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JQ: Checks and Balances - 12/19/2011

Posted by Diana Laufenberg in American Government - Laufenberg on Monday, December 19, 2011 at 12:56 pm

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Identify the different ways that checks and balances are evident in this story... there should be examples both from between branches and within branches. Explain.

Story of a Bill: TSCA

Posted by Sofia Frank-Fischer in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 1:08 pm

This is the story of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, as told by the bill's own diary!

I chose to research the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) because it is so closely related to my lobbying project, which focuses on legislation that, if passed, would replace TSCA. I expected that a deep understanding of the history of TSCA would help me argue for the Clean Chemicals Act of 2011.
TSCA started as an idea by the President's Council on Environmental Quality, and six years later it finally became a law. My research illuminated the many ways in which a bill can fail – because TSCA encountered or almost encountered plenty of failures. It was edited from its original version before it even went to Congress, died in conference committee several times, and was almost subject to a pocket veto. I imagined that TSCA's progression from idea to law would be difficult because of the chemical industries, but was impressed at the scope of the difficulties. Despite all these obstacles, the environmental groups and the concerns of citizens still got the bill through Congress eventually.
The most difficult part of this project for me was how much general information I found. I didn't know what to do with all of it, or how to find more specific facts about moments in the process. I was able to fix this problem by coming up with a method of presentation that restricted what I the information I needed. I chose the format of diary partly because of the specific information it would require (like particular dates and that kind of thing). I also chose the format because it allowed me to highlight the particular failures and accomplishments of TSCA by making up emotions for the bill itself. I had a lot of fun personifying TSCA.
If I had to do this project again, I think I would add in information about other bills, contemporaries of TSCA. There were many bills related to the Toxic Substances Control Act that were in Congress at the same time, and I'd love to explore what TSCA would have thought of those bills and their successes and failures.

Story of a Bill - Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 - Blase Biello

Posted by Blase Biello in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 1:07 pm

Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 on Dipity.

Both pieces contain the same information, but the top is a timeline and the bottom is a flipbook.

Use whichever you'd like. The TimeLine is good to put all of the steps into perspective. Also,
you can adjust the scale by months/years using the slider to the left.

Reflection:

I chose my bill because I wanted to go into a non-concrete bill. The bill was based around Reagan's "War on Drugs" so I thought it'd be interesting. Also, drugs in the U.S. is a huge problem and I wanted to investigate the U.S.'s first step in stopping the drug problem. I chose the presentation format of a timeline because I wanted the audience to be able to see the time perspective and how long each step took to become completed. The only challenge I had was finding good information on my topic because of how long ago it occurred. But, I had a good website that told me a lot of information, which was the point at which I overcame my challenge. If I had to do the project over again I wouldn't do anything differently because I am completely satisfied with the final project. The research and investigation aspects showed me a lot about the creation process. I used a site that literally told me every step behind the bill and how the name of the act even changed once it was signed by the President. But, it is very interesting to see how many amendments go into the bill when its still going through the House and Senate. The process was not harder than I imagined, the only difficulty came in finding the information and doing the research, but I used a great site that showed me everything I needed in order to put together a solid project.

Story of a Bill: Endangered Species Act

Posted by Julia Boyer in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 1:06 pm

The story I have chosen to tell is of the Endangered Species Act. It's presented as a magazine interview with the reporter and the bill herself. It also has links to other interesting sites.

Reflection:
This benchmark was very educational for me. I learned a lot about the legislative process by focusing on the Endangered Species Act. This act was very interesting to me because I feel very strongly about how we handle this issue. After doing initial research, I had to consider different ways to present my story. I thought it would be great to have a video of the Act telling her story. I would be the act, and I had some clips and photographs from that time period that would add to the viewers understanding. However, I was not prepared for the fact that my iMovie wasn't functioning. I sat down to record myself as the Act and the camera was picking up different sounds, was delayed and distorting my image. I had to think of something different to do; I made a magazine article interview. I chose this because it didn't require excessive work and I could still use my material from the movie. While I am very proud of my final product, I wish that I could have done my original idea. However, I think that I learned a lot from this project. I see now what has to be done to pass a bill, even though my bill passed fairly easily, and I see how acts cause big changes in the way we live our lives. For example, my act caused a big legal battle over a dam, and to this day, our government is still finding their paths blocked by my Act. It is very interesting to think about how we interact with the law everyday and I understand that more clearly now that I've done this project.

Story of a Bill – Passenger Rail

Posted by Jeffrey Kessler in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 1:06 pm

Learn how a bill becomes a law! Follow the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007/2008 on it's path to becoming an act of legislation! Does it get passed? Who supported it? Find out all of this and more with "Story of a Bill – Passenger Rail"!

Prezi not loading? Click here!

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As a railfan, I wanted to focus on a bill that affected Amtrak or rail transportation. As such, I decided to research the failed Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007/2008. Since the information would revolve around the bill's movement, I decided to make a Prezi such that it would be easy to visualize how a bill goes through the process of becoming a law. The most challenging portion of this project was researching the factors that influenced the bills movement throughout congress. However, once it was completed, it was easy to present and design the Prezi.

If I were to re-create the project, I would probably want to incorporate multiple bills such that it would be easy to understand how bills can take different paths throughout congress. This would better allow me to present the information regarding the bill creation process. The process itself, while very intricate and with multiple steps, is rather simple in that one idea gets presented, researched, debated, drafted, budgeted, sent to the other portion of congress, at which point the system repeats itself. This long process makes it easy for congresspeople and the president to prevent a bill from becoming a law. However, the measures in place to override nay votes and vetoes allows for the government to go forth and pass legislation when a large majority of the persons agree.

The Story of a Bill: Electronics Communications Privacy Act of 1986

Posted by William Marsh in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 1:05 pm

Story of a bill: Electronics Communications Privacy Act of 1986 on Prezi

Reflection:
For my benchmark, I chose to investigate the story of the Electronics Communications Privacy Act of 1986. I chose this bill because the internet and our access to it has a huge influence on current events. In the past year we've seen huge stories develop because of videos posted to the internet from peoples phones. This really solidified how important technology is in the world today. I chose to present this act through a prezi because it's a very interesting medium and quite dynamic in my opinion. I really enjoy working with prezi, but I had some real issues trying to fill in the prezi in the first place. When I was researching my act I found that there was relatively little history to it. From being introduced to the House to being signed into law, it only took four months, and a large amount of that time was waiting for the act to be voted on by the Senate. If I had to do this project again, I would research more about the voting history regarding the bill, such as who voted for or against, and what they're reasoning was for their decision. That said, the entire process was not all that difficult. I can't say it's what I expected because I found so little. I expected it to be about as difficult as it was, but for different reasons. I anticipated spending a lot of time researching a specific branch of it, only to find more branches; but that was not the case. My research was a very 'open-closed' sort of thing.

SCOTUS Case - Missouri v. Frye (10/31/11)

Posted by Blase Biello in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 12:09 am

A link to the court case on the SCOTUSblog : http://bit.ly/ste9dt
Transcript : http://bit.ly/rJOMCF
6th Amendment : http://bit.ly/9L4u

Galin Frye's situation has brought up the question of (from SCOTUSblog):
"Can a criminal defendant who was convicted after a jury trial later argue that his lawyer was inadequate because he failed to tell him that prosecutors had offered a deal to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence? And, if so, what should courts do to correct the lawyer's error?"

Galin Frye was caught felony driving with a revoked license. He entered a plea of guilty and recieved a sentencing of 3 years in prison. However, his lawyer failed to tell him that the prosecutor offered a plea offer to a a misdemeanor charge instead, in which he'd only receive 90 days in prison. The lawyer exemplified "ineffective assistance of counsel". This situation brings up the issue of "fundamental fairness and reliability of criminal process". This issue states that a client's attorney provide him with ALL of the facts, especially a fact as detrimental as this one.

The only piece of the Constitution that is brought up throughout the case was the Sixth Amendement. Which reads:

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."

This was brought up because of the last line, "and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense". Frye and his team of lawyers are arguing that his counsel gave ineffective assistance. Frye and his team are looking for some kind of correction to the lawyer's error. The last moment of dialogue of the argument was, "For this and other reasons stated in our briefing, the Missouri versus Court of Appeals should be reversed."

Some of the Judges seemed to agree that the lawyer had made a huge error. But, they argued that even if Frye had taken the offer made by the prosecutors the judge would've shot it down anyways. Time will tell, if this case will get reversed. I do not believe it will, though.

(Uyen Nguyen) Story of a Bill-BM

Posted by Uyen Nguyen in American Government - Laufenberg on Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 9:12 pm

The story of Lacey Gallagher

Find out more about Lacey Gallagher through this PREZI about Lacey and The Lacey's Law.

Citations:

-"Lacey's Law Support Letter." Lacey Gallagher Memorial Scholarship Fund. Web. 02 Nov. 2011.<http://www.thelaceyfund.org/id16.html>.

- The Pennsylvania General Assembly. Web. 02 Nov. 2011.<http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2011>.

- "Governor Corbett." Web. 02 Nov. 2011.<http://www.governor.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/governor_corbett/19926>.

-"Governor Corbett Signs Bill to Strengthen Teen Driver Safety and Training." Web.<http://www.pacast.com/press_releases/9234_gov_teendrivers.pdf>.

- ""Lacey's Law" Tightens Teen Driver Rules | NBC Philadelphia." NBC Philadelphia - Local News, Weather, Traffic, Entertainment, Events, Breaking News Philadelphia News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and Entertainment. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/Laceys-Law-Tightens-Teen-Driver-Rules.html>.

The Lacey’s law is a bill that was passed after a death of a young driver in Pennsylvania. This is also not the first time that a young driver lost their life for being reckless and unsafe. This is one of my concerns since I am also in the same category as these teens, in my best interest this law struck out to be because it will give me a chance to acknowledge a law that will be useful for me now as well as in the future.

After finalizing my law as well as getting background researches and timeline, it’s was in my best interest to create a prezi in a modern style to present the information I’ve gathered. I decided to present the law in this perspective because not only that it’s professional and organized. It’s a fun way for other teenagers to view it in a modern style that will grab their attention.

However, during the process of creating the presentation, I’ve come across a lot on false information as well as non-useful websites. But I was able to find a lot of information that I needed. Also the creating process was fun and not as complicated as it seem. If I were to present this project again I would expand my presentation and add more information and challenges on my prezi because it was one of the fun and easy process in this project.

From all of the research and investigation, it shows that any small ideas or even an event can bring up to an idea for a bill. It’s not complicated or big to bring out an idea for a bill and any idea can become a bill. However, from a bill it’s harder to turn a bill into a law that it is for have an idea form as a bill. There are more and just signing a bill to make it a law. The process of having a bill to turn into a law was harder than being told. To make a law it might take a lifetime to accomplish it. However, it’s always useful and a good idea to have laws.

Lobbying for Stem Cell Research - Biello

Posted by Blase Biello in American Government - Laufenberg on Monday, October 31, 2011 at 3:06 pm

Stem Cells have been being researched and studied since 1908, when Russian histologist Alexander Maksimov proposed stem cells for scientific use. Up until this day, there is much controversy surrounding stem cell research and it is a heated ethical debate. Although, there are many types of stem cells, including (but not limited too) ; amniotic, adult, and fetal. But, most of the controversy surrounds embryonic stem cells. Research on these specific stem cells is controversial because of the creation, using, and destruction of human embryos.

Stem Cells

I'm lobbying for more funding and support towards embryonic stem cell research due to the medical breakthroughs that can come as a result of more research. I understand that there are some cons, but the pros definitely outweigh them. There is a plethora of diseases that stem cells can potentially fix including:

"Parkinson’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease

Heart Diseases, Stroke and Diabetes (Type 1)

Birth Defects

Spinal Cord Injuries

Replace or Repair Damaged Organs" (http://bit.ly/2Bgbu9)

Embryonic stem cell

Among many more solutions/cures. The biggest con to stem cell research however is that a human embryo must be destroyed to work with the most beneficial stem cell - the embryonic stem cell. However, this is being tackled in many different ways. There are some stem cell researches working around the controversy by discovering and creating techniques of isolating stem cells that are as beneficial as embryonic stem cells, but a human embryo doesn't have to be used or destroyed. Also, many parents can actually donate their unused embryos towards stem cell research after going through In vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Now that the controversy has been resolved, why not support stem cell research 100%? I was interested in stem cell research and lobbying FOR it because I thought it was interesting that something so beneficial to the future of medical science was being kept mostly in the dark because of controversy and heated ethical debate. In my head, I knew there had to be some way to get around the controversy, and there actually is. Making the public aware of the cons and how they've BEEN addressed already is important - to get rid of controversy, in order for stem cell research to get the ball really rolling.

One of the main supporters of stem cell research is actually Pennsylvanian Republican Arlene Specter. Along with Iowa Democrat, Tom Harkin. In 2009, these two offered a Senate bill that would allow federal funding for stem cell research using stem cells of human embryos "left over from fertility treatments". Pretty much, taking what was going to be wasted anyways, and using it for something good - for a potential medical breakthrough.

There are also major opponents of stem cell research. One of the largest members of opposition for stem cell research was President George W. Bush during his terms as president. In 2001, Bush restricted gov't funding to certain stem cell lines and threatened to veto at any expansion. Bush has stated that he thinks it is immoral to "experiment on or destroy human embryos".

Over the years however, things have changed for the better. President Obama has overturned Bush's stem cell policy and created his own, which is more in favor of funding for stem cell research. There is more federal funding provided to stem cell research now, with less restriction to the once banned - 60 cell lines. However, Obama has put in some guidelines to make sure that human cloning does not become a possibility.

Overall, the pros outweigh the cons. There have been many ways to tackle the cons in an efficient way and I believe the continuation of stem cell research should last for as long as possible under the future policies. I would not like to see the federal funding cut as it was just recently opened under President Obama. Stem cells have the power to potential change so much of medical science, saving and curing thousands and thousands of people. All, stem cell research needs is full support and a constant supply of federal funding to make these medical breakthroughs of the future something even closer than we imagined.

Obama turn over - http://bit.ly/heuDFZ

Opposition - http://bit.ly/nLEPPN

Debate - http://bit.ly/raTw91

Support for Stem Cell Research - http://reut.rs/mjFlwM

Stem Cell Controv. Wiki - http://bit.ly/oGUUiZ

More debate - TIME - http://ti.me/5khCZ9

IVF explanation - http://bit.ly/9J2rZc

pros/cons - http://bit.ly/2Bgbu9

Blog post #2: Curfew Representative

Posted by Amaris Romero in American Government - Laufenberg on Monday, October 31, 2011 at 3:02 pm

I am still against curfew, I'm represented by Maria D. Quinones-Sanchez from the 7th district. She represents the 7th district, she is known as the first Latina to serve in the Philadelphia city council. I am going to figure out her thoughts on my lobbying topic, curfew. She was born November 12 in Philadelphia, PA. She is married with 2 kids. She has been in office since 2008 till 2012. She had a high of, 80% of votes November 6 of 2007. She was guaranteed a 4 year term. There are many things that she is known for she is a member of multiple committees. Such as;
Education
Ethics
Appropriations
and many more
She is also chair committee of license and inspections. She is involved with so much especially when it comes o the public she is involved in such as
Housing and Homeless
Labor and Civil Service
Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs
Public Health and Human Services
She is involved with many things especially if ti involves the public.
In the past "Cyber Action" has completely disagreed with the curfew law that was set. This group in particular is basically setting a goal making sure everyone in the community is trying to get the council members to not agree with the law at stake about curfew. It seems as though council woman Maria D. Quinones-Sanchez was agreeing with the law that was being made about curfew. I believe that she is for the curfews and that she is not about to stand down in any way to make the curfew law, out. The city council states that the voting recently had been 15-1 meaning only one person voted against the curfew law. "It’s a bad bill,” Blackwell said. “It won’t work.”

It's ironic how she is Latina and I am also. Yet I feel we have nothing in common. I noticed she had done some pretty outstanding things in her time such as; focus on education throughout the city, focus on crime and public safety etc; her accomplishments are in a way similar to my community service. I help around the neighborhood and volunteer at the PSPCA. We both have a connection where we both interact with the community in a positive way.
A little more about Maria D. Quinones-Sanchez:
- She is from the 7th district
- The youngest in city council
- Known for her reduced crime rates
- Known for her increase in economic opportunity
- Known for outstanding achievements
- Made history November 2007 by having 80% of votes and being Latina

Fracking- Lobbying Assignment #2

Posted by Samantha Boyd in American Government - Laufenberg on Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 7:14 pm

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” (will explain everything about fracking under the EPA) is a technology used to extract natural gas that lies within a shale rock formation thousands of feet beneath the earth’s surface.

minding companies are really pushing fracking really hard because it put up more pay for them and also jobs. they are now trying to buy off homes. so for example they will pay a person who has land on a minding and they will pay them money so that they can drill on their land. Landowners in shale gas drilling areas have reported foul smells in tap water, and toxic chemicals, such as benzene, have been detected in water from wells near drilling sites. In some cases, tap water can even be set aflame because it is contaminated with volatile chemicals because of shale gas drilling. the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, shale gas drillers don’t have to disclose what chemicals they use. 65 chemicals that are probable components of the fracking fluids used by shale gas drillers. These chemicals included benzene, glycol-ethers, toluene, 2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethanol, and nonylphenols. All of these chemicals have been linked to health disorders when human exposure is too high.

Water contamination from shale gas drilling could be threatening the health of thousands of people. so they way com pines feel about it all is if you feel as though your water or your air is being polluted then you should call who ever is in charge. this way it can be taken care of as soon as possible. the state feel as though its very important that it gets taken care of asap.

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