Secretary of Defence-
The Secretary of Defence is the head of the United States Department of Defense. Their role is to be the principal defense policy advisor to the President. The Secretary of Defense is appointed by the president and is a member of their cabinet. Federal law says that a person may nott be appointed by the Secretary of Defense within 7 years of being released from active duty as a commissioned officer. The Secretary of Defense is sixth in line of the Presidential Succesion The present Secretary of defense is Robert Gates.

Speaker of the House-
The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives. The current speaker is John Boehner, a Republican who is also a Representative from Ohio. They are second in line of the Presidential Succesion. The speaker performs administrative and procedural duties, and represents their state.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States
They conclude treaties and foreign powers. They appoint federal executives and officers. The president can grant federal pardons and reprieves. They're commander-in-cheif of the United States armed forces. They can nominate federal judges.

2. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4683
The president is cheif of state, meaning they are a living symbol of the nation. The president is cheif executive meaning he is boss for millions of government workers. He's cheif diplomat. The president is commander-in-cheif of the military. They are cheif legislator. He is cheif of party and cheif guardian of the economy.

3. http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/agencies/a/presbrief.htm

Article II, section 1, of the Constitution says that "the executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, . . . together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term..." The president also gets to choose their cabinet or the members of.

 

4. http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/education/lesson_plans/roles_of_the_president/Roles_of_Pres.pdf

This article was almost identicle to the second article but it talks more indepthly about each role. A good example was is that as cheif diplomat, the president is the leader and initiater of foreign policies. They appoint embassdors who speak for the president. He also negotiates treaties and agreeements with other countries.

 

Capitalism is free enterprise. Private ownership is allowed and the government can intervene to regulate the economy. It gives people the freedom of choice and the chance to take their own risks, make more mistakes and also succeed and make their own living.
Socialism is where the wealth of the country is devided equally among the people. There are high taxes, but generous public welfare programs.
Communism is where theres a strong central government that controls all industry and plans out the economy. There are not many choices for the individual but the economy can be very strong.

 1.Pick two countries in Chapter 22 and provide an in depth paragraph on their government and how it operates.
   The British has a monarch who is a hereditary ruler. They don't have much power but they decide the prime minister. The prime minister is responsible to the House of Commons and selects the members of the cabinet. There is also the House of Lords which until recently was filled by hereditary peers.
   The Japanese government has a House of Councillors and a House of Representatives which has greater power. The House of Representatives choses the Prime Minister. They are anti-military except for in self defense, and they usually seek a general consensus before making decisions

2. What are some of the similarities of the countries that are in Chapter 22?
   They claim to have some sort of democratic ideals.
   They have an executive and legislative branch.
   Most have a Judicial branch.

3. What are some of the differences of the countries that are in Chapter 22?
   Japan always seeks a consensus.
   China is a communist country.
4. Which country in Chapter 22 do you believe has the strongest government and why?
I think Japan does. I could see where it would be hard to always come to a consensus but they try hard to agree rather then disagreeing just to disagree. They probably get things accomplished alot faster that way.

5. In what ways does the U.S. government relate to the methods of governments listed in Chapter 22?
   The US has and executive branch. The government is democratic. Like every other, it is unique to our country and forms to our ideals.

In the UK, the prime minister and the politicians he elects to his cabinet do most of the decision making. In the US,  the decision making is split fairly equally between the judicial and legislative branch as well as the president. Executive authority goes to the president in the US while in the UK it goes to the monarch.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs was nearly knighted by the Queen of England. However, these plans were ended because of his failure to show at a poitical conference. The proposal was in it's final stages of approval but officials put the offer down after feeling let down by his absence.

South Dakota Senate Bill 71 proposes that the legislature make it illegal for those opperating a motor vehicle to use any handheld device to write, send or read text-based communications. It describes when sending communincations will and will not be allowed; such as it being permitted to text when the vehicle is parked.

South Dakota Senate Bill 115 says nearly the same thing except that they will be permitted if hands are free or the driver is using it to make a call.

I do think that something needs to be done about texting and driving but putting through bills to ban texting and driving may not work and would be very hard to enforce. How does an officer distinguish between someone texting and someone dialing a number to make a call. It would be nearly impossible to tell the difference.

1. First, someone drafts an idea they have for a law and puts it into legal form. It is then assigned a number and assigned to a commitee in either the House or the Senate. The commitee examines and revizes it and sends it to the floor. The bill is then debated and voted on. If it recieves a mojority vote, it is sent to the other body where it goes through the same process. If it recieves mojority vote here, it is then sent to the govenor. If there is less then a majority vote at anytime, the process stops or the bill is sent back to the commitee for more revisions. If the govenor vetoes, it can go back through both bodies. The bill will pass if both bodies have a 2/3s vote to pass the bill.

2. A committee is a small group of people in congress who are all assigned the same bill. They work together to edit bills and prepare them for reading and voting.

3. It's really cool that legislation is being posted and we have the opportunity to give our opinions on what the representatives in the house are doing. It will give the representatives a chance to view what the people want before they make some decisions and hopefully take that into account. Hopefully Noem stands up to her responsiblities. She seems to be doing pretty good so far.

4. Sry, i wasn't sure what story you wanted us to look at on this site. ?

5. Personally, I think that those people who want pay more then they're already paying in taxes are crazy. However, if they want to pay more, why should anyone stop them? The US is obviously severely in debt so anything helps. If taxpayers want to pay back the debt and using credit cards makes it easier for them to do so, then so be it. Let them pay off debt that isn't theirs.

6. New leadership in the white house could be really good. They have goals of becoming more alligned for split government and to get new voices heard. The white house had seemed to be in kind of a rut. The efffort of getting Obama re-elected is taking alot of people and energy. Hopefully this is just the change needed to get stuff going.