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.