During the break between the last blog post and this one I kept checking in on the progress of my bill. Progress though for this bill though has been very minimal. If you don’t remember the bill that I have been tracking is the S.3921. This proposed bill is to ensure that “approval of pharmaceutical and biological products do not require violations of medical ethics in the testing of products in humans and vertebrate animals.” Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont proposed it on September 29th, 2010.

  The progress of how my bill is doing I think is effected by currant events as well as people’s support and awareness. Senator Sanders has no listed co-supporters with his bill. If the people were more informed about all proposed laws not just ones that are pushed to the forefront of the media getting them discussed. If a bill like S.3921 got more media attention it would be more discussed. Discussion would then lead to people supporting it and bring awareness to their Senators. The current discussion about this bill has been very minimal. Only 7 blogs (blogs listed here) have recently talked about it (technically 8 if this one is included). That shows how little information is being pushed out there to help this bills progress. 

  A major way to get this bill a boast in ordered to be noticed would be to push out the information about the bill to animal rights organization and groups. Think about if groups like PETA and The Humane Society of The United States (as well as many others that you can find listed here and here) were to push out a story about this bill. Sending this information to their followers and supporters that would make a major impact in rising in awareness. More stories would be spread out, petitions could be made and signed to send to lawmakers and so much more could happen. Brining awareness from the people would make politicians step in with the process of this bill and reviewing it. It would almost be like a repeat of the process of the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007. Because it was relvent to cases in the media and had gained a high amountof support  encouraging lawmakers to take part made this bill soon become a law. If this could happen again things would happen a lot quicker.

I’ve been reading some of these links and I can see that over the past few years the numbers in terms of how they spread out the money is pretty much the same at least in the same range. The things that have really noticeable differences are that the 3/30/10 stats went up later in the year when they took the numbers again on 6/30/10. In my opinion this will continue to be an up year rolling into 2011. I think the people who are essential to the turn out of the financial process that we are in are the CFO and the mayor and every individual outlet that our cities money goes out to, such as the police, firemen and public heath services. We as citizens are also partially responsible for how our cities finances are managed. If we are socially responsible and don’t have a high crime rate and armed robberies and other offenses then that in my opinion is us playing a key roll in our cities finances.

• I think that I can influence the people that are around me. Without having more in-depth knowledge about the exact situation of our finances, (which I plan to do) I can’t really give them different statistics just yet.

•  The time frame is from now until 12/30/10. That’s when they do the different summaries of what the cities finances are and compare them to other state governments finances.

• Every qtr. of the year CFO and other members of the government such as the mayor sit down and discuss the cities finances and things of the sort.

3/30

6/30

9/30

12/30

Links: http://www.phila.gov/reports/reports2.html

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/QCMR_81610.pdf

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/Quarterly_City_Manag6.pdf

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.phila.gov/pdfs/qcmr_081809.pdf

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.phila.gov/finance/pdfs/Quarterly_City_Manag5.pdf

The issue of driving and efficient cars has circulated in the news this year in the United States. After the problems Toyota and customers has faced, transportation is looked at more frequently in terms of being safe. Secretary Ray LaHood is in charge of the Department of Transportation. At the “United States Department of Transportation” website, he discuss the problems we face when behind the wheel and under the hood. I would like to lobby about safe cars in general as well as improving the drivers. There should be more regulations and check ups for cars before setting out into the market.

The outcome of more regulations and checkups will help drivers and pedestrians. NHTSA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is also working on perfecting laws and regulations of vehicles like cars, trucks, even bicycling. Other allies that can help influence safe driving are insurances that give praise for safe driving and discounts like Allstate.

The crowd I’m trying to influence can vary in all ages. One website called “Faces of Distracted Drivers” shows the emotions of friends and family who lost their loved ones from car accidents. Many accidents can be from a distracted driver, reckless driving, and even damaged cars. Distraction.gov is also an organization that gives ideas on how to improve driving and the safety of the people inside. With laws and regulations, having more scheduled appointment to check up on car corporations would be nice.

The Department of Transportation needs a budget to continue working, their time frame of work being accomplish depending on the budget of how much they receive from the government. Here is a picture of how much they will spend in 2011.

In the future, Sec. LaHood considers banning cell phones while driving on a highway or populated areas. This can be a step further for the protection of driving.

Tajh Jenkins

Science Leadership Academy
Lobbying Assignment 3

Like past years, 2010 has provided it’s share of child pornography happenings. While there have been attempts by United States officials to ban all aspects of child pornography, their efforts in 2010 could have been better.

The U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder

“Government cannot solve the child pornography crisis in America unless it takes a broader approach than currently pursued and looks to the root causes of such deviancy.”

2010 has not been a productive year in terms of the governments efforts in banning child pornography. America is currently in a stand still in handling the situation. According to Patrick A. Trueman, former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in the Reagan and Bush I Administrations, Eric Holder’s indication that the United States is losing in the war on child pornography is troubling but not surprising.

Patrick A. Trueman

”Our efforts today are not partisan because the protection of children, violence against women, addiction and sexual trafficking are not partisan issues. Nor are we here today to quarrel with Attorney General Holder … The Attorney General previously indicated support for the enforcement of obscenity laws. We are asking that the prosecution of obscenity, which seems to be on hold in the Obama Administration, be given a high priority because of the widespread harm we now know that obscene material is causing.

Patrick Trueman heads the War on Illegal Pornography, a coalition effort of many national, state and local groups working to encourage enforcement of federal laws against obscene adult pornography. He is also the founder of the website PornHarms.com, http://pornharms.com. The website categorizes and posts peer-reviewed studies on the harmful aspects of pornography. Studies and articles on PornHarms.com explain and discuss the brain science of pornography, which indicates that regular consumers of porn are at risk of brain manipulation and addiction leading to increasingly deviant behaviors, including, for some, an interest in child pornography

Nearly every current government official elected has indicated their support for banning child pornography. The problem is that not enough of the officials are stepping up their efforts to really making a difference on this specific issue. From what I researched, other than the two government officials that I spoke about in my second lobbying assignment as well as Eric Holder, there aren’t really any officials that I researched who has mad significant strides in banning it. This issues does get great media coverage because of all the court cases and news that pertain to child pornography. Citizens have expressed support on banning child pornography as the issue has become bigger throughout the years because of the media attention. There are multiple facebook groups that illustrate citizens tryings to prevent child porn.

There have been past policies on this issue:

• Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000 (CIPA)
• Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA)
• Child Protection and Sexual Predator Punishment Act of 1998
• Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA)
• Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA

* In 2002, the Supreme Court made a decision to reject Congress' attempt to combat child
  pornography in the computer age.

Stakeholders on this issue include

• Children and young people
• Parents Guardians and Educators
• Industry
• The Research Community and NGO’s
• Law Enforcement
• Social Service Organizations
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other Electronic Service Providers (ESPs)
• Teacher Organizations, Academic and Research Communities
• Government Agencies

• Owners of Internet cafés and other public access providers e.g. libraries, telecentres, PC Bangs6 and online gaming centres etc

There are many people who are working on this issue:

• Cristina Bueti and Sandra Pandi (ITU)
• John Carr (Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety)
• Raoul Chiesa and Francesca Bosco (United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute)
• Catherine Cummings and Jessica Sarra (International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children)
• Johan Martens (Child Helpline International)
• Michael Moran (Interpol)

I think that if I am really serious about this issue, I can influence anyone in the public to want to ban virtual child pornography. With the help of the public, we would be able to influence the government to take a more serious approach towards banning all aspects of child pornography. I think that the government does not see much of the public wanting to ban child pornography. When it comes to this specific issue, if the public doesn’t show its seriousness about the situation, then the government won’t act on it as quickly and effectively.

If I could contact the authors who wrote the “Guidelines for Policy Makers on Child Online Protection” I think that we could really make a difference together. The authors who wrote the guidelines are the the same people who I listed as the people who are working on this issue. These are people who are really serious interested in making it aware that child pornography is a relevant issue that should be taken care of. If I could get some personal insight on this issue from these people, it would really help me become more prepared to influence people who are not up on the issue as they should be. I think that I should come in contact with the authors as soon as possible.

After doing some research I have not found any recent meetings or any recent news about government officials attempt to crack down on child pornography in the future. Therefore, there aren’t any future meetings or committee headlines that I can talk about. All of the hearings that I have come across have already taken place.

Have a nice thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     In the past year, Greenworks Philadelphia has traveled leaps and bounds towards its 2015 goal. Originally funded solely by Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability, Greenworks has developed into a collaborative effort between dozens of benefactors, ranging from federal and local government entities to various private non-profit organizations. As Katherine Gajewski, Philadelphia's Director of Sustainability, stated in the 2010 Greenworks Philadelphia progress report, "In an impressive display of coordination, leaders from numerous City agencies as varied as the Streets Department, the Zoning Code Commission, and the Department of Health, came together in our Sustainability Working Group and committed to bring champions of sustainability across city government."

    What seems to be stopping Greenworks Philadelphia from making a true impact on the public is its lack of media attention. Thus far, Greenworks' online presence is limited to a couple of blog posts, several press releases, and a smattering of miscellaneous posts on "green" websites.

     People see and use Greenworks' products, sure-- over 500 solar-powered trash and recycling bins scattered throughout center city, energy efficient building materials and methods used to make government buildings, 14,000 residents employed as"green" workers, with plans to add 15,000 more. But this isn't enough. The citizens of Philadelphia need to know more than the what-- they must know why it is important. In order for the project to continue to develop and receive further funding, Greenworks must be publicized on a larger scale.

     This is where I come in.

     Over the next few months, I'm going to be exploring several options for my lobbying campaign. Here are some of my ideas.

     - Publicizing Greenworks Philadelphia on the internet. I would raise awareness of the project via various social networking and link-sharing sites.

     - Contacting Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability. I would reach out to the local government in hopes of helping to organize a media outreach program for Greenworks.

     - Start a public campaign by means of paper fliers. I would create and distribute throughout philadelphia appealing paper "advertisements" in order to put Greenworks into the public eye.

     At this rate, there is little question in my mind that Greenworks will have achieved its goals by 2015. But we must think ahead-- when there are thousands more trees, environmentally friendly building materials available, cleaner energy resources-- who will be relied upon to maintain the green-ness that has been created? The answer is clear-- it will be up to the public to preserve what Greenworks has created.

     The only way that they will be equipped to do so, however, is if they are taught how.

      Only through education on the issues being addressed by Greenworks Philadelphia will the public come to fully understand the severity of our current environmental situation and the importance that we all work to change it. My next blog post will focus on how I plan to contribute to this education.

Phillip, Jose. "Philadelphia Sports Solar-powered Trash Bins." GreenPacks. Greenpacks.org, 1 July 2009. Web. 23 Nov 2010. <http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/06/01/philadelphia-sports-solar-powered-trash-bins/>.

Gates, Kelly Patrick. "It's a green scene for the city." PlanPhilly: Planning Philadelphia's Future. PlanPhilly, 29 April 2009. Web. 23 Nov 2010. <http://planphilly.com/node/8791>.

My issue, despite its obvious presence in this fair city, is not often addressed. Building restoration is too often neglected especially in this city, a living monument to the past. However, on November 9, 2010 headway has been made in the campaign for one of the other shriveling structures: the Divine Lorraine. Now, I feel it necessary to elucidate the manner in which I have chosen to organize this particular blog post. Due to the scarcity of direct building restoration legislation and the difficult financial climate preventing the existing legislation to be enacted, I am solely going to address the Divine Lorraine as my example of neglected buildings. It is my hope that should we manage to save the dear Divine, it will act as an example and inspiration for countless other buildings.

http://www.andipantz.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/divinelorraine2.jpg

In November, the current owners of the Divine Lorraine recently applied for the state low income housing tax credit in hopes of turning this abandoned hotel into low-income housing. They are well aware that it will be some time before this lovely structure “shines” once more, but it is a step in the right direction. It is an wonderful example of owners deciding to maintain this historic site, not tearing it down. To read more of this request by the Divine Lorraine, click here.

In order to hurry this renovation along, it is necessary for me to get a great deal more familiar with the Office of Housing and Community. The director of this office is Deborah McColloch and it is this department that can grant the necessary tax credits and finances to allow the restoration of the Divine Lorraine.

The restoration can also be facilitated by my increased communication with the various other legislators mentioned in earlier blog entries. Time for me to make a few new friends!

http://philly.brownstoner.com/2010/09/the_divine_lorraine_revisited.php?gallery3874Pic=2#gallery-3874

On the subject of acquaintance making, I am hardly the first to fall in love with the glorious Divine Lorraine and those who discovered this structure before myself have devoted a great deal more time and effort to seeing its continued existence. Below I have attached links to various organizations that have taken an interest in the former hotel in hopes of joining forcing to create a super group of Divine Lorraine protectors!

A fun resource that is invested in seeing this little love live!

An interesting development idea that may be in the works….

A group that lists several buildings in need of saving. (The Lorraine is not alone!)

A slide show made by another admirer of the building. (In case you needed evidence of it disrepair.)

http://philly.brownstoner.com/images/divine%20lorraine%202.jpg

Sadly, when asked to discuss the time frame this restoration will supposedly take place within, I can offer no specific dates. Despite the wonderful step the application for tax credits signifies, it is hardly the first time such revitalization has been promised. This building has been abandoned since the 1990s. It is necessary to first garner the necessary support to ensure there is a time frame.

http://johnnygoodtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dlorraine.jpg

The Combating Online Infringement and counterfeiting act (COICA) has been heated up in these recent weeks with the bill being reported by committee as of November 18, and also being put under calender by General orders. No. 648.

So far, this year has been bad to stop COICA. It seems by the growing days more politicians and big companies are supporting this bill and are pushing for it to be passed. Support still grows strong for the citizens, there are multiple websites that urge users of the free internet to contact their senator, and request them to vote against the bill.

However, with the little support we do have, it seems the oppositions are double in numbers and power. with the RIAA and Chambers of commerce giving their full support to this bill, It doesn't help that other businesses like Nike and Disney are throwing support to the bill's way. Other then these industries, politicians are also pushing forward to advance this bill into law. Such as Senior Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT] and the 18 cosponsors who are for this bill.

What needs to be done is that people, citizens, anyone who uses the internet or who believes in the freedom of speech and press need to contact their state senator's convince the senators that this bill is not wanted and the people do not agree with this bill. In order to stop this bill, we absolutely need senators on our side, we need them so they can vote down on this bill and prevent it from becoming a law.

We, as a people, as well as myself cannot singularly stop this bill, we need to put all our efforts together, and direct the message to our senators that this is not the right thing to do. If we do not stand up, our freedom is at jeopardy.

The next step of this bill is unknown, once again we are at a pause and will have to wait until congress goes through the calender and picks up this bill to discuss.

No Animal should be treated like this.  

   Harry Reid

   The DREAM Act has been an incredibly huge topic discussed through the news for the past 3 years but has recently risen to its strongest and yet weakest year. Many people are starting to become aware of the DREAM Act because it helps many students to receive a higher education and also due to the fact that many students are getting involved with helping to get this legislation passed in order to become law!

    This has been a good and bad year for this legislation, though many universities and people are supporting this legislation, it was shut down in the Senate on September 21, 2010. The bill was attached to a defense bill making it harder for Republicans to shut it, but a filibuster held by the Republicans senators and one Democrat shut it down. When reintroduced in March 26, 2009 it had 134 official cosponsors but after the filibuster in September it was left with 2 cosponsors, we need to convince the Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and House that this legislation is extremely important.

   Many universities that have supported the DREAM Act such as University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkley, University of Florida, Harvard University and many others. Universities help give this legislation good media and image because these are some of the top Universities that support a cause which helps students who they know deserve the right to learn the same as everyone else. Supporting the DREAM Act shows that they care about and spend an extreme amount of time with these children.

   Public supports that give this bad media attention are groups who want to stop immigration and enforce security on our borders such as the ALIPAC group and Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). These groups do not support legislation similar to the DREAM Act or any legislation that help immigrations because they believe that illegal immigrants are law breakers and that the law should be followed and they should be punished.

     Republicans are the major opponents of this legislation they have as much power as the people who support this bill which are the Democrats. Republicans. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said that they would cosponsor the bill as well as Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), hinting that he is most likely going to vote for the DREAM Act when it is presented as a standalone bill. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) Florida GOP Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Diaz-Balart, all said that they would vote for the DREAM Act during its presentation during the lame duck session.

    All of the Democrats are essential to the outcome of the bill because if they are all on board with the act they will be then be able to convince the Republicans to get on board as well. Democrats have to support a bill started by their own and so do the Republicans in order for them to succeed.  If Republicans such as John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) won’t vote for the bill we need as many Democrats as possible.

    Groups that are good to communicate with in order to help us are lobbyist groups such as Peaceful Tomorrows who have already lobbied for the DREAM Act the day it was not passed in the Senate.Contacting many students from different universities who are lobbying for it is another great way to get out that this bill becoming a law is very important.

The embed box is inconveniently small, but there are formatting issues either way.  Here is a link to the doc.  

Attempts have been made to revise DADT, the homophobic law enacted under Bill Clinton to keep gays out of the military.  In May 2010, an amendment was passed in the House of Representatives, however it lacked the necessary 60 votes to get the bill passed in the senate.

Also, attempts to pass DADT are becoming increasingly more difficult. Prior to the recent election 90% of democrats were in favor of the repeal, versus 97% of republicans, and since the election has drastically shifted the power to republicans, it can only damage the odds of getting it approved. Therefore it is a fair assumption that the window of opportunity is quickly closing.

Despite the general public being largely in favor of an amendment to the bill, Republicans have decided to vote along party lines.

The pentagon has recently issued a study regarding the current amendment. It has concluded that lifting a ban that prevents gays from serving in the military would result in “minimal and isolated incidents to the risk to the current war efforts.” The pentagon requested that the survey, which was given to more than 400,000 active troupes, address the issue of a repeal potentially hindering the military’s ability to fight. More than 70% of the respondents to the survey suggested the results to the move would be either positive or nonexistent – thus eliminating the only legitimate argument of withholding the ban.

Gay rights activists have begun a campaign around ten different states to aid the process of the DADT amendment. The Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Joe Solmonese, President of HRC, recently said in a statement: “As we approach the waning days of this congressional session, we must continue to demand immediate action on critical legislation.”

From my previous blog post, I mentioned that the S.167 - COPS Improvements Act of 2009 bill is related to my lobbying topic. Senator Herbert Kohl is the sponsor of the bill. He is a Democrat from Wisconsin serving his 4th term. Kohl is one of the United States’ wealthiest politicians, owning his own family business.

Someone in my city that represent me is Mayor Michael Nutter. He is Philadelphia's third black mayor. Nutter was a councilman of the city's 4th Council District, that included the neighborhoods of Wynnefield, Overbrook, Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls and parts of North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, and my area, West Mount Airy.

Mayor Nutter shares the same interest as I do. I want to have the city of Philadelphia safe place. He supports having Philadelphia declare a "Crime Emergency" in certain areas of Philadelphia. This involved stationing more officers in needed areas of Philadelphia, limit the ability to gather on public sidewalks, impose a curfew for all residents, and limit the ability to travel in certain areas.

I am lobbying for more police officers to be dispatched around public transportation, schools and around urban areas. On my way to and from school I travel a good distance and I really don’t see police officers in the area. My motivation for investigating and influencing public policy is to see crime decreased and safety increase. I’m sure that victims of crime, parents that want safety for their children, supervisors of recreation centers and teachers at school who care about their students would support my lobbying idea. An opponent to my lobbying idea would be who ever is in charge of the city finances. I don’t think the city would support me.

The S.167 - COPS Improvements Act of 2009 is a bill related to my lobbying topic. Its a “bill to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to enhance the COPS ON THE BEAT grant program, and for other purposes.” This law does support my lobbying topic. I want to have more police patrolling the city, especially around public transportation. The law that mentions, "to increase the number of officers deployed in community-oriented policing" is perfect.

 What is the status of your issue at the legislature? Is this a "good" year?

Who is essential to the outcome?

Who else is working on this? Can you coordinate?

Who can you influence?

I can influence the people who aren't aware of the name changing issue. Since their aren't many people aware of this issue, it would be easy to inform and influence them to help, or consider helping.

What is the time frame?

Since there is no one local working on this topic, there wouldn't be a time frame on it, so my time for this could be long.