Little Time Left To Turn Down the World's Heat

With the crises in Ukraine and Russia and elections coming, people tend to forget about the warming climate and how it's a major problem. This article tells of how the UN recently spoke out and claimed  that the next century to come will be hotter and drier, thanks to the poor decisions we have made in the past and now. The article also discusses frightening possibilities of how we are not prepared for these changes and how it may be extremely expensive to combat them all. It was also pointed out how the poor, as usual, will be hurt the most from the climate change because their crops may be unable to grow and food prices may rise. What can we do to better address this problem? Is it too late?

Five Things Polling Tells Us About Obamacare

Since today is the final day to sign up for the Affordable Care Act without a penalty, I thought it would be interesting to post this article. The article discusses American's thoughts about Obamacare as a whole, and also how the controversy over the act may help Republicans in the upcoming 2014 election. The article states how Obamacare is still unpopular, yet many Americans still want to keep it rather than repeal it. Many statistics and polls were used to come to these conclusions but the ultimate question is this: will Obama's long struggle to pass the Affordable Care Act harm his party rather than help it?

House Democrats Try to Get a Vote on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

This article discusses how house democrats are trying to use a discharge petition to get a vote on Immigration Reform. Republicans have already said that they oppose sweeping reform and think that this issue should be handled in smaller pieces of legislation, but have yet to move on any legislation on this issue. It is unlikely that Democrats will get the mandatory majority to force a vote, but they are clearly trying to focus more attention on an issue which will help them in the upcoming election. On other recent issues such as minimum wage, Democrats have failed to get the majority needed on similar petitions earlier this year; but are desperate for another issue besides Obamacare to focus on in November.

Supreme Court Hears Case on Obamacare Contraception Mandate

The Supreme Court will be ruling on wether for-profit corporations still have religious freedom rights given by the 1933 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. A company, Hobby Lobby, is claiming that it goes against their religion to provide healthcare which includes all forms of FDA approved contraception to their employers, but this is part of Obamacare's Contraception Mandate.  This illustrates what we have been learning in class this week, the case had a good chance of making it to the Supreme Court because three Federal Appeals Courts have struck down the mandate, while two others upheld it. This difference of rulings in cases on the same matter considerably boosts a cases chances of getting to the Supreme Court. The question is, do companies give up their some of their religious freedoms when they become for-profit? Does not supplying employees with contraception lay undue burden in the employee? In which case that too would go against the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Romney makes a role for himself

Romney makes a role for himself

In the light of recent events, former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is proving himself to be more relevant than some might have predicted. He has been receiving a lot of attention over the past week after the events in Russia seem to have vindicated him and his assertion that Russia was the United States' "number one geopolitical foe." Some have projected that he is the "elder statesman" of the Republican Party. Others, however, contend that he "only served one term as governor of Massachusetts." Some have even said that Romney "could easily be seen as a senior figure in a future Republican administration and a future GOP president would be wise to seek his counsel and consider him for such a post."

While I do have my disagreements with Mitt Romney, I have an overwhelmingly positive opinion of him. I like his position as "elder statesman" because, as Alice Stewart noted, "Governor Romney knows more than any other Republican what it means to take on President Obama and his failed policies."

Appeals court halts gay marriages in Mich.

Appeals court halts gay marriages in Mich.

The appeals court decided to delay implementation of a district court's decision that Michigan's gay marriage ban violated the 14th Amendment in order to be provided an opportunity to review the appeal of the case. This comes after judges in Texas, Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia have struck down each state's respective gay marriage ban. All five of these decisions have come since last December.

I believe that these state gay marriage bans are not unconstitutional. The intent of the 14th Amendment had nothing to do with allowing gay marriage, but was only intended to protect the rights of blacks following the civil war. The key of the amendment is its intent, not what the modern definitions of the words are.

Young Voters would be Key in a Hilary Clinton Presidential Race, but can she win them over?

This article discusses the necessity for Hilary Clinton to appear relevant and "with it" In order to gain the youth vote. It also discusses some actions Clinton is already taking to broaden her youth base like using daughter Chelsea and speaking to college students. Personally, I have a hard time believing that the GOP has even the slightest possibility of winning the majority of millennial votes. What do you think?


http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/21/young-voters-would-be-key-in-a-hillary-clinton-presidential-race-but-can-she-win-them-over/?hpt=po_t1

Justices to hear "Hobby Lobby" Case on ObamaCare Birth Control Rule

Hobby Lobby and Connestoga Wood Specialties both claim to be founded and operated based on Christian values and thus feel they should not have to provide contraception coverage for their employees. The two separate appeals will be heard together in one of the high court's one hour, public sessions. This Supreme Court decision will prove very important as it will establish precedent as to whether businesses have a religious liberty right, or whether such constitutional protections apply only to individuals. What do you guys think? Should a for-profit business be required to provide contraceptive coverage for all their employees regardless of the religious views of the companies founders? 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/21/politics/scotus-obamacare-contraception-mandate/index.html?hpt=po_c2

White House to begin Obamacare March Madness Monday

President Obama and his administration has a new promotion for Obamacare to grab hold of the "young invincibles." A March Madness themed string of registration reminders, suggestions, and celebrity player influence is about to hit the screens. Through ESPN's broadcasting, and Facebook and Twitter pages of Whitehouse.gov and basketball players like Lebron James, Obamacare is encouraging young adults and others to get coverage.

Vladimir Putin's top aide Vladislav Surkov mocks US sanctions: 'The only thing that interests me about the US is Tupac, and I don't need a visa' for that

     Here's another article dealing with the conflict in the Ukraine and Russia's occupation by Crimea. Russia has laughed at us and our sanctions in recent developments. Putin and his officials are throwing slander and threats that as Clinton said in Heller's article could incite "another Cold War." What are everyone's thoughts on this conflict? What might come of it? How effective our are foreign policy actions we've taken so far? Are these sanctions accomplishing anything but scoffs? What solutions do offer?

Hillary Clinton: It’s up to Putin whether there’s 'another Cold War'

With tensions mounting in western Europe there has been speculation that if things were to escalate, the United States and Russia could slip into a second cold war. Clinton, as the title says, has put the responsibility on Putin to decide whether or not he wants another cold war. What are your thoughts?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/18/hillary-clinton-its-up-to-putin-whether-theres-another-cold-war/

Romney slams Obama, Clinton for foreign policy 'failure'

Republican Mitt Romney (Governor-MA) is blaming the Ukraine crisis and other foreign policy issues on President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. What are your thoughts?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/18/romney-slams-obama-clinton-for-foreign-policy-failure/?hpt=po_c2

Republican chairman predicts "tsunami" election in 2014

As primaries are starting for the 2014 elections, Republican chairman Reince Priebus stated that he feels that Republicans will enjoy a large amount of success in elections this year, largely because of all the issues and problems associated with the launching of Obamacare and the Healthcare.gov website. On the other hand, Democrats just feel that Republicans are simply one year older and that they have not changed a bit.

Illinois GOP voters seek to upend political order

This article talks about how Republicans in Illinois are upset with Democratic politicians and how they are planning to unseat career politicians. It previews and provides some backgrounds on some of the candidates, like multimillionaire Bruce Rauner. Additionally, it seems that many of the Republicans in the state are in the South, whereas the Democrats are concentrated in Chicago. This is leaving many Southern-Illinois Republicans unhappy.

New York, Boston mayors back LGBT groups, reject St. Patrick's Day parades

Mayor de Blasio from New York City, and Mayor Walsh from Boston both chose not to partake in their cities St. Patrick's Day parades. They both made this decision because the parade in their cities prevented citizens to partake if they expressed their sexual orientation. Both mayors saw this as an exclusion of selective groups of their citizens, and decided to refrain from participating as a political statement. Several other sponsors, such as Irish beer companies, withdrew their support as well. 

Jewish State Declaration an Unyielding Block to Deal

This article from The New York Times discusses the negotiation talks between Israel and Palestine- and the coming deadline for them. The negotiations which President Obama is mediating, are suffering right now because Mr. Abbas, president of the Palestine Authority, is refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish State. This article raises some key questions that we as a class have discussed, questions such as: How big a role should compromising play in politics? We should also consider the effect this has on our own government. As we know from our chapter on the Presidency, a lot of the president's time is spent in managing foreign affairs, and now Obama is facing international problems on at least three major fronts: Israel and Palestine, The Ukraine/Russian dispute, and the Iranian nuclear negotiations. The pressure is increasing and the deadline of April 29th is approaching; it will be interesting to see if progress can be made- or if the politicians involved will resort to avoiding the blame if the talks fail (as Mark Landler,the author, supposes.)

N.S.A. Nominee Promotes Cyberwar Units

Michael S. Rogers, a Vice Admiral in the Navy and President Obama's nominee to become the new Director of the NSA/Commander of the US Cyber Command, told the Senate that he would promote the use of cyber combat units in each branch of the military. According to Rogers, these units would make the US less susceptible to cyber attacks because our country would "have the will to respond" by conducting cyberattacks of our own. It is Rogers' opinion that in the future, almost all conflicts of warfare will have cyber elements included as the norm. He was careful about responding to questions about the recent NSA controversy, declining to reference very many specifics. He did say that he would make the NSA "more transparent" and would increase the agency's accountability. However, he gave the opinion that the agency would not be able to track down terror suspects without having access to American telephone data in some form. What is your opinion of Obama's new appointment, and do you agree that we should invest more heavily in cyberattack units for the various commands of the military as Rogers suggests?

Conflict Erupts in Public Rebuke on C.I.A. Inquiry

As you've probably heard, there has been controversy recently about how the CIA allegedly tampered with a Senate investigation into whether the CIA hid information about waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation." According to Dianne Feinstein, who headed the investigation, the CIA infiltrated the computers that her team was using for the investigation in order to find out how the investigation gained access to certain documents, and in two separate instances deleted hundreds of pages of documents pertaining to the investigation. The conflict has been festering for some time, but Feinstein is just now making the details public. Some Senators support this information becoming known, while a few others believe that Feinstein should be dealing with the conflict directly, through less public means. What do you think?

Obama Will Seek Broad Expansion of Overtime Pay

In class the past two days we have learned about and seen the tumultuous first term of Obama. The president's second term hasn't relieved any of this pressure off of his shoulders. Along with his health care initiative and foreign issues, part of his main agenda right now is focusing on fairer payment of workers. We have already seen the conflict with raising minimum wage; this article specifically deals with Obama's push on stricter rules for overtime pay. And just like the minimum wage, the arguments on both sides make it look like there is no easy way out. Hopefully you all have responses more definitive than my own opinions on this topic...

Obama's New Approach Takes a Humorous Turn

So we've talked quite a bit about health care in this class, I know, but this stuck out to me from our typical political news redundancy. The article focuses on Obama's new technique to reaching out to the public: pop culture appearances. Most specifically, the president is aiming to motivate young people to sign up for health insurance before the March 31 deadline. Some are skeptical of this method, but no matter what your opinion is, we can generally agree with the article that there is “no place that Mr. Obama is unwilling to go in his search for young people.” As the article pointed out, Obama's strategy isn't unprecedented, but it certainly is an interesting approach. So although this plan isn't revolutionary, how effective do you guys think it will be in motivating the American people?

Methodists drop church charges against minister who conducted gay wedding

A topic that seems to regularly be mention on this blog: Gay Marriage. A Methodist minister defied the church and his religion in order to preside the wedding of his son and his son's partner. He claims the marriage to be an act of love he was prosecuted for.

New numbers not adding up in Christie's favor

This article gives updates as to where New Jersey's Governor, Chris Christie, stands with his possible running in the 2016 presidential election.  Christie's approval ratings have dropped significantly. Also, the article touches base on the George Washington Bridge scandal which we learned about earlier this marking period.

Should Inmates Get to Know How They Will Be Executed?

Currently, there is a shortage of the drug used for lethal injection, "leading states to use secret and suspect chemicals to execute condemned inmates." After a particular case in Missouri where an inmates final words were "I feel my whole body burning," a avoided question resurfaced in the Supreme Court, should inmates get to know how they will be executed? I think prisoners should get to know considering it's their body that's being killed. What do you think?

Russia Takes Over Ukrainian Miltiary Bases

Russia, that sneaky devil, took over three Ukrainian military bases, as well as a military hospital. These seizures started early Monday morning when Russian soldiers broke in the compounds, swiftly and silently taking over the bases. Needless to say, the Ukrainians were a little surprised. As usual, the Western countries have condemned Putin's actions, to no avail. Personally, I think the Western countries should actually do something if they say Putin's actions are illegal. Ultimately, I think this conflict will end in war. What do you think the Western countries should do?

US deploys fighter jets in Poland and Lithuania amid Ukrainian turmoil

I just noticed this article pop up and thought it might catch the attention of a few of you.  The United States has dispatched F-16 and F-15 fighter jets to deal with the crisis between Russia and the Ukraine.  I was very confused by this for a number of reasons.  The two fighters we dispatched are incredibly outdated for the type of combat they would most likely see if any real air-to-ground assaults were to be initiated, indicating to me that the United States is not likely committed to any real action.  The other source of confusion for me was that our military has become less and less reflective of it's constituents needs, and more of a mercenary force.  From my own personal point of view, it would appear that U.S intervention is both inappropriate and unnecessary, but I would be interested to see what you have to say.    

Putin says he reserves the right to use force in Ukraine

Putin maintains his right to use force in Ukraine if necessary. He claims that the conflict in Ukraine is a "humanitarian mission" and that he will do what it takes to protect Russians in Ukraine. He also bases his right to use force because it was granted to him by the former president (believed by Putin to still be the legitimate president) of Ukraine. While everyone involved is looking for a peaceful solution, things are getting more and more tense in Ukraine to say the least.

Obama budget seeks new spending, new taxes to boost economy, and tame debt.

In Obama's recent budget proposal, he includes higher taxes on the wealthy and more spending in an attempt to boost the nations economy. In order for this budget to pass it would have to pass the Congress, which it is very unlikely to do because Congress already passed a bipartisan spending bill a couple months ago. Republicans are outraged at the proposal as it would go back on what Republicans and Democrats previously agreed upon. House Speaker John Boehner said the request is “a clear sign this president has given up on any efforts to address our serious fiscal challenges that are undermining the future of our kids and grand kids.”

Obama’s budget seeks unity among Democrats

The Article details Obama's attempts to pass new a new budget. The new plan increases funding for internal improvements, education and job training. The Article mentions that Obama will focus more on strengthening Democratic loyalty then on getting Republican support. Although I agree with the proposals of the bill, I thing that passing the bill would be a dream at this point. Between the passage of the healthcare bill and the bipartisan budget, our politicians are all out of compromises as indicated by the Senate Democrats refusing to pass the bill.

No Easy Way Out of Ukraine Crisis

The Article recaps the recent and ongoing crisis in Crimea and Ukraine. The article expresses multiple opinions and stances as well as a lot of information from both sides on the issue. The use of sanctions is described in the article along with the repercussions with other European nations regarding action from the USA. I find it interesting the tension and attention that comes with military action from another nuclear armed world power. Should Russia's aggressions continue, there could be some serious conflict between the US and Russia once again.

Fugitive and whistleblower Edward Snowden to speak from Russia at SXSW

As if there wasn't enough tension between Russia and the US, Edward Snowden will be showing his face as this year's South by Southwest Festival. As we all know, Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum after he stole over one million classified NSA documents electronically. He has not released all of the information he possesses, but he did reveal that the NSA's collection of phone records caused him to go "rogue." Since then, the debate of what is and is not constitutional on the matter of national security of raged on. Will Snowden's appearance have any implications on the current crisis in Ukraine?

U.S. strategy for Ukraine crisis: Money talks

President Obama's stance on handling the crisis currently unfolding in Ukraine is clear. He does not want conflict. Instead, he is taking a diplomatic route by sending Secretary of State John Kerry to Kiev. The two are formulating a plan to push Russia's forces out of the Crimea region by the force of money, not troops. What do you think of this strategy? What is your reaction to Russia starting conflict almost immediately after the Olympics?

Congress Lets Down Military Members and Vets

This article talks about how Congress is more or less screwing over our veterans because of their inability to compromise. The article, which was written by Paul Rieckhoff, a veteran himself, explains all of the hardships veterans have had to face in the past years. Last week the US Senate, plagued with the Republican-Democrat bickering, prevented a bill from being passed that would have provided funding and more for our veterans. It's time for our Congress to be a truly bipartisan body and start to actually help our veterans instead of hinder them.

N.S.A. Director Says Snowden Leaks Hamper Protection Against Cyber Attacks

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/us/politics/spy-chief-says-leaks-hamper-protection-against-cyberattacks.html?rref=national&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&pgtype=article
This article is about Edward Snowden and the impacts he is having on the security of the secrets of the US. General Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, says that these leaks are compromising the cyber security of the US. He explains that since the leaks, the US is very unprotected from cyber attacks and susceptible to security breaches from foreign countries. He proposes that the government pass laws to allow businesses to contact government officials by sharing data if there is evidence of an attack.