2010_3

a) One trend presented is the democratic seats in the House have decreased.
b) The incumbency advantage influenced southern voters to vote democratic for congress and republican for president because the candidates knew what they were doing. The reason for republicans being elected president and democrats being elected congressional seats is because democratic ideas solve local issues and republican ideas work better nationally for the people of the south during that time frame.
c) Catholics have changed because they aren't as frequent as they once were in voting democratic, which is the same for Labor Union members. Women, however, have become more democratic voters.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_us_govt_politics_q3.pdf

2010_2

 a) One key characteristic of the merit system is hiring people based on experience and qualifications, not based on race or gender.
b) The structure of the federal bureaucracy is large, based on merit and has specialized units for certain areas. The bureaus further contribute to public policy problems because they are delegated authority by Congress and the president when they cannot complete a task themselves and get discretionary authority when expertise is needed.
c) Congress checks the bureaucracy by appropriations to certain agencies. The courts check the bureaus through judicial review and interest groups check the bureaus through litigation and installing fear of being sued.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_us_govt_politics_q2.pdf

2006_2

2006-2 In recent decades, entitlement programs have constituted a substantial portion of the United States federal budget. Social Security is the largest entitlement program in the US. From the information in the chart above, and your knowledge of the US government and politics, perform the following tasks.
(a) define entitlement program
(b) What is the primary source of revenue for the Social Security program
(c) Identify one threat to the future of the Social security program should the trends depicted in the chart continue
(d) Describe on demographic trend that threatens the future of the Social Security program and explain how it is responsible for the threat that you identified in (c )
(e) Explain how any one of the trends in the chart above would change if the age of eligibility for social security were raised.

a) Entitlement programs are government- sponsored programs providing mandated benefits to those who meet eligibility qualifications.
b) The primary source of revenue for social security include payroll taxes.
c) One threat to Social Security would be that the outputs exceed the inputs.
d) A demographic threatening trend is the longer life expectancy in old people causing younger Americans to have to pay for them longer, while still paying for all the younger old people.
e) If people were to work longer, less money would be given to old people and more money would go into the trust fund.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/_ap06_gopo_us_sg.pdf

2006_3

2006-3 The United States congress and the president together have the power to enact federal law. Federal bureaucratic agencies have the responsibility to execute federal law. However, in the carrying out of these laws, federal agencies have policy making discretion.
(1) Explain two reasons why Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws.
(2) Choose one of the bureaucratic agencies listed below. Identify the policy area over which it exercises policy-making discretion and give one specific example of how it exercises that discretion.
a. Environmental Protection Agency
b. Federal Communications Commission
c. Federal Reserve board
(3) Describe two ways in which Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent.

1) Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion because it's very time consuming and the agencies are much more knowledgeable about the logistics of a certain area.
2) One example of an agency is the Federal Communications Communication. It exercises policies like clean air by acts like the Clean Air Act of 1970.
3) Two ways Congress ensures agencies follow legislative intent is through investigations and hearings to get down to the bottom of a situation and punish those who break the law.  

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/_ap06_gopo_us_sg.pdf

Essay 14 2008_1

2008-1) Congressional reapportionment and redistricting are conducted every ten years. When redistricting is conducted, politicians often engage in gerrymandering.
(a) Define congressional reapportionment and explain one reason why it is important to states.
(b) Define congressional redistricting.
(c) Explain two goals of politicians when they gerrymander during redistricting.
(d) Describe two limits that the United State Supreme Court has placed on congressional redistricting.

A. Congressional reapportionment is the reallocation of the number of representatives from each state there are in the House. This is important to the states because more seats in the House means more influence each state has.
B. Congressional redistricting is the redrawing of House and Senate district lines.
C. Two goals of politicians when they gerrymander during redistricting are to increase minority representatives and protect incumbents.
D. Two limits the U.S. Supreme Court has placed on congressional redistricting include equally populated districts and the prevention of drawing lines based on race and their capacity to vote as a whole.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q1.pdf

Essay 13 2008_2

2008-2)A number of factors enable presidents to exert influence over Congress in the area of domestic policy. However, presidents are also limited in their influence over domestic policymaking in Congress.

-The Constitution grants the president certain enumerated powers. Describe two of these formal powers that enable the president to exert influence over domestic policy.

-Choose two of the following. Define each term and explain how each limits the president’s ability to influence domestic policy making in Congress.

*Mandatory spending

*Party polarization

*Lame-duck period

 

Party polarization is an increase in interparty differences. This can limit the president's ability to influence domestic policy because the opposing party may try to block policy goals.

The lame-duck period is the time in which the president is almost out of office. This period hurts the president's efforts to influence domestic policy because congress is less responsive to the president and people are preparing for a new president to take office. 

 

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q2.pdf

Oil Spill Annotation

 Large oil companies have been bending the rules and regulations of their resources to obtain more oil, resulting in catastrophic events like oil spills and explosions. One company notorious for looking the other way is BP. They were held responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a deadly explosion in Texas, and lacking in safety checks up at an oil rig in Alaska which ended in another oil spill. All of this for a bigger profit.

BP developed a large oil engine drilling 35,000 feet deep into the ocean. It was costing a billion dollars a day to drill, to the company wanted to speed up the process. It only took a little while before the entire operation blew up, killing eleven workers. Before the explosion, a series of misfortunes occurred, but were never reported. Important pieces of production were breaking without any check ups. Because of this, millions of gallons of oil began polluting the ocean.

But that's not the only oil spill on BP's watch. In Anchorage, Alaska, over 200,000 gallons of oil leaked from the North Slope pipeline. Because the spill occurred in early March, crew members were forced to hold off on clean up productions due to the extreme weather, reaching 70 degrees below 0 degrees. The spill was due to corrosion within the pipeline.

BP is saving their pennies and not following safety procedures in order to create the most profit. However, they are causing much more catastrophic events to the environment and human beings. I'm glad they are being investigated. Although, I did hear on the news the company is being issued a new permit within he next few weeks. Hopefully, they approach their job with a little more caution and compassion for their surroundings.

"60 Minutes Blowout: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster." CBS News. CBS Interactive Inc., 16 May 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/blowout-the-deepwater-horizon-disaster-16-05-2010/>.

"The Spill." Frontline. PBS, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://lmgtfy.com/?q=pbs+frontline+oil+spill>.

"Alaska oil spill was largest ever on North Slope." NBCNews. msnbc.com, 2006. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11743346/ns/us_news-environment/t/alaska-oil-spill-was-largest-ever-north-slope/ >.