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  2nd Quarter Benchmark Shareout

Posted by Diana Laufenberg in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 11:34 am
1.  Go to B Band Voicethread.
2.  Register for an account.
3.  Add one image to the collective voicethread.
  • Choose one of your 12 items from the benchmark to highlight
  • Locate an image that best represents that item - you can use the flickr Creative Commons to find an image if you do not have one
  • Narrate your paragraph that accompanies that item from your benchmark
4.  Comment on at least two other 'pages' from the collective voicethread.  Ask a question.  Push back on their reasoning.  Affirm their position.  Be thoughtful
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Researhcing the Issue

Posted by Desiree Mack in American Government - Laufenberg on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 6:04 am

      Last year in the summer of 2009 Mayor Micheal Nutter of Philadelphia held a news conference where he stated he would have to close the city library system, recreation centers and the entire park system. In the summer that just there was fear of a plan to close all public pools at recreation centers in Philadelphia. With help from outside donations the pools were able to stay open. Mayor Nutter is the main opponents of providing adequate amounts of money our recreation centers. Unfortunately Mayor Nutter has a large amount of power and influence on this issue, There was a bill in 2007 that tried to work towards the budget increase for parks and recreation centers but nothing recent.


      In my search to find city officials to support my cause I found that I may have an ally in Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. She devotes her work and legislative efforts toward improving the life of children in Philadelphia and the potential of girls in leadership roles.  In 2007 Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown created a resolution to create a task force for Parks and Recreation facilities.  Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown makes a point to try improve the lives of the youths of Philadelphia, and with out recreation centers for children to find a safe haven that can't happen. Three other allies would be Majority Whip Darrell Clarke, Michael  DiBerardinis, and Recreation Director Sue Slawson.


      Philadelphia Parks Alliance could be an asset to me their work for the preservation of parks and recreation centers in Philadelphia. The groups main focus is parks but parks and recreation centers have to share funding so the higher the budget increase I fight for the recreation centers the more money parks get so, it is a win-win for both of us.


       My best chance would be to get the people of the community on my side because it will be easy to convince them that it will be beneficial to have the budget increase.


       I would take the next year to make a change in the budget for 2012. The budget for 2011 has already been made. In that year I will make connections with Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, Majority Whip Darrell Clarke, Michael  DiBerardinis, and Recreation Director Sue Slawson to try to put an effective plan together.

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Researching the Issue

Posted by Anonymous in American Government - Laufenberg on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 6:01 am

Last year in the summer of 2009 Mayor Micheal Nutter of Philadelphia held a news conference where he stated he would have to close the city library system, recreation centers and the entire park system. In the summer that just there was fear of a plan to close all public pools at recreation centers in Philadelphia. With help from outside donations the pools were able to stay open. Mayor Nutter is the main opponent of providing adequate amounts of money our recreation centers. Unfortunately Mayor Nutter has a large amount of power and influence on this issue, There was a bill in 2007 that tried to work towards the budget increase for parks and recreation centers but nothing recent.


In my search to find city officials to support my cause I found that I may have an ally in Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. She devotes her work and legislative efforts toward improving the life of children in Philadelphia and the potential of girls in leadership roles.  In 2007 Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown created a resolution to create a task force for Parks and Recreation facilities.  Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown makes a point to try improve the lives of the youths of philadelphia, and with out recreation centers for children to find a safe haven that can't happen. Three other allies would be Majority Whip Darrell Clarke, Michael  DiBerardinis, and Recreation Director Sue Slawson.


Philadelphia Parks Alliance could be an asset to me their work for the preservation of parks and recreation centers in Philadelphia. The groups main focus is parks but parks and recreation centers have to share funding so the higher the budget increase I fight for the recreation centers the more money parks get so, it is a win-win for both of us.


My best chance would be to get the people of the community on my side because it will be easy to convince them that it will be beneficial to have the budget increase.


I would take the next year to make a change in the budget for 2012. The budget for 2011 has already been made. In that year I will make connections with Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, Majority Whip Darrell Clarke, Michael  DiBerardinis, and Recreation Director Sue Slawson to try to put an effective plan together.
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Researching the Issue

Posted by Anonymous in American Government - Laufenberg on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 6:00 am

Last year in the summer of 2009 Mayor Micheal Nutter of Philadelphia held a news conference where he stated he would have to close the city library system, recreation centers and the entire park system. In the summer that just there was fear of a plan to close all public pools at recreation centers in Philadelphia. With help from outside donations the pools were able to stay open. Mayor Nutter is the main opponent of providing adequate amounts of money our recreation centers. Unfortunately Mayor Nutter has a large amount of power and influence on this issue, There was a bill in 2007 that tried to work towards the budget increase for parks and recreation centers but nothing recent.


In my search to find city officials to support my cause I found that I may have an ally in Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. She devotes her work and legislative efforts toward improving the life of children in Philadelphia and the potential of girls in leadership roles.  In 2007 Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown created a resolution to create a task force for Parks and Recreation facilities.  Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown makes a point to try improve the lives of the youths of philadelphia, and with out recreation centers for children to find a safe haven that can't happen. Three other allies would be Majority Whip Darrell Clarke, Michael  DiBerardinis, and Recreation Director Sue Slawson.


Philadelphia Parks Alliance could be an asset to me their work for the preservation of parks and recreation centers in Philadelphia. The groups main focus is parks but parks and recreation centers have to share funding so the higher the budget increase I fight for the recreation centers the more money parks get so, it is a win-win for both of us.


My best chance would be to get the people of the community on my side because it will be easy to convince them that it will be beneficial to have the budget increase.


I would take the next year to make a change in the budget for 2012. The budget for 2011 has already been made. In that year I will make connections with Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, Majority Whip Darrell Clarke, Michael  DiBerardinis, and Recreation Director Sue Slawson to try to put an effective plan together.
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Lobbying #3- Public Transportation Crime

Posted by Amber Housley in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, November 26, 2010 at 8:54 am

  • Public Transportation Act 2010- implemented to ensure transit safety nationwide.
  • The bill is bipartisan and was written by Chairman Chris Dodd, Ranking member Richard Shelby & Chairman Robert Menendez.

The Pubic Transportation Safety Act 2010 aims to:

·      Establish a national public safety plan
·      Increase federal funding
·      Establish a transit monitor
·      Authorize appropriations for the public transportation safetyFederal Transit Administration (FTA)
FTA supports public transportation systems around the United States. Safety is the United States Department of Transportation’s highest priority.
“On December 8, 2009, FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff joined Secretary Ray LaHood at a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, to discuss the Federal role in rail transit safety.”

Currently, there are no laws regarding crime prevention for SEPTA, however SEPTA Safety Plans and Actions are being negotiated. SEPTA created a Resource Management Review Group to brainstorm ideas for the safety and betterment of the customers and the company.

The SEPTA community affairs unit works with the Transit Police and various communities. The unit communicates with schools, community groups via presentation, etc to discuss crime prevention, transit etiquette, and other issues.

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Inhumane Act Post #3

Posted by Narcissa Haskins in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, November 26, 2010 at 8:23 am

Inhumane Acts

According to http://www.govtrack.us/  the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (P.L. 106-386) was created “To combat trafficking of persons, especially into the sex trade, slavery, and slavery-like conditions in the United States and countries around the world through prevention, through prosecution and enforcement against traffickers, and through protection and assistance to victims of trafficking.” With this, Representative Chris Smith had immediate supporters for this cause. There were 37 supporters of this bill andEniFaleomavaega [D-AS],Neil Abercrombie [D-HI1],Richard Armey [R-TX26] , andCass Ballenger [R-NC10were four of them. Public support for this bill wasn’t hard to come accroos while researching.

Organizations such as the The Trafficking of Asian WomenandUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops have been big supporters of this bill since it was signed on October 28, 2000 by William Clinton. This bill has also helped support other organizations likeSecurity on Campus, which is an organization that targets violence on campus. According toSOC, “It remains the first and only nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of criminal violence at colleges and universities nationwide through educational, awareness, and policy initiatives.” The media response to the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (P.L. 106-386)  has been very interesting. The most intriguing was a c-span video: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=596401441. 

This video held key information about the bill but there are still people who do not agree with it.

The opponents to this bill are only the human traffickers. There have been millions of people who have took part in this inhumane crime but in recent news Rubicela Montero has been convicted of human trafficking inChicago. This issue is only growing, but there has been progress and there will be more progress if the traffickers stopped. Human traffickers have the upper hand in this fight for these women and children who are trafficked everyday. Alison Siskin and Liana Sun Wyler wrote the Trafficking In Persons Policy. This policy will open the eyes of many people who are also fighting against human trafficking.

Raising awareness and having programs within schools to support people who have been victims of human trafficking or victims that go along with Human Trafficking, such as rape, abuse, and  forced prostitution, is my ultimate goal with lobbying this topic. Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. will be the major supporter at this time. Having access to the women in this organization will open opportunities needed to  contact national officials fighting Human Trafficking in the United states. To inform the School District of Philadelphia about the seriousness of Human Trafficking will be a great stepping stone. Young women are the key targets of this terrible crime and the emotional brutality that comes along with rape and abuse, will last for the rest of these women's lives.  By the beginning of February, there will be meetings set up with Alpha Kappa Alpha members to discuss the fight against  Human Trafficking.

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Animal testing bill: Going no where? What is there to do?

Posted by Perry Woods in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 8:40 pm

 During the break between the last blog post and this one I kept checking in on the progress of my bill. Progress though for this bill though has been very minimal. If you don’t remember the bill that I have been tracking is the S.3921. This proposed bill is to ensure that “approval of pharmaceutical and biological products do not require violations of medical ethics in the testing of products in humans and vertebrate animals.” Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont proposed it on September 29th, 2010.

  The progress of how my bill is doing I think is effected by currant events as well as people’s support and awareness. Senator Sanders has no listed co-supporters with his bill. If the people were more informed about all proposed laws not just ones that are pushed to the forefront of the media getting them discussed. If a bill like S.3921 got more media attention it would be more discussed. Discussion would then lead to people supporting it and bring awareness to their Senators. The current discussion about this bill has been very minimal. Only 7 blogs (blogs listed here) have recently talked about it (technically 8 if this one is included). That shows how little information is being pushed out there to help this bills progress. 

  A major way to get this bill a boast in ordered to be noticed would be to push out the information about the bill to animal rights organization and groups. Think about if groups like PETA and The Humane Society of The United States (as well as many others that you can find listed here and here) were to push out a story about this bill. Sending this information to their followers and supporters that would make a major impact in rising in awareness. More stories would be spread out, petitions could be made and signed to send to lawmakers and so much more could happen. Brining awareness from the people would make politicians step in with the process of this bill and reviewing it. It would almost be like a repeat of the process of the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007. Because it was relvent to cases in the media and had gained a high amountof support  encouraging lawmakers to take part made this bill soon become a law. If this could happen again things would happen a lot quicker.

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Finances In Philly!

Posted by Glenn Brailsford in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 6:40 pm

I’ve been reading some of these links and I can see that over the past few years the numbers in terms of how they spread out the money is pretty much the same at least in the same range. The things that have really noticeable differences are that the 3/30/10 stats went up later in the year when they took the numbers again on 6/30/10. In my opinion this will continue to be an up year rolling into 2011. I think the people who are essential to the turn out of the financial process that we are in are the CFO and the mayor and every individual outlet that our cities money goes out to, such as the police, firemen and public heath services. We as citizens are also partially responsible for how our cities finances are managed. If we are socially responsible and don’t have a high crime rate and armed robberies and other offenses then that in my opinion is us playing a key roll in our cities finances.

• I think that I can influence the people that are around me. Without having more in-depth knowledge about the exact situation of our finances, (which I plan to do) I can’t really give them different statistics just yet.

•  The time frame is from now until 12/30/10. That’s when they do the different summaries of what the cities finances are and compare them to other state governments finances.

• Every qtr. of the year CFO and other members of the government such as the mayor sit down and discuss the cities finances and things of the sort.

3/30

6/30

9/30

12/30

Screen shot 2010-11-24 at 9.08.38 AM
Screen shot 2010-11-24 at 9.08.38 AM
Screen shot 2010-11-24 at 9.07.22 AM
Screen shot 2010-11-24 at 9.07.22 AM

Links: http://www.phila.gov/reports/reports2.html

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/QCMR_81610.pdf

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/Quarterly_City_Manag6.pdf

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.phila.gov/pdfs/qcmr_081809.pdf

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/Quarterly_City_Manag5.pdf

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Immigration!

Posted by John DeSalis in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 11:52 am

There are a lot of figures whom support this bill. they can be found here
Yes, Currently Los Angeles is fighting to get a similar bill onto the ballot in the 2012 election. Also, many other states are going to try and have a similar bill proposed.
My opponents, as stated before are the Illegal immigrants and now the protesters whom still don’t this put into action into the states.
Yes, a policy has been written for this issue. This policy is called SB 1070.
Any type of latin@ born citizen is a stakeholder in this issue.
In order for this to take place, you are going to need the Homeland Security, The U.S Border Control, as well as the help from many different government branches.
The decision makers that need to be moved, are the ones whom are currently BLOCKING this from being put into effect not only in the state of Arizona, but possibly model a similar law for the U.S.
I am not fully sure on to who else is working with this issue, but should I find out I would like to coordinate something with them to get more of an insight into this bill.

I can try to influence the other Americans who want this country to be brought back to what it was, when everyone spoke one language and was one background.

This is supposed to be put onto the California ballot in 2012, as mentioned above, but for that to happen, California’s Secretary of State Debra Bowen would have to get the  signatures from 433,971 registered voters by April 21, 2011, to qualify it for the ballot. If it is validated, the measure could be placed before voters in February or June of 2012.

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Safe Driving-L.A #3

Posted by Bria Wimberly in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 11:40 am

The issue of driving and efficient cars has circulated in the news this year in the United States. After the problems Toyota and customers has faced, transportation is looked at more frequently in terms of being safe. Secretary Ray LaHood is in charge of the Department of Transportation. At the “United States Department of Transportation” website, he discuss the problems we face when behind the wheel and under the hood. I would like to lobby about safe cars in general as well as improving the drivers. There should be more regulations and check ups for cars before setting out into the market.
ray-lahood
ray-lahood
The outcome of more regulations and checkups will help drivers and pedestrians. NHTSA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is also working on perfecting laws and regulations of vehicles like cars, trucks, even bicycling. Other allies that can help influence safe driving are insurances that give praise for safe driving and discounts like Allstate.
The crowd I’m trying to influence can vary in all ages. One website called “Faces of Distracted Drivers” shows the emotions of friends and family who lost their loved ones from car accidents. Many accidents can be from a distracted driver, reckless driving, and even damaged cars. Distraction.gov is also an organization that gives ideas on how to improve driving and the safety of the people inside. With laws and regulations, having more scheduled appointment to check up on car corporations would be nice.
The Department of Transportation needs a budget to continue working, their time frame of work being accomplish depending on the budget of how much they receive from the government. Here is a picture of how much they will spend in 2011.
Screen shot 2010-11-24 at 11.44.01 AM
Screen shot 2010-11-24 at 11.44.01 AM
In the future, Sec. LaHood considers banning cell phones while driving on a highway or populated areas. This can be a step further for the protection of driving.
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Water Preservation Blog Post 3

Posted by Qianna Nelson in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 11:28 am

Qianna Nelson
November 21, 2010

In the year 2009 House Representative Jim Matheson proposed the H.R. 631: Water Use Efficiency and Conservation Research Act.

Here is a summary of the bill:
H.R. 631 directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a research and development program that promotes water efficiency and conservation. This program will include research into technologies, as well as storage and distribution systems aimed at promoting more efficient water use. The bill allows the Assistant Administrator of the EPA to facilitate the adoption of beneficial technologies and publication of information related to water conservation technologies.
Additionally, H.R. 631 directs the Assistant Administrator to fund at least four projects in publicly accessible buildings which will incorporate the latest water conservation technologies and designs.
The EPA Administrator is directed to work with the National Academy of Sciences to complete a study to determine strategies for the management of water supplies, wastewater, and stormwater. The study will include a comparison of water conservation research efforts in the U.S. compared to those of other countries and other assessments. H.R. 631 authorizes $1 million to the EPA Administrator to carry out this study.
The bill authorizes $20 million dollars for each of fiscal years 2010-2014.
Link:
H.R. 631: Water Use Efficiency and Conservation Research Act.
A lot of people have come to know about our water problem and many states are trying to make laws such as the one above, so that they can also preserve our water. There are many people all over the nation who want to see many laws passed so we can save our water. But we need more people to get involved so that more of our representatives can make these issues more well known to the other representatives.
Tell your friends and tell your family to all start promoting water preservation. As you can see the all the text and pictures above, the problem is getting worse and not better we need everyone to get involved.

Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power the more we know about how to preserve water the faster we can save our planet.

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