Middle Class Tax Cuts Passes

Today, Congress passed the legislation needed to renew tax cuts for the middle. I was shocked to here that it was the Democrats that actually voted too pass it, and all but three Republicans voted against it. The reasoning behind this apparently is that Republicans are holding out on tax cuts to all Americans until additional tax cuts are awarded to Americans with an annual income of $250,000, or the top 1% of the richest Americans. I find it terribly unjust that the entire middle class is being punished by the GOP in Congress just because they want to keep the richest people in happy. Its not even like the top bracket of income earners would not get anything out of the deal; their tax cuts are being renewed as well. They are demanding an additional bonus to that. Is this what Congress has come to? It seems to me that the GOP are just bluffing to threaten these tax cuts to get the Democrats to bend to pass the bonus so that taxes for the entire country do not go up. In this time when America is trillions of dollars in debt, is it really necessary to make the multi-multi millionares and billionares even richer? Seriously. Why not just look out for the general welfare of our country as a whole?

Sarah Palin bashes "Lets Move" Initiative

Sarah Palin lately has been taking a stand against Michelle Obama's "Lets Move" inititive to reduce childhood obesity through exercise and healthy diet. I think Sarah Palin should take a few moments away from watching dancing with the stars and skinning moose to maybe research the obesity rate in the U.S. Today in the U.S., one in three children are obese, and one third of all children will develop diabetes in their lifetime. I think this may be one of those occassions where Palin should perhaps keep her own opinion (however humorous) to herself for the sake of all those children that this initiative could help. Even looking at this initiative from a purely fiscal standpoint, it would be hugely beneficial for our country. America pays $147 billion a year directly from obesity related medical costs, and every person with health insurance pays for these expenses. If people in our country had the information available to teach them how to take better care of their bodies, maybe we could spend less on diabetes medication and more on keeping our country safe, employed, and educated. Even if Palin doesn't see the financial merit of this program, maybe she could show some respect for it considering all the children's whose quality of life could be improved by it.

TSA Screening Invasive?

I feel that people are being way too whiney about the current TSA security screening process. The airlines and government are busy enough without all this nonsense about people talking about being "violated". If these techniques prevent one single terrorist attack, the extra hassle is well worth the lives saved. People should be aware of the process when buying airline tickets, and if they aren't okay with it, then DRIVE. Or take a boat. Or submarine. Also, if people really researched some of these methods, they would realize that they really aren't that invasive. For example, the full body scan shows only metal objects hidden inside of clothes but outside the body, no the actual body cavities and such.

Presidential Elections

It seems silly to be that despite being a democracy, our country can get into a situation where the person with the most votes is not elected president. The people of a state should not be represented as one whole unified people with the same opinion, and their votes should not be treated like they are either. Why not just have citizen's votes directly correlate to the person they want as President? That seems much more fair to me. It also seems like  with the current system of electoral votes that despite changes in preference for the presidential nominees, it would be harder to have the non-incumbent party's candidate elected. The whole concept of electoral votes in place of a direct vote sounds silly to me.

Arizona Voters Legalize Medical Marijuana

I am very pleased with the outcome of Arizona's ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana, and I hope that more states will follow the precedent. I think legalizing marijuana for medical use is the compassionate decision considering that the drug is less toxic and less dangerous than many other pain and anxiety reducing pharmaceuticals that would be used otherwise. Personally, I feel that the lobbyists for these pharmaceutical companies may be one of the reasons that this measure wasn't passed earlier. As far as medical marijuana being legalized for recreational use, I think that the revenue it would bring in would be well worth it.

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

I think the involvement of comedic celebrities such as John Stewart and Stephen Colbert in rallies and politics is very beneficial for bringing more political awareness to the American people about their government. The amount of attention that was raised by the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" is proof that one way to get American citizens to listen up is to bring in high profile celebrities. Personally, I think that the open mocking of the Tea Party to be quite humorous and actually very truthful. One of the signs at the rally read "Stop Socialism - Boycott Public roads, bridges, air traffic control, public sewers, fire fighters, police," which refers to how taxes are what holds the American society together. The event as a whole sounds like it was very successful in generating a deeper awareness of current party politics.

"Don't ask, dont tell"

I do not understand President Obama's decision to overturn the appeal of "don't ask, don't tell" by a judge. This issue has been a major issue of Obama's campaign and presidency, and after pledging to end the policy once and for all, he turned down the opportunity to do so. I know that he wants the decision to be made and enforced by Congress, but isn't the final much more important than the manner of means to get there? I see this decision of being more stubborn than honorable. I think the goal should have been to dissolve the policy as quickly as possible. As of right now, I am glad that the enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell" is temporarily halted.

Jerry Brown/Meg Whitman "whore" comment

On Tuesday nights gubernatorial debate between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown, Brown seemed to finally apologize to Whitman about his staff member's comment about Whitman being a "whore". This apology was ill received by Whitman, and i feel like she was trying to make a bigger deal out of it than in was in an effort to gain sympathy for herself and villianize Jerry Brown. It wasn't Brown himself that made the comment, and whoever said it did so with the thought that the comment would remain private. Surely Whitman's staff has also said less than flattering things about Brown, but fortunately for her those comments remained behind closed doors. The comment was obviously wrong and demeaning, but Whitman by no means reprimanded her own campaign chairman, Pete Wilson, when he made a comment about Congress being "whores to public employee unions". People should be focusing more on the policies and plans of action of there political candidates than on stupid things their staff are saying.

Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown Debate

Being a senior in high school and starting my applications to many of California's universities, I was very interests in Whitman and Brown's views regarding funding and tuition increases for public universities in California. I was somewhat disappointed in Brown's response to the question about whether or not he would roll back prices on fees and tuition. His answer seemed somewhat along the lines of that he cared about the university, but he cared about other causes more. I understand that on these tough times the government doesn't have a infinite budget to make public higher education more accessible, but I do feel like a higher education makes individuals more of contributors to society and would benefit the state in the long run. I was also very disappointed with Whitman's response. Hers was more like an infomercial and rather than answering the question, she seems to just repeat over and over that she wanted to "put Californians back to work". Overall, i was extremely unimpressed with both candidates responses.

page 84, questions 1 and 2

       From a very young age, my parents have been very open about discussing politics with me. The fact that they have many opposing views has given me a very well rounded point of view on American politics. Their open discussion and encouragement to share my opinions regarding political matters has motivated me to be more aware and thoughtful about what is going on in the world. For me, the repercussions of the so called "war on terror", along with my parents' political perspectives, have influenced me the most in my own political attitude.
       The reason my parents political persectives have had the most affect on me is because i respect and understand most of their decisions in life. They tend to be right much more often than i give them credit for, and this includes their thoughts and predictions in the world of politics as well.
      As far as outsourcing jobs to other countries, i think it is a terrible idea. Sending all our factory level or communications jobs to those in other countries eliminates a huge number of job opportunities to Americans that truly need them, making existing jobs even more competitive, and keeping many unemployed. While the companies doing the outsourcing may benefit from the lower wages they must pay their workers, they are taking away jobs from our country as a whole. Also, I feel that the workers doing the job would lack the quality of work that may be done in America. When someone is doing a job that is to benefit those living in a distant country, they may not feel as motivated as they would if they were doing something to benefit those in their own country, especially since they are probably being underpaid and overworked.