PAs system for electoral votes

1. Governor Tom Corbett and Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi suggested a plan to change the way PA awards it electoral votes of the winner-takes-all system.
2. The new system would include one electoral vote to be given to each state's Congressional district, and the winner of the popular vote would receive two more.
3. I PA had gotten rid of the winner-take-all system in 2008, President Obama would have bare beaten John McCain in a 11-10 vote, instead of taking all 21 electoral votes.
4. Democrats have won PA in the last five presidential elections, yet it still remains competitive. 
5. Giving two electoral votes to the state winner won't motivate candidates to campaign, as they should, to win the votes.
6. Changing the system would not create a significant improvement for society, and may even make matters worse for existing problems of the electoral college.
7. Republicans worried that Democrats would spend more money for resources in swing congressional districts that were won by them because it's possible to change the state's political standing.
8. The concept of awarding electoral votes by congressional district was introduced and followed by since the 1950s, when a republican senator and GOP Rep. wanted to fight the liberal push for direct popular election of President.
9. A secretive, nonprofit group called All Votes Matter has been pushing the electoral vote scheme since May in PA.
10. Between April and June, this group spent $77,700 to get support from legislation to actually implement this scheme.

1. How is the Electoral College broken?
2. How could Congress improve the electoral college system on a national level?
3. Does Pileggi think his plan is more beneficial or useless for PA and why?
4. Would this plan change the political standing of several states or have no effect (if a state is democrat or republican)?
5. How might elections affect the economy?

representative committee

Representative: Senator Bob Casey Jr.

Committees:

1. Joint Economic Committee:

• It is a bicameral Congressional Committee composed of ten members from each the Senate and the House.
• It was established by the Eployment Act of 1946.
• It makes a continuing study of matters relating to the US economy

2. Foreign Relations Committee

• The committees was established in 1816; it is one of the original 10 standing committee of the Senate.
• Its main job is to help develop and influence US foreign policy.
• Through their power, the committee has helped shape foreign policies related to war, peace, and international relations.

3. Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

• The committee originally began in 1869 as the Committee of Education: It was known throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s as the Education and Labor Committee.
• The committee has broad jurisdictions over the country's health care, education, employment, and retirement policies.
• The committee is composed of 23 Senators: 10 Republicans and 13 Democrats.

lost in detention

Facts:

1. About 400,000 immigrants were detained/deported this year.
2. Under Obama's presidency, there has been a significant increase in finding illegal immigrants compared to presidency under Bush.
3. Federal, state, and local governments work together to find illegal immigrants, especially since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
4. In the previous year, 195,000 people were removed from the U.S. because of crimes they committed.
5. ICE is the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
6. ICE has offices in all 50 states and 47 other countries.
7. ICE's goal is to get 400,000 illegal immigrants every year.
8. People believe the government should reform the law because families are torn apart when American-born children lose their parents, when they are deported for being in the U.S. illegally.
9. 36% of undocumented people that live in the U.S. have a family and lived in the U.S. for 11+ years.
10. Three million immigrants have been detained in detentions, where they are kept until they are sent back to their originating country.

Questions:

1. Why has there been an increase of illegal immigrants just recently/the past couple years?
2. How could the government change the laws to protect children with deported parents?
3. How are harmless illegal immigrants found when they generally blend with U.S. citizens?
4. How do other countries deal with illegal immigrants within their nation?
5. What may cause ICE to find more or less illegal immigrants in our country?

terry Gross

Facts/Details
1. First clinic of birth control was opened in 1916
2. It was opened by Margaret Sanger who was one of 11 children
3. Margaret Sanger came up with the name of birth control
4. Sanger helped deliver mothers baby and raised them after her mother died.
5. Mother died of tuberculosis at young age
6. Sanger became a socialist
7. Birthrates for working class are still very high
8. Sanger decided to try and make contraception legal
9. Condoms started in 1850 which were expensive and hard to get
10. Child birth was very dangerous.

Questions
1. Should abortion be legal for all people?
2. What part of the Constitution deals with abortion?
3. What is abortion such a big issue today?
4. Has abortion always been a big issue?
5. Why was birth control and abortions established?
6. How did the public react to the idea of birth control when it first originated?

John Boehner

Facts:
1.  Speaker of the House
2.  He is a Republican
3.  He claims that he supports the will of the House
4.  He always states what's on his mind
5.  Believes that his and the party's view will become the same after the 2012 election
6.   Feels that the Republicans will keep the majority
7.  The Republicans have used the leverage of having control of a single chamber of Congress to slash 1 trillion dollars from the budget over the next 10 years
8.  Says that they are trying to spend less

Questions: 
1.  Should his attitude be commended or denounced?
2.  Has he kept true to his promises?
3.  Will he remain the Speaker after the next election or will he be replaced in your opinion?
4.  Will he remain Speaker if the Democrats take control of the House?
5.  How is his relationship between himself and the President?

Is the US house too small?

Facts & Details

1. Average U.S. congressional district now has 640,000 citizens
2. There were only 65 members in 1789.
3. In 1911 the US House of Representatives had 435 members which is the same as today.
4.  The British House of Commons has 646 members
5. The U.S.House population is 12.8% black and 14.4% Latino.


Questions:
1. Do most politicians think the number of representatives in the house should be more or less?
2. Why has it stayed the same for so long?
3. Do you expect it to change anytime soon? 
4. For people who want it to become bigger, how many seats would you like to see being added? 
5. What are the pros and cons of a bigger house?

Is the US house too small?
The number our people in the house has stayed the same since 1911. I think it would be a good idea to expand it as our population is growing. I don't feel very strongly about this, since it has been working for a long time with 435 members, it just seems like it should grow as our population grows

Due Process

1. 1.  Only 5% of cases have dna evidence.
2. 2. Witness testimonies can be skewed and unreliable.
3. 3.  Texas has the most executions.
4. 4.  Quincy Spruell served 24 years in prison even though he was not guilty.
5. 5. Kevin Rojas was convicted and charged in 1991
6. 6.  A person can spend 25 years on death row.
8. 7. There are 55 innocence projects in the United States.
9. 8. Jim McCloskey has freed 44 people in the past 40 years.
10. 9. Cases are often worked on for 10-15 years
12. 10. One estimate on the amount of innocent people was about 2 or 3% of those in prisons.
13. Questions:
14. 1. Why might an eyewitness be deemed unreliable?
15. 2. With such a high level of court systems, how can someone be wrongfully accused?
16. 3. Why does it take so long for someone to be executed after a sentence?
17. 4. Why do court cases take so long?
18. 5. What determines a persons sentence?