Obama warns of coming 'pain' without budget fix

Obama warns of coming 'pain' without budget fix

President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday that even with additional flexibility given to him from Congress will still not be enough to prevent 'pain' from being inflicted on the national economy. The President heavily disagrees with the cuts that are currently being made by the government and thinks they will heavily damage jobs in states such as Virginia: "These cuts are wrong, they're not smart, they're not fair," he said. "They're a self-inflicted wound that doesn't have to happen." He continues by making direct remarks about certain republicans, and he implies that with these men, nothing big will change:"Too many Republicans in Congress right now refuse to compromise even an inch when it comes to closing tax loopholes and special interest tax breaks," he said. "And that's what holding things up right now."Is he right to say this and do you agree with his opinion?

Deal on Gun Background Checks Hinges on Tracking Sales

Deal on Gun Background Check Hinges on Tracking Sales


Senators are discussing the expansion of background checks on firearms, and they are unsure of where and how to manage the paperwork for firearm sales. Many advocates of Gun rights are worried that if the federal government collects these records it could be the basis for a national gun registry, which is not permitted under the current law. Tom Cobourn, a Senator from Oklahoma, doesn't feel that negotiations are close to meeting a compromise, but men such as Mark Haze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, says that the agreements are almost there. Is this just a topic that the two sides can't agree on? What should really be done about the paperwork for the firearm sales?

Looming Cuts Spur Release of Illegal Immigrants

As we seem to be moving in a positive direction with some of the new policies coming into play regarding immigrants, unprecedented things are also occurring. Recently, a huge number of detainees from immigration detention centers around the country were released because of the looming budget cuts coming. While on supervised release, these detainees are low risk, and with their releases, will no longer be costing the government thousands of wasted dollars.

Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage

The article "Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage" discuses the shift in support of gay marriage and the push in Washington right now to repeal Proposition 8, an initiative barring same-sex marriage. Including some of President George W. Bush's top advisers, dozens of prominent Republicans are arguing for equal rights for gay people to be able to marry, saying now that the allowance of same-sex marriages will promote family values, individual freedoms, and so on. Surprisingly even some of the more conservative Republicans including Jon Huntsman and Meg Whitman are in favor of the push.
As times are changing it is important and necessary that our government changes with it. In a country that claims to give freedom to all, in my opinion, this never should have needed discussion. I see no need for the government to interfere with the rights of the citizens to make personal, lifestyle decisions, but since there are those who feel they have the right to tell some citizens they cannot live the life the wish to lead, I am very excited to hear that there is a shift in Washington and that it is headed in a positive direction.

Good Job, LA Dept of Health

Louisiana Forces Homeless Shelter to Destroy $8000 Worth of Deer Meat
Since we're discussing the bureaucracy in class, here's a great example of it failing.
$8000 of donated and perfectly edible deer meat was forced to be destroyed by the Louisiana Dept. of Health. Their reasoning is absolutely absurd (see the article), and the idea that you would rather have these people go hungry or be served less quality food because the animal was hunted is a disgrace.

Graham on Hagel's Nomination

Graham on Hagel's Nomination

This article depicts Lindsey Graham's leading the charge to filibuster Chuck Hagel's nomination to the position of Secretary of Defense. Graham continues to ask for more information from Hagel. Many  Members of Congress at this point no longer support this filibuster so a vote of cloture is scheduled for Tuesday (the 26th).

I think this is hurting the nomination process and don' believe the filibuster should have been used to begin with. I don't believe that any new information that is going to cause Hagel's nomination to fail will be brought about by continuing the filibuster and is therefore useless. I hope that cloture is successful and that a vote is taken.

GOP's Changing Sequester Strategy

GOP's Changing Sequester Strategy

This article talks about how at the creation of the sequester military cuts were put into the deal to try and force the GOP to be willing to negotiate the same way that social welfare programs were put into the deal to try and force the Democrats to be willing to compromise. Recently, as the wars in the Middle East have begun to come to their conclusion, the GOP puts less necessity into keeping military spending as high as it is. This means the GOP is willing to allow the sequester to be put into affect cutting large amounts of government spending over the next decade.

I think this could be potentially problematic because if only one side is looking to strike a deal then the odds of the sequester taking affect are fairly high. I personally don't think the sequester is good for the country. The cuts involved with the sequester, for the most part, are fine with me. The relatively short time period over which such large cuts will take place is where I think the sequester becomes most damaging.

Is it the great mentioner? Or is it Bill Clinton?

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/02/hillary-clinton-running-president-ok/62143/

Raising Minimum Wage Would Ease Income Gap but Carries Political Risks

President Obama is making a large push to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour. He is pushing for this increase to try and reduce the income gap for low income Americans. Obama said "Even with the tax relief we’ve put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That’s wrong."He states that as the richest country in the world people living in poverty is unacceptable. I agree that no one should live in poverty in  the United States. I do however question the fact that this increase will not effect the hiring of small business's. It is hard to believe that a small business that operates at a very small profit will be able to take the $1.75 hit per minimum wage worker. It is a good idea to prevent citizens from living in poverty, I just don't believe that this won't change hiring practices.

Obama to Renew Drive for Cuts in Nuclear Arms

This article informs the reader of an idea President Obama proposed recently. President Obama boldly states that he plans on cutting the Nuclear weapons up to 1/3 of its size now. This proposal would theoretically create much more money for the nation, but like all issues, the opposite party desires something else. The Republicans opposed even modern cuts, but when Obama proposed cutting 1/3 of the weapons, Obama faced much discord. Many people are arguing that America needs all its warheads if they want to be protected and competitive in the 21st century.  I believe that a budget cut would be fine, especially in this era. I can not imagine a country attacking or invading the USA due to this cut. I also believe that we need the money as a nation as well.

Obama to announce 34,000 troops to come home

Personally, I am very pleased to hear this, as many other Americans are. As stated, about 80% of Americans agree with withdrawing our troops and ending the war in Afghanistan. Obama is also planning on doing this ahead of the original schedule. It has moved up a few months from what they planned and will be planning on withdrawing everyone and ending the war in 2014. This move alone will reduce hour troops in Afghanistan by 50%. Afghanistan will soon be leading all of their security and military operations completely on their own.

5 takeaways from the State of the Union

This article summarizes some of the main points taken from Obama's speech. I think he hit some major points well such as gun control and the economy which are always important subjects but even more so today. Another major issue of voting rights was brought up which generally favors democrats if he can get voting procedures changed. He said that people are waiting way too long which means we need to have more voting booths in high-density areas which is generally Democrat-favored. A lot of what he said was stuff that would be widely accepted ideas, especially by wording the size of government phrase to make it seem like the government will be "shrinking" or not growing any more.

North Korea Confirms It Conducted 3rd Nuclear Test

So North Korea made good on it's promises of conducting a third nuclear test. It is very scary that a country run by a man who conducts public execution on his people now has the capacity to create nuclear bombs. This news along with there recent "space program" show that they are close to developing all the tools needed to create a ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). North Korea has a long list of enemy's and a very short list of allies, and with North Korea constantly going against China they may lose a superpower and a very powerful neighbor. It should be interesting to see how the Asian nations will react to this news and if action will finally be taken against North Korea. The intentions of the North Koreans is clear and is something that needs to be resolved soon. Also I will include a video released by North Korea from their government to the their people. The video has a translation and it sounds more like a cult then a official government statement (also note that they stole clips from many types of media).

Senate Passes Bill Allowing public College Groups to Restrict Membership

The Virginia Senate has recently passed a law that allows religious or political memberships at public colleges to allow membership to those who agree with the cause. For example, if there were a Christian-based membership group, people could be denied membership if they are not Christian. Opponents say that this is basic discrimination. (Though, if you weren't a Christian, why would you want to be a part of the group anyway? Maybe I'm just missing the point...) Senator Creigh Deeds said that the passing of this bill contradicts a "U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld a California law school’s refusal to recognize a religious organization that excluded gay students." On the contrary, Senator Mark Obenshein says that this is a "freedom of association bill." I thought this article was interesting because it again relates to what we've been talking about in class about how the House and Senate vote on bills to hopefully make them laws. 

Senate rejects GOP bid to limit Violence Against Women Act

Senate rejects GOP bid to limit Violence Against Women Act


I thought this was a good article to post because we have recently been talking about how a bill becomes a law between the House and the Senate. Recently, the Senate has rejected a proposal that prevents federal aid given to homosexual, immigrant, and Native American victims of domestic violence. This rejection has caused the congressional re authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which is a law that gives about 1.6 billion dollars toward the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women. It has had bipartisan support since it was created in 1994. The quotes in this article show how members of the House and the Senate feel about it and why the every new proposal is "wrong."

From State to State, Varied Responses to the Issue of Gun Violence

Since the Newtown shooting, many governors have now included some sort of reference to their views on gun control anytime they have made a formal address. However, these views have not always been consistent with the views of the parties these governors belong to, some noticeable examples being Chris Christie and Mike Beebe of of Arkansas. Across the country, new reforms and arguments are appearing that are allowing either stricter or less-strict gun laws without actually going against any federal laws or regulations. However, many states are now trying to avoid the conflict of guns all together by instead turning to trying to change regulations of schools specifically. No matter what happens, the country is in great divide, including in the parties themselves, about gun control and what is the "right" thing to do.

Obama to Visit Israel in Spring

Now that both President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have both been re-elected to office, President Obama has planned a trip to Israeli in order for the men to ease tensions that have arisen over the past four years.  However, despite Netanyahu's ability to retain his position, he has lost a great deal of influence and followers, and it is likely that the two men will be unable to do anything on a large scale. President Obama will have to deal with an entirely new Israeli government, one that will not necessarily follow the Prime Minister's lead. Many critics hope that this visit will be more than just a photo opportunity for President Obama, considering that he will be only the fifth president to visit Israel. Nonetheless, there is a strong belief in Israel that it is with Obama's help that they can help end some conflict in the Middle East, such as Iran's nuclear program.

Down the Manhole: State Officials Grapple with Gender-Neutral Language

Down the Manhole: State Officials Grapple with Gender-Neutral Language
This article is one that I found sort of interesting. There are some states that are completely overhauling entire portions of the constitutions and existing legislation to make it more politically correct and gender neutral. This turned out to be a much more difficult proposition than one would think because of terms like freshman that we don't  even consider to be gender biased. I am essentially a feminist when it comes right down to it, but even I thought that this was ridiculous and somewhat overboard. As a nation we are obsessed with political correctness to the point that we cannot even say what we want to sometimes for fear that it will offend someone.

We The People

http://swampland.time.com/2013/01/31/we-the-people/
This article is about the petition website We The People that the White House created as a way to directly reach a large percentage of the population that it has been missing. The people that no longer watch the nightly news or tune in for the state of the union address every year are responding to this website. The Obama administration is thrilled because they are getting a direct link to people to hear what their issues are and be able to directly respond to those issues, which is a win win situation for everyone involved. Personally I think this is great. If people have an issue with the president now they can just put together a petition and find a bunch of people to sign it and send it to the White House. Then the president will respond directly to their concerns. Not only is it a great way to reach previously unreachable members of the public, but it also shows that the government is moving into the 21st century and embracing technology and the internet as a new tool at their disposal. I think only good can come of this.

More Filibusters?

McConnell:Senate GOP Could Filibuster
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, though not calling for a filibuster yet, he left the possibility open when he discussed Senator Hagel's nomination for Secretary of Defense. Such a move would be "unprecedented", as no Cabinet nomination has ever been filibustered before. This filibuster actually occurring is unlikely given that a handful of Republican senators, including most notably John McCain, have come out either in support of Hagel or against a filibuster. Even so, I think this article goes along with what we were talking about in class about the expanded role of the filibuster in the Senate. However, I believe it would be too overtly partisan and unproductive to filibuster the Hagel nomination.

Free Wifi For All?

Tech, Telecom Giants Take Sides as FCC Proposes Large Public Wifi Networks
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed a plan which would provide super-strong public Wifi, free to all users. This move is compared to the opening up of free radiowaves in the 80's, after which many new innovations like garage door openers and baby monitors were created depending on that technology. 
While it seems like better public wifi would be a good idea, I would highly question how much such a plan would cost and how sustainable improvements would be (as the Intel spokesman says, it disincentivizes private investment then in this field). I think the cost of such a program would probably outweigh the benefits, though no specific figures are provided in the article. Private companies are already investing a lot of money into such efforts; it's not like they're not happening without the federal government's help. I don't think this would be an efficient use of federal dollars.

Obama DOES go Skeet Shooting

And now we have the photo