VOL. 5, No. 11;
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Dear Arthur,
Today's newsletter includes:
1.
Update on this Saturday's High School Discussion
Group.
2. Update on Middle School M.U.N.
news.
3.
New survey on a CNN
poll.
4.
Results from last week's survey on nuclear proliferation.
|
|
|
Civitas Home
Page
|
High School Discussion Group This
Saturday!
 After a most engaging discussion group
on March 4, Civitas has another one this Saturday, March
18. As usual, it will be at Crossroads School (map below)
from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM.
For those who missed the
last discussion, we had a really refreshing debate on South
Dakota's proposed abortion law and gay marriage. For such hot
topics, all of the students maintained very cool compositions. On
the issue of gay marriage a lot of compromises were reached; for
example the majority thought civil unions should be legal, but
marriage ceremonies should be left to each church to decide.
This week the topics will as
always be up to the discretion of the student participants.
However, among the possible discussion areas are this week's
survey topic on the recent poll on CNN. Would CNN founder Ted Turner
turn over in his grave (oh, we forgot, he's still alive) if he
found that the global newsorganization that he established was
asking questions of the sort in this poll? What about the
death of former Serbian "strong man" Slobodan Milosovic, is there
anything suspicious about it?
Note: A number of
newspaper articles have been or are being written about our
recent "Reinventing the United Nations" conference. You can
read an excellent one by Tony Keel (pictured above) in the St.
Louis University High School Prep News by clicking
here.
Hope to see you this Saturday, the
18th!
Map
and Directions to Crossroads School
|
Middle School Teachers: Remember to
Send in your Students' Resolutions
 It's getting to be "crunch time" in the Middle
School Model UN program, that feverish time of year when students
are hard at work crafting their resolutions for the upcoming
spring General Assemblies. Don't miss out on the opportunity to
have a Civitas staff member read your rough drafts and provide
you with some (we hope) helpful feedback. Email your rough drafts
(soon please!) to Lisa at [email protected]
and she will get back to you quickly with comments about the
resolutions and ideas for how to improve them for your General
Assembly.
Of course,
if you already have the final drafts of your resolutions
completed please send those in so we can get them posted on the
web. These General Assemblies really are right around the corner
for some schools! On April 5, St. Gabriel, Queen of All Saints,
and Maplewood-Richmond Heights will convene at Creve Coeur
Government Center for our first session, and then after a brief
hiatus Cathedral, St. Francis Cabrini, City Academy, St. Dominic
Savio, and St. Mary Magdalen will come together on April 26. The
rest of the schools will have to wait until May for their General
Assemblies!
As always, if you
have any questions or need any additional resources for your
students, please contact Lisa Granich-Kovarik at [email protected]
or (314) 865-4704.
Photos
from Middle School Teacher Meeting
Middle School
Country Selections for 2005-2006
|
| | Photos! | | Streaming
Video! |
| | |
|
What Do You Think of this CNN Poll?
 As you most likely know, Civitas is not the only
organization that engages in on-line polls. One of the
largest is CNN --
the Cable News Network founded by entrepreneur and adventurer
Ted Turner in 1980.
Most television critics feel that the quality of "hard news" on
CNN has declined
precipitously in recent years as the taste for information by the
American people has moved more towards entertainment and
gossip.
If Ted Turner was alive (oh, he is as of this
moment), he might turn in his "grave-to-be" if he was aware of
what CNN did this past weekend. For several hours, they had
the following poll on their web site (this wording is not exactly
correct because CNN
pulled the poll before we could take it down verbatim):
"Who would you prefer to manage shipping
ports in the United States?"
a -- Companies that are
not chartered and owned within the United States
b --
The Mafia in the United States
Our
question this week is, "Why do you think that CNN asked this question?"
(You may select more than one answer.)
a) Whoever wrote the poll question has an extreme
bias against people and institutions that are not American. b) CNN was
just looking for a little entertainment with its web readers. c) CNN was
in a hurry to put up a new survey and this was the best that they
could do. d) Actually there is nothing wrong with the
question. It is a fair question for Americans to consider. e) None of the above. Click
here for the survey:
| |
Previous Survey
Results!
Last newsletter's question was:
What To Do
About the Spread of Nuclear Weapons?
 President Bush traveled to
India and Pakistan last week. Among the topics discussed
was containing the spread of nuclear weapons (a topic that was
very central to last month's Civitas "Reinventing the United
Nations" conference. He was able to exact a few changes
from India; none from Pakistan. He offered no cutbacks on
the part of the United States.
Currently, the
countries with nuclear weapons include all five permanent members
of the U.N. Security Council (China, France, Russia,
United Kingdom, & United States) as well as
India (nuclear-tipped missile from 2004 parade
pictured here), Israel, and
Pakistan. The evidence is close to certain
that North Korea now has a nuclear weapon and
Iran is working feverishly to develop one.
South Africa claims that it formerly had nuclear
weapons but has since destroyed them.
Our
question this week is, "Which of the following steps do
you support in trying the contain the spread of nuclear
weapons?" (You may select more than one
answer.)
a) Have the United States try
to "take out" the nuclear facilities of every country that it
does not trust. -- 2 (28%)
b) Ban the importation of materials
necessary for the manufacturing of nuclear weapons to all
countries that currently do not have these weapons. --
2 (28%)
c) Provide financial incentives to countries to not develop,
expand, or export nuclear technology and materials. --
3 (43%)
d) Turn control of all the world's nuclear weapons over to the
United Nations, as presently constituted. -- 3 (43%)
e) None of the
above. -- 0 (0%)
Note: Percentages add up to more than 100% because multiple responses
to the question were permitted.
COMMENTS ON THE ISSUE
Tony Keel;
S.L.U.H., 2006
Well let's see... We can't ban trade of nuclear
materials (we've been trying to do that for while), we definitely
can't give them all to the UN, I guess we could provide financial
incentives (the old pay-off trick), but I don't know if this
would permanently fix the problem. Let's face it, we will have to
go into Iran and North Korea eventually anyway, but knowing the
US they will have to develop nukes and start something first.
Though I don't think the US should "take them out" so to speak,
but with UN approval somebody's got to stop them.
Brett DeLaria; S.L.U.H.,
2008
I believe
that nuclear weapons are 2 kinds of weapons. One of mass
destruction as we learned in WWII, and one of fear as we learned
in the Cold War and present day issues. It seems these days that
dictators who aren't mentally sane with the world decide to use
the object of the weapon as fear, and if necessary as a tool of
destruction. I believe that nations whose leaders say to wipe
Israel off the map shouldn't have weapons. They say it is their
right. What kind of right is that? Is it their right to instill
fear in the world so that they can get attention and progress
with their corrupt ways of ruling? Is it their right to threaten
the life of others? I think not. Life, Liberty, Pursuit of
happiness. These are the three basic rights that all humans hold,
and it is no one's right to violate or intrude or threat any of
these principals. No one should have the right to threaten a
person(s)' life on a scale of total destruction. How do we solve
such an issue? Unfortunately as long as there is corruption and
all bad virtues like this in the world I don't think we'll ever
see a world without nuclear weapons, but it is the responsibility
of the world to monitor each nations' comments on weapons,
production, and use. We need to continue the United Nations
inspections. Maybe one day the UN will seize all uranium mines
and enrichment, and use it to only sell power. The profits from
the mining and enrichment can be then given to the nations with
the plants and natural resources. Cooperation and diplomacy must
be utilized...Have we entered a Cold War II or on the brink of
WWIII? Let's work so that we are not, but make these issues to a
thing of the past.
|
Additional
Links
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| Resolutions
(High School U.N.) for 2004-2005
| Checklist
for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution
| |
Reinventing U.N.Conference Home
Page
| |
| |
|
|
|
