Fall_2012_Congress_Packet

#1: A Resolution for the End of the World as We Know It

 * 1 || **Whereas:** The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has shown in the ||
 * 2 || past to be woefully unprepared to handle catastrophic disaster, and ||
 * 3 || **Whereas:** Panic over news stories such as the Y2K threat and fears of a zombie ||
 * 4 || attack exhibit the sensitivity the public has to the potential of mass ||
 * 5 || destruction, and ||
 * 6 || **Whereas:** There is fear of an upcoming disaster centering around the end of Mayan ||
 * 7 || Calendar, ||
 * 8 || **Therefore be it Resolved:** The federal government provide affordable training to ||
 * 9 || civilians to alleviate fears and better prepare for a cataclysmic disaster. ||
 * 10 || **Be it further resolved that:** The National Guard and Army Reserves also be trained to ||
 * 11 || better deal with such disasters. ||

Respectfully Feeling Fine, Truman High School

#2: A Resolution to Advance EMP Technology

 * 1 || **Whereas:** The United States Air Force's Detachment 8 is currently conducting research ||
 * 2 || into small-scale Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attacks, and ||
 * 3 || **Whereas:** EMPs have the potential to be used as a non-lethal option to tactically cripple ||
 * 4 || a country's infrastructure, and ||
 * 5 || **Whereas:** EMPs can be used tactically, and non-lethally to disrupt and/or destroy ||
 * 6 || electronic devices in combat areas, and ||
 * 7 || **Whereas:** EMPs present a less lethal alternative to nuclear weapons. ||
 * 8 || **Therefore be it resolved:** The United States Government increase the budget for ||
 * 9 || military research into EMP technology. ||

Respectfull submitted, Truman High School

#3: A Resolution for Stricter Enforcement Measure to Combat Illegal Immigrants

 * 1 || **Whereas:** Jobs of legal U.S. citizens are being taken away as a result of cheap labor. ||
 * 2 || Citizens need jobs more than in the past as a result of recession, and those most vulnerable ||
 * 3 || to unemployment are those Americans whose low-skill jobs would likely be taken by ||
 * 4 || illegals. ||
 * 5 || **Whereas:** Unlike citizens, illegal immigrants do not pay taxes. However, they still live ||
 * 6 || freely in the US. In a sense, American citizens pay taxes for the benefit of the illegal ||
 * 7 || immigrant. ||
 * 8 ||  ||
 * 9 || **Whereas:** If a citizen is harmed by an illegal immigrant, civil law remedies are unlikely ||
 * 10 || to be effective because such illegal persons change identity and place of residence with ||
 * 11 || impunity. For the same reason, it would be harder to prosecute or even to trace acts of ||
 * 12 || violence or organized terror committed by such illegals. ||
 * 13 ||  ||
 * 14 || **Therefore be it resolved that:** Stricter enforcement of existing laws regarding illegal ||
 * 15 || immigrants would benefit and protect the citizens and legal residents of the United States. ||

Submitted by Lower Moreland HS Leah Hong

#4: Resolution to Legalize Marijuana

 * 1 || **Whereas:** 17 states and DC have legalized medical marijuana as medication for illnesses ||
 * 2 || and amelioration. ||
 * 3 ||  ||
 * 4 || **Whereas:** The marijuana industry has a predicted profit outcome of over 120 billion dollars ||
 * 5 || if legalized. ||
 * 6 ||  ||
 * 7 || **Whereas:** If marijuana is legalized, fewer distributor and receivers of marijuana would ||
 * 8 || be sentence to jail. As a result, there would be less over crowdedness and more space for ||
 * 9 || legitimate criminals like child molesters and murders. Additionally, the state that legalizes ||
 * 10 || marijuana will save tax dollars. ||
 * 11 ||  ||
 * 12 || **Whereas:** Law enforcement costs would decrease as a result of legalized marijuana. ||
 * 13 || Enforcements can be used for more serious issues rather than marijuana. ||
 * 14 ||  ||
 * 15 || **Therefore be it resolved that:** If marijuana is legalized, the economy would be bettered, ||
 * 16 || there would be more opportunities for an ill person to be treated, and prisons would be less ||
 * 17 || crowded to be used for more serious criminals. ||

Submitted by Lower Moreland HS Leah Hong

#5: A Resolution to Schools Implementing Mandatory Anti-Bullying Programs.

 * 1 || **Whereas:** A survey of 1593 schools showed that 17 percent of kids ||
 * 2 || anonymously reported that they were bullied 2 to 3 times a month on ||
 * 3 || average. ||
 * 4 ||  ||
 * 5 || **Whereas:** 282,000 students are attacked in secondary schools each month in ||
 * 6 || the United States. ||
 * 7 ||  ||
 * 8 || **Whereas:** 86% of students said,” other kids picking on them, making fun of ||
 * 9 || them, or bullying them” causes teenagers to turn lethal violence in schools. ||
 * 10 ||  ||
 * 11 || **Whereas:** It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to ||
 * 12 || fear of attack or intimidation by other students. ||
 * 13 ||  ||
 * 14 || **Therefore be it resolved that:** Schools should have mandatory anti- ||
 * 15 || bullying programs to reduce the amount of bullying going in schools. ||

Submitted by Lower Moreland HS Zach Smith

#6: A Resolution to Calorie Counts on Restaurant Menus should be Mandated.

 * 1 || **Whereas:** From 1998 to 2006, the incidence of obesity in the U.S. rose by ||
 * 2 || over 37%. ||
 * 3 ||  ||
 * 4 || **Whereas:** The journal of Health Affairs published a study showing that the ||
 * 5 || medical costs of obesity have nearly doubled since 1998, to $147 billion last ||
 * 6 || year, about half of which was financed through Medicare and Medicaid. ||
 * 7 ||  ||
 * 8 || **Whereas:** A survey of 2000 adults in New York showed that over 85% of ||
 * 9 || said adults agreed restaurants, pubs and cafes had a responsibility to make ||
 * 10 || clear what was in the food they served. ||
 * 11 ||  ||
 * 12 || **Whereas:** Obesity accounts for 9.1% of national healthcare spending, ||
 * 13 || according to the study, up from 6.5% a decade ago. ||
 * 14 ||  ||
 * 15 || **Therefore be it resolved that:** Calorie counts should be mandatory on ||
 * 16 || restaurant menus in the United States. ||

Submitted by Lower Moreland HS Zach Smith

#7: A resolution to remove the United States from NATO

 * 1 || Whereas: there is no longer a legitimate use for NATO on the grounds that the USSR ||
 * 2 || no longer exists. ||
 * 3 ||  ||
 * 4 || Whereas: the very existence of NATO creates tension between the western world and ||
 * 5 || the Russian Federation. ||
 * 6 ||  ||
 * 7 || Whereas: funding of NATO is frivolous and unnecessary. ||
 * 8 ||  ||
 * 9 || Whereas: Europe is capable of handling its own issue without the assistance of the ||
 * 10 || United States. ||
 * 11 || Be it resolved that the Unites States withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty ||
 * 12 || Organization. ||

Submitted by Council Rock North HS

#8: A Resolution to Cease the Building of All Nuclear Reactors

 * 1 || **WHEREAS,** though proper guidelines for safe building are enforced by the NRC, natural ||
 * 2 || disasters pose unexpected threats; and ||
 * 3 ||  ||
 * 4 || **WHEREAS,** destruction or accident at one of these plants creates disastrous affect on ||
 * 5 || human life; and ||
 * 6 ||  ||
 * 7 || **WHEREAS,** both Germany and France have already decided to close all nuclear ||
 * 8 || reactors by 2022; and ||
 * 9 ||  ||
 * 10 || **WHEREAS,** the goal of this resolution is to minimize and limit nuclear proliferation ||
 * 11 || risks; now, therefore, ||
 * 12 ||  ||
 * 13 || **BE IT RESOLVED,** By the Congress here assembled that the building and expansion of ||
 * 14 || new nuclear power plants from this date, October 8th, 2012, into the undetermined ||
 * 15 || future will cease. ||

Submitted by Stefani Ruzic Council Rock North HS

#9: A Resolution to Cease the Building of All Nuclear Reactors

 * 1 || **WHEREAS,** The SAT and the ACT are standardized tests designed to evaluate a ||
 * 2 || student's academic excellence on a "fair and equal" scale and ||
 * 3 || **WHEREAS,** universities are using standardized testing as a determining factor of ||
 * 4 || accepting a student to their school. ||
 * 5 || **WHEREAS:** The New York Times report that standardized tests induce a detrimental ||
 * 6 || amount of stress and ||
 * 7 || **WHEREAS,** students may not be able to show their fullest potential because of the ||
 * 8 || stress while taking the test. ||
 * 9 || **WHEREAS,** The New York Times also reveals that some students have a high ||
 * 10 || intelligence and perform well in school but cannot excel on standardized testing ||
 * 11 || therefore inhibiting their potential of admission to a school of their interest. ||
 * 12 ||  ||
 * 13 || **THEREFORE BE IT DECLARED THAT,** ByThe SAT and ACT test results cannot be ||
 * 14 || used to determine a students admission given the fact that the tests are an unfair ||
 * 15 || evaluation. ||

Submitted by Ricki Abrams Council Rock North HS