Second Post of Second Quarter

Can you believe all this controversy about the new Senate seat in Illinois? I can't believe that this governor would try to sell it! The day that the Governor was caught truly was "a sad day for Illinois." Now the decision has to be made whether to put this decision in the hand of the voters, a new governor, or the old governor. Polls are leaning towards letting the people decide but this could take months, and we just don't have the time. I hope that this whole scandal get resolved soon because I don't think our country can take anymore drama from the political front until after the inauguration in January.

First post of second quarter

So I was sick last Friday and completely forgot to do my first post but I'll make up for it now. I can't believe Obama chose Hilary Clinton as his Secretary of State! I'm really upset by this decision. There are other politicians that are more qualified for the job. I see this as a publicity stunt/ support gathering ploy. The Secretary of State is supposed to be in charge of affairs. What kind of international experience does Hilary Clinton have? Some people say, "Oh well, when she was first lady..." NO! I will stop you right there because she was never part of the main discussions about treaties or agreements, she never had to deal with terrorist countries let alone negotiate with them. Others say "Well Bill Clinton himself..." NO again! HILARY CLINTON IS NOT THE SAME AS BILL CLINTON! If you want Bill Clinton for foreign affairs, why not make HIM secretary of state? I'm sorry Obama, I completely support you, but this was your first mistake of your Presidency, and you're not even President yet.

Canvasing photos

My third and final volunteering was 2 days before the election. I went out with James Ollerhead to canvas for the Obama campaign. On November 2nd, their main focus wasnt to get people to vote for obama, it was more to make sure that people could get to the polling place. Many people were not home or did not want to talk. There were a few conservatives but most of them were pretty nice, and stopping us before we spoke our whole speech. I had a lot of fun going around with James. It was a lot more fun then going around by myself. These 10 hours that i served really got me involved with the election and i had a great time doing them.

Volunteer work #2

This volunteer work was a continuation of the first volunteer work. After I inputted all my information for the phone calls I clicked on the link (on the Obama website) to volunteer in the community. It gave me a list similar to the phone call list, except, this list had names of people and addresses on it. This was my first shot at canvassing. I received people on my street and the street across from mine. A lot of people (even my own neighbors) asked not to comment and it was pretty hot the day that I walked around. This was Sunday the 26th. Once I finished canvassing my area I went online yet again and inputted all of the data that I had received from that day. Some people were very friendly and answered my questions and took the flyers that I had printed out others, who I specifically knew were home, didn't even bother to come to the door. Personally I like calling better than canvassing because you don’t have to see the person in real life and it is way easier to talk to people on the phone. Nevertheless I had fun but it’s definitely not one of my past times.

Volunteering #1

I decided to volunteer for the Obama campaign. My first volunteering job was to call people and ask them questions about who they were going to vote for. I got my list off of the Obama site. All I had to do was register on the Obama site and then I got assigned 40 different people. On Saturday October 25th I sat down for 3 hours and called all of the people on my list. Then I spent another hour and a half inputting all of the information that I gathered in my phone calls onto the computer. People were a lot friendlier than I had imagined and in the end I only had a few not answer and a few more ask not to reply. I enjoyed calling people and seeing for myself the overwhelming support that Obama had. I would definitely enjoy doing this again in the future.

Election Post Week 6 (LAST ONE)

Alright! Time for my super prediction abilities!

I think Barak Obama will win this election. He has had the lead in all of the polls and has really inspired the American people for change. He is an amazing public speaker and sadly this will persuade some to vote for him. His Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden has tons of international experience and most americans would trust Biden over Palin if, heaven forbid, anything happens to the candidates. I think Obama will win the popular vote and will get 322 of the electoral votes.

VA Senate it is between Mark Warner (D) and Jim Gilmore (R). I highly believe that Mark Warner will win this election. Virginia has been leaning democrat for the past 2 elections and we will finally get what we want. Warner has also been way up in the poll and will most liekly win by a landslide

10th District- Frank Wolf (R) vs. Judy Feder (D). Honestly I believe that Frank Wolf is going to pull out on top for this one. Judy Feder is an extremeist when it come to her Democratic policies. Also Wolf has been our representative for over 20 years!

11th: Keith Fimian (R) vs. Gerry Connolly (D). I seriously know nothing about either of these two candidates but i believe that Gerry Connolly will win the election because of the amounts of Democrats in the area.

Alright so who is ready for tomorrow night?!?! In somewhere around 24 hours we will know who the next president of the United States will be.

Election Post Week 5

Swing States. These are states in the US that candidates cannot predict whether they will vote Democratic or Republican and these are the key states for the candidates. A secure win of these states could win you the presidential election.

Virginia is a swing state this year and could make a big difference in this election. Virginia has not voted democratic in 44 years! If Obama were to win here in VA it would make an even bigger change in history. Recent demographic changes, especially in Northern Virginia have made the state competitive for Democrats. The last two governmental elections were won by Democrats. Also, the last senatorial election was won by Democrat Jim Webb, and Democrat Mark Warner is projected to win the seat being vacated by retiring Republican John Warner. Both McCain and Obama have visited this state, Obama more than McCain, to try and win us over. I believe that Obama will win Virginia because we have faded from red to purple and now the blue is starting to show.

Another swing state is Ohio. Ohio is almost always considered a swing state and its 20 electoral votes is exactly the reason why. Those 20 votes saved George W Bush in the 2000 election. McCain and Obama have worked really hard and put a lot of money into this state. I think that it will go Republican because that is how they have voted the past 2 elections.

These swings states are critical in McCain’s campaign. Many polls show that he will have to win all of them to have a shot at the Presidency. Sorry maverick but I think you need to step down.

Current event #6

Status Uncertain
The uncertainty over in the Middle East is looming over this presidential election. We have worked for the past eight months to plan to leave Iraq. The presidential election here and over in Iraq is placing even more pressure to finalize the plan and have a fall back plan in case everything does not go according to plan. Rival Shiites are rebelling even more nowadays with the new plan up for ratification. Shiite leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, know very well that Iraq needs continued support from U.S. troops but they also know that taking a public stand in favor of a continued American presence could cost them heavily at the polls, and in Tehran. The United Nation’s plan suggests that all troops will be pulled out of Iraq by January 1st 2009. Iraq officials are wary about this idea and hope to ask for more time for help from our troops. As it stands, the "status of forces" agreement appears reasonable. It calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities by July and to leave the country by the end of 2011. But it makes the timeline conditional on the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over and allows for an extension of the final withdrawal date if the Iraqi government requests it. The next president may be better positioned to seal an accord with Iraq, but he should not have to inherit a crisis over the status of American forces there. I believe America should follow the plan that we have now but, try to please the Iraqi government while we are in their country. We started this “war” we need to end it responsibly.

Election Post Week 3

For the 10th congressional district in Virginia The democratic nominee is Judy Feder and the Republican nominee is Frank Wolf.
Judy Feder holds a B.A. from Brandeis University and received her Master's in 1970 and Ph.D. in 1977 from Harvard University in political science. She is Co-Director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She has been working from the beginning of her career to make healthcare more affordable for the citizens of the united states. Judy's husband, Stan, is a former intelligence analyst for the CIA who spent more than 20 years working to reform the intelligence community and now occasionally teaches analysis for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. Feder's main focus is health and health policy for all Americans.
Frank Wolf has represented Virginia for 26 years now and is the oldest memeber of the house. He received his B.A. degree from Penn State University in 1961 and his law degree from Georgetown University in 1965. Congressman Wolf has been involved in nearly every major transportation improvement in the region over the last 25 years, from helping obtain funding for the original 103-mile Metrorail system to improvements on critical commuter routes such as I-66, Route 50, Route 7 and the George Washington Parkway. He is presently working to bring mass transit out the Dulles corridor to Loudoun County and to establish a Bus Rapid Transit system on I-66 outside the Beltway. He has worked on anti-gang policies and police forces, and has made a small but significant difference. Congressman Wolf also has a long record of speaking out for the persecuted around the world and is considered one the leading crusaders in Congress for human rights. He has traveled the world to call attention to human rights abuses and religious persecution around the globe.

Polls have shown Wolf with a slight advantage over Feder but, cannot definitely say that Wolf will win the election. This year the sights are changing and Virginia is starting to turn blue.

Current Event #4

I decided to do another editorial this week but it was all about the election and how the candidates are not really promoting themselves but more attacking their opponent and how neither of the candidates can have the perfect answer on how to fix a certain issue in the United States. I completely agree with this article. One of the best things that a presidential candidate could do would be to admit that he is not perfect. Sarah Palin has shown that she is not perfect in any regard but people still call her a "strong woman" and still support her. Also people expect way too much from these presidential candidates. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE ALL OF THE ANSWERS! Yes they both have plans to fix the economy but that doesnt mean that either of them or going to work or one is better than the other. These presidential candidates have some of the most challenging problems to face when they are elected into office. I just hope they can handle it.

Current event #3

Editorial: Earth Aboil
This editorial is all about how much carbon we as human beings are spewing into our atmosphere. It also talks about how we have raised the temperature of our earth between two and three degrees in the past two years. Yes, this is another global warming editorial all about how we are killing our world and in turn killing ourselves.
Carbon gases that are released into the atmosphere attach themselves to the ozone molecules and create the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect actually is a very small player in global climate Human's did not because the greenhouse effect, but certain critics such as this one, agree that the human population has added to the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Ninety-five percent of the greenhouse effect is due solely to natural water vapor. Of the remaining 5%, only 0.2% to 0.3% of the greenhouse effect is due to emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases from human sources. If we are in fact in a global warming crisis, even the most aggressive and costly proposals for limiting industrial carbon dioxide emissions would have an undetectable effect on global climate.
Finally the author of this editorial spoke about how the United States need to lead by example to fix this problem. Personally, I think that some other country should step up and take action to help in fixing it. Why not have countries like China or Russia, who are other world powers, start this new era of carbon free energy? Yes the climate is changing but it has been changing since eighteen thousand years ago, when the earth finally stated its warming period from the ice age. Whether you think that humans are the reason for global warming and killing us all, or if you believe that it is just a natural process that the world is going through and that we had no influence on it, you need to look at both sides of the story. We have such a large impact on our environment, there is no true way to know if this global warming period is because of us or not, but if it is we should find a way to help reduce our carbon footprint.

CE #2

Article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/29/AR2008092900623.html?sid=ST2008092903526&s_pos=
A rebellion in the House killed a $700 billion rescue plan for the nation's financial system Monday September 29th, sending global stock prices plunging, prompting fierce recriminations on the presidential campaign. The Dow dropped over 750 points and the citizens are in utter disbelief and you can hear the beginnings of an uproar. A congressional vote has almost never caused such high drama and produced such immediate repercussions, directly from the House floor to the trading floor. Wall Street traders huddling around television screens watched lawmakers denounce the bailout legislation, and then sent the Dow plummeting. Stocks had recovered somewhat by the time the vote was gaveled to a close, but jittery investors sent them plunging again as Republicans and Democrats took turns blaming each other for the defeat. In a few hours, $1.2 trillion in paper wealth was wiped out. In the middle of the presidential campaign, the collapse of the deal left Washington buzzing and parties blaming one another for the failure of the economy. Republicans initially blamed Pelosi, saying her floor speech “poisoned the atmosphere and invited partisan retribution.” When really very few were actually there to hear the speech that she made. Republican leaders backed away within hours, conceding they never had the votes they had promised. Democrats found strength in numbers, saying nearly two-thirds of their members voted for the bill. They continued to say how unbelievable it was that the republicans only had 65 votes to pass their own bill. If anyone is to blame for a record sell-off on Wall Street, it should be them. One sign of this is that no representative in McCain’s home state of Arizona voted for the bill. Personally I think that this is ridiculous. What was the point of McCain “putting off his campaign” if the bill wasn’t even going to be passed by his own party. The Congress will try to come to a compromise over the next couple of days but I do not think they will come to an agreement. This article and the action of not passing the bill also show how much power George W. Bush has lost in the house and with his own party members. As Pelosi said, “what happened today cannot stand.” If it does then our economy is just going to go further down the drain and finally reach the sewers.

Election Post Week 2

What is the most important issue our country is facing right now? Well that's an easy one. THE ECONOMY!! Our economy is falling to pieces and we're floundering to try to pick them up and put it back together before everything shatters and is unrepairable. Many ideas of how to fix this have been presented but one, The $700 Billion dollar bill became the most popular. Especially once McCain wanted to, stop his campaign to make sure that this bill got past. The stock market is dropping everyday and the American dollar is losing it's value more and more every week. What really upsets me is that everyone thinks that it is the next Presidents job to fix our economy. I have news for you people, ITS OUR'S AND OUR CONGRESSMEN AND WOMAN'S. I found it hilarious that a bill that was presented by the republicans and was supported by John McCain not only got only 63 votes from the republicans NONE of the representatives from McCain's home state voted yes on the bill. Basically we need to find some way to fix our economy soon or its all going down the drain.


As for the debates I really think that McCain made a jerk out of himself. On the other hand so did Obama but, the way that Obama was being a "jerk" could also be taken as showing that he is strong and powerful and is not intimidated byt McCain and whatever he says. Obama is a far superior speaker than John McCain but I believe that the polls came out to about the same after the debate then before the debate. I can not wit for the vice presidential debate tomorrow night to see how much of a fool Sarah Palin makes herself look like.

CE #1

AIG is a major insurance company for the United States. In the mid-2000s AIG had gone through a series of fraud investigations which led to a one and a half billion fine for AIG and criminal charges. AIG's share prices fell over ninety-five percent to just one dollar and twenty-five cents on September 16, 2008, from a high of about seventy dollars. The company reported over $13.2 billion in losses in the first six months of this year. They came into massive debt and the owners could not handle the cost. They were about to go bankrupt and then the US government stepped in.
This article talks about how the United States government stepped in and lent AIG Insurance eighty-five billion dollars. They used this money to pay off their debts and get their company back on the stock market. One crucial part of this transaction is that eighty percent of their company’s stocks are now owned by the United States government. AIG needed this money because they had invested almost all of its money in mortgages. The fall of the real estate value in turn was the cause of their fall. The government decided to step in because if AIG had failed it would set of a chain reaction throwing other companies “under the bus” so to speak and cause them to go into bankruptcy as well. This was interesting because this week the government allowed the Lehman Brothers, another large company, to fail, which is seen as an act to show all companies that they cannot always count on the taxpayer’s money for help. This takeover helped the Dow go back up about one hundred and forty-one points. This helped from the large drops of 504 point drop on Monday.
I heard about this all week and I decided to do my own research and I came across this article. I could not believe that the United States government would give a company eighty-five billion dollars, just to save the company. After reading this article I understand that if this one insurance company would fail then a lot of other companies that had their insurance with AIG would also go bankrupt. Also this move was to help the stock market and to slow the dow falling even more. We see this as job for the next President of the United States. This is not a job for the next president; this is a job for the people that are representing us in congress. They are the ones who control our economy and what companies can merge together. They are the reason our economy is failing and the American people should do something about it.

Election Post Week 1

For this blog post I need to discuss my ideology/political party preference and tell which of the presidential candidates I am supporting.

Well, this election, I believe that neither of the candidates is "good enough" for the job. But, that does not mean I do not have a preference. This election I am in support for Barak Obama. For many reason but mainly because he wants to create new jobs and lower taxes for the working class. He is also a great speech giver and does not make our country look like idiots like the leaders of today.

I would have to say though that my thoughts behind politics are very socially liberal but economically conservative. I am against guns and I think that gays have the right to be married but I do not think that it is the governments job to take money from the wealthy and just give it to people who need it because they're too lazy to work.

Obama has changed his view on Iraq during his campaign. AT first he was saying that he was going to pull out of Iraq as soon as he gets in office. But now he is saying that he would like to "end the war responsibly," which is also a way of saying; I was only half lying before because I still want to pull out. This upsets me in a way because one of the reasons that I was supporting Obama was the fact that he was going to pull out of Iraq. But hey, that’s politics,

Another issue that is very important to me is the issue of energy. Obama said that he was going to put "150 billion dollars in renewable energy" My first reaction to this was OH MY GOD but again if that kind of money is needed to make our country independent from other people to give us energy then I fully agree with it. Obama wants to create thousands of new jobs for people in the renewable energy plants that will be open. This really affects me for the future because I want to be an engineer and I may even be working on alternative energy sources so with this renewable energy I have no reason to worry that I will not have a job in the future.

Obama's Acceptance Speech

I took notes of quotes from Obama's Speech and have some of my own opinions of what he said...

"The failure to respond to it, is the failed policies of George W. Bush”

I completely agree with this statement. George W. Bush has failed to fix things in the United States and has made things worse. We do not only need a change in president but a change in politics and policy as well.

“America we are better than these last 8 years, we are a better country than this”

I thought this was an interesting way of saying George W. Bush has screwed up the way people look at America and we should be ashamed. As a country we are better than the last 8 years just not with Bush as our President

"...Sits on its hands while we watch a major American city drown before our eyes"

I think this was a low blow because the bush administration tried to help. It was a tough job. Yes they could have done better, but they at least tried.

"I say, enough, this moment, this election is our chance to keep in the 21st century American promise alive"

Yes yes yes yes yes!!! We do need to keep the American promise alive because people have lost hope and we need to restore that hope.

"We love this country too much to make the next 4 years to look like the last 8
We will say 8 years is enough"

Alright now he's just repeating the same stuff but I still agree!!

"What is to be said about your judgment when you think bush is right 90% of the time?"

This was an interesting statement because he wasn’t really "agreeing with bush" he was following the "republican" way of thinking... still, this shows that McCain doesn’t have his own opinions he just goes with the republican way

"It's not because John McCain doesn’t care it's because he doesn’t know."

This is true because McCain has not gone through what Obama has in his life and does not know the hardships of life here in America

"Time for them to own their failure."

I have said this since day 1 of bush's second term. Bush needs to own up to his mistakes and the failure over in Iraq instead of sending more troops to try to make it seem like things are getting better.

"We will rise or fall as one nation"

This scared me because there is a chance that we will fail, but, at least Obama is being realistic and knows that everything he wants might not work.

"Cut taxes for 95% of all working families"

This is a big promise to make but I believe that Obama will be able to do it. I agree with a lot of his ideas for the economy and taking away from bigger companies to help the country's economy.

"Set a clear goal in 10 years get rid of dependence of oil from the middle east"

This is another big promise but hopefully this will be done we need this to be less dependent of oil and Obama can get us there

"Drilling is not a long term solution"

SO so so so so true!! We cannot just keep looking for places to drill because we need the oil; we need to change with the times.

"150 billion dollars in renewable energy"

My first reaction to this was OH MY GOD but again if that kind of money is needed then I fully agree with it. I would rather pay back that with the money we will no longer use for oil.

"Stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who need care the most"

Yes yes yes yes yes!! I have had an uncle die of cancer and have seen the battles with insurance companies so give people the chance to live and help them as much as we can

"Keep the promise of equal pay for equal days work"

This is one of the main reasons I would vote for Obama. He has his own daughters in mind when he thinks of what to do for the future. Women should get equal pay and if he can assure us that he can do this then there is no doubt in my mind that he will win this election.

“Government can’t do everything”

This is so true!! Citizens need to realize that they need to help the government do what they want the government to do. The government cannot do everything alone and need as much help and support that they can get

“McCain won’t even follow him to the cave where he lives”

I was blown away when Obama said this. I could not believe he would say something like this and bring an issue like this up so early but I know that McCain will have something to say to this.

"Think of the future instead of grasping on the past"

Someone needed to tell this to bush at the start of his presidency because it seems like he's holding on to his father's ideas.

"You don’t defeat a terrorist group that is in 80 countries by occupying Iraq"

TRUE!!! We need to leave Iraq because we are not helping anymore we are hurting more than helping. They are 76 million dollars in surplus and we are more and more in the hole every day.

"I will restore our moral standing so that once again American is the last best hope for those who call for lives of freedom, who call for peace and who yearn for a better future."

This was the most amazing quote from his entire speech. This is what won me over because the way that other countries look at America needs to be changed because it is crap. Right now and we have made ourselves look like idiot that past 8 years.

"Don’t tell me we can’t uphold the second amendment and keep ak-47s out of the hands of criminals"

THIS IS SOMETHING I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR. I think people have the right to bear arms but not to bear ridiculous guns that are unneeded.

"This election has never been about me it’s about you."

We know we know. But seriously he puts his children first and the experiences he has gone through and seen is what fuels him and this is why I want him as President


I know that Obama has been talking about change change change and tonight he defined what this change would be. I made a list from what he said he would change

Change:
Tax cut for workers and small businesses
TAKE AWAY TAX BREAKS FROM BIG COMPANIES THAT SEND JOBS OVERSEAS
Eliminate capital gains taxes
Cut taxes for 95% of all working families
Set a clear goal in 10 years get rid of dependence of oil from the Middle East
Drilling is not a long term solution
Clean coal technology; find safe ways for nuclear power
Help auto companies with fuel efficient cars built in America
Make it easier to buy these cars
150 billion dollars in renewable energy
New industries and 5 million new jobs
All children get an education
New teachers, higher salaries, more support
Higher standards
Commit to service for community or country will help pay for education
Affordable accessible health care
Stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who need care the most
Change bankruptcy laws and keep pensions
Protect social security
Keep the promise of equal pay for equal days work

So basically if i could vote in this election i would vote for Obama. He seems like the best candidate and has changed my opinion of the democratic party.