Final Fantasy Congress Post #6

Overall I think I did well. My team was consistent and ranked in the top 5-12 of the class for most of the competition. As of right now I am #11 in the league with 144 points. This was an interesting project. I learned about the legislative process and about our currant Senators. It is interesting to see who are active and effective members. I enjoyed the bios about each Senator. It is good to put a face with a name. This project was simple and to the point, the program did most of the work for you so it was nice to sit back and watch the results of my choices.

Fantasy Congress Post #4

BeautifulA's team and ColinV's team are in the top two. My team has gone down this last week. I'm out of the top ten, down to number 12. It doesn't look like my last draft pick went well. What the top 2 teams have in common that seem to be working for them are: they are predominatly Democrates, they don't have a lot of Maverick point, they have high attendance scores and there isn't a high percentage of media.

Fantasy Congress Post #3

This week I drafted 3 new players. Lower Senator Ben Cardin, Rookie Donna Christensen and Supporting Lineup Barbara Lee. Ben Cardin seems to be a strong Democrat always working with his party. Donna Christensen is similar but hardly in attendance and I want to see if that effects her work. Barbara Lee has a strong attendance record h but seem to vote opposite her party at times. All 3 are different yet similar so I think it will keep my team in good standing.

Fantasy Congress Post #2

My team seems to be staying in the top ten. I would say I'm doing well . Barbara Boxer is passing lots of legislation and Hilary Clinton is in the news alot although she dousn't seem to be doing much, she is probable very busy with her presidential campaign. I might have to trade out Keith Ellison and Rahm Emanuel. They havn't done anything for my team lately.

Fantasy Congress Post #1

The players that I drafted for my Fantasy Congress team were based mostly on there attendance and if they were in the media. I wanted people who were present. I've never paid attention to Congress , so I was curious to see if they had to be there often to make an impact. Secondly, I wanted to see if there was any correlation between them and the media. Does being in the news make you more popular, or more effective? So far I havn't noticed anything interesting. I seem to be doing well.......I should be able to gage it better in a couple weeks.

Fantasy Congress

KIMS CONGRESS'S TEAM
My Fantasy Congress leage consists of the following players:

Upper Senators - Barbara Boxer and Russ Feingold

Lower Senators - Hilary Clinton and Any Klobuchar

Supporting Lineup - Patrick Kennedy and Dennis Kucinich

Rookie - Rahm Emanuel and Keith Ellison

Allstars - Barney Frank and John Conyers

Blog Entry 1

The most pressing issue in American politics and government today is the war in Iraq. I've chosen this topic because I feel that this war has gone on long enough. Our mission to combat terrorism has killed thousands of innocent people. Its a stupid game that has no happy ending and we need to pull out and appologize to all that lost someone in this quest for oil.

I believe the war in Iraq, is a good example of American politics. The war has brought into plane sight, the aggressive pursuit of power, energy and resorces. It has also shown the overall influence of the American government in a region that is incredibly unstable and vulnerable to corruption. Essentially the US is using the political tool of war to futher it's own political agenda.

In class we described the definition of politics as "who gets what, when and how" In my scenario the "who" is the United States. The "what" is influence, meaning money, oil and infastructure. The "when and how" can be many things. For instance war or 9/11. We use these factors to gain influence over Iraq. This war we've been in for years has allowed us to assert our power over others. The United States government is attempting to transform their nation to a democracy, but instead has created a civil war. 9/11 is another "how" we've used this for years now to validate our war with Iraq, disguising our need for oil by calling it a battle with terrorist.