I think that the main things I will remember are the branches of government and the presidential race. To be honest, this has been the first election I actually followed intently. Most likely, in the future, I will follow the political campaigns. The branches of government will help me to understand more in politics.

The skills I have learned are mainly computer skills. However, the most important thing I have used this year was google scholar. I will definitely use this in college because it provides really good sources.

Presidential Project

Presidential Project 1

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Presidential Project

#5

I think technology has had a huge impact on the youth vote. "They can friend Barack Obama or John McCain on facebook. They can watch Youtube videos, they can make their own videos. They can have their voices heard in a way that that has never been possible for them," (Joshua Levy). I, personally, followed the campaign and learned about both of the presidential candidates. We made videos in class and we did research on each of the candidates. Finding information on a candidate's stance is so easy. You can either go to barackobama.com or johnmccain.com and find their stance on a lot of the issues. I also think that if you do not have a strong opinion on who you would like to be president, you are more likely to just follow your friends. You can see the groups your Facebook friends are in. They could be in a Obama or McCain group and just wanting to be a part of something can get the youth involved. "I think young people, even moreso than adults, do influence each other and sort of you know what's cool, because you know they do not have as much information adn their opinions haven't been as solid for as long about what they believe, they can be very much influenced by their peers," (Mindy Finn). Overall, most countries seemed happy with the election and Barack Obama becoming president. However, Russia does not seem happy at all. "Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday became the first world leader to throw down a gauntlet to US president-elect Barack Obama, declaring that the Kremlin would station missiles in the tiny Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland, in response to US plans for an anti-missile system in Eastern Europe." To be honest, I have no idea what throwing down a gaunlet means. However, I know that him saying he is going to station missiles is not good. It actaully kind of scares me a little. Other than that, the world seems pleased with Barack Obama's election. The website also says "There was widespread relief in Berlin at the victory of Barack Obama, the candidate an overwhelming majority of Germans would have picked, had they had a vote." However, I read in an article that yes, they say they are happy with him being president. But they Germans would never elect a minority into office.

#4

For the past few weeks, Meghan McCain has been on the road with her father, helping him with the campaign. In the first post there was a video explaining what she has been doing and I thought it was good. Here it is:



The next post was another update from her father's campaign trail and she said that it was going well. She's having fun and at all the rallies there was a lot of energy. However,she said it was very tiring because of all the flying everywhere and non-action.
The next post was the recent Hofstra Debate (Jess- this is mike's brother's college and he went, just thought you would like to know haha). Meghan thought her dad did an awesome job at the debate. She said, "I am always proud of my Dad but even more so when he lets his maverick tendencies show so clearly." I thought this was an interesting quote because Sarah Palin constantly says maverick and it reminded me of her. Since Meghan said it, it sort of makes me associate her with Sarah Palin and how she is.

Meghan also said that " He got up and showed this country why he is the right person to lead it into the future, and open the door to the reinvention of the Republican Party." I agree with her. I only watched part of the debate, but during the part that I saw, I thought McCain did really well. I also think that he is not the "traditional republican."

The most interesting part, I thought, was that if McCain wins the New Hampshire and the overall election she will get a tattoo that says "Live Free or Die."

Political Bloggg

http://mccainblogette.com/

This is Meghan McCain's blog. Most of her posts are about her daily life. Some of her posts include her appearances on shows such as Jay Leno, Carson Daly, and Ryan Seacrest. Others are playlists of songs she likes. Her other posts are about her father, John McCain, and his political campaign. A lot of her posts are photos with a little bit of explanation.


I think this blog looks more professional than all the other blogs. It is organized well. The links are not all over the place but rather on the side in a column. The pictures are very clear. A major difference is that there is a disclaimer at the bottom which states that Meghan's blog is not affiliated with her father's campaign, which I thought was strange because they are related. The other major difference I noticed was that it was written well and the grammar and spelling were correct.


Meghan McCain does not really explain any political issues she basically just posts pictures while on the campaign or her basic life so I'm not really sure there is an issue to pick so I'll just talk about her last blog entry. The latest blog entry was about her trips to Oxford and Sacramento. She presented it with a small explanation and lots of pictures with a blurb underneath each one. She was there for a book signing and to help her father with his campaign. I think she did a good job giving a brief explanation but I think she should go into more detail. The picture with one sentence underneath are repetitive and annoying after a while but overall it was good.

David Beckham <3

http://beckhamzone.blogspot.com/

This is the first site I found on David Beckham. The first few blogs are just about his games that he played in recently. However, when I went to the beginning of the blog (December, 2004) there were also posts about how he was selling his car, a 1996 M3 Evolution convertible. So it's not only about his game play but basically anything that is going on. It is not actually David Beckham writing the blog so some of the information may not be accurate. I believe I did find his real blog but the last post was about a year ago. Anyways, the latest post on this site was about how the LA Galaxy lost to Kansas city 0-2. Many people were upset with Beckham's performance but he pretty much said it wasn't his fault. He had "crossed nine different time zones in the past week." Overall this blog is good. It has links to other sites and a gallery with pictures of David Beckham.

Beckham Blog # 2

This is another site I found on David Beckham. The entire blog is a about David Beckhams blog which I thought was interesting. The entries, however, are really short which can be a good thing if your looking for a quick update but if your looking for a detailed site this would not suffice. Another thing I do not like about this website is that there are more ads and links to other places than actual text about David Beckham. The blogger does not post very often, but this could be because Beckham does not blog often. Basically, all of the posts are about David's gameplay and how his teams are doing.