|
|
         
|
Thomas Paine Chronological Resume President Franklin Pierce Presentation
My political cartoon. Based on the First Continental Congress.
Thomas Paine Chronological Resume Local Address: Norfolk,
England
Alternate Address: Philadelphia, New Jersey JOB OBJECTIVES: a political philosopher and writer. SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS:
EDUCATION:
WORK EXPERIENCE:
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE:
PUBLICATIONS:
LANGUAGE: English ACTIVITIES/INTERESTS:
REFERENCE:
I think plutocracy would be the worst form of government because it is ruled by the wealthy. The problem with the wealthy ruling everything is corruption. When you have a lot of money, you generally want more money and will bend the rules to get what you want. Therefore, plutocracy is the worst form of government because of corruption and human nature to want more. I think the best form of government would be democracy. I chose this because it was better of all the other governments. In democracy, the government is controlled by the people collectively. They elect the representatives and vote on who they want to rule them. Of course this form of government can be corrupted but it would be limited because people would know about it. Therefore, democracy is the best form of government out there when compared to others.
Federalist #1 Paper #1 talks about planning to write a new Constitution. The authors points out that this Constitution should include the existence of unity in the states, safety and welfare. They do say that a big challenge to creating a new Constitution would be when to change amendments or add amendments. They clearly state in two paragraphs that perverted men should not be able to change the Constitution so to confuse the people. People should rely on history to see examples of failures in government laws and amendments. Therefore, the author urges that the American people should guard against all attempts of taking advantage of the system. By doing this, you will secure your liberties, dignity and happiness. This paper affects American culture today by warning against perverted men taking advantage of the system. If this was to happen, they should be removed so that they don’t confuse the system. It also talks about how people should be on their guard to know what is happening in the government. If they don’t understand what the government is doing, the people will be taken advantage of and an amendment no one wants will be passed. The paper also points out why the Constitution was written; to unify, promote safety and welfare. Federalist # 51 Paper # 51 asks the question why should the people of the colonies support the Constitution. The author goes to say that because all other provisions are inadequate and defective. It will help the interior of the government by making mutual relations between states. The only problem he talks about is executing the plan. He states that he judicial branch should have qualified people to judge and a schedule of when people will appear before the court. He also talks about each branch of government should be independent of the others. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” The people must trust the government to control the people and to control themselves. But, as seen by the author, it is impossible to give each branch equal power. When looking at government, the author urges to see two points of view. One, all power surrendered by the people goes to two separate branches. Second, the government should guard against oppression rulers but guard from injustices. This paper affects American culture today by telling us how the government works. This paper shows how power is separated between the branches of government and how each should use the power. It also talks about why the Constitution was better than the Articles of Confederation. It gives the simple of answer of defective and inadequate.
Majority leader- Dick Armey. Leader of the Republican Party in the House. Argue with the minority party on bills and laws to give two sided opinions. Minority leader- Dick Gephardt.
Leader of the Democratic Party in the House. Argue with the majority party on
bills and laws to give two sided opinions. THE SENATE President Pro Tempore- Robert
Byrd. One who serves in the Vice President’s absence. It is elected by the
Senate and is always a leading majority party leader. Minority floor leader-
Trent Lott. Do not hold official party positions. Are picked by party colleagues
and legislative strategists. President Franklin Pierce Presentation ATKINS v. VIRGINIA This case is about the decision to either kill mentally retarded people for crimes or to have some other sort of punishment. The case arose after Atkins was "convicted to capital murder and related crimes by a Virginia jury". The Virginia Supreme Court ruled on the bases of the Penry v. Lynaugh which states that the petitioner was mentally retarded and have a psychologist testify that he was "mildly to moderately retarded" at the age of 7. So the Virginia court rejected Atkin’s contention that he was mentally retarded and so brought the case to the Supreme Court. The Court make a majority opinion that it is "cruel and usual punishment" to kill a mentally retarded man. On top of that, the Court said that the case was prohibited by the 8th amendment. The Court did point out that individual States do not think it suitable to punish a mentally retarded person and bills have been passed in some States saying that punishment for mentally retarded people do not include death. One of the main arguments was saying that people view mentally retarded people as a category less guilty than the average criminal. But some of the States did admit that death for mentally retarded people is very uncommon and other ways of punishment are used before death. The reason the Court agreed was because the death penalty does not say anything about mentally retarded individuals and how to deal with the situation. The other reason is the fact that mentally retarded people may omit to a crime that they didn’t do because they don’t understand what is happening or having the ability to judge when they are involved and when they are not involved in a crime. Therefore, this is what the Aktin’s v. Virginia case was about. The Court ruled on the side of Atkin because of the facts of mentally retardation and the writings of the death penalty. I agree with the Court on the case in many ways. Mentally retarded people cannot know when they are involved or not. They might have been the witness to the crime and think that they are apart of the crime, which would make the mentally retarded person guilty in their eyes. I also agree that the death penalty does not talk about mentally retarded people. The writers did not intend a mentally retarded person to commit a crime because of the personality of the person. It’s sad to say, but people probably do see mentally retarded people as a category less than criminals. I know some mentally retarded people and I have to say, they are probably the most intelligible and nice people I know. I don’t think they should be seen as lower than criminals but above them. I also don’t agree with the fact that Atkin was mentally retarded. Yes, I probably was naturally mentally retarded but what about the next case with a criminal that says he’s mentally retarded. The Court should have stated that if you are mentally retarded from a certain age on, you could be legally mentally retarded. The thing I am worried about is someone saying that they were mentally retarded for an hour or more, committed a crime and then justify their actions by saying they are mentally retarded. I am glad to know that some States have passed bills regarding a mentally retarded person "committing" a crime. But what really makes me uncomfortable is Atkin taking the 8th amendment. The 8th amendment states, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." This to me makes me think that Atkin knew he actually committed a crime and that he didn’t want to come out of jail by bail. But if he was convicted, by stating the 8th amendment, he is saying he doesn’t want bail and doesn’t want a fine. To me, this is just telling the judge that he is guilty as charged. But the case is about if he should die. In my opinion and with that fact, Atkin should die. If you were mentally retarded, you probably wouldn’t know or understand the 8th amendment to the fact of saying that you are guilty. What point is he trying to prove? Therefore, I would go with the majority opinion but I would remain skeptical about Atkin declaring the 8th amendment.
I went to the Mission Viejo City Council web site and found it very interesting. The first thing I clicked on was the City Council and saw some words. There was the Mission Statement and the people who were on the City Council. After engaging in reading who the officers were, I looked at the council minutes. I’m pretty glad that I didn’t attend the last meeting. It was pretty boring. Then I went to the departments as saw a lot of information. And hearing that the library had a lot of information, I went to the library. It had information on classes, getting passports, general information and some online resources. At the bottom of the page there were web links to different subjects like music, jobs and food. After engaging in department links, I went to the service link. They had the site to school districts, Saddleback College, housing and planning & development. I clicked on planning & development and saw the demographics. Guess what, most of Mission Viejo is white! Then I went to the Directory page and saw the coolest thing on the web site. You could take a virtual tour of Mission Viejo and right under that was the history of Mission Viejo. And surprising enough, it was only 2 pages long. After reading some of the history, I found out that the original houses of Mission Viejo are found on Chrisanta. That was interesting since our school is also on Chrisanta Drive and that the school was built a little bit after the founding of the city. But it is sad that the history stops at 1965. I think they could add a little more history to make it more interesting to know that Mission Viejo didn’t spring up over night. I then went to News & Announcements and read some awards the city has achieved. An interesting fact to know is that the FBI says that Mission Viejo is the safest city in California. It is also called Tree City USA because of the amount of vegetation and trees in the city. It also was awarded the Telly Award for having a good TV show program. |
