Governors Preparing to Leave

Over the nest few weeks, a number of prominent governors will be stepping down due to being defeated in election, reaching their term limits, pursuing a different career, or leaving politics because of a scandal. Some of these governors include Schwarzenegger from California, Crist of Florida, Richardson of New Mexico, and Paterson of New York. Some of the governors are leaving office as early as tomorrow. It's out with the old and in with the new for a lot of states as we head into the new year, and we'll have to see how, and if, this changes state policies.

Well-known governors prepare to leave office

Bill Clinton Butts Into Chicago Mayoral Race

Bill Clinton decided to put his support behind ex-Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for the Chicago mayoral face. Democratic Representative Danny Davis, a former supporter of Clinton, told the former president to leave the race alone. Davis is an African-American and said that Clinton would fracture his relationship with the entire black community of Chicago should he decide to continue to push for the other candidate. While I agree that Clinton has no place in supporting one candidate over another in Chicago's mayoral race, I also don't see why Davis had to bring race into the argument. Clinton shouldn't be supporting anybody for this campaign regardless of race, but I don't think the former president took race into consideration when choosing to support Emanuel. It was inconsiderate and pretty egotistic of Clinton to insert himself into this campaign, but pretty ignorant on Davis' part to even mention race.

Dem warns Bill Clinton: Back off

Politics Year in Review

First I'd just like to start out by apologizing for my sparse posting the past two weeks. I had finals to finish up the semester and then enjoyed the holiday without getting online much. But anyway, things are starting to return back to normal and so will my posting.

Anyway, since Christmas is over and now we're looking forward to the New Year, I found this year in review video on CNN and thought it was pretty interesting. They don't bring up the obvious stuff, but some of the funnier stuff you might have forgotten about. Check it out.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2010/12/23/jk.no.ordinary.year.cnn

Merry Christmas!

I have nothing to really say today besides enjoy your holiday and have a great day!

Oprah Discusses Palin

Oprah Winfrey discussed Sarah Palin and Palin's chances at running for the presidency in 2012 during an interview with Parade magazine. When asked if Palin running for office scared Winfrey, she responded, "It does not scare me because I believe in the intelligence of the American public." These are harsh words, but I think they needed to be said. Palin can ramble on all she wants in front of a camera on a reality show, but please don't run for office. I'm glad someone with as much influence as Oprah spoke out because people need to realize we can't have her leading our nation.

Oprah talks Palin, 2012

Census Results Out

Remember several months ago when the U.S. Census was all over everything and people were coming to your doorstep for information? Well the results of that census have been released, and it's good news for the South and West, but not so good for New England. You probably know that the number of representatives a state has in the House depends on their population, and the census determines each state's population and thus each state's representation in the House. Because New England lost people, its power in the House will be weaker than previous years and the South and West will be stronger. This is bad for Democrats, since New England is traditionally liberal, and good for Republicans, since the South and West are traditionally conservative. We'll have to wait and see how this affects the voting power of the Republicans verse the Democrats.

Census results: Red states make gains

Feedback Time

Okay guys I made some changes to the design of the blog, as you can see. What do you think? I just want to know how I can make this blog better for everyone that reads it. I link a lot to CNN and Yahoo, do you trust the reliability of those sites, or would you like me to use others? I'd just like any advice or comments you have to give, I'm open to any feedback.

Senate Weekend Recap

Alright I've touched a little bit on what the Senate was up to this weekend, but let's give a full recap. First of all, they repealed the 'don't ask, don't tell' law, which, as I mentioned earlier, I felt needed to be reversed. The Senate also worked on the START Treaty, a treaty with Russia that would limit both nations' number of nuclear weapons and leave both nations liable for inspection. The Senate failed to pass the DREAM bill, which was discussed in the post before this. They also went on to work on issues like food safety, government spending, and the health care of 9/11 responders, which you can read about in the article I'm linking. I'm pleased with the production of the Senate and I agree with most of the decisions they made, except for the food safety bill. This bill was supposed to increase government inspections of food, which, as anti-Capitalism as it is, does keep people safe. Instead, because of a legislative technicality, the bill will likely fail, which I'm pretty disappointed about.

What happened in the Senate this weekend

DREAM Act Fails in Senate

First of all, I'd just like to give an update on my last post: the 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal was passed by the Senate and will be signed into law by the president this week. Alright, now something I haven't really talked about is the DREAM Act, a bill that offers citizenship to some illegal aliens that entered the U.S. as children. The bill failed in the Senate by five votes. It passed in the House but, unlike the 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal, failed in the Senate. Most Democrats, including the president, are fans of this legislation and are going to continue to push for it. I can see both sides of the issue. On one side, the legislation supports illegal immigration which is, well, illegal. But, I can also see why some officials would want to offer those who are genuinely trying to better themselves but can't because of their illegal status citizenship. I think in the end though, it's good this didn't pass. There are legal ways of becoming a naturalized citizen, so I don't think a bill like this, that promotes the notion that this country isn't concerned about border patrol, is appropriate.

Procedural vote on DREAM Act fails in Senate

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repealed in House

The infamous "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays and lesbians openly serving in the military has been overturned by the House today. It will now to go the Senate to be voted on. Personally I hope the ban is overturned. I'm not a huge fan of being homosexual, but banning any group from joining the military is blatant discrimination. If anyone wants to serve, I say let them serve. Conservative Republicans are fighting the repeal, however. I think the funniest quote in this article is, "The United States military is not the YMCA. It's something special, and this is a liberal crusade to create a utopia." Republican Representative Duncan Hunter from California said that and, honestly, I'm disappointed. Ending discrimination is not a "crusade to create a utopia" and having homosexuals in the military doesn't take anything away from the prestige of the United States military. Last time I checked we needed all the support we could get in Afghanistan. However, the article did mention a recent Pentagon study that showed discontent from the Army and Marines if the ban were to be lifted, and I think we do have to take the feelings of the current soldiers into account. So I don't know, it is a tough situation if other soldiers are going to have a hard time doing their jobs with homosexuals, but I think in the end it's time for us to progress as a society and begin to accept the value of all people, even if you don't accept their lifestyle.

House passes 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

A Quick Apology

Sorry again for not posting, it's finals week and I've been pretty busy. Anyway, I really don't have time right now to post much, and I apologize, but I leave you with this.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-december-13-2010/lame-as-f--k-congress

CNN Readers Criticize Obama

First of all I'd like to apologize for not posting in a few days. I've been sick with a pretty nasty cold, and I just wasn't able to post anything. Alright, so you may have heard of this tax cut compromise President Obama is making with Republicans. Well readers at CNN, both Democrat and Republican, are angry at him for compromising. None of these readers seem to have any legitimate reason why they're mad though; one says because he's siding with the Republicans, others say because he has bad negotiating skills, and others say now he appears weak. Basically these people sound like everything that's wrong with politics: people are too divided by party lines and refuse to compromise. I'm happy with the fact that the president and his opposing party are open to working together, but these people stand on their platform of weak excuses and express their disgust with compromise.

Readers bash Obama over tax cut extension deal

WikiLeaks and Students

You're probably aware of the leaked documents released by WikiLeaks over the past couple weeks. The federal government is pretty upset about these leaks, so upset in fact that it has threatened to fire any government employee that reads or distribues the documents. The question now is how does this affect students hoping to get a job with the federal government? Well right now it's unclear, but if you're hoping to be a government employee I would recommend that you stay away from the site altogether. Schools like Boston University, Columbia University, and Georgetown University have sent out emails to students warning them not to comment on or post links to any leaked documents. It's safe to just steer clear of the site, since it could come back to bite you when trying to acquire a job with a security clearance. Really it's important for teens to be cautious about anything they view, post, or join online. I definitely wouldn't be linking leaked documents, though, since that makes you a future threat of being a risk with sensitive material in the government's eyes.

Will reading WikiLeaks cost students jobs with the federal government?

Elizabeth Edwards Dies At 61

Elizabeth Edwards, estranged husband of John Edwards, died today at 61 after a long battle with cancer. Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. The cancer went into remission until 2007. It's been a tough few years for Edwards and, although not a big fan of her husband, this is sad news. John Edwards was a real scumbag to her and yet she was always able to stay classy and strong in the spotlight. I wish the best for her family and children.

Elizabeth Edwards, 61, dies after long struggle with cancer

Modern President Popularity Announced

A new Gallup poll announced the popularity of the previous nine presidents this nation has had. Kennedy ranked first with an 85 percent retrospective approval rating. Ronald Reagan came in second with 74 percent, with Bill Clinton rounding out the top three. Carter was third in the last poll, but is now sixth, possibly due to his criticism of George W. Bush and the Iraq War. Richard Nixon came in last with George W. Bush just ahead of him; making them the only two of the presidents with a retrospective approval rating less than 50 percent. It's still early to tell with Bush, however, since his approval rating is actually on the rise since he left office. The poll actually indicated that most of the presidents approval rating has gotten better over time, a sign that people seem to look back on past events with a more positive light than they may have looked at it during the present. That's true with nearly all events in our lives; we tend to remember the good things in life and downplay the bad things as they get further and further away from us. I found this poll pretty interesting, although nothing really surprised me in the results.

Kennedy remains most popular modern president

Man Pardoned for Cutting Pennies

The article I'm linking is actually a pretty amusing one. It's the story of a former Marine named Ronald Foster who would cut pennies in 1963 to be the size of dimes so the vending macines at his camp would accept them. The Secret Service found out about it, and he was given a felony conviction, which he just found out about in 2005 when he tried to get a gun permit. Foster requested a presidential pardon and got it, so his record is now wiped clean. I was reading some of the comments of the article, and some people are really upset that a criminal got off easy, but c'mon. It's not like presidential pardons are uncommon, and I think it's safe to say he gave way more to his country being a Marine then he took away by stealing 25 cents here and there.

Nicke-and-dime crime one of nine to get presidential pardon

Rangel Censured

Remember the post on Charlie Rangel a couple weeks back? Well he's back in the news again facing the punishment for the crimes I mentioned earlier. The House is censuring him and I'm satisfied with the punishment. Rangel and some other members of Congress feel the punishment is too severe but I feel like he's lucky he didn't get expelled. Holding a public office means accepting a lot of responsibility and if you're too immature to abide by the laws you certainly don't deserve to hold one. I wish he would have gotten expelled as an example to others that absolutely no misconduct will be tolerated. Censure is really only a formal humiliation of someone and has very little long term consequences, so he'll get over it and move on to being the exact same person he was. Sure his offenses were minor but shouldn't Congressmen have no offenses against them whatsoever, and shouldn't they be the example of a perfect citizen? I'm glad he received a punishment, but, although I'm sure many disagree with me, I value public offices too much to be able to tolerate criminals holding one, no matter how minor their offenses or how respected they were before breaking the law.

House censures Rangel

My Take On Korea Situation

As you can see, over the past few days I've been writing mostly on the situation in Korea that's been talked about so much recently. Well I read the article below a couple days ago and, based on this and my other knowledge of the situation, I have reason to hope this will all blow over. Of course, I'm certainly no genius and I still have a lot to learn about international affairs, but it seems that without China, North Korea will be forced to back down. China is fed up with North Korea's childlike actions like the rest of the world is, and without their support the DPRK has the entire world against them. China needs the rest of the world, especially the U.S., for the health of its economy and supporting North Korea means losing those international relations and global trade the country needs to stay booming. It would not be in the best interest of China to support North Korea, and North Korea certainly isn't equipped to enter into a war on its own. So, I think this will turn out relatively nonviolently and North Korea will be forced to back down. You never know though, since Kim Jong-il and son have been known to act irrationally and aggressively.

Wikileaks cables reveal China 'ready to abandon North Korea'

North Korea Claims Nuclear Development for Energy

North Korea's state-run news service KCNA reported today that North Korea has "thousands of centrifuges" to produce uranium used to meet the need for electricity. Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford University scientist, who visited North Korea earlier this month, said he was these centrifuges producing low-enriched uranium and that these claims are true, but that the facility producing the uranium could "be readily converted to produce highly-enriched uranium (HEU) bomb fuel." It sounds like North Korea is telling the truth and this use of nuclear power really is for peaceful purposes, but based on Hecker, this might not be the end of this issue. If the facility really could be easily converted to a bomb fuel plant, then this is obviously a pretty major problem for the world. North Korea is known for being unpredictable and aggressive, so they don't need anything powerful like a dependable source of HEU on their hands.

North Korea says it has thousands of nuclear centrifuges

Leaked Documents Show Insight Into World Leaders

WikiLeaks, as you may have heard, is in the spotlight right now for its release of many classified documents of diplomatic communications. Some of these documents give readers like us a chance to learn about various world leaders' behavior, characteristics, and quirks. The documents described King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia as a "wry and forthright interlocutor" who battles with a "speech impediment". The documents also describe Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's phobias and his obsessive dependence on his blonde nurse. He has a fear of long fights and flying over water, and appears to have a romantic relationship with this nurse; he always makes sure to travel with her. The documents labeled French leader Nicolas Sarkozy as having an "eye for grabbing attention and credit." They go on to talk about the leaders of Italy, Russia, and Germany. These documents are actually pretty amusing to read. It's interesting to learn some of the strange tendencies of the people who run the world. It's relieving, too, to get that assurance that these people have nothing special about them and behave in similar ways to all of us. Nothing huge here, just an interesting read.

Leaks offer less-than-flattering look at some world leaders

U.S. and South Korea Prepare for War

The United States and South Korea began joint military exercises today. North Korea called these exercises "no more than an attempt to...ignite a war at any cost." The communist government also threatened of consequences if the U.S. were to send an aircraft carrier to the Yellow Sea. Obviously, this is a scary situation. And North Korea is being ridiculous for accusing the U.S. and South Korea for being the aggressors when clearly it was the North that threw the first punch and drew the first blood. Regardless of who started it, this predicament could very well result in war. I understand the importance of preparing for something like this, but I don't know if it was such a good idea on the U.S.'s part to start military exercises when things are still tense and could go either way. It seems like a move that promotes tension and anger from North Korea, something not needed right now. Now I don't want to get ahead of myself and cause irrational fear, but it does seem as though both sides are prepared for the worst and that's unsettling. All the world powers are getting involved in this, and there's no telling which side China will take, which could result in the top governments and militaries of the world going at it. Again, I don't mean to create fear of something that may or may not even happen, but based on articles like these, it could happen, and that's scary in itself. I hope, for my sake and the world's sake, that this blows over but right now things are pretty tense.

Amid tension, U.S. and South Korea begin military drills

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish all those reading a happy Thanksgiving. Make sure to watch football, eat good food, and spend time with your family. I'm going away for the next couple days so I won't be updating until about Sunday. See you then!

Palin Gets Back At Bush

On Monday former First Lady Barbara Bush said that she hopes Sarah Palin stays in Alaska. Palin responded back to this today by calling the Bushes "blue-bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition." She also stated Republican party leaders are "ignoring the will of the people." Sarah Palin is really going too far. She's clearly too immature to handle politics and would undoubtedly mess up this country if she got any real national leadership role. Imagine her getting into these kinds of elementary school-esque pouts with a world leader? Like them or not, the Bush family has actually accomplished things on a national level, something Palin is yet to do. And she has said before that she could beat Obama if she went up against him in 2012. She has no right to insult people who are doing their jobs instead of getting into petty arguments with everyone they disagree with like she is. If she's too immature to handle any criticism whatsoever, she definitely isn't fit for president. Palin has shown time and time again that she thinks of politics as more of a high school popularity contest than anything else, and that's certainly not the makings of a good leader.

Palin hits back at Barbara Bush

Florida Rep. Focused On Headwear

Florida Representative Frederica Wilson,one of the freshman Congressmen just beginning their stay at the capitol, is less focused on what actually matters and more focused on her hats. Wilson is a hat fanatic, claiming she owns over 300 hats, and feels that the House hat ban is "sexist". She was forced to remove a hat earlier in the week and is pushing House Speaker John Boehner to get rid of the ban. A professional woman like this really shouldn't be worried about whether or not she can wear hats. I can't think of a greater waste of time in Congress than trying to get rid of a ban on hats. She's being ridiculous. Nobody cares about your hats but you Frederica. Start doing your job.

Minnesota Couple Leaves Abortion Up To Vote

A couple from Apple Valley, Minnesota made a website recently called birthornot.com which is supposed to help the couple decide whether or not to abort their pregnancy. The website has a poll on it where anyone can vote on whether the couple should "Give Birth" or "Have An Abortion". The couple goes on to try to justify this decision, but I think we can agree this is a cry for attention from a desperate midwestern couple. I mean this is just ridiculous. I can't believe these people are really that irresponsible that they would leave something like the life of a child up to some anonymous individuals on the Internet. The couple claims this isn't a hoax, but it might be, and it's even sadder if it isn't. As of right now 81 percent of voters voted for the couple to give birth. Some people will go to any lengths nowadays to get their fifteen minutes of fame, even it if makes them look like complete idiots.

Website take votes on whether woman should get abortion

Few Aware of Election Results

A poll announced yesterday shows an alarmingly low rate of Americans actually know that the Republicans control the House after the election. According to a poll done by Pew, 46 percent of 1,001 adults surveyed knew Republicans were victorious, while the others were incorrect or unsure. The numbers aren't quite as bad as they sound though, since the poll at least indicated that 75 percent of those surveyed knew that Republicans did better than the Democrats. Still, these numbers are sad. Democracy is all about citizen participation and awareness, and it seems this country is losing sight of that. Are we really all that lazy and self-centered that we don't care enough about the country to even know its leadership? We're lucky to even get 40 percent of registered voters go the poll. As a citizen and someone interested in politics, I get disappointed when reading these kinds of articles. How is democracy going to survive with this lack of participation?

Poll: Less than half know GOP won the House

Fox News Goes Overboard Once Again

Fox News, the over the top conservative channel designed to convince all listeners that Obama is the anti-Christ, is at it again. This time they targeted Obama's new children's book: Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters. The book features short descriptions and pictures of various American icons like George Washington, which isn't all that controversial on the surface. Fox News got to digging, however, and came up with something. Obama writes about Sitting Bull, a Lakota chief who led his people into war so they could defend their land from the white miners who continued to encroach on the land that was rightfully the Lakota's. This war was known as the Great Sioux War and the Lakotas got a victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn against General Custer. Obama calls Sitting Bull one who "healed broken hearts and broken promises." First of all, I think we can all agree that Native Americans of the period were fighting simply to defend their land. It was the United States that was really at fault, but because the U.S. had the power to defeat Native Americans, it did so and also took away their land. Not to mention, Sitting Bull didn't even fight in the battle due to old age. Fox News, instead of understanding history, chose to find a fault with Obama's words by saying that he "praises Indian chief who killed U.S. general." This is completely false and although Sitting Bull did fight in a war against the United States, he was still someone who deserves to be honored for leading his people and defending his land. People and the media need to use common sense instead of automatically finding faults with everything someone else does just because of party affiliation. It's not the media's job to tell me how to think and, although Fox News is a huge culprit of bias, it's not the only channel. The media needs to start focusing on actually reporting the facts. It seems like Americans are starting to lose their brains.

Fox News headline of Obama's kids book draws criticism

House Picks Leaders

Representatives in the House voted today on who their leaders are to be. The Democrats, met with some objection from moderates, once again chose Pelosi and the Republicans unanimously chose John Boehner, who, because the Republicans have the majority, will likely be the next House Speaker. Pelosi was challenged for party leadership by Heath Shuler and, although Pelosi won the majority of the votes pretty easily, the Democratic party seems to be moving in a different direction. Shuler wants to make sure moderate Democrats are heard over the voice of stubborn liberals, and I would have to side with him on that. Pelosi has led the close-minded, hard-headed liberals for years and that isn't necessarily a good representation of the Democratic party. Pelosi won her position back authoritatively, but that may not be the case for long.

Pelosi wins Democratic leadership fight

Congressman Violates House Ethics

Democratic Representative Charlie Rangel was found guilty by a House ethics committee of 11 of 12 counts of ethical violations, including failure to pay taxes and misuse of government mail service. A punishment is yet to be determined for Rangel, but most believe he will be fined but not expelled from the House. Although his violations are relatively  minor, Rangel is still supposed to be one of the nation's leaders and a representative for his state, and I can't see how him not being expelled is being justified.  He's a veteran New York representative; he knows the ins and outs of politics and should have known better. There's so many people who would love to try to make a change, and this man is filling up a valuable spot with his corrupt politics. Any kind of ethical violations shouldn't be tolerated from Congressmen, they are the face of this nation and should be way too focused on doing their job to start fooling around with the unethical. This is just another example of leaders making disappointing decisions and the people around these "leaders" seem to always be quick to forgive. People who do illegal, immoral things definitely shouldn't be deciding how this country is run. Frankly I'm getting sick of politicians' poor judgement and the system's quick forgiveness of it. American politics needs a change.

House panel finds Rangel guilty of ethical violations

Palin Awarded New Show and New Word

After Sarah Palin's successful reality show debut last night, she's also being credited with the '2010 word of the year' from the people at the New Oxford American Dictionary. The show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, had the biggest premeire of any TLC show to date. The word, refudiate, is apparently a mix of refute and repudiate and means to reject. This is all crazy if you ask me. It seems like we're rewarding someone who has time and time again proven to not be the sharpest tool in the shed, and clearly someone unfit to lead this nation. And what's worse, we're giving her a platform to say whatever she wants. Why do we keep fueling her fire and allowing her to stick around? Who honestly cares that much about what she has to say? I think Democrats and Republicans alike can agree she should not be the face of the future of politics, so why do people take stock in anything that has to do with her? I know she has some admirers, but I just can't see what's so great about this woman.

Sarah Palin coins 'word of the year', books boffo cable debut

Congress' Freshman Orientation

More than 100 new members of Congress will be arriving in the capitol this coming week and they'll be in need of direction, not for this country, but actual directions around the building. No need for them to worry, however, since other Congressman and organizations will be there to help them along the way through seminars and orientations. It's pretty funny to see our nation's leaders focused on topics like good places to eat around the city rather than anything we would consider important, but hopefully they'll be able to settle in and focus on the stuff that matters when they take office.

Freshmen arrive in Congress with many questions

California's Prop 19 Loses

A couple weeks ago on November 2 California voted on whether or not to make recreational marijuana smoking legal. Californians, by a pretty wide margin, chose not to legalize it. A big concern for voters was how much pot would be misused, like workers showing up to work high, if it was legalized. I feel like this is a bad move for the state. I'm not a smoker myself and I definitely don't condone it, especially underage smoking, but it's easy to see how much money the financially struggling California could make from taxing the weed. Plus, marijuana isn't a substance I would consider any more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco, so the government should give people the responsibility to choose whether or not they can smoke it. I understand that marijuana isn't the best thing to put into your body, but I think it's time for grown adults to be given that personal responsibilty, especially when it means bringing the state one step closer to a balanced budget. Let me know what you think.

Proposition Overview

Much Love for the Modern Whigs

I've been talking to my friends and a lot of other people, kids and adults alike, and it seems like there's a lot of apathy over politics because the process has become so frustrating and disappointing for regular people like us. No matter who's in the White House, it's the same old story year in and year out: Democrats and Republicans fight over silliness, politicians look out for themselves, and in the end it's the citizen, the people who these officials are supposed to be representing, that are screwed. I've been reading about third parties that I might be able to better associate myself with and I came across the Modern Whigs. I encourage you guys to check out the party; it seems like a group ready to break the mold of old politics and move onto something more constructive and open minded, which this country could definitely use. The article I'm linking is a little old, but the information is good.

America says it wants a third party. Why not the Modern Whigs?

A Warm Welcome!

I'd just like to welcome anyone who found this site and give you guys an idea about my vision for this blog. I'd like this to be a place targeted for people of my generation, but where meaningful and relevant information can be found for anyone. I don't know hardly anything about blogging so feel free to give me some tips along the way. Be sure to check back often for articles and posts about what's going on in the political realm today, as well as my teenage spin on it. I'd love to raise the political awareness of teenagers like me all across the country, so that when our time comes we can be a group of well informed, active citizens.