One small step...

The Florida ban on adoption by same-sex couples was declared unconstitutional! Finally, a victory for equal-rights activists!

It is terrible that bans like this exist in our country. With so many children waiting in orphanages and foster homes, being denied normal childhoods, I wonder how anyone could deny loving couples the opportunity to adopt. If people think that being raised by a same-sex couple is bad, how about a heterosexual abusive couple? Or being passed around from foster home to foster home, with no permanent family?

This is not an issue of who is right, who is wrong, and who’s going to Hell. It’s about love and belongingness. It’s about having someone there for you. So many lives are torn apart by these types of bans.

In Arkansas, for instance, they recently passed a ban—originally initiated to prevent same-sex couples from adopting—that outlaws adoption or foster care by any unmarried couple.
This is ridiculous. Loving parents are loving parents. Gay, straight, married, unmarried, old, young, whatever. The alternative is worse. I’m sure the “psychological damage” that supposedly results from being raised by a same-sex couple is nothing compared to the trauma of being bounced around by a broken adoption system.
What’s next? Is Arkansas going to pull children from their single parents? Are they going to prohibit divorce? Around the country, situations like Proposition 8 are taking rights away from homosexuals. It’s horrible.

And I know that not everyone supports equal rights, and to them I say this: how can you do that to the children? Stop thinking about the parents for one moment, and think about what this will do to children everywhere, who are without families? You may view homosexuality is a sin, but I view depriving these children of a loving home as an even greater crime.

Too Much Attention?

I remember when HIV/AIDS was the biggest topic to talk about. I remember when there was no medicine to even control the rate of the disease and that once you received HIV you were don for. With medicine now becoming so advance that it can stop the rate in which AIDS will kill you the topic is becoming more and more in control. I do still see HIV/AIDS as an important and deadly disease but I now think it is time to focus on other uncontrollable disease. In an article in Yahoo the doctor explain that more children are killed by pneumonia than AIDS. The article goes on detail to explain that we are now wasting and prioritizing AIDS funding that we are forgetting other deadly disease and sickness. I believe this is true. Even though I know AIDS is horrible we are now finding ways to control it as I stated before. People are living longer with the disease. Now that we have a foot at the door we should keep moving forward but not with so much force. I think we should have enough research and funding for the disease but not 47 million dollars. Let’s try to cut that in ¾. With other killing machines such as malaria and pneumonia what attention are they going to receive? I have heard this year of so many people dying because they had pneumonia. Something so common is now becoming complex and hard to control and monitor. If we do need to focus on AIDS let focus on help we need in Africa, such as proper cheap medicine and enough medical help. That seems to not be there. Besides that I think we need to back off a little. I know a lot of people will disagree but we need help in other forms of illness and diseases.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_med_challenging_aids

Woe, woe, woe

This made me cry.

Death in Nigeria

India is not the only place where tragedy has struck. In Nigeria revival religious groups and ethnic groups starts to burn homes and kill anyone in their way. With an estimated of 200 deaths and many more wounded. What caused all of this bloodshed? With the lost election between Christian and Muslim, the killing started Friday. It is said that ANPP party had lost because of the all Christian ticket of the PDP. With corpses lying on the floor containing bodies of women and children people are now running away from their homes. About 7,000 people are stated of leaving their home. There is also a 24 curfew and military strict assistant. People are walking the streets with their hands raised making sure to show the military that they have no type of weapons. The killers are said to have been killing with guns and machetes. With all the violence the PDP candidate is suppose to be sworn in Monday but is now being postponed. Nigeria is known for having its equal amount of Christians and Muslims and leaving peacefully, but one area the “Middle Belt” is disrupting this tranquility. However, this is not the first time this violence occurs between the two different religious groups in 2001 hundreds were killed, and in 2004 hundreds were also killed and made than President Olusegun Obasanjo to declare an emergency. With all these troubles between these two groups would you not think that they have better security or methods to response to the outburst of violence? Yes, the incident in India was awful but we have not have no real media coverage to what is happening in Nigeria. There are more deaths and wounded in Nigeria but we have not gave importance to this incident at all. Nigeria is also in trouble!

The bailout Cost more than the rest of U.S. History combined

Well maybe not more than than everything, but you get the point.

Source:http://www.voltagecreative.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/bailout-pie.png

Obama Wastes No Time

President Elect Barack Obama may still have a little over a month to be sworn in as President, but he has already set his presidency in motion. This has bothered some people because he seems to be overstepping his power. In normal times this transition from president elect to president was usually a time of celebrations and parties. But these are not normal times. We used to look forward to the new presidents first one hundred days in office to see what his priorities are, to see if he can deliver on his campaign promises and to see if he can successfully lead the country. Again, these are not normal times. Obama is facing a bigger crisis than even Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt was faced with the Great Depression and had to lead the country out of it with his “New Deal” policy. Obama is facing a recession leading towards a depression. With two wars taking place, terrorist threats always occurring, and an incredibly large debt, our country needs drastic changes. It would seem like a job nobody would want to take on but Obama has jumped right in. He has held two press conferences and has put together his economic cabinet. When he stands at the podium the sign “President Elect” is clearly visible. We all know who he is and we all know he will soon be the President. It is admirable that he wants to be prepared to get right down do business and to lead this country out of crisis. The one thing we should all know is that we don’t have a lot of time. We are all feeling the economic crisis. It isn’t happening to other people, it is happening to our neighbors. Jobs are being lost by the thousands. We all see the for sale signs in front of houses. Christmas is coming and the food pantries are already running out of food. It is not just about hope and change, it is about hard work and good people.

Mumbai Terrorists and Pakistan

The dust has settled in Mumbai and the unfortunate task of cleaning up the wreckage, mourning the dead, and figuring out what actually happened has begun.  Indian authorities were able to capture one of the terrorists, a 21-year-old Pakistani named Azam Amir Kasab.  After questioning the man authorities learned that the five terrorists seized a fishing boat to sneak into the country and once there intend on killing 5,000 people.  The terrorists were all Pakistani and had been trained in Pakistani controlled Kashmir. There were even speculations that the terrorists had been trained by Pakistani intelligence.  There have been many conflicts between India and Pakistan in the past, but with only slightly secret U.S. military attacks of terrorist bases in northern Pakistan, and now this incident I am confident that Hillary Clinton should be studying any thing and everything about Pakistan that she can get her hands on.  There have long been roomers that Al Qaeda had been hiding out in the north of Pakistan for a very long time.  The accusation that the Pakistani government had a hand in training terrorists that attacked is not a new theme, there have long been mutterings, however disreputable, that Pakistan has some how been involved in terrorism.  This, however, may be the event that proves incendiary enough to put Pakistan at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy, let alone other nations, such as England and India.  The big difference between Pakistan and Iraq or Afghanistan is that they are a super power, there is no need to search for a weapon of mass destruction; Pakistan has made it very clear that they have nuclear weapons.  President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton need to have a very real plan to what is going to be done about Pakistan. 

 

Works Cited

Gallagher, Ian. "'I was told to kill to my last breath': Captured terrorist's account of Mumbai massacre reveals plan was to kill 5,000." 'I was told to kill to my last breath': Captured terrorist's account of Mumbai massacre reveals plan was to kill 5,000 Mail Online. 30 Nov. 2008. Mail Online. 30 Nov. 2008 ./http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1090546/i-told-kill-breath-captured-terrorists-account-mumbai-massacre-reveals-plan-kill-5-000.html

Things are looking up...

It’s tough being an optimist today. I find it hard to watch the news, because all I ever hear about is war, terrorism, greed, violence, consumerism, and a million other horrible things that make me cringe.
Thankfully, I will occasionally see some sort of heartwarming story that renews my faith in the world and in humanity. And despite the recession, the attacks in Mumbai and the disgusting commercialism that has infiltrated two holidays that are supposed to be about love and compassion, I was fortunate enough to find two such stories this weekend.

The first was about the food crisis in Malawi.
Thanks to a government subsidy program, small farmers were able to grow a bumper crop this year, and Malawians are starting to pull themselves out of their food crisis. People are being fed, and are able to sustain themselves. And children can go back to school instead of scavenging for food.

Many countries advised against this program, including the United States. It was risky. But it worked. The Malawian economy is healing itself, which is more than we can say for ourselves.

The second exciting story I found was about the possibility of HIV eradication within the next 10 years. Studies have found that with enough frequent testing and drugs, HIV rates in South Africa and Malawi (they’re having a good weekend, I guess) dropped drastically.
There are a lot of flaws with this, of course. First, it could create a resistance to drugs, and make HIV and AIDS even more difficult to fight off. It would also be incredibly expensive. And overall, it would simply be a huge task to undertake.
But it’s hope. It’s hope for the elimination of HIV and AIDS.

Tomorrow, December 1st, (World AIDS Day), the Theatre and Social Change class is performing an original theatrical production about AIDS called “Walking Red Ribbons.” It’s at 7:00, and it’s free. You should all attend!

Unity and Tragedies

Ever wonder why people come together when tragedies happen? I have noticed that whenever a tragedy happens whether it is a hurricane or a terrorist attack, Citizens unite and become one. The recent attacks on Mumbai were devastating and unfortunate. The Taj Mahal hotel owner said that he did receive a warning that there will be a terrorist attack, but believes that he did not prepare well for it. The security plan failed and around 183 people were killed. What did the owner have to say about this incident? According to a CNN article, "Tata (the hotel owner) was hopeful that the attacks would unite Indians behind a common goal of preventing a similar tragedy." It is a good thing that the owner believes that people will come together after this misfortunate event. 9/11 is another tragedy, which brought people together. Families helped other families heal; people were there for each other. What we can ask ourselves is why do we have to wait until tragedies happen in order to unite? Why can’t we all come together as one? If we all work together to form a strong nation, no one will be able to bring harm or cause distress to the nation. I believe that a country should not wait for tragedies in order to become one connected and close community. If the government has to interfere in any way and help increase common unity, so be it. People also come together in happy times, the 2008 elections is one good example. When Barack Obama won, people gathered around wherever they were able to in order to watch his speech. Here at Wheaton, a large group of students watched Obama's speech in an auditorium all-together as one.  A good sign that people are coming together and getting more involved with one another is the idea of having social networking sites. Facebook and Myspace are two social networking sites that have worked to help people meet and make new friends over the Internet around the world. Some people rely on social networking sites in order to make friends and become part of a community. 

Write or Remain Silent: Consquences of Serving our Country

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/soldier_stress;_ylt=At9c8iCb2QWrsMx40i1kdDuyFz4DWrite or Remain Silent: Consquences of Serving our Country

Consquences of Serving our Country

About time people are noticing that our soldiers are being harmed mentally. 15,000 soldiers are said to be coming back home in January, after many psychologist agreeing that soldiers are being unhealthy. Based on an article in Yahoo it stated that out of every 10 soldiers 4 have been deployed more than once. That is almost 50%. The significance is can we imagine seeing death and being in tension because you feel that someone is going to kill you at any moment. This is what are soldiers are facing, on top of sleep desperations. Psychologists are now trying to seek a time line where our soldiers should come home for their insanity. Some suggestion for help is to have psychologist to come to the bases and talk and interact with the soldiers. Now, we are improving for the first time every soldier that comes back is going to therapy for 90-120 days. Some effects that the soldiers might face when returning in January is headaches sleep disorders, memory loss, irritability, relationship strains, and other forms of stress disorders. I don’t care who you are, but people are not made to be in that stress environment for long. We are human beings and seeing people die in our faces and be in so much tension is detrimental to a person health and insanity. About 85% of soldiers will get better from these problems with help of psychologist help, but those 15% are going to need more help. I hope we can get our soldiers the proper help they deserve and need. My friend just got left to the army and one thing I am afraid of is never seeing him again. However, now that I know about the effects of going to war I am afraid that he will never be the same person I once met.

How much of a recession is it if people are killing each other to spend money?

On Friday morning, “black Friday”, one Wal-Mart employee was killed while trying to open the front door (Nieves).  The mob of 2000 people that had formed outside, arriving since Thursday evening, surged through the doors as they were unlocked and the stampede trampled the man (Nieves).   It took several minutes for people to stop the crow and give aid the man who was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead (Nieves).   A pregnant woman was taken to the hospital after the minor altercation is rumored to have had a miscarriage according the blogosphere (Finstock).

It takes a large desire to spend money to kill a man who stands between you and the perfect Christmas gift.  This overwhelming desire to spend is great for the economy.  It is true that the black Friday turn out wasn’t what many stores had hoped this year, but with people spraining ankles and trampling each other to get sweater vests and George Forman Grills at low prices shows the recession mind set has not settled in.  When the American people decide that it is time to stop spending all together then the American economy is in trouble.   The media’s constant babble of how badly the economy is doing would, it seems, denture people from spending their money, or at least be a bit more lack luster about doing so.  It is true that people were rushing through the doors to try and save money by getting good deals on products, but they still bough them.  My most sincere condolences to all people adversely affect by the shopping battle, but I am glad the American commercial machine hasn’t decide to call it a day, stay home and wait for the rain to stop.

 

Works Cited

Flinstock, Bobby. "If nobody died in the procurement of my gift I don’t want it." If nobody died in the procurement of my gift I don’t want it Pointless Banter. 28 Nov. 2008. Pointless Banter. 29 Nov. 2008 http://pointlessbanter.net/2008/11/28/if-nobody-died-in-the-procurement-of-my-gift-i-don’t-want-it/.

 

Nieves, Rosalina. "Wal-Mart worker dies in rush; two killed at toy store." Wal-Mart worker dies in rush; two killed at toy store - CNN.com. 28 Nov. 2008. CNN. 29 Nov. 2008 http://www.cnn.com/2008/us/11/28/black.friday.violence/index.html.

Obama's Cabinet

In the past few weeks, many of us have heard rumors on President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet choices, but haven't really taken a close look at these advisors. Obama has announced many of these positions, and "will have nearly named his entire Cabinet by Christmas." In this blog post I hope to introduce you to each of the announced Cabinet members, and give you a sense of who they are.

• Timothy Geithner (Democrat)- Treasury Secretary. Geithner is currently New York's ninth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank. He joined the Dept. of Treasury in 1988 and has worked in various administrative positions. He was also the director of the Policy Development and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund from 2001-2003.

• Hillary Clinton (Democrat)- Secretary of State. Clinton is a Senator (since 2000), who won the support of many Americans in her run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton would manage foreign affairs as secretary of state. The question has been raised in the constitutionality of this pick; article one, section six of the Constitution says elected officials may not take other government jobs if the salary was raised during their term. This would apply to Clinton. However, I imagine this technicality will be overlooked for the greater good of the American people. 

• Bill Richardson (Democrat) -Commerce Secretary. Richardson is New Mexico's Governor. Bill Clinton named him U.S. Secretary of Energy in 1998, and he is a UN ambassador, giving him lots of experience in the political field. He taught at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, became a member of the Inter-American Dialogue, became the first Hispanic to serve in a Cabinet level position, and served in New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District, and was reelected 8 times. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to free hostages in Burma, Cuba, Iraq, North Koea, and Sudan.

• Janet Napolitano (Democrat)- Homeland Security Secretary. Napolitano is the Governor of Arizona (elected originally in 2002). Named one of Time's top five governors in the US, many expected her to make a run for presidency in 2008.

• Tom Daschle (Democrat)- Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle is a former Senator and Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader (1986-2003). Post Senate, Daschle worked at a law firm, and invigorated his PAC for new leadership.

• Eric Holder (Democrat)- Attorney General. Holder is a former judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, US Attorney, and Deputy Attorney General. He has been a legal advisor to Obama throughout the campaign, and was one of Obama's top picks for VP. 

• Robert Gates (Republican)- Defense Secretary. Gates is the only Republican amongst this group, and served this particular position in the Bush presidency. Before joining Bush's Cabinet, he served 26 years in the CIA and the National Security Council and became the Director of Central Intelligence. 

Although this is an extremely partisan group (which could only be expected), I feel that Obama chose very bright, experienced officials. I am interested to get other peoples' reactions to the Cabinet choices. We will see how this group plays out in the coming months.

Fossil Record

            With the Obama administration coming into office many people are excited about change coming to Washington in the form of a younger generation, but just as the cold war dinosaurs are being put out to pasture the United States and Russia have developed differences in opinion over the placement of United States interceptor missile base in Poland and a radar array in the Czech Republic.  The United States placed the missile systems in the European countries to defend against the threat of missiles from Iran.  Russia felt threatened by the placement of U.S. Missile systems on their boarder and expresses their distaste to Washington, but also began testing new missile systems and preparing ways of defeating the new U.S. missile bases.

            On November 5, President Dmitry Medvedev stated that Russia intended on placing Iskander short-range missiles near the Polish boarder, and attempting to jam the missile system electronically.  Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov declared the nation’s intention to have a new, fully functional missile system 2020. 

            There have also been multiple tests on missile systems that Russia has been developing recently.  The Dmitry Donsky nuclear submarine launched a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile Shorty after Colonel-General Solovtsov made his announcement conserving the new missile system for Russia.  Russia has also been testing the RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile a new missile, which, according to the Russian military cannot be stopped by any anti-missile system.  In 2009 the Russian military intends on performing 13 missile tests nearly twice as many as were done in 2008. 

            The combined arms build up on the Russian border, missile development, and conflict in Georgia earlier this year are more than slightly reminiscent of the cold war.  Because experience of events in the past are helpful for confronting current events that are almost impressively similar I hope that the regime change in Washington doesn’t lead to retirement party for the generation that lived thought the cold war.  Who else will be able teach us to duck and cover?

Sources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE4AR3S120081128

Obama on Spending

For the last decade, our country has operated as if we have access to unlimited resources, and an endless economy. America seems to have taken on this personality that we can do anything, and as the great nation that we are, no measure can stop us. Unfortunately, this is merely facade. We have gotten ourselves into incredible debt, with the national deficit at $10,655,730,608,95s2.03 set to increase at a rate of 3.86 billion per day since September 28, 2007. Scared? You should be.

Now when Barack Obama becomes president, he has promised to make a substantial impact on the national deficit. And noble as this may be, I have trouble seeing how this can be done considering his platform. An article from the San Francisco Times sums up this dilemma, "President-elect Barack Obama set out on Tuesday to reassure Americans that he intends to restrain spending despite the staggering bills for financial rescues and emergency government spending that seem to mount by the day." President Obama is in a very difficult situation in that he will be faced with the biggest economic crisis of our generation, probably even our lifetime, while also having to satisfy his constituencies with his policies. So how will President Obama rein in spending? He plans to focus on efficiency within the budget, raise taxes on the wealthy, eliminate tax breaks for large corporations and oil companies, cut military spending, and make line-by-line revisions throughout the national budget (this is obviously not a complete list of all the economic changes President Obama intends to make). While these are all excellent ideas, and will help improve the situation, they cannot possibly reverse what has been done to the state of the economy. 

Obama has promised his constituents a new health are system in which the government will be forced to spend billions to systemically revamp the program. He has also endorsed investing in new sectors of alternative energy which will cost billions. He also must fund the War on Terror, clean up the Iraq War, and perhaps in his term will have to deal with the new sector of terrorists from the Middle East which looked to attack Westerners and many others in India. He has also promoted education and student payment reform, must maintain homeland security, among many other programs, and provide enormous emergency aid to the economy. And while I hate to be such a skeptic, all of these efforts will cost a lot of money that the United States isn't in a position to give right now. My hope is that Obama's stimulus packages and emergency aid will help get the economy back on track, his plans to cut spending will work, and Congress will be mindful of spending limitations. If not, this country will have to face much bigger problems.

Democratic Infighting

Since the election of Obama, the Democrats are beginning to experience a majority like they "haven't enjoyed in decades." However, this majority may not provide the sweeping reform it promises. This will be stalled by Democratic infighting on a wide range of issues including but not limited to "climate change, energy, health care, and social security." It seems because of regional divides, personal economic and social interests, and ideological differences of opinion within the majority, the Democrats will create their own grid-lock. This makes sense, the wider the majority, the more factions you are bound to have within it; more people means more opinions. This has been evidenced already through a fight over inclusion into a key committee for Obama's legislation.  

This infighting can be viewed in very different lights. It can be seen as a very positive aspect in that it will place a check on vast reform. Not only does it create a more non-partisan system, therefore making President Obama much more popular with the public as a whole, but it also means the legislative branch will be forced to send more time drafting and working out compromises in the bills in order for them to pass. Despite the increased amount of time and effort that would take, I would much prefer a thorough, well thought out bill, over one that is just super popular with the Democrats as a whole that immediately passes without much debate. This infighting can also be viewed as extremely negative due to the slowed legislation process and the fewer number of bills that will be passed on President Obama's agenda. This will likely appease moderates and conservatives who don't fully agree with the agenda in the first place. 

But whether infighting remains or not when Obama becomes our country's official president, reports indicate that he wishes to "hit the ground running" in the notable first 100 days (in which presidents typically introduce an enormous amount of legislation to the Congress). Congress will likely sacrifice their internal disputes to make way for Obama's new financial stimulus plan since this is a timely issue of great importance. This is key for a the majority of American families and businesses, and if successful, will greet Obama with an astounding approval rating as he begins in office.

Pardon?

            In a move that all to well exemplified how the presidential campaign went for her, Sarah Pailin stood on camera warring a Burberry scarf and sucking down a latté, or equally outlandishly priced Starbucks beverage, for an interview after pardoning a turkey.  What made this a particularly good representation of her contribution to the campaign was after saving a turkey’s, life behind her, seemingly unbeknownst to the former vice-presidential candidate, was the proprietor of the turkey farm killing turkeys.  Pailin spoke of the ups and downs of the presidential race, while behind her a man literally was slitting the throats of turkey’s.  The best line of the governor’s monologue was after describing how critical the press was of every move on the campaign trail she said “and someone will probably be critical of this too.”  Yes, yes they will.  But it seemed very fitting, and even a beautiful metaphor of the Katie Couric interview.  First Pailin proverbially “pardoned a turkey” by stating that it was possible to see Russia from some parts of Alaska, which is a good one liner totally useless and irrelevant, much like pardoning a turkey, but a decent bit of dirty yardage.  Then when she as intervened by Couric the Governor didn’t have the sense to look behind her and see the man sharpening the knife, so she started to talk.  By the time she had opened her mouth the turkey famer, or metaphorically the press, had grabbed a turkey, continuing the reference Republican Party, inserted it into a killing cone, slit its throat and let it bleed to death on camera.  The biggest difference is of course that the republican party too a little while longer to stop twitching. 

            The most likely out come of this interview is that Pailin will not disappear from the national media.  Think of it as a pilot episode for the coming season of  “life as the queen of Alaska” where our heroine talks her way further and further into political hades.  Next week what to ware that is function both in the state house and in the frozen tundra while you grip your hubby and zoom around on his supped up snow mobile performing drive by shootings on deer. 

A Comical Slap at Obama Supporters

This video is a light-hearted slap at Obama supporters. It mocks their extreme enthusiasm and their "pathetic" post-election lives. Even if you're an Obama supporter, you'll most likely still get a kick out of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bCuEXrU-yQ

More on the Mumbai attacks

To reiterate and expand on what Alysi said, Mumbai, India is currently a chaotic scene. With 125 dead, and over 327 wounded, two Mumbai hotels, the Oberoi and the Taj Mahal are surrounded with fear and panic. Officials are currently trying to seek out the remaining gunman and hostages still located in the hotels. Authorities were also able to find and secure 8 kilos of RDX, "one of the most powerful kinds of military explosives," suggesting that the gunman may have wanted a more dramatic ending to their terror spree. Gunmen also wreaked havoc in a building known as the Chabad House, where several Jewish families live ad the Cama Hospital for women and infants, though this fourth location has been secured and resolved.  

But who is responsible for such violence? Indian news outlets were contacted by a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen. Analysts know very little about this group, and are not yet sure on whether it is a break-off from a current terrorist organization, or if it is completely new. Indian Prime Minister Singh has suggested that the attacks were conducted by people from outside the country, with subtle finger-pointing at Pakistan. But regardless of the location of the group's origination, intelligence organizations believe the group was also responsible for the two significant terrorist attacks on India in the past. 

But what is their motivation for such attacks? "The group has declared open war against India in retaliation for what it said were 60 years of Muslim persecution and the country's support of U.S. policies." The group even made an effort to pick out and kill Americans and British. When I read that a terrorist group is motivated to kill hundreds of people justified by India's support of the U.S., I get a little nervous. This emotion likely spawns from the next logical step- to attack to U.S. 

Both Bush and Obama have made statement condemning the terrorist acts, and Obama was quoted saying, "The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks. We stand with the people of India, who democracy will prove far more resilient than the hateful ideology that led to these attacks." It seems Bush has fully handed the reins over to Obama on this issue. Though Bush is still the official president until January 20, 2009, the news has certainly treated Obama as the man in charge. Obama's quote was right at the top of the page, with Bush's much further down and shorter. Also, when searching for the U.S.'s response to the India attacks, articles about Obama were plentiful, while statements of action or opinion by Bush were much more difficult to find. This makes sense, Bush is an extremely unpopular, lame duck president, who likely won't start any grand global expeditions in his last months of office. Thus, Obama is left the current co-president, and man of action. 

Attacks on India- Please no more battles!

Besides the United States facing terrorist problems so is India. Terrorist attacked two well known and famous hotels (Taj Mahal palace and Tower Hotel). With many Britons and Americans staying in the hotel people are wondering if there is a connection to Al Qaeda. They attack on Wednesday taking over the hotels with grenades, guns, and explosives. They first started to attack 10 specific sites and went on to the hotels. With about 119 people dead and 288 wounded it is becoming a battle that is unpredictable. Witness state that they are still plenty of people stuck in the hotel. President George Bush is being asked to help in the situation. I do not think that is a good idea. The U.S. is already facing problems and attacks from terrorist to become involved in something that is out of our hand. People are finding ways to escape without the help of the police officials, so this shows me the officials are not doing their job if people are finding ways to escape without being hurt or capture. The U.S. does not need to be another hero. We need to learn how to let other countries face their own battles. Yes, there are Americans and Britons in the hotels but here are Italian, Japanese, Australian and German. So why do the other countries not go and help. However, this is not the first time Mumbai is attacked. In 2006 a group of terrorist also attack people and killed 187 people. My condolence goes out to the people of India who are in danger but I am tired of hearing that the U.S. is involved in another countries business. I think our country should have learned the lesson that we need to mind our own business. Sometimes that is the only real help people can give.

Your Help is Needed!

In West Virginia, there is a beautiful, old-growth forest on a mountain that is in danger of being completely destroyed.  Coal River Mountain is being targeted by the Massey Energy Co., headed by CEO Don Blankenship, for mountaintop removal coal mining.

Now, who is Don Blankenship?  Only one of the most worst examples of corporate bribery and strong-arming for favors in the history of the United States.  Some examples:

1. He has spent millions to place a favorable judge on the West Virginia Supreme Court so he could end a lawsuit.
2. He has spent another couple million to buy another judge when he was caught in Monaco with the other  one.
3. He has spent millions on smear campaigns to get his guys elected to judgeships and other positions of power.
4. He has been named THE SCARIEST MAN IN AMERICA WHEN IT COMES TO THE ENVIRONMENT!!!!!
5. He was responsible for the deaths of the miners in the Aracoma mine, because of the hundreds of safety violations that were ignored.
6. He makes $15 million a year, and spends $9 million of it on bribes and strong-arm tactics to get his way.

Now, he wants to destroy an area that has been settled by farmers dating back to the Revolutionary War.  Not only will he destroy a historic community, he will ruin the environment.  Mountaintop removal mining is easily the most destructive form of mining, as it completely reduces everything around it to mounds of acidic rubble.

The area has already been studied as a possible wind farm - more jobs, longer-lasting energy benefits, and the environment would be preserved.  Now that Blankenship has his sights set, it is only too likely that he will force his mining through.  But we need to stand up against him, and his kind.  We voted Barack Obama into office, saying NO! to the Bush years of buddy rewards - let's not lose that ideal now.  You can start by SIGNING THE PETITION.  But you can also CALL WEST VIRGINIA GOVERNOR JOE MANCHIN at 1-888-438-2731.  Tell him not to let Blankenship have his way.  Tell him to put a hold on the mining permit.  Because we can't let this happen - it would be a repudiation of everything we voted for when we voted Obama inot office.

For more information, and links about the background of this issue and Blankenship, visit The Daily Kos.

Globalization= Global Citizenship

As I was analyzing the effects that globalization was having on the world we live in and trying to relate it to a paper I was writing I came to the realization that globalization is creating a heightened sense of global citizenship.

I was browsing through some Facebook groups earlier today and I found one called "Support Freedom of Media in Egypt" which is a group devoted to fighting censorship in the Egyptian media. I was interested to find that the group featured members from all across the U.S and the world. This didn't completely take me by surprise considering I had done some digging around on Facebook groups earlier this week and discovered some similar information, but it really got me thinking. This is a problem, that not too long ago would have been a problem that the Egyptians would have to solve on their own, but now, this problem that previously would have only affected Egyptians has now turned into a problem that affects EVERYONE.

This realization brought up a memory of someting I had learned in my International Politics class: that through globalization we are now witnessing the creation of a "global village" where the importance borders and cultural diffences are being muted and we are all coming together into one community. This "global village" works together to protect and work towards common goods that everyone can benefit from. This seems strikingly similar to what I witnessed within the group trying to prevent censorship in Egypt. First off, we are all coming together despite borders and cultural differences and working together. Secondly, we are all organized in an effort to protect a common good that is being encroached upon in Egypt: free media. To me this all sounds the bell that globalization is spreading and that the "global village" is more than just a theory devised by political scientists. I personally look forward to a world where we all work together as one and are all global citizens rather than citizens divided by national divides.

Bad example of web usage for Millennials

A 19 year old college student committed suicide via live video-streaming a couple days ago. This student notified people through a body building website then provided a link to a video streaming website so people could watch. While he was streaming, some members of the audience egged him on, some tried to talk him out of it, and some debated whether or not the dosage was high enough to kill someone.

The body was found several hours later when someone watching notified the body building website who then traced the IP address and notified the police. The camera was still rolling as the teen lay dead on his fathers bed. 

A professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio said "Bigg's very public suicide was not shocking; given the way teenagers chronicle every facet of their lives on sites like Facebook or Myspace."

That attitude towards our generation is ridiculous, of course the way he did it was shocking, why would you broadcast an attempt to kill yourself? I think this adult does not understand our generation, while we may constantly update people on our lives, it is not a logical next step that if you want to kill yourself, you put it in live feed. 

The way the Millennials are using the web is increasingly changing, but I hope it never escalates to a place where this kind of thing is common. 

Protect Our Sidewalks!

Princeton passed thier own Proposition 8 to protect their sidewalks from freshmen. After all, traditional values are important!

Number Crunching

While doing some digging around on Facebook I managed to crunch some numbers and I was quite surprised by some of the information I was able to uncover. I utilized the adervising section of Facebook to get a hold of the amount of users and millennials in the U.S and abroad. I found that around the world there are approximately 74, 057, 840 millennials who use Facebooks. Out of the approximate 120 million total users that accounts for 61.7% of the total Facebook community. This stat was slightly surprising to me. I initially was anticipating the number of millennials on Facebook to be much closer to ninety or ninety-fice million. If this were true then millennials would constitute approximately seventy-five to eighty percent of all Facebook users.

Another stat that took me by surprise while I was crunching the numbers was how many millennials from abroad are from abroad. I figured that there would be a rather significant amount of users from outside the United States, but the fact that 41% of millennials on Facebook (not including the United States) were from other countries. Despite how the U.S apparently makes up about one-third of the total millennial population on Facebook, I was truely expecting the number of U.S members to dwarf the numbers of members from abroad by a much greater amount.

One final point of interest was how many Facebook members from abroad are members of political groups in support of Barack Obama. As I was scrolling through the group titled "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)" I decided to take a look at their list of members. I only looked through the first fifteen pages of their list and found members from twenty different countries that included: Japan, Sri Lanka, Poland, the Philippines, Morocco, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Singapore among many others. This really caught my attention because I found it intriguing to see how many Facebook members from abroad are taking a serious interest in American politics and how many are organizing with millennials within the U.S in support of a particular candidate.

Sign of the Economy

You can't open a newspaper, or turn on the TV, or listen to the radio, or look at a blog, without hearing about how the Economy is In A Downturn, and we Might Be Facing A Recession.  All those experts, saying the same thing.  Well, they might actually be right.  In an article in The New York Times, the shoe-shiners in Grand Central Station are saying that business is down.  And when shoe-shining business is down, you know the economy is doing badly.  It's one thing when the average, middle-class teachers and journalists and computer technicians start cutting back on their daily Starbucks runs.  But when the real-estate guys, the bankers, and the stock brokers start cutting back on shoe shines, that's when we can start worrying.  These are guys that used to get a shoe shine every day, like clockwork.  Now, they're down to only once a week, maybe twice at most.

On a plus side for the shoe-shiners (and environmentalists), their repair business is up.  Instead of buying a new pair of shoes, people are much more likely to get the shoes repaired - cheaper and good for the environment. 

Clinton as Secretary of State

An NBC report published today claims that President-elect Barack Obama will nominate Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State after Thanksgiving. According to the report, Clinton will not reject the offer, meaning she will have to relinquish her her position as New York Senator. The report points out the underlying view of some Democrats, government insiders, as well as the general public, that Clinton is too independent and politically ambitious to work effectively with Obama as Secretary of State. They also allude to many Democrats', including Obama, admiration of Clinton's talent and experience.

Clinton may be ambitious, but so is Obama, so is every politician that seeks to become president. Aside from that, what this gives the Democrats right now is the two most influential politicians working together in the White House. If Clinton does indeed take the nomination, it forms a very formidable cabinet, at least from the image perspective. If they stay together, it will be difficult for the Republican party to mount for serious contention in the next election, if it wasn't already hard enough for them.

Obama's move is smart for two reasons. First, the Hillary Clinton supporters who so desperately wanted a woman president were once again disappointed when Obama decided to pass on nominating her for the Vice Presidential position. Nominating her for Secretary of State would have possibly been the next best position to nominate her for. The Clinton supporters will at least be happy to see her in such a high position. Second, this move will hopefully temporarily stunt Clinton's great ambition to become president, until Obama two terms are over. It doesn't usually happen that someone from the same party challenges the existing president in the primaries, it is not a popular move. However, if anyone could pull it off, it would certainly be Hillary Clinton especially after she made it this close to the presidency. This move might allow for her to step back on the political ambition until Obama is finished. Or she could break off regardless of how Obama does in his first term and challenge him in 2012. But it would be an all or nothing move. If she wins, she will have pulled off the first victory over an incumbent of the same party. But if she loses, it could resonate poorly within the Democratic community and greatly affect her chances if she would ever want to run again, say in 2016 which she very possibly could win.

Extension of jobless Benefits

It is obvious that America has faced one of the worst financial crises. In response, to the horrible economic climate the senate has voted to extend unemployment benefits by seven weeks in every state. The bill calls for benefits to be extended by 13 weeks in states with an unemployment rate of at least 6 percent. President Bush announced that he will sign the bill, which was approved by the House in October. In September, Bush had threatened to veto a broader stimulus bill that included the extension of jobless benefits. In most states, unemployment benefits are paid for a maximum of 26 weeks. Ironically, the Senate vote came on the same day the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of people filing for unemployment insurance had reached a 16-year high. U.S. job losses have been increasing. This month, the Department of Labor reported that the economy lost 240,000 jobs in October, bringing the total number of jobs shed in 2008 to nearly 1.2 million. The unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent, a 14-year high, last month. Companies reporting layoffs in past week include Citigroup, which slashed 20 percent of its work force, or 50,000 jobs, the biggest cut by a corporation in 15 years. Financial services firm Fidelity Investments announced that it will cut 1,700 jobs and Sun Microsystems reported that it would lay off 6,000 people, or 18 percent of its work force. (To see actual article: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/20/senate.jobless/index.html)
This problem is so terrible; the problem is not solved so until it is many people will continue to lose their jobs. The economy determines whether or not many families can afford to live or simply just get by in this chaos. This is the least the government could do by not fixing this problem when it wasn’t so bad. But wait until many people are unemployed to actually do something profitable. It won’t make a difference because the problem is maintaining a job where increasing the duration of benefits may not be enough for many families or anyone for that matter.

Obama Poised to Rebrand America?

Obama is confident to restore America's image internationally so now everyone is waiting to see his efforts in action. This task will not be so easy for Obama to complete; he has his work cut out for him. America's notorious image has declined in every region around the world. Obama's victory as president of the United States represents America starting over in terms of fixing America's problems. America's reputation has taken quite toil thanks to opposing factors such as the Iraq war. Dick Martin, author of Rebuilding Brand America states, “Changing America's standing in the world was going to be the work of a generation, and it would have to start with some kind of grand gesture that demonstrated that things were changing. His election in itself is that kind of grand gesture." To many people like Martin, Obama is an incarnation of change and is admired for that quality. Police estimates that more than 200,000 people came to watch Obama's victory speech. Bush's presidency was very much unpopular so for America's image to be restored by Obama is very much hopeful.
Obama’s efforts to change America’s image is a movement in its self because it was so easy for America to “mess up,” it is hard to actually rebuild. Being president is a job that is not suppose to be easy and requires so much work. Although Obama’s efforts seem too good to be true, it was also too good to be true for him to be president and he did it. It was a challenge to persuade America that the right man for the job would be African American. Obama’s approach is to include Americans with his process as well still be cautious. The faith Obama have given Americans is exactly how he works. Now all we can do now is wait to see that process that we are promised.

CNN Posts Final Results

Cnn has posted all of the results. The results include who different age groups voted for, the number of electoral votes, and who males and females voted for. Click here to view the Final Results. 

New York Times Finally Endorses Welles Position

In another example of our blog's reach, the New York Times yesterday made its support known for the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. It did so by using a line of reasoning very similar to a post I made about a month ago. While you might think that I would be angry at the New York Times's poaching, I'm just happy that they've seen the light. Now if only President-Elect Obama can be convinced...

Dog Racing Banned

I was for keeping the dog tracks open. I wasn’t against the dogs because I knew that there had never been one charge of abuse brought forward in all the years they had been opened. I certainly wasn’t worried about owner George Carney because he has plenty of other businesses from owning hotels, restaurants, the Brockton Fair to name a few. I was worried about the fact that voters could put a business out of business, and that still bothers me. I was also worried about all the people who would loss their jobs and would be unable to get another one. I was also worried about the town of Raynham and all the surrounding towns. Shutting down the track was going to have a profound affect on these communities. I was not alone in this fear because all of the surrounding towns voted to keep the tracks open. The people of those towns felt that the vote should not have been state wide but rather it should have stayed in the communities affected. They have a point since the voters who aren’t affected voted to close them down. But now that the votes have been counted, I’m not so sure it was the worst thing that could have happened. The tracks won’t close until 2010 so at least that gives the workers and towns a little bit of time to works things out. More importantly, Carney has been trying to get slot machines into the track for years but has been shut down. Now this ideas has been brought back up again and maybe it will be passed so people will keep their jobs and the towns won’t be so hurt. Slot machines will bring even more money to the towns and even millions to the whole state. Governor Deval Patrick has been trying to bring gambling to Massachusetts so wouldn’t this be the perfect solution. The site is already there and the surrounding communities would welcome it and the rest of the state would benefit. It is a win-win situation, especially for the dogs.

A Regional Party No More: Republicans on the Run

Upon seeing this chart on the New York Times website this morning, I am curious to see Obama feels about it. The truth is that one of the major parties is essentially reduced to regional-party status, and it is the Republican Party. One of the easiest ways to gauge Obama's performance this year is in individual states this year - and get a sense of trends evolving in that state - thus compare his improvement over Kerry since the last election cycle in 2004. For example, Obama outperformed Kerry in both South Carolina and Montana among other states.

It seems the West loves Obama, especially in the most populous areas. Obama won Colorado by 8 points, Nevada by 12 points, and New Mexico by 12 points. Obviously, those are dramatically better numbers than Gore or Kerry put up in their races in 2000 and 2004 respectfully, and Bill Clinton had only one performance in these states that more or less matched these, an 8-point 1992 victory in a three-person race in New Mexico. He won nailbiters in Nevada both elections, and lost Colorado in 1996. Obama did slightly worse than Clinton in much of the rural West, oddly enough but again, far better than either Gore or Kerry. The improvement in the West is amazing and if it keeps up, experts believe that Arizona, Montana and maybe the Dakotas will be swing states in 2012, while Nevada and New Mexico will be blue states well past the next cycle.

What about moderately blue states? They liked the ticket and Obama won all of them by double digit margins. For those who forget what these states are, they are the following: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin. Unfortunately Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York showed the least improvement but that is perhaps of their high margins when Kerry ran in 2004.

However Obama did lose ground from what I can determine from the chart in every single Southern state except for Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. You know what these states have in common? They all have fairly large black populations (and in Texas' case, a large Hispanic population), and they also have experienced great population growth in the last decade, and have a generally better educated, more affluent, more urban and suburban white population than seen in other Southern states. Arkansas is the state where Obama performed the worst this entire year losing it by 20 points. Even Kerry did better, but still lost it by 9 points.

Apparently, the areas which showed the least improvement for Obama - or showed improvement for Republicans - are in Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, West Virginia, rural Missouri and Kansas, much of the rural South, and McCain and Palin's home states. Without speculating on why those areas are the most resistant to Obama's candidacy relative to those of less successful Democrats, it seems that those are the areas Democrats have to focus on going forward, and experts and myself would concur with that point. It's clear, though, that whatever the reason, the white rural South - and demographically and culturally similar areas in the lower Midwest and Appalachia - are regions where we should be focusing on building the party. The Republicans are now reduced to being essentially a regional party; the South is the only region where McCain won by less than 10 points. It's now our job to find a way to sell a Democratic message in their Southern stronghold.

I would recommend anyone who is interested in this subject to read Zell Miller's book, 'A National Party No More.'

Rallies

Proposition Eight is easily the most controversial law passed by voters in a long time. Not only does it draw in the religious side, but the civil rights argument as well. The ban on same sex marriage was passed in Fl, Ar, and Cali. The response to these results have been great in number, and not just in those states, but across the country. 

I know there was a protest held in Providence advertised by the school that students could attend. I myself did not go, but I imagine there was a fair number of students that participated. This site was no isolated incident, they are happening in many cities.

The protesters were of course met with counter-protests. The protestors against the passage of the ban had signs with sayings like "All you need is love", "Love and Unity not Hate". Those protesting the protest had counter sayings such as "Theres nothing civil about a man marrying another man". 

This issue is very heated, and only expected to become more split as time goes on. The site that planned the rallies in California, Join The Impact, says they will be holding future rallies in increasingly larger numbers. 

What Happened to The First Amendment?

Proposition 8.  Arguably one of the most controversial laws passed by voters in this country.  Also, one that has highlighted so much that is wrong in this country, at a time in which so much went right.  Such a paradox: Barack Obama, an African-American, elected president, at the same time that marriage rights are forcibly taken from homosexuals.

Here's the thing that frustrates me most about Prop. 8: it is literally unconstitutional.  It says it right there, First Amendment in the Constitution, Separation of Church and State.  Everything about Prop. 8 is the Church getting their hands dirty in the State's cookie jar.  It was put up by the Church, funded by the Church, organized by the Church, and voted for by the Church.  And the weirdest thing is that the most vocal and powerful Church that helped pass Prop. 8 was the Mormon Church.  According to an article in The New York Times, the Mormons "made up 80 percent to 90 percent of the early volunteers who walked door-to-door in election precincts" and "as much as half of the nearly $40 million raised on behalf of the measure was contributed by Mormons".  But the Mormons are polygamists, and the law defines marriage as "one man and one woman", not "one man and a dozen women"!  Well, as long as it isn't two men, or two women, right?  Because that would be a sign of the Apocalypse!

So, back to the Constitution.  It says, Religious Freedom - no interference by government, no imposition by other religions.  I'd say the Church making a law defining marriage definitely imposes upon me and you.  Dan Agin, in an article in The Huffington Post, puts it quite well.  He writes, "It's one thing for clergy to impose values on their own flock - - it's something quite different for clergy to impose values on people outside their flock."  Well said, sir!  I'm not a member of the Catholic or Christian or Mormon or any other Church, and I don't need them telling me whom I can legally marry!  

Well, there's a bright side to this debacle - the country is up in arms over the law, and things will be changed.  There are a lot of people, homosexual or heterosexual or transexual or bisexual or whatever you feel like calling yourself, who are pissed off and not letting this issue go away.  Through the tools of Facebook and other social networking sites, people are protesting all over the nation.  Today, there was a protest held in Rhode Island, on the steps of the State House (kudos if you went!) at the same time as other protests at every state capitol in the nation.  Trust me, this infraction of our civil and religious rights will not be forgotten, and it will be fought to the end.  Look out for new referendums or legislation or court cases that tackle this issue head-on.  They will be coming.

Hope Wins

History has been made! The first African American President, Barak Obama is elected. In this time of war and economic crisis, Obama has inspired a generation. It wasn’t too long ago that most American had never heard of him. But to hear his speeches you quickly realize that this man is special and will do great things. He already has. First he got the entire country excited about the election for the first time in many years. More people voted; even more adults voted for the very first time. More college students voted and got involved and more African Americans voted. It is hard to believe that it was just over forty years ago African Americans didn’t have the right to vote. We all know who Martin Luther King, JR. was. We studied him in school. He have heard his “I had have a dream speech.” We all know about the civil rights movement, and we celebrate Martin Luther King Day every year. But until this election it really didn’t hit me not only how far we have come, but that it wasn’t long ago that African Americans Couldn’t vote. It didn’t hit me that it was in my parent’s life time not my grandparents’ life time. If Martin Luther King had lived he could have seen how all his work and dreams have been realized. Not only can African Americans vote, they can be President. It was amazing to see the reaction from people around the country when Obama won. To see grown men cry was moving. To hear African American women say that now they can tell their children that they really can grow up to be whatever they want. To see every color, every religion standing side by side cheering was inspirational. Martin Luther King’s dream has truly been realized. This country is united and ready to move forward. And finally to see people from other countries all over the world cheer and be excited can only give us hope for a better world. It was time for change and time for this country to hope again. This is a great day to be an American.

Class Act

Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, as expected, was great. We all know he is a gifted speaker, which is one of the reasons he was elected. He not only has good ideas about making the country better, he has the ability to inspire us and to make us believe that we can be better. He came on stage with his family and you could feel his excitement, but he didn’t gloat or pat himself on the back. He thanked everyone for their hard work and made us feel that we were just as much a part of this victory. He talked about the hard work that was ahead of him but together we could do it. He told us that it would take time to make the changes this country needed, but the changes would be made. Even though the hard work to get elected was behind him, the hardest work is ahead of him. It wasn’t as much a victory speech but a speech of a man ready to get down to work and to lead our country. He even canceled the fireworks because this was a speech of moving forward, of getting down to business. He showed his dedication and his leadership ability. He thanked those who voted for him and included those that didn’t. He said that he would be the President to everyone. That’s a class act.
John McCain also showed class. Although you could see his disappointment, he accepted defeat with grace. He made it clear that he would stand beside his President and help him. When Obama’s name was mentioned, McCain shushed the audience. That’s a class act. Even President Bush showed he has class. Let’s face it; Bush took a beating during this campaign. Even McCain distanced himself from Bush. But Bush not only called Obama to congratulate him but he invited the Obama family to the White House before he is sworn in and he promised to make the transition as smooth as possible. This has not always been the case with past Presidents. It shows a lot from Bush.

WHO WANTS TO WORK FOR OBAMA???

"The Obama transition team is sending a seven-page, 63-item questionnaire to every candidate for Cabinet and other high-ranking positions in the incoming administration. The questions include everything from information on family members, Face book pages, blogs and hired help to links to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, American International Group and troubled banks as well as lawsuits, gifts, resumes, loans and other topics of interest. Keep in mind that there are about 7,000 positions to fill which includes 15 Cabinet positions and nearly 200 ambassadorships as well as agency heads and their immediate subordinates, policy executives and advisers, and top aides to those officials. This sounds like a big job but that's not even half of it. The largest part of the questionnaire asks appointed officials (some that are in high rank positions) and their spouses to list real estate and other business transactions, affiliations and relationships as well as personal financial and tax information. The questions also go in depth about writings of any kind, speeches, testimony, online communications and even personal diaries.
One can argue that Obama's question seem very contradicting because some of the questions he want answered are some things that was pointed out about him. For a example, one of the questions requires immigration status of any kind. Obama's grandmother who was not a citizen was living in the U.S. Another example would be that he was accused of having ties to William Ayers so it seems that his questions are bias/contradicting.
However, I believe that it’s very logical to want to know the people that you’re working with especially in this time of turmoil. If this much intense information and background check was implied many of our problems would’ve been avoided. It is wise to take this precaution where Obama would be aware of the people he is working with as well as any situation that could arise from the result of the questions. I think a lot could be accomplished just by simply asking questions.

The Second Coming of the Messiah?

Since Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential campaign he has been the recipient of much deserved praise. Around the world people are celebrating his victory and proclaiming that the U.S. is once again the "country of dreams" ("U.S. Again Hailed as "Country of Dreams", Washington Post). People across the globe also believe that "Americans overcame the racial divide and elected Obama because they wanted the real thing: a candidate who spoke from the bottom of his heart" ("Country of Dreams). While this is all nice and seems to be "the end" of racial politics, doesn't it seem to be too much of a fairy tale ending to the major problem of inequality and racism.

I feel the need to play the part of the devil's advocate at this point. While I am a proud supporter of Obama, and am excited about his victory and what he represents for American politics, it all just seems too good to be true: there must be a catch. Yes, we overcame a HUGE racial boundary in the U.S. by electing our first black president. This is and rightly should be a cause for major celebration. Just a few decades ago this feat would have been completely impossible to even imagine. I hate to be a pessimist amidst this historical period of time, but I feel like all this praise may not be what we need.

While it is excellent that we elected our first black president, should we really be patting ourselves on the back for that? I mean it did take us 232 years to finally accomplish this! I feel like, if anything, this just highlights the racial inequalities of our country, and here we are patting ourselves on the back for doing something that should be commonplace rather than history-making. Also, many political pundits talk of Obama like they would their first love, or discuss him as if he is the second coming of the messiah. I completely agree that Obama has the makings of being an amazing president and that he is more than qualified for the job, but are we placing him too high on a pedestal? I fear that by putting him on the level of a "deity" then nothing he does will ever live up to our exaggerated expectations. Sure, all the hype is good because, for the first time in a long time I have seen almost everyone around me excited about politics, but honestly, this is a double-edged sword. Any flaw in his policies, any poor decisions he makes, and misstep throughout his presidency will now be magnified by our expectations of what he is capable of. So, despite all the excitement, I feel the need to remind everyone: don't forget, he is human and shit happens.

Palin says she would be "honored" to help Obama

Palin said that she would be honored to help Obama "even though he hung around an 'unrepentant domestic terrorist.'" She said that she would help Obama with the issues she spoke about during the campaign. She also states that she is concerned about Obama's ties to William Ayers. "If anybody still wants to talk about it, I will," she said. "Because this is an unrepentant domestic terrorist who had campaigned to blow up, to destroy our Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol. That's an association that still bothers me, and I think it's fair to still talk about it."Palin seems like a "sore-loser," she needs to get past the fact that she and John McCain just didn’t win the election. Obama don’t need her help she didn’t know what she was doing for the most part during the campaign. Her judgments against Obama didn’t have any impact during the campaign, so what is her reason to put people against Obama now that he is president? It's annoying that after her loss that she is still trying to attack Obama with the same claim that still haven’t worked. Obama came this far alone and he can accomplish his plans and visions alone. She has lost her popularity and created a worst image for her taking cheap shots at Obama when the election is over. She can always go back to Alaska and implement her ideas there “maybe to an audience that wants to listen.”

It's All For The Children

As you all know, California passed Prop. 8, making it illegal for homosexuals to marry.  But did you know that it is now also illegal for both homosexual and heterosexual couples that are not married to adopt children?  

According to an Op-Ed article in The New York Times, Arkansas passed the Proposed Initiative Act No. 1 by a 57 % vote.  The law bans those who are not legally married from being foster parents or adopting children.  The law bans both gay and straight couples, but the Arkansas Family Council (who sponsored the law) has stated that it was written specifically to thwart "the gay agenda".  Hold on a sec - "the gay agenda"?  Does anyone else have a problem with that sentence?  I thought gays just wanted to be able to live their lives that way they wanted, the way that they're comfortable with, and maybe get married and have children, like anybody else.  Turns out maybe they've got an ulterior motive - like, say, any and all Muslims?

Well, this law is supposed to help children, by limiting their parents to only those who are married.  Sounds like the Arkansas Family Council believes that only married couples are fit to be parents.  But wait - where's the research to show that that's true?  Did they ever consider that being married does not automatically make you a good parent? (answer: of course they didn't - they're the Family Council, so they know what's best for parents)  

Here's another problem with the law: this can destroy families.  Say that a parent passes away - what happens to their child?  It used to be that a relative could adopt the child - something that I think we all would feel comfortable with for our child, and a situation in which the child would undoubtably feel more secure and comfortable in.  But now, unless that relative is married, the child is screwed - it's off to a foster home, or into state custody until they get adopted.  I can only imagine the terror and uncertainty the child must feel.  Now, yes, I know that there are many children that would not get a chance to live with relatives anyway, because they don't have relatives - but for those that do, it must be all the worse knowing that they could have gone to live with a family member.

So now gays are screwed - absolutely no way for them to have children.  Can't have children unless they're married, and can't get married.  But here's a scary thought: how long until the social conservatives decide that they should have the final word in any aspect of child-rearing - including whether we're "fit" to care for our own biological children?  Think about it - it's not that big a step away.

Liberman's Dilemma

Senator Joe Liberman continues to dig himself into a great hole: he is only one of two independents and after campaigning with fellow Republican Senator John McCain, he is only becoming more and more isolated. Harry Reid, the majority leader has had serious thoughts of removing Liberman from his chairmanship and they have both had several private meetings to discuss this but neither have come to any compromise. Joe had threatened that if he had lost his chairmanship, he would remove himself from the Democratic cacusus and begin caucusing with the Republicans.

If anything Liberman cannot afford to remove himself from the Democratic side of the Senate. He agrees with everything they believe in except for the Iraq War which puts him between a rock and a hard place. In Conneticut, his home state, citizens were polled on the following questions:

• Do you approve or disapprove of the job Joe Lieberman is doing as U.S. senator?

Approve 36 (45)
Disapprove 61 (43)

• If the 2012 election for U.S. Senate were held today would you to reelect Joe Lieberman would you consider voting for another candidate or would you vote to replace Lieberman?

Reelect 35
Consider Someone Else 18
Replace 48

• If Joe Lieberman loses his committee chairmanship at Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and switches his allegiance to the Republican Party would you that make you more likely reelect Lieberman more likely to consider voting for another candidate or more likely to vote to replace Lieberman?

Reelect 31
Consider Someone Else 15
Replace 52

• If you could vote again for U.S. Senate would you vote for Ned Lamont theDemocrat Alan Schlesinger the Republican or Joe Lieberman an Independent?

Lieberman (I) 34 (36)
Lamont (D) 59 (51)
Schlesinger (R) 3 (7)

It seems that the people of Connecticut don't like the Republican version of Lieberman, the one that trashed Democrats on the campaign trail with John McCain, the one that spoke at the RNC convention, the one that failed to hold the Bush Administration accountable in Congress, and the one that pretended Katrina never happened. I can predict with certainty that Liberman will most likely not be re-elected when his term ends. But also don't forget: it's either they keep Liberman on to get the magical 60-seat Filibuster proof position (which they can obtain I believe even without him if the three disputed races are resolved soon) or Joe Liberman consorting with the Republicans; trying to get reelected in New England, which as we all know is perhaps the one of the most Democratic areas in the United States. Below is a video clip I found on 'Daily Kos' but broadcasted by MSNBC, watch it:

Help Protect the Sanctity of Marriage and Family

Now that California voters narrowly approved a measure that would rescind the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry legally as guaranteed under the California state constitution, we need to realize the fight has just begun. Prop 8 was the beginning. Now let's finish the job:

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