[11.30.11] Political Cartoon

1) With the rate of obesity going up, do you think it was right for Congress to declare pizza a vegetable?

2) Why is it such an issue that Obama might have been born in Kenya? The Constitution reads

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

 3) What exactly is so horrible about Newt Gingrich?

[11.29.11] PA's 2008 Presidential Election Returns by District

"[Obama] also gained ground in northeastern and southwestern Pennsylvania — areas crucial to Republican nominee John McCain. McCain prevailed in most of the Republican bastion of central and northern Pennsylvania."

"A former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice had to apologize for a GOP e-mail sent to Jewish voters that likened a vote for Barack Obama to ignoring warning signals that led to the Holocaust."

"Election watchdog groups reported scattered problems at polling places around the state, including malfunctioning machines, understaffed polling places and poorly trained election workers."

"Democrats now outnumber Republicans by more than 1 million in a state that last chose a Republican for president when it supported George H. Bush in 1988."

"Pennsylvania is a strong gun rights state with almost 1 million licensed hunters."

[11.28.11] Pennsylvania's Congressional Districts

1) The 7th congressional district contains the western and northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia.
2) This district had an area of diverse wealth, "ranging from blue collar and working class households... to the affluent Main Line area..."
3) The 1st congressional district includes " primarily central and South Philadelphia, the City of Chester, the Philadelphia International Airport, and other small sections of Delaware County."
4) The 1st congressional district has an "overwhelming Democratic majority."
5) The second district "has an overwhelming Democratic majority. It is the fifth most Democratic Congressional District out of the 435 in the nation, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, with a score of D +38. It is the most Democratic district outside of New York City."
(So NYC has 4 congressional districts?)
6) The 6th congressional district was controversial since people claimed it to be a case of gerrymandering.
7) Ever since the 6th congressional district was redrawn in 2002, the district has gotten much more competitive.
8) Also, the 15th district (Lehigh & Northampton Counties) is usually a heavily contested area (politically).
9) The median income for those living in the 7th congressional district is $56,126.
10) From 1833 to the present, a majority of the representatives from the 7th congressional district have been Republican.

[11.28.11] The Death Penalty

Liam
How severe does a crime have to be to legally gain the ability to end someone's life with the crime?

Justin J.
If the sentence someone to life in prison, why not just sentence them to the death penalty?

Tristan G.
How much does it cost to pay for the death penalty, with court cases and expenses included? How does it compare to the inmate living in a prison?

Answers can be found here, here, here, and here.
Interesting website : LINK

[11.22.11] How Washington Works

Facts
1) Congress works from Monday afternoon to Friday morning so members have more time to communicate with constituents.
2) People who go to D.C. to serve in the executive branch or Congress usually stay in that city and "become lawyers, lobbyists, or consultants" when "their president leaves office or they lose their congressional seats."
3) (I find it a bit strange but fascinating how) "personal relationships often cut across party and ideological lines."
4) "Washington jargon" - Dept of housing and Urban Development is pronounced "HUD" but DOT (Dept of Transportation) is pronounced D-O-T.
5) "Sometimes an amendment [to a bill] is a complete substitute bill with quite different impact and meaning, known in the trade as a "killer amendment."
6) "The political community lurches from one passion to the next," yet
7) A majority of the "passions" are "one-subject": politics.
8) "The city and its suburbs are encircled by a sixty-four-mile freeway loop known as the beltway."
9) Newt Gingrich considers all of this a game.
10) "Patomic fever" - "the incurable addiction of wielding political power or feeling at the political center."

Questions
1) The government pays for the airfares of the members of the Congress, right? (To and from their state)
2) How much of an effect does this "D.C." culture have in laws, policies, etc?
3) What is the reason why most politicians entered politics in the first place?
4) How many politicians are more interested in the attention rather than the "power"?
5) Is there such a difference between D.C. and the rest of the country?
6) How often are representatives from other states noticed? (Do reps get THAT much attention?)
7) Does D.C. have a high rate of crime? (Amount of people)
8) How much do representatives consider their constituents?
9) Have there recently been any physical fights between representatives? How friendly are reps to the other party?
10) How many jobs are there in D.C. that revolve around the government?

[11.17.11] Terry Gross Interview

Facts

1) The first birth control clinic oppened in 1916.
2) Sanger was arrested for simply giving out information about contraception.
3)"[The Comstock Act] classified all sorts of printed material as obscenity and specified contraception as obscene so that it [was] illegal to send through the U.S. mail ... information, even in a philosophical sense, about reducing a woman's fertility." || Could not speak, write, publish about contraception.
4) Contraception came out of the fear of death during childbirth.
5) There was a fear that contraception would lead to more women commiting adultery.
6) The New York Penal Code prevented Sanger from distributing things about contraception.
7) Mississippi rejected an initiative that would have granted rights of personhood to an fertilized egg.
8) Birth rate has been falling among wealthier and more educated women.
9) 1960s - role of government in overpopulation a big issue.
10) 1970 - Title 10 - much more government intervention that provides funding for family planning services

Questions
1) Wouldn't the Cornstock Act have been a violation of the first amendment?
2) Is there still a overpopulation problem now?
3) Isn't childbirth more safe now?
4) Why didn't people come up with more ways to control the population without contraception?
5) Do people want to have less kids now? Why or why not?
6) What were people's reactions to Sanger's "movement"?

[11.16.11] Frontline - Lost in Detention

Facts
1) Obama is more strict on immigration.
2) Secure Communities consists of local law enforcement that try to track down illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
3) Less than 20% of illegal immigrants deported from Illinois committed a serious crime.
4) 46% of illegal immigrants have live in the US for at least 11 year, undocumented.
5) There are around 250 detention centers.
6) There is a required number of illegal immigrants that need to be deported each year (for ICE).
7) Some people believe that Secure Communities actually is doing more damage rather than helping this situation.
8) Four and a half citizen children living in the US where one or both of the parents are undocumented.
9) No access to attorneys = detainees are more less likely to have legal protection in case of physical or sexual abuse.
10) If detainees tell someone in charge about physical or sexual abuse, it may get worse for them...

Questions
1) What happens when people who have children are taken away?
2) When, if ever, is it okay for an illegal immigrant to gain citizenship?
3) Can the US government force an American-born child to leave the country if his/her parents are deported? (Both)
4) Are the detention centers like the internment camps?
5) How harsh are punishments for guards that don't act in a proper manner?

[11.16.11] Committees of Congress

Mike McIntyre
Member, House Committee on Agriculture
*"Precedent is also used to determine committee jurisdiction."
*Jurisdiction includes agricultural economics and research, the dairy industry, human nutrition and home economics, and more.
*The subcommitties for the House Committee on Agriculture include Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture; Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry; Nutrition and Horticulture; General Farm Commodities and Risk Management; Department Operations, Oversight, and Credit; and Conservation, Energy, and Forestry.



Bob Casey
Member, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
*Jurisdiction includes the "acquisition of land and buildings for embassies and legations in foreign countries."
*Also included are the "international activities of the American National Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross."
*Also has an influence on "international law as it relates to foreign policy."

Member, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
*"The Subcommittee has jurisdiction over a wide range of issues including Head Start, child care and child support such as the Child Care & Development Block Grant, the Family Medical Leave Act, National Service, women and children’s healthcare, and other issues involving children, youth, and families."
*"It is the committee that generates proposals to change the health care system, the minimum wage, working conditions and compensation, and welfare and labor laws."
*"The committee is also responsible for how the Food and Drug Administration operates, including the process for approving drugs and medical devices."

[11.15.11] West Wing - The Stackhouse Filibuster

Facts
1) People who keep a filibuster going can talk about anything they want.
2) People who filibuster can not stop talking, even if they want to eat, drink, or use the bathroom.
3) Those people also cannot sit down or lean on anything.
4) A filibuster is when someone is objected to a certain bill and wants to prevent it from passing.
5) A bill goes to the House and to the Senate. When a filibuster occurs, it only happens in the Senate due to the limit of time for a speech in the House.
6) The conference chairman should be the head of the conference committee (right?). THe conference committee is the group that makes compromises on the bill that the House and Senate disagree on.

STACKHOUSE
Of course you can. You simply pick up the phone, you call the Conference
Chairman, and...

7) The Senator is allowed to yield for a question without yielding the floor.
8) A filibuster can be initiated by a group of people.

Question
1) Why can people who filibuster be allowed to talk about something that is completely unrelated to the topic?
2) What is the origin of a filibuster? (Who came up with this idea?)
3) Why are the "rules" for a filibuster the way they are?
4) Are filibusters usually effective?
5) Can other senators leave the room to eat or drink, for example, while someone is filibustering?

[11.13.11] PA's Electoral College Votes

Details
1) Dominic Pileggi, PA's Senate Majority Leader, created a plan what would have "electors chosen out of congressional districts with the remaining two going to the statewide winner."
2) Nebraska and Maine have abandoned the "winner-take-all system."
3) Candidates would only need to win a bare majority if this plan was to be put into effect.
4) A group called "All Votes Matter" has been pushing for this since May.
5) If the system changes, then PA will not be as important a state for electoral votes as before.
6) Voting turnout may quite possibly go down since the state does not have as great of an impact on the election.
7) "Many believe that the move to change PA's electoral vote apportionment was a proper Republican response to polls showing nationwide voter dismay over the present Electoral College system...."
8) Some Republicans are against the plan.
9) Even Nebraska Republicans are thinking of chainging their system.
10) People may get harrassed because of this (All Votes Matter doesn't disclose its donors "as a matter of policy, per the request of many of them," Gerow told Mother Jones. "It's their legal right not to have it disclosed, and they don't want it disclosed so they're not subject to media calls and other potential harassment," he added.)

Questions
1) What's so bad about this change if it goes into effect?
2) What is the reason for this change?
3) Why was it the "winner-take-all" system in the first place? (Who established this system?)
4) The souce of money counts in this situation?
5) How would this new system be unfair?

Additional source HERE.

[11.9.11] House Speaker John Boehner

Facts/details
1) His "package" of spending cuts did not work out.
2) "Boehner’s Republicans have used the leverage of controlling a single chamber of Congress to slash $1 trillion or so from the budget over the next decade."
3) He wrote "an overhaul of pension laws."
4) "Boehner doesn’t exercise authoritarian power."
5) He threatened to puncish "recalcitrant Republicans by taking away committee assignments."
6) “Speaker Boehner has historically claimed that he supports the will of the House working its way."
7) After winning control of the House, his personality has not changed...
8) House speaker and house majority leader are not the same position.

Questions
1) What exactly does the role of house speaker have?
2) What does it mean when one controls a "single chamber of Congress"?
3) How would one exercise "authoritarian power" in the House?
4) Is he not really opposed to the outcome of each "debate" over each issue?
5) What is so significant about Boehner?

[11.9.11] Is the US House Too Small?

Facts
1) Brian Frederick's research suggests that "as districts get bigger in population, constituents are less likely to report that they had contact with their member of Congress, less likely to report that their member would be helpful? and less likely to favorably evaluate their member of Congress."
2) Rein Taagepera's "cubed root law" says that the cube root of the nation's population would be the desired number of people in the house.
3) The bigger the government or number of representatives ("institution"), the "less smoothly it often operates."
4) The results of a recent poll shows that 20% of the population support on increasing the number of people in the House, 60% want the number to stay the same, and 20% want to decrease the number.
5) By increasing the number of representatives, "'you're asking people to support more politicans, to pay more salary, and to many people that may not be an easy cost to bear.

Questions
1) Why was 435 the set number in the first place?
2) Could one split up bigger districts?
3) In what places were there an increase in population?
4) How would one change the set number of representatives?
5) Where does it say that 435 was the set number?

Opinion
I do not feel that the number of members should stay at 435. When the founding fathers set the government up, the Great Compromise stated that the members of the House of Representatives would depend on the state's population... So for however many people, there is a representative, right? I wonder why the number is at 435. To be honest, I did not know that the number of members was set until a few days ago. Citizens of the United States should be familiar with their representative in the House.

[11.7.11] Illegal Immigration

Christina N. - Are illegal immigrants that great of a threat to our country?
Answers to each side of each argument can be found HERE.


I personally do not think that illegal immigrants pose a threat to the United States. It isn't like a majority of the immigrants are terrorists; most are unhappy with their country and want to come here and start a new life. Besides, Paul F. deLespinasse stated that "But the scoundrels who took out the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and four planeloads of travelers came into the U.S. legally." In addition, illegal immigrants take the jobs that Americans do not want. Take for example the law that was passed that did not allow illegal immigrants to work on farms/fields. The people in charge complained that their tomatoes, for example, were picked when they were too ripe since there were not enough workers.... Also, the non-illegal immigrant workers that they hired did not do their jobs well enough.

[11.8.11] Representatives' Finances

First thing - I love how on the "why does this matter" page, they encourage people to contact their representatives in the government if they want to find out more about their personal finances. Will the representatives really agree to reveal more things? Do they think it's a violation of privacy?

The people's assets, liabilities, and such are really shocking to me as well - not because of the numbers but because of the detail. Not only do they list the organization, they also list the value of each.

At first, I was surprised at the difference of net worth for Bob Casey (HERE) and Mike McIntyre (HERE), but then I looked and was reminded of the fact that Casey is a Senator and McIntyre is a member of the House. I wonder, is the difference between the two really that much? I figured that yes, it was... Since things are more "diluted" (forgot where I heard this term for things in the House).

[11.6.11] Due Process - "Last Resort"

Facts/details
1) DNA plays a huge part in a criminal case.
2) However, it is only used about only 5% of the time.
3) Eyewitnesses also have a role in determining whether or not a person is guilty. There have been several cases where the eyewitness has lied.
4) In the past 20 years, more than 270 exonerations have been made due to Scheck and the use of DNA evidence.
5) The number of death sentences and executions has gone down over the last 10 years.
6) On average, it takes about 25 years from getting sentenced to death to being executed.
7) $187 million more is spent on those in death row
8) Lawyers sometimes assume the worst and believe that their clients are guilty.
9) Psychologists are trying to find ways to reduce the risk of error for witness testimonies.
10) New Jersey and New Mexico are some of the states that repealed capital punishment.

Questions
1) What does new evidence have to do with constitutional claim?
2) Should witnesses be used at all? How much "help" do they provide?
3) Is there any way to guarantee an honest witness?
4) For the people that have been found to be not guilty (after several years in prison) & were released, do they get any compensation from the government?
5) Do people consider taking people off death row because of the expense?

[11.3.11] Justice Stevens - Lawrence v. Texas

Facts
1) Stevens was on the majority side that ruled to overturning the ban on same-sex sexual intimacy
2) The Court ruled that the Texas law that prohibited same-sex sexual intercourse violated the Due Process Clause.
3) Bowers v. Hardwick, a case that stated that  "there was no constitutional protection for acts of sodomy," was overruled.
4) The decision was 6 to 3, with Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas dissenting.
5) Interestingly enough, the legal provision that was used for Bowers v. Hardwick was also Due Process.
6) Justice Kennedy said that "the Texas statute furthers no legitimate state interest which can justify its intrusion into the personal and private life of the individual."


Questions
1) How would Texas enforce their law?...
2) What is the reason behind Justice O'Connor's decisions for the two cases?
3) How did the other court justify their position when they said same-sex intercourse was not allowed because it was not "deeply rooted in the Nation's history and tradition"?
4) Why did the oyez website say that the conviction of this couple did not violate their rights?


http://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1985/1985_85_140
http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2002/2002_02_102

[11.3.11] The Supreme Court Justices

1) Many of the justices seem to have been law professors at colleges or universities.

2) How does one qualify to be a justice nominee?

3) Many were also Assistants to the Attorney General, either nationwide or statewide.

4) Currently, there are three women on the court.

5) All justices have been judges for the Court of Appeals (each in his or her own circuit).

6) Every justice except for Alito has received their B.A.

7) Is there a recommended number of years of experience one needs in law before they become a justice?

8) Justice Scalia has nine children.

9) It took about 3 months for the two newest justices to go from being a nominee to being appointed to the court.

10) What "special" powers does the chief justice have, if any?

11) Justice Kennedy and I have the same birthdate!

[11.3.11] Court Cases

KOREMATSU v. UNITED STATES - 1944
The United States military authority declared some areas of the country "critical to national defense and potentially vulnerable to espionage" and ordered those of Japanese descent to leave. The Supreme Court declared this constitutional because although Korematsu's rights were violated, the United States was in a circumstance of "emergency and peril."
I felt that this was extremely interesting because the government was singling the Japanese (and Japanese-Americans) out... I know that today, the national government can tell people to move because they want to build something on the people's land (eg a highway), but those people are compensated. I wonder if the Japanese were compensated as well.


MAPP v. OHIO - 1960
Ohio police illegally searched Dollree Mapp's house for a fugitive and found that she had "obscene materials" in her possession. She "appealed her conviction on the basis of freedom of expression." The Supreme Court decided that since the evidence that was collected in violation of the fourth amendment (search and seizure), it was not legit in court.
I found this intriguing because although Mapp might have done something illegal, she was "let go" because the method by which the evidence was obtained violated her rights.


LEMON v. KURTZMAN - 1970
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island had statutes that "provided financial support for teacher salaries, textbooks, and instructional materials for secular subjects to non-public schools. The Rhode Island statute provided direct supplemental salary payments to teachers in non-public elementary schools. Each statute made aid available to 'church-related educational institutions.'" The Supreme Court decided that the states violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. I found it a bit strange how this clause was put "into action"; the states could not help fund non-public, religious schools.