The Phillippine Disaster Relief

Part 1) How should the money be spent?  Identify critical areas for relief
Part 2) Support the idea that Charities are the most effective way to provide for relief.
Part 3) Research several Charities based on their expertise in the region, and cost efficiency (How much of each dollar goes to relief).

1) I think that the money raised should go to provide safe drinking water to the people in need. Nobody can live without clean water so I believe it is the most pressing issue that the money should go towards.
2) Charities are able to collect large amounts of money to group up and spend on what is needed to save lives. They also have a set goal for what the money is being spent on and are able to find the resources to make things happen. One person can't do too much with 20$, but if 100 people all donate 20$ to the same charity, 2000$ can go a lot farther.
3) At the student council trip to Seaside, a speaker from the organization the thirst project came to speak to us about building wells in Africa for clean water. However, it is their hope that someday the whole world will be able to have access to clean, safe drinking water on demand. The cost to build a freshwater well in the developing nations ranges from $7,800 in Uganda to $20,000 in Kenya. As far as I know, they have not done any work outside of Africa so it would be interesting to see how much one freshwater well would cost in the Philippines.

http://www.thirstproject.org/the-solution/

Watergate (Charles Colson)

  On June 17, 1972 seven burglars were arrested inside the Watergate building in Washington D.C. Found inside the Democratic National Committee, the burglars were soon connected to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign. They were trying to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. The scandal ultimately ended in Nixon resigning as President. This was the first time people began to question the morals of their leadership and their president.

  Charles Colson served as the special counsel to president Richard Nixon in 1968. He was responsible for inviting special private interest groups into the policy-making system and then win their support for other specific issues. Colson was in charge of any lobbying group whose motives were compatible with those of the Nixon administration. 

  Colson was described by David Plotz as "Richard Nixon's hard man, the 'evil genius' of an evil administration". Colson viewed himself as valuable to the president because he was "ruthless in getting things done". He was the author of Nixon's major political opponents in 1971, which would later be known as Nixon's Enemies List. News stories stated that Colson would be willing to run over his own grandmother in order to re-elect Nixon for a second term.

  With such strong belief in Nixon, he decided to Join the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP). The group agreed to spend $250,000 on "intelligence gathering" in hopes to boost Nixon's chances of a second term. In 1974 Colson pleaded guilty to the obstruction of justice on attempting to defame Ellsberg's character to influence the jury against him regarding the water-gate scandal and served 7 months in prison.

  After Colson was released from prison, he founded Prison Fellowship in 1976. He wanted to create an environment in prisons where criminals were able to turn to Christ with guidance. Because of this, in 1990 Colson was awarded the highest civic award by the Salvation Army. In 1993, the Templeton award for process in religion was awarded to Colson.




http://www.history.com/topics/watergate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson

Essay number 4 (Federal System)

The framers of the United States Constitution created a federal system.

 a) Define federalism

 b) Explain how the following has been used to increase the power of the federal

 government relative to the states.

• Categorical Grants
• Federal mandates

 c) Explain how the following have been used to increase the power of the states relative to

 the federal government.

• Block grants
• Tenth amendment

A)  Federalism is a constitutional division of power between levels (national and state) of government

B) Categorical grant:

A grant designed for a specific purpose. States must spend money in accord with national government’s wishes

  Federal Mandates: 

A federal government tells states what policies to implement

  C) Block grants:

Block grants to states have few strings attached, so states can make decisions about the details of where the money goes.

tenth amendment:  
It reserves power to the states and to the people  

Essay number 3 (Constitution)

The US Constitution has endured for more than 2 centuries as the framework of government. However, the meaning of the Constitution has been changed both by formal and informal methods.
a) identify 2 formal methods for adding amendments to the constitution
b) describe 2 informal methods that have been used to change the meaning of the Constitution. Provide one specific example for each informal method you described.
c) Explain why informal methods are used more often than the formal amendment process.

A) Congress can propose an amendment with a 2/3 vote in both houses, and then can be ratified by the percent of state legislatures.
OR

Congress can propose an amendment with a 2/3 vote in both houses, and then can be approved by ratifying conventions in % of the states. 

B) Judicial interpretation: the wording of the Constitution can be vague therefore allowing the court to make decisions on clarification.
OR
Congressional elaboration: Congress can interpret the Constitution by passing law.

C) Informal methods are used more often than formal methods because they are more practical. They do not require the super majorities that ratifying amendments call for so they are much easier to achieve.