Health Care Bill

The new health care bill is a big political issue right now. The House of Representatives recently passed their version of a health care billed, and a version of a new health care bill is now being debated in the senate. However, it isn't going quite as smoothly as some may want in the Senate as in the House. There is quite a lot of talk of controversy in the Senate currently. Republicans are basically completely against the bill and there is a big push for conservative democrats to vote for the bill. I agree completely with the universal healthcare concept, but I am not so sure what to make of these troubles getting the bill passed in the Senate. Though there is a huge push for the bill to be passed before winter recess, I honestly don't think it will be. This should not be a rushed effort, and I think a lot more people need to be on board with the upcoming bill in order for it to be passed.

Political Cartoon #2

This cartoon, Obama's Job Program, was drawn by Jimmy Marqulies on December 4th, 2009 in the Record of Hackensack, New Jersey. The point of it is basically to say that Obama is going the wrong way in beating unemployement. Since Obama is sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, the cartoonist is pointing out that this is not the way to decrease the unemployment rate. He clearly does not agree with the idea of sending more troops to Afghanistan in the first place, let alone it be a way for more Americans to get jobs. I hope troops will eventually be gradually be sent back home, and the unemployement rate can be lowered the right way.

Political Cartoon #1

This cartoon is basically showing the irony of the Foot Hood killings. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist, killed 13 people during the Fort Hood Massacre. After soldiers would come back from Afghanistan with post traumatic stress disorder, they would go see Hasan for help. The problem is, Hasan really needed the help more than they did. Hasan is an Islamic Extremist who would go under ramages on Muslims being attacked by Americans. Hasan was not willing to fight against Muslims, but ended up killing his own people. Hasan was one of the only people the Americans could go to for help as a psychiatrist, but he was actually on the side of the extremists, the same people they were fighting. Those who went to Hasan for help were the ones who could tell something was up, that Hasan held extremist views.

http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/9b9f7e45-c595-4733-9d02-3e5c0c587c92.html

New Principal

Well first off, Mr. Bates was announced as the new principal of Herndon High School on Friday! As the new principal, he should have should have great leadership qualities. He needs to be able to lead and encourage students with great enthusiasm. He also actually needs to be involved in school activities, instead of being visible to students once in a blue moon. The new principal needs to be approachable as well, and needs to be able to listen to problems the school is facing and effectively change them. Also, I hope no silly new policies are implemented.

Personal Response: Swine Flu, What to do?

For the past few months, all I feel like I have been hearing about is swine flu. Swine flu this, swine flu that. The media has certainly not helped this by hyping up the coverage about H1N1. Some people argue that schools need to be closed to stop the spreading of this flu. I do think that if the amount of kids out in each class gets too out of hand then maybe schools do need to close. However, right now schools schould be kept open. Children just need to wash their hands before meals. Also, if anyone is sick, they simply should not go out in public until he or she is better. The government also promised a swine flu vaccination but there is a shortage in the number of vaccinations available. That and, the vaccinations came out so late that they are predicted to be to late to even be helpful. I personally am weary of getting the vaccination because I believe the government was under so much pressure to get them out to the public that they may not be as tested as they should be.
I heard one statistic on the radio that said an estimated 60% of the population is predicted to get the swine flu this season. In my opinion, people need to just keep up with washing their hands and maintaining healthy immune sytems, schools should close if necessary, and people who are sick need to stay home until they are well again so the rest of the public is not uneccesarily exposed.

Current Event #6

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/31/obama-fresh-signs-economic-growth/

Obama: Fresh signs of economic growth

I read an article from the Washington Times to get a more conservative point of view this week. Even though the economy is slowly beginning to grow, Obama laid to rest this excitement about a growing economy. More important on his mind is the huge number of unemployed Americans. September marked a 9.8% unemployement rate, and the article stated that October may in fact be higher. Obama made it clear that even though the economy is doing better, hard times will still be ahead.
I personally find it great that over July to September, the economy grew 3.5%. I also realize however that no one should be celebrating just yet. Just a few months ago, some were even predicting a second Great Depression. So though the economy is beginning to grow again, the unemployement rate is still substantially high. The employement rate is a key factor in a prosperous economy. I agree that one of the most important issues right now is stimulating the economy to be sure that jobs are created and saved. This new month of November should not top October's unemployment rate.

Current Event #5

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/10/22/airliner.fly.by/index.html

Airliner crew flies 150 miles past airport

This article talks about a Northwest Airlines flight overshooting its destination by about 150 miles. Communication was lost between Air Traffic Control and the plane for more than an hour. After the plane continued to fly 150 past the destination, communication was finally established again. The pilots claimed to have been in a heated argument, making them lose their sense of time and space, but they are actually being accused of sleeping on thee job.
In some ways, I feel like too big of a deal is being made about this, because mistakes are made all the time, but in other ways I think it is unacceptable for things like this to happen, especially after 9/11. Apparently the agency is investigating the matter, which I am in agreement with. If communication was lost, it sounds to me like something fishy was going on, whether it be the pilots were sleeping or if they were in a heated discussion over airline policy like they actually said. Either way, neither should be tolerated because people need to be able to trust that airlines will take people to their destination safely. For instance, there has been very few cases of pilots falling asleep on the job, once of them being in February of 2008, when two pilots fell asleep and flew past their destination 26 miles. The pilots we are talking about here traveled over 150 miles past, which is a big difference. It just sounds like something is being convered up. People need to be able to trust having safe travel on planes, and if agencies need to set the precedent by making it clear with these two pilots that sleeping on the job, or engaging in heated discussions is strictly prohibited unnecessary accidents happen, then so be it.