McLaughlin Assignment 14 DUE 1/6
Based on our discussions in class and the resources listed, respond to the following question(s) in no less than 150 words:
Now that we have come to the end of the term (and the year) it is time for us to pick one individual and one news story that we feel are the most significant of the year. Below are two lists which we discussed in class—one of news-makers and one of stories. Please choose one story and one individual you feel are the most important of the year and explain your choice. If you are unsure of what to pick, look back at your previous blog posts for information. You may select someone or some story that does not appear on the list, if you can make a good case for them. Please note, no submission will be accepted without a sufficient explanation!
1. Sarah Palin
2. Julian Assange
3. Bill Clinton
4. Hillary Clinton
5. Mark Zukerberg (Time Magazine’s Person of the Year)
Top Story of the Year:
1. WikiLeaks and Julian Assange
2. 2010 Midterm Election Results
3. Rise of the Tea Party
4. Healthcare Law (aka Obamacare)
5. BP Oil Spill
6. Condition of the Economy (High Unemployment/Stimulus)
7. Bush Tax Cuts
I would say the most important person of the year would be Julian Assange. I'm not sure if I should accuse him of being a bad person or not. All he is really doing is telling us, the people what the government is doing.It is actually a form of freedom of speech. But when and where is the line crossed? The government can not really attack him because of the Amendments.
ReplyDeleteJulian Assange's idea of Wiki Leaks is actually pretty much a good idea. But, then it does hurt us at the same time. It gives out information not only to us but the internet is viewable by anybody. An enemy against us could use it to their advantage. Even though its not real if you have seen the movie 2012, the government was keeping a secret of the worlds destruction. Because of this many people wered killed and could have been saved if they'd known. But they wouldn't have been able to make it anyway because of the large sum of money they had to pay to get to the ships, but thats another story. In such a case like Julian Assange, it's either they take action against him or they will just have to leave it be.
Personally I feel that Hillary Clinton should be the top person / newsmaker of the year. 2010 was a great year from Clinton after losing the 2009 election she didn’t give up. She kept up with her work moved up to higher positions becoming the secretary of state and now is continuing on with her work within the government system. Clinton is a role model for many young women and for women in general being that she was the first women to run for president. She also is a great leader and has a great reputation behind her. Although all of the stories listen here do have a great about of importance to them I think that the most important one would be the Bus Tax Cuts. The reason behind my pick is because this story effects every single American so close in their daily life that they cant say that they don’t care. I think it was important for people to see how the government left such an important decision for last minute and what a great effect it has on everyone.
ReplyDeleteNatalie pd5
Kristina Papa
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
I believe that of out the choices on the list, the Top person/ Newsmaker of the year should be Sarah Palin. I think that she has really learned a lot about politics in such a short while and has really gotten a lot of exposure through out her new Television show and various other ways. After all the bad media about her, I think that she has proven herself to be somewhat worthy. She also endorsed a candidate that was able to do well in the 2010 elections. She also holds the interest of man American people. It has also been said that she might have a good chance to run for president in 2012.
As far as what should be the top story of the year is the Wiki leaks scandal that was started by Bradley Manning and Julian Assange. The documents that were leaked caused America and its people a lot of controversy and stress. In doing so, It taught the government to be more careful about what to share through the computer and what to keep to themselves. It shows us that nothing is “off the books” and nothing is secretive.
The story of the year i have o say is the wiki leaks story. Its amazing how this guy had a plan on how to steal information from the U.S. military. Their top secret information which isnt really isnt a secret anymore. Hw he had everything figured out was so smart and they couldnt find how to put him in jail because he really didnt do anything wrong. He couldve gotten away with everything except for that the found out that he did something wrong years ago. I got to give it up to this guy though because his plan couldnt fail.
ReplyDeleteThe top person of the year i would say has to be Hillary Clinton because She negotiates agreements and helps other nations when disasters, such as earthquakes or hurricanes, strike. She has given a lot of woman hope in the U.S.
Christopher Caraballo Period 5
Mark zukerman was voted the number one man according to time magazine. I agree I think that the man who created Facebook is a great choice. He has connected hundreds of families,advertsiments posted on the web site, and has gotton apps on mostly all phones. This man has done alot in 2010 and deserves this honer.
ReplyDeleteWiki Leakes gets my vote for best story of 2010, it was not only talked about for weeks, but will be remembered for a while. I think that this was a bold move by julian assonge supporting his first amendment showing off all the US secrets. this story will forever be rememberer and it wins best story.
-jamie torney
For person of the year, even though I don’t agree with everything she does, I would say Sarah Palin. While she is on the Republican side, and I don’t agree with the many view points and points of view against the democrats that she has, but I have to say that she has put herself out into the public enough to get their attention. Her show, the speeches she makes, and the places she goes to try and get her and other Republicans to work with her together, is actually a strong tactic. I don’t like how she speaks to the people sometimes, and can seem to rub off very far to the conservative side, but her words are also what get people riled up about certain situations going on with Obama, and the democrats. For the top story of the year, they have all been covered to a fair or large amount in the media, but over the past few months to the year, the health care reform law has been most widely discussed, ridiculed and acted upon. I think the health care reform has enough substance to get through a lot of the remarks being made about it, and even though the Republicans have slashed the idea over and over, and want to repeal it, compromise should be more at play in this situation. It is important and affects everyone in America, including immigrants and the poor, so there has been no reason as to just brush the whole thing aside. I think this story will continue to go on into the year for a while, just because Obama doesn’t want any harm, and he is looking for a way out of it getting repealed. If no one acts for it, then it will just become another failure for Obama, and the Republicans are just looking for ways to make him look bad. This story is important also in that it can turn over into something much bigger, such as a feud.
ReplyDeleteAnastasia Papis pd 5
I think the top person/newsmaker of the year was Sarah Palin. Even according to www.aolnews.com she has come up starting with midterm elections, her daughter- dancing with the stars, her new book "going rouge". She also had 335,000 twitter friend followers. She even made the Oxford American Dictionary word of the year, referring to her new word "repudiate"- it was tweeted when making a comment about the NYC mosque issue, she put refute and repudiate together. Sarah Palin even made her own TV show ‘Sarah Palin's Alaska’. Not only did she make her own show but she also became well dedicated internationally; she went to Haiti after the earth quake, which people called it a “publicity stunt”. Truth is, regardless of what people want to call her or what she’s doing, she’s putting herself our their everyone knows her one way or another.
ReplyDeleteThe tops story of the year in my opinion was the BP oil spill. It was so repetitive and so over talked about, that the media didn’t even talk about the health care and what Obama is doing to help that situation, as much as they spoke about the Oil Spill repetitively. Even though it was horrible what happened it’s just became so disturbing how the media tries the cover up basically the government and just ‘touches topic about it’ and not keep track of it, as for the oil spill they were all over that and kept updating the same info over and over and over again. It was very annoying.
Georgina Papazafiropoulos
Period 3
I think the top person of the year is Julian Assange. I think he deserves the title because his actions have spurred various controversies. The release of secret documents through his website wikileaks, has brought to question what journalism truly is and how vulnerable the country’s security system is. As Time Magazine put it, Assange “caused governments to ask what is really a secret and to assess how their behavior should change in an age when supposedly private communications can be whizzed around the world at the stroke of a key.” I think that Assange has made a great impact with his revolutionary website wikileaks.
ReplyDeleteI think the top story of the year is the rise of the tea party. I think that this story deserves the title because the effects of this event could shape the history of America. The significance of the recent victories of the tea party is that it could change American politics. This new strong third party could potentially gain major party status. Something that has not occurred in years.
Mariela Ortiz (period 3)
Top Person of the Year:
ReplyDeleteI chose someone who is not on he list. When Monica was asked who the person of the year should be she said the service men and women of the military. That really stood out to me because I feel as though they don't get the credit they deserve. They are fighting for us at all times of the day and have no recognition. They help keep our country safe and thats pretty important to me. The service men and women have to be away from their families for a while and they do it for us, therefore I think they deserve to be recognized as people of the year.
Top Story of the Year:
For me the top story of the year would be 2) 2010 Midterm Election Results. We were expecting this but it was a big change having the Republicans take over the polls. In the house alone they had 186 Democrats and 239 Republicans. That is a big difference and now it is going to affect our government drastically. Things are going to change and I think that makes it the biggest story of the year because with all the republicans in office things in our government won't be the same. They will be fighting for cutting spending, reducing the size of the government and much more.
-Chrysanthe Thomatos pd. 3
For person of the year, I would pick our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to the great things that she has done for our country as far as relations. Our rocky relationship with China and most other countries that we have tensions with, have started to become on the right track toward peace. This is due to her guidance and the way she presents us as a country is just exceptional.
ReplyDeleteAs far as top story of the year, I'd have to say the Healthcare (aka ObamaCare) due to it's urgency. Healthcare is the one thing that we spend the most on. The way the situation was handled shows how sometimes our government can't seem to agree on things. With all the bickering and going back and forth. Another reason why I picked this as the top story of the year was because it affected every single person in this nation, the fact that healthcare reform was in a standstill, is completely scary.
CeCe Howard
Period 5 :)
I believe Julian Assange wins overall for top person, and story. This man exposed for the government for what it was. he revealed all their hidden secrecies and showed the american citizens just how corrupt our nation really is. I think this is a very courageous act. After releasing such harsh evidence the government found many ways in committing him but the couldn't thanks to his first amendment "freedom of speech" it was only because of his mischievous past was he committed. However i do believe if there was no way he could have been brought it they would have sent "special security" to kill him. Assange wins because he revealed our nations true colors and proved to us that we can not trust anyone not even the people that set our laws.
ReplyDeleteFor the category of top person/news maker of the year I would choose Sarah Palin. Whether people like her or not, her name over the past year, has been in their mouth at least once. Even if their talking bad about her, saying they dislike her, she is still being talked about, and that’s what people aren’t understanding. It’s a cutting edge political strategy, Ms. Palin has decided to use this past year. In previous years it was campaigning that got candidates names out to the public. Billboards, signs on the side of the road, in front of houses, there were people handing out pins, stickers and other memorabilia. Now, the cleverest tactic of shoving somebody’s name down the throats of everyone in America is by way of entertainment. The people rarely read newspaper, watch news, and care to take an interest in elections and all things associated with them. So, the way they unconsciously pick up information about candidates is through entertainment. Sarah Palin’s daughter was on, “Dancing with the Stars” and “the Secret Life of the American Teenager”, two popular shows, the latter of which could target younger audiences able to vote when next elections comes around. Sarah Palin has been on television shows such as Saturday Night Live, Entertainment Tonight, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, American Chopper, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Mall Cops: Mall of America, and her new reality show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska: all in the year of 2010. Dividing herself, being on so many shows, targeting every type of audience, some could say is political genius. While researching information, I saw on IMDB that Sarah Palin’s popularity has grown 5% this week alone, which is astounding. The fact that I actually dislike Palin and am picking her for this award should speak for itself. What’s more perplexing is that the countless times she has been asked if she’s running in the next election she claims she is not. However, I think that it is yet another one of her strategies. Sarah Palin’s gateway into candidacy stardom makes her newsmaker of the year.
ReplyDeleteTop story of the year should go to the BP Oil Spill. The event itself so catastrophic, it will be talked about centuries from now. The attempt at a cover up by the company (trying to not make it look so bad), not permitting anyone remotely near the area for several weeks, the countless failed attempts to close the hole, and the fact that oil was leaking out, 24 hours a day 7 days a week for more than three months (90 days) are just additional overwhelmingly memorable pieces to the puzzle. The toll it took goes beyond the 11 men killed; people were emotionally damaged and have still not recovered. Businesses were lost because they so heavily relied on the fish and sea life, families were no longer able to support themselves, thousands of marine life as well as birds and other animals perished and continue to perish due to the poisoning and other effect of the oil.
Spike Lee’s documentary, a sequel created originally for his film on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, dedicated its last two hours to the BP oil spill. There were news segments, and shows on discovery and the history channel all throughout the spill, the response and follow up on the spill. Newspapers printed story after story, news articles covering the event, features on oil spills and sea life, the damaging effects of oil, opinion articles about everything pertaining to the spill. Commercials ran covering the event, and in response more commercials were created, by BP assuring the public they were doing everything in their power to stop the monstrosity they created. Other corporations used the tragedy to their benefit luring gas consumers to them. Throughout the year and occasionally still the spill is talked about. There’s no doubt in my mind that it is unfortunately but truly story of the year.
Melissa Iachetta
Period 3
For person of the year I would have to choose Sarah Palin. Throughout this year she has brought herself into every family home in America. She is revolutionizing politicking in ways that are quite unique. Through her reality show, and daughter being on dancing with the stars, Palin was coming towards us in every direction. She opened herself up to public and showed them her as a person and not just as a politician. By doing so, voters see her values through a different perspective. I think that what she is doing is an ingenious tactic because love her or hate her everyone knows who she is and what she stands for.
ReplyDeleteFor story of the year I would pick the Wikileaks. It spurred up a lot of talk and got a lot of people heart’s pumping. Although this has been done before and will be on going, the controversy was just simply something very news worthy that kept the audience wanting to know more. Like what files would come up next and would they are able to catch Assange? What would they do with him if they did? Stories like this keep people on their toes and returning for updates and that’s what makes it to be worthy of this title.
~sarah bianchi period 3
Desirae La Furno
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
~ Top story of the year
1. Wikileaks and Julian Assange
The reason being that I chose this one because I truly feel that this was the tope story of the year. Well the most interesting one that most likely caught everyones eyes. This story caught citizens attention due to the fact that the important information was spread out on the internet that was no for everyone to see. This sky rocketed making it now nearly impossible to get this info back. Because once it was released it will be released forever. This was a major story and I feel that it should of won.
sarah han period5 I think president Barack Obama should be acknowledged for his bravery and courage to come into office as the first African American president. Serving his term of presidency he gave his best to reform policies and provides all health care for the poor and needy. During his stay in Europe he visited some countries one of them was Iraq. While seeing the U.S troops and armies and the war and tried to reduce the nuclear bombing thus was given the Nobel peace prize. the bush tax cuts impose tax on the state, I am not for it because it means citizens have to pay more money to the state and underemployment. It would raising costs is not the answer to the downfall of this poor economy. compared to other countries we are privileged, not to be saying that these actions are not for the greater good of the society, it is.
ReplyDeleteI think Julian Assange should be person of the year he has the government on the ropes and hes one man, one man with a lot of information that can change our government. This one man holds this power in a click of a button as cliche as it may sound. It is also shocking that this one man was so easily able to get this information that should have been unaccessible. Although i do not agree with what he is doing you have to admit he is probably one of the gutsiest men in politics for continuing to harm Americans and american government while still standing there fighting for his 'freedom of speech' not only that but this man also holds the biggest story of the year in his hands that has yet to finish. Which leads me into my pick for story of the year would be the BP oil spill which i feel people haven't taken into consideration as much as they should. The environmental effects of this spill are already more dynamic than anything ever seen before in US history. Economically, the oil spill has already taken a tremendous toll on BP and the United States and will continue to do so as relief efforts for oil cleanup and environmental restoration continues.
ReplyDeleteKatelyn disalvo
As the most important person of the year i would have to say that mark Zukerberg, who is the ceo of the most popular social networking website Facebook.com. Mark Zukerberg's website Facebook is now estimated to be around 50 billion doller's and mark himself's net worth is 6.9 billion doller's. For the most important story of the year i would say that the wikileaks julian assange story is the most important. the reason was because he was able to get top secret documents regarding the united states and place them on the internet for the world to see and download. what assange did showed easily a private can go and get documents that may put the united states in jeapordy. Also because of assanges actions many countries have different perspectives about America because of documents that they saw.
ReplyDeleteJulian Assange in my opinion is the top person of 2010 for exposing secret documents to the public the reason why I am choosing Assange is for letting people know how the government private emails sent between government officials and secret documents what people thought of the Afghanistan war. The wiki leaks in my opinon is the top story of the year because it exposes the governments secret documents all around the world.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco Cespon
Period 5
Government
I would have to choice the wiki leaks and Julian Assange because this story really interested me because how does one person get his hands on all this information and use it against the U.S. because this really could hurt is and it could have a bad outcome if all the information is leaked. It could hurt us because it is our national security and credibility. It show other countries that we are not trustworthy and it could hurt are trading with other countries. It is not just us that was damage in this wiki leak other countries were too. It hurts the representation of the countries. I wanted to know how this one person got his hands on all this information and how he could even put this on the internet to let everyone see it was wrong. The thing is that Assange has freedom of speech and that he could put anything he wants up and it will hurt a lot of people in this and he didn’t care. He doesn’t own and have the right to the top secret information there for it is not his. This information should not have been liked and that nobody should have seen this and that people will stop trusting the government and it could lead to something much more than this.
ReplyDeleteErin O’Driscoll
Pd.5
The top person of the year is the Hillary Clinton. Hillary’s major contribution includes stopping China in manipulating their currency to hurt the U.S. dollar. and she also helps the President Obama to make sure China help us stop the North Korea gaining nuclear weapons.
ReplyDeleteI think WikiLeak and Julian Assange is the top story of the year. Julian Assange posted the United States’ top secrets on his website, such as the U.S. point of view of other countries. Julian Assange gave people the new angle to check out their own country, however, it caused a big damage to the U.S. It shows other countries what U.S. has planned and breaks down the relationships with other countries. It’s going to be a hard time for U.S. to build the relationship back to before.
pd. 5
The top person of the year is Sarah Palin. The reason I have chosen Sarah Palin is because she has come a long way. She has run for office in the pass and has failed. However, that has not stopped her from becoming successful. She is still doing anything she could to make herself a better candidate for the next elections. She is also very smart. She is putting herself out in the public eye so that people know who she is. Her daughter Bristol Palin was on the show, "Dancing with the Stars" and she is now starring in her own reality show. People are getting to know who she is so that when she runs for office next, she has a much better chance of winning.
ReplyDeleteThe top story of the year is WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. The reason I chose this was because the man who leaked out all of our documents to the whole entire world has gotten us into a lot of trouble. Other countries and the public know stuff we should not know such as secret plans, weapons and documents of other countries. This puts all of us in the United States in danger and there is no putting a stop to this now.
-Alexa Kane
Period 3.
I think Wikileaks and Julian Assaege would have top stories of the year because Wikileaks exposed so much about the government and the secrets they hide from the public eye. I think in a way that is good because people are not kept in the dark about government and people can see the government for truly what it is. i think that this was a big awakening to many people put their trust in the government. I think Juilian Assaege, as the cause for this because of the mission he implemented in Wikileaks, he deserves top story because no one did what he did and I do not think anyone would ever do what he did. I think Mark Zuckerburg would be the top person or news maker because he is the center of a change or transition of how human connected with one another and I would like to think of him as an innovator for creating this idea that everyone is a friend and that its okay to voluntarily share information on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteShazia R prd 3
Top person of the year:
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I am going to go with Sarah Palin.
I think that the attention she is receiving is completely undeserved but she's bringing up some new points in the game of politics and I know that people don't really realize the influence she has.
Firstly, I think that she's sponging off the fact that she was part of politics for a while just to keep in the media and make money saying the same story over and over and over again. It's almost like instead of 15 minutes of fame, she's had an extension to 45 minutes because she was such a joke to the people.
Secondly, her reality show completely changed her reputation and image. She wasn't taken seriously as a politician to begin with, then her daughter joined Dancing with the stars, which moved her to a celebrity like - status and now with a show - nobody will ever take seriously. Her show might be funny to young people because that demographic group associates themselves with reality shows but honestly, her age group will only laugh at her. Is she trying to be a celebrity since she couldn't get in office?
What I think that people don't realize that this just might be her way of creeping into the peoples mind , as a tactic to keep her name on the table for the 2012 election. If she runs, I doubt that people will really take anything she says seriously, but she's certainly in the media and that's what important.
Times have changed and she's using different resources to reach out the American public and i'm afraid that politicians are going to start to mimic her as a strategy to gain attention. But it's so wrong to use a celebrity image as a link to voters for a serious matter.
If politicians were to follow her path - nobody will ever care about the government, voters, or elections. I am really serious about that. She's digging a hole for herself and if everyone's going to follow, they're all going down too.
Story of the year:
I'll go with the BP Oil Spill.
Simply because the impact that this spill will have has not arrived yet and people don't care at the moment...but when the moment comes...the environment will suffer immensely because of this.
When this first came out, all I knew that the companies were arguing over whose fault it is and while that is important I think that fixing it should of been their first priority. I didn't get the feeling that, fixing it and helping the gulf of Mexico had any importance and that bothered me.
I chose this story because I believe that while politics , social networks , taxes and healthcare can all come and go, Planet Earth can't. And once there's damage to her , that's it. We have to live with what's left and I don't think its fair that the company who had caused the spill is allowed to continue drilling soon enough. I think its mind blowing that nobody got the point - this shouldn't be allowed again. It's as if they didn't understand what had really happened and all the people involved in this are really just saying "screw the environment and let business continue on"
it's really sad and no to mean that though the water has had the most to deal with, the people who live around that area are suffering too and nobody's trying to give them a helping hand.
This story goes to show that it really doesn't matter what people say - it's all about money in the end and everyone's looking out for themselves.
Livi Cabrera
period 3
The past political year was very eventful. Between the BP Oil Spill, the Economy, WikiLeaks, and we can’t forget the politicians who made the year unforgettable as well. But overall in my opinion, I think the top story of the year had to be the Bush Tax Cuts. Although it happened within the last couple months, it was top story up until the midterm elections. Whether or not Obama agreed to keep them all, keep some, cut them all, and cut some. The final decision wasn’t made until the last minute before midterm elections happened, which caused a lot of controversy.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I think the person of the year is a tie between Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin. Of course a lot of people hate Palin, but you have to admit that she has done a lot for herself, and her family. With her new reality show, she has put herself out there and is showing all of America who she is and where her values come from. It gives her publicity and it shows her experience. On the other hand, Bill Clinton has done a lot for Obama for the past year. He has even taken over for Obama at a press conference. He’s helped him with a lot of issues within the polls and political world.
Kim Hanlon Period 5
I believe that the top person/ newsmaker of the year should go to Julian Assange. Julian Assange risked not only his career, but possibly his life, in return to show the world what the government is really about. Being a journalist, he took another take on the right of ‘Freedom of Speech’. Some say he went to far, and endangered practically everyone of us, and some say he did what he thought was right, and what the people ought to know. But doing what he did, risking everything to get the truth out, shows he was determined to let the people know the real thoughts of the government. I also think that the top story of the year is also WikiLeaks and Julian Assange for all of the same reasons. Letting out something so secretive, planning the whole thing carefully, and risking everything, not only everything to him but everything to the government, as well as the consequences to come.
ReplyDelete-Chelsea R. PD3
sarah han
ReplyDeleteperiod 5
I think president Barack Obama should be acknowledged for his bravery and courage to come into office as the first African American president. Serving his term of presidency he gave his best to reform policies and provides all health care for the poor and needy. During his stay in Europe he visited some countries one of them was Iraq. While seeing the U.S troops and armies and the war and tried to reduce the nuclear bombing thus was given the Nobel peace prize. the bush tax cuts impose tax on the state, I am not for it because it means citizens have to pay more money to the state and underemployment. It would raising costs is not the answer to the downfall of this poor economy. compared to other countries we are privileged, not to be saying that these actions are not for the greater good of the society, it is.
I think Barack Obama is the newsmaker of the year. I think this because he is the first African American president. Serving his term of presidency he gave his best to reform policies and provides all health care for the low income and middle class people. The story of the year is the BP Oil Spill this was a huge problem to are country. this spill also messed up and killed alot of animals in the sea such as Dolphins, Manatees, Young Heron, Sea turtles, sharks and many more animals. billions of dollar were lost because of this. Vittorio Rivera period 3
ReplyDeleteTop person of the year is Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook. He's connected so many people together and has gotten the whole world to stay connected. He's created a whole new level to the internet and now a whole new level of contacting and communicating with friends and family. Facebook has been a big hit and just keeps getting better. He's created such a big company/facility for Facebook, he's created jobs for people. His data center is huge and stores over thousands of servers.
ReplyDeleteTop story of 2011 is the bush tax cuts (stimulus package) because it's affected everyone. For those who made more money than others had their taxes raised slightly, for those who were considered low income taxes are currently remaining the way they are. As well as tax cuts and raises they are many benefits and extensions that come with this.
CHRISTINA CHRONOS prd 3