Should the Prime Minister be allowed to intervene in legislation allowing gay marriage?

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/pm-wont-allow-gay-marriage-plan/2006/03/30/1143441279521.html

Should the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs be offended by the cartoons published in an Indonesian Newspaper?

Cartoon did not offend, says PM
By Brendan Nicholson March 31, 2006
PRIME Minister John Howard says he is not offended by an Indonesian magazine's cartoon depicting him and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as amorous dingoes and he says he still hopes to visit Indonesia soon.
Mr Howard urged the Indonesian people to respect the Australian processes that gave protection visas to 42 West Papuan asylum seekers.
"I have been in this game a long time," Mr Howard said. "If I got offended about cartoons, golly — give us a break."
Indonesia withdrew its ambassador in protest after the visas were granted and Vice-President Jusuf Kalla told Malaysian journalists yesterday the ambassador would not return until Australia properly explained why it granted the visas.
Mr Howard said he would like to visit Indonesia "in the next little while".
He said the granting of the visas had put a strain on Australia's relationship with Indonesia because of the sensitivity in Indonesia over its sovereignty over West Papua.
He said Australia had never disputed Indonesia's sovereignty over West Papua and fully respected and supported it. "But we went through a process and this process was in accordance with Australian practice and law."
Mr Howard said that when Australians expressed strong views about Schapelle Corby's sentence he asked the community to respect the Indonesian justice system and by and large the community did that.
Mr Downer said the cartoon was tasteless and grotesque and fell well below standards of public taste, but Indonesia was a free society.

should the Sierra Leone athletes be allowed to stay in Australia?

Check out the articles in The Age especially Letters to the Editor and Opinon sections.

Smart Card - Check out the responses on the Your Say link!

Monday, March 27, 2006
Smart card
A new "smart card" with photo ID and a computer chip that people would need for every financial transaction with the Federal Government will be considered by cabinet this week. Do you think the smart card is a smart idea?


New Opinion piece to read
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/its-on-the-card-your-life-that-is/2006/05/15/1147545259725.html

Should RU- 486, the Abortion pill be made legal in Australia?

PLAN OF ATTACK FOR THE MEDIA UNIT

Week 1
DECONSTRUCTION OF OUTCOME – WHAT MAKES AN A+ or A MEDIA OUTCOME?
What is required? Highlighters and table (no. of articles include contention, persuasive techniques/ structure of argument/ tone).

READ ARTICLES
READ ANALYSIS ESSAY
READ PERSUASIVE ESSAY

Week 2 & 3
INTO DETAIL (use articles/issue to help reinforce revision)
Revision of Persuasive Techniques
Tones
Expressions/phrases to incorporate
Types of Persuasive Responses - LETTER TO EDITOR, SPEECH, ESSAY

John Schwartz Lecture Wednesday April 5

Week 4 & 5
Practice Outcome
Practice Outcome One – correct/return/go through
Practice Outcome Two – correct/return/go through
Practice Outcome Three – correct/return/go through

Week 6.
Revision – discussion of John Schwartz lecture


Outcome May 3rd.

Inheritance Discussion Post

Add your thoughts/opinions/websites found on Inheritance here!

SOME WEBSITES

www.southernmallee.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=152

www.onlineopinion.com.au

www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/debts/longc.html

www.time.com/time/magazine/intl/0,9171,1107991025-33689,00.htm

http://www.education.theage.com.au/pagedetail.asp?intpageid=1579&strsection=students&intsectionid=3

http://www.beyondblue.org.au/

About depression & rural depression

http://www.abc.net.au/landline/

To get an understanding of issues that farmers in Australia face

Gattaca Discussion Post

Add your Gattaca comment/discussion here!

Audacity - recording program

Each of you need to make a time at lunchtime (but not Wednesday) to record your Oral presentations on the recording program I have called Audacity during the first week of Term 2. I will then turn them into Mp3s so that you can put them on your iPods for revision later this term or alternatively at the end of the year. It won't take long and will be beneficial for you and everyone else in the class.

Thank you,

Ms. Francis

Surviving VCE Strategies by Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg

No. 1
Encourage students to get a good night’s sleep. 9.25 hours is the recommended amount. This refreshes the long term memory – consolidates what has been learnt. It also replenishes serotonin – our mood enhancer. A person will survive 36 days without food but only 11 days without sleep.

I'm Not Scared Website - Can you find more?

http://www.bigbookclub.plain.net.au/tbbc/Im%20Not%20Scared%20Biography%20&%20Reviews.htm

Use of Blogspot for Ms. Francis' ENGLISH Class 2006

This blogspot is for our class to share websites, ideas, thoughts, powerpoint presentations, mp3s for the study of the four texts, media unit and writing folio. Please use the spot appropriately or you'll be removed from the membership of the blogspot. My hope is that this will prove an efficient way of passing on information and learning that was cut short by time in our class.

Please contribute and learn!

FEEDBACK ON THE BLOG

To ensure that this blogspot is providing the best for you and your learning, please provide feedback on what else could be added to this blog.