Current Event #5

I read the article "Families say flu scare comes with a dose of craziness". It was about the effects of H1N1 on people in northern VA. We all know that many people are not coming to school because they are sick. Some teachers are putting off assignments or lessons because so many people are absent. There are other people who overreact to a virus and panic, wearing face masks and gloves and barricading themselves away. Obama declared H1N1 a national emergency. It may be an emergency, but there is nothing we can do to stop it. You can't fight a disease the way you can fight terrorists in Afghanistan. Germs will get people sick, and that is sad, but no amount of hand sanitizer will stop it. If everyone panics, nothing good will come of it. We should just be grateful that in the US there are vaccines and good health care.

Handicap Governor's Race

McDonnel will win because Deeds has not ran a good campaign. Deeds attacked McDonnel's conservative policy and did not gain support from some famous democrats in Virginia, even though Obama supports him. Virginia is still mostly a Conservative state, it just voted Democrat recently because it wanted a change. Talk about raising taxes, however, and Virginia goes back to being conservative.

Biggest Political Issue Facing VA

One of the biggest issues in Virginia is education. Should religion be aloud in schools? Should the state lower class size and require more teachers and guidance councilors, or leave it up to the individual schools? That question is more about how far to take state power than the actual issue. In general, I favor legislation that protects(like lowering the class size) over legislation that just pushes individuals around(like requiring/banning religion in schools).

Current Event #4

I read the Washington Post article "Baucus predicts all Senate Dems will support health bill". It said that the Congress is slowly putting together bills that have a chance of succeeding in debate and will potentially cost around 900 billion dollars(the target cost). This sounds very bureaucratic because the process takes so long. However, Obama still wants to have a Law made by the end of the year. It remains to be seen exactly how hard these proposed bills will hit the private insurance companies. Some want "revenge" on the private insurance companies for charging so much. The current proposal is supported by both all the Democrats and some Republicans, notably the Senator from Maine.

I like that health care is now not only supported by the Democrats, who made the proposal, but is also gaining Republican support. That really makes me think that when the bill does get made into a law, it will actually work, since it is not just pushed through by one party.

I think Obama's optimism with the deadline of reforming healthcare within his first year in office is ambitious, which is great. I hope a bill makes it through the long bureaucratic process before the end of the year.

Current Event #3

I read the article "Partial Patriot Act Extension Is Approved by Senate Panel" from the Washington Post. It discussed how the Patriot Act is being amended and how both Democrats and Republicans are disapointed. The bill will allow the FBI more technology to track suspected terrorists, but the FBI will have to do more to obtain phone records , etc. The Democrats are upset because of the invasion of privacy, and the Republicans are upset about the burdens on the FBI.

I personally have nothing to hide, so I'm not really affected by this bill. However, a government should not intrude on its people's lives. The FBI should learn to find terrorists without infringing civil liberties, or else they will be hypocrites. The people have a right to privacy.

Obama Report Card

Health Care-C
The republicans do not support the current bill in the House, although some republican Senators support the idea of health care. The predicted cost of one of the Senate's proposed plans is going to decrease the federal deficit, but republicans are still not in favor of it. The Congress needs to make health care more acceptable to conservatives.
Economy-B
All of the federal bailouts look like they helped the economy.
War on Terror-D
It is not Obama's fault that the situation in Afghanistan is bad. He inherited a bad situation. However, he now needs to do something about it. I hope he will not send more troops.

Current Event #2

I read another article about "being green". (that always makes me think of Kermit) It was about how being environmentally conscientious is not all about buying solar panels, re-insulating your house, or buying those crazy-expensive hybrid cars. The main things you need to keep in mind is to "reduce, reuse, recycle". Reducing the amount of things you use is the most efficient; you can turn off the lights when you're not in he room to reduce the electricity you use. Reusing is the next most efficient; all you need to do is take your lunch in a lunch box instead of a paper bag. Recycling is the least efficient way to be green, and everyone knows about that. Some other examples from the article I read were to turn the thermostat down a few degrees, ride your bicycle, buy an efficient shower head, and use cheap cleaners(baking soda, rubbing alcohol) for cleaning windows or counters.

It is kind of surprising to me that people need to keep being reminded that the things we use everyday come from our environment. Paper does come from trees, and electricity comes from those ugly buildings that give off smoke from burning coal. Conserving the world's resources is something to consider every day. Now that our government is aware of that, it is becoming easier to do. I think that it is one of the governments responsibilities to take care of the environment, just like repairing highways and giving money to schools.

Political Issue I am Interested in

I am interested in health care. I think it should be available to everyone. We pay lots of taxes. More of that money should be used to improve the health care system. People who work for small businesses or are unemployed should not live in fear of getting sick because they couldn't pay for the hospital bill. You can say that people should be responsible enough to set aside money in case they get hurt, but for some that is not an option. The children of those people need decent health care. We don't live in a third world country, so there really is no excuse for this. I am interested in this because I want to help the people in that situation.