Philippines Disaster Relief Project

     Since it has been plaguing the news, most people are aware of the current situation in the Philippines. After a tragically big typhoon hit the country, there is no now clean drinking water, no shelter, and no medical help whatsoever. To combat the terrible things happening in the Philippines, most people have turned to donating whatever money they have to a charity that will use the proceeds to assist the country in need. However, there are new studies that show charities nowadays are taking the donated money and using, for example, 70 cents out of one dollar to foot the overhead costs of the charity. Although some people believe that this is not a big deal, others believe that it would be more profitable to send money straight to the effected area.

In my opinion, donating money to The Red Cross would be the best option because that charity has been around for so long and is very trustworthy and reliable. They use 91 cents from every dollar donated go straight to help the cause. Although The Red Cross uses money donated for overhead costs, the overhead costs are are used for necessary things such as: transportation, shipping, employee salaries, etc. So even though most of your money is going to assist The Red Cross, you are also helping the people in the Philippines. The American Red Cross is a great charity to help with the Philippines because not only can they help with food, water, and shelter, but they can also help medically because they are the number one place for blood donations.

Another widely acclaimed charity is UNICEF. With over 5 million children effected by the typhoon, their main focus is to assist and protect them. These children desperately need shelter, clean water, medicine and nutrition. Although 60 metric tons of emergency supplies just arrived in the Philippines, it isn't enough. UNICEF's resources in the Philippines are exhausted. Coming straight from the UNICEF website: "The U.S. Fund for UNICEF spends 90.4 cents of every dollar we receive on programs that help children. Only 6.7 cents goes to fundraising, and 2.9 cents to administration." They are very experienced in giving the most help to children and how to keep them safe which I think is a number one priority after any disaster.

To get clean water to the Philippines is a hard task because it is such a long way to transport water that by the time it got there, it would have to be tested again. The smartest, and cheapest way to get clean water straight to the people is to bring water from immediate areas and filter it on the spot. There are many inventions to do this task such as: drops to put in the water to clean it, pumps to filter the water, or even straws that filter the water as you drink it. Obviously the best thing to do would be to find the cheapest invention, ship massive amounts of it to the Philippines, and have volunteers help filter and clean the water before handing it out. This way there are low costs which leaves more money to be spent on medical supplies, food, and shelter for the survivors of the typhoon.

There is no simple way to bring peace and health to the Philippines but we are trying our best. Through charitable donations and volunteers, we can start to rebuild the Philippines through clean water, food, and shelter. It won't happen overnight but with hard work, we can get it back to the way it used to be before this horrible disaster. 

James McCord - Watergate Scandal

  
                   Watergate building    

  
                      James McCord

     Probably one of the most famous events of the 1970s, Watergate will forever go down in history books. It was 1972 when Richard Nixon started the Committee for the Re-election of the President (CRP.) He enlisted the help of aides, Attorney Generals, and former CIA agents to get him back in the White House for a second term. Little did the public know, he was doing it by wire-tapping and breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Shortly after midnight on June 17, 1972, Frank Wills, a security guard at the Watergate Complex, noticed tape covering the latches on doors in the complex (allowing the doors to close but remain unlocked). He removed the tape, and thought nothing of it. He returned an hour later, and having discovered that someone had retaped the locks, Wills called the police. Five men were discovered and arrested inside the DNC's office. The five men were Virgilio González, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martinez, and Frank Sturgis, who were charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. On September 15, a grand jury indicted them for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The five burglars who broke into the office were tried by Judge John Sirica and convicted on January 30, 1973.

     James McCord was born in Waurika, Oklahoma in 1924 and after graduating college, went into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA.) During his long career in the CIA, McCord was head of security for the Committee for the Re-election of the President; who was Richard Nixon at the time. In a later letter, written to the U.S. District Judge John Sirica, who convicted him, McCord stated that his plea and testimony, some of which he claimed was perjured, were compelled by pressure from White House counsel John Dean and former Attorney General John Mitchell. The letter implicated senior individuals in the Richard Nixon administration of covering up the conspiracy that led to the burglary.

     Since the evidence against Nixon was rock-solid, both the House of Representatives were on the road to impeach him and there was a possibility of conviction from the Senate. This lead Richard Nixon to resign his presidency on August 9, 1974 to try and put an end to the Watergate scandal. Nixon is the only president to this day to resign and though he thought resigning would put the scandal behind him, he was very wrong as it is still discussed and studied today. 

Sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/james.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmccordJ.htm

The Power of the States/Federal Government (Essay #5)

Both block grants and the Tenth Amendment have increased the power of the states relative to the federal government. Block grants increase the states power relative to the federal government because the aids to local and state government are given directly from the federal government. The Tenth Amendment increases the power of the states relative to the federal government because it states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." That means that most of the power is reserved mostly for the states and not to the federal government.

Federalism Essay #4

Federalism is the federal principle or system of government. Both categorical grants and federal mandates have increased the power of the federal government relative to the states. Categorical grants increase the states' power because they are the main source of federal aid to state and local governments. Federal mandates increase the states' power because they require that states and local governments comply with federal rules under threat of penalties or as a condition of receipt of a federal grant.

Ways the Constitution Can Be Amended Essay #3

There are two formal ways the Constitution can be amended. First, it can go through the supreme court, which has the power to amend the constitution when a case is brought before them that requires it. And the second way, Congress can amend the constitution with a vote of two thirds in each house. There are many ways to informally change the Constitution since the founders left many elements of our government open to interpretation. One method is via the elastic clause. This clause gives Congress the ability to pass any law deemed "necessary and proper" for carrying out it's expressed powers. For example, nowhere in the Constitution did it specify that the federal government had the power to establish a national bank but it did anyway. When this action was challenged by the federal courts in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819, the U.S. Supreme Court had to determine if this action by Congress was legal under the Constitution. The government argued that since it had the powers to tax, borrow, coin money, and spend it is implied that they have the right to establish a national bank since this would make their job related to these areas much easier. The Court agreed and the Constitution was informally changed. Another informal method of changing the Constitution is through the development of political custom or tradition. For example, nowhere in the Constitution does it mention anything about a President having a cabinet to assist him in making decisions. This was developed over the years by president's themselves as the need for assistance and advice arose. This form of meeting has become a regular fixture for presidents present and future. Informal methods are used more often than the formal amendment process because it is much easier to amend the Constitution.

Forms of Political Participation Essay #2

Two forms of participation in the political process other than voting are: signing a petition and protesting. The advantage of signing a petition is that it is possible to get something changed or make something happen with only the support of average citizens. It gives voters more power. The advantage of protest is that is is very possible that the protest could capture the media's attention and give air time to the cause you are protesting. Protests can be very useful for advertising beliefs through picketing or marches, usually a very peaceful form of political process. We are still working towards a more democratic government, and in my opinion, we are doing a good job. However, there is still a lot more work to be done and more progress to be made.

Voter Age/Participation Statistics

                                              

The percentages of correct answers out of 5

 

Team Hadlie, Hannah, Megan and Meg Period 1