Pennsylvania's 2008 Presidential Election Returns

Facts:

1. Barack Obama received 54.7%  of all of Pennsylvania's votes, as opposed to John McCain who received 44.3% of the votes.

2. The third and fourth place candidates in the 2008 Presidential Election were Ralph Nader, who received 0.7% of votes, and Bob Barr who received 0.3% of votes.

3. Some voters said that they voted for Obama because they "wanted to be part of history."

4. Pennsylvania last chose a Republican for President when it supported George H. Bush in the 1998 election.

5. 85.6% of voters in the state of Pennsylvania were White.

PA's Congressional Districts

Facts:
1. The Representative for the Fourth Congressional District is Democrat Jason Altmire.
2. The district with the most counties is the Fifth Congressional District with 17 counties.
3. We live in Delaware county, which is in the Seventh Congressional District.
4. Philadelphia County spreads through 5 different Congressional Districts.
5. The Fourteenth Congressional District only has one county in it, Allegheny County.
6. There are only 7 Democratic Representatives in all of the 19 Congressional Districts.
7. The 2010 census showed that Philadelphia county is now the most populous county in the state.
8. Philadelphia county is also part of the Delaware Valley area.
9. Delaware County was created on September 26, 1789, and named for the Delaware River.
10. Montgomery County is a suburban county northwest of Philadelphia, and is also part of the Delaware Valley. 

How Washington Works

Facts:
1. Around 3.5 million people live in the Washington metropolitan area.
2. Washington is certainly not isolated.
3. Almost everyone in Washington has come from somewhere else.
4. Many of the politicians in Washington have a strong hunger for public recognition.
5. "Potomac Fever" is the incurable addiction of wielding political power or feeling at the political center.
6. The city and suburbs of Washington are encircled by a 64-mile freeway loop known as the beltway.
7. The nickname for the department of transportation is pronounced "D-O-T" never "dot."
8. Washington is very open to newcomers.
9. The shorthand for the Department of Housing and Urban Development is pronounced "HUD."
10. Each city has variety, however, Washington only has one priority: politics.

Questions:
1. How many people currently work in the capitol?
2. How much power does Washington actually have over the country?
3. Who came up with the term "Potomac Fever?"
4. Do citizens of Washington feel excluded from the country, considering Washington is not a state?
5. How much of a social impact do political parties have?

Death Penalty Questions

3 Questions that I chose to learn about :

1. How many states have banned the death penalty, and how many states still have it?
2. Why does the process of execution take so long?
3. How many people per year receive the death penalty?

How Birth Control And Abortion Became Politicized

Facts:
1. The first birth control clinic was opened by Margaret Sanger in 1916.
2. In the early 1900's, a study found that 41% of women who had received medical care through clinics operated by New York City's Health Department had never used contraception.
3. Of those 41%, at least half had at least one abortion.
4. At this time, it was illegal for Sanger to give out information on contraceptive options, which angered poor, young women.
5. Passing out such information was illegal under the 1873 Comstock Law.
6. Margaret Sanger was one of eleven kids.
7. Condoms were created in the 1850's due to the start of vulcanization of rubber.
8. By the 1930's, a Gallop poll showed that 75 percent of Americans favored contraception.
9. By the late 1960's, Richard Nixon was pushing congress to increase federal funding for family planning.
10. Nixon was re-elected in 1972; a year later, the Supreme Court issued its key ruling on abortion in Roe vs. Wade.

Questions:
1. Do you feel that abortion should be legal or illegal?
2. Which is a better option, abortion or adoption?
3. Are enough women educated on abortion?
4. Are abortions still considered dangerous or unsafe?
5. How many women go through abortions per year?
6. How many doctors were arrested for releasing illegal information?

Frontline: "Lost In Detention"

Facts:
1. Illegal Immigrants are detained prior to being deported.
2. This year, about 400,000 illegal immigrants will be detained and deported.
3. Under Obama, border security has been strengthened.
4. ICE is the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
5. Last year, 195,000 Immigrants were deported.
6. Of the 195,000 immigrants deported, there were 1000 murderers.
7. With Obama's administration, the number of immigrants caught and deported has gone up.
8. A State bill known as "Susana's Law" was introduced to deny funding for secure communities.
9. Secure communities was set up to reduce racial profiling.
10. The Obama administration has made secure communities mandatory.

Questions:
1. Are there any instances where immigrants who are caught are allowed to stay?
2. If someones visa has expired, can they return to their country and receive a new visa?
3. Are there any incentives to reach the target number of deports?
4. What happens if that number is not reached?
5. If people try to help illegal immigrants, can they be arrested as well?

Representatives Committees

Mike Lee's committees:
- Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Committee on Foreign Relations
- Committee on the Judiciary

Facts:
1. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee operates with 4 subcommittees.
2. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and nuclear waste policy, territorial policy, native Hawaiian matters, and public lands.
3. In 1977, The Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs became the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
4. The United States Committee on Foreign Relations is charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate.
5. There are 7 subcommittees of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
6. The committee has considered, debated, and reported important treaties and legislation, ranging from the purchase of Alaska in 1867 to the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.
7. The Committee of the Judiciary has only 18 members.
8. This Committee is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of Federal Judges nominated by the President.
9. The Committee of the Judiciary is one of the oldest in the Senate, being created in 1816.

West Wing: Stackhouse Fillibuster

Facts/Connections:
1. 60 votes are needed to end the debate over a bill.
2. The person who is running the fillibuster can speak about whatever he wants.
3. Drinking, sitting down, or taking a break from talking will all end the fillibuster.
4. The only time the person can take a break from talking is if there is a question that is asked.
5. A little over 24 hours is the record for longest fillibuster.
6. Stackhouse started the fillibuster because a relative had autism.
7. The word fillibuster comes from the Dutch.
8. Once the fillibuster is over, the cloture vote occurs.

Questions:
1. Are there any other stalling methods besides a fillibuster?
2. Can asking a question be considered a fillibuster as well, since it is giving the senator a prolonged break?
3. Do Senators have to sit around while the fillibuster is going on?
4. Are there any rules that the other senators must follow while waiting for a fillibuster to end?
5. Is there any way to stall voting in the House, or only the Senate?

Electoral College

Facts:
1. Nebraska and Maine have already abandoned the winner-take-all system.
2. Mr. Pillegi wants PA to join in abandoning the winner-take-all system.
3. PA is being changed to winner-take-all by congressional district.
4. Whoever wins a certain congressional district, the candidate would receive one electoral college vote.
5. Whoever does better in the statewide race would receive two electoral college votes.
6. If this system had been in place in 2008, Obama would have beaten McCain 11-10 rather than receiving all 21 electoral college votes.
7. PA senator Chuck McIhinney dislikes the plan.
8. Bob Mensch is one of the co-sponsors, and is not on the 2012 ballot.
9. It only takes 6 defections in the Senate, or 11 in the house to stop the bill.
10. California has the most electoral college votes in the country.

Questions:
1. Would this make counting votes harder or easier?
2. What made Pennsylvania decide to propose this plan now?
3. Which party would benefit the most from this?
4. How could this negatively or positively affect voter turnout?
5. Would this lead to more or less campaigning?

John Boehner

Facts:

1. Boehner was forced back to the drawing board on his first package of spending cuts.
2. His "biggest regret" of his speakership was failing to cut a multitrillion-dollar deficit-reduction deal with President Barack Obama after the mere perception that he might give ground on taxes filtered back to his troops.
3. He threatened to punish recalcitrant Republicans by taking away committee assignments.
4. Boehner says it is important to spend less money.
5. Instead of just talking about the importance of trade, we've actually passed free trade agreements.
6. Boehners 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.
7. His leadership frequently blows up in his face.
8. "John kind of watches and sees where it goes and kind of herds the flock that way."

Questions:

1. How come Boehner just sits back and waits for things to happen?
2. Are the things that Boehner has done in his career generally positive?
3. Does he get a good amount of support from his party / do they back what he does?
4. Does Boehner make too many compromises? Should he be more assertive?
5. Why does it seem that most opinions about Boehner are negative?

3 Illegal Immigrant Questions

1. What happens if illegal immigrants have children that were born in the U.S.? Are they also considered illegal immigrants?
2. How many total illegal immigrants are there in the United States? How can the illegal immigrants be stopped without profiling?
3. Are there any advantages to the economy when hiring illegal immigrants? Or is it all disadvantages?

Is the House too small?

Facts:
1. In 1911, Congress arbitrarily decided that 435 was enough and set the number down in a statute.
2. The average U.S. congressional district now contains roughly 640,000 citizens, as opposed to about 200,000 in 1911.
3. From 65 members in its vintage 1789 configuration, the lower chamber grew steadily with each new census count, accommodating the growing population of the country.
4. The representation of minorities lags behind their percentage of the general population.
5. The U.S. population is 12.8 percent black and 14.4 percent Latino, but 9.4 percent and 5.1 percent in the U.S. house, respectively.

Questions:
1. How would the House's operation differ if it were smaller or larger?
2. Are there more advantages or disadvantages to a smaller House?
3. Where did the number 435 come from?
4. Were there issues with the 65 man House that made them decide to add more people?
5. Does the majority party have any advantages in the House?

Opinion:
In my opinion, I believe the House of Representatives should be even larger than 435. A country that prides itself in being a democracy should want as many people to have a say as possible. It is very important that big countries who have big populations should have big legislatures are well. With as many people as our country has, 435 people in the House is certainly not enough.

Representatives Personal Finances

Mike Lee
Lee has a net worth from $32,995 to $193,998 , ranking him 92nd in the Senate. He has 7 assets totaling $82,005 to $234,000. Lee also has 3 liabilities totaling $40,002 to $115,000. He has no transactions, no compensations, and 3 incomes totaling at $822,837.

Bob Casey
Casey's net worth is from $160,020 to $578,000, ranking him 84th in the Senate. He has a total of 14 assets totaling $160,020 to $578,000. He has had three transactions totaling $45,003 to $150,000.

With 50% of our congress being millionairess, we may find it hard to relate to them, or vice versa. Since most congressman are very wealthy, it might be hard for them to relate to the common man, or our middle class. If this be the case, then we can get a better judgment on how much Congressman really do care and try to relate to the common Americans, and we can base our election judgment from what we see.

Due Process "Last Resort"

Facts:
1. Kevin Rojas was sentenced to 15-life in 1992 for a crime he did not commit.
2. He was charged with murder in 1991 because he was wearing an orange jacket similar to the killers.
3. Most of the evidence from the case was never presented in court or even investigated.
4. Spent 4 and a half years behind bars before he was found innocent and released.
5. Only 5% of criminal cases actually have DNA.
6. DNA can help make all the difference in a case whether someone did the crime or not.
7. Lawyers had to grind through the details of the case because there was no DNA to go by.
8. Eye witness identification is a very big issue, something the Supreme Court will hear about soon.
9. Cases are often worked on for 10-15 years.
10. It takes 25 years from the time a death sentence is given , to the actual execution.

Questions:
1. In what ways could our system be changed to make sure that innocent people are not convicted?
2. Has anything changed since this case to make sure nothing happens like this?
3. Should eye witnesses be enough to go on to put someone in jail?
4. If someone is actually guilty and the lawyers prove them innocent, does anything happen or are they just free to go?
5. How many innocent people are behind bars today?

Justice Stevens Most Important Cases

Rasul vs. Bush

Facts:
1. The ruling was 6-3 in favor of Rasul
2. The ruling was set down on June 28, 2004.
3. Was a landmark decision establishing that the U.S. court system has the authority to decide whether foreign nationals held in Guantanamo Bay were wrongfully imprisoned.
4. Guantanamo Bay is a U.S. prison system in Cuba.
5. Shafiq Rasul was released before the decision was handed down.
6. Four British and Australian men were captured in Afghanistan or Pakistan by the American military and transported to Guantanamo Bay.

Questions:
1. How do other countries deal with POW's that they capture?
2. How long were the men imprisoned for before the trial and ruling happened?
3. What could have been done to make sure this didn't happen, or doesn't happen in the future?
4. Does this still happen today?

Supreme Court Justices

Facts:

1. President Bush nominated John G. Roberts, Jr., as Chief Justice, and took his seat on September 29, 2005.
2. Antonin Scalia was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit in 1982.
3. From 1965 to 1988, Anthony Kennedy was a Professor of Constitutional Law at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific.
4. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was instrumental in launching the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.
5. From 1980-1990, Stephen Breyer served as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and as its Chief Judge, 1990-1994.
6. President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009, and she took assumed this role August 8, 2009.
7. From 1995-1999, Elena Kagan was associate counsel to President Clinton and then served as deputy assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Counsel.
8. How long does it usually take from the time a Justice is nominated until they actually assume their role?
9. What credentials do these people need to be appointed Justices?
10. Kagan Served as a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall during the 1987 term.

Court Cases

1. FAA v. Cooper - In 2006, pilot Stanmore Cooper gave information to Social Security, telling them that he was HIV positive in order to receive medical benefits. However, Cooper did not give this information to the FAA. Social Security wrongly released his information to the FAA, leading to Coopers license being suspended. The U.S. court of appeals ruled that Cooper had the right to sue because the exchange of records was improper. This case stood out to me because I really felt that Social Security was so wrong in this situation. Medical records are supposed to be confidential.

2. Kawashima v. Holder - In 1984, Akio Kawashima and Fusako Kawashima, natives and citizens of Japan, were admitted to the United States as lawful permanent residents. Ten years later, in 1994, Akio pleaded guilty to filing a false statement on a federal tax return, and Fusako pleaded guilty to aiding in the false tax return. The couple failed to report $ 245,126 of taxable income from two restaurants they owned. This was considered an aggravated felony, and the courts upheld immigration's process of deporting them. This stood out to me because I totally agree with the ruling. I feel that they should have no chance of ever returning to the U.S. If they did such a bad crime, they should never return.

3. Minneci v. Pollard - 2011 - Richard Lee Pollard, an inmate at a federal prison run by a private company GEO, slipped on a cart and hurt both of his elbows. As GEO employees were transferring him to an outside doctor, he claims he was made to wear a jumpsuit with wrist restraints, despite the fact that he told them it put him in pain. Pollard sued GEO for violating his eighth amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment. Californias U.S district court dismissed the case. But the U.S. court of appeals reversed, concluding that a federal agent put him Pollard in harm. This case stood out to me because I would have assumed the case would have been thrown out by the appeals court as well. I didn't think they would even listen to this case because it is an inmate vs a federal agent, however, his suit worked. 

Roe vs. Wade Handouts

Facts:

1. Viability is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.
2. With respect to the State's important and legitimate interest in the health of the mother, the "compelling" point, in the light of present medical knowledge, is at approximately the end of the first trimester.
3. If the State is interested in protecting fetal life after viability, it may go so far as to proscribe abortion during that period, except when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.
4. The right to privacy is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.
5. Although the results are divided, most of these courts have agreed that the right of privacy, however based, is broad enough to cover the abortion decision.
6. It has been argued occasionally that these laws were the product of a Victorian social concern to discourage illicit sexual conduct.
7. When most criminal abortion laws were first enacted, the procedure was a hazardous one for the woman.
8. Even after 1900, and perhaps until as late as the development of antibiotics in the 1940's , standard modern techniques such as dilation and curettage were not nearly so safe as they are today.
9. Mortality rates for women undergoing early abortions, where the procedure is legal, appear to be as low as or lower than the rates for normal childbirth.
10. The State's interest and general obligation to protect life then extends, it is argues to prenatal life.

Questions:
1. Should women have the right to choose if they want an abortion?
2. How would the founding fathers feel about abortion, taking into account the right to life?
3. Can abortions put the mothers at risk?
4. If states such as Texas don't agree with abortion, how come they still allow it?
5. Can the right to an abortion be taken away? How would the mothers feel?