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Whether courts can enforce a federal statute governing how the Secretary of State is to record the birthplace of American citizens on passports and related documents; and whether a federal law instructing the Secretary of State, if requested to do so, to record the birthplace of U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem as Israel interferes with the President's authority under the Constitution to recognize foreign nations. Some facts about this is even though Israel was declared a state in 1948, the U.S. government has declined to recognize Jerusalem as the capital, deeming this a question to be resolved through diplomacy. In 2002, Congress passed a law that provided that "for purposes of the registration of birth … or issuance of a passport of a United States citizen born in the city of Jerusalem, the Secretary (of State) shall, upon request … record the place of birth as Israel." A passport is not today considered a diplomatic statement; it's an identification of a person in order to enable him to travel abroad. The petitioner in the case, M.B.Z., was born in Jerusalem to U.S.-citizen parents in 2002.  Although his parents asked the State Department to designate Israel as their son’s place of birth on his passport, it declined to do so despite Congress’s command to the contrary. When the parents took the issue to the courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed their claim on the ground that it raised a nonjusticiable political question:  the court of appeals explained that the “judiciary has no authority to order the Executive Branch to change the nation’s foreign policy” with respect to whether Jerusalem is part of Israel.

The problem here is, how can you stop poverty? Where to start? Many people believe that in order to stop poverty, and violence is to educate and inspire many children, young adults and even adults. About a year ago, I emailed people who worked for ANNA C. VERNA about finding solutions to this problem. The ONLY answer I was given was, “we cannot force parents to do their job, we cannot force our morals onto someone else’s household. But we can give these children a better education.” After, I decided to go to South Philadelphia high school and talk to the special education teacher, Mrs. DeAngelo-Leary. There she interviewed many students and asked them about their views on life. Many replied that there isn’t anything beyond the world they live in (living in poverty, getting pregnant etc.) Many of them attended South Philadelphia High because no one really cared about their children whereabouts or education.

According to philly.com Many educators received constant pressure and were urged by administrators to not report any incidents that occur in schools. This is part of the problem. Many people aren't willing to take responsibility. Some people decide to handle situations differently in different schools, therefore it makes it difficult to tackle the situation and fix it. 

 There is nothing we can do about this situation beside promote education, and try to point in the correct direction. We can only be a positive influence and try to inspire these children and young adults to be something or someone better. 

http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/education_and_poverty.aspx

Querido Gustavo Nava,

Hola! ¿Qué tal? Estoy más o menos.

Mi nombre es Monisha Das, tengo catorce años. Soy asiática, soy de Bangladesh pero vivo en Filadelfia. En Filadelfia me encanta ir a la Biopond. Está nublado en Filadelfia ahora. ¿Cuál es el clima en Venezuela? Mi cumpleaños es el primero de junio, cuando es tu cumpleaños? Cuando tengo tiempo libre me gusta pasar tiempo con mi familia y ayudar en la casa. Tengo una mamá, papá, hermana y hermano.

No sé dónde empezar a informarle sobre todos la cosas que me gusta. Me gusta la música inglesa pero me encanta escuchar música de la India. Me gusta escuchar a Taylor Swift, ella es mi favorita; ella me ha inspirada a escribir mis propias canciones y poemas. ¿Y a ti? ¿Qué música te gusta escuchar? También me gusta pasar un rato con amigas y leer libros y me encanta el libro “Y no quedo ninguno” por Agatha Christie. Me gusta mucho jugar Squash, ustedes podrían preguntarse ¿qué es el Squash? Squash es un deporte de raqueta, interpretado por dos personas en un Tribunal cuatro amurallada con pelota de goma de pequeños. Soy jugar para Squashsmarts, que es uno de los  Squash quipo, Squash es un muy divertida deporte. Aunque me gusta hacer todas estas cosas no me gusta hablar por teléfono y no me gusta trabajar. ¿Qué te gusta hacer y qué te interesa?

Yo soy baja, tengo pelo oscuro, con piel marrón y ojos marrones. Yo soy talentosa porque toco el viola y soy muy artística. Soy divertida porque digo estúpida bromas. Cuando se trata de educación y garan yo soy muy seria. A veces soy antipática pero por lo general yo soy simpática. ¿Y tú? ¿Cómo eres tú?

Bueno, me voy porque tengo que practicar deportes y estudiar.

                                                             Con cariño,                                                                                                                               Monisha Das

Querida Anyelo,

¡Hola! Soy Bryanna Jones. Tengo catorce años,  mi cumpleaños seis de diciembre. Soy muy muy bien, ¿y tu? Soy de Filadelfia pero vivo en Filadelfia . Hace frío en Filadelfia, ¿y tu? octubre, noviembre, diciembre, enero frío. febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio calor también el verano.

Me encanta mucho baliar, ballet, y moderna. Y tú ¿Qué te gusta hacer? También me encanta ir de compras y comer. Me fascina Mindless Behavior, Corrine Bailey Rae, , J cole, Maxell, y Tup=ac. Mi favorita música es Mindless Behavior. No me gusta nada Nelly y Corey Gunz tampoco. Soy muy baja, sociable depende del día, también , más o menos loca con amigos.(jajajajaj). No me gusta nada tímida sin embrago hablador, más o menos antipática. ¿Y tú? Los fines de semana mi dormir y comer muy. (jajaj). Tengo la clase de baile, adiós amigo. 

Con cariño, 

PLEASE WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RRID66NHiYM#! 

For more information please read http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/08/mississippi-defeats-life-at-conception-ballot-initiative/. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/burns-strider/personhood-amendment-_b_1083079.html

   The way I made my slide was to make people look. The pictures represent stores I like to shop it and they way I arranged them was in a collage form, I chose this because I liked they way it looked, and it’s very creative. I let some of the pictures over flow off the page, I got the inspiration from seeing the IKEA bill bored. I did not really have a color seam because I just did not think it would look right the background ties it all together. 

                The Fair Elections Now Act was reintroduced on April 6, 2011 by Senator Dick Durbin in the Senate and then by Representatives John Larson, Walter Jones, and Chellie Pingree in the House of Representatives. This reintroduction got a lot of media attention by the 7^th, and on April 12, the bill was brought before the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. Senator Durbin and other sponsors of the bill believe it is a comprehensive response to the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission in 2010. This ruling in this case and in previous cases dealing with similar issues set back finance reform because they agreed that putting a limitation on contributions such as in ads and donations from corporations to candidates hinders their “political free speech.” However, the Fair Elections Now Act would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act so that there would be a public fund set aside for candidates to use in elections. Therefore, neither the “free speech” of corporations and lobbyists hindered nor are politicians that cannot afford to run their own campaign forced to use money from these contributors. Some trust could be restored into politics because disclosure still stands under FECA, and now we would have candidates that will choose not to rely on lobbyists. Under the public eye, these candidates would be the most trustworthy. Therefore, more candidates that wish to gain public favor would use as much public funds as they can. All in all, the election process would just be that much cleaner because a candidate would not be forced to get dirty. So, how are the politicians taking this bill?

                Well, this is not the first time the bill has been introduced. The first time around, it just got pushed around and never really got passed. This time, it garnered more media attention with its reintroduction and more government support. There are currently 13 co-sponsors in the Senate, and 78 co-sponsors in the House working for this bill. Since its introduction, there has been progress in the form of hundreds of messages have been sent to Congress, letters have been written to the newspapers, and there are over 12,500 citizen co-sponsors for the bill. However, there has not been any support from candidates. Also, in recent months, this particular bill has cooled down. It has still not been passed into law. There aren’t any upcoming meetings or dates involving the Fair Elections Now Act. Some fear that once again the bill is just going to sit in committee and never get passed. Maybe if more Republican Senators and Representatives also paid it attention, more could be done with. However, what this bill really needs – and what finance reform needs in general – is bigger government support. I’m not talking about more Senators and Representatives stepping in, I mean that more influential people need to step up. Senator John McCain has been a long-time supporter of campaign finance reform. In fact, after the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United vs. FEC, he did predict a backlash from the public once they realized just how much money lobbyists could control in government. But, where is he on this bill? He isn’t one of the main supporters, that’s for sure. He actually dared to say that campaign finance reform is dead. But, that's only because people like him stopped fighting for it. If bigger name politicians spoke on this bill, whether in support or disagreement, it would at least get more media attention. I highly doubt the public is even aware that a public fund option is even possible in elections.

                Now, I’m not saying we want to drag Obama into this particular bill. He has a lot of big things on his plate that he desperately needs to deal with (the economy, for one). However, he at least needs to have a more noticeable position on the subject. How can campaign finance reform get started if even the president doesn’t pay enough attention? You want to know why this year is a perfect year to get this reform going? There are the Republican primaries and soon there will be the next Presidential election. Any candidate that takes the plunge in public funding and avoids corporation contributions will shine brighter in the public eye. Occupy Wall Street has been going strong for weeks now, and although the protestors are being forced to move, you can bet the sentiment is still there. People want government to clean up. They’re tired of 1% of the population having all the money and power, and using that money and power in government. It is a little sad that there have been a number of Occupy demonstrations in Philadelphia, yet Pennsylvania Senator Robert Casey has no connection with finance reform and only Representative Michael Doyle co-sponsors the Fair Elections Now Act. At least a state that deals every day with public frustration towards government would feel a little bit more initiative on reform. These are most likely the men I could most directly influence, but to be honest, the only way anything is going to get done about campaign finance reform is if people are aware of the problems.

The most important aspect of creating decent slides is its attractive color that will captivate the audience. I use a contrast between two opposite colors. Such as black (in the background) and the bright color of the images and words, so the audience will desguised which things on the slide is more important. 

The front and size of the text is also important. In my slide the text explains the central concept. Therefore, it needs to be in the biggest size (96pts) and the brightest color so it will not be masked by other images. As in the article, made by Zach Holman, he used text sizes that are as big as 300pts!

Slides should be in a condensed form, so the audience will not get confused of the information I want to present. As I read the article made by Zen, it states that it should be simple,repetitive, and visual. Nobody wants to read a paragraph! Also, in my slide, the positions and the line of the angle of the images guides the audience, what the direction they should look at. 

It is important to present a slide that is clear, simple, creative, and visual. The most professional slides are made with images and plenty of empty spaces so it isn’t too overwhelming. So, I used the Rule of thirds and the empty space rule, my slide will be balanced.    

There were some of the very helpful websites:

 http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2008/08/learning-from-the-design-around-you-ikea.html

 http://zachholman.com/posts/slide-design-for-developers/ 

Reflection: What I learned from this project is not to add a lot of pictures in one slide. As people driving by billboards, some of them had fewer words and one picture. If there are so many pictures in one slide, it will be too tacky.  Adding less word helps because I learn that making slide shows should be simple and it is better. I also learned that I want one picture to be focused instead of other pictures. During the research, I learn that matching with colors with the words and pictures is better. For example, people like to match colors with their outfits. I have nothing to change because I took almost every elements from the website I used to do my slide. I took my critical thinking to make my slide unique. The camera, I fade it; I don't want the camera to be on spotlight. The curve of the camera is facing towards the words so people can read it. I just want people to see the picture on the right. If I can do this project again, I would take all my knowledge from the website I learned from.