Archive for year: 2015

Abstract:

Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill is famous for his often-repeated claim that “all politics is local.” O’Neill believed that taking care of the concerns of one’s district ensured electoral success.  David Mayhew includes credit claiming—providing particularized benefits to the district, pejoratively referred to as “pork”—among the tried and true strategies incumbents use to ensure their reelection. Using the press releases of Representative Bizz Johnson (D-CA) this research examines patterns of credit-claiming activity over his twenty-year career. In particular, we examine the hypothesis that credit claiming increases during election years as Johnson sought to ensure his reelection to Congress.

 

Recently I attended the 2015 Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research.

It is a conference that focuses on up and coming student researchers from universities and college all over southern California, to present their work and gain vital presentation experience.

My coauthor and I presented on the topic of representation, and how it can be calculated through the use of credit claims, for example from congressional member Bizz Johnson’s office. Our theory was that the idea of political representation can be calculated through the amount of credit claims a congressional member makes within their press releases. We value these credit claims as money or benefits for a district that the congressional member insinuates they were the ones to bring in governmental money to support the district they represent. We at first hypothesized that the amount of credit claims had a significant relationship with mid-term congressional election years, as the government was under more public scrutiny during these elections. What we found was that was untrue and there was no statistically significant relationship between congressional election years and the amount of credit claims. From our results we knew there as something going on, so we ran another test. What we do notice is, that there is a statistically significant correlation with presidential election years and credit claims.

 

 

I’d like to start this one strong because I have so much to say on how disappointing it truly is to not only learn about new things in media concerning youth. But the  fact of processing the information, and how we as Communication majors will use our education to make a difference. I agree that today’s youth is so caught up with Jordan’s, I phones  and Michael Kors etc,, I believe social media and society paly a big role but also the parents. when parents like to live up o an image so do their kids that’s were they learn it from and that’s who buys it for them first. second since our generations didn’t have a lot of those things many parents say” I want to give my kids  everything I couldn’t have” they mean it not knowing the harm it causes the kids. in today’s society your not cool if you don’t have swag or have the latest. Only kids who I’ve seen with self confidence could gives a rats behind about what others think. That’s a humbled child who has had   an experience in life that truly showed them that materialistic things don’t mean crap. now there’s also teenagers who work hard to provide for themselves what their parents couldn’t and they can also lose track of what is important. also if you didn’t have much growing up you can get stuck as an adult trying to make up for what you never had but nothing can feel that void at some point help is needed it becomes an obsession.  Sternheimer also talks about the environment when she states that electronics can be” luring  young people  away from things that really matter and destroying  the environment” (248)? all these devices the youth and adults buy that have battery acid and other bad things for our planet have to go somewhere and nowadays kids change gadgets like they change their bed sheets once or twice a month once the new I phone comes out they upgrade to the next and so do their parents its embaressing to see how blind our society has become I am also guilty of such madness.