Kevin's Law - Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act


Bench is here. Dropbox was not working I will try it again later.

Sources:

Hoffman, Karen. "Grandson's death turns Grove City woman into fighter for safe meat laws ." (2003): 1. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. <http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20030604badmeat0604p2.asp>.

. "Speakers." Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov 2011. <http://www.foodborneillness.org/speakers.html>.

"Eshoo Introduces 'Kevin's Law' Print E-mail." (2003): n. page. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. <http://eshoo.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104>.

. "Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act of 2003." Food Safety Legislation. N.p., 2003. Web. 2 Nov 2011. <http://www.cspinet.org/foodsafety/meat_poultry_sections.html>.

. "H.R. 3160: Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act." govtrack.us. N.p., 2005. Web. 2 Nov 2011. <http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-3160>.


 I was unsure as to which Bill i should choose or that I was interested in so I choose a bill that I had learned about in a previous class. I choose to present it in a movie format because originally i wanted to make a video but I ended up making a Keynote for it and exporting it in the form of a movie. I felt that i would be able to get more information in my presentation this way. One of the only parts of this presentation that was somewhat difficult was finding more information to go with what I already knew. This is an older bill that doesn't seem to be coming back anytime soon. As a result the information concerning it was a little harder to find. If I had to do this over I would most likely have made a straight video most likely acting it out, it wold have been awesome. I researched major events in the years before or during the year of the creation of the bill. The process for actually finding the information overall was a bit harder than I thought it would be because i had to go to so many different places to know or understand what was happening 


No Child Left Behind Act

ENJOY!
Reflection

I chose the "No Child Left Behind Act" because it was one of the few acts that was actually familiar to me. I was reading through the lists and nothing was standing out to me until I saw this. I quickly read about it and realized this is what I want to write about. It is an extraordinary bill that involves everyone. Not everyone learns the same, or at the same speed. No child should be penalized for something they cannot control. They should be encouraged and pushed so that each individual in our Nation has the potential to be an important piece to the puzzle. Speaking of puzzle, I was not sure how to present my information. I wanted a way in which it will be easy to understand what I am explaining. I first decided on gathering together puzzle pieces and showing the entire process, but I wanted something more interesting, something that I will be able to show more than a timeline. A PREZI it was, which I might add is extremely informative, colorful and grabs the viewers attention. I have worked with prezis in the past so I was already familiar with the format, which made the project a little bit easier. However, some aspects were not as easy. It was challenging coming up with the correct information. I was not finding false information, but I could not find enough information. I was looking for timelines and could not find any. The timeline format that I have in my presentation, I put together. I spent a lot of time reading and making sure I was understanding the whole process. The law was not thought of out of thin air. It began almost 50 years prior to when President Bush signed it. Besides that, I did not encounter many problems within my project. Since I did not have to overcome that may problems, I would not change my process, nor my final product. I am very pleased with the outcome. If I had to change it, I would probably make a video. It is a little more interactive and consist of more than just a bunch of information being thrown at you. Since this law was just a reauthorized version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, it did not tell much about about the process from becoming a bill to a law. I just found out about how President Bush wanted to express his opinions on the education system. These are the children of the future. They have to be educated and be pushed to overcome any obstacle thrown their way and being able to showcase all of that through my project was not as hard as I thought it would be. I had to take in a lot of information and back track nearly 50 years to the core of the whole idea. I am glad I did, and I learned about the past, present and future of the children in our society.

Sources

http://cerdahdz.webs.com/legislationtimeline.htm
http://www.msdwc.k12.in.us/msd/NCLB/Key%20Provisions.htm
http://prezi.com/vvr1emxbrh8r/edit/#0_27345167
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2009/01/20090108-2.html
https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_h84J__bJ6YJ:minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/28772/McGuireSpring08.doc?sequence%3D1+how+did+the+no+child+left+behind+act+become+a+bill&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj8GYOX9_Ro0ukLyoyd2wECMqnhv3FqUdF0bsFrcHh71N3a6kEUAIeD9Y99cz5Q0TJJFVarwrhsNtd6uyS1sMEgrQ09I-xFwEtcA1P2H4jpk_VJm7SjBvZWBdmJKsGn3AYJqCNR&sig=AHIEtbRHed0h4KU-VoD_4j5CyDqYeJitFQ
http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html
http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/special/ESEA_main.htm
www.rinolist.org
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/index.html
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/
http://www.fldoe.org/NCLB/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/nochild/nclb.html

SStewart-McDonaldE1Quarter 1

1. Full Figure
2. Clear Object

During this quarter, I took a new approach to my work. Usually I work in mainly monotones, like blacks and whites and the in betweens, but instead I decided to add a bit of color, at least I did to the full figure drawing. I feel like I have a better understanding of how to draw the human body, but it's definitely something I have to work on. With my clear objects (I drew two, the sphere one is drawn with charcoal, the glass was drawn with pencil), I believe there is some things I have to work on, particularly the lighting in the glass, I think I have captured the shadows pretty well. I spent the same amount of time on both, so all in all, I believe I work better in pencil than in charcoal; I feel like I have more control over pencil markings.

For the next quarter, I plan to make my hand drawings as realistic as possible and I want to try different hand positions, instead of a classic relaxed position. I also want to try to add color to the still life; last year most if not all my drawings were only in black and white, so I want to experiment more with color.
FullFigure
FullFigure
IMG_20111025_091835
IMG_20111025_091835
IMG_20111104_134812
IMG_20111104_134812

Safe Water Drinking Act

Q1 Benchmark

 (Never mind this) Too Large for SLATE Sent to your email.

Link to Project : Copy and paste links

http://youtu.be/6woB0miol48
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6woB0miol48&feature=youtu.be

Jones, Alex. "Alex Jones Presents Infowars.com to Fight the New World Order -- The Secret Patriot Act II Destroys What Is Left of American Liberty." Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a War on for Your Mind! Web. 02 Nov. 2011. <http://www.infowars.com/print/patriot_act/alexs_analysis.htm>.

"THE PATRIOT ACT II: TERRORIZING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE - Gun Owners Of America." Gun Owners of America - Gun Owners Of America. Web. 05 Nov. 2011. <http://gunowners.org/patriotii.htm>.

"Draft: Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003." Index. Web. 05 Nov. 2011. <http://www.constitution.org/abus/terror/dsea2003.htm>.


Reflection
Explain your decision making for choosing the bill.
I decided to choose this bill because I realized it was created after the Patriot Act and it was taking away our rights that were given to us in the constitution. It really created a lot of interest and made me want to look into it more.
Why did you choose the particular presentation format?
To make a movie and something visual with actual clips of the situation makes people want to pay more attention. History isn't the most liked topic, mainly because people find it boring, therefore I thought something visual would make it stand and pop out to its viewers.
What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?
The main problem was finding a lot of information about this bill because it was hidden from Congress and was not passed.
How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again?
Probably make a better storyline or choose a different bill.
What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation process... from idea to bill to law?
The creation process doesn't seem as complicated as it really is. It starts off as a problem, then a group of people coming up with a plan to fix that problem, then if everyone agrees on it (Congress) it'll become a law.
Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular bill/law research?
It was harder then I expected. It was hard to find a bill/law that wasn't as confusing and had a lot of info to use in a story line.

Child Labor and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

View my benchmark here.

Sources:
"A New View of Society" by Robert Owen
http://www.skeptically.org/literaryworksofjk/id1.html
"The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era" by Micheline Ishay
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html
http://www.archive.org/details/ReportOfTheAnnualSessionsOfTheFederationOfOrganizedTradesAndLabor
National Child Labor Committee Collection
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=59
http://www.nationalchildlabor.org/history.html
http://www.lawnix.com/cases/hammer-dagenhart.html
"Federal income tax, war-profits and excess-profits taxes" by George Edwin Holmeshttp://www.oyez.org/cases/1901-1939/1921/1921_657
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAchild.htm
http://www.shrm.org/LegalIssues/FederalResources/FederalStatutesRegulationsandGuidanc/Pages/Walsh-HealyActof1936.aspx
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_laws.html


I chose to do a project on child labor laws, because as a 16-year-old, few laws have a bigger impact on me personally.  I think it's incredibly important to keep kids from neglecting schoolwork and personal growth in order to pursue money, especially now that popular movies and TV shows like Gossip Girl make it seem like it's normal for teenagers to live their lives completely independent of any adults.
I chose to present my project as a timeline because child labor laws didn't simply "happen" as a single event.  There were many events over numerous decades that led up to the anti-child labor legislation that we have today.  It would have been difficult to convey these in any other format without getting too complicated.
The biggest challenge in this project was actually just finding a way to make a timeline.  I went through seven online timeline-making sites, not counting Prezi, before I found Dipity.com.  It allows for some minimal formatting, it doesn't have absurdly low character limits, it allows for but doesn't require a start AND end date, it doesn't demand that I know the exact second of every event (looking at you, tiki-toki.com), it says I can use images and actually DOES let me use images, and it doesn't limit me to NINE events.  Unfortunately, Dipity is often slow and buggy.  At the moment, the whole site is down.
If I could do the whole project again, I would add more information about what happened after the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, such as data on literacy levels and income.  I might even include information about people who currently oppose child labor laws.  Utah Senator Mike Lee, for example, calls child labor laws "unconstitutional."
I was actually surprised at how easy it was to find helpful information on child labor laws.  Often, when I research a topic, every source tells me the same thing.  However, the history of child labor laws is so complicated that I found new details everywhere.  It also helped that the National Child Labor Committee commissioned thousands of photos of child labor, since it provided me with fantastic primary sources.

Health Reform Bill (D.Jackson)

​Click Here For Prezi.

Here are some other videos:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CareandIn


http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HouseSession3837


http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HealthCareReformL

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HouseSession3897

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HealthCareDebate14

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/RuleforHe


Reflection
I chose this bill because it was said that we should do a more recent bill because it would be easier to research and it present. This bill was also one that I had followed when it was introduced so I was already familiar with it. When I was going through the proces of doing this benchmark I didn't know how to present it because the choses were so broad. I don't like broad assignments so I asked my teacher for a suggestion and she gave me one. But the suggestion she gave didn't allow me to use the videos I wanted so I had to settle for a prezi and that is how I chose my presentation style. 
Some challenges I faced were that the videos I wanted couldn't go onto my laptop at one point and then they wouldn't go onto my vulvox presentation that I had planned on doing so I had to change to a prezi so that my videos could go on the presentation. If I could do this project over I would make sure my presentation and videos were working together before I actually started to assemble my final project. Also I would probably get more information, well use more words in the final so that I told that story more. The researched showed me basically what I already knew. I already knew that this bill was hard to pass because the Republicans and so many other people were against it. It just showed me exactly how many people and they much hate they had for Obama and the people for the bill and the actual bill, also it showed how much time was taken to evaluate if this bill should actually be passed. This project wasn't that hard but the presentation is always hard for me because I am not as creative as I want to be. I have ideas but when I try to put them down on paper or to use they aren't as creative as they are in my mind, or I can't get the hole idea out. So that was the hardest part. The researched went really well because their were many articles on this bill and also their were many videos and people talking about it.

Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002. {Semaj Smith.}

   I wanted to chose a bill that I could really get into and that would hold my attention for more than 5 minutes and the only thing that I could think of was children. So I researched bills that dealt with children and the bill that stood out the most was the "Born- Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002" Once I started reading into what the bill was and what it stood for I was hooked. 
    I chose to do a Prezi because I personally think everyone chooses to a Keynote or an iMovie which eventually gets boring once a teacher has seen 32 of those types of presentations. A prezi to me is more fun because you can literally chose any path and format that you want and it looks creative. Although Prezi is very hard to figure out once the product is finished it looks really amazing.
    While completing this project some of my challenges were trying to find the actual timeline for my bill. I found many important dates but I couldn't find an actual list of all of the events that took place to make this bill a law. 
    I think if I were to do this project over I would chose a different form of presentation just because I found out there were so many other ways I could have presented this that would have been more unique than a Prezi. Also, I would try to find some video on my bill so that my presentation was a little more interactive. 
    From all of my research I understand and realize that there was no time wasted when it came to this bill, the bill was passed within a day with no changes or arguments about it so I know that it was taken very serious. 
      The process was easier than I though it would be because I though I woud need to dig deep into history to find out simple things on my bil but every time I researched my topic there were new things I learned about that I was able to incorporate into my timelines. 

Voting Rights Act of 1965

For my final benchmark, I created a comic to tell the story of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and how it came into law.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
​    * Explain your decision making for choosing the bill.
    In order to complete this project to my best ability, I feel like I needed to chose
    a topic that really caught my interest. When it comes to equal rights and how those
    rights are not often given, it excites me to learn the story behind that. For my bill
    to be about voting rights really caught my interest also because there was a point
    in time where everyone couldn't vote and now that everyone can vote, not many people
    take advantage of that.
    
    * Why did you choose the particular presentation format?
    I wanted to catch the interest of my intended audience which would be the youth.
    As a youth, I can vouch and say when a lot of information is written in a word documented format, we tend to ignore that. But to make a comic book, I know I could really grab the youth's attention.
    
    * What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?
    One challenge I came across was trying to find space fillers for this project.
    There was a nice amount of information for the passing of this law but the
    information was really brief. Because the information was so brief, I had find things
    to go in between to expand the process and I came across a lot of events that
    influenced the passing of this law so I soon overcame this challenge.
    
    * How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again?
    If I had to do the project over, I would probably get feedback on my product and
    peer & teacher reviews. I would like to see what I can change and fix to make sure
    my final product would be close to perfect.
    
    * What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation
       process... from idea to bill to law?
The research told me that the process wasn't easy. The Southern Legislators were pretty defiant about what rights African Americans were entitled to and they felt like
they were above the law for some reason.
    
    * Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular
    bill/law research?
    Because this was a topic I was really interested in, I found the process to be easy.
    The only thing hard about it was actually finding which bill I wanted to work with.
   

The Civil Rights Bill of 1964 (Lola Akinsola)

       I chose the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 because I wanted to get deeper into the process of how they signed the bill into a law. I'm surprised they even made the bill. You would think that since the country was run by a bunch of prejudice men, minorities would never have civil rights and there would be nothing that they could do about it because they don't run anything. Minorities were completely powerless in the government yet they still got what they wanted.
      I chose to create a powerpoint presentation as a last resort. I initially wanted to create a video using iMovie but it seems as though my computer has some new version that it much more confusing than the original. I didn't start my project early enough to ask for help or play around with it until I knew how to work it. I feel that podcasts are just as boring as powerpoint presentations but take much more work just to get the same reaction; boredom. I don't do well with Prezi either. It just gets messy when I use it and it drives me crazy. I felt like my only option was a powerpoint so that's what I decided to do.
      The only challenge I had other than figuring out a way to present my information was finding the information. In Google I would type in "Civil Rights Bill of 1964" and get information about civil rights movements and the march on Washington that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led. It was good information to use in my project, but it only filled up a tiny part of my project. What I really needed to find was the process from a bill to a law. Then after getting help I found that I needed to type in "Civil Rights Bill of 1964 congressional debate" to get everything I needed to complete the project.
      If I had to do the project over again, I would definitely create a video. I had a lot of ideas in my mind about how to make the video that would make it interesting. To do this I would have to start the project early. iMovie is tricky so having a lot of time would be necessary to complete the video properly. I would also do more research for my topic. I felt like there were some things that were missing from my project. It seemed too straight forward for there not to be anything else to it. However, like I said, I started the project late so I could only research for so long.
      What the research and investigation told me about the creation process from idea to bill to law was that the only reasons they passed the bill as a law was just to shut the minorities up and get their votes. The nicer they were to the minorities, the greater chance they had of being reelected. That's really all it was about. I think if President Johnson did not sign that bill into a law he would have been a half-term president. One of the people who "supported" the bill was only worried about votes. Plus it seemed as though minorities were becoming more rebellious leading marches, protesting, and boycotting. It would scare me if I was a white person walking down the street looking at angry black people. I would feel like I'm in danger. Passing the bill as a law would calm them down.
      The process of passing the bill was actually just as I expected it to be. Of course there were going to be congressmen who totally disagreed and there were going to be some that were a little bit more understanding and would vote for the bill. I expected people to try and talk the bill down to death in a filibuster. I'm not surprised at all at how the process went.


Ali Ahmed Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act

I chose this bill because it was very relevant in today's political and social system. It is arguably the highlight of Obama's presidents how well it does will shape how these four years will be viewed in history books. I decided to use a keynote because it was relatively easily accessible and made text easier to view. It was hard finding information on the beginnings of the act. Most information was centered around the after math. I would have liked to know more about how this law turns out. If I came back to this topic in a couple of years I would have a lot more information. The creation of a bill is very sneaky. The politicians try to pass bills with as little publicity as possible. I thought the information would be much more easily assessable and easier to understand yet it was pretty vague and oddly worded. It would be nice if people who are experts in the topic could make more plain english translation so the general public could be more involved.

Q1 Benchmark: Sexting Legislation

The additions to this law create a whole new way of life for most teens in  America. While they may not think sexting influences their future children as young as 16 years of age are being charged with child pornography crimes and are being registered as sexual offenders. Because sexting is so prevalent in teen culture these laws can only get firmer before they lighten up.

​Additional Links:
Background Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Walsh_Child_Protection_and_Safety_Act
Videos
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4723169n
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6011247n&tag=mncol;lst;1

Reflection

  • Explain your decision making for choosing the bill.
I choose this bill because I realized many of teens "sext" but don't think that their are consequences that can directly effect them. I think in this day and age everything has s much to do with technology it's almost the norm. Sex is everywhere and it's also children's laptops and cellphones, ipads and ipods. I choose this bill because i wanted to raise awareness. 

  • Why did you choose the particular presentation format?
I used the a prezi because in many of the cases where children and young adults are getting arrested for this crime, their story is getting told bit by bit on national television. I think the flow of a prezi has the same feel that an action news segment would or any other top news story. 

  • What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?
The biggest challenge was getting real and factual information about this topic. When I choose the Adam Walsh Act and how it related sexting I expected there to be tons of information ready to be shared, but I was wrong. It is very black and white and in many cases places are trying to revise the law or find a way to adopt something like it, but not actually enforce it. 
 
  • How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again?
If I had to do this project over again I think I would make a video presentation instead of a prezi, I think the message would have been better portrayed if I submitted a video. 

  • What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation process... from idea to bill to law?
This benchmark taught me that when people really want to pass a bill they will do everything in their power to get it done. My bill was a mixture of two bills and was passed rather fast compared to other bills. I also learned that if bills aren't worded right down to a small detail it can impact so many lives in situations people would never think they would be arrested for. 

  • Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular bill/law research?
The process was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. After my research I had a clear understanding and the ideas of how to present just came to me.

El Muchos Lados de Mi por Chelsea Starks

​      The purpose of this project for Spanish 4 Quarter 1 was to help enhance as well as learn new ways of expressing yourself. For our Quarter one benchmark we wrote a 2 part essay explaining things that were on the surface of us and went more in depth with the second part talking about the things people don't see. The significance of masks for me is that it allows me to protect my identity as well as from other people. For other cultures masks could be a way of escape and a creative way to share oneself with the world that maybe they would not normally.


No sé totalmente quien yo soy. Soy todavía aprendiendo mi identidad. Pero yo sé que yo intento disimular yo misma porque no quiero la gente ver mi como este. No quiero ser vulnerable porque eso es cómo las personas son hieren. No soy una persona antipática, soy una persona que no tomo nada de alguien. Y yo estaré de pie para qué yo creo y no desistiré nada. Yo soy una persona muy compleja y un poquito numeros de personas me entiende. Yo tengo muchos problemas de confianza y tomo mucho tiempo para mi confío alguien.

Obviamente soy  una persona lleno de energía y optimista. A veces me pongo deprimido. Prefiero pensar sobre el bien cosas en mi vida como mi familia y mis amigos. Pensando sobre las cosas me hago siento mejor. Mi mejor amiga  le gusta mi energía y optimista costado porque es yo hago la siente como nada es demasiado. Sin embargo, ella odía cúando yo soy deprimido y ella me recuerdo que no estoy solo. Por lo general, estoy muy tranquilo y yo disfruto haciendo otras personas feliz. Por otro lado, puedo soy misterioso. No me gusta hablo mucho sobre mi porque es prefiero escuchar sobre otras personas que mi. Se dice que yo soy huraño. La mayoría de la gente no sabe nada sobre mi porque es yo no hablo sobre lo mismo nada. Mis amigos dicen que yo es desafío de verticalmente. No tengo un problema estando baja pero es un mucho problema cuándo yo necesito consigo de arriba de mi amarillo. Tengo que estoy de pie en mi amarillo mirar a arriba.


Lo que es menos obvio yo soy una persona insegura. Soy mucho insegura y yo siempre habío. Veces de mi inseguridades son mi peso especialmente, mi manera aspeto, y mi manera yo hablo. A veces yo creo que yo no suficiente bien y tengo miedo que la gente pensarán el mismo. Mis mejores amigos son siempre allí para mi. Desde que eramos del primer año hemos sido uña y carne. Yo la quiero.  Otra cosas que menos obvio son mis problemas de confianza. Había heria muchos tiempos y hube mi corazón roto también. Las personas estoy cerca de mi hube herí mi en una manera no imaginable y yo promesa yo mismo que nadie se esta cierca de mi. Desde yo había muy tranquilo y guardo yo mismo. Tengo muchos temores y la mayoría, yo intento disimular. Tengo muchos problemas de confianza y yo no quiero ser dolor. Pues, yo disimulo mis sentimientos. Yo sé no es saludable pero es cómo yo trato con el. Yo podria parece  soy mas fuerte pero es todo lo contrario. Yo es mucho corbarde. Mis amigos saben que yo dejaré ellos si yo tengo miedo  nosotros somos en peligro. Ellos saben también que yo soy muy paranoica y aseguraré alguien es aqui contrar  el cuento. ^_^ Ellos saben si nosotros somos perseguimas por zombies, yo tropezaré unos de ellos si yo necesito. Hace fresco porque son ellos todavía las quieren mi. En el fin, yo espero que más personas saben sobre mi y qué hace mi quién yo soy. Gracias para leyendo mi ensayo. Hasta la próximo :)


mask desk
mask desk

Elisa Hyder AmGov Benchmark: Federal Election Campaign Act

​I couldn't upload my video, so I put it on google docs. Here's the link


Reflection:

I chose the Federal Election Campaign Act for my bill because I had already done some research for it with my lobbying topic assignment. From that research, I knew that the bill was changed multiple times because of a variety of outside influences, so I figured there would be plenty of information to get for my project. As you can probably tell by my 11-minute video, there was indeed plenty of information to cover. I thought that a video would be the best format because I just didn't see a prezi or presentation providing a proper explanation. With topics like this, the best way for me to get the facts out, is if I verbally discuss it. Of course, visual aids would be necessary too. So, a video it was. 

When I started my project, I didn't realize just how much was done to the bill over the decades, and its history started a lot earlier than I thought as well. I had to do a lot of research to figure out all the big and all the really small changes and amendments of the bill. This took more time than I thought it would, and it was little hard to understand some of the court decisions as well. Figuring out the "why" was really the hardest part. But, I was able to figure it out the best I could and managed to put it all into words for my video. If I could do my project differently though, I would make the most changes to my video itself. It's a little dry. Because of problems with my audio, I had to keep re-recording it, and I didn't have time to really put in music or anything like that. Plus, I wanted the slides to be a little bit more animated. I didn't have time for that kind of stuff. Also, it is a longer video than I intended. I probably could have summed up my court cases and my reflection at the end a little better and more concise. Well, at least my viewers will get the information. 

I understood the basics to how a bill became a law, but (especially in my particularly bill) I didn't realize just how much the Supreme Court can play a part in appealing and causing amendments to the laws. I knew about the public opinion aspect and how the political air of the time had a major impact on the laws of the time, and this was definitely true in my law. So, I kind of figured that with this particular law it probably wasn't easy because there would be plenty of people who want to twist their money around in politics. I didn't think they would so much legal standing to just make things difficult for Congress though. 

Sources: 

http://www.academicamerican.com/progressive/topics/progressive.html

http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/ID.124/blog_detail.asp

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/11/news/companies/supreme_court_citizens_united.fortune/

http://www.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/federal-election-campaign-act

http://www.govexec.com/basics/hatchact.htm

http://thisnation.com/question/004.html  

http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/millionaire.shtml

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2008/2008_08_205

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2006/2006_06_969

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2003/2003_02_1674

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2007/2007_07_320

http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation_CCA_M.shtml

http://www.fec.gov/info/appfour.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/

http://electionlawblog.org/archives/000520.html

The Dream Act

​REFLECTION

Explain your decision making for choosing the bill.


I know that there has been numerous discussions as to whether immigrants should recieve the same rights and education as actual citizens and after hearing Herman Cain say that he would put a gate around the border I felt the need to dig deeper into this subject

Why did you choose the particular presentation format?


I chose to do this in a format of a video because I could non-verbally communicate my ideas just as effectively as if I actually spoke in front of a class

What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?

I overcame several challenges of finding the correct research because the Dream Act has been debated in other states for many years so I had to find information about my own state and then use that information for my project.

How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again?

If I had to do the project differently I would do a bill that was passed at least 20 years ago.

What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation process... from idea to bill to law?

It told me that we need to think for whats best for humanity rather than what is best for certain nationalities. An education should not be pre-determined by the place of birth.

Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular bill/law research?

It was actually harder because I thought that since it was debated in several other states that I could easily find information. But I soon found that the states that already passed the Dream Act hadn't debated it as extensively as Pennsylvania has/had