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How to Register a Child with CHIP

Posted by Theodora Farah in American Government - Laufenberg on
View the flowchart here!


​    I chose to register a child with CHIP, Pennsylvania's state children's health insurance.  One can register with CHIP online, on paper or over the phone.  I focused on applying online, while Lola recorded the process of filling out a paper application.  Applying online was surprisingly straightforward, though I'm sure the paper application was much more confusing and tedious.
    The most confusing part of using COMPASS, the online application system, to apply for CHIP was the site itself.  COMPASS is only compatible with Internet Explorer or Firefox.  Using the "back" and "forward" buttons may cause one to lose all the information they've entered.  I have a feeling that someone who isn't very familiar with computers would have quite a bit of trouble.  Fortunately, there are tutorials to help people understand how to use the site, as well as YouTube videos that explain where on the site to go and what information to have beforehand.
​    If I could change one thing about this process, I would make it easier to understand exactly what one is getting.  The site has instructions and guides to entering information, but it's hard to understand what one is applying for beyond "health insurance" or "food stamps."
​    I'd guess that the systems are so complicated because there's so much information out there to define us--aside from the basic things like name, birth date and social security number, pieces of information like what medical procedures we've had and where we work are all part of what identify us as individuals and it's important to be constantly making sure that everything matches up.  In addition, there are so many people using the same systems that if we simply gave our names, we'd be indistinguishable from however many other people there are in the state or country that happen to share our name.



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Teaching Certificate

Posted by Anonymous in American Government - Laufenberg on
​TeachingPositionsInPA Brittany and I worked together on this project displaying the process of filing for a teaching permit. We tried to make our flow chart as simple as possible so it wont be too complicated. As far as the paperwork goes, it was pretty straight forward, and easy to fill out. 

Block Party

Posted by Anonymous in American Government - Laufenberg on
  • My partner and I researched the process to get a permit for block parties in the city of Philadelphia. For the process, the person who wants to arrange the block party has to do couple things before he/she can get a permit for the block party. First thing that person has to do is go to "Streets Department" on JFK Blvd to get the application. After that's done, there's two parts to the application first page is a form asking for basic information such as the person's name, address and which block(s) will be blocked. The second page is a petition where the residents of the street thats going to be blocked has to sign it which means they don't have a problem with the street being blocked. It requires the name, signature and address of the resident. 75 percent of signatures has to be residents of that certain block.  After that is completed, a 20 dollar check or money order is required with the application. If the application is being turned in 21 days before the event date then the cost will be 45 dollars. Once everything is turned in, wait for the application to process and obtain the permit. In my opinion this process is really simple and easy. Its also fair because without the permission of other residents, a block party wouldn't take place. 

SCOTUS Case: Hall vs. United States - Ian McClendon

Posted by Ian McClendon in American Government - Laufenberg on
SCOTUS Blog Case: Hall vs. United States 

For the case description plain english whether capital gain taxes created by the sale of the family farm during a Chapter 12 bankruptcy proceeding are payable as an administrative expense under the bankruptcy reorganization plan?

Facts of the case Lynwood and Brenda Hall had to file for Chapter 12 Bankruptcy and in due had to pay $980,000 in bankruptcy debt. Hall was forced to sell their family farm to pay for the debt. But what Hall didn't see coming is that there was also a capital gains tax of $26,000. Hall wanted the taxes to be payed as a part of the bankruptcy. Much of the IRS disowns these request because the accumulated gain taxes were presented in 2005. But what is stated in Chapter 12 is that when filed the debt towards the debtor or the debtors property "automatically stays". But which is also stated under the 11 U.S.C. § 362(B) does not operate as a sort of tax refund to the debtor. That was from just researching the Bankruptcy Filing Chapter which I just found out that is irrelevant.  

Before the Argument written by Ronald Mann, he describes this case as being a classic puzzle. Also he explains that they were lucky to find a purchaser that would be willing to pay well above for the debt against it. With some over view there might be some good beginning statements for her case but the process for completing the Chapter 12 Bankruptcy was done incorrectly.  

My Prediction of the Outcome I believe that this case does bring up many constitutional and congressional questions to how this case should be handled but it shows more in favor of the United States for Hall to pay for the $26,000 gains tax. Being in debt since 2005 and then filing for bankruptcy should cover when the trustee is not controlled by the estate and when the estate does not cover administrative fees the taxes should be payed. Also as said, they were lucky to find a purchaser to pay with already larger amount of applied debts. 

Hall vs. United States

Posted by Anonymous in American Government - Laufenberg on
​SCOTUS Blog Case: Hall vs. United States 

For the case description plain english whether capital gain taxes created by the sale of the family farm during a Chapter 12 bankruptcy proceeding are payable as an administrative expense under the bankruptcy reorganization plan?

Facts of the case Lynwood and Brenda Hall had to file for Chapter 12 Bankruptcy and in due had to pay $980,000 in bankruptcy debt. Hall was forced to sell their family farm to pay for the debt. But what Hall didn't see coming is that there was also a capital gains tax of $26,000. Hall wanted the taxes to be payed as a part of the bankruptcy. Much of the IRS disowns these request because the accumulated gain taxes were presented in 2005. But what is stated in Chapter 12 is that when filed the debt towards the debtor or the debtors property "automatically stays". But which is also stated under the 11 U.S.C. § 362(B) does not operate as a sort of tax refund to the debtor. That was from just researching the Bankruptcy Filing Chapter which I just found out that is irrelevant.  

Before the Argument written by Ronald Mann, he describes this case as being a classic puzzle. Also he explains that they were lucky to find a purchaser that would be willing to pay well above for the debt against it. With some over view there might be some good beginning statements for her case but the process for completing the Chapter 12 Bankruptcy was done incorrectly.  

My Prediction of the Outcome I believe that this case does bring up many constitutional and congressional questions to how this case should be handled but it shows more in favor of the United States for Hall to pay for the $26,000 gains tax. Being in debt since 2005 and then filing for bankruptcy should cover when the trustee is not controlled by the estate and when the estate does not cover administrative fees the taxes should be payed. Also as said, they were lucky to find a purchaser to pay with already larger amount of applied debts. 

FASFA Application

Posted by Uyen Nguyen in American Government - Laufenberg on
Heres a link to our Lucid Chart

FAFSA
FAFSA
​Uyen Nguyen Reflection 

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Our task is to print out a  "Free Application for Federal Student Aid" to complete the process. Over all it was challenge to do research and find everything that was required to complete the project. However, it was much easier to finish with a partner. We split up the work and help each other though each process from printing out the paper, getting all of the information that we needed to fill out the application to summarized everything we've done in a flowchart. 


Before making a flowchart process, first we sat down and filled out the paper application and tried to figure out all of the information that will be included in the paper process. It was really straight forward, however it was not an easy process because we had a lot of missing informations. Therefore, we actually have to keep in hands a list of informations/paper that we need in able to speed up the paper process. Though there were  a lot of questions and text, but with the help from each other and with all of the materials that we have we were able to get though the process. 

If I could change one thing about the bureaucratic process that my partner and I flow charted, I think the both of us will put more information to make the process less confusing and more reasonable. Even though we included majority of the important information and process, we might have left out little progress that might be useful to some people. Therefore, it's really important to include everything we have in the chart to make sure we are helping others 100%.  

I do not believe that the system is complicated at all, in my opinion, we the people are making the system complicated and not the system it selve. Some of the part might be complicated due to many inconveniences and because people might have abused the system in the pass. However, it it not the big reason why it' seem complicated. It's because we are not putting enough time to read and find the right way to get though the process without delay. 





Marriage Application

Posted by Amaris Romero in American Government - Laufenberg on
MarriageAppliction-1
Click Here to view the Marriage Application Flow Chart online.

Reflection:
​​For the project that was assigned to us, John and I decided to research the process of the marriage application. We really went deep into the research and provided all of the steps that are required for the marriage application. We chose to have a person explore throughout the flow chart the entire process and all the steps that are needed. We explained what would happen if you were a minor from the ages of 15-17 or younger. We explained the overall process on what it is exactly that you need in order to get married. Who are the people that need to be involved what kind of documents that are needed. We made sure all the very important facts about the process were given such as the "stop" signs we put in between. We put the "stop" signs in order to aware the reader of the little important things that MUST be acknowledged.

The process was very simple I believe because we only used one website which provided us with all the information all the steps that is required for a marriage license. The more complicated part for us was actually printing out a PDF form of the marriage license. We couldn't find no Marriage form for marriage in the Philadelphia county because in order to get an actual form we would have to pay $80 and we would have to be go down to city hall and request a form. We ended up downloading a Bucks county form of the marriage license and just used the steps that Philadelphia would use for the marriage process.

The paper work, the marriage license form (downloaded) was very simple and easy to complete. We each filled out one side of the form the "Female's statement" and the "Male's statement" we decided to create two different people with very different backgrounds and from their we finished the form process. We also had to write in BLACK pen otherwise the form wouldn't be accounted for.
If I were to change one thing about this flow chart, honestly I wouldn't change anything because I feel as though it gets to the point, it's informative, I DON'T believe that it's BORING and I believe we provided everything that was needed. I feel like the overall product came out well done. :)

I believe that the systems became so complicated for the Marriage application process because they want to be very sure and up to date on what it is that people are doing and who they are getting married to. I believe that they just want to be aware just in case they plan to marry again in the same state while they are already married. I also thing that it's to keep all of their documents in the systems just in case anything were to happen to those who are getting married.
Overall I think this project is well though out and well managed and organized.

FAFSA!! - You're Welcome.

Posted by Natasha Ashby in American Government - Laufenberg on
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Click HERE to learn more about the Application Process Flow Chart for FAFSA.




Reflection


To make things easier, we split up the applying process into two parts: electronic application and paper application. Fafsa is free and is for anyone looking to apply for financial aid. For Fafsa, Uyen and I decided to fill out the paper application, seeing as though we could not yet access the online version. The application was pretty straight forward and was extremely similar to the CSS form that I had to fill out for Ithaca College. Some colleges require it, while others don't. Because I had filled out that CSS form, filling out the Fafsa form was pretty easy. They asked te same questions that were based around my education, birth, and my parents tax forms. With these materials at hand, I just followed the questions and directions as best to my ability. The questions are not difficult to where you would not understand what they are asking but if I did not, I just asked my dad since he was more familiar with how tax reports are supposed to be read.

             If I were to change one thing about the bureaucratic process that we flowcharted, I would probably break down each step a bit more. Even though the flowchart gets to the point and is informative, some people may not understand it like we did. By adding more steps and information, it may be easier for the applicant to understand exactly what they need. For instance, we listed the materials at the top. If I were to change it I would go through the paper form again and at each primary step, mention that you will need this form, or you will need that form before you move on. That way, the applicant will not get lost in the process towards completing their application. I would not change much about the flowchart. We have different colors that distinguish each part of the process and arrows that take the applicant through each step.

  I do not think that it became complicated, I think that people made it more complicated then it actually was. Fafsa does not require much. It's simple if you have all the necessary materials and understand how it is supposed to be completed. Uyen and I did not have much trouble completing the application and although it does require much attention, as long as you are able to read and follow directions, the process would not be difficult. For any application, before it should be completed. However, people should know ahead of time that FAFSA is just like the free/reduced lunch at school. The less income your family receives, the more financial aid you are eligible for. Sure, everyone is technically eligible, but you are not guaranteed an immense amount of money unless you are truly needy.

  I liked this project. I would have rather been able to be a bit more creative with my final piece. I felt as though the whole idea of a flow chart had already been done and if we were to present these to SLA students, then we should use SLA styles toward creating our creative pieces. They could have been several ways to go about the process. Also, flow chart was being difficult at times, to a point where I would had rather draw my flow chart than use the online tool. Overall, being able to pick a topic that could definitely help me and my fellow classmates in the future was extremely helpful. I now know the steps towards completing one of the most important forms before I go to college and I know complete it correctly.

How to adopt an International Baby

Posted by Anonymous in American Government - Laufenberg on
Web site link here

The bureaucratic task that my partner Julia and I were doing was posing as partners and adopting and international baby, specifically a child form the Philippines. What we did was first to find out all the details that goes into getting a child from a different country and what all the words like Hague and Non-Hague meant in relation to the adoption process. Then we had a little fun creating aliases on what we were going to put onto the forms that needed to be filled out. After that we downloaded all the forms we initially thought we needed like the ones that were just for adoption before we thought about the process of getting to the country. Then we had to go back and fill out passports and the visa card for the incoming child. After, we finalized the flow chart and added notes to places we know wasn't mentioned until you see the form.

The paperwork was all levels of emotion. When it first started out it was pretty straightforward like the passports, they just needed your name and numbers and it was boring and repetitive but then it got to the Visa immigration card and that was so long to read and fill out. Trouble did not start until the actual forms for adoption like the forms that determine if your suitable to adopt and the forms that made the child into an immediate relative, they had terms in there that I did not understand and they had you bouncing all around. For example, if I checked box A I had to go to question 6 but if I said no to question 6 I had to go back to question 4. It was really frustrating to fill out those forms because of all the confusion and also there were huge sections where I was basically writing the same thing over and over again.

If I could change one thing about the bureaucratic process, I would cut out a lot of the things that are repetitive like the information about the parents and the constant asking of the name and number and email and address, if they already have the information from the form before it that you were supposed to turn in at the same time, why can't they combine the two forms and stop drawing out the process of international adoption. I realize that they do not want anything to happen to the children but they should look more into criminal background and economic background to make sure that the kid will be taken care of if they leave the safety of the shelter.
I think that the systems have become so complicated because there is a lot of people and they want to be as careful as possible. 

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Lobbying Blog Post #3 Sick Leave Bill

Posted by Brittany Riggins on
The legislature I chose is not against the sick leave bill either is is mostly indifferent. he feels as though people who have a medical emergency or have been working for a company a long time should be consider to be payed on the days they have to take of to be sick, he feels it would not manke any sense for people to stay in the workplace if they are sick because then they will just make other people sick and then you would have many different people in the workplace calling out and then no one will be working. Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy, this bill has been a bill that has been argued over and over again for many and many hours, 18-17 to be exact is what it keeps coming down to. He has promised to sign the bill. 

Malloy was born and raised in Stamford Connecticut and was not considered to be a very bright boy in his earlier years until he was diagnosed with dyslexia. he then learned the he was not stupid but would just have to learn differently then his classmates.  He went to college in Boston and earned a degree in law and he would later go to New york and become district attorney (1980-1984).  The people who are going to be effected by this outcome of the sick leave bill will ultimately be the people who work and come to work even when they are sick, there are many people working on this veto to get it all signed and everyone on the same page. 

When I first took on this issue to lobby I thought I could not inform people about it or make a difference but I think if you let people know how they can possibly be working without pay then I think people will pay more attention to the cause and make more of a big deal about the problem.


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​Marriage Application Flow Chart: Amaris & John

Posted by Johnathan Neris in American Government - Laufenberg on
Click here for the link to view our chart.

MarriageAppliction


Reflection

For our task we had to do the process of marriage in Philadelphia. In our flow chart we went through each step on how to get married in Philadelphia. The first few steps were simple, but then it has its ups and downs and being to get complex. We started with out simple steps from first finding your true love to and if you wanted to get married, then through out the chart we have you read through various things and we add little notes that you have to do. For example in the chart there's a part where you have to stop and read for a note and it says "Note #1: You need to pay $80.00 for the marriage license" and then we also added a different note below it it saying "Note #2: You can't pay by credit cards or check. If someone was to get married or wanted to they could use this process to get married in Philadelphia.

If you look at out flow chart above you can see that its not very hard to follow. We worded the different points simple so that anyone could be able to follow it. The paper work process wasn't that hard to deal with. It was only one sheet and all you had to do was  fill out the information on who we were. It was very straightforward asking for where we lived, when were we born, what were our parents names, and additional information. Since it was only one sheet it didn't take long to get finished.

If there was one thing that I could change our project it would be the formatting on how we laid our chart out. I feel as though if someone is using it and they get distracted they will lose their spot. If this was done differently we could maybe have the chart going up and down in a curve. I feel as though if its like that then you would actually know how the chart flows and not just see lines pointing in different directions to follow a process. I don't think that our system for the marriage process is complicated at all. Its very easy and straight forward to go along with. If you're reading our flow chat make sure to take your time and go through every step, you could find yourself getting lost and confused if you don't read carefully. Overall I feel as though our flow chart is very easy to follow and a good process to follow if you and your partner want to get married. This project was really cool to do and I would do it again if we had a choice to, I will use this in the future hopefully. I thought this project was very helpful to newly weds.




Lobbying Post #3 - Curfews/Flashmobs

Posted by Shelby Harcher in American Government - Laufenberg on
​ The past two years, Philadelphia has been trying to get a curfew law in place for minors. There have been several attempts, but none seemed to work. Within the past month, the City Council has come up with a new curfew law.  Because of the recent flashmobs that have been taking place throughout the city, placing this law has been a necessity to the city. There has been a curfew set in Philadelphia since 1955, but no ones seemed to follow it and officials never seemed to enforce it. Mayor Nutter wanted to place a law, and no one seemed to disagree with him. However, the issue was brought up that if children were out late because of after school activities, or other important reasons, this may becomes a problem if they are hassled for being out. Some city council members even stated that this may even increase the amount of police harassment towards minors. 

Most of the residents in the city agree with the law because of what they're seeing and hearing in the media. When watching the news, you hear about the flashmobs that have taken place and the violence happening throughout the city. People believe that if the kids are off the streets, less and less of these things would be happening. This is Mayor Nutter's approach to the situation. 

Because the law is passed and currently passed, the city can only currently just wait and see what happens. If the people in Philadelphia do not see a change even with this law in place, they can go to the city council or write the mayor himself about the law and see what else can be done. This law is in place for 4 years, and is to be slightly lessened during the summertime. 

Social Security/Disability Flow Chart

Posted by Zayd Alsardary in American Government - Laufenberg on
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SocialSecurityDisabilityLonerdary
   
To view our flowchart, click HERE son!


The task that Dylan and I selected was social security/disabilty benefits and how to apply/qualify. It was very interesting doing this and learning more about how you really apply and qualify for social security/disability benefits. I learned many new things that I didn't really know before and truly how you can be considered disabled. As for the first step of finding out the research and such, it was relatively easy since we only had a few things to look up and we were very efficient with our time so we could complete the project to perfection. It was very easy to get used to using the LucidChart app given to us and it just took a matter of learning the whole process, summarizing it, and putting it into a format of steps that is easy to comprehend and straightforward. 

     As for the paperwork, it was pretty simple and easy since the whole process was all online and the steps for the online process was straightforward. I believe there is a paperwork version of the online process, but you have to visit a social security office to obtain it I believe. The thing with the online version is it can tell when you are putting in accurate information and if you put something that is inaccurate it will tell you.

     As for the beuricratic process, I would not change anything about the beuricratic process flowcharted because it was very on point. Maybe change up the design or even go more in depth, but other than that, the flowchart was on tact. I believe that the systems have become so complicated because some people try to cheat the system. For example in our topic specific, many people could try to say they are disabled when they are not and get money that they really should not have. The system is put together in a way that is fair and very specific so no problems come up at hand. It was an insightful project. Cool.












Their eyes were watching god - Creative project

Posted by Anonymous in World History - Block on

For this project, I chose to portray two of Janie’s husbands through the Marxist lens. In the picture you see a pair of glasses looking through at two settings in the book combined into one. These settings are the big white house on the hill in Eatonville and the fields where Janie works with Jodie when she is married to him. This picture is meant to show how much better off Janie was with Jodie then she was with Tea Cake. The House on the hill seems much more powerful and better off then the fields where Janie does physical labor. The whole thing is solidified by the dollar sign on the lens that looks at the house, and the cent sign on the lens that looks at the field. These symbols are the most clear in pointing out which of the husbands is better for Janie.

On the bottom of the picture there are two quotes to describe each situation. The first, on the side of the big house says “ You ought to know you can’t take no ‘oman like dat from no man lak him. A man dat ups and buys two hundred acres uh land at one whack and pays cash for it”. This quote is taken for one of the townsfolk in the newly bought Eatonville. Jodie has just bought two hundred acres of land without a second thought. He is clearly a rich and powerful man, and Janie should hang on to his acquired wealth for as long as possible.

The Other quote on Tea Cake’s side of the picture reads “Sometimes Janie would think back to the times in the big white house and store and laugh to herself. What if Eatonville could see her now in her denim jeans and heavy shoes?” Janie thinks to herself about her past as a powerful and influential woman. I wonder if she feels regret, because as it stands now with her new husband, she will be working in the fields for quite some time.

Certification to be a Teacher

Posted by Brittany Riggins in American Government - Laufenberg on
Screen Shot 2011-12-09 at 11.34.36 AMMe and Alaya White decided that we would do the Bureaucratic tasks of finding out how to get your certification to become a teacher in the state of Pennsylvania. The process was fairly easy it was easy to find information it was a bunch of information on the internet to find pdf's and other paperwork that you need to fill out to become a teacher and to find where there was a high demand for teachers. While dealing with the paperwork side of things it was straight forward there were two specific paperwork packets that we had to fill out that were important to that process, the first packets name is (General Application for Pennsylvania Certificate) and the other is (College/University verification Form PDE 338C. 

Another thing we noticed as oppose to other people's topic is that this process is a fairly more easy to get a teacher certification in Pennsylvania, one question that I asked myself is why are some processes more complicated to complete then others and the answer that I came up with is because there are many ways that you can get around the systems today this is why people in charge and the head of companies make so many steps and processes that they make you go through so that they can make sure that your information is legit and you are who you say you are so that things can go smoothly and correctly.

Even though we really enjoyed the project if there was one thing I could change it would be to know how to work the program lucid chart better, this was the first time that I had ever worked with it so I feel like if I would have worked with it before it would have been better for me to really get into it and make it even more advanced and even better then it is. 

In conclusion, I enjoyed the process of really figuring out what a teacher has to go through in order to become a teacher, I would not mind being assigned more projects in the future where we have to use lucid charts to give information and describe processes in the upcoming projects.

Go to Lucidchart!