Classmates bills

Classmates Bills:

S:1108: 10 Million Dollar Solar Roofs Act of 2011: Michael

H.R.3012 - Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act: Matt Tallent

S 1301: Trafficking Victims Protection Re-authorization Act of 2011: Kathleen 

Bill I am going to use:

S. 1067: Nuclear Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act of 2011

Political Cartoon (Part 5)

Questions

1. Do you believe that Wall Street Bankers are really destroying the economy?

2. If you do think they are destroying our economy, do you think they should be jailed instead of the protestors?

3. How can we fill up the jail if they are destroying our economy?

Terry Gross Interview: Interpreting The Constitution In The Digital Era

Facts:
1. Rosens new book is a collection of essays that imagine new technological developments that stress constitutional laws.
2. None of the Amendments give us clear answers to basic problems we have today.
3. A problem that does not really have an answer is "Can a policeman put a tracking device on someones car and track them?". Many court judges have had mixed answers.
4. The problem I said above has the potential to the most important privacy case in the decade.
5. Brandice took a leap when deciding if wire tapping was a invasion of privacy.
6. You dont need a physical tresspass to create a unreasonable search.
7. Open planet is a system that would allow google and facebook to put on a live feed of people and what they did everyday 24/7.
8. The fourth amendment prohibits the government from unreasonable searches and seizures.
9. Facebook is not regulated by the Constitution so they could theoretically put on the Open planet system.
10. Germany has a greater concern for data collecting than the U.S does.

Questions:
1. How can we protect our privacy from Google and Facebook?
2. If the Constitution wanted, could they regulate Facebook?
3. Why is Europe so strict on privacy laws?
4. What do other countries, beside European ones, think about the open planet system?
5. What defines how much privacy we have and when it is invaded?

Electoral College Reform Article Part 2

Facts:
1. The president is not elected directly by the people, but by the electors.
2. Voting begins the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
3. The electoral college is not a college and never meets as a single entity.
4. The electoral college greatly influences the character of parties, the nominating process, and the outcome of a presidential election.
5. The smallest number of electoral votes in a state is three.
6. There are a total of 538 electoral votes and a candidate need a majority of 270 for election.
7. The electoral college usually undermines third parties, which are unlikely to win electoral votes.
8. Electors are, at best, an anachronism and, at worst, capable of distorting or even altering the result of an election.
9. A straight popular election would encourage minor party candidates.
10. The Electoral College triples the political clout of voters.

Questions:
1. How many people are in the Electoral College?
2. What is anachronism?
3. Why do we have to select electors to vote for us?
4. How come we can't just vote for the president directly?
5. Are there any other things that are similar to the Electoral College?

Opinion:
I believe that the Electoral College should be removed. I find it unuseful and unfair for those who voted for a different candidate but still are represented by a elector who is voting for the majority. I think that the U.S. should just count all of the citizens votes for who they want so it would be more fair. Although the process would probably take a long time I believe it will speed up as we get better machines to count more effieciently.

Issue of the Week: The National Debt

1. How does the nation debt affect everyday citizens?
Many people believe that the nation debt has no affect on them, but it acutally does. As the debt gets higher our interest rates that we pay for loans on morgages is affected. It also affects the tax rate we pay and all of the national services we take for granted. A higher debt could potentially mean less social services and other necessities. It could also affect our Nations economic status leading in more spending cuts.

2.Who do we owe money too?

We owe this money to many people. We owe it to foreign investors, foreign governments, foreign investors. We also owe money to a variety of countries as you can see on the chart below.

3. What is the difference between Debt and Defict?

The national debt is the net accumulated borrowing by the federal government. It's the difference between all the money that our federal government has ever spent and all the revenue that it has ever collected since our nation's inception. The annual federal budget defict is the amount our federal government borrows each year.
It's the difference between what the federal government spends and the revenue it receives during a particular year. So each year's deficit is added to the existing debt. When revenue exceeds spending, it's called a surplus, which subtracts from the debt.

Sources:

http://agonist.org/Learning-Center/mortgage/howdoesnationaldebtaffectyou.html

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article1571.html

http://www.greatreality.com/DebtFAQ.htm#WhoOwe

http://www.afn.org/~concord/coalition/debtdef.htm

President Research

John Quincy Adams

1. Having a healthy relationship with Congress when you enter office.

2. Creating programs that would improve the nation as a whole.

3. Fighting for what you believe in.

4. To stick up for the people not treated right.

5. Being able to create something unforgettable

Sources:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnquincyadams

http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/johnquincyadams.html

http://www.nps.gov/adam/jqabio.htm

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0760591.html

New York time budget puzzle

How much did you save?
261 billion

What % came from tax increases?
47%

What % came from spending cuts?
53%

Include a reflection about the decisions you made.
I decided to only cut the things that we really do not need to do in our country. For example foreign aid to other countries. I also decided to cut some military spending to save more money; we do not need more space sending or nuclear arsenal. I decided to remove some troops from Iraq, Asia and Europe. I raised the Medicare and Social Security age to 68 because 3 years is a very little time to wait. People who have high income do not need special benefits if they have money!

Bill examination

Details about bill S. 1067: Nuclear Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act of 2011:
1. It amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to the Secretary of Energy.
2. It conducts research to lower the cost of nuclear reactor systems.
3. It researches modular and small-scale reactors.
4. It is now placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 146.
5. CBO estimates that it would cost approx. 213 million dollars over the 2010-2016 period if implemented.

Questions:
1. Will this bill really do what it is saying it will?
2. How come it costs 213 million?
3. Will the energy saving be worth the money?

Political Cartoon (Part 4)

Questions

1. Are we really bound by our debt?

2. What is the solution to getting rid of these "shackles"?

3. Will we ever truly be free of debt?

Campaign Ad Analysis

1. I saw repetition of the candidates name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zB2rqaLXP4
I thought this was a very fun ad to watch and listen too. I think it was some what effective.

2. There is complimenting terms for the candidate and showing off his accomplishments.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1980
I thought this was informative but boring. Not really effective.

3. On some of the campaign ads the candidates would talk about the lows of the other candidate.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2008
I thought this was kind of mean and did not give much information about the other candidate. Not very effective.

4. There was also humor in ads.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2004
I thought this was amusing and let me know more about the competing candidate. I think it was pretty effective.

5. Some ads used children to make them look good.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1996
I thought this was pretty effective. It let me know the values of the candidates.

6. Candidates would ask questions then answer them and tell them what they would do in some ads.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2008
I thought this was effective and informative.

Conclusion Assertions:
1. Ads do very little to inform people.
2. Ads are very persuasive.
3. Advertising alone will not create a better result for the candidate.

Electoral College Reform

Facts:
1. Undemocratic is one type of criticism of the Electoral College.
2. The electoral college is malapportioned, because each state gets two electoral votes, regardless of the states population.
3. During the presidential election in 2000, about 2% of all the ballots cast were not counted.
4. Gore had 51 million popular votes and Bush had 50.5 million popular votes.
5. Many states have passed laws requiring electors to honor their pledge to the candidate who selected them.
6. Federal judges are not elected at all.
7. The invention of the Electoral College also reflected concerns about the adminstability of a nationwide popular election that have no current validity.
8. If Presidents were elected by popular vote, a nationwide recount might have been unavoidable in 2000.
9. All states now select their Presidential electors by popular vote.
10. No defection by electors has yet swung an election.

Questions:
1. How many people are in the Electoral College?
2. How long do they stay in the Electoral College for?
3. Who selects the people in the Electoral College?
4. What is the point of the popular votes, if becoming a President does not depend on it?
5. What are the requirements to join the Electoral College?

Issue of the Week: The Death Sentence

1. How much does it cost to put someone to death?
The cost varies for each state that has the death penalty. I found out that sometimes to put someone on death row can be even more expensive than putting them in jail for life, which is surprising. In Texas a death penalty case costs an average of 2.3 million dollars, which is 3 times the cost of putting someone in a single cell at highest security for 40 years!

2. What are the methods of execution of a prisoner?
The most commonly used way of executing someone is lethal injection. 1052 people have been put to death this way. Electrocution is another way of executing someone on the death row. 157 people have been put to death this way. There are also gas chambers, hanging and a firing squad.

3. How many people have been killed that were innocent?
I researched this question further and there can not be a exact number to determine how many innocent people have died on the death row. But I also found out that since 1973, over 130 people have been found innocent and released form the death row before acutally being killed. From 1973-1999 there was an average of 3.1 exonerations per year. From 2000-2007 there has been an average of 5 exonerations per year. (An exoneration occurs when a person who has been convicted of a crime is later proved to have been innocent of that crime.)

Sources:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf

Two Articles

Despite earmark ban, lawmakers try to give money to hundreds of pet projects (Washington Post):
Facts:
1. Members of the House and the Senate attempted to pack hundreds of special spending provisions into at least 10 bills in the summer and fall.
2.The moratorium is a verbal commitment by the Republican leadership to prohibit lawmakers from directing federal funds to handpicked projects and groups in their districts.
3. Lawmakers have tried to get around the moratorium by promising to allow other groups to compete for the funds.
4. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) wrote to House leaders asking that some flood-protection earmarks be restored, saying her project has been publicly vetted and her constituents’ safety is put at risk by flood-prone rivers around Sacramento.
5. The Congressional Research Service found that earmark spending nearly tripled over a 15-year period, to $31.9 billion in 2010, the year before the ban.
Source:
http://www.taxpayer.net/resources.php?action=issues&proj_id=5004&category=&type=Project

Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program: Renewable and Energy Efficiency Loan Guarantees:
Facts:
1. The Department of Energy program that backed Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer which went bankrupt on August 31.
2. A second taxpayer-backed project, Beacon Power Corporation, has also gone bankrupt.
3. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), better known as the stimulus, created a new program of loan guarantees under the Department of Energy’s Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program, known as 1705.
4. 1705’s loan guarantees, did not require companies applying for a loan guarantee to self-pay the credit subsidy cost but rather had Congress pay it through appropriated funds.
5. The 1705 section of Title XVII is the only section that has any finalized loan guarantees out the door.
Source:
http://www.taxpayer.net/resources.php?action=issues&proj_id=4998&category=&type=Project

Pending Bills

1. S. 499: Bonneville Unit Clean Hydropower Facilitation Act

Description:
A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the development of hydroelectric power on the Diamond Fork System of the Central Utah Project.

Status:
This bill was considered in committee which has recommended it be considered by the Senate as a whole.

2. S. 1067: Nuclear Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act of 2011

Description:
A bill to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the Secretary of Energy to carry out a research and development and demonstration program to reduce manufacturing and construction costs relating to nuclear reactors, and for other purposes.

Status:
This bill was considered in committee which has recommended it be considered by the Senate as a whole.

3. S. 629: Hydropower Improvement Act of 2011

Description:
A bill to improve hydropower, and for other purposes.

Status:
This bill was considered in committee which has recommended it be considered by the Senate as a whole.