political cartoon #3

For last weeks cartoon, I chose one from the artist Mike Keefe. His work shows how everyman is being negatively affected this holiday season. The labels "Wall Street" and "Main Street" are used to identify the two men who are passing each other.

Neither man is feeling the holiday spirit. This is probably due to the failing economy, but the reader can only infer that because there is no direct clue that would suggest this. Hopefully, though, this comic does not accurately reflect America's feelings during this holiday season. Even though the country is facing some rough times, that is no excuse to not enjoy this festive time of year. But that's only my opinion.

political cartoon #2

This week's cartoon was a little more global. It depicted Earth, but there was something different about it. The United States of America was turned upside-down. Standing where D.C. should have been was Obama and Uncle Sam, both trying to figure out what to do with their situation.
The message of the cartoon was that our country is pretty messed up right now, and our leaders don't really know what to do. Hopefully, they'll figure it out soon.

Political Cartoon

It's a new quarter at Herndon High, and you know what that means? New current events! Instead of writing about news articles, my class is focusing in on political cartoons.
My first cartoon showed Obama standing at a podium surrounded by tons of photographers and journalists. Obama tells the crowd that he has time for just one more question, and then calls on the man in the back. The guy he calls on is none other than President Bush. With a quizzical expression on his face, Bush asks, "Can I have my podium back?" Haha.
This cartoon expressed how much Obama has taken over the media, and sort of pushed Bush to the back. The funniest part of the whole thing is that it's true.

Last Day of Volunteering

On my last day of volunteering, I had mixed feelings about the whole experience. I felt like I learned tons about the campaigning process. Plus, I feel like I could call up anyone now and not act awkward when I am talking to them. On the flip side, I still wonder how much of an impact I truly had on the election. I mean, how could my phone calls turn the tide in the election? Did all of those people vote for who they did because I took the time to call them? Unlikely. But I guess it does not hurt.

Oh well, this was a great experience overall. I would not have traded this experience for the world.

Another day volunteering

About a work-week after my first day volunteering for the Obama Campaign, I went back to make some more phone calls. However, this time I was not alone. Some of my friends from another gov. class were already in the office, calling people left and right. If I had a good time the first time I volunteered, Then the second time was amazing! Hanging out with my friends while talking with complete strangers on the phone was a blast. When our time was up, I did not want to leave. Even though I do not think I made that much of a difference in the overall scope of the election, it was fun believing that I was making a small impact on what may be one of the most historical elections in the past hundred years, if not in the history of America.

First day of Volunteer work

On October 22, I set out to volunteer for the Barack Obama Campain. I have to admit, I was a tad nervous. None of my friends could volunteer that day, so I had to walk up to total strangers and ask them if they needed any help getting their candidate elected. To my relief, they wanted my help. I was told that I could walk down a couple of buildings and help make phone calls. Just what I wanted.

Even though I did not recognize anyone, not a soul, I managed to not freak out. The site coordinator was this really kind guy who explained all that I will ever need to know about calling someone. He gave me a script, told me what to say if that rare someone wants to talk to you, where to check the boxes when you hear the all to common busy signal; the whole sha-bang.

After I watched the two other volunteers call a few people, I worked up the courage to make my first call. To my surprise, it was fun! After my tenth call, I was hooked. No matter what response I got, I answered with a smile in my voice and a kind word on my tongue. When I finally realized that I could go, I knew that I would be back.

Week 6-Election Post

This is it. The final days of the election process are upon us. It is time for America to chose. But for whom will the citizens of this fine country vote for?
I predict that Barack Obama is going to win the Presidential Election. More specifically, I believe that he will win a total of 311 electoral college votes, with McCain at a measly 203. Why do I predict such a huge victory for Obama, you ask? The recent Yahoo poll show Obama with a total of 318 electoral college votes. I believe that between now and election day, McCain might be able to win over another state or two. Anything is possible, right? But even if he does manage a victory in a couple more states, it will not be enough to beat the mighty Obama.
In the Senate race, I believe that Warner will triumph over Gilmore. And in the local House races, I believe that the running Democratic candidates will win over the Republicans. Virginia has been looking a little blue over the past couple of weeks, and I believe that the Democrats will be able to sweep the elections, at least in the Northern Part of the State, anyway.
Will these predictions come true? There is only one way to find out. If you are able, go out and vote on Tuesday. Make the right choice and vote for change (hint, hint). Then watch the results tomorrow night. I can't wait.

Current Event #4

I currently read an article titled Travelers Cleanse the Soul, and the Ears, in Holy City. The article was about the huge railway networks in India and the people who ride them. More specifically, the author wrote about the railway to and from Haridar, an “ancient city where Hindu pilgrims come to pray and conduct funeral rites”. Entire school classes opt out of riding the bus to school and choose to ride the dirty and often late trains. When asked why she loves the trains so much, Divya Dhawan says “It’s like time stops”. There are very few places left in the world where a person can spend hours doing nothing. These railways are one of them.
I found this article to be a nice read. It was interesting to see how people across the world live their day to day lives. There is no way that I would find a six-hour train ride filled with tons of people in cramped cars appealing. But more and more people are turning away from their cars in favor of the train. Even though I find their lives strange, maybe those people in India would find us Americans weird. The difference in culture is fascinating.

Week 5-Election Post

Two of the most important words of the 2008 Presidential election are used to describe Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. Those words are: Swing State. These three states are among the most pivotal in this election for two main reasons.
1) Traditionally, Florida, Ohio, and Virginia vote Republican. However, this year all three of the states are showing signs that they might vote Democratic. Because of their past decisions in the previous elections, both parties are fighting hard to win these states.
2) Florida, Ohio, and Virginia have tons of electoral votes. Florida has 27. Ohio has 20. Virginia has 13. Most of the states have fewer than 10. The massive amount of electoral college votes these states have make them key states for the election. Which ever one of the candidates wins at least two of these states will have a strong lead over the other presidential nominee.
If I had to make a prediction on who would win two of the states right now, I would have to say that I believe that Obama will win Ohio and Virginia.
Ohio has Democrats in both the Senate and as their Governor. Right now, polls show Obama with a slight lead over McCain in this battleground state. I think that Obama will be able to hold his lead up through the election.
Virginia is a slightly different story. Recently, Virginia has been leaning more and more Democratic, which is surprising due to the state's Republican history. Northern Virginia is at the forefront of this political shift, leading the rest of the state in its Democratic ideals. The last factor that makes me believe that Virginia will vote Democratic has to due with who is running for the State's Senate seat, Mark Warner. I believe that his popularity will have a positive impact on the Presidential race for his fellow Democrats.

Week 4-Election Post

Polls, polls, polls. Everywhere I go I hear about political polling. As the country gets closer to election day, more and more polls are created to try and figure out who the next leaders of our country are going to be. While these handy political guages can be useful, they can also have huge affects on the final outcome of the election.
There are many differenct polling companies. Luckily, their results are fairly the same. The pollsters at NBC show Obama ahead of McCain in Ohio and Wisconsin while those polling for the Star Tribune have Obama winning in Minnesota. It is safe to say that theses polls are pretty acuarate because the information was found on one of McCain's websites.
On a more local level, both Rasmussen and NBC show Warner beating Gilmore in the VA Senate race. Because many of the polls have the same information, it is a good bet to say that the numbers are correct. Many polls are accurate because they are random and include large numbers of citizens from all of the different social classes.
So how does all of this polling info affect the regular citizens, the "Joe six-pack"s and "Joe the Plumber"s if you will. The collected data helps inform the public on the currenct feelings and opinions towards the many elections in the United States. A negative impact caused by these polls is that some citizens may be influenced to vote one way or another depending on the poll results. A person who would not normally vote at all may read a poll and decide to vote for the underdog.
This does not mean that the end result of an election will be based on polling information, but as polls become more and more accurate, we may eventually know who will be the next president weeks before the actual election. I do not know about you, but I find that idea kinda scary.

Current event: week 3

There was an article in the Washington Post last week titled "There’s a Gold Mine in Environmental Guilt". The article was about the environment and the economy. While the economy continues its downward trend, Carbon-Offset Sales have remained steady, and, in some cases, have continued to grow. The upper-middle class is the largest group of people who buy these carbon-offset deals. One of the concerns of the article was that this group of people has “not been hit hard by the weakening economy. Yet.” When this group does feel the economic pain, speculators wonder if the guilt boom will cease to be a factor in these purchases.
I can understand a person wanting to help the environment, most people do. I can even understand how some people would not want to have their dirty carbon trail behind them for the world to see. What I don’t get is why people are still paying for this type of luxury when there are other more important things to pay for, like food, gas, and a home. Even if the upper-middle class has not been greatly affected by the economic problems the rest of America is going through, one would think that they would cut off the some of the not-so-necessary commodities that they may have grown accustom to. I think that it will be exciting to see where this guilt buying leads to in the near future.

Election Post: Week 3

This week, instead of focusing on the Presidential Election, I am shifting my attention to something a bit more local: the Virginia Senate Seats. There are three main candidates for these coveted seats this year. They are Mark Warner (D), Jim Gilmore (R), and Glenda Parker (IG).
Mark Warner is a former Virginia Governor. He wants to clean up the state and help out the economy
The Republican running against Mr. Warner is Jim Gilmore. Gilmore is also a former Governor of Virginia. His main goals are to keep America running on oil and to try and help out Virginia with it's economy.
Last, but certainly not least is Glenda Parker. Ms. Parker is of the Independent Green Party. She has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Central Michigan University. Just in case you were wondering, Ms. Parker lives in Fairfax County.
There are many issues at stake in this year's election. At the moment, the economy is probably at the top of the candidates' lists of problems that must be addressed. Trying to become a greener state also ranks high on the most-talked-about-issues list. It will be interesting to see how each of the candidates handle these tricky topics in the weeks to come.
There are many Virginians who already know who they want to vote for. A current Rasmussen poll shows Warner up by over 20 points. It will be interesting to see how this holds up over the next few weeks. In fact, it will be really interesting to see how this election compares with the Presidential election. Will two Demarcates take both President and Virginia's Senate Seats? One can only hope so.

Current Event:

This week, there was an article in the Washington Post titled "HUD Sets Aside $95 Million To Ease Foreclosures in Area". The article explained how HUD has a plan that will help states fix their housing problem. If a state can write up a plan to help fix their individual housing and mortgage problems, HUD is prepared to give them a sum of money to start them off. In reality, the amount of money that would be granted to each state and to individual counties is not that much, but at least it will get the ball rolling.
I think the plan sounds like a good idea. At least HUD is willing to offer up money to help solve the problem. Plus, the idea that the states and other local governments have to write up their own plans (even though the plan must fit within certain guidelines) is a great idea. Because each state's problem is unique to itself, the thought that the states must fix their own problems is a good one.

Week 2-Election Post

There is no doubt that tons of issues are important in this year's presidential election. If I had to choose just one national issue, I would say that how the new president will deal with the economy is the number one topic I care about. Why, you ask? Because our economy is failing, and I would rather not have another Great Depression.
Locally, I would have to say that the environment is a huge issue for me. If the state could initiate any plans to help keep Virginia as green as it can be, that would be super. I don't want to keep hurting our planet by putting dangerous chemicals in our air and water.
On a different topic, the debate on Friday was pretty interesting. I thought that Obama did a better job over all. He was able to keep is cool more often then McCain was. Plus, I am getting a little tired of McCain always talking about how he was a POW and how his friends are also helping his cause. I understand that his war experience is a big part of who he is, but I think everybody has heard enough.
I think that being able to watch the debates, and not just hear about them, is a really cool thing we can do with modern technology. Being able to see how the candidates react to each other is a great sign of how they might act in office. I can only imagine what it must have been like to only be able to read about the presidential debates, before tv and the radio. I wonder if voters had a harder or easier time in deciding who they would vote for?

Current event: week 1

On Monday, two of the largest private banks commercialized. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley decided to go commercial in hopes that the government will be able to give them a "safety net" if the economy continues to fall.
I believe that the move of these private banks along with others is a smart one. Not only will it help them protect themselves from the declining economy, but it will possibly help regular Americans make more money off of their bank investments. I do feel that some struggling banks might suffer from this change in banking strategy, only because now it might be as safe to put money in a market mutual fund as it would be to put in a regular savings account. But in the long run, the move was a good thing. I hate to see more people lose their jobs because of something they can't control. Hopefully the economy will react positively to this change.

Week 1-Election Post

Up until recently, I did not know which political party I supported. This is probably because I did not know much about either one of them. Now that I kind of understand what both groups stand for, I must say that I side with the Democrats.
I agree with the ideas of pro choice and same-sex marriages. Neither one of these issues directly affects me, but I don't believe that the government should deny a person of these two choices. As far as the environment goes, I think the country should try to turn away from oil as soon as possible and find a cleaner, greener way to power our communities. And I am definitely against the war in Iraq. I have nothing against the soldiers who are fighting for our country, but I don't believe that the war is not worth it's cost, both economically and humanly. Because the Democrats believe in a majority of my ideals, I choose to side with them.
This does not mean that I am totally devoted to the liberal side of politics. I believe that people should be aloud to own a gun. I just think that there should be more regulations to make owning a gun safer.
So now that I have explained some of my political views, I guess that it is sort of obvious that I want Barack Obama to become the next President of the United States. Because I agree with Obama on more of the issues than with McCain, I am siding with the Democrats.
I particularly like Obama's plans for our Environment and Iraq. Obama claims that he will "save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined" and ensures "10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025". With the Iraq, Obama states that he will "end the war responsibly" by slowly removing troops through 2010. He also plans on keeping some troops over seas to help educate the Iraqis.
Overall, I am still not 100% for Obama, but I like how he thinks. And right now, that's good enough for me.