Sexism: A "New" Prejudice in Politics

We have seen and studied ageism in politics.  Reagan's opponents questioned whether he was capable of the presidency at his age.  More recently, in the 2008 presidential election, McCain was also attacked for his greater age.  Old age is consistently associated with mental and physical weakness.  With the rise of female politicians, sex has become more visibly associated with weakness in politics.

Hillary Clinton is probably the most well-known female potential candidate for the next election.  Her daughter's pregnancy has stirred concerns over whether becoming a grandmother will affect her presidential aims.  These concerns are sexist.  There have been numerous presidential candidates and serving presidents who were grandfathers and grandfathers-to-be.  Why is being a grandmother any different?

I predict that the growing numbers of females in politics will make sexism an even more obvious prejudice.  However, I am not too sure about how and if sexism will decline.  Ageism is an age old prejudice (no pun intended) that still continues today.  How is sexism any different? What are your predictions?

Here is a source I used to see discussion over Clinton's upcoming grandmotherhood. http://news.yahoo.com/chelsea-clinton-baby-hillary-clinton-less-likely-run-225600431.html

60 Years After Brown v. Board of Education

Michelle Obama is planning to speak at a high school graduation event in the Kansas capital city.  She will be recognizing the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education.  As we have learned in class, the landmark decision in de-segregation finally provided solid legal ground and led to federal support for de-segregation.  After Brown v. Board of Education there was still strong resistance against de-segregation, but there was also strong support.  The Little Rock Nine exemplifies the federal government enforcing de-segregation despite state resistance.

Although encouraging students and reminding us of how far we have come are honorable intentions, some of the Topeka school community is upset over Obama's planned speech.  They are concerned about the tight limits on graduates bringing friends and family due to limited seating.  Those against Obama's appearance argue that the high school graduation is about friends and family, not Michelle Obama.

What are your thoughts? Would you be willing to have Michelle Obama speak at our high school graduation if that meant less seating for your friends and family?

For more information, here's an article I referenced http://news.yahoo.com/kansas-speech-michelle-obama-draws-complaints-144546090.html

Lehman Brothers

            The fall of Lehman Brothers is a cautionary tale of bad risk management, as well as an example of what could have occurred all over Wall Street.  Prior to its fall, Lehman would take on subprime debt and then unload it onto others using a financial instrument that basically worked in this manner: as the owner of the instrument, I receive the inflows from the person who took out the debt (mortgages).  However, if that person can no longer pay, then there is little I can do.  Lehman had bought insurance from AIG so that if a localized market event drove the prices down, AIG would have an obligation to pay the difference.  The problem was that these mortgage tranches, or collections of pieces of different mortgages that were packaged and sold, were very interconnected, and when they began failing, would not stop failing.  Suddenly, when the mortgage crisis broke loose, no one wanted subprime debt anymore.  Additionally, AIG had backed so many of these credit default swaps that paying them all was not feasible.  Lehman was forced to swallow the toxic assets, and as the number of buyers remained low, the situation grew worse.  Lehman Brothers's weak balance sheet became relevant, as it could not continue to bleed capital, and bankruptcy turned into the only viable path.  This put the already-scared financial markets into a state of panic, as it was now plain to see that a number of other banks could very easily fall as well.  Another issue in the bankruptcy proceedings was that it was almost impossible to calculate an estimate for the value of many of the assets that were for sale.  For example, derivatives are a type of security that derives its value from another security, such as a stock/collection of stocks.  Its value only changes based on the fluctuation of the other security's value.  An office building can be appraised to attempt to find an estimate of its value, but the future price of a stock as well as the fluctuations that get it there cannot be anticipated in the same manner, which leads to the question of how to find what a derivative should be sold for in bankruptcy proceedings.  These were the types of issues that could have torn down all of Wall Street had bailouts not been appropriated to various firms.


Resources to view:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a63mWc3ILlTo


Kenneth Moussavian

AP Review #1 Help

For those of you still working on your AP Review essays and looking for some good studying info, here are some sources to get you going:

Part A:

1) http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Atlantic_slave_trade.html
(also Mid-Atlantic notes)

2) http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3406400630.html

Part B:

1) http://www.ushistory.org/us/20a.asp
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h470.html
(also "A Peaceful Transfer of Power" worksheet question 9)

2) http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/civilwar/html/section1.html

Part C:

1) Worksheets "Rebels and Robber Barons" and "Wealth and Power Chart"...also textbook

2) http://www.americanindiantah.com/history/nar_19thcenturyrelations.html

Part D:

1) http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/progressive-era
http://www.history.com/topics/new-deal
(also see WikiSpaces page created by class)

2) http://www.history.com/topics/new-deal
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/dustbowl-new-deal/
(also see Wikispaces)

Hope this helps!

AP Exam Practice

Hey guys! I was on the CollegeBoard website today and came across some example multiple choice questions, and thought they might be helpful for studying. Enjoy!

Directions: Each of the questions or incomplete statements is followed by five suggested answers or completions . Select the one that is best in each case .

1 . Alexander Hamilton’s economic program was designed primarily to

(a) prepare the United States for war in the event Britain failed to vacate its posts in the Northwest

(b) provide a platform for the fledgling Federalist Party’s 1792 campaign 

(c) establish the financial stability and credit of the new government 

(d) ensure northern dominance over the southern states in order to

abolish slavery 

(e) win broad political support for his own candidacy for the presidency in 1792

2 . The development of the early nineteenth-century concept of “separate spheres” for the sexes encouraged all of the following EXCEPT

(a) accepting women as intellectual equals of men 

(b) idealizing the home as a haven in a competitive world 

(c) designating the home as the appropriate place for a woman 

(d) emphasizing childrearing as a prime duty of a woman 

(e) establishing a moral climate in the home

3 . The Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, the Hartford Convention, and the South Carolina Exposition and Protest were similar in that all involved a defense of

(a) freedom of the seas 

(b) freedom of speech 

(c) the institution of slavery 

(d)    states’ rights 

(e) presidential power in foreign affairs

4 . The graph above refutes which of the following statements?

(a) There were more Black people than White people in the antebellum South. 

(b) Most southern families held slaves . 

(c) Most southern families lived in rural areas . 

(d)    The southern population was much smaller than that of the North .

(e) Slaveholders were an extremely powerful group . 

5 . Frederick Jackson Turner’s “frontier hypothesis” focused on the importance of

(a) the traditions of western European culture 

(b) the absence of a feudal aristocracy 

(c) Black people and Black slavery 

(d)    the conflict between capitalists and workers 

(e) the existence of cheap unsettled land

6 . During the closing decades of the nineteenth century, farmers complained about all of the following EXCEPT

(a) rising commodity prices 

(b) high interest charges 

(c) high freight rates 

(d)    high storage costs

(e) large middleman profits

7 . The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine did which of the following?

(a) Prohibited United States intervention in the Caribbean . 

(b) Warned against European seizure of the Panama Canal . 

(c) Sought to end the wave of nationalization of American-owned property in the

Caribbean . 

(d) Declared the United States to be the “policeman” of the Western Hemisphere . 

(e) Provided United States military support for democratic revolutions in Latin America .

8 . One of the principal reasons the “noble experiment” of Prohibition failed was that it led to an enormous increase in

(a) drinking among minors

(b) absenteeism among factory workers 

(c) the divorce rate 

(d) child abuse 

(e) law enforcement challenges

9 . Brown v . Board of Education of Topeka was a Supreme Court decision that

(a) was a forerunner of the Kansas-Nebraska Act 

(b) established free public colleges in the United States 

(c) declared racially segregated public schools inherently unequal 

(d) established free public elementary and secondary schools in the United States 

(e) provided for federal support of parochial schools

10 . Joseph McCarthy’s investigative tactics found support among many Americans because

(a) evidence substantiated his charges against the army 

(b) there was widespread fear of communist infiltration of the United States 

(c) both Truman and Eisenhower supported him 

(d)     he worked closely with the FBI 

(e) he correctly identified numerous communists working in the State

Answers to Multiple-Choice Questions

1–C, 2-A, 3-D, 4-B, 5-E, 6-A, 7-D, 8-E, 9-C, 10-B

More sample questions can be found at: http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-us-history-course-description-2010.pdf

Presidential Candidates

Hello fellow members of USHAP,

It is humorous that the 2016 presidential election is beginning to shape up for many of the candidates before 2014 is even halfway through, but that is the current state of American politics.  Although being a frontrunner this early has shown little correlation to the election results, it is pertinent to look at some politicians that could be eventually win their party's nomination.



Possibilities for the Republican Nomination:

Jeb Bush



Jeb Bush is the brother of George W. Bush and the son of George H. W. Bush.  From 1999 to 2007, he was the governor of Florida.


Chris Christie

Chris Christie is the governor of New Jersey.  His office is in the midst of a scandal that resulted from some people in his office being connected to creating a traffic jam that may have served as a sort of political payback.


Rand Paul




















Rand Paul is a current senator from Kentucky.  His father is Ron Paul, the former Texas congressman that has run for president multiple times.  Rand has very some very libertarian ideals, and on a few policies is further towards the left than many leading Democrats.




Possibilities for the Democratic Nomination:


Hillary Clinton





















Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013.  She served as a senator from the state of New York from 2001 to 2009.  In addition, Hillary's husband Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas as well as the president.

Joe Biden

Joe Biden is the current vice president.  In addition to this office, he has served as a senator from Delaware for 36 years.



Campaigning by candidates and the PAC's that support them is just beginning, and the endless barrages of ads have not yet arrived, but rest assured, they will.  These are some of the candidates who may run.  It would be great if you wanted to mention some of the other candidates that you believe may run.





Some great sources:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101461388
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/clinton-hillary/
http://www.biography.com/people/rand-paul-588472#entry-into-politics&awesm=~oBtPQurQRr9Lua

Kenneth Moussavian

West Struggles as Russia Moves to Dominate Old USSR

I found an interesting article online today that talks about Russia massing troops on the Ukrainian border, and thought it was an interesting read. 

According to NATO, tens of thousands of Russian troops are prepared for a potential invasion of Ukraine, but Western states lack a strategy to prevent the invasion other than using tactics such as sanctions and isolation to put pressure on Moscow. 

Some think that increased pressure may push Putin towards a more conciliatory approach, while others worry that Russia may become more nationalist and self-sufficient, and give Putin more incentive to take a more aggressive, populist approach. 

Experts say that Moscow has been building its influence in security forces, politicians, and government officials in neighboring countries, allowing instability to ramp up and create confusion before the potential invasion.

In a speech made in March, Putin clearly stated that he would be willing to use force in order to safeguard the interests of Russian speaking minorities

There is little political will to stop Russia from going further if it is truly determined to do so. Some say the only catch is that attacking the NATO member Baltic states would trigger NATO's self defense clause and would result in a wider war with the alliance and the United States.

"We are in new territory," one Western official commented. "Realistically there is little the West can do to prevent Putin invading Ukraine or other non-NATO former Soviet states except for applying diplomatic and economic pressure. The priority now is to deter any aggression against NATO."

A move into eastern Ukraine made by the Russians would most likely spark (hopefully limited) military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. How the West would react is far from clear.

In the US, there is little real enthusiasm for direct involvement, much less a nuclear face-off with Moscow.

NATO announced what it called "concrete measures" on April 1, which would serve to boost Ukraine's ability to defend itself. These measures, however, appeared limited to ill-defined "capacity building" measures and boosting the size of NATO's liaison office in the capital.

"It's not that the West couldn't stop it - a couple of brigades of NATO troops would almost certainly deter an invasion," Dmitri Gorenburg, Russia analyst at the Centre for Naval Analyses, (a U.S. government-funded body that advises the military) reveals. "But that isn't going to happen. When it comes to pushing back Russia's actions in the former Soviet Union, there is no strategy and there is no appetite."

See full article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/11/us-ukraine-crisis-strategy-analysis-idUSBREA3A0G620140411