During long block, you have two tasks..
1) Watch a short video clip on the recent conflict in Syria. To access the video, go to upfront.scholastic.com/videos and select the third one down titled 'Syria's Civil War'. If you have headphones, use them. If you don't..listen quietly.
2) Once you have an understanding of the conflict in Syria, read an article on pgs 8 and 9 in the Early October Upfront Magazine called 'War: Who Decides?' This has to be done in class because you cannot take the Upfront home.
3) Answer the following questions on your blog (good answers - not fluffy, three word, no thought, straight from the article answers)
- According to the Constitution, who has the power to declare war? What does 'the power of the purse' mean?
- How did the Vietnam War change the way many lawmakers felt about presidential war powers?
- How has war changed in the last century?
- Do you think the President 'appears indecisive' and he should have acted independently and sent troops to Syria or was he right in asking Congress? Explain your answer.
- Why do you think the Framers of the Constitution split the nation's war powers between the executive branch and legislative branches? Do you think the system is working the way they envisioned?
When you're done, use the red text book to draw the 'checks and balances' system (I'm not sure what page it is on, but it is in the same Constitution section we've been using between Ch 5 and Ch 6.)
This is your homework for the weekend!
