unemployment

Currently in the Unites States, the unemployment rate is at 9.7 percent. Yes, the unemployment ate has dropped, but this is only because thousands of people have quit looking for jobs because they do not see any sign of hope. Many Americans are beginning to believe that President Obama cares a lot more about health care reform rather than creating jobs and I won’t disagree; lately it has seem like that is all he cares about, but we just have to wait and see. However, there finally seems like there is light at the end of the tunnel! The United States Senate has adopted aid for the unemployed after a week long of debate with 62 votes in favor and 36 votes against.

The U.S. Senate has adopted a 140 billion bill that is aimed at expanding unemployment benefits, as well as creating a tax break and jobs. The bill will of course help those who are unemployed and also provide health coverage until December 2010. The Senate’s Democratic majority leader Harry Reid has said that they will continue employment in their agenda and hope for bipartisan support in order to help middle-class Americans during these difficult times.

Haiti

Haiti is in extreme need for HELP!

The earthquake of magnitude 7.0 has left thousands of people dead. The Red Cross has estimated that it has been about 45,000 to 50,000 people who have been killed. The rest of the population are either homeless or have not been found.

Many fear that, “time is running out to avoid chaos and to rescue anyone still alive in the wreckage.” People in Haiti have not eaten food or drank food for almost 50 hours. The World Food Program was providing high-energy biscuits and other ready to eat meals to 8,000 people many times a day. The agency will be providing food to approximately 1 million people in 15 days and 2 million within a month.

The U.S. military has taken Haiti some relief, but it is not enough. Survivors from Haiti are fighting each other for food and water. People’s frustration has caused them to become violent; it has become dangerous to distribute food and water. People are willing to fight each other to death for a cup of water!

Before things become a lot more chaotic in Haiti, I really hope that help will get there soon. A way in which we can help Haiti is by texting “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100116/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_earthquake;_ylt=AiCknrTAzLFjM_G35N7F7YRvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJrOWI3bXJpBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMTE2L2NiX2hhaXRpX2VhcnRocXVha2UEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2FpZHNsb3dseXJlYQ--

Race to the Top!

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a legislation that is meant to increase the state’s eligibility for federal grants. The legislation can help the state of California become eligible for as much as $700 million in federal Race to the Top grants.

Yes, the idea that the state of California may be eligible for federal money in order to help improve schools sounds great! However, there are a few catches to the legislation that might turn out negatively.

Some steps in the legislation are to “take aggressive steps to turn failing schools around, including firing staff, closing schools and converting campuses to independently operated charter schools.” I honestly do not see how this will help schools improve or students. I think that this will probably make public education worse. If some schools are closed there will be schools that might end up with classes that will have too many students.

A positive part of the legislation is, if parents do no want to send their children to districts that are not doing well, they can send them to other districts.

Lou Dobbs for Senator?

By now many know who Lou Dobbs is. Most can remember him, because he made opposing statements towards immigrants in his talk show on CNN. Well guess what? In 2012 he wants to run for senator in New Jersey!

Currently the senator of New Jersey is, Robert Mendez, a Democrat. Sen. Robert Mendez has worked on, “sponsored bills protecting citizens and permanent residents from unlawful detention and deportation and supports allowing illegal immigrants to buy health insurance from exchanges with their own money.”

People in New Jersey were surveyed in 2007, and two-thirds of New Jersey voters said, “undocumented residents hurt the country more than they help it.” They also oppose to giving illegal immigrants driver’s license.

Although there is a large population of immigrants in New Jersey, there is also a large population that opposes immigrants. Seeing this, it seems like Lou Dobbs might have a good chance of winning (let’s hope not). Hopefully he does not become a senator in New Jersey, because if he does, issues might get a lot more complicated for immigrants.

Lou Dobbs has also said that people are urging him to run for president. Dilenschneider has said that the idea of Lou Dobbs running for president was a “long way off”. Hopefully it really is a “long way off”!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091126/ap_on_el_se/us_lou_dobbs_senate

Glenn Beck is the host of his own show. Glenn Beck seems to be Democratic,or maybe even part of Green Party because during the whole video he does nothing else but criticize Obama. Glenn Beck compares Obama to FDR in a sarcastic tone. Glenn Beck also points out in the video that Obama has adopted ideas that Green parties came up with first. People that are more likely to watch his show, are people who oppose Obama and his ideas.



It was kind of difficult to tell whether Bill Maher is against Obama or not. At the end he says that he was glad that Obama is president, but by the way that he talks about Obama does not really seem like he does. He basically says that he is tired of Obama getting to much publicity, and that he is not doing any changes, because he is too worried about being a celebrity rather than a president. I think that people who oppose Obama are most likely to watch this show, just like those who would watch the Glenn Beck show.

Fairness and accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) works on trying to strengthen the first amendment. FAIR is an anti-censorship group who exposes stories that have not been shown to the public, and also protect journalists who are being stopped from expressing their opinion. FAIR prefers the news media to be independent. They recommend that if people do not agree with what their news media coverage is showing that they should contact them (FAIR) to become activists. Overall, FAIR seems to be Liberal

Media Research Center (MRC) is seeks to bring balance to the news media. They are a group who view the media as liberal bias. Media Research Center’s way of proving that the media is bias, is by quoting the media work by word. Issues that they consider newsworthy are, in-depths reporting on politics, culture, and international issues.

http://www.fair.org/index.php
http://www.mrc.org/public/default.aspx

Political Cartoons

The Health Care Reform passed through House and now it is being debate in the Senate. One of the main issues that is being discussed in the Health Care Reform is whether abortion should be covered in the Health Care. As the cartoon shows above many conservatives; people who are against abortion do not think that the Health Care Reform should cover abortion and that the government should not intervene with Health Care. However many people do agree that the government should intervene with abortion. 

According the author of the political cartoon, Democrats are bringing down the economy. The author believes that Democrats are creating a bigger debt and making the unemployment rate rise. As the unemployment rate rises; expands, the economy is going into a deeper hole that might be hard to get out of.

It has been twenty years since the Berlin Wall was broken apart. The Berlin Wall seperated East and West Germany. However the Berlin wall is not the only that exists, there are many borders; walls seperating various countries, as well as families. The Border that seperates the United States and Mexico is one that may activists are fighting for in order for it to not get expanded, and so that many families who are seperated by this border can be united once again.

Veterans are coming back home and do not come back the same way they left. For example, this veteran comes back with an arm missing and all he receives is a simple "Thank You". When veterans come back home, I am pretty sure that they are expecting more than a simple "Thank You", especially after they have lost body parts while fighting in war. Yes it is true that we should thank our veterans for fighting for us, defending us, but I think that the government can do a lot more for them.