headed in the right direction!

I agree with Tyler, who wrote his recent commentary about our current recession.  He points out that when it comes to tough money times, it's a sensitive subject. I'm from Michigan and just moved to Texas in August 08. With the auto industry being such a large part of the MI economy, last year I witnessed the recession like few in the country had to. When I received the opportunity to come to UT, I jumped that second. The economy effects so many people in many different areas of life. Everything in MI was depressing, several people I knew were out of jobs, and were panicking. With knowing how the recession was effecting Michigan back then, and hearing and seeing the improvements in my family and friends lives recently, I also agree with Tyler that the administration is doing a good job. Too many people expected an unrealistic automatic change, and that is just not possible. More people are getting jobs and you can see the effort from Obama and his administration. I believe that with time we will make a lot of progress, have faith in our leader people- this is just the 'beginning of the end'!

'It's not Monopoly money'

Well, no wonder we are in a recession.   In an article posted today I read that The House of Representatives passed a spending bill for $550 Million. This $550,000,000 will be spent on 8 jets, to be used for government travel. Really? Really. I can not believe that in these tough times that this is what The House of Representatives thinks is most important to spend money on.  It makes me so angry, and to quote Sen. Claire McCaskill, “the whole thing makes me sick to my stomach”. I completely agree. The money isn’t pretend money. This is our country, and were going through a really hard time financially. I understand that the safety of our government is important, but that is over the top. The Obama administration did not even request half that much. The original request was for 4 jets, costing $220 million, and The House more than doubled that request.  They obviously did this because instead of the original jets being just for senior officials, now there would be more for other members. Luckily, for once some part of our government has their head's on straight- The senate democrats and senate republicans along with the pentagon, are against the bill. From March to July, 21% of our country saying they were deeper in debt rose again to 27%. With factors like that, one would think that all parts of our government would care a little more about how we spend our money. That however, would mean that they are not selfish, greedy people.  The more and more I learn, the more and more I worry that very few of our leaders do truly care about our country and our lives instead of just their own.

In Government, Not Everyone Will Be Happy-

I agree with the overall message of the Pleasing People Gets You Nowhere commentary. Although, Im not in agreement with that statement. I think that being there for the people around you and doing things to insure that others are happy IS the right thing to do. Pleasing people is how more people should approach each day. However, in government- being well liked, and making people happy isn't the best way to make a difference. Being a people pleaser in politics is superficial and has no long term effects for bettering our nation. It is still very important that you care about the citizens and that you relate to them, because it makes us more united, but there must be a backbone to it as well. Edmond  Burke once said, "Your representative owes you not his industry only, but his judgment, and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion." I personally think that this sums up what the author of the commentary was trying to say. Being a good leader does not always mean agreeing with the public. We elected our government because we believe that they have skills that we do not have, which better them to make choices on our behalf. We need to trust that they are doing their job with the nation as a whole in mind. Like the author says, we can not expect our leaders to make everyone happy, it is just impossible. So instead of getting bent out of shape about maybe disagreeing with how a certain issue is being handled, trust that it is the best for this great country as a whole.

inside the mind of government

I’m not going to sit here and type a commentary about our US national government and pretend that I know enough to be criticizing. I’m not one of those people that can enjoy following certain issues and policies, so I’m not going to act like I do. However, my mind does work in a way that I am very interested about the physiological side of politics. I’m often amazed by the way people handle themselves when it comes to issues within our government. While writing my last post I started to realize how out of their mind and stubborn some people can be. Women like that are embarrassing, and yet very interesting. I also find it very refreshing that FINALLY people have let go of the whole race issue with our president. I can remember watching all the news leading up to the election, and people would not lay off the fact that he is African American. Then after Obama did win, some people thought it was the end of the world, I even remember reading comments from other politicians that thought it was a disaster, specifically because of his race. But recently, although there are still people who are bothered by it or his ‘fake birth certificate’, most of American seems to finally be focusing on the job he is doing and are putting their effort into caring about things that matter, instead of his race. Now that the race topic has died down I can’t help but have hope that the American people and our government both are broadening their viewpoints and starting to make the government more representational of the public.  I love this and think that it should have happened sooner.  After all our government is ran by the people, government officials are common people just like us, but just with a unique job. Keeping in mind that they are humans as well, hopefully the public can lay off the less petty things and pay more attention to how well they do their job- but does that mean we have to accept when they do things morally wrong? For instance when I read articles talking about 4 cases of republican infidelity, am I suppose to not let that bother me, if others are stopping their racial viewpoints from bothering them towards our president. What is the line that divides personal life, morals, and beliefs from politics and the job that needs to be done? I personally, as I’m sure you can tell from this blog, have not the slightest idea. But I do know that I find it interesting to watch all of the human interaction that happens within politics and with the American people’s reactions.

Raised Seal, or No Raised Seal

Roland S Martin is hilarious. With his experience in writing his column and two books, he easily rights a short commentary about President Obama's birth certificate.  He very humorously describes a YouTube video of a town hall meeting in Delaware where a woman goes berserk on a congressman, insisting to see the president’s birth certificate. As if the story itself isn’t enough to make you watch the video, the way that Martin writes his article will. After watching the video online I was dumbfounded. I completely agree with Martin that this lady is out of control. It makes me worried and dumbfounded that there are actually this ignorant of people in our country. There are way too many resources for anyone to be this misinformed. Martin mentions that there are conspiracy theorists everywhere, which I believe to be true, and most of them I imagine are just as out of their mind as this lady. Watching the video and seeing her rudely yell at Statesman Mike Castle as if it is his fault and that he actually has the certificate, its obvious that this lady has no manners or intelligence. The response from the audience shocked me, I do not believe that so many people would support this woman’s outburst on something so irrational. This issue has been nationally addressed, Hawaii has verified it, and because that is for some reason not enough, FactCheck.org inspected it and verified it was official as well. This woman needs to realize he was elected with the majority of the country behind him and is doing good at his job. I completely agree with Martin, and with my roommate who after watching the video said “Man I wish I was at that meeting to share words with that woman.”

Fireworks over Lives

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/19/begala.health.care/index.html

 

The above link is to a commentary by Paul Begala. He is a CNN political contributor and an affiliated professor at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute.  Begala expresses he is worried that healthcare is getting pushed onto the back burner. He shares the events of an outrageous court hearing between major health insurance companies and citizens who have been completely wronged.  It is clear that his audience is any of the public that unfortunately had most likely not heard of the case because, as he explains, the media is pushing the topic aside and focusing on topics of little importance. After reading his commentary and learning about the practice of rescission, I feel angry. I am angry that our health companies are as cruel as they are, and wonder why those kinds of people are even allowed to be in a field that handles the wellbeing of others. I am also angry with the media and what they seem to think the general populations sees as important. Having your insurance taken from you after being diagnosed with a serious illness is mortifying, and happening to too many people in our country. Yet know one knows how insurance companies are digging to find loopholes to deny the insured. Begala says the key to change is to ‘shine the media spotlight on the plight of people like Robin Beaton.’ On a side note this is funny to me, coming from the man who spent half the article not shinning the spotlight on the issue, but reminiscing about his days working with a former administration (he was a campaign consultant and counselor for Bill Clinton). However, with the good information he did write in his article, I agree that if the Obama administration wants to do something about healthcare, the spotlight needs to be shined on the problems that everyday Americans are experiencing. The media is supposed to be a tool that we use to communicate realities across the country. In many cases like this however, it seems the media is just as much out of touch with its purpose as the insurance companies are. If the government can encourage the media to shine light on more events that have ties to huge issues, I believe it will hit home for more average Americans, and encourage them to stand up for a change in the healthcare system.

$ 12 Billion Plan

In this article by the Austin American Statesman it explains how Obama is turning to education for help with our economy. While in front of a tough crowd, a community college in Michigan, the state where the unemployment rates are the highest in the country, He points out that a lot of the jobs that were lost recently are jobs that are never coming back. With the economy changing we need to prepare ourselves for jobs in the new markets that are emerging. Obama says "Time and again, when we have placed our bet for the future on education, we have prospered as a result". With that he goes on to talk about the suffering economy and how he believes the $12 billion plan is going to help. This article is worth reading because not only does he explain the plan of how this will help but also he touches on other issues and also addresses some criticisms people have made about him.