Minneci vs. Pollard

According to http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/minneci-v-pollard/ this case is about whether the inmates of a federal crime can sue the employees of a private prison company if they violate the Constitution. This case asks: if an employee of a private prison system violated anything that is stated in the Constitution, which harmed or violated the prisoner, would the inmate be able to sue the employee? 

According to http://www.americancriminallawreview.com/Drupal/blogs/blog-entry/lafler-v-cooper-attorney-mistakes-plea-bargaining-and-remedies-09-25-2011 basically what happened was a prisoner (Richard Pollard, serving 20 years for drug trafficking and gun crimes) at a federal prison in California was working in the prison's butcher shop and he tripped and fell over a cart landing on his elbows, which both broke. He claimed, in his lawsuit, that prison guards made him do painful, physical work after they refused to provide him with splints after a doctor had even suggested he has them. The prison guards put him back to work before his injuries were better. His lawsuit was a Bivens claim for damages. His lawsuit claimed to have violated his 8th Amendment Rights. His lawsuit is to be decided within the next year.

For communication, I chose to write a letter. Why? Because I honestly was scared to call. I had three ways I wanted to communicate: phone call, visit, or letter. I figured with a letter, I can just put everything down on one paper and I won't feel so scared anymore. This is my letter that I sent out:

Dear Ms. Brown,

            My name is Briana Stroman. I am a Senior that attends Science Leadership Academy high school on 22^nd & Arch. I am writing you for my history project.

            In my American Government class, each student had to choose a topic to lobby about. We write blog post on our school website about the topic research, how we feel about it, and actively taking an approach to it. The topic I chose to write about is curfew. I read in a document about curfew that you’re one of the council members that are in charge of it (if I’m correct). Why am I lobbying about curfew? It’s probably a question you are wondering as you read this letter.

            It’s not that I disagree with minor curfew. I understand the reason why it was set in the first place. I also agree that teens need to understand the danger they put citizens into by causing “Flashmobs”. The problem I do have is that how are officers going to tell who’s a flashmobber and who isn’t?

            For example, I wouldn’t want to be accused of being a flashmobber type person, when really I’m just a teenager rushing to get home from work. In my situation, my mother doesn’t have a car right now so I would have to take Septa basically anywhere I have to go. Or if I’m doing a digital video project somewhere and it ends at a late time.

            What I’m wondering is, do they want a note? Would they like some type of proof? I just think that the city government were fast about setting the curfew law, without having thought of the outcomes of teens having fines because of accusation of being a flashmobber, the reactions of parents becoming super angry because they have to pay for something they know isn’t true. I’m only taking it in from how my mother would react because she knows I do positive activities.

            So, I was wondering if I can meet with you one day to discuss more of this, or if you have the time, you can write back. I would love to have a response from you. Thank you for taking the time out to at least read this letter.

Sincerely,

Briana Stroman

I won't sit and say that I knew what I was going to write, because I had to think. Because I usually write things down, it doesn't always come out in order. So I had to write how I wanted it to come out (in order), so it could be clear to Ms. Brown. I tried to set a certain tone for this letter also. I wanted to show that I'm a nice high school student, and at the same time I wanted to show how serious I am to figure out this information. 

I tried to provide examples on situations that could happen to me, or any other teenager. I already sent it out but I realized that I should have added more to this letter. While I was in poetry club we were talking about different topics, so I brought up what I was lobbying about. And one of my club mates asked me, "why are the police trying to be the teenager's parents?" It was such an interesting question. I felt that I could've added an extra paragraph on that topic, also go more in depth about why parents get angry when someone tells them they're not doing their job right.

I did not get a response yet, but I look forward to one very soon. If not, I can always contact someone else. I also want to ask the extra thoughts I was thinking about. I thank my clubvmates, because without them I wouldn't have thought to want to ask more questions about my topic.

       I have decided that I would write a letter for the communication choice. In the letter I explained who I was and why I was writing to them and for what purpose. I have decided to write to mayor Michael Nutter who vetoed the bill in June 2011. In the letter I expressed to him how I am a supporter of the sick leave bill and that people who have to take care of a sick family member for a few days or take a day off for maybe people who has lost someone recently, these people should be payed.    I explained that I think in the work place of businesses people forget that outside of work the people who work for them have lives outside of the office, they have children and husbands and families that they need to attend to sometimes and I think that people lose the humane part of themselves while working and worrying about money.

        The first step in writing the letter was to figure out who i could write to that could make a difference, when I did research one people who could make a difference that I could get into easy contact with and the first person I thought of when I decided was Mayor Nutter he is the Mayor of Philadelphia and he has also vetoed a bill for it so that made it even more easy I knew that in writing to him about the issue that he would care because he was already involved with the situation. The next step in making contact with the the mayor. 

        The second step is sending out the letter and hoping that it gets to the right person at the right time. The whole point in trying to make contact with someone directly in the system is to get some sort of result on the issue that you found interesting or hopefully someone can contact me back letting me know specifics on what is to come with the sick leave bill in the future so that I can be more updated on my topic.
 
        What I hope will come from m contacting the mayor is for him to know that there are people that are outside of legislation who do pay attention to what is happening in our congress and our government and there are people who know the importance of the future things that are going to take place today for tomorrow. I hope that when he gets this letter he responses with positive feedback and is more then impressed with the project that we have been working on for the past months.

​

Outline

 

I.               Intro

 

a.     Sexual Orientation

                                               i.     What is Sexual Orientation

Source: http://allpsych.com/journal/homosexuality.html

                                              ii.      What is a Homosexual 

Source:http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/08/14/what_makes_people_gay/.

                                            iii.     What is a heterosexual

source:http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/sexualorientation.html

 

b.    Thesis

The environment that one grows up in has an affect on one’s    sexual orientation.

 

Tie in: Sexual orientation is how one identifies themselves sexually. Homosexuality also known as gay is a sexual orientation in which one has a sexual and/or romantic attraction/behavior to members of the same sex or gender. Heterosexuality also known as straight is a sexual orientation in which one has a romantic and/or sexual attraction/behavior to members of the opposite sex or gender. This ties into my topic by giving information of what my thesis is about.

 

II.             Sexuality

 

a.     Puberty                                                                                                              source: http://www.healthyminds.org/Document-Library/Brochure-Library/Lets-Talk-Facts-Sexual-Orientation.aspx

b.    Gay or Strait Source:http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/tip_sheets/orientation/

c.     Signs at a youngage 

  source:http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/08/14/what_makes_people_gay/  

 

d.    Coming out

 

Tie in: Puberty is the process in which a child's body begins to mature. In this process the body goes through physical changes which allows the body to go through sexual reproduction. After puberty from the acts of the child and others around them should be able to tell their sexual orientation. This ties into my topic by giving information on the identification of sexual orientation at a you age when it is usually determined. 

 

III.           Nurture vs. Illness

a.     Choice

b.    Source:http://news.change.org/stories/nature-vs-nurture-debates-over-sexuality

 

c.     Environment

                                              i.     Family                                                                                                   source: http://news.change.org/stories/nature-vs-nurture-debates-over-sexuality

                                            ii.     The Physical Abuse 

                                          iii.     Sexual Abuse

                                           iv.     Neglect

 

d.    Mental Disorder

Source: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/sexualorientation.html

 

e.     Genetics

                           Source: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/sexualorientation.html

Tie In: This section in about the causes of sexual orientation. It goes                                       through information of child abuse and neglect and its effect on the                                         child's growth. It also goes through statistics tying family's sexual                                           orientation to the outcome of a child's sexual orientation.  

  

IV.           Conclusion

 

 

 

 

​

I’ve decided to come into contact with Ms. Maria Quiñones-Sáncez for this particular assignment. She is my district council member and felt that since she is connected to me in that since I should be comfortable enough to go to her. As well as being my council member for the 7^th district, (The district I reside in) she is the Vice-Chair of the Committee on Streets & Services, which goes hand in hand with my lobbying topic.

My plan for communication, initially was to send a letter to her office, but then I realized that a faster way of tackling my issues and concerns with sending my letter through a personal e-mail. I’ve pieced together the information and data that I have came across my past blog posts and made more sense out of it. I wanted to let Ms. Quiñones-Sánchez that I am up on my research as to what is going on and ask her for her help hands on. I noticed that for one, where the city council meetings are posted there isn’t an updated calendar for the year of 2012. Which concerns me, I want to know when I am able to stop by and one on one meet her and have the pleasure to talk things out to help the Philadelphia community.

Within the letter, I wrote about how the city of Philadelphia, according to resources is the second dirtiest city and the third most unattractive city. Which is not at all good. I figured that we should come to an agreement on that. So what I am proposing to Ms. Maria Quiñones-Sánchez is that we come up with some legislature to prevent this statistic to happen again.

I’m honestly not sure how the reply from her is going to be but I am sure that it will be good. I believe that what is said in the letter is fairly reasonable and manageable to do. Even if helping our community requires us to go out of our own pockets I feel like it should get done. Simply because. Finding the courage to even get my thoughts and opinions out to an authority figure/representative was a bit intimidating but I figure that not saying how I feel won’t help the situation that we are currently in with the trash accumulation in Philadelphia.

 

(Letter that was actually Sent to Council Member of the 7^th District, Ms. Maria Quiñones-Sánchez)

Dear Councilwoman Maria D. Quiñones-Sánchez.

 

            My name is Johniera McClain, and I attend Science Leadership Academy. I am writing you today because I am aware of you being the Vice-Chair of the Committee of Streets & Services, and also you are my Council member for my district. I feel like I am more personally attached to you because of that. However, I am very concerned about the trash that is produced in Philadelphia and I honestly need your help. Would you be willing? Within the next few business days I will be coming into contact with you also about the scheduling of the city council meetings, where you may attend so that we could be in the pleasure of meeting one another. Actually, can you post that to http://legislation.phila.gov/calendar/Search.aspx being updated for the year 2012? You see I am an active lobbyist, although I am active it will be of great help that you join me. I know that you care about what is going on in the city of Philadelphia but there is always room for more improvement. As you may or may not know, according to sources, Philadelphia is the second dirtiest city in America, and as well as the third least attractive city in America. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/08/most-attractive-people_n_780402.html#s177269&title=Least_Attractive_People

And http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/14/the-ten-dirtiest-cities-in-america-new-orleans-tops-the-list/ )

I am on a great strive to change that. There are too many people who reside in Philadelphia for us to live and continue on like this. Making a different approach on clean up days and actually getting more parts of the city to be active on changing their bad habits will indeed be hard, yes I know. However, excluding the fact that I am young and only of the age of eighteen I still want to be the one who helps out and turn this situation around. I suggest that we get legislature passed that will enhance growth in this weakened area. I do know about the programs that go on such as “Philly Spring Clean Up” and etc, but there should in my opinion be more forced and authorized versions of this.

For example, in the city of Minneapolis there are monthly fees for solid waste and recycling for the people who reside there. (http://www.minneapolismn.gov/solid-waste/index.htm) That actually sounds like a great idea. If Philadelphians were actually to pay for their trash, there may be a huge reduction of the trashed that is produced here. Which will positively benefit our city in ways more than one. I know personally a friend that has started a non-profit organization that was generated and runs on these goals to help the Philadelphia community. These very important goals are: Community Development, Community Clean-Up, and Community Empowerment. My fellow peer whom only is in the senior class, as I am of Science Leadership is the co-owner of a business. That definitely proves that as he is capable of helping out the Philadelphia community by setting up a whole organization, you in particular are capable of helping out the Philadelphia community in a legal view stance.

I want to thank you so much for taking the time to actually sit and read about my concerns and thoughts on the Philadelphia community in a perspective pertaining to trash. I encourage you to get back to me. It will be greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU.                        

 

                                                                       

Sincerely, Johniera McClain.

**Updates will be posted on subject. 

1. What is the status of your issue at the legislature? Is this a "good" year?

This year is a good year for the legislation because in August of 2011, Ms. Blondell Brown proposed that a Curfew law pass in Philadelphia, Nutter signed an order temporarily moving the curfew to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays for everyone under the age of 18.They are in Center City, the downtown area, and University City, the West Philadelphia neighborhood where the University of Pennsylvania is located. Throughout the rest of the city, the curfew will remain 10 p.m. for those under the age of 13 and those for minors under the age of 18.

The Law states:

"Minors who are caught breaking curfew will be sent home, brought home or transported to a police station where their parents will be contacted. Minors may be issued a citation with a $100 to $300 fine for a first offense," the city said in a press release." - CNN coverage 

The 3 people on the City Council who would be for my cause are:

Blondell Reynolds Brown

Councilwoman Blondell  is an educator, community activist, political leader and concerned parent, her focus and commitment to help others defined her work prior to her election to Philadelphia City Council. Councilwoman Reynolds Brown devotes her programmatic and legislative efforts toward improving the quality of life for our city’s most vulnerable citizens, children.

Maria D. Quinones-Sanchez

Councilwoman Sanchez serves as Chair of the Committee of Licenses and Inspections, Vice Chair of the Streets and Services and also serves on Appropriations; Labor and Civil Service; Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs; Commerce and Economic Development; Public Health and Human Services; Education; Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless and the Disabled and the Handicapped.
Donna Miller

A lifelong resident of Germantown, Councilwoman Miller has dedicated more than thirty years of public service as a professional or volunteer. Councilwoman Miller currently serves on City Council’s “Committee of the Whole, Appropriations, Housing and Homeless, Streets and Services, Ethics, Environment, Rules and Public Property.

2. Who is essential to the outcome?

Of course I would need to contact Mayor Nutter somehow, because he would be the deciding factor in all of this. But to start small, I could get in touch with Ms. Blackwell again and talk to her about whom I should be contacting to get the information I need on my lobbying topic.

3. Who else is working on this? Can you coordinate?

Blondell Brown is currently helping Mayor Nutter clean up the streets of Philadelphia with recreation, educational offers, and different laws to keep not only our citizens safe, but our youth. She has also is known for revising “childcare” definitions through legislation, authorizing childcare facilities to operate and function within commercial districts and neighborhood shopping centers, equipped police officers with a new and stronger curfew law, and introduced legislation that amended the City Charter to create a Youth Commission for young people in Philadelphia. She's the person I really need to get in contact with.

4. Who can you influence?

Most likely Ms. Blondell. She has a strong background of being involved in keeping our city streets safe. At all the ward meetings and council gatherings she's always had ideas that became actions to help our youth stay out of trouble. Some of those acts included the curfew laws, and a lot of fundraising for some of the schools who needed books and supplies. Recently on December 12th, she and Mayor Nutter passed the Equal Benefits bill which requires certain city service contractors to offer the same benefits to the life partners of their employees as are offered to the spouses of married employees. Councilwoman Blondell: “For 13 years, City employees have been eligible to receive benefits for their life partners. The Equal Benefits Bill is a natural extension of that recognition,” said Mayor Nutter. “The City of Philadelphia is an ally to the LGBT community and will continue to show support against issues of inequality.” - Blondell's reason for wanting the law. This action shows me how active she is in the community, and how much influence on change she has in Philadelphia.

a. Whom I can get in touch with?

One of my mom's friends Lynn Hogben has access to each Ward Meeting that takes place around Philadelphia. In earlier months, she's helped me interview Jannie Blackwell, and sit in on the election meeting. My plan is to call Mrs. Hogben, and ask her to let me tag along with her to meet Ms. Blondell Brown, and discuss with her her plan of action to cure Philadelphia's streets, and to help Children further lives without getting caught up in drugs and lose them to the streets

5. What is the time frame?

The time frame will be from after the Holidays until February 14th

6. When are key dates - meetings, committee hearings, deadlines, etc.

Since I am working with the curfew scene in Philadelphia, I needed something or someone that would help me with lobbying this problem. Overall the main point is to try and get the law switched for 17 year olds to be out later then ten at night. To have this happen I need to get the council members of Philadelphia to join me and this lobbying quest. I will be doing various things to try and get this done, for example I will be sending the council members emails about different facts on why the age restriction should be brought down to 17 and older. Then I can also sign up for a membership with NYRA who also will help me promote my case on curfews.



After I am done with those emails to the council I plan on getting teenagers who are 17 and work to sing a potation that shows that they work. This can help in a lot of ways because if get enough people to sing this potation maybe something will be changed in the law. I also plan on getting a rally of Philadelphia residents to come out and protest against this law since the money can be going to something else, such as after school programs. Also if you want to be a member and fight for your rights sign up here.

In the real world, I am trying to lobby for the empowerment of young people through various means. Because this is a broad statement and goal, I've narrowed my approach to this through a single system. ​Future Leaders Advancing Self Help is an initiative I've helped reinstitute in Philadelphia with OIC of America. It was created in 1989 by OIC, and through their collaboration with my organization Phresh Philadelphia, we've brought it back. The goal of FLASH is to bring civic and service based organizations together under an umbrella of community engagement and true empowerment for Philadelphia.

With strength in numbers, my thoughts are that the more organizations that seem to be unified in their approach serving youth, the louder their collective voices will be in encouraging this movement. The two components to FLASH, the initiative and the program, are simple.

FLASH Description

We are ENTREPRENEURS who understand the value of community advancement as a necessity for the future of the people in our neighborhoods, our city, our nation and our world.

We are ACTIVISTS, standing, walking, and running for righteousness, equality, and justice under a united front that we build together through peace and love.

We are STUDENTS who know how important and equitable true education is, and that learning should stretch beyond the classroom.

We are PARENTS, showing our children virtue, morality, respect, and love through the construction of the mind, body, and spirit.

We are CITIZENS, consciously taking interest in our environments, ensuring universal safety, just legislation, and equity for all.

We are EDUCATORS, teaching the importance of history, HERstory, YOURstory and MYstory so that THEstory is less of a mystery.

We are HUMAN BEINGS and we treat each other as such.

We are FUTURE LEADERS ADVANCING SELF HELP.

FLASH Initiative

The FLASH Initiative will gather more proactivity among youth, influence service, make community engagement easy and rewarding, and provide more productive citizens to the city.

• Get organizations to pledge to be to be Future Leaders Advancing Self Help
• Create online database for citizens to get involved to civic and service based organizations in their city
• Empower people young people through making resource connection easy
• Become a nationwide movement

FLASH Program

The FLASH Program will instill leadership, collaboration and early community creation, citizen development and early involvement, and educate outside of the classroom.

• Educate kids on local, national, and international past and current events
• Allow kids to generate conversation and research information
• Challenge kids to make a difference through creating projects, business ventures, bringing awareness, etc.
• Have kids pitch their ideas as a group to Philadelphia officials, public figures, and organizations to gather support for their cause.

As of now, FLASH is only a few organizations short and a website away from reaching the mayors office. This is important because through gathering the support of the city's mayor, reaching to other organizations, the Philadelphia school district, and the many departments of the city won't be too much of an issue. The goal is that through the support of the city's officials, FLASH can gather Philadelphia's public figures, celebrities, greatest influences, and more to be supporters. The hardest part of this process will be to gather youth involvement, but if we can successfully gather the support of public figures, that shouldn't be an issue.

For this step of my lobbying project, I collaborated with Alaya to create a larger organization to protest fracking. We've broken our protest plan into multiple steps: 1) Petition, 2) Fund-Raising and 3) Protest. We've written a petition urging Governor Corbett to work with the EPA to understand the risks of Hydraulic Fracturing but, more importantly, not to frack in State Parks. We'll are in the process of getting 100 signatures and will send it to Corbett soon. We also want to make buttons protesting fracking to sell to people in school or in our neighborhoods. With this money, we can organize a Protest in Harrisburg that will include politician and activist guest speakers. With these steps, we will create a large group of supporters. Once a large group is formed, we can create an Occupy movement or an official lobbying party that speaks at Council meetings.  
While these steps are effective together, I believe that if we did them individually, Corbett wouldn't be effected by them. The petition is the least effective because it's simply signatures on a page and unless there are millions of signatures, it won't make much of an impression. However, the next steps are effective because large crowds of people create media attention that Corbett cannot deny or ignore.  
The issues with our plans are similar to the benefits: large crowds create media attention. If people are rowdy and unable to articulate why they are here, then it reflects poorly on the group and our mission. Like the Occupy movement, it will be essential to have slips of paper with simple phrases to say to reporters.

Natalie Sanchez

To communicate my lobbying action to the decision makers concerning after school programs in Philadelphia, I decided to call the two women in charge after school programs in Philadelphia and e-mail the president of the After school Activities Partnerships (ASAP), Marciene Mattleman. In my e-mail to Marciene Mattleman, I let her know my purpose for contacting her and asked her a few questions about how after school programs worked: 1.) Where do funds for after school programs come from in these times where a lot of the money dedicated to school programs are being cut? 2.) What does it take to run/establish an after school program? 3.) What can I do to support or help out the after school programs that already exist in Philadelphia? No only did I e-mail Ms. Marciene Mattleman, but I also took an extra step and called the one of the two women that are in charge of the after school programs in Philadelphia, Ms. Iris Howard. I found her information on the Philadelphia City Council’s website. She did not respond my phone call yet, but I left her a message with a short summary of my purpose for calling and gave her my contact information for follow up. I am still waiting for a response from both of these contacts. 

I was originally just going to contact my local recreation building, as they offer after school programs for the neighborhood children, to lobby my cause, but I then decided to speak with the people who have more power over the decisions made about the school programs in our city. This way, I would get my point across in a more direct, personal, and stronger way. If I were to have contacted my local recreation center, I would have only spoken with one of the many heads of after school programs in Philadelphia; I would have only covered one out of the ten districts of Philadelphia. This would have gotten me only a fraction of the way into what I want to accomplish-more funding towards after school programs of Philadelphia. 

In order to follow up with my two contacts, I will wait for them to respond to my phone calls and emails. I have already taken the first step of speaking with them and introducing myself to them, now I just have to present my case to them. I will do this by finding other groups of people, possibly Philadelphia towns people, including children and parents who also want funding for after school programs in our city. I might take my lobbying a step further by actually visiting city council with other people with similar goals to mine, and actually speaking directly with Ms. Iris Howard and Anne Marie Dunne about funding for after school programs. I will have my lobbying partners present their personal experiences and reasons why they need these services, and will then present my reason for why it is beneficial to fund these programs. If this does not work, then I will need  a stronger voice to represent my cause and might have to contact my district council member, Mr. Frank DiCicco. If I can communicate my lobbying cause to him, he will have more of a chance of getting word to the other council members, and there might be more funding for after school programs. 

I feel that speaking to strong decision makers concerning lobbying topics is the most direct and strongest way to make progress. I feel however, that since we are high school students and since there are so many other different situations going on in city council, congress, and the supreme court that our lobbying causes are going to be overlooked. We would have a better chance of being heard if we join a group of people who have a similar cause as us or if we can get someone with a lot of power in government to represent us. Otherwise, we are all just numbers without a voice or representation. 

I focused on one website that allows me to fight back against my city's curfew. The main point I am trying to do is make sure that society knows about the curfew law. I am trying to convince my council members in my area that curfews does cause an effect towards teens. The website I decided to work off of is basically a site that allows kids/teens to fight back against curfews laws. It also allows those who are fighting against to recognize and take more notice on the overall constitutional issues. I decided to apply to this membership in order to take action of curfew laws.

First I applied for membership and now have my own profile which, helps me promote my lobbying case on curfews. 

Next the site provides different forums and discussion from kids all over who disagree with the curfew law as well in their city. From this I will be able to spread out to kids how we can help convince council members in our community I will be able to post and create my own forums where I will be able to add people in and I will be able to promote it on Twitter or Facebook any social networking site that teens use. I will be able to become apart of the issues and join different forums and discussion.

I plan to create a forum and allow all to join and allow them to share their opinions on curfews. I will be ​asking their support to assist me in this overall lobbying topic about curfew and having them help me write a letter to my representative about our overall opinions of curfew. We will be trying to convince them about all the positives on the curfew law. How much of an impact it has on us and what it is we are willing to give. I will introduce them to the forum so they will be able to see the overall thoughts of kids from all over. I will send them the post over email in order to get their attention.

​               La película “Mar Adentro” se trata de la vida de Ramón Sanpedro, un tetrapléigico que vive en la región gallega en España en su cama por 28 años. Ramón vivia con la familia, y la familia ayudar Ramón todos los años el earn un tetrapléigico. Ramón tuvo un accidente en el mar cuando era joven, y esa es la razón que el es un tetrapléjico. Después de el accidente, Ramón tiene una relación mala con su hermano, y no puede hacer muchas cosas. Ramón piensa que la vida de un tetrapléjico no es una vida digna. Ramón quiere quitarse la vida por su propia voluntad, El no quiere vivir una vida no digna porque el no pueden mueven y hacer cosas. Ramón tiene una abogada, que se llama Julia, una amiga que se llama Rosa, y una amiga Gené quien trabaja para una organización que apoya la eutanasia. Gené y Julia quiere hacer la eutanasia legal, porque ellos piensan que personas tienen el derecho a escoger cuando ellos quiere quitarse su vida. Los juezes eran muy polémicos para Ramón, ellos  juzgan la eutanasia, y están en contra de Ramón, y por eso Ramón no puede quitarse su vida legal, con la eutanasia. Al final de película, Ramón tiene muchos amigos quien apoya el, y ellos ayudan Ramón a quitarse la vida de el.

 Para mi, la eutanasia no es un crimen. Como yo lo entiendo, en España, la eutanasia no es legal o es legal pero necesito los jueces a aprobar. Es ridículo que los jueces creen que los personas que están sufrieran necesitan a vivir. No es justo por los jueces a imponer sus creencias a Ramón Sampedro. Ramón esta lucido y el entiendo que para quitarse la vida, es necesario por otros personas a ayudar Ramón. Ramón tiene el derecho a tomar la decisión y es los mas importante a respetar el deseo de Ramón.   

Yo estoy de acuerdo con Ramón, pienso que una persona tiene el derecho a escoger que pasa con su vida, y cuando piensa que no es digna, puede quitarse la vida. Yo pienso que sí fuera un tetrapléjico, me quitaría mi vida también, porque no pienso que es una vida digna, porque no puedes hacer nada. Yo pienso que la muerte es una cosa que la persona puede escoger, es la vida de la persona, y no de los otros.

En mi opinion, Mar Adentro era una película buena. Era marvilloso, deprimente, y controvertido. El reparto son muy bueno, ellos tienen mucho emoción todo la pelicula. Mi mejor actor lation era, Alejandro Amenábar y el es fantástico en la película. El no están un tetrapléjico pero el jugar el parte de un tetrapléjico muy bueno. Los actiones de al y el tono de la voz de el son muy emotionale. La actuación del reparto para mi, era muy bueno porque los personas tienen mucho emotionales en los actiones y las palabras ellos dicen. Me convencieron de los emotionales y yo llorar un poquito.

 

For my argument and position on the Philadelphia City Wage Tax, there are several people of interest in which I can communicate with. The City Council is probably the easiest to communicate with because I can simply write a letter or send a e-mail, postcard, etc to the council members' offices and ask for them to propose something to the mayor of Philadelphia. My council member, Frank DiCicco, writes on his website that he has a plan for the taxes in Philadelphia and that he wants to lower City Wage Taxes. I believe that if I not only contact him, but the entire council and their supporters, I can get more people involved in the movement against the high City Wage Taxes. Another approach to go in conjunction with notifying the city council of my position would be to contact the mayor himself. 

Currently, I feel as though I need supporters and other lobbyists to help my argument get through to the city officials. I was thinking of making up flyers to post around the city to get people interested in helping lobby against the high City Wage Tax. I think that the most effective way to get people notified and interested is to advertise and post flyers/poster around the business district where people work and so when they leave or come to work, they can see the flyers/posters. The most effective thing to do is to get people together to write to the city's officials in argument of the City Wage Tax. Some of the steps that I have taken to begin this process are planning out what will go on the flyers, how I can print so many copies, and where to go in order to get a good number of people to see the flyers. 

As far as effectiveness, I believe that flyers will be widely noticed and if I include an e-mail address on the flyers for people to send in their arguments, I think I will get some responses that I can send to the city council members and/or the mayor. Hundreds of people walk by and around center city and so if there are a lot of flyers and a wide variety of places, they we become noticed not only by the people walking around but possibly a news broadcasting network, which could greatly strengthen my lobbying movement. If this issue becomes advertised locally and televised, I think that I will get a great number of people to contribute to my cause because the City Wage Taxes effect them and their paychecks. I think that this topic will easily attract others' attention and the movement may grow to become much more effective than a one man stand against the City Wage Taxes.  

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http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4ed1-7490-4ed8db7c-9611-58940ac632d0

The task that me and my partner decided to do was obtaining a business license. You need a paper that states that it is legal to have a building that you a business out of. If you don’t own these papers then it will be impossible or illegal to make a profit out of a building.To get this license you need to file for a number of different things. But to be short and to the point you need to apply for all of the L & I approvals, these are the things you need in order to ensure that the building will be properly ran. Then you apply for a tax account number, pay the fee that you will need, and send everything in. L & L Approvals will take you through every procedures that you need to make sure you get your license to own your own business.

 

         Doing project was a great experience and it wasn’t hard. At times it was very tedious and the hard part was consuming our time. However, the hardest pat for us was finding the actual paper work. The work was very straightforward but because we needed to make the information up it made it more difficult because we didn't know what everything was. I like how they stated if it was denied what you can do. So having every little detail really helps.

 

          I think doing this for our project was the hardest choice because they don’t just want anyone owning a business. You need to know exactly what and where everything will be, there is no time for mistakes or "going with the flow" after you get the business. It will be time for getting the money and being successful, which I agree with I just wish everything was easier to find. All and all, this was good to learn and something new!

Este mural "House Flowers" fue creado en la calle 703 Cecil B. Moore Ave. Este mural esta en las paredes de un centro medico. Esta en dos paredes y continua con muchas flores. Cuando vi este mural, pense en la razon por que este mural estaba colocado en ese local. Pero cuando escuche la descripcion de este mural penese en el mucho. Este mural esta trayendo mucha alegria. Los murales eran solicitados por el dueño de la casa o la comunidad. Estos murals cuestan $15,000-$45,00 dependiendo en la estatura de los edificios.
Tres cosas que este mural revela de esta comunidad es que le gustan la jardinería, el arte y le gustan la paz.
Le gustan la jardinería por que en las paredes del centro medico, contienen muchas flores.
El arte por que querian un mural en la comunidad y le gustan el mural por que no hay grafiti en las paredes de este mural y ultimamente le gustan la paz por que algunos significados que traen las flores es paz.
Dos frases que pueden representar este mural son" Aeteeyah Sharif hay dios mio, que maravillo mural en la pared" y " Que barrio bonito. Se ve muy tranquilo" -Raekwon Smith

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1. What is the status of your issue at the legislature? Is this a "good" year?

How many elected officials have indicated support for your issue? Is there public support behind it, with good media attention? Who are your opponents, and how much power do they have? Has a policy been written to address your issue, or do you need to work with an elected official to write one?

Blondell Reynolds Brown

Councilwoman Blondell  is an educator, community activist, political leader and concerned parent, her focus and commitment to help others defined her work prior to her election to Philadelphia City Council. Councilwoman Reynolds Brown devotes her programmatic and legislative efforts toward improving the quality of life for our city’s most vulnerable citizens, children.

Maria D. Quinones-Sanchez

Councilwoman Sanchez serves as Chair of the Committee of Licenses and Inspections, Vice Chair of the Streets and Services and also serves on Appropriations; Labor and Civil Service; Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs; Commerce and Economic Development; Public Health and Human Services; Education; Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless and the Disabled and the Handicapped.
Donna Miller

A lifelong resident of Germantown, Councilwoman Miller has dedicated more than thirty years of public service as a professional or volunteer. Councilwoman Miller currently serves on City Council’s “Committee of the Whole, Appropriations, Housing and Homeless, Streets and Services, Ethics, Environment, Rules and Public Property.
Darrell Clark 

FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Vs. Cooper.

Question: What did congress mean by actual damages?

The issue:  The issue is do mental and emotional injuries count and actual damages under the privacy act of 1974?

 

Cooper sued:  In 2007 Cooper sued the federal government saying the three agencies in safe pilots intentionally violated the privacy act when they sent his records to other agencies trying to cause him embarrassment, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress

 Privacy act no. 5 U.S.C

 

Cooper’s rational:  he felt as though people knowing his HIV status would have a bad effect on his job and his being gay would affect other aspects in his life.

 

CASE:  This case was about a man named Stanmore Cawthon Cooper was private airplane pilot since 1964 and when you are a pilot you get a flying certificate and to legally be able to fly a plane you have to follow the rules set by the FAA which is a pilot has to have a valid up to date “airman certificate” and this means the you have to let the FAA know if you have any illness or disabilities or surgeries you have had or have currently. This became a problem for cooper because in 1985 he was diagnosed with HIV and he knew that he would not be able to get his certification to fly with this on his records so he decided that he would stop flying. Then in 1994 with this he had to give in his medical information again but this time he chose not to give the information on him having HIV. This time because he did not tell them about his HIV he received his flying certificate and for ten years he was flying for ten years each year still keeping this information hidden. Copper eventually got caught when one his health started getting worse and he applied for SSA (social security Administration.) for long term disability. and when he applied he told the SSA the he had HIV with the understanding the everything he puts in the application is private and confidential in order for them to see if they find him eligible. He was found eligible and received the benefits from SSA for a year during this year his health improved drastically and he no longer needed the benefits so he drops the SAA he was receiving. In 2002 and agency named DOT (department of transportation came out with “Operation safe Pilot” which was an investigation to find unfit people with pilot certificates and this agency was partnered with the SAA so during the investigation they went through the list of people who were pilots and cross examined their information to make sure everything matched up and while doing this they found that Cooper had been lying and not telling them about his HIV status.  Because he lied to the government in 2005 he was found guilty on 3 counts of false statements to government agency. He pleaded guilty to one count. His pilot certificate was revoked. No decision has been made but Copper is fought to get his pilot certificate back and he did after careful consideration the FAA reinstated it for him.

I now learned from presentation zen to make pictures large. I also learned to have everything contrast with each other. Using the website http://www.sliderocket.com/blog/2011/09/how-to-make-a-presentation-for-the-artistically-challenged/ I learned never to use bullet points. You should make sure everyone can see everything. Finally you should keep it simple and right to the point.

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Alex Johnson

Mar Adentro y La Muerte ¿Un crimen o derecho?

 

            La película “Mar Adentro” se trata de un hobmre llamado Ramón Sampedro. El era un pescador pero después de un accidente que es una tragedia, el era un tetrapléjico. El es la protagonista de la película. Mar Adentro tiene lugar en Galicia, España. Ramon lucha por los derechos humanos a vive y a la muerte. El piensa que la muerte es un derecho y por que el esta sufriendo, el quiere a quitarse la vida. La película muestra la lucha de Ramón por los derechos y opinas de mas personas en España sobre la eutanasia.

            La película, Mar Adentro, es controvertida porque presenta unas preguntas polémicas tales como los vidas de los tetrapléjicos, ¿la eutanasia es un crimen?, y los derechos humanos y ¿si la muerte es un derecho? Para la sociedad estas preguntas abren debates feroces porque mas de la gente en España piensan que eutanasia no es un crimen. Sin embargo, la iglesia y los juzgues piensan que la vida vale la pena y que la vida es un derecho.

            Para mi, la eutanasia no es un crimen. Como yo lo entiendo, en España, la eutanasia no es legal o es legal pero necesito los jueces a aprobar. Es ridículo que los jueces creen que los personas que están sufrieran necesitan a vivir. No es justo por los jueces a imponer sus creencias a Ramón Sampedro. Ramón esta lucido y el entiendo que para quitarse la vida, es necesario por otros personas a ayudar Ramón. Ramón tiene el derecho a tomar la decisión y es los mas importante a respetar el deseo de Ramón.

            Como yo lo entiendo, Mar Adentro es un buen película. La película tiene suspenda y ación en partes perfectas. La actuación en todos los escenas fue muy buen. Lo que Ramon separaba por tanto años es la fin de la película. La muerte de Ramon fue conmovedora y muy emocional. Además, los poemas y diarios de Ramón fue interesante y la contenta era muy difícil para entender. Para mi, esta película de Alejandro Amenábae es conmovedora, y brillante también. Esta película me fascinó.