Political Cartoon #4

This political cartoon was drawn by Jimmy Margulies. It was posted to The Record of Hackensack, NJ on December 17, 2009. It brings up the issue of health care reform.
The cartoon's message is that democrats are getting ready to pass the health care bill, but in order to get the 60 votes, they had to appease certain moderate politicians who recieve a lot of campaign funds from insurance companies. As a result, they eliminted certain provisions from the bill, such as a public option, that the insurance companies did not like. So basically, what the cartoon is saying is that the democrats are being led around by the insurance companies.
I agree with this message, in that the bill is not as good as it should be, because insurance company lobbyists kept out the public option. The public option might have brought down costs, by forcing the insurance companies to compete with reasonably priced insurance.

My Favorite Holiday

My favorite holiday is Independence Day. I like the patriotic atmosphere that surrounds the holiday and I also like that it falls on July 4th, during the summer, which is my favorite season. It is also a day where all Americans can come together and celebrate. On other holidays, such as Christmas, people are always stressed about buying gifts, cooking, and catering to visiting family members. On Independence Day however, people are much more laid back and it's always a relaxing day. Every year, my family always has a barbecue and we have a huge water gun fight. Then, much like many other Americans, we finish the day by watching the fireworks displays.

Political Cartoon #3

This cartoon was drawn by Bill Schoor for Cagle Cartoons. It was posted on December 12, 2009.

This cartoon bring up the issue of global climate change and how it is affecting our planet.

I believe that climate change is a serious concern and we need to come up with a plan to decrease our carbon footprint and reduce global warming. I recently watched a program on TV that said the Maldives, a group of islands situated in the Indian Ocean, could become submerssed completely in water because of melting polar icecaps and showed how much the glaciers in Greenland are melting. This is not an issue to be taken lightly, in my opinion, and I think the governments of countries around the world need to work together to stop this problem.

Religious Symbols on Public Property

I am very much opposed to having relgious symbols allowed to be placed on public property, because not everybody has the same religious beliefs and some people are not relgious at all. People can display whatever they want on their own private property, but public property belongs to everyone, whether they are christian, jewish, athiest, etc, so in order to show respect for everybody's beliefs, relgious symbols should not be displayed.

The current state of health care reform

What's going on now is, the health care bill, which was passed in the House, is now before the Senate for reconciliation with an earlier senate bill.
On Saturday, the senate considered various amendments proposed by Republicans and democrats. The republicans proposed amendments that would prevent the cuts in Medicare for the aged, including cuts in home health care payments proposed in the bill. The amendments were defeated and the Democrats argued that the cuts would reduce inefficiency and were supported by AARP and the Home Health Care Association. The democrats then proposed an amendment that said benefits would not be reduced for any individuals, which passed.
On Sunday President Obama came to the senate to talk to the democrats. There appears to be a sixty vote agreement (the number needed to prevent a filibuster) on basic issues including: coverage for 30 million currently uninsured individuals through a requirement that everyone purchase insurance backed by subsidies for those who cannot afford it, an exchange where people can shop for insurance and compare different plans, an expansion of Medicaid for the poor, and a ban on insurance practices of denying people coverage for previously existing conditions. There is still disagreement on whether there should be a public option (a government run health plan).

Political Cartoon #2

This cartoon was drawn by Mike Keefe and was published in the Denver Post. It was posted on December 4th, 2009. The cartoon portrays the fact that many soldiers are growing increasingly irritated and fatigued at having been deployed mulitple times over the last several years. It is also saying that Obama, despite only having been in office for about a year, is already increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan to the most it has ever been since the war started. Although, the cartoon seems to be portraying a negative image towards Obama's decision, I disagree because at least he has actually set a date in which the U.S. forces will leave Afghanistan, and he seems to be intent on keeping that promise. I think that it is also good that he is drawing out soldiers from Iraq and trying to wrap things up to finally end the war.

Political Cartoon #1

http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/93362b39-320a-48f9-a60e-c851c0e5a23c.html

This political cartoon was drawn by Jeff Parker and was published in Florida Today. It was posted on November 20th. The cartoon deals with the Chinese space program and how it has grown increasingly more advance in a very short amount of time. The cartoon is portraying this advancement and showing that the NASA may be interested in combining forces with the Chinese in space exploration. I agree with this message because it shows China's dedication to space exploration and how they have been able to accomplish much of what the United States has done in a much shorter period of time. It also plays along with the fact that the United States borrows so much money from China already and they are now wanting to borrow from their space technology as well.

Herndon's new principal

I think that our new principal should be a strong leader and a good representative of Herndon High. They should also be a good listener and be willing to cooperate with teachers and students in coming up with ideas to better our school. I think it would be good if they also got to know the staff and students personally, unlike the last principal who didn't even know most of the teacher's names. It was announced on Friday that Mr. Bates will be the new principal. I think that this was a good decision because he has been here for awhile and really knows the school and the staff already, which could make it easier for everyone to adjust to the change in leadership.

Current Event #6 - Abdullah Pullout Renders Afghan Runoff Vote Meaningless

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1933787,00.html

Afghanistan held a presidential election about a month ago. Karzai, who had previously been president and was running for re-election, said that he won the election. However, the United Nations, which was monitoring the election, said that there was a lot of fraud involved. The United States which provides most of the aid to Afghanistan, persuaded Karzai to hold a "run-off" election between him and Abdullah Abdullah, who had come in second.

Abdullah has now announced that he is withdrawing from the election. He may boycott the election on the basis that people on the Afghanistan election commission, who had tried to cover up the fraud, had not been replaced. Also, winter is setting in, which would make voting in many parts of Afghanistan very difficult. Abdullah had wanted the election put off until the spring and the election commission reformed.

I think that if Abdullah is correct and if enough people in Afghanistan don't think Karzai is the legitimate president, then it may be harder for our government to support Afghanistan in the battle against the Taliban and Al- Qeada terrorists. If there is not a good government in Afghanistan to support, it would be difficult to understand what we are still doing there. On the other hand, leaving things to the Taliban might be even worse, if they again support Al-Qeada.

How did the Cold War end?

As we are approaching the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, historians are starting to revisit the issue of how the Cold War ended. Most conservatives still insist that Ronald Reagan won the Cold War single-handed and therefore deserves to be considered one of our greatest presidents.

The Washington Post had an interesting article about how the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the key symbolic events of the end of the Cold War, actually came about by accident.

Other historians point out that Reagan just built upon what other presidents had done in containing the Soviet Union until it fell apart from its own corruption. I asked my Dad, who was living during the Cold War, and he speculates that Ronald Reagan while doing a good job in the end in negotiating the end of the cold war, may have initially almost caused world war III.

Ronald Reagan's initial idea was to build up the American military with massive spending. Conservatives say that this caused the Russians to go bankrupt trying to compete with the American military buildup. They forget that Russia's other answer could have been to attack western Europe to try and win a conventional war before they fell too far behind in military spending. Andropov who took over the soviet union after an earlier leader died after a few months in office, had been the former head of the KGB and was a really bad guy. Some speculate that he may have been proposing an attack on Europe as a response to our build up. However, the soviet military was so scared at the possibility of a nuclear war, resulting from a conventional attack against western Europe, they staged a secret coup against Andropov which explains why he died mysteriously after also being in power for only three months like the leader before him. Andropov was replaced by Gorbachev, who up to that time was an unknown minister of agriculture. Gorbachev then started reforms over which he lost control and which also led to accidents, such as the fall of the Berlin wall.

In the end, it all turned out well. Reagan, like other presidents before him, negotiated new treaties with the Soviet union which allowed a more peaceful collapse. Reagan did well by negotiating which a lot of conservatives at that time said he should not do. But what Reagan had done was to build on what other presidents - republican and democrat - had done before him.

Current Event #5 - Pilots miss destination by 150 miles

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33436497/ns/us_news-life/

Last week, a Northwest airlines jet missed its destination airport in Minneapolis by 150 miles. The pilots of the plane, Cole and Cheney, say that they were not asleep, but were in a "heated discussion". Many find this hard to believe, however, because air traffic controllers had tried for more than an hour to make contact with the pilots, but received no response. The plane was being monitored closely by white house officials and the National Guard was alerted to prepare jets to chase the airliner, although none of them left the runway. NTSB spokesman said that fatigue and cockpit distraction will be factors looked into during the investigation. On Friday, a report was released that stated both pilots had apologized and had passed breathalyzer tests, indicating they were not intoxicated. It also stated that the crew had indicated they had been engaged in a discussion about airline policy.
If you really think about it, missing the airport by just 150 miles over a roughly 2,000 mile trip is not SUCH a big deal. It could be compared to missing your exit on a highway trip, leading you just a few miles off course. It only takes one mistake for an airline tragedy to ensue but while they made a minor mistake, thousands of other flights carried on as normal throughout that day. This indicates that airline travel is still a very safe mode of transportation and I think that some people are freaking out over practically nothing.

Handicap the Virginia Governers Race

In the Virginia governor's race, i think that Bob McDonnell will win, although if I could vote, I would vote for Creigh Deeds. McDonnell has run a good campaign and has promised to fix every one's problems, including transportation, without them having to sacrifice anything or pay more taxes. Creigh Deeds got tripped up by initially trying to be honest, indicating that taxes might have to be raised to meet transportation needs. After that, he ran a negative campaign based on a stupid idea that tried to link McDonnell to a crazy college thesis paper that was written about 30 years ago. Voters didn't buy into the negative ads and will go for someone who promises something for nothing.

Current Event #4 - House passes aviation safety bill

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33317822

Congress passed a bill that increases the requirements to obtain a Air Transport pilot certificate, mandates rest after a certain number of hours of flight time, and puts into place fatigue management programs based on scientific studies. This bill was initiated after a regional airliner crashed in Buffalo last winter. Among other findings, it was noted that the co-pilot lacked training in icing and stall conditions and made so little money (about $16,000 the prior year) that she had to live at home with her parents and was fatigued by her long commute across the country to get to work. It is hoped that requiring pilots to have more experience might also result in more qualified and better payed pilots.
I think that this is a good bill because I fly pretty frequently, especially on small commuter flights, and I hope that this will make the trip safer. Also, I aspire to become an airline pilot someday and I think that this bill will result in better working conditions, as well as a better paycheck. As a student pilot, I can say from experience that flying an aircraft is not an easy task and is very tiring. I think that fatigue management programs will be very beneficial in the safety of commuter flights, because the pilots will be more rested and focused on their jobs.

Biggest Political Issue facing Virginia

I think that the biggest political issue facing the state of Virginia is lack of adequate funding for transportation projects. Northern Virginia is the economic engine that brings prosperity to all of Virginia, but it is choking in traffic. The gas tax which pays for funding was never indexed for inflation and has not been raised since the 1980's. Costs for building roads and rail projects has risen and Virginia does not have the money to pay for improvements we need to keep commerce flowing. Politicians promise to improve roads without increasing taxes but you can't get something for nothing. Virginia has one of the lowest gas taxes in the country and northern Virginia has some of the worst traffic congestion in the nation - put two and two together.

Current Event #3

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/11/world/main5377271.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesPrimary

This article was about how Al-Qaeda attacked Pakistani Army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi. In the ensuing 22 hour gun battle, 20 people were killed, including three captives and nine militants. This was a significant attack because the headquarters is considered the equivalent of the U.S.'s pentagon. Some believe the Al-Qaeda were trying to send a message to the Pakistani military to stop attacking Al-Qaeda/Taliban headquarters in the Pakistani tribal areas. The situation is confusing because the Taliban also attacked the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, which some suspect was at the instigation of the Pakistani intelligence service.
This news concerns me because Pakistan has a number of nuclear weapons and if Pakistan becomes too unstable, there is a danger the nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists. Experts say, however, that Pakistan does have good security controls on their nuclear weapons. It also doesn't seem like most Pakistanis belong to the same tribes that the Taliban supports belong to. I just wish the Pakistanis would get there act together and move into suppress the Taliban and finally capture Osama Bin Laden.

Grade President Obama on the Major Issues of his presidency so far

When considering Obama's actions on the war on terrorism, I would give him a B. Although there are still some issues needing to be dealt with such as the question of whether to pull troops out or send more in, I think he has done many good things as well. For example, he has restored respect for America, thereby gaining the cooperation and assistance from other countries in fighting terrorism. He has also kept up the drone strikes against Al-Qaeda which has killed many Al-Qaeda leaders, and yet has not alienated Pakistan.

I would also give Obama a B for his actions on dealing with the economic downturn. He has stopped the deterioration of the economy through his stimulus plans and bank bailouts, however the stimulus was not focused enough on projects that create jobs and has led to a large defecit which may cause economic weakness in the future.

As for his actions on healthcare, I would give Obama a C. He let the debate get away from him so that right-wing politicians were effective in their use of lies and scare tactics, such as the death panels. He has returned to the fight for effective healthcare reform, however, yet he has already ceded too much ground on important issues, like the public option.

Current Event #2

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33109285/ns/technology_and_science-space/

This article is about how the discovery of small amounts of water across much of the lunar surface has the U.S. space agency pursuing technologies that will allow us to mine water on the moon. This water could be used on future space explorations and would provide oxygen and fuel for lunar missions. Some methods they have discovered to mine this water include a hydrogen reduction plant, lunar rover prospectors, and microwave technologies. A study conducted by NASA Ames research center in California suggests that these technologies could pay for themeselves within a year, because we would be saving money by using the water to refuel space payloads in orbit around the moon. Despite this exciting revelation however, Gerald Sanders, manager of NASA's In-Situ Resource Utilization Project, states that big unknowns must be conquered before NASA engineers can move forward with the plan to prospect for lunar water. They will need to find out how much water the moon holds, where it is, and how deep down it is under the surface.
I chose this article because space exploration has always interested me and it's amazing to see how far we've come, techonology-wise, since we first started sending things into space. I think that the ability to collect water from the moon would be very benificial to future space explorations and would cut costs for space voyages significantly, by being able to resupply fuel and oxygen in orbit. Although water discovery and extraction from the moon has been talked about for along time, I believe that the creation of new technologies to facilitate the extraction are bringing NASA's visions of human colonies and future space exploration to the forefront.

Political Issue that I am personally interested in

The issue that I am interested in is the potential for an Iranian nuclear bomb. Iran is a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. They insist that under the treaty they have a right to enrich uranium. Enriched uranium is used to fuel nuclear reactors, but highly enriched uranium can be used to make an atomic bomb! Many nations believe that Iran is secretly working towards building a nuclear bomb, because they have lied about their plans in the past and a secret nuclear facility has recently been exposed. Iran has returned to talks with the U.S. and other countries to negotiate a solution. Some fear that Iran is just using the talks to buy more time for the program and to split off Russia and China from any future sanctions.
I am interested in this issue because if Iran cannot be stopped by talks or sanctions, some countries may attack Iran, who will retaliate by stirring up trouble against our troops in Iraq, where my brother is serving in the army. Also, Iran might unleash its terrorist allies to wreak havoc on other countries. If Iran makes a nuclear weapon, then other countries in this unstable region will want to make their own bombs. I believe that the only solution is containment(threaten massive retaliation if they use the bomb and make things unpleasant through sanctions if they keep the bomb).

Current Event #1

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33025088/ns/us_news-environment/

This article is about California's new $3.1 billion energy efficiency plan, aimed at making homes and other buildings more energy efficient. The program, called CalSPREE, hopes to cut energy use by 20% for up to 130,000 California homes by 2012. $175 million will go towards programs designed to make zero net energy buildings, $260 million will be used to make local homes more energy efficient, and $100 million is set aside for educational programs. California is the biggest U.S. alternative energy market and has some of the highest environmental standards in the nation and the world.
I chose this article because I am interested in what the nation is doing to help environmental issues. This article shows that California is clearly at the forefront of the environmental movement. I believe that if the rest of the United States as well as other countries around the world adopted California's environmental policies and worked together in creating other energy efficient programs, the world would be a much cleaner and nicer place to live. I also liked that the article was clear and concise, making it easy for anyone to read and understand.

What political party are you most closely aligned with and why?

The political party that I am more closely associated with is the Democratic party because they believe that people can still work together to achieve important national and global goals. On the other hand, Republicans seem to think that the only role the government should play is in security functions. Although the private enterprise has achieved much, their profit motive (greed) can aggravate some problems and will not address others. An example is universal health care because there is no profit in providing health insurance to sick people who really need it. Sometimes the government has to step in and set fair rules for everybody to play by and to achieve common goals. The democratic party believes in working together to achieve that.