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US Government, Tuesday, September 4

Josh was yelling at a copy of the Washington Post when the students began arriving. He didn't seem to like George Bush.

Shocker.

"Welcome to US Government. I'm Josh Lyman and up until January 2005 I was the deputy chief of staff for President Josiah Bartlet. You may all be suitably impressed now." He looked around the room. "Good."

"This is a class about how the US government works, or on occasion, comes to a screeching, painful halt. I've worked in both the legislative and executive branches and worked extensively with the judicial branch as well, so I'm very excited to bring my wealth of knowledge of all things government to your eager young minds."

He took a sip of coffee, then a bite of one of the finest bagels in the land. Just this once he'd even brought enough to share.

"Okay, maybe I'm not excited, and maybe you're not eager, but work with me here, people. Knowing how the government works is part of your responsibility as Americans. Um, if you are Americans. If you're not, learning about the government of this completely other country is a fascinating hobby that will get you lots of dates." He raised an eyebrow. "Really."

"This class will focus mostly on the federal government and how it operates because I'm running the class and find all things dealing with state and local politics to be stupefyingly boring." He held up a hand. "You might have other opinions, but I, well, don't care that much."

He handed around copies of the class syllabus. "As it says so clearly at the top of the page, today we discuss why you should care about government. Now I know why I care about the government, but explain to me why you care at all what bills the House of Representatives is debating, or who sits on the Supreme Court. Or who's elected President, or governor, or to the local school board." He waved his hand. "Or if you don't, explain that too."

He sat down at his desk and pointed at random to a student. "You. Name, class, why you care about government."

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...

Anathema Device

Andros

Henry Jekyll

Lana Lang

Alec

Or pass notes. Whichever.

Anathema's hand shot up.

"Yeah, you there, with the face and the hand up?"

"Anathema Device. And I thought the current president had a different name?"

"Is this reality, sure," Josh said with a nod. "In mine, I'd never work for such a complete tool."

Well, not a Republican tool, anyway.

Anathema beamed. "Then at least one reality got it right."

Josh grinned back. "Exactly. We still don't have flying cars, though. Someone needs to work on that."

"According to every good science fiction book or movie, we're a good twenty years behind. Perhaps you can get your White House to look into it?"

"I'll call them right after class," Josh decided.

"And make sure they're green cars." Anathema added, trying not to laugh and failing miserably.

...

"Anathema Device, Sophomore, and since I'm from England I felt that I should know more about how this country is run since I am a visitor."

"I have one very important question," Josh began. "Do you know Lord John Marbury?"

"I know several Johns, but neither of them are Lord's nor are they named Marbury."

"Then we'll get along fine," Josh decided.

"I'm called Andros and I'm a Freshman," Andros said, "I'm not from this planet so I thought I should learn more about Terran politics,"

Josh smiled. "World politics is a mix of dictators, people trying to do the right things and crazy Brits who claim to be the Ambassador of Great Britain."

The crazy Brit Josh was referring to was the ambassador of Great Britain. He didn't see how that could relevant.

"Henry Jekyll, Sophomore. I'm also from England, and am curious about American politics. I'm also from a different time period, so I want to see how law has evolved in the past hundred years."

"So you probably don't know Lord John Marbury," Josh said hopefully.

Henry looked apologetic, misinterpreting Mr. Lyman's hopefulness. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't know him. Is he a friend of yours? A business associate?"

"He's insane," Josh said, "and spends far too much time annoying me in the White House. It's much, much better you don't know him."

Henry doesn't quite know how to respond to that, so he nods his head. "I'll be wary of meeting him."

"I'm Lana Lang. I'm a senior and I care about government because of a lot of different reasons. It can be a great force for helping people or it can get us into meaningless wars. The people running the government have a great of deal of influence and responsibility over what happens so it's important they you try to get someone you respect and think can do good work there."

Josh nodded. "You'll learn in this class that it's not just the guys at the top of the pyramid who have the power."

"I'm Alec, I'm a senior now, and I guess I'm here because it's nice to know about your parents," he said, rather flippantly.

He's looking for a TA, if anyone's interested.

Lana would be interested in being a TA.

"You there," Josh called to her, reaching for the class roster, "Lana!"

Lana looked up, a little startled. "Yes?"

"You know how to find J,GOB, right?" he checked.

"Yes, sir," she said, not really quite sure where this was going.

"Fantastic!" Josh said. "You're now the TA. Congratulations."

Lana's eyebrows went up. "Okay. Thank you?"

"I like blueberry muffins," Josh hinted. "See you next week!"

I'll be online off and on all day.

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US Government, Tuesday, September 4

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Listen to the lecture

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Answer the discussion question

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Talk to Josh

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OOC