A sound suggestion by several students yesterday related to the Constitutional questions about the Health Bill currently proposed. The following resources present a number of pro- and anti- arguments for review.
Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah told CNSNews.com in November 2009 that forcing people to buy health insurance cannot be justified under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.
“But here would be the first time where our government would demand that people buy something that they may or may not want,” Hatch told CNSNews.com. “And, you know, if that’s the case, then we didn’t need a ‘Cash for Clunkers,’ all we had to do is have the federal government say you all got to buy new cars, no matter how tough it is on you. You know, they could require you to buy anything. And that isn’t America. That’s not freedom. That’s not constitutionally sound. Now, there may be some gimmicky way that they can do this, but I can’t think of a gimmicky way that would be constitutionally justified.”
On the other hand, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs stated in November 2009 that he does not know if White House lawyers have reviewed whether it is constitutional for the federal government to order individuals to buy health insurance. On Wednesday, the White House responded to 13 State Attorney Generals: No 'Legitimate Constitutional Concerns' in Senate Health Care Bill.
Nancy Pelosi was asked if health care is covered in the Constitution. She responded: "Are you serious?"
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said that she would leave it to "constitutional lawyers" to explain where Congress gets the constitutional power to require that Americans buy health insurance from the Federal government.
There is a summary of the issue considering the Founding Fathers on health care as well.
Protester Delays Senate Committee Opening, CSPAN May 05, 2009
Max Baucus, D-MT, "We need more police."
Is Government-Run Health Care Constitutional?
Tim Lynch (CATO Institute) and Jay Sekulow (American Center for Law and Justice) discuss the constitutionality of federal health care programs with Judge Andrew Napolitano.
Or, for another historical perspective, some may entertain the thoughts of Ronald Reagan on Universal Healthcare.
Per our class procedure, a Shanawiki page Ch. 12 Sec. 4 has been posted, and now as listed on our class calender, a Quiz is scheduled for Friday. This is a ten Question, fill-in type of Quiz, similar to the last Quiz.
Ch. 12 Sec. 4 Culture: Romanticism and Realism
Checkpoint
How did romantic writers, musicians, and artists respond to the Enlightenment?
Learn
Focus Question
What artistic movements emerged in reaction to the Industrial Revolution?
Audio
William Wordsworth, along with William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley among others, was part of a cultural movement called romanticism. From about 1750 to 1850, romanticism shaped Western literature and arts.
Reading Check, p. 389
Examining
How did the popularity of Ivanhoe reflect the interests of the nineteenth century?
A New Age of Science
British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough presents his views on Charles Darwin, natural selection, and how the Bible conflicts with Darwin's views of the natural world in an exclusive interview for Nature Video, 4:27.
In addition, to celebrate Darwin's bicentenary Darwin 200 in Nature is also providing selected content free online, including continuously updated news, research and analysis on Darwin's life, his science and his legacy.
Baba Brinkman performs "Natural Selection" from "The Rap Guide to Evolution" at the launch party of the Cambridge Darwin Festival, Cambridge Botanic Gardens, July 5 2009, 3:30.
This video shows results from a research project involving simulated Darwinian evolutions of virtual block creatures. A population of several hundred creatures is created within a supercomputer, and each creature is tested for their ability to perform a given task, such the ability to swim in a simulated water environment. Those that are most successful survive, and their virtual genes containing coded instructions for their growth, are copied, combined, and mutated to make offspring for a new population. The new creatures are again tested, and some may be improvements on their parents. As this cycle of variation and selection continues, creatures with more and more successful behaviors can emerge.
The creatures shown are results from many independent simulations in which they were selected for swimming, walking, jumping, following, and competing for control of a green cube.
The organic world – animals, plants, viruses – is the product of Darwinian evolution by natural selection. Natural selection expresses the idea that organisms (more accurately their genes) vary and that variability has consequences. Some variants are bad and go extinct; others are good and do exceptionally well. This process, repeated for two billion years, has given us the splendours of life on earth.DarwinTunes: a test-tube for cultural evolution
It has also given us the splendours of human culture. This may seem like a bold claim, but it is self-evidently true. People copy cultural artefacts – words, songs, images, ideas – all the time from other people. Copying is imperfect: there is "mutation". Some cultural mutants do better than others: most die but some are immensely successful; they catch on; they become hits. This process, repeated for fifty thousand years, has given us all that we make, say and do; it is the process of "cultural evolution".
However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. For example, how important is human creative input compared to audience selection? Is progress smooth and continuous or step-like? We set up DarwinTunes as a test-bed for the evolution of music, the oldest and most widespread form of culture; and, thanks to your participation, these questions will soon be answered.
Reading Check, p. 390
Describing
How did Darwin's theory of natural selection influence the way in which people viewed the world?
Realism
The Call to Realism: Audio
Novels Depict Grim Reality
The English novelist Charles Dickens vividly portrayed the lives of slum dwellers and factory workers, including children. In Oliver Twist, Dickens tells the story of a nine-year-old orphan raised in a grim poorhouse. In response to a request for more food, Oliver is smacked on the head and sent away to work. Later, he runs away to London. There he is taken in by Fagin, a villain who trains homeless children to become pickpockets. The book shocked many middle-class readers with its picture of poverty, mistreatment of children, and urban crime. Yet Dickens’s humor and colorful characters made him one of the most popular novelists in the world.
Oliver! (1968) - Theatrical Trailer - © Columbia Pictures
Starring: Mark Lester as Oliver Twist, an orphan, Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed, Jack Wild. Directed by: Carol Reed. Story written by: Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist" (novel). Screenplay & Dialogues written by: Vernon Harris. Distributed by: © Columbia Pictures. Theatrical Release Date: September 26, 1968 (UK).
Synopsis:
"Oliver!" is a 1968 musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris.
Both the film and play are based on the famous Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. The musical includes several musical standards, including "Food, Glorious Food", "Consider Yourself", "As Long as He Needs Me", "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two", "Oom-Pah-Pah" and "Where is Love?".
The film version was a Romulus Films production and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures. It was filmed in Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey and various other locations in England.
In 1968 Oliver! won Six Academy Awards, including awards for Best Picture, Carol Reed Best Director.
Plot:
Oliver Twist is sold to a Dunstable undertaker after asking for more dinner at the orphanage. Escaping to London he is taken in by Fagin to join his gang of child pickpockets. Wrongly accused of a theft he meets a more kindly gentleman who takes him in, to the concern of one of Fagin's old pupils, the violent Bill Sykes. In the middle is Nancy, Sykes' girl whom Oliver has come to trust.
French novelists also portrayed the ills of their time. Victor Hugo, who moved from romantic to realistic novels, revealed how hunger drove a good man to crime and how the law hounded him ever after in Les Misérables (lay miz ehr ahb). The novels of Émile Zola painted an even grimmer picture. In Germinal, Zola exposed class warfare in the French mining industry. To Zola’s characters, neither the Enlightenment’s faith in reason nor the romantic movement’s feelings mattered at all.
Realism in Drama
Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen brought realism to the stage. His plays attacked the hypocrisy he observed around him. A Doll’s House show a woman caught in a straitjacket of social rules. In "An Enemy of the People," a doctor discovers that the water in a local spa is polluted. Because the town’s economy depends on its spa, the citizens denounce the doctor and suppress the truth. Ibsen’s realistic dramas had a wide influence in Europe and the United States.
Part 1 of 12. Arthur Miller's adaptation of Ibsen's "An Enemy Of the People," which first aired in 1966 on "NET Playhouse." Stars Emmy-award winner James Daly, Kate Reid, George Voskovec, James Olson, William Prince, Philip Bosco and Ken Kercheval. All copyrights acknowledged. For research and commentary purposes only.
Arts Reject Romantic Ideas
Painters also represented the realities of their time. Rejecting the romantic emphasis on imagination, they focused on ordinary subjects, especially working-class men and women. “I cannot paint an angel,” said the French realist Gustave Courbet (koor bay) “because I have never seen one.” Instead, he painted works such as The Stone Breakers, which shows two rough laborers on a country road.
The Stone Breakers, Gustave Courbet, 1849, this is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.
The Gross Clinic, Thomas Eakins, 1875, this is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.
emphasis—(em fuh sis) n. special attention given to something to make it stand out
Checkpoint
How did the realism movement differ from the romantic movement?
Reading Check, p. 391
Evaluating
What factors helped to produce the movement known as realism?
1. As listed on our class calender, a Quiz is scheduled for Friday. This is a ten Question, fill-in type of Quiz, similar to the last Quiz.
