Question #2

Health Care Reform has been passed in the House. Last weekend the Senate voted to bring their own health care bill to the discussion, with the Democrats voting yes and Republicans voting no. The Senate bill will be revised, because a lot of Democrats only voted to discuss it to change it. If or when the new health care bill is passed, the House and Senate will compile a single health care bill from the first two.  I think that universal health care is idealistic and will require a lot of effort from influential people in both parties.  

Cartoon #2

Pat Bagley drew a cartoon (published in Salt Lake Tribune; posted on 11/25) of Obama literally pregnant with plans for the Afghan war. Obama is saying "Some things just can't be rushed", and a soldier standing next to him asks him to try. The cartoon is about how long it is taking Obama to come up with a plan in the Afghan war. He has been promising to change either by removing troops or increasing the number of troops, but it is taking a long time for him to make up his mind. I think decisions that involve people's lives should be made with caution, but the soldiers in Afghanistan and their families are waiting for a decision. He can't put off this tough decision forever.

Question #1

I think a good principal for Herndon would be caring towards the students. I liked how the interim principal would get on the loudspeaker and announce what awards people had won. When the students feel isolated from the principal and like he doesn't care, they are more likely to do bad things. The principal should not feel fake. Putting up posters around the school saying that failure is not allowed is a waste of money. However, visiting classes and being seen in the halls, and maybe even talking to the students, is much more encouraging. The principal also needs to be hardworking to complete all the behind-the-scenes admin stuff. They need to be able to do a good job with little to no thanks from the students.

Cartoon #1

I looked at a cartoon by Parker called "Ourterspace Sourcing" and published in Florida Today on 11/20/09. It dealt with NASA partnering with the Chinese. Its message was that the reason NASA would do that is because the Chinese space program is better funded. I think that the government should give NASA more money for research, but right now they also have other things to spend money on.

Personal Response

I read about the elections taking place in Afghanistan. There are two guys, Karzai and Abdullah, who were going to run for president of Afghanistan. This election was supposed to get more faith in the government, because the last election, in which Karzai had been elected, was corrupt. However, Abdullah dropped out of the election because the election committee had been appointed by Karzai himself. Now there is only one candidate, but the Afghan government will still be holding an election.

All this makes me extremely grateful that in America we can trust our government to put the person who we elect into power. There is so much information made open to the public that I trust the US government not to lie to the people. Because there is only one candidate, the election in Afghanistan is not a real election. How can the Afghans not elect Karzai?

Current Event #6

I read a Washington Times article about the economy, titled "Obama: Fresh Signs of Economic Growth". It had lots of quotes like "Positive news today does not mean there won't be difficult days ahead." The economy has improved for the first time in years. However, unemployment is still rising, now at 9.8%. If there is high unemployment, then there is low consumer spending. This means that even after billions have been spent on stimulating the economy, when the government programs end, the economy might go back down. Still, we need a good economy to open up new jobs.
This is why all the successful politicians have been concentrating on employment in their policy. In addition to being the thing most important to voters, employment will help get the economy back on its feet.

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  Some getting flu shots not high-rObama: Fresh signs of economic growth. It had a lot of quotes from Obama about not being overconfidant that the economy is improving. The economy is improving for the first time in years. However, unemployment is still rising, now at 9.8 %. If high unemployment continues, then the economy will still be unstable after the government programs run out, because there will be low consumer spending.