.,left, and to his right Speaker of The House, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. Image source.

Obama’s State of the Union Address – “I campaigned on the promise of change; ‘change we can believe in,’ the slogan went,” he said toward the end of the address. “And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change — or that I can deliver it.
“But, remember this,” he went on. “I never suggested that change would be easy, or that I can do it alone. Democracy in a nation of 300 million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy. That’s just how it is.”
To those who said his ideas have been too ambitious, he said: “I have one simple question: How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?” » read this New York Times News Analysis By Peter Baker.

  • The New York Times - Learning Network – History in the Making -
    Overview | Students explore the social history of the United States to better understand why the election of Barack Obama is historic from a variety of perspectives. Go to this Building Society and Law Lesson.
  • The New York Times - Learning Network – Democracy in Actions -
    Overview | Students consider words that reflect their knowledge and opinions about democracy. They then work in groups to research countries that have recently transitioned to democratic forms of government. Their learning is further enhanced by reflecting on what has transpired in these countries to date. Go to this Building Society and Law Lesson.

Judges on Trial

Posted on February 1, 2010 at 3:26 am in
Obama v. Alito: Political dust-up during State of the Union

Justice is blind Image source By Barry Blitt.

Obama needled – well, lambasted – the US Supreme Court for a recent decision he said would “open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.”
Sitting right in front of the president – robed in sober black, hands folded in their laps – were six of the justices, including three who had made it possible (in Obama’s words) for American elections to be “bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities.”
Obama’s mention of the campaign finance decision caused Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s expression to go dark as he shook his head and appeared to say “Simply not true.”
“The court’s legitimacy is derived from the persuasiveness of its opinions and the expectation that those opinions are rendered free of partisan, political influences,” former New Jersey Supreme Court justice Peter G. Verniero told the New York Times. “The more that individual justices are drawn into public debates, the more the court as an institution will be seen in political terms, which was not the intent of the founders.” The full Christian Science article » By Brad Knickerbocker.

  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Justices for All -
    Overview | In this lesson, students examine the role of Supreme Court justices in the American political process. Students will research the qualities of the current Supreme Court justices and write opinion papers evaluating the current justices and recommending future nominations. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Courting Controversy? -
    Overview | In this lesson, students learn about the confirmation of Supreme Court justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. They then examine a number of individual issues from different ideological and philosophical perspectives. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Judges on Trial -
    Overview | In this lesson, students investigate how different branches of government affect or aid the appointment of a Supreme Court justice nominee and the responsibilities of a judge. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.

Google vs. China: Considering Threats to Internet Freedom

Posted on January 30, 2010 at 4:55 am in

Internet freedom in China

Image source Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse – Getty Images

A cafe in Shanghai.
Some say the government mostly trains its efforts on prominent dissidents who publish information about forbidden topics online. Go to related article - Scaling the Digital Wall in China – By Brad Stone and David Barboza.

  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Google vs. China: Considering Threats to Internet Freedom-
    Overview | What threats exist to Internet freedom, and how can people and democratic governments combat them? In this lesson, students imagine how they might communicate, and evade censors, if they were anti-government activists. They then look more closely at the issues involved in the dispute between Google and China and develop ideas for how Google or the U.S. government should respond. Finally, they do independent research to learn more about the types of information that the Chinese government has sought to block online. Go to this Media and Society Lesson.
  • World Wise School - Worksheet – Students will learn to identify and modify generalizations. –
    This activity introduces students to the difficult concept of generalization so that they will challenge generalizations made about people… Go to this Building Society Lesson.

Pakistan’s leader shows some fight

Posted on January 27, 2010 at 9:39 am in

President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, shown in a government-issued photo from December on the anniversary of the assassination of his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has been traveling the country.
Asif-Ali-Zardari

Original image source – Associated Press of Pakistan, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“He’s come to the conclusion that if judiciary or the military want to knock him out, they can,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, an analyst in Lahore. “But he wants to fight back. That has given him a new lease on life, but his basic problem remains the same.”
The most serious of those vulnerabilities has always been his strained relationship with Pakistan’s military, a powerful institution whose leaders have ruled the country for about half of Pakistan’s 62-year history.
Strangely, Mr. Zardari’s weakness may serve him in the end. The army seems to have less appetite to re-enter politics directly, having seen its reputation badly tarnished during Mr. Musharraf’s years of military rule. A weak civilian leader, on the other hand, presents no threat to its power. More in this New York Times article » By Sabrina Tavernise

  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Investigating Nations That Are Transitioned to Democratic Forms of Government -
    Overview: Students consider words that reflect their knowledge and opinions about democracy. They then work in groups to research countries. Go to this Law and Building Society Lesson.
  • A Learning Foundation Lesson – Compare and Contrast the Pakistan experience with Thailand -
    Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, one of the country’s leading constitutional lawyers, says the practice of military coups in Thailand is a bad habit that needs to end. “If we didn’t have this coup the Thai people could have learned more about democracy and politics and about how to develop,” From: News Analysis: Democracy, Thai style – Ban the politicians – By Thomas Fuller – International Herald Tribune. Go to this ESL Law and Society Lesson.

Drip by drip, discontent is revealed — Compare and Contrast: Iran and Thailand

Posted on January 10, 2010 at 4:39 am in

Iran
Iran protest AFP/File
So far, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has shown no willingness to compromise with the opposition. He also retains the allegiance of the primary levers of power — the leadership of the Guards, the intelligence services, the Basij militia, the regular armed forces and the judiciary, Iran experts said.
But it is possible that internal pressure could — at some point — force a political compromise.

The main opposition leader, Mir Hussein Moussavi, demonstrated his own willingness to compromise when he issued a statement last week saying that the leadership could restore its legitimacy if it took several steps to loosen its grip on the opposition, freeing political prisoners and allowing freedom of speech, media and assembly. The full New York Times article » By David Slackman.

Thailand

Police expect 80,000 protesters Image source

Editor: While the military and court installed Abhisit Vejjaiiva government celebrated the 2006 military coup and the 2007 constitution they created under martial law, Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted prime minister, told 20,000 people who rallied at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument by video-link:
“Today is a very significant day, the day we got our first constitution 77 years ago,” he said.
“If the red shirts win the election, we will bring back the 1997 constitution and amend it and throw out the 2007 constitution.
Thaksin was sentenced in his absence under that constitution to a two-year jail term in a conflict of interest case and has been living in exile. The full » BBC article.

  • A Learning Foundation Lesson – Similarities and differences between Iran and Thailand –
    Go to this ESL Compare and Contrast Lesson.
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Investigating Nations That Are Transitioned to Democratic Forms of Government -
    Overview | Students consider words that reflect their knowledge and opinions about democracy. They then work in groups to research countries. Go to this Law and Building Society Lesson.
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Exploring the Intersection of Religion and Modernity –
    Overview | Students examine the ways in which various religious faiths have responded to social, ideological, and technological changes in ‘modern’ times. Go to this Building Society Lesson.

Inside Obama’s War on Terrorism

Posted on January 6, 2010 at 9:34 am in

“Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred,” Obama said.
Obama-war-on-terror

President Obama has inherited two struggles – one with Al Qaeda, and another that divides his country over issues like torture, prosecutions, and what it means to be an American.

Inside Obama’s War on Terrorism: For all of the attention on the Nigerian underwear bomber, some experts say they believe the more insidious threat will be a new generation of homegrown extremists. In recent months, authorities have arrested a number of American residents, including Najibullah Zazi, an airport-shuttle driver who is suspected of plotting to attack New York after receiving training in Pakistan, and David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American accused of aiding terrorist attacks in Mumbai. There was the Fort Hood shooting rampage, as well as a group of Somali-Americans from Minnesota who reportedly wanted to fight in Somalia and five American Muslims from Virginia who traveled to Pakistan supposedly to join the jihad.
If they are the next wave, American extremists are going to be hard to track and stop. The Internet makes it possible for Al Qaeda and its allies to reach out from the dusty villages of Waziristan all the way to Illinois and Colorado. “Although no one wants to admit it, I think a watershed has been crossed in the terrorist threat in the United States,” Bruce Hoffman, a Georgetown University terrorism scholar, told me. “It’s way different than it was in the Bush years.” The full New York Times article » By Peter baker.

  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Terrorism Today: Investigating Al Qaeda’s Presence Around the World-
    Overview | In this lesson, students consider the presence of Al Qaeda in various countries, with particular attention to its recent growth in Yemen. Working in groups, they investigate key people, places and institutions related to Al Qaeda and counterterrorism efforts, and create a maps or diagrams. Go to this Building a Healthy Society Lesson.

British scientists crack killer cancer code

Posted on December 20, 2009 at 4:35 am in

Eventually a simple blood test will lead to accurate “made to measure” treatments that can identify, attack and kill the causes of each patient’s own individual cancer, they claim.
Professor Mike Stratton, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a world leading research centre in Cambridge who carried the studies, said: “What you are seeing today is going to transform the way that we see cancer.
“This is a really fundamental moment in the history of cancer research.”
Cancer cells under microscope
Grim beauty Deadly diseases under the microscope Photo: Wellcome Images

All cancers are caused by damage or mutations to the DNA of formerly healthy cells acquired during a person’s lifetime.
This damage causes them to grow into abnormal lumps or tumours and spread around the body disrupting its normal processes and eventually – if unchecked – causing death.
In lung cancer the damage is almost entirely caused by smoking and in skin cancer or malignant melanoma by ultra violent sunlight.
The Sanger Institute studies used powerful new DNA sequencing technologies to decode completely the genome of both tumour tissue and normal tissue from a lung cancer and a malignant melanoma patient.
They then compared and contrasted the two to discover the differences and see what damage has occurred to cause the disease. The full Telegraph Uk article » By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent.

  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body –
    Overview | Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Talking about Breast Cancer:
    Overview | Students share words and associations related to cancer. They then investigate and participate in dialogues about the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Go to this Health, Science and Life’s Lesson.
  • The New York Times – Learning Network – Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
    Overview | Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people’s views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

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