Science Leadership Academy @ Center City

Lobbying Blog Post #4

Posted by Jareese Long in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:29 am

    In order for my lobbying topic to come to the attention of big city officials, I have to get the attention of the council members who make up the Rules Committee for the city of Philadelphia. There are many methods I can take to capture their attention that will all be effective for me.

The person that I really need to get in contact with would be Anna C. Verna because she is the chair of the rules committee but if I am not able to get in touch with her, I have 8 other options of people to get in contact with including James F. Kenney who is the vice chair of the committee.

Speaking hypothetically, I send out letters, e-mails and make calls to both the chair and the vice chair and I do not get in contact with them and I never hear anything back, I’ll first contact Donna Reed Miller who is one of the members on the committee. The reason why I’ll contact her is because she serves the 8th district, which is my districts’ councilwoman.

My plan of action is the following:

1.    Write a letter addressing my issues and ways I chose to go about fixing the issue (Just in case I need to send a letter)

2.    Call Verna to get in contact with her first and work my way down the line if my plan doesn’t work.

3.    Attend a meeting to figure out their viewpoints they already have on curfew. The point of the meeting would be to be observant of
    what plans they have already made and see how can I add to it or tie my ideas into their laws.

4.    Set up a meeting with whoever is willing to meet with me and discuss my ideas with them and try to get them to agree with me to represent this to a larger audience.

5.    Hopefully get feedback from the larger audience and see if my issue can be brought before the mayor and see what he says about it.

.

Vice Chair James F. Kenney

Chair Anna C. Verna

Council Woman Donna Reed Miller

Caraco vs. Novo Nordisk

Posted by Trevor Hinton in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:18 am

Issue: Whether a generic drug manufacturer may sue the company that produces the brand-name version of the drug to require it to correct information filed with the Food and Drug Administration, information that is relevant to the agency's decision whether to approve the generic version of the drug.

Caraco is a pharmaceutical laboratory who's main job is to create affordable medication for patients

Novo Nordisk is a healthcare company and worldwide leader in diabetes care and medication

The case which revolves around Caraco diabetes drug repaglinide, Caraco certified that its' drug label wouldn't conflict with respondent novo nordisk repaglinide-metformin use combination

The case is whether a patented drug that is filed by the FDA can be sued by the generic maker of that similar drug for not given correct information regarding the exact drug and everything included in it. (chemical mixtures etc.)

SCOTUS Case: National Meat Association vs. Harris

Posted by Thomas Nicolella in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:18 am

National Meat Association vs. Harris:

In this supreme court case, the National Meat association of California is going up against Federal law. In this particular case State law is being challenged by federal law, which usually comes out on top in terms of supreme court cases. California state law dictates that a sickly animal must be destroyed immediately while federal law outlines that the animal must be quarantined and observed so an illness can be pinpointed to see if the rest of the slaughterhouse animals could possibly be affected by the disease. The animal would also be quarantined to find out the symptoms of the disease or infection in order to find it in other animals (pigs in this case). Part of California's argument included that leaving a quarantined animal to die from a horrid infection or illness is a form of cruelty while those backing the federal law stuck to their argument that finding the root of the illness and preventing an outbreak of disease among a group of animals bound for the slaughterhouse has a much greater reward than risk. Since the case is relatively straightforward, officials will most likely come to a decision in the early months of the upcoming year after the weigh the pro's and con's of each dictated law.

Blog Post 4

Posted by Brooke Thompson in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:15 am

I decided that the mobilizing activity that I will undertake will be a personalized letter to the targeted decision maker.I decided to do this because I feel as though this will be most affective. Also because its a direct messaga and I believer it will have a much better impact that creating post cards or rallies and demonstrations.
I plan on writing a letter to Blondell Reynolds as well as meeting with her in person to discuss the curfew issue and a better way of going abou the curfew. I would express my views on the situation as well as the view of my peers. Also though the ultimate decision maker is the Mayer, Blondell Reynolds also has a large influence on the decision as well and it was mainly her idea to enforce the curfew.

Plan of Action

1.    Write a letter addressing my issues and discuss and different way to discipline youth that do cause trouble and not you the approach were everyone if affected because of someones actions.

2.    Call Blondell Reynolds to set up a meeting with her to discuss her reasoning and the way she feels about the subject. Also to see if my letter had any impact on her.

3.    Attend one or two meetings to see things from their viewpoint. Get their opinions they already have on curfew law. The point of the meeting would be to be to simply observe and see how they come to a concisus.

4.    Set up a meeting with the Mayor if possible as well as Blondell Reynolds so that we could all talk together,

5.    Hopefully get feedback from the larger audience and see if my issue can be brought before the mayor and see what he says about it.

Marriage project-Reflection

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:12 am

For this project my partner and I decided to file for marriage papers. We searched online in order to find the paperwork but we couldnt. We discussed it with our teacher and decided to give them a call. When I called the office the first thing they asked was whether the two people getting married were over 18 and then a list of things I'd need to bring down to their offices in order to legalize the marriage. I didnt have much of a chance to speak and got a little confused. I tried to get my teacher on the phone, but it was something I had to do myself. I found that I could not get a copy of the papers, in order to even see the papers we had to actually get married. By the time I got back on the phone the lady hung up on me. I then tried again the next day and received some information we needed to complete our project but were still unable to see the documents. Our final product was based on our process and all other data we gathered. I found this project very informative, different and very nice to work with because I now know the process one has to take in order to be legally married.

Ryan Francis Blog Post #4

Posted by Ryan Francis in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:05 am

Background Info On Blondell:

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown has been a long time champion of children and youth, the arts and culture community, and small business development. She is now an emerging leader in energy conservation and environmental matters and is infusing her policy initiatives to reflect this new and important priority.

Some of her Accomplishments Include:

-Persuading the Phillies and Eagles, along with Mayor John F. Street , during the sports stadium negotiations, to establish a “Fund for Children” requiring each team to contribute $1 million annually for 30 years.

-Structured the new Department of Parks and Recreation to reflect national best practices.

-Sponsored resolutions that supported organized labor unions (SEIU – Janitors and 1199C – Childcare Teachers) in their efforts to gain fair contracts and fought for amendments to protect union jobs from privatization (DC33).

-Equipped police officers with a new and stronger curfew law to complement the opening of 11 citywide curfew centers.

-Created and implemented the “Groceries for Guns” initiative, a gun buyback program that resulted in an unprecedented number of gun buybacks, to help curtain gun violence in the city.

She has shown a great deal of involvement in the city of Philadelphia's affairs that have to do with child safety, recreation of homes and sponsoring programs.

I'm Lobbying laws that can possibly help the Youth in Philadelphia become less liable to be incarcerated. I called the Philadelphia Prison System Office (@2156858395) and was transferred to the Criminal Justice Center near 15th St. I was able to get a few statistics from the man I spoke to about the incarceration rate of Philadelphia, some of his thoughts on how the city is run, and how he deals with youth who come through to the trials.

"It's just heart wrenching to see kids who look like they barely got the hang of high school yet, come through here and get processed. I wish I could have possibly saved some of them, because they all just look so angry at the world, or angry at themselves, and it's truly heartbreaking. A lot of us officers do our jobs to keep the streets safe, but we don't always like it. Especially when another young kid is being convicted of a crime that could possibly ruin his teenage years." - Mr. Carl Washington

He didn't give me an exact percentage, but he did tell me that the incarceration rate and drop out rate are higher than the graduation rate of students in Philadelphia. He also said "The more they undereducate, they Over incarcerate." When he told me this, I felt as if he knows that theres a way to save our youth in Philadelphia, and he has hope for the future.

My plan of action is to get Ms. Blondell Brown to come out to my mom's 3rd Annual "Positive Impact: Young Men's Conference" on January 28th and speak to the youth.

Information I plan to send

(Flyer from Second Annual)

Positive Impact Motorcycle Events Presents

Young Men's Leadership Conference

Date: January 28th, 2012

This event is for Young Males between he ages of 10-17

Positive Impact has lined up 7 Dynamic Professionals to speak at our event

"Our focus is to change lives, instill integrity and build character so the the next emerging generation of husbands and fathers will take these skills and vision to make a positive difference in the world."

During the First Annual Young Men's Conference in 2010, we've had between 90-120 Young Men come out to learn about different things that can benefit their lives positively, and they got to meet keynote speakers who have taught Anger Management, Making Passions into careers, cooking, and Leadership. Some speakers we're ex cons, some were accountants and relater. I want to Contact Ms. Blondell to be apart of this event, because the purpose of the "Young Men's Conference" is too educate and inform the youth of Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, and New Jersey on the different opportunities that they have to succeed, and they teach them about the jail systems, and the different extra curricula's that go on around the city they live in. It's important to keep our youth busy, and keep them off the streets and caught up in things that could potentially ruin their futures.

http://www.blondellonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=3

Court Case

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:01 am

Case 10-948- CompuCredit Corporation v. Greenwood.

Cheif Justice John G. Roberts

According to http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/compucredit-corp-v-greenwood/?wpmp_switcher=desktop

my case is "Whether claims arising under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1679 et seq., are subject to arbitration pursuant to a valid arbitration agreement."

The decision made by the courts was that the federal statutes that both create a right to sue also bar waiver of rights under thee statute are sufficiently explicit to override the strong federal policy in favor of arbitrability expressed in the federal arbitration act. The relative language is virtually indistinguishable from that and the credit repair organization fact that we have before us today the cases inclide the ADEA and CROA which create a cause of action for aggrivated parties to bring actions for damages and both statutes explicitly bar waiver of quote "any right under the statute. Well, that statute didn't have as this one has a disclosure requirement that says you have a right to sue. And that's the sole distinction between the two statutes. So the -- first of all the disclosure statute is a -- describes in layman's terms, gives a quick description of an operative civil liability section which is set out in 1679(g) and which tells us exactly what Congress had in mind in creating a cause of action. And when you look at the language of the actual operative provisions in (g), it's almost as if Congress deliberately went out of its way to use language that would not preclude arbitration.The Supreme Court's decision will clarify the extent of the federal policy favoring arbitration and will elucidate how consumers may proceed against credit repair organizations under the CROA.
The decision the court made is not really clear basically, they were both in the wrong to certain dagree, the wording used in both documents was almost identical, and there was a part in their documents saying that they did not have the right to sue the other party.

4th Blog Post

Posted by Jasmine Gladden on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 10:39 am

The process that it took me to get to write a letter wasn’t as hard as I thought the decision would be. I started off by saying I wanted to attend a meeting about curfew, but I began to think just hearing my voice alone speaking on the topic wouldn’t be as strong as writing a letter. Then as I still research dates for the meetings, I realized that none are being held. Therefore, that being said, it made my decision easier to write a letter.

Dear To Whom Ever it may Concern,

Hello, my name is Jasmine Gladden and I attend Science Leadership Academy. I am writing this letter as a civilize student and young adult to inform you that I don’t believe that the curfew law is reasonable or fair. I understand where you’re coming from with your reasoning but I don’t think your looking at things from all perspectives. I believe if you would’ve look at things from the parents perspective and other young adult who not into flash mobs perspective then you wouldn’t have came to the conclusion with the curfew law that has been presented to us. I believe it’s not fair to the parents because some parents for one don’t have much control over there children to have their kids listen to them and be in the house at a certain time. Another reason I believe it’s not fair that a parent has to pay if their child gets caught; they have pay with their hard working money for the nonsense.

However, I am 18, so the curfew doesn’t really bother me, but I when I was 17 and younger I was never the type to vandalize and do bad things to mess up or harm anyone. I was reading this article that was about Mayor Nutter speech and I didn’t really agree with what he was saying. I don’t believe that every child is bad and can’t control themselves in a crowd. I don’t think it’s okay to categorize everyone into one category and it’s not everyone.

All I’m asking is for you to look into consideration of what I am presenting to you. I think this could work if you only include or show that you took in consideration everyone’s perspective. I think once you look at things fully and attempt to understand whom others are coming from, things may rule in a positive favor. Thank you for your time! Please if you find more time, can you reply with your thoughts base on what you think about my ideas.

From

Jasmine Gladden
jgladden@scienceleadership.org

From looking at my previous blog posts, I feel like a letter is best because I could compile everything I need to say in one document to get my point across. I can then be able to point out the certain aspects of each blog post I thought was important in each. I think the blog post that influence me the most was the 3^rd blog post because this had points from actual people feeling towards the who situation.

Lobbying Issue: Funding for Philly Youth Poetry Movement (Phase Four)

Posted by Chelsea Starks in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 9:52 am

For my lobbying project, I made a petition that I’ve been circulating on Tumblr as well as sending an email to the mayor’s office to request he and city council allot more funding to PYPM because it is a very influential, innovative program that allows young people to express themselves in such a constructive and creative way that it also helps promote literacy improvement as well as building better social skills. My primary plan is the email I plan to send shown below, which basically explains why this is something that should be acted upon as well as getting people from Philadelphia to sign this e-petition.

To Whom This May Concern,
Hello, my name is Chelsea Starks and I am a senior at Science Leadership Academy. I have been working on a lobbying project in my American Government class to help me learn more about how the legislative system works. For my lobbying project I chose to lobby aiding the non-profit organization Philly Youth Poetry Movement (P.Y.P.M) which promotes youth to use power of their voice through spoken word and literary expression. PYPM is more than just a group of poets rhyming together, it’s like a family. No mater how long you’ve been there 6 months or 6 minutes, they will show you love regardless and will make you feel welcome. This organization was originally founded in 2006 by Greg Corbin, and really gives at-risk youths aged 13-19 a safe environment to express themselves, explore and find their identity as well as advocating for themselves in such a way that is creative but building better social skills at the same token. A program like this has been an inspiration to many including myself. My first time being at a workshop was very intriguing and I was interested to come back again and get to know everyone. The environment overall had so much love there even though they didn’t know me and I felt accepted by these people whom I didn’t even know. Programs like these need to exist around the city, but until the city can fund all of those projects, starting off with PYPM will help start it. This organization has been doing very well and has gained support of many politicians holding office in the city but now it’s calling on it’s community, i.e the city to help them continue to grow and flourish. With this funding this organization could be so much more, we could finally get a main building and hold workshops there, have youth night as well as open mic there as well. But that also cuts down on the unintentional segregation that sometimes happens when young people can’t go as far as others in terms of traveling outside the city. By having one building it will actually put some parents at ease because that allows them to know this limits how far some kids are traveling and are in one specific place. PYPM is an inspirational, innovative, uplifting organization committed to helping the city’s youth. So in closing, I hope that you will take this into consideration and help this organization prosper. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Chelsea Starks
Science Leadership Academy
cstarks@scienceleadership.org

Basically what I’ve done so far I can’t even begin to believe I’ve done honestly. I didn’t think I could get this far on my own nor did I really think I could make a true difference in the system of politics. I always thought most of them really didn’t care about what the young people had to say as a lot of politicians don’t but those whom I am working with to get PYPM more funding are definitely in favor of the young people in the city and really want us to be all we can be. I think that once the issue of money is settled for Philly, this will be a great investment because we are investing in our future via the young people that participate in these programs. This only the beginning of something that could change this city for the better. We already have the “Unlitter Us” campaign to help keep the city clean and it seems to have something of an impact. With proper funding I believe this could really help put the city’s youth into a better place as well as the city itself.

Right now I could use help with the letter before I send it off because I want to make sure this makes sense and is professional enough. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism below.

Lobbying Blog Post 4

Posted by Jesse Weinberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 9:52 am

Dear Mayor Nutter http://www.phila.gov/mayor and City Council, http://www.phila.gov/citycouncil/
As a Teen I’ve read different commentary on how the curfew law should be stricter. I support what has been done, however there should be other methods then public speaking. For example other methods that can be used are advertisement campaigns, and public service announcements these other methods could more effectively target everyone and hopefully reduce what is going on. These other methods will include images and videos of teens harming and injuring innocent people. After watching these videos this would make teens realize that they should not be doing what they are doing and become a better person latter on in life. It could also help them understand why the curfew in place.

Link to Video:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8364662
Some teens may still disobey the rules no matter what is said to them. Some of them may feel that this law is unfair and have a no care attitude and that they would do anything that they want to do in life. The curfew law needs to be more enforced then what it is now since some teens are still getting out of hand. However with the changes in the law things have improved. It is unfortunate because people who don’t commit the crimes are also being affected. The curfew law can affect an average citizen, parents, teens, and City Council. For example how curfew can affect the average citizen is that they are worried whether their environment is safe to go out for a walk. The curfew law affects city council because they have to keep up on the teen’s behavior and if the curfew law is working when they have much important issues to work. The curfew law can affect parents because it reflects on the way they raised their kids and whether they can be trusted or not. This also affects the amount of effort the parents must make to make sure they kids follow the rules. The main purpose is to decrease the opportunity for people to do things that would get them in trouble and hopefully reduce crime.

Resources:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/28/mct_pacurfew.html
http://www.phila.gov/mayor/
http://www.phila.gov/citycouncil/CouncilMembers.htm
http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2011/10/19/qa-independent-mayoral-candidate-wali-diop-rahman/
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8364662
http://teens.lovetoknow.com/Facts_About_Teenagers_Curfews

Alexis Beckton: Lobbying Blog Post 4

Posted by Alexis Beckton in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 9:12 am

Blog Post Four

Dominate something.
The way I decided to communicate with my representative about my lobbying topic was to call the office at the same time everyday. I thought that by being consistent with how I handled my situation they would know that I was serious about this issue and that sooner or later they would have to address me.

Do a few things well
They never called back and very seldom did they even answer the phone. I was upset and almost outraged at the fact the office of the man that was elected to represent my interest was never available to actually listen to my needs. I was persistent in calling but I started to vary the times. I didn't want to change my strategy because it was a good one it just wasn't as effective as I would've hoped.
Make the strategy personal.
The strategy became very personal as I felt my voice wasn't being heard. I think now I will change my strategy looking back because there was no progress with calling. Now I will draft one letter addressed to the representative and ask that every senior in the school email it to him. Or invite him to the school so that we could have a group discussion on how to move forward.

Scotus Blog: Reynolds v. United States

Posted by Johnathan Neris in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:59 am

In the Reynolds vs. United States the issue was about sex offender registration an d notification Act (SORNA) which congress enacted in 2006. This law was designed to create a nationwide system to keep track of all different sex offenders that committed crimes in the past. When congress decided to do this they hoped to prevent a situation in which a sex offenders convicted in one location could then move to another state another state, where neither police nor his new neighbors would he aware of their history if they were registered sex offenders.

In 2001 Billy Joe Reynolds was convicted of a sex crime in Missouri and served four years in prison. Then when he was released, he registered as a sex offender in Missouri, but he didn't do it with authorities in Pennsylvania when he moved there in 2007. A couple of months later Reynolds was charged with violating SORNA's requirements. When he went to go argue his case in the lower court they refused to even consider his challenge. Now Reynolds is being held in violation of the federal constitution. The court was divided on that issue. The U.S. Solicitor General urged the Court to deny review of Reynolds' petition.

Marriage Mobs

Posted by Ayanna Robinson in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:57 am

Plans

The most effective way to get this on the radar is randomly placed (but still awesome) flash mobs. I have several ideas for how to organize these flashmobs. All of them start with couples (girls with girls/boys with boys) dressed in grooms outfits and bride’s dresses.

1. Couples waiting for bus stops and taking over the trains.

2. Spontaneous fake marriage ceremonies in malls. Complete with music over the loud speakers.

3. “Registering” for gifts in their costumes in stores.

Then we introduce shirts into the mix. We make shirts with sayings like “Here comes the bride…..and the other bride.” And other cool stuff. And I’ll distribute enough of them so they’re everywhere you look but not so many that they’ll be a mob of people wearing them.

Steps

1. Gather willing participants

2. Dress up said participants

3. Partner them up

4. Assign them areas

5. Watch the fun

6. End watching of fun

7. Make shirts

8. Assign shirts to much less people

9. Watch confused people

10. Enjoy

Reflection

Marriage Mobs

This will definitely be effective because for one thing, flash mobs have a way of getting around. It’s not that this will get support for gay marriage right away but it will get people thinking about it.

Everyone will want to know what its all about and that gets me in the door to explaining my cause.

Sexy Shirts

The shirts are just a fashion statement to keep the issue from losing publicity. Plus the money made from possible sales of the shirt can fund more lobbying of my issue.

Lobbying Post #3

Posted by Donna Survillo on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:46 am

There hasn't been much this year for my issue so there isn't really any status as of now. But in 2008, seven states were records to "consider proposals" that would lower the LEGAL drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age.

In Kentucky, Wisconsin and South Carolina legislatures are working on for military personnel only. In Missouri, the citizens are working on a ballot to lower the age. A lawyer in South Dakota is working on a campaign for young adults (ages 19-20) to buy alcohol with a low level (3.2% and under). Minnesota citizens are trying to work on a bill that allows restaurants and bars to serve alcohol to people ages 18 and older but not liquor stores.

Although I'm not sure who's working on this other than myself, I can figure out who is and try to work with them and collaborate on our issue. Not only myself, but we (anyone besides myself and I) can influence our community and district leaders to look into the issue more in depth for reason that can show evidence and good reasoning as to why the drinking age should be lowered.

As of now, there aren't any meetings or committee hearings (presented to the public) but there may be more to come in the near future.

Lobbying post 4 Letter to representatives

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:32 am

For the fourth part of this lobbying assignment I decided to contact, Council Woman Joan L. Krajewski. She is the one that represents my district, district 6. Council Woman Joan L. Krajewski is the Vice-chairwoman of the public safety committee, "She sits on the Committees of Public Property and Public Works, Licenses and Inspections, Public Safety, Fiscal Stability, Legislative Oversight and Disabled and Handicapped. She was first elected councilwoman in 1979 and has since continued on a similar path. She was the first woman in Philadelphia City Council history to hold the position of Majority Leader. I also found out that she grew up in the same neighborhood as me and I found that very interesting.
Council Woman Joan L. Krajewski is one of the people that is directly responsible to me. I was hesitant in contacting her, for I was unsure of the method to use. I then decided on writing a letter, I came to the realization that it takes a long time for the letter to get through. In order to inquire regarding my topic I contacted her through phone, and email as well as the letter. I also forwarded the email out to the governor and our city's mayor; they have yet to reply to me.
In the letter I wrote, my reason for contacting them, along with links and a summery of my previous blog posts. In the letter I explained the safety in schools problem and how much education reform is needed, along with statistics on the high school drop out rates. And proposed several changes in order to better a students school life. I am still waiting for a reply from any or all of my representatives and am hoping for a positive response.

The letter I wrote:

Dear Representatives:

My name is Elona Myftaraj, I a senior at Science Leadership Academy. I am working on a project, and lobbying for education reform is my main point. I am contacting you because you are my representative and I hope it wont take too much of your time to reply to me. I am contacting you in order to discuss, and make aware a few serious problems in our school system. "Across United States public schools, just 74.9 percent of students who were freshmen in the fall of 2004 graduated from high school on time in 2008, according to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics." There have been many school related incidents that I fear has many students feel that they are not in a safe environment. This is a link to a blog post I wrote on education reform, and suggestions for change. http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Lobbying-_Education_Reform:2

A perfect example of my lobbying topic is the violence erupted at South Philadelphia high school where off-campus and lunchrooms attacks targeted about 50 Asian students, injuring 30, primarily by African-American students. The Asian students boycotted classes for more than a week after the attack, stating that they had endured relentless bullying by African-American students while school officials did nothing about their complaints. I want there to be a change in education and in schools because there are many kids that come from "The Hood" or bad neighborhoods, and I believe that schools should be a safe haven as much as a place of learning, kids need to have a place or person they trust and I believe that this is a part of a teachers job.

I feel that it is incidents such as this that make students loose faith in schools and the school system. Therefore I am asking for your help to actively join me in taking action for education reform and an accurate schedule along with locations for public meetings regarding education reform.

Thank you in advance

Sincerely

~ Elona Myftaraj

#fundamtk

Posted by Jeffrey Kessler in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:28 am

In this step, the national movement to organize support for Amtrak was arranged. The primary method of support was going to be a one-day event wherein supporters travelled to Washington, DC via Amtrak. Then, all participants would walk across the street to discuss the issues with their representatives. However, this option was much too costly and not feasible with the available resources. In lieu of such a movement, the lobbying campaign is in the process of creating a twitter campaign wherein persons will use the hashtag #fundamtk to demonstrate their support. To save money, this hashtag will be distributed at Amtrak train stations such as 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. As involvement and engagement with the hashtag grows, the press secretaries of the representatives and senators would be contacted to see the visibility and support for this otherwise dying movement. While I would've liked to have already demonstrated the effectiveness of this process, the ideal time to start this movement will be directly before the holidays when rail travel is at its peak. This blog post will be updated further after the happenings of such an event.

SCOTUS Case: Martel vs. Clair - Ian McClendon

Posted by Ian McClendon in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:25 am

Review of Case: This Supreme Court Case Michael Martel vs. Kenneth Clair is presented the question of whether a condemned prisoner of capital federal habeas corpus can change his court appointed counsel because he was dissatisfied with his first counsels investigations. But the replacement for a new counsel if protected by habeas corpus should expresses dissatisfactory but also should be in the "interest of justice."

Facts of the Case: In Kenneth Clairs defense being under protection of a federal habeas corpus for 10 years should not influence the decision to be able to be appointed a new court counsel since Kenneth was dissatisfied with his previous counsel. During the state court case the judge expressed that the counsel was doing a proper job for his client but it was not said that Clair was entitled to a new counsel. Clair filed for a petition of his federal habeas corpus and for a new counsel. The judge denied his request and then the day after he retired. Right after Clair talked to his counsel and came to a legit conclusion that the "attorney-client relationship had broken" and a appeal for a new counsel would be appropriate. So with the approval of a new counsel, Clair tried for a habeas corpus petition and the substitution for the new counsel before the district court was even ready for ruling.

In Michael Martel argument he expresses that after the decision made by the Ninth District Court Clair was distort about the verdict and shortly after he explained that he wasn't content with his counsel and wanted a new counsel. The districts court response was that "no conflict of interest or inadequacy of counsel is shown". So therefor they denied the petition for release of federal habeas corpus. Clair appealed and was appointed a new lawyer to revise his statement to expressing "dissatisfaction" which calls for no further dispute of getting a new counsel for that would be unconstitutional. The Amendment that is controversial is the 6th which states, "In all criminal prosecutions, ... and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense."

Summary of Arguments Before Case: When Clair was appointed his new counsel he also independently hired a private investigator in August 2005, C.J. Ford, whom took over the case. In March 2005, Clair sent a letter to the District Court saying that he did not want to be represented by a Federal Public Defender, stating that his old counsel, "displayed a degree of messiness." Also that the counsel was trying to save his life rather than trying to prove his innocence and get him out of prison. The State's retaliation to the letter was Clair had "shown no cause to dismiss counsel"and that "Clair had meet with the Federal Public Defender and he agreed that the counsel should continue to represent him but still have the right to take action later. To clarify Clair's argument he summed it all up in a second letter. He asked for his counsel to be renewed and an addition of a complaint. During C.J. Ford's inspection recovered new evidence from the original crime scene and was unable to locate a witness which both of which Clair complains his normal counsel did not look hard enough for. But the key factor here is that back in 1984 at the time of the Linda Rogers murder the detectives didn't have nearly enough technology that would've helped find crucial evidence for the case in favor of Kenneth Clair. When the Petitioner and counsel asked to review the recovered evidence the police department claimed that the evidence was lost or destroyed but in May 2005 Ford dug deeper into the problem and recovered the evidence. With further analysis it was determined that no biological evidence of Kenneth Clair was found at the scene of the crime. Although was sparked more controversy was that much of this investigation was done independently and not mentioned to the district court, counsel, or lawyer. A few months later the case was retired of habeas corpus and reassigned with repeating claims of being dissatisfied with his old counsel and that the evidence should be used in trial supporting Clair. Many stipulations occur again and again with appeals and request of relief of habeas corpus and improper use of collecting evidence.

Outcome of Case: From listening and reading the transcript I believe that the Court would favor for Clair. Because at the beginning of the issue the Federal Public Defense did not conduct their litigations properly to justify Clair in the first place. The denial of Clairs appointment to new counsel was unconstitutional and there shouldn't have been such friction of Clairs request but for his innocence of connecting him to the murder of Linda Rogers. In the end the degree of messiness overturned the case in favor of Clair.

Fracking: Blog #4

Posted by Julia Boyer in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:23 am

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.

Prometheus vs. Mayo Scotus Post

Posted by Ali Ahmed in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:21 am

Ali Ahmed

vs.

Prometheus vs Mayo is a case whose controversy stems from the limits of patent laws that have been debated for over the last 10 years. Prometheus is a company that produces metabolic blood tests. Prometheus believed that they could patent correlations between results from their type of blood test and how doctors could diagnos of the tests to give make judgement on prescripcion dosages.. Mayo is a company that also produces blood tests. Prometheus saw that doctors were using other blood tests to make these same correlations and instead of going after the doctors attacked the blood test they patented their the correlation. The state of California didn't allow the patent to stand becuase they believed it was not patentable. Soon after the patents was allowed again under the Federal Circuit.

Mayo didn't believe this patent was legitimate and brought it to the Supreme Court. They were challenging the court ruling that the Federal Circuit passed. Mayo believed that the patent didn't fall under of the catagories required under a patent, "any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof". This problem also arose earlier in the decade when computer algorithms were trying to be patented. Does a correlation fall under a patentes requirements?

The supreme seems to be siding on the side that it doesn't. From the proceedings in december, it was evident that patent was way too broad. In opposed to patenting actual correlations in dosage number, which the Supreme court said would have passed, they patented the idea that their is a correlation. The problem is that it is just an idea. If the Supreme court makes a definitive decision on what a patent actual is, it will eliminate cases like this. I think the Supreme court will probably vote against the patent. I also hope they make specifics as to how their patents would have actually qualified I hate seeing cases where the ideas so general are patented so that a company can exclude competitors.

Blog Post #4

Posted by Douglas Wallace in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:12 am

My plan is to essentially dominate an area or something. I have teamed up with Julia and Alaya in the anti-fracking movement. On my own however I feel as though I want to start somewhat smaller and make a commercial about fracking. Since my English class is focused right now on advertisements I can invest this time into making a very effective commercial to display. Hopefully I can then get it out to the public and make people think what they want to. This is my way of doing some small things well, however this is something that can get the attention of people.

I feel as though letters to congress wouldn’t work because I’m pretty sure that is what most people who care about this thing are doing, especially those it effects. I figured if something is to be done then we need to make noise and be heard. If one person in class is talking that is disruptive, but if everyone is yelling for changes that is chaos and calamity. I figure a series of commercials released every so often could bring more people together on this subject. Especially if it’s a regular thing, like new information posted and stuff.
So far I’ve made the outlines for the first commercial and I plan to release it over Christmas break. Basically I want to use ethos and pathos for the commercial which is essentially appealing to the consumers emotions and I want to use stats with it. I will use some of the commercial tools that I have been learning in Ms Rami’s class. The commercial set up will start off viewing the lands of Pennsylvania then switch to drilling in the earth. Then I want to see if I can have some powerful background music and with that some speech being made by a government official. From there I have many idea’s that would be too much to convey.
I hope to one day meet the guy who made gas lands and see if I can get him involved, because that would be great. As far as the anti-fracking rally is going I need to collaborate more with Alaya White and Julia Boyer

Minneci vs. Pollard (SCOTUS Court Case Summary)

Posted by Donna Survillo in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:07 am

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.

Lobbying Post #4 - Communicating with Blondell Reynolds Brown

Posted by Briana Stroman in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 7:56 am

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.

Lobbying Post #4 Sick Leave (Communication)

Posted by Brittany Riggins in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 7:03 am

       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.

Kern Clarke - Lobbying Blog Post #4

Posted by Kern Clarke in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 5:58 am

BM

Posted by Rick Kinard in Isms - Baird on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:50 am

  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