Daniel Aaron Lazar

Presidential Debate I

Debate I From the University of Mississippi

Posted in US GOV: Election 2008 | No Comments »

Impact Of Economy On Presidential Race Examined

The economic news is creating even more uncertainty in the presidential race. David Brooks of The New York Times says the candidates’ response Friday was mediocre. E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post says the issue has made life difficult for John McCain and helped Barack Obama.

Listen here and dig deeper in to NPR’s coverage of this issue while you are at it.

Posted in US GOV: Election 2008 | No Comments »

The beginning of the end of Labour?

Gordon Brown is set to lead Labour into an election bloodbath so crushing it could take his party a decade to recover, according to the largest ever poll of marginal seats which predicts a landslide victory for David Cameron.

Eight cabinet ministers, including the Home Secretary and the Justice Secretary, would be swept away in the rout as the Tories marched into Downing Street with a majority of 146, says the poll, conducted for PoliticsHome.com and exclusively revealed to The Observer. Seats that have been Labour since the First World War would fall.

Read on

Posted in AP Britain | No Comments »

Philosophy Society–Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Your first challenge is to read and contemplate a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon excerpted from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave from The Republic.

Consider various interpretations of the Allegory. What is Plato suggesting? What are his implicit assumptions? What does the Allegory state about the human condition and human potential? What does the Allegory suggest about Truth?

If you need some guidance to understand this dialogue between Plato and Glaucon, there are innumerable of resources available to you online. Just Google it, choose a scholarly site and study.

You are encouraged to write a piece in response to the Allegory and post it in the comments section below. You are expected to come to our gathering on Friday ready, willing and able to discuss this philosophical classic.

Posted in Philosophy Society | No Comments »

Sex for the motherland: Russian youths encouraged to procreate at camp

Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp’s mass wedding. “They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia”.

Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland.

With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult.

But this organisation – known as “Nashi”, meaning “Ours” – is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin that has become a central part of Russian political life.

Read on

Posted in AP Russia | No Comments »

Political Ideology

Breifing Essay on Ideology, Religion and Politics

Take this survey

The Political Spectrum

Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau Reading Responses

Posted in AP Introductory Materials, US GOV: Public Opinion: Ideology & Socialization | No Comments »