Boy Scouts Reconsider Ban On Gays

As I Boy Scout, I am curious to see what everyone thinks about this talk about a new change in BSA policy. Currently, you are not allowed to be in Boy Scouts if you are gay. This applies to both youth and adults. They are now talking about lifting that ban. This is open to anyone, I am just curious to see what you guys have to say.

The White House’s curious silence about Obama’s claim of skeet shooting

I found this article to be interesting but humerous because gun rights seems to be a very important topic especially after Newtown. President Obama was quoted saying “Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.”. An investigation was done trying to see if this could be proved true, but not all evidence was lining up. This can also tie back to the media being a watchdog because something that people would not take as something important was blown up more than it needs to be.

As seen under "The Pinocchio Test" heading, the article says  "The evidence suggests that until Obama had access to a shooting range as president, he never went skeet shooting. He certainly did not speak like a politician who had once used a firearm." I agree with this statement but does it really matter to me if President Obama has gone skeet shooting once or multiple times? No.

Failure of Filibuster Reform Jeopardizes Legislative Agenda

This article goes well with what we are learning in class. It hilights the use of the Republican's use of the filibuster in the senate. After 2010 the Democrat's had the majority of 59-41 but lost a few seats after the 2012 election where there are currently 56-44 Democratic seats. The article also states that "any senator can 'hold' a bill without having to be publicly identified or to provide any explanation for that hold."

I believe that because of the two parties that there usually be a political gridlock present and the filibuster helps with that. The Republicans were still able to bring business to a "near halt" with the minority party.  A 60 person majority is difficult enough to get for a vote and I can only imagine how much harder it was when it had to be 66.

Immigration Shifts Could Provide Opening for Compromise

This is an article from the New York Times, talking about how over the past couple years the number undocumented immigrants from Mexico crossing the border has decreased, ans how that could help open compromises for the immigration plan. The are many reasons to why the number of crossing the Mexican border illegally. Like for example the number of people at the age of 30 are declining and most of the people who come illegally are below the age of 30. Not only that but the improvement of security also helped to the decline of this number. Personally after reading this article, I think there is a good chance that something related with the immigration will be passed.

As Graduates Rise in China, They Say No Thanks to Factory Jobs

I found this article really interesting and it caught my eye. I am happy that the Chinese graduates are not taking factory jobs. I understand that most of our products are made in China; but now if they stop taking jobs, maybe the United States may start making their own stuff again. I think that would be good for our debt and for jobs. What do you guys think?

Obama's New Immigration Proposal

Seeing an opening, President Obama pressed upon congress to act quickly to put 11 million illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship. With the upcoming legislative debate, President Obama is working on pushing his own plan that came just days after a bipartisan proposal that was very similar to his own. But President Obama's revealing of his proposal showed cracks in the plan. Such cracks include no tighening on border control which would ultimately lead to the same situation in a few years. So it remains to be seen how the debate will play out and whether the legislative plans are approved, especially with the large amount of hispanic popularity President Obama has.

New Senate Rules to Curtail the Excesses of a Filibuster

Republicans and Democrats have recently worked together(SHOCKER!) to limit filibusters' effectiveness in contributing to the gridlock that currently plagues today's congress. Legislation will still be slow, but at least it is a bipartisan reform and a step in the right direction. The votes for the measures were passed by an overwhelming majority of the senators. It is also stated that the Republicans are going to apparently give up their tactic of killing bills before they even get off the ground as well. It is nice to see that the politicians can agree on at least some of these issues and find common ground. As long as we make small steps in the right direction, we will eventually work our way out of the gridlock and back into effective bipartisan policy making.