Cartoon #4 - Newt's Invented People

This cartoon was drawn by Tom Tulles.

Key Objects and Symbolism
One key object is Newt Gingritch.  His small eyes and short arms are part of his caricature, which makes fun of him.

Another is the giant coin that says "E pluribus unum" on it.  This represents all of those under God (the entire world).  T

About the event
In an interview on the Jewish television channel, Newt Gingrich exclaimed that the Palestinians have no right to their land and that they are an "invented" people.  This is certainly a move to attract Jewish voters for Newt.

Message
The cartoonist believes that Newt Gingrich is going a little over the top here.  In fact, all people are "invented" people.  We define who we are.

Point of View
The cartoonist disapproves of Newt Gingrich.  He believes that Newt focuses too much on grabbing attention.

My Favorite Holiday Memory

My favorite holiday memory, oddly enough, did not involve opening presents.  Don't get me wrong: I absolutely loved opening presents - just like indulging on chocolate cake.  But there was one thing that I remember enjoying even more; it happened over the course of several days during one of the largest snowstorms in our recent history.

I was still in elementary school, although I can not recall my exact grade.  But the important thing that you understand is that there was a massively gigantic snowstorm.  The snow was nearly up to my chin in height.  Now, my friends and I had an excellent idea: we were going to have a massive snowball fight.  The wonderful thing about this idea was that it worked gloriously, due to the bountiful access to our cold white building material.  Splitting in two teams of 3 each, we set upon building our forts.  These were not small forts.  Each fort featured a massive wall about 10 feet in length and much taller than we could stand.  We also dug out an intricate network of open and even a few closed tunnels through the snow, much like the trenches utilized in World War 1.

Eventually, we began attacking each other.  Our forts were huge, as were our projectiles.  As we blew holes in each others walls and cut through each others defenses, we yelled things like "MAY DEH" or "BREACH" or "RED ALERT".  It was just pure (well pretty darn close) happiness.

Cartoon #3 - Occupy Congress

1. By Rick McKee, for The Augusta Chronicle. 
2. Key Objects
• Main in suit:  He represents Congress.  While his goal is not to attain a government shutdown, he is more effective at doing so than the Occupy protesters.
• Raggedy man on the hill:  He wants to achieve various things with no common goal; this is very similar to Congress's approach when a government shutdown occurs.
3. Devices
• Caricature: Occupy protester has extremely long frayed hair, while the congressman has a neat bald head, with a very nice suit.
4. That a government shutdown almost occurred because Congress failed to appropriate the necessary funding.  Congress finally passed a spending bill to avert a government shutdown that would have occurred in a few hours.
5. Congress needs to get ahead of the game.  It has been continuously blowing off what really needs to be done by making only temporary fixes to problems.  It needs to start thinking in the long term, not in the short term.
6. The cartoonist is tired of the games that Congress has been playing.  He wants Congress to make a permanent funding fix for the government.

Obama's Bid for Reelection

Obama currently has an approval rating of 43%.  Many people feel that, while although Obama did not cause the recession, he is not doing enough to reverse it.  After suffering through a largely failed stimulus package during his first two years, a mid-term election reversed the Democratic majority in Congress and replaced it with a Republican majority, making it extremely difficult for both Obama and Congress to agree on anything.  The recent gridlock does not look very good on Obama.

However, a recent jump in the economy may be the deciding factor for Obama's bid in the reelection.  The economy is slowly gaining momentum, and many Americans are satisfied with the job that Obama is doing.

I believe he has a very high chance of being reelected; more than 60%.

Cartoon #2 - Romney Changing Name

Chance for Mitt Romney - Question #2 - Quarter 2

Mitt Romney is the only Republican candidate who has been consistently leading in the polls.  Many of the other candidates have had a brief spike in ratings, before quickly dropping as another candidate again takes the spotlight for a short while.

Mitt Romney's consistent lead, however, is now being challenged by Newt Gingrich, who has recently taken the spotlight, and is gaining momentum.  Newt Gingrich has the potential to quickly fall in ratings just like the other candidates have.  However, Newt has lasted much longer than the other candidates.

One reason that Romney might not win is his religious affiliation as a Mormon.  Republicans, especially in the South, are generally evangelical Christians, and religion is a deciding factor for them.  If Romney was a Protestant Christian, then there would be no problem.

Another downside for Romney is his tendency to flip-flop on his issues and views.  Newt Gingrich, his chief rival, beliefs that illegal immigrants who have lived in the USA for a long time and have been beneficial to society, should have the option to become citizens through naturalization.  Romney disagrees strongly, favoring an immediate expulsion of all illegal aliens.  The flip-flop issue is that Romney had an identical viewpoint to that of Newt Gingrich 4 years ago on illegal immigrants.  Romney had wanted them to become naturalized.  This is just one example of Romney changing his views to achieve what many condemn as "flip-flopping his belief to gain more votes".

An upside for Romney is his consistent support base.  The same people who supported him several years ago still support him, and he has a steady flow of cash to support his campaign.

Does Rick Perry have a chance? CE #1

Although GOP candidate Rick Perry had been a forerunner several months ago, he has severely ruined his chances at winning the GOP presidential nomination due to several recent debate flubs.  For example, when asked what the three agencies were that he wanted to eliminate, he recalled 2 of them, but could not remember the 3rd and gave up after an awkward 50 seconds of silence.

Many people, however, say that Perry still has hope.  Indeed, many of us have a habit of taking what happened in one day, and using it to predict what will happen in the next 7 weeks.  But so far, that hasn't been the case.

Some assets Perry has are his strong ties to he Tea Party,  and his credential as the longest continuously serving U.S. governor.  He is a proven campaigner who has repeatedly defied the political odds.  In fact, he has not lost an election for 3 decades.


http://news.yahoo.com/rick-perry-20111104.html

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/11/13/Some-say-Rick-Perry-still-has-a-chance/UPI-85471321206073/

Political Cartoon #1

E-Parasites Act- Current Event #4

The E-Parasites Act, which currently is in the Senate, aims to block access to copyright infringing websites.  The government will have the power to create a "blacklist" of websites.  To be on the list they must be "foreign infringing sites" and "have only limited purpose or use other than" infringement.  Sites such as ThePirateBay.com would be blocked under this act.

The main criticism of this act is that the criteria for websites it blocks, is too broad.  It allows for for two much decisions to made on the whim of government officials.  It has been nicknamed "The Great Firewall of America", which is a pun of "The Great Wall of China", and compares China's fierce internet censor laws to the possible future of the United States.

I think this bill has the possibitly to pass, because it has lots of support.  However, it also has a large opposition, so if it does pass, it might be in a modified and watered down form.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111026/12130616523/protect-ip-renamed-e-parasites-act-would-create-great-firewall-america.shtml

Biggest Current Issue in Virginia - Question #4

The biggest current political issue in Virginia involves gun rights.  Virginians tend to be very conservative on the issue of gun control laws.  The Democrats are pointing out in the upcoming election, however, that many of the Republicans are too conservative on gun control laws, meaning that they want to give too much freedom and not enough regulation on the ability of people to own guns.  In some areas, both parties believe in the right for people to bear arms.  This means that voting for a Democrat would only tighten up regulations a bit, and wouldn't have any large impact on gun laws.


I think that the Democrats will be much more successful that before in Virginia if they make clear their standpoint on gun laws.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/democrats-train-sights-on-gun-issues-in-northern-virginia-races/2011/10/26/gIQApUhSMM_story.html

Obama's Report Card: Question of the week #3

Total grade: B

Health Care: B

Obama signed the historic health care bill in 2010.  However, most of the major provisions don't go into effects until 2014, meaning there has been a minimal effect on most Americans


War on Terror: A
Obama has done an excellent job protecting the United States against terrorists.  The pinnacle of his achievements was the death of Osama Bin Laden, who was killed in an operation ordered by Obama.

Dealing with the Economic Downturn: B
Obama inherited the wost financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Although the recovery is slow, progress is being made.  One of the mistakes he made was to overemphasize his health care bill.  He should have focused more on lowering the federal debt.

Reelection bid: C
I believe Obama has a chance at being reelected for president.  With the economy as the biggest issue in the upcoming election, he can make the case that he is currently pulling the economy out of the recession, and that reelecting another Republic candidate would result in policies which caused the recession in the first place.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt made the same case after his first term during the Great Depression.

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/18/140573224/obamas-re-election-what-are-the-odds

Occupy Wall Street goes Global - CE #3

 The Occupy Wall Street movement, whose goal is to protest social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government, began on Wall Street on September 17, 2011.  It is now slowly escalating to a global scale, with protests yesterday in Rome, Paris, London, and dozens of other countries and cities.  A wikipedia page listed all of the protests planned for yesterday. locations.  In the US, the situation has escalated to a national scale, with protest reaching from coast to coast.  The protests, however, remain relatively peaceful.

I'm extremely unsure as to the outcome of this movement.  Unlike many successful protests in the past, such as those for female suffrage, or for abolition of slavery, this movement is very decentralized and disjointed.  It does not have a strong leader, nor does it have a strong single message.  It is, however, picking up global momentum.  If anything, it has the potential to socialize taxes, weaken lobbyists, and raise taxes on corporations.

Google - news query
Wikipedia - timeline
CNN - video of global protests
Wikipedia - article for defining the movement
Washington Post - Occupy Walls Street goes global

Marijuana: Question of the Week #2

Ever since I discovered how muddled our knowledge of marijuana is, I have taken a fascination to uncovering it's history, as well as the scientific nature of the substance.  In this blog post I will briefly cover it's history (to the best of my ability, as this is a very confusing subject), the arguments for and against it, and any current political events regarding this substance.
 
History
Marijuana wasn't put on the wasn't put on the schedule 1 drug list for scientific reasons.  By 1937, 23 states

Environmental Issues with Canada to US pipeline - CE #2

Over 800 people have been arrested in ongoing protests at the White House against the environmental issues of a proposed oil pipeline.  The 1700 mile-long Keystone pipeline is to run from Canada to refineries on the coast of Texas.

Environmental Impact

      The Bad

o      Pollution equivalent to building 7 new coal-fired power planes.

o      Will act as a catalyst, opening the door to Canada’s vast oil-sand resources

o      Oil from oil sands produces between 5% to 30% more greenhouse gas emissions than traditional crude

o      Can leech toxins into waterways

       The Good

o      The project will be too small to make a significant difference in worldwide pollution

Economic Impact:

• create 13,000 construction jobs and 7,000 additional jobs making the steel, pumps and other necessary equipment.
• Bring an additional 700,000 barrels of oil a day into the United States
• Will help Canada expand it’s oil industry

The Solyndra factor

After going bankrupt, the high-tech solar panel manufacturing company Solyndra has been guaranteed a half-billion dollar loan from the federal government.  The Obama administration has been taking heat on its decision to support this unproven new solar technology.  If the administration denies this pipeline to be build, then it will have supported an unproven new solar energy technology, and then dismissed a proven source of energy and jobs (oil).  This will not look good for the Democrats in the upcoming 2012 elections.

CNN
NPR

Liberal v. Conservative views

A quick breakdown of their positions on varying issues.

1. Affirmative action

·       Liberal:  Reverse discrimination is needed to correct the past wrongs against minority groups, because the majority is inherently better off now.

·       Conservative:  Same as liberal, but against some aspects of it, such as the quota requirement.  Conservatives are O.K. with minorities having an edge in applications, but not a guarantee of acceptance.

·       My Position:  Central.  I believe a quota requirement may be necessary to give certain races an equal chance of education, but only to an extent.  I would not make the quota very large.

2. Gun Control

My Political Party

Question of the Week:  What political party are you most closely aligned with?  Why?
Website I used to decide

I am primarily a democrat.  I believe in personal freedoms, and a free market.


My Democrat views

• Death penalty should be illegal.
• Women should have the right to have an abortion
• I fear changes in the Earth, as apposed to changes in society.
• Minority groups (homosexual community) should not have to conform to the majority (heterosexual community).
• I prefer to have foreign military operations directed jointly with international organizations such as the United Nations or N.A.T.O, as opposed to only being directed by Americans and the Pentagon.
• I view the Constitution as a "living, changing document" with "evolving standards of morality".  I do not believe the Constitution is a "non changing, strictly constructed document".
• I respect the religious beliefs of others by not imposing my own religion on them.
• I believe the individual should have the final authority in deciding what to do with his body, as opposed to the government deciding for them.

My Republican views

• I see guns as a defensive tool of protection, as opposed to an offensive tool of aggression. 
• The government is a little bit too involved in the economy.
• The federal government is too involved in issues that should be dealt with by the states.

Current Event: Obama appeals Alamaba immigration law

On Friday, the Obama administration asked a federal appeals court to block Alabama's strict new anti-illegal immigration law after a federal judge allowed key portions to take effect.

Gun Control

(Not one of my current event assignments.)

Is it right to ban firearms?
My answer is no.  When a law is passed that bans guns,the criminals will continue to use guns anyways.  Only the law abiding citizens will give up their guns, and this will create an imbalance of power, where only criminals have access to firearms.

I saw this program live on Fox a year ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_YTM_eAWnQ