Healthcare.gov : "a new success" declares the White House

Good Evening readers!

I hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving and holiday weekend. Also occurring this weekend, Sunday to be exact, the White House announced to the press stating that they had made day and night alterations to the new Health Care website.

The Website, which was an utter disaster when first created, is in direct correlation with the Affordable Care Act.    In October, when millions of people went on the site to compare insurance plans and benefits, they were met with slow pages, misinformation, or just frozen pages. Now, the White house and other Democrats are very optimistic about the improvements made. However, many Republicans are still having their doubts about the program itself.

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey said, "It sounds like the front door has been opened successfully now."

On the other hand, Republican Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee said, "I don't know how you fix the many fundamental problems of this program."  

According to the White House, the website has undergone hundreds of software upgrades, expanded the sites capacity, and improved the metrics of the site.

For the people that were supportive of the Affordable Care Act, this is music to their ears. For others, they are still questioning the program as a whole and want others to follow along as well.

Thank you for reading this week's post. I would love to hear your comments or opinions on this matter so please leave a comment. I hope to see you next week.

John Kerry:Adding more to his long resume as Secretary of State

Hello Readers!

I hope everyone had a great week and a good two weeks off from the blog. Tonight, I will be discussing John Kerry and his most recent activity as Secretary of State. Prior to Kerry becoming Secretary of State, he was a senator from Massachusetts and he was also the 2004 Democratic nominee for President.

Sunday, Kerry a long with members from Iran's government cut a deal that could shut down Iran's nuclear program for more than six months. Kerry said himself that the agreement, "impedes the progress in a very dramatic way of Iran's principle enrichment facilities and parts of its program and ensures they cannot advance in a way that will threaten our friends in the region, threaten other countries, threaten the world."

Many people on both sides of the isle have commented on this deals and the have come with mixed reviews. Sen. Robert Menendez, a democrat from New Jersey, stated "Given Iran's history of duplicity, it will demand ongoing, on-the-ground verification." I believe this is incredibly true. Kerry, along with the rest of America has their hands full on this one. Iran has proven to be very dishonest in their behavior. We can only hope this is slowly changing.

Please comment with your opinion on this matter! Have an excellent week and we will see you next week!

 

Colorado splitting up?

Hello Readers!

I hope that everyone had an excellent week. Tonight, I will be discussing the recent talks of the state of Colorado breaking up into two states. The supporters of the secession believe that the Democrat-controlled Legislature did not care about their needs/ rights. If you do not already know, the sale of recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado starting last January 1st. Along with this, the legislators passed a strict gun-control law that angered residents as well.

After all the debating and arguing, 11 counties in Colorado held a vote to decide whether or not to secede and form the 51st state. Unfortunately for the people who supported this, the secession attempt did not pass. But, isn't this the beauty of the system? If you do not agree with a piece of legislation, you can attempt to change it. This is beneficial to Americans as  a whole and shows why we truly have a fair and equal government. The vote matters.

Thank you once again for reading. Please leave your comments or opinions on this matter. Have a great week and I hope to see you next weekend!

Virginia's Governor race heats up

Good Evening Readers!

I hope all of you had a great week/weekend. Tonight, I will be discussing the very important race for Governor of Virginia. There will be three candidates appearing on the ballot this year. The first candidate is Democrat Terry McAuliffe who is a businessman and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The second candidate is Republican Ken Cuccinelli who is the Attorney General of Virginia. The last candidate is Libertarian Robert Sarvis who is a lawyer and businessman.

This race is drawing national political attention for multiple reasons. The first reason is all the star power surrounding the candidates. President Obama recently gave a speech endorsing McAuliffie. The second reason is who is at fault for the government shutdown and Tea Party politics. Many people are pointing fingers at either the President or the extremist Tea Party members for the shutdown. Cuccinelli is backed by Tea Party members so this could possibly hurt his chances with some voters. The last reason is Virginia being a huge swing state. Virginia is always a toss-up state in presidential years and that’s what makes this race so important.

Regardless of all the hype and information that surrounds these candidates, what really matters is voter turnout on Election Day.  Thank you for reading tonight! If you have a comment or opinion on these candidates, please comment. Hope to see you all next week!

Obama's Middle-East agenda explained

Hello Readers! 

I hope everyone had an excellent work week. Tonight, I'm going to be talking a little bit about the the middle east and the thoughts of President Obama and the National Security adviser, Susan Rice. I know I have been very curious about the stir up in the middle east the past couple of years. More recent than not, I personally haven't heard much about the Middle East. Hopefully this helps a little bit.

Susan rice said in an interview with the New York Times, that the middle east  team has scaled back their previous agenda in the region. This new action is in direct correlation with the inconsistency in the region. President Obama believes that now is a good time to reassess how we, as a nation views the region according to USA Today. What this new "low key" agenda could mean is less focus on Egypt and Libya, and more focus on higher profile nations.Hopefully this reassessment of policy can help to bring stability to the regions without military intervention.

Thanks for reading again! Please leave a comment or leave your opinion on this issue! Have a great week everyone!

Shutdown Exposed

Good Evening Readers!

I hope everyone had a very productive week. The government has been shut down for a full 18 days and luckily, our elected officials have finally agreed on something to temporarily resolve this issue. I saw a very interesting statistic the other day about the shutdown that really left me scratching my head.

During the shutdown, supposedly 17 percent of the Government was actually shutdown. The reason for this 17 percent being shutdown was that it was considered non-essential to the government. I'm not a math major, but doesn't that leave only 83 percent of our government as essential?

The question I keep asking myself is why are the taxpayers of America paying for non-essential programs if they aren't necessary? I don't know if I have an answer.If this is the case, this is an incredible waste of our tax dollars. Has our government become too large? Are some of the programs we have truly non-essential?

 I would love to hear your opinions or comments on this matter. I hope you all have a great week and thank you again for reading! I hope to see you all again next week!

Today in history: October 13

Hello and welcome readers!

On this day in history, the continental congress approved the creation of a naval fleet in 1775. This proved to be more than a monumental move for the continental congress for multiple reasons. If you didn't know, the continental congress was created by delegates that were called together from the various 13 colonies. This became the governing body of the US during the American Revolution. 

The main goal for the Navy was to intercept British materials and to disrupt British commercial operations. Due to lack of funding, the initial fleet was an assortment of merchantmen. You can only imagine how successful they actually were going up against a dominant British fleet.

This decision wasn't just a great one for the well-being of the country. It was a step forward in the independence of the US. 1775 was the year that Congress created an organized military. They created an army, navy, and marines. This created hope that they could survive and fight off their enemies!

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you again next week! Please feel free to comment!

Finger Pointing at its Finest

Good Evening Readers!

I hope everyone had a great work week. Tonight, I will be talking about all the finger pointing going on in Washington lately. A now five days that the government has been shut down and all that we have heard out of our elected officials is blaming the other side and point the figure at each other. Democrats and Republicans are completely split on the delayed parts of the Affordable Care Act. There is an ongoing feud going with President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. Supposedly, an anonymous quote surfaced in Washington stating,

“We are winning ... It doesn't really matter to us' how long the shutdown lasts 'because what matters is the end result.’"  

House Speaker Boehner is outraged by the quote stating,

"This isn't some damn game, The American people don't want the government closed and neither do I."

The White house denied the quote so what does this mean?  Whoever made these remarks obviously doesn’t understand how it works. Now, more than ever we need compromise on both sides. Give and leeway on both side, Democrats and Republicans, will bring us closer to lifting this shutdown. We need to put aside our pride and differences in Washington and start cooperating with one another. The public doesn’t want the national parks shutdown, national monuments shut down, and we certainly don’t these destructive actions any longer!

Negotiation, Compromise, Cooperation 

Thank you once again for tuning in and please leave a comment or your opinion on these issues. Have a fantastic week readers and I hope to see you again next Sunday at 8!

The "Oh, so sensitive gun control debate."

Good Evening Readers!

I hope you had a productive, yet enjoyable week. Tonight, I will attempt to tackle the very delicate topic of gun control and legislation in America. This is an incredibly complex topic and I will try my best to refrain from voicing my personal opinion on the matter. I say this only because honestly, I don’t have a complete, one hundred percent, flawless answer to this problem.

Gun violence seems all too common to Americans these days with what has happened in our very near past. Just to name a few, there was the Aurora Colorado shooting in 2012, the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012, and the Naval Shipyard shooting in 2013. All of these shootings focused many eyes toward the all too prevalent gun control problem in America. Both sides of the debate have their arguments and I think both sides have great points.  

On one side.... 
Some people believe that guns aren't safe. They believe that too many criminals are able to purchase guns illegally and commit these awful crimes. They believe that semi-automatic weapons are strictly for military use only and should not be allowed for recreational use. This side of the argument believes that there are many misguided individuals in our society, and that we as society will be better off if we had less access to guns. Lastly, these people believe that the key to protecting the American democracy is to have informed citizens, not armed ones.

On the other side...

Some Americans say that strict gun control laws will infringe on their 2^nd amendment rights. Whether it be for recreational use or to defend themselves,  they don't want their ability to purchase firearms and ammunition to become more difficult. These same people also believe that if guns were outlawed, the criminals doing these heinous crimes would still be able to obtain these weapons (just like they obtain other illegal things). Last but not least,  guns don't kill people, people do.  They believe the  media plays a role in glorifying violence and boosting the lack of respect for people's rights and the law. These people believe that the concentration should not be on gun control laws, but on the morals and basic values of our citizens.

Where ever you stand on this argument, it is obvious that there is a problem and a huge divide because of this issue. At the end of the day, there are husbands and wives that lost their spouses, parents that lost their kids, children that lost their parents, and students that lost their teachers. Gun violence is a very bad thing. But is there an underlying factor? Is it the gun's fault?

I don't know if I have an answer to this massive topic, but I once again want to thank you for reading! I want to pray for all those who have lost loved ones in any violent gun crime. Please comment with an opinion or feedback on this matter. Once again, thank you and we will see you all next week Sunday at 8:00 pm!

The Impending Government Shut-down A.K.A. Midnight on September 30th

Good Evening Readers!

I hope everyone had a great week/ weekend. Tonight I will be discussing the recent allegations of the imminent government shutdown. For all who don’t know, this is a very real issue that could occur very soon here in America. A government shutdown is where legislators cannot agree on budgeting its government programs for the pending fiscal year. If this occurs, the effects are just as bad as it sounds. The first changes that ensue will be a large number of civilian employees furloughed. If an employee is furloughed, they are placed on temporary unpaid leave which is a scary thought to many considering the current state of America’s economic status.

Something similar will happen with our military personnel except they aren't placed on leave.  Another difference is that they will be paid eventually, but not on schedule. To me, this is the most heart wrenching because our military personnel can’t just stop what they are doing. These men and women are overseas fighting for each of our freedoms. They will have to continue their tireless work while Washington bickers about their differences. After these changes, the precise details of halting government functions are determined by the Office of Management and Budget.

Not all is lost!

To clear the air and to calm some restless thoughts, if the government shuts down, it all won’t disappear. Everything that we have fought for and paid for won’t be erased for eternity. All that changes is there will be temporary shutdowns. The only way to fix this budget is for our Legislation to agree. It sounds so simple saying it, but it has been proven to not be so simple in our recent past. This is an example of that “give and take” that I talked about in my first post. There must be compromise inside our government! 

Thank you once again for reading and pray for our country! Please leave your comments, feedback and opinion on this matter. Hope to see you again next week!

    

Partisanship's disease: How it affects us all

Good Evening readers,

I hope all of my readers had a great weekend! The topic I will be discussing tonight is a very deadly disease tearing through many Americans as we speak. The Partisanship disease is incredibly harmful to a democratic republic like America. When I look up Partisanship in the dictionary, this is the definition that comes up: prejudice in favor of a particular cause; bias.

In politics there must be give and take, compromise, cooperation and negotiation. This idea is as old as America itself. Yet at this current time, America is about as far away from that as possible. Instead of that very compromise and cooperation in congress, one political party acts as a block to the others legislation. And this occurs on both sides of the isle. Pure Partisanship. Looking at our present situation, many people may think that this idea of bi-partisanship is an impossible task to accomplish. That couldn't be further from the truth. I can think of a few different scenarios of bipartisanship in the past eras.

The first was Democratic President Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While working with Republicans and Democrats, he signed a bill that made segregation by race in public facilities illegal. The next was President Republican President Ronald Reagan and his bipartisan bill to keep Social Security secure for the generations to come (1983). President Reagan, Republican leader Bob Michel and Democratic leader Tip O’Neill put aside their feelings for each other and their agendas to push this compromise through. I will also note that O’Neill was often very critical of Reagan and his politics. That goes to show me and hopefully my fellow readers that bipartisanship IS possible.

Our biggest problem is the active leaders of our political parties have allowed our political gatherings to become rally group meetings for our own prejudices against the other party.

Where do we go from here?

I truly believe that if congress and President Obama can set aside their differences and their pride that this can be accomplished. I also believe that if our leaders change their meeting styles into more listening than attacking, we can fix this partisan problem. If our party leaders would meet often to discuss ways of bipartisanship, and then meet with the president on the same issue, this could help solve the problem.

One thing we all must remember is that politicians are not trying to destroy America. They simply have different ideas on how they think America could become more successful. Sen. John Kerry said it well in a 2004 presidential debate when he stated that he and President Bush had different ideas on how to make America flourish.  

I will leave you with a few quotes from former presidents and other politician. I thank you all for reading tonight and I would love to hear your comments and opinions on this matter! I hope to see you next week!

We Must now put aside bitterness and rancor, move beyond partisanship.

-Bill Clinton

It is time to put aside partisan rivalries and work together for our nation's future.

-Ronald Reagan

Introductory Post

Do you enjoy learning and hearing about politics?

Well, if you do, you have found the right place.  In America today, politics to the public is something that we are sick of hearing about due to controversy, deception, and complete partisanship. What Americans need to believe is that we do have a say in how this country is run and handled. This blog will tackle the very difficult topics in American politics and attempt to reclaim the bi-partisanship that she used to have not so long ago.

Every Sunday at 8:00 pm , I will be posting on a front burning issue in American politics. I hope to see you on my next post!