In choosing my 12 items, initially I chose the ones I did because we were all blurting them out to each other in class, but then I looked a little deeper and found a few, I felt related more to me in negative in positive ways, then they may have impacted my classmates. This project wasn't difficult at all. The only difficult part was picking the topics, once I had them, it was pretty easy from there. I think that as I get older my life while become more affected by the government because as you grow up, you start to encounter new things of the "adult world", which is dominanted by the government, there's a law for just about everything you do as an adult. Overall, I enjoyed this project because it was pretty easy and helped me to learn about things in our social justice system.

 The  Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 was first introduced to the House January 5, 2007, by George Miller. The first thought would be to write his office a letter about how more change needs to be made, but as of January 3, of this year (2011) he is no longer in office. The next person of power who was one of the bills largest supporters that I would write would be Arlen Specter, as well as Chaka Fatah. As they are huge supporters of the bill and they are the senator and state representative of my district. I chose to write a letter because any other method, such as a PSA or ads would be difficult. A PSA would be difficult jus because Id like to show the suffering people go through from lack of income firsthand and I doubt there is anyone who’d like to volunteer their life to be shown on TV. I also feel as though, ads are very ineffective because I myself see a million ads a day, and remember very few of them.

So, I wrote a letter to the Chaka Fatah, as well as Arlen Specter:

“Dear  ____ :

Hello, my name is Alexis Montgomery and I attend Science Leadership Academy. Recently, one of our assignments in our American Government class was to choose a topic we felt strongly bout and lobby it. I chose to lobby Minimum Wage. From the beginning of time, when people decided to start trading money, jewels, valuables, etc in return for labor, one of the biggest issues was the amount of wages the laborer received. This problem had reached such signifigance in the US that the Fair Labor Standards Act was initially introduced to the House in 1938. The Fair Labor Standards Act applies to "employees who are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or who are employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce", unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage. This first act opened the doorway to change in America, from then on every few years, new acts were created to change the amount of wages paid to workers through bills such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Department of Defense Authorization Act of 1986, etc.

In 2008, the wages reached an all-time high of $7.25 due to the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. This change created  a large jump in the poverty line graph from year to year. Although we’ve made such progress, we haven’t made enough. I’m sure your already aware that 15% of the United States lies below the poverty line STILL. Yes, we cant save everyone, but if we can lower that number as much as possible at least we’ve accomplished something.

Through examination of minimum wage, I’ve researched, in the 2009/ 2010 Poverty Guildlines, that the poverty line, or “poverty threshold” in this country for a 3 unit size household is $18, 310. This number, is considering that all three family members work. What about single mothers with children? Even a single mother with two children, who are too young to work, the poverty line would be $10,830. Is that really all a mother and her children can live off? If the minimum wage is $7.25, and the mother works 40 hours a week, she only makes $7,540. That is still $3,290 below the poverty line. How is the minimum wage effective, if this still leaves some people working their tales off, but still coming below the poverty line. I applaud your effort in helping and voting for the Fair Minimum wage Act of 2007 and I ask that you please take this consideration. I hope that you reply to this email.

Alexis Montgomery

Science Leadership Academy

55 N. 22^nd St.

Philadelphia, Pa 19103

(215) 910 0637

The task I chose was adoption. I decided to do this topic because adoption to me is really interesting, jus the way it helps to get children into safe homes and families is such a good idea to me. The job you gave us to do, was to create a flow chart , get paper work, as well as write a summary about our process. The flow chart was created, we couldn't get paperwork , and this is the summary. The flow chart is based off the process that is taken to adopt a child and questions created to determine if you've taken each step in the accurately. In my personal research, on Adopting. org I found that adoption is quite the job. There’s several steps involved such as:

• Educate yourself and your family members.
• Decide what type of adoption you want pursue.
• Investigate ways to handle adoption expenses.
• Select adoption agency/facilitator and/or attorney
• Complete an agency application form.
• Begin the home study process.
• Attend pre-adoption and parenting classes.
• Be matched with or locate a child.
• Prepare for your child's arrival.
• File a petition to adopt.
• Finalize the adoption.
• Post-adoption services and education.

During this process of adoption, you have to fill out a lot of paperwork, mainly in each step you take, but the most important sets of paperwork you have to complete are the actual petition to adopt, post-adoption contact agreements and the agency application which can be either domestic or international. It is very difficult to find examples of adoption papers and agreements because that stuff is all given by actual agencies and are private documents, I think that its been made this diffucult because of the simple fact that America wants to protect its children in the system, yes they want to provide homes for foster children and orphans, but they want to make sure that they are quality, safe environments for them to be in. I think the majority of the project was okay. Below is an example of a certificate of adoption that must be signed by the court judge when the adoption is final :

As of the last 2 years, minimum wage is set at $7.25. By definition this isn’t really a “good” or bad year for the Minimum Wage Act of 2007, the plan was to raise the wages by 2008, its 2010… the government has done as much raising as they plan on doing, unless another act is created. Which is my new plan of action, as mentioned before, thought the wages have been raised, the amount is only enough to raise our poverty line a few points. Yes, some of the poor are eating, but how much? And what about the others? The Minimum Wage Act of 2007 is highly underpublicized, it seems as ifcitizens see it as “if I’m not scrounging like the poor, why worry about how much THEY make.” People with high salaries, generally pay it no mind because they aren’t paid hourly, and people who have salary jobs usually make more than those who make hourly pay. Therefore they cease to care about the “minimum” at which they aren’t making.

No one realizes how deep we are in the poverty hole. To pull ourselves out we must make change, whether it be little by little or large chunks. The attention of America’s well-known wall street stockholders, as well as our state legislators is needed. Convincing the legislators of the raise in the minimum wage would be needed, then the financial help of stockholders tax dollars is needed to get the pot boiling. My strongest influence would have to on legislators because they are the ones who would have to help me get the bill moving, the tax dollars will come by government enforced laws.

Based on the poverty levels rates, even if the wages were raised to $8.00, on a 40 hour work week for a family of 2 or 3, the poverty line is met. Are we that selfish that we cant raise our rates seventy-five cents more? The facts are there, its jus no one pays them any attention, id be happy to coordinate such a drastic difference in my states level of poverty. The really is no time frame, as long as change is constant, I feel I’d be making a difference.

There currently is no group or organizations helping to raise minimum wage, but maybe that’s where we can begin our change.. starting Minimum Wage Raise Supporters Organization (:

It is no easy task to predict what the future of the human race will be. According to US News, “Humans are evolving faster than ever before, picking up new genetic traits and talents that may help us survive a turbulent future.” The human race, which is a quite intelligent, evolves everyday. Until recently scientists believed that the human evolution had slowed down, due to the lack of visual changes, failing to look deeper into the issue. Human are now evolving within their genomes and DNA, it has been scientifically inferred that with so many changes within the human body as opposed to the physical features, will one day start to change humans outer body.

A recent study in the news, (available on livescience.com) shows that speculation that changes in human mating patterns may be contributing to the increase in autism. Others track how humans have morphed in response to changing circumstances, including enhanced abilities to metabolize sugar and fight disease. One of the biggest changes within human DNA is that some humans are becoming more resistant to the HIV virus and it will become more common in the future, as well as changes in human body makeup. One of the factors of that is that it a new form of DNA testing helps parents choose the genetic makeup of their children, rejecting embryos with inherited flaws or embracing those with desired traits—such as being the right sex. The future of human evolution is based on the future of new testing techniques.

Sorry this is late, I thought I uploaded, but didn't...

Dear Citizens of America,

            On April 30^th of 2004 I proposed to Congress the idea of raising the minimum wage rate because of the effect it has on our country. Citizens of America fail to see that our countries economy isn’t flourishing as well as it could be, considering the amount of poverty we have in this country. According to the US Census Bureau, 35.9 million people live below the poverty line, that including 12.9 million children. Poverty is not tied to an absolute value of how much an individual or family can afford, but is tied to a relative level based on how much the average individual makes. Statistics show that most Americans will live below the poverty line for at least one year when they are in between the ages of 25 and 75.

Minimum wage from $5.15 to $7 over three years and would be the first raise in the minimum wage in seven years. Under the suggested bill, the minimum hourly wage would increase by $0.70 two months after the legislation is signed into law. One year later, it would increase again by $0.60, and in the third year the minimum wage would increase by $0.55, bringing the minimum wage to $7 an hour. Currently working at a job, which is 40 hours a week, that being 52 weeks in a year, when worked out the average worker would have earned only $10,700, within that year, which is still $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. One parent working 40 hours per week at current minimum wage earns only 40% of the estimated cost to raise two children. How can we live off of just that?

As senator, I proposed this bill hoping to get it passed, in order to create a higher living standard for those of poverty and those who are poor, but on October 19^th, 2004, my bill was voted against. This infers to me, how much do our politicians care about our people? Are we living in the same world? Or is it that because the politicians earn so much money off of American citizens tax dollars that the issues of whose suffering because of the laws congress set in place doesn't matter?

In 2005, I attempted to propose my bill again, but again it was rejected. In 2007, my comrade George Miller came up with the idea that the minimum wage rate conflicted with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which made the House have no choice, but to pass the bill. The act raises the federal minimum wage in 3 increments: to $5.85 per hour 60 days after enactment (2007-07-24), to $6.55 per hour 12 months after that (2008-07-24), and finally to $7.25 per hour 12 months after that (2009-07-24). One of the biggest aspects of the bill was that the republicans and president Bush wanted to add tax cuts of small businesses. The House and the Senate passed the minimum wage on May 24, 2007 as part of HR 2206, the supplemental aid of the Iraq War. As part of the deal, $4.8 billion worth of tax breaks are going to be given to small business over a 10-year period to offset the wage increase.

Minimum wage didn’t change for tipped employees, leaving it at $5.15 fro most places. Though this bill only suggests a MINIMUM wage, which they can choose to exceed or sustain, I still believe that this isn’t enough. My original idea was to have it increase, year by year, little by little, to make our society and its price of living more livable. The average person spends about $50 a day according to Us News, $50 multiplied by 365, the amount of days in a year, amounts to $18, 250, which is higher than the poverty line for a family of three people. Even with the raise in minimum wage, the fact still stands that Americans are still living well below the poverty level and most of these Americans have families to take care of and tend to, with the couple thousand dollars they earn a year.

Though, I helped lead the torch in an aspect of Americas economy progression, I don't feel I’ve done enough. We as a culture and people should continue to grow, the stronger we are as a country, the easier it is for us to flourish. This year, I plan to propose, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2010. With the citizens and not just politicians in mind, I am hoping to one day, lessen the percentage of people who are well below the poverty line, instead of watching it grow every year. Supporting our country, helps build our country.

Senator Edward Ted Kennedy

• http://tedkennedy.org/
• http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00002:@@@L&summ2=m
• http://www.themiddleclass.org/bill/fair-minimum-wage-act-2007