Thursday, September 30, 2010
Where should Damocrats go? (Reflection on John Zogby's lecture)
John Zogby delivered a lecture at Chaple this evening. His speech was about how American elections have developed, what problems our two parties are facing, and what our people's expectations are.
Zogby pointed out that the 2008 Election was transformational because President Obama put together a coalition government; however, President Obama is facing challenges during this Mid Term Election because Americans are losing faith and enthusiasm. Zogby suggested a remedy that Democrats should create fear in order to bring their center back.
I think President Obama is now doing what Zogby suggested and he is aware the problems suggested by Zogby. According to yesterday's NPR report, Obama was in Wisconsin to strive for support for Democratic Party. Obama used the similar strategy he used while running for the president to increase people's enthusiasm. After admitting that people are apathetic and disappointed, Obama did try to create fear by saying that :"Wisconsin, we can't let that happen. We can't let this country to fall backwards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight". President Obama's sentences could be interpreted as: Democrats care much about the well-being of this country, and supporting Democrats is preventing our country moving backwards. He is creating a fear that we even might not be able to keep up with the status quo if we do not vote for Democrats.
Pelosi's Negatives hit all time low; as unpopular as BP
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Pelosis-negatives-hit-all-time-high-as-unpopular-as-BP-103977024.html#ixzz112etU0LA
John Zogby at Hamilton
Armageddon?
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tea Partiers continue to pick up support
House Passes 9/11 Health Care Bill
The House approved a new health care bill about providing medical treatment to sick workers who clean up the world trade center after 9/11 (CNN).
As many workers answered in surveys and interviews, they indeed need health care. Therefore, the House made a huge step forward in terms of protecting human right of these workers after long impassioned debates. Among these debates, Republican and Democrats hold opposite opinions, which are highly compatible to their traditional ideologies. Republicans are worried that this bill might increase the federal deficit and increase tax, while Democrats found it very necessary to create a common good for these sick workers. Learning their different views, I came up with several questions for Republicans: What is the purpose of solving the current deficit? Aren't creating better welfare programs and improving people's living standard part of its purpose? Does the "golden rule" lowering the tax always create the best result?
In addition to different views of the Republicans and Democrats, we should think about how we can best implement this bill. As reported by New York Times, a first responder died of a common symptom of most first responders, but "the medical examiner concluded that his death is not directly related to the 9/11 attack". We want to make sure that people are not using this new health care bill to request a compensation for a sickness unrelated to 9/11, just as many non-disabled people are using disabled parking spaces.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Republican's Deficit Cuts Lack Specifics
Beer, Candy And Pot Among Issues Before Voters
All that about money.
Fiscal environment is the most important issue for this year's mid-term election. Interestingly, many of our conventional hot topics, such as gay marriage and abortion, are no longer as important. What more important are candies, marijuana, beer allowance, and tax cut. Apparently, people put increasing revenue as top priority in this election.Could this be a bad sign for the Democratic Party?
Obama: Democratic voter apathy 'inexcusable'
Monday, September 27, 2010
Obama Returns to Campaign Mode with Altered Team
A Democrat, in Campaign Ad, Embraces Bush
Socialist Economy in Cuba
No presidential administration or form of government has ever been credited with finding the “right” role that government should play. The economic situation in Cuba is yet another illustration of the ongoing debate over if, and how much, government should participate in society. This article brings up the issue that too much governmental involvement has hindered progression by stunting the natural development of the economy. The economic instability in Cuba reveals that Castro’s influence over the private sector has led to a failing economy and in my opinion an infringement on personal freedoms and rights. To “save socialism” in Cuba, Castro has been forced to relinquish some state control to allow for “free enterprises” to revive the economy. Fewer government run businesses in Cuba is a first steps towards a more balanced role of government and a more independent citizenry.
Wiretap the Internet?
Guantanamo Detainee's Trial May Set Tone For Others
President Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay by January this year when he was running for president. However, a new trial of a Guantanamo detainee, Ghailani, is going to begin, and this serves as a "test run for future prosecutions" as NPR put it. Does this mean there might be more detainees from Guantanamo being on trial no matter under the federal system or not? If so, closing the Guantanamo Bay is currently not on our federal government's agenda. Perhaps, as President Obama answered in a press conference on September 14, "the politics of it are difficult".
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Study: Sexist insults hurt female politicians
How to Tilt an Election Through Redistricting
Saturday, September 25, 2010
What Happens To Health Law If GOP Wins Congress?
- Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Republicans claimed that they will repeal the new health care plan. Such claim from Republicans is not peculiar especially during an election period. Possibly, the Republicans announced that they are dedicated to pushing tax cut and replacing the new health care plan in order to win the election. However, this year, as Republicans raise the topics on tax and health care, they should be careful. Votes might not go to the Republican Party because there is a Tea Party movement going on nationwide.
Kennedy on church and state: a speech no candidate would make today
The role of religion in politics has certainly changed over the last fifty years. Government is not as removed from religion as it was then. Even the media is criticizes for Obama for not attending church regularly. Kennedy's speech is truly moving. Is it possible for us today to separate church and state once again? Or is religion too deeply entwined into important social issues?
Friday, September 24, 2010
We fear
The anti-Muslim feeling is prevailing because of the potential Islamic mosque at Ground Zero. Recently, a debate over whether Texas should curtail references to Islam in their text books is raised. Conservatives feel safe to support this action, while liberals do not think excluding Muslims matches American values.
Both conservatives and liberals are defending something that they think is important and correct, and both of them could justify themselves with endless reasons. These are our voices, voices from within the United States. However, we are missing voices from Muslims, who are not hostile to the United States and who hope to be treated equally. This debate could go on forever between the conservatives and liberals, and so could the Ground Zero case. We are debating, analyzing, judging, and claiming. We decide how they will appear in our text books. We are the subject, and they are the object. What we are doing now does not directly influence our personal rights or daily lives; however, it does influence our their lives.
Our decision might induce a whole society's fear toward headscarves and a biased view on that sacred land in Middle East. However, we cannot put our country's security at large. We try to ban as many potential risks as possible.
After several Middle East-related terrorist attacks or attempts of attacking, are American people brave enough to accept Muslim more widely and unflappably? Times have changed. Looking at our founders' courage of introducing new government systems and rules to the U.S. when they had very few precedents to refer to, we regret to admit that we are becoming more prudent after we have experienced more.
We dare not to risk.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Obama At U.N. To Remind World Of His Policy Goals
President Obama gave two speeches on his foreign policies at the U.N.. According to his address, it is apparent that we have made progress in terms of all the issues he raised. Among the issues, Wars in Iraq, a highlight of this month's news, was ended. As a goal of his foreign policy, he has accomplished it. However, as a goal of domestic policy, we are looking forward to seeing President Obama nestle our soldiers and their families, reallocate resources, restore the relationship between the United States and Iraq, and build people's confidence toward the government.
House Passes Small Business Legislation
The New Health Care Rules: What They Will And Won't Do
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Dale Peterson for Alabama Agriculture Commissioner
Pledge To America
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Ronald Reagan Night
Monday, September 20, 2010
When BP's well is 'dead', what problems arise?
The next major work of BP will be cleaning up. Obviously, cleaning up will cost a huge amount of money, labor, and of course, time. A large number of aquatic animals died of this oil spill, and many of them are still facing huge challenges to survive in polluted water. I came up with a question: Will BP be able to clean up fast enough to avoid a worse lost of biodiversity? These animals cannot wait and their lives are threatened by the difference between real cleaning up and a slogan of cleaning up.
Having learned a lesson from this oil spill, I suppose we shall improve supervision department in order to avoid another oil spill. Strict and mechanical supervison system now seem to be necessary. In addition, we shall improve our moral education. We shall make it clear that profit can turn out to be a disaster for our nature and for other people's lives. Therefore, becoming less greedy is very important if we want to implement sustainability.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Americans Renew Call for Third Party
When Pollution and Urban Sprawl Attack Hudson Valley (reflection on Linda Mussmann’s lecture)
Linda Mussmann delivered a lecture on How Hudson, New York has changed by this city’s industrialized and how important it is to raise the awareness of protecting Hudson. She showed us how residents’ lives have changed by showing us a movie filed by her and her allies. In the movie, I saw that Hudson residents’ placid life is changed into instable by increasing opportunities and industrial pollution.
It was painful for me to see that Hudson residents who were once advocates of protecting Hudson eventually left the city. They gave up defending their city. Many of them clearly know that the city government is corrupt, that government’s decision making is not transparent, that merely taxing is short-sighted, and that death rate and cancer rate are increasing in town. However, they give way to pollution and urban sprawl. Pollution is replacing their blue sky with a grey one, and urban sprawl is replacing their bird singing with cars’ horn.
There is a fight!
A fight between government and Hudson residents, a fight between Hudson residents’ determination of defending the city and their thoughts of giving up, a fight between the longing for more money and a desire for a quiet life, and a fight between blue sky and grey sky.
Hudson is an epitome of urban sprawl that is happening rapidly domestically and internationally. Could we imagine how many more people are suffering from their town’s changes? And how many more people are fighting and how many more are giving up?
Safe Democracy v.s. Risky Democracy (reflection on Jay Sekulow’s lecture on Constitution Day)
Jay Sekulow gave a speech at Hamilton College on Constitution Day, advocating speech freedom and religious freedom. In his speech, he boldly pointed out the reality that we are promoting freedom publicly while limits on freedom are normal in many academic institutions. His raised examples of academic writing, nature of academic institutions, Ground Zero’s mosque, persecuted Mormon and German, indicating that we tend to avoid controversial topics because we are afraid to touch it.
Through his examples, I see the word “democracy” being torn into two parts: safe democracy and risky democracy. We can easily find examples of safe democracy in different academic institutions’ mottos, in slogans of different movements, and in government officers’ words. We always take it for granted when we hear it. However, as Sekulow suggested, incidents of a lack of democracy are happening more frequently than we would imagine, and there is hardly anyone mention about them. It has become our society’s hidden rule that there might be a cost if we bring forward a controversial topic. Therefore, it is risky to defend a certain group of people’s freedom, for example, minority’s religious freedom and their speech freedom.
It was very interesting for me to see that it is safe for us if we put a group of people’s freedom at risk, while it is risky for us if we defend the safety of a group of people.
Tea party gains in US primaries
O'Donnell, elated after GOP Senate primary, eyes victory in November
New look on Tea Party Movement
I was one of the guilty individuals who viewed the tea party movement as a group solely supported by republicans, and as a “support network for Palin.” This article however attributes Christine O Donnell’s primary election victory to her endorsements from Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. In actuality the Tea Party is comprised of multitude of national organization, and “discussion range from the philosophical, pondering the role of government and the duties to citizens, to the practical, how to canvass and organize. Though it is remains a very conservative movement, my opinion that it is a crowd of crazy extremists has somewhat changed.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Redesigning the Dollar Bill
Friday, September 17, 2010
Constitution Day
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Lynn v. Sekulow on "Ground Zero Mosque"
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Candidates with more Facebook fans win big on Tuesday
Tea Party Bio
Linda Mussmann
Linda Mussmann reminded us that it is ultimately the policies established in your community that effect families and individuals the most. Thus far in our class we have only focused on issues concerning our federal and state governments. In Hudson the cement factory would have caused serious health risks and additionally be damaging to small town business owners. The politics within ones own town have far greater personal consequences then the federal and even state policies implemented. Linda Mussmann’s experiences in Hudson illustrated that politics start at a private community level, and are an essential component to the prosperity of cities/towns and to the broader national and state governmental system.
Meet Christine O'Donnell...
small town politics
TSL
Are RINOS an endangered species?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
How Much Does Congress Make?
Punishing Muslims for terrorism is wrong
I wonder if this would still have been as controversial as it is now if the building of the mosque is proposed thirty years from now.
Obama Urged to Confront Islamic States on Religious Freedom
Will Republicans Keep Their Word on Tax Cuts?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov’t Data
Focus shifts to Congress after 'don't ask, don't tell' ruling
This article discusses the current 'don't ask, don't tell' policy in the military-- U.S. District Judge Phillips from California has ruled the policy unconstitutional on the basis of violating the First and Fifth Amendments. This ruling is a perfect opportunity for Congress to finally end the policy, as both the White House and the Pentagon have said that they are ready to eliminate gay and lesbian members of the military from not being able to serve openly. I think that this article is an important one to consider as it yet again shows that even though the Constitution did not explicitly address this issue, it is still concerned with a lot of implicit rights that we have as citizens of the
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Bipartisan View of Next Election
This article is more of an informative bipartisan view of main issue facing the country that will be relevant in the next election. The increasing unpopularity of Obama and the expectation for a Republican majority House and Senate has taken over headlines in the past few weeks. In reading the predictions about the next election, and the criticism for the Democratic Party, it appears to me that people have failed to realize the party that originally placed America in the position it is in today. I was not a staunch Obama supporter but I believe that the Bush Administration had left, among other pressing problems, a huge federal deficit, two war, and a fairly widespread distaste for the way in which we conducted foreign policy . Let us not forget that Obama inherited responsibility for matters that came from Republican activity and eight years of Bush in office.
Dems may punt on Bush tax cuts
Friday, September 10, 2010
Expanding the House
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Eye on Redistricting, G.O.P. Is Primed for Statehouse Gains
The November 2 election anticipates the Republican party winning the majority for both Congress and the State Legislature. The Republican esteem comes from the publics’ response to the continuing economic frustration and the growing national debt. If the Republicans win the majority in the State Legislative it will mean the party will play a major role in the once-a-decade process of redistributing the boundaries of Congressional districts in their favor. On the national level, Republicans have high hopes in winning the majority in Congress. If success at both levels is achieved, then it could mean a major shift in political influence towards the right.