Major Current Political Topics Lagniappe Studies Unlimited - Fall, 2006 Jim Bolner, Sr. - Seminar Leader The seminar will focus on the following major current political topics: 1. The War in Iraq     The Neoconservatives and American Imperialism     Chronology of Events     Going to War: the WMD Issue     The Conduct of the War     Getting Out of Iraq 2. Immigration     Immigration History, Policy, and Law     Immigration Issues:         --Safe and Secure Borders         --National Security         --Guest Workers         --Paths to Citizenship         --Amnesty 3. Religion and Politics     The Constitutional Background     The Current Constitutional Controversies         -- "Establishment of Religion"         -- "Free Exercise"         -- "Wall of Separation"      Sectarianism and Politics         -- Tax Exemptions for Church Property         -- Prayers in Public School         -- Religious Monuments in Public Places         --The Pledge of Allegiance         -- The Chaplains and the Coin         -- Faith-Based Initiatives 4. Budgets and Deficit Problems (Presentation by Nancy Sidener) 5. The Bush Administration and Presidential Powers     Constitutional and Statutory Elements     The Military Tribunals Issues     The Warrantless Searches and Seizures Issues 6. Responses to Katrina and Rita     FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security     The Corps of Engineers     State and Local Problems     The Search for a Plan     Summing Up _____________________ Resources Hurricane Katrina News (Yahoo!) The Road Home (LA State Government) "Better Storm Defenses Eyed (Palm Beach Post, November 20, 2005) Cost of Rita to be 17 Billion (Marine Link, August, 2006) Cost of Katrina and Rita (Congressional Budget Office) The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life The Bush Administration on Immigration Reform The House Bill on Immigration Reform The Senate Bill on Immigration Reform Walter Russel Mead, God's Country? [Foreign Affairs, September/October, 2006] Joel Garreau, 300 Million and Counting: The United States reaches a demographic milestone, thanks largely to immigration [Smithsonian Magazine, October, 2006] U.S. Census Bureau, 300 Million Mark Mazzeti,  "Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat," New York Times, September 24, 2006 Seymour Hersh, "The Iran Plans: Would President Bush Go To War to Stop Tehran Grom Getting the Bomb?," The New Yorker, April 17, 2006 Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004) Rasul v. Bush (2004) ACLU v. National Security Agency (August 17, 2006)  [U.S. District Court declares Bush secret wiretapping program unconstitutional] ACLU v. National Security Agency (Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit grants a stay to the District Court ruling   The Detainee Interrogation and Military Tribunal Act of 2006 Hamdam v. Rumsfeld (June 29, 2006) [U.S. Supreme Court invalidates Bush special military commissions to try terrorism suspects] Wikipedia's Account of the Case News Article on the National Security Surveillance Act of 2006  (September 22, 2006) Richard Lamm, "I Have a Plan to Destroy America,"  (June, 2005) Lewis Lapham, "The Case for Impeachment," (2006)