BP holds a hose to our environmental heads

President Barack Obama arrives Sunday for his first in-person evaluation of the damaging oil spill, now clouding the once vibrant waters of the Gulf of Mexico. When approached about the catastrophe, he called it “unique and unprecedented,” and something that will take “many days to stop.”

The visit comes at a time when his administration is suffering from an immense amount of criticism, regarding how they responded to the spill in a less-than-punctual manner. But, now on the scene, the president has not only brought federal attention to the issue, but he has even pointed a stern finger at the responsible party by calling it “the BP oil spill.”

Obama is not happy about the BP oil spill

Standing just outside the Venice Coast Guard Center in Louisiana, the president wore a grave face as he spoke of the damage that the oil leak will impose upon the economy, and the environment of the country’s Gulf States: “It could jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who call this place home.” He made sure to clearly shovel the blame onto the shoulders of the British oil giant, whom  he holds entirely accountable; however, he knows the obligation at hand, and promises to invest all that America has to improve the situation.

“We’re going to do what’s necessary to protect the American people,” said the president, “to determine who’s behind this potentially deadly act, and to see that justice is done.”

Technorati Tags: gulf of mexico, oil, president barack obama

They probably won't vote Republican ever again

Despite the popularity with the base Republicans, the parties leaders are starting to see how Arizona’s immigration law could really hurt the GOP’s hispanic vote. Even the Republicans heading heavily Hispanic states – like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Rick Perry – are expressing their criticisms as they call the law overreaching.

Those thinking long-term are worried that the drastic immigration law is just a quick political fix that may backfire as an enormous divergence between the expanding hispanic electorate, and the GOP. According to Matthew Dowd, George W. Bush’s chief strategist back in 2004, said that it’s impossible to win a national election without

Without documentation, citizens are aliens

the Latino vote, which is something the Republicans already had trouble with during previous attempts to penetrate the White House. Other members of the party concur as the express their concerns with the short-sighted decision. Karl Rove came to grips with the possibility of the bill having some constitutional problems; Rick Perry (of Texas) asserts that he has issues with the bill, which wouldn’t be a great idea in Texas; and even Jeb Bush was quoted saying: “I don’t think this is the proper approach.”

Nevertheless, the short-sighted law is popular with voters; however, ninety percent of Hispanics are not of legal age to vote in Arizona.

Technorati Tags: arizona, GOP, hispanic, immigration, law, Republicans

The fight against oil continues in the Gulf of Mexico

The rapidly-expanding oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has put pressure on the White House to pacify the public by proving Obama has reconsidered off-shore drilling, and that he will not proceed with developing the industry until the accident is fully reviewed. But, the pressure is more bipartisan than American government itself, as both the Democrats and Republicans try not to get themselves dirty, dealing with the oily mess.

Democrats and environments present the spill as enough evidence for Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla) to suggest that the slightest notion of expanding off-shore drilling will be shot dead once it arrives on

Bipartisan suffering brings them together

Capitol Hill. And, surprisingly enough, the quick-to-critique Republicans haven’t said a word – even though the White House took nine days before taking action. It seems that their presidential motto “drill baby drill” has scared them into silence, and finally persuaded them to shut up.

Several Republicans still expressed support for domestic drilling on Friday, alongside the president himself, who admitted that his position did not change regarding offshore drilling as a substitute for offshore supplies. And with people quoting him for stating that “Oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills,” he might have to be just as worried as his friends across the aisle.

Ladies and Gentleman of American government, stop pointing at each other and get something done. For once in your lives save something – accomplish something: perform on behalf of the greater good, and not for mere political perpetuation.

Technorati Tags: Democrats, drilling, gulf of mexico, Obama, oil, Republicans

Obama contemplates the controversy

According to a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, a majority of Americans are puzzled by the newly enacted heath care laws, and continue to be unsure about how they affect them. It’s been a month since Obama signed them into law, and still the nation’s public remains divergent over this controversial piece of legislation.

According to a poll: Republicans love cable news, while Democrats prefer network programing

The poll surveyed 1,208 adults in mid-April, and found 77 percent of Democrats in support of the new laws, and  79 percent of Republicans (and 46 percent of Independents) opposing them ; however, the same survey also depicted a well-defined majority of Americans who support specific stipulations. For example: As many as 86 percent are in favor of small business tax breaks, while 81 percent want to stop insurance companies from dropping patients with major health problems; another 74 percent of participants expressed an interest in extending their child’s coverage until they’re the ripe age of 26.

But, perhaps the most interesting facet of this poll isn’t so much about what the people believe, but where they get the information that got them to believe it in the first place. When participants were asked to choose their “most important” news source, 36 percent said cable news channels and their websites.

Technorati Tags: americans, health care laws, kaiser health tracking poll, Obama

Obama isn't too stressed about a face-to-face with Republicans

This Wednesday, Senate Republicans will have their chance to speak with Obama about his reconfiguration of the US court system. He is scheduled to meet for a discussion concerning a replacement for Justice John Paul Stevens‘ when he retires by the close of the current term.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel (Kentucky), Senator Jeff Sessions (Alabama) – the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Republican- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and also Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) – who is also the chairman of the Judiciary Committee,are planning to be in attendance at this important meeting. Leahy has recently stood up against the Republican threat to filibuster any nominee whom they deem a “judicial activist,” and soon he may have significant grounds to support his dissent.

Chairman of the Judiciary Committee

This Thursday, the Senate Rules Committee will hold a discussion on the history of the filibuster. Democratic Lawmakers seek a means of restricting this government tactic that they feel the GOP has been abusing for the past 15 months. Groups of academics and experts alike also plan on speaking about the historical use of the filibuster during the hearing; however, since the Democrats only hold 59 seats, they need to develop a firm strategy for gaining the 67 votes needed for the essential dissolution of the filibuster.

Technorati Tags: filibuster, justice john paul stevens, Republicans, senate, senate judiciary committee

Got this email and thought i should share it. Here is a young student’s take on Americas divided parties.

Democrats and Republicans head to head

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s or the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce…. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.  We’ll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and biodiesel.  You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We’ll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens. We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s and rednecks. We’ll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values.. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N.. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We’ll keep the SUV’s, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.  We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World.

We’ll practice trickle down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.

Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this?  If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you Answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P. S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda with you.

P. S. S. And you won’t have to press 1 for English when you call our country.

Technorati Tags: Democrats, Divorce, Obama, Republicans

With the Republican Party’s generally vehement opposing Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plans, many think it is an inevitable downslide for the party, caused by the party’s unwillingness to come to agreement with the a much needed plan.

All are well aware of the likelihood of the bill passing with Republican consent. If it does pass, it will be totally without any support.

Professor Julian E. Zelizer

But is there really so much at stake for the Republicans if they continue to actively fight this reform bill?

In an article on CNN addressing this very point, Professor Julian E. Zelizer says that it could be a long term benefit for the party.

Firstly, if the bill does prove to be a failure, there will be decisive statement made by the Republican Party saying they knew it all along and that the Democrats are at fault.Even now, it has successfully inspired the creation of the Tea Party movement which has definitely proved to have a political and social voice.

Meanwhile, a more tangible result benefiting the GOP side is that the whole campaign waged by the Democrats has totally wound up the rest of the Democratic agenda.

However, if the legislation proves to have been a correct move, the Republicans are once again going to be judged harshly. Various Republican presidents in the past century have needed to defend their position after they cameout against certain proposals which later proved to be useful

The United States Congress with a current Democratic majority

.

But even without that worry, Professor Zelizer warns that other issues seem to be crippling the party’s favor in the public’s eye.

He says that the Republican Party has lost its unity from within, caused (and causing more) ideological gaps.  It seems as though the party has lost a lot of its unique principles which made it stand out and which made all its members a part of a bigger group of conformers to that belief.

The Republican party, argues the professor, is in urgent need to regroup during these years of Obama’s term to rethink and rewrite their opinions and philosophies that will comply and assist with the modern day challenges.

Technorati Tags: Congress, GOP, Health care, Obama, Republican Party

South African judge, Richard Goldstone

Last September the head of the UN Fact Finding Mission, Justice Richard Goldstone presented a report of more than 500 pages to the Human Rights Council about the Gaza war in the winter of 2008-2009. Although the substance of the report was shocking and questionable, it was well received by the Human Right Council. This should not come as a surprise to most people considering its past track record and that a large segment of its members are Islamic regimes, most of which display open hostility to Israel.

Backers of the report claim that those who mock or seek to undermine the report are simply trying to cover for Israel war crimes and for the most part haven’t read the content in the report. At a debate held in congress concerning the passing of a bill to reject the contention of the report, some senators claimed that many opposing the report simply had not taken the time to read it.

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said he did take the time to read the report in its entirety within days of its release and rejected the report at its core. He argues that one not need read every detail of the report to know it’s a farce. Moreover, he doubts whether Justice Goldstone himself has been through the whole document which bears his signature.

The opposition to the report stems from some basic points and really doesn’t require one to be a Mideast analyst to work it out. The report is much harsher on Israel than it is on Hamas. Israel is a free society, especially to dissent. Israel has a transparent judicial system which can and does conduct investigations into misdemeanors during wartime. Israel was under attack for years prior to its offensive (or defensive, depends how you look at it). Hamas on the other hand, has been attacking Israel for years, has no free society, uses human shields to make Israel appear murderous in front of international audiences and does not conduct any investigations into possible war crimes. If it did conduct such investigations one would be forced to ask how the relentless firing of rockets slipped through their fingers.

Goldstone suggests in his report that the IDF adopted a policy of deliberate persecution of the Palestinian people to cause harm, destruction and death, ultimately to instill fear of the Israeli empire.

Any thinking person, liberal or conservative realizes alone how untrue this is. Israel, a nation which seeks justice fights a war against an outlawed terrorist organization which follows its charter of the annihilation of the State of Israel, and Israel comes out as the tyrant?

The Goldstone Report shouldn’t have been brought to the table to necessitate its rebuttal, it should have just been ignored on the outset for its perversion of justice and facts.

Technorati Tags: Gaza, Goldstone, Hamas, Human Rights Council, Justice Richard Goldstone, Operation Cast Lead, State of Israel, UN