Arizona "banning" ethnic studies in public schools

A month after the ridiculous immigration law was passed in Arizona comes a law that will limit ethnic studies in public schools. Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill that bans the teachings of ethnic studies that show resentment of minorities.

In my opinion this bill is completely outrageous. Obviously certain minorities have faced tougher times than others. Teaching students about this is not going to harm anyone, it is just teaching them history. People come from different countries and have faced a variety of difficulties due to their race, whether it is accepted or not. Banning the teachings of minorities so others do not "feel bad" for them is racist. It is just Arizona's way of making sure that minorities, like Mexican-Americans, can not get ahead or have any leeway after the immigration law that was passed over a month ago.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/12/arizona.ethnic.studies/index.html?npt=NP1

"Don't ask, don't tell" to be repealed

A bill is about to pass that will repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy which did not allow openly gay men and lesbian women to join the military. In the House, the chamber voted 234-194 to add the amendment to its version of the defense policy bill.

Under the compromise, the repeal will happen only after a military review of the matter and approval by Obama, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Polls show that Americans are also ready for the change. Many people finally believe that the old policy was wrong and ignorant.

I personally am glad that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is finally being overturned. What harm have gays or lesbians ever caused to the military? The policy was just pure discrimination. Also, with the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell", the military will be stronger in numbers and all members will finally be able to be completely honest.



http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/28/congress.military.gays.policy/index.html?npt=NP1

Veterans need more care

On this Memorial day we take time to remember the Veterans. Those whom fought oversees to defend our rights in the United States to keep us safe. Although 40 years ago the Vietnam veterans were booed, today the Veterans are at least treated with more respect and dignity like they deserve.

Although the veterans are treated how they are supposed to be today, that does not mean they are living a good life. Many people just assume that veterans have it better these days because they are no longer getting booed or are looked down upon, but they are very wrong.

There is a 13% unemployment rate among veterans today. Many are struggling to find homes and are living on the streets. Also many have gone crazy from what they have seen while fighting and are damaged emotionally. These veterans are not receiving the mental health assistance that they need.

Veterans deserve more care and financial benefits. What will the future generation think if they see what happens to many veterans? Will they even want to join the military anymore?


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31iht-letter.html?ref=politics

Obama gets rained out

As Obama was about to give his speech today for Memorial Day at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery at Elwood, Ill., a thunderstorm began. Obama suggested that they stop the ceremony to avoid any possible injuries from lightning or the illness of any elderly or babies.

There were about 5,000 people awaiting the speech, but were unfortunately denied from hearing what Obama had written out. Once it was determined that the rain would not stop any time soon, Obama left and the ceremony was canceled.

Obama also drew criticism for choosing the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois instead of the Arlington cemetery in Texas. It is considered a Presidential tradition for the President to lay a wreath at the Arlington National Cemetery every Memorial day in honor of the fallen soldiers; but it is not technically a tradition since former President George W. Bush never visited Arlington Cemetery on Memorial day either.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/downpour-cancels-obamas-memorial-day-event/?ref=politics

Parks and public areas are closing

In these tough economic times the country needs as much money as it can get. As a result, States are closing down parks and public areas (such as pools) as a way to spend less money. Even though public parks are a great way to preserve wild life and give the public a place to go and relax, the state governments have decided that they need the money.

Taxes and fees have also increased for parks that require money to get in. This does anger many people for obvious reasons, but others do understand. When the economy is failing, certain measures need to be taken to dig it out of the money hole.

I personally love going to public parks and beaches when the weather is nice, but I can see why the state government has to take these measures. Also, even though many parks may be closing down, there are still many more which are still open for people to enjoy. Although I will admit that it is unfortunate if your favorite park happens to be one that closes down.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31parkintro.html?ref=us

White house playin' damage control

The issue with the oil spill in the Gulf is getting out of control. The White House knows it, and the people know it as well. The White House is getting severely criticized by the public for how it is handling the BP oil spill situation.

People think that the White House should have taken more control to stop the oil spill quickly. The White House is defending themselves and trying to explain how it is out of their control for the most part. The White House understands that the plans to stop the spills could go all the way to August!

I also understand that this is not an easy thing for the White House to deal with, but they should have taken action sooner. Obviously the oil spill is a huge issue that will be difficult to deal with, but it's up to the government to help protect the environment.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31spill.html?ref=us

Iran has enough fuel for Nukes

Apparently Iran has enough fuel to create two nuclear bombs. Iran was supposed to not have enough fuel to create even one nuclear bomb, but they did not keep their promise. Instead of shipping out the fuel, Iran has kept it.

Other countries are beginning to worry that Iran has so much nuclear fuel. They believe that Iran is a dangerous country and might attack.

Iran also has nuclear laboratories underground which they claim is to prevent them from being destroyed by aerial attacks.

I think that other countries might be over reacting by the fact that Iran can make two nuclear bombs; but I also do believe that no country should be allowed to have enough fuel to make even one nuclear bomb. Nukes can destroy the entire world and end civilization as we know it. If we continue to allow countries to create nuclear bombs, who knows what the future will hold.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/world/middleeast/01nuke.html?hp

Representative Markey challenges BP

Rep. Edward Markey is challenging the oil giant BP. Markey does not believe the claims by the chief executive of BP that there are no underwater oil plumes as a result of the oil spill.

Markey is asking for evidence that there are no oil plumes underwater. He does not believe the company and thinks that they are lying. BP is claiming that the all the oil is on the surface and will be easy to clean up.

I agree with Markey because this is a serious issue. We need evidence immediately that there are no oil plumes underwater. We can not trust BP at this point after this huge incident. If there are oil plumes underwater, there needs to be action taken as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more damage the oil will cause to the planet.

Last political dance on the blog

I can't believe that it's really my last post. It makes me Mr.unhappy inside.

On a serious note, the issue is recent news of New Yorkers protesting the construction of a mosque close to the area of ground zero. Despite pleas of reason by the Musilm people, the New Yorkers still live in a mind set of fear of what they don't truely understand or comprehend. The recent bombing attempt at Times Square did not help the situation. One person is noted for calling the mosque a "house of evil". Another thought it was an offensive joke.

The joke is on them, the fear controlled citizens of the city who now have a instinctual terrorism twitch towards anything having to do with the muslim culture. It's not the Arab-americans that hate us, it's the heavily patriotic native arabs back over seas that want to place insurgents in our countries to destroy us. I feel saddend that these innocent americans are being patronized to a degree just because of a fear based generalization. As a society, we really need to move on. Don't forget 9/11 happened but if there's no acceptance that these islamic worshipers are just like everyone else than we will never advance as a society and 9/11 will be the equivilant of the Black plague due to the wide spread panic and false information with which fear is made, making it childishly simple for one to be controlled by those who supposively have the answers to the issue.

When will it stop nobody knows!

The failure of the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico continues to gush out more and more oil, scientists have even detected heavier and murkier water around the spill, meaning that the oil is becoming thicker, and is polluting the Gulf with even more concentarted oil. However a plan devised aptly named "top kill" is going to be put in effect soon with in the week. The plan includes a team to dive into the spill and fill the broken line with mud and cement to plug up the break. However the company has given the sucsses rate of this plan a bleak 60 to 70 % chance of actually working. Legislation now is in debate on fines for the ones responsible for the failure of the oil rig.

The problem is fines on the people responsible won't change whats been done, instead of worrying whose going to pay for all of this, the government should be focused completely on a way to stop the spill for getting any worse or creating any more damage than it already has. The fishing industry in the Gulf is going to suffer heavely, but thats not even close to the long term enviornmental damage that will occur. This oil has been spilling for 5 weeks straight now, at this rate the Gulf may never recover. This is all the more reason to be finding better ways to fuel our nation, than with oil and other fossil fuels, they are becoming to costly and dangerious.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill;_ylt=Ah1VWM8c_YnF_diyyVYohm6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNoOTA3dWk4BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNTI2L3VzX2d1bGZfb2lsX3NwaWxsBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMwRwb3MDOQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDNXdlZWtzb2ZndXNo

Republicans See Big Chance But Worry They Could Waste It

As the midterm elections are fastly approaching, Republicans feel they may have methods to recapture their votes-the problem is that they are unsure of how to properly mobilize. They are considering their "get-out-the-vote operation," hoping for grass-roots enthusiasm. However, they are unsure of how they might be able to surpass President Obama's consistently high and respectful ratings. They do not necessarily want to run against the Democratic Party, but want to discover an alternative agenda. They have proposed a new program called "America Speaking Out." With this, lawmakers will be listening to Republican supporters, who will be indirectly dictating their new agenda. In the fall, the party will take all of its supporters' ideas and transform them into policy proposals for the upcoming Congress. Republicans still maintain much in their favor, considering the fact that many voters have widespread feelings that government has become too expansive (after Obama's health care bill). Altogether, the economic recovery has not shown huge signs of success, with the unemployment rate still very high. Last month, Republicans raised more more than Democrats, possibly foreshadowing that they will be able to fundraise more money by the time November comes around. According to Thomas M. Reynolds, former New York Congressman, "We still have an angry electorate that both Democrats and Republicans face and our candidates need to talk abut what matters at home and what they are going to do about it from an unpopular Washington." Clearly, as we had discussed in class, our candidates are not receiving sufficient support from the public because they are not using grass-roots politics. They are representing majority opinion and not the views of the local areas they represent. That explains why many small, local areas in the country are underrepresented and suffering from this. Altogether, the Republicans have an extensive battle to fight. They left a very poor impression when they were in office recently, and lately the Democrats have generally pleased the American public. Supporting the public's ideas are essential to being an adequate politician, and if these parties become overly interested in their own personal views, our country's general state will suffer.

Super Tuesday got rained out???

That big day has come and gone once again. Today, May 18th 2010, was the day that every school district on Long Island held its budget vote. Out of the 123 districts, 10 distrcit budgets failed. This amount was an increase from last year, in which only 2 budgets failed. Luckily for our school district, the budget for Middle Country has passed. Considering our district has had a pretty good record concerning our school budget, this doesn't come as a surprise. However, the numbers are. The school board's budget passed 3,125 to 1,512. I think that this result must have something to do with changes in voter participation.

A lot of events occured that could have played a role in the huge amount of support for the budget. For example, the social studies department pulled off a successful get out the vote drive in which many students got the oppurtunity to register to vote. However, that would only account for a small amount of voters , perhaps maybe as few as 50 to 100. There was also a lot of community education sessions that were created to help people understand the difference between a congenial and a school board created budget. Still, this would only create a small amount of supporters.

However, there is one thing that probably deffered a lot of supporters for the congenial budget. I'm not saying this is fact, but my guess is that the heavy rain that occured today kept congenial budget voters from voting today. Here is my reasoning: Most supporters of the congenial budget are in the older age group of about 50/60-90 yrs old. On the other hand, supporters of the school board budget usually lie in the age group that is younger than 60. Rain can work as a huge obstacle to older citizens compared to younger citizens mainly because of transportation difficulties. Older drivers have trouble driving because of their declined sense of balance and awareness. Therefore, older folks probably came to vote in smaller amounts, therefore decreasing the amount of congenial budget supports.

Am I saying this thoery is right. Of course not. In fact is does sound very stupid, but whether can play a big role in an election. It is an added obstacle to any election.

...and the EPA takes action!

Well, sort of, anyway. The E.P.A has decided that to help regulate greenhouse gas emissions there will be a regulation set that any emits more than 75,000 tons of greenhouse gases will have to seek a permit. The E.P.A is only planning to give out about 550 permits within the first two years of these regulations being set into place. This seems to be a steady balance between regulating to the point of affecting small entities (as the plan would have originally done when the limit for emitions was 25,000), and not taking an action, an option that doesn't sound feasible when you consider the scope of global warming, as well as other environmental issues, such as the recent oil spill.
However, the more riveting tale to tell is a bill that is currently on the Senate floor -- a climate and energy bill. This bill, if passed, would shift control on greenhouse gases from the E.P.A to Congress. Personally, this had me baffled at first. What is the point in having a government agency that is supposed to protect the environment, if you're just going to take the power away from them, and hand it to Congress? Since the E.P.A announced carbon dioxide, along with other greenhouse gases, "posed a threat to human health and welfare" it is technically now their right to take control of the issue under the Clean Air Act. So, yet again, why is Congress butting in? Although the E.P.A faces major opposition from industries, I question whether Congress would be able to be anymore effective.


[source]

Obama Picks Kagan, Scholar but Not Judge, for Court Seat

Today at 10 am Obama introduced Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the choice for the new supreme court justice. He stated that she is "one ofthe nation' foremost legal minds." I believe that although she is very educated in law, a seat as a justice may not be the right spot for her. Considering she has no experience as a judge, her abilities would be better used in her current position or in some other position where it is more "intellectual" rather than being a judge. Hopefully, it turns out for the best and she fills the spot well.