Title: “GOP Governors and Federal Funds”
Writers: Mark Sanford (Governor of SC) and Charlie Crist (Governor of FL)
Source: The Washington Post
Date: Monday, February 23, 2009
Governors Sanford and Crist have polar opposite views when it comes to the economic stimulus plan. Sanford believes that the stimulus will actually hurt the country rather than helping it by reducing our gross domestic product and devaluing the American dollar. He mentions that after the stock market crash of ’29 the government spent billions of taxpayer dollars which didn’t have the slightest positive effect on the unemployment rate which was in the teens. Also, a stimulus plan implemented in Japan doubled the country’s unemployment rate. Crist on the other hand insists upon the obvious need for an economic recovery plan. He believes that “hard-working Floridians” deserve a $66.5 billion budget next year which would include $4.7 billion in federal stimulus money to create “jobs and economic growth.”
I definitely favor Sanford’s views because he is thinking logically and using past events to form his decision while Crist is speaking like a corrupt politician and is trying to stay in office by “helping” his constituents. Sanford stated that this piece of legislation would be a key example of “do[ing] something for the sake of doing something,” which I believe will be a lot of what Barack Obama will support for the first year or two of his term.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Current Event #2 ~ Editorials
Title: “The Case for National Standards”
Writer: Randi Weingarten (President of the American Federation of Teachers)
Source: The Washington Post
Date: Monday, February 16, 2009
As our country’s economy is spinning into a rapid decline, Randi Weingarten proposes that investing in education will be the best solution to repair the economy for the long haul. Though the borders of Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are a mere few miles apart, their standards of education have 51 benchmarks of varying content and quality. It has become common knowledge that the U.S. is nowhere near up to par with the standards of learning of foreign countries. Weingarten insists that creating national standards would result in higher levels of achievement. It is unfair for students in states with low standards to be praised under the No Child Left Behind Act when students with rigorous standards are given low self-esteem for not receiving passing marks.
While Weingarten makes some good points, I don’t think that education should be our first priority because it won’t have and immediate positive effect. Of course raising our standards will be imperative in the future, but the government can’t afford to spare the huge amount of money that it would take to accomplish that task. We need to focus all of our attention on the stock market and the housing market so that Americans don’t end up out on the street.
Writer: Randi Weingarten (President of the American Federation of Teachers)
Source: The Washington Post
Date: Monday, February 16, 2009
As our country’s economy is spinning into a rapid decline, Randi Weingarten proposes that investing in education will be the best solution to repair the economy for the long haul. Though the borders of Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are a mere few miles apart, their standards of education have 51 benchmarks of varying content and quality. It has become common knowledge that the U.S. is nowhere near up to par with the standards of learning of foreign countries. Weingarten insists that creating national standards would result in higher levels of achievement. It is unfair for students in states with low standards to be praised under the No Child Left Behind Act when students with rigorous standards are given low self-esteem for not receiving passing marks.
While Weingarten makes some good points, I don’t think that education should be our first priority because it won’t have and immediate positive effect. Of course raising our standards will be imperative in the future, but the government can’t afford to spare the huge amount of money that it would take to accomplish that task. We need to focus all of our attention on the stock market and the housing market so that Americans don’t end up out on the street.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Current Event #1 ~ Editorial
Title: “The GOP Faces the Blue Wall”
Author: David S. Broder
Source: The Washington Post
Date: February 8, 2009
While the GOP has been known in past years to maintain what was referred to as the “Republican lock," the party is rapidly losing their edge to what Ronald Brownstein, calls the “blue wall.” In a blatant attempt to win over a significant portion of the minority vote, Michael Steele, the former African American lieutenant governor of Maryland, was appointed to the position of the RNC's chairman a mere ten days after President Barack Obama was sworn into office.
I completely agree with Broder’s assertion that “Republicans have to change if they are going to climb that wall.” While I associate myself with the GOP, I believe that most of the party members are far too stuck in their ways to realize that they need to take far strides if they are ever going to regain the nation’s majority and win back the White House and seats in Congress. They need to become more open to the more liberal positions on abortion, immigration, stem-cell research, and the teaching of evolution if they ever want to put their more important views into action.
Author: David S. Broder
Source: The Washington Post
Date: February 8, 2009
While the GOP has been known in past years to maintain what was referred to as the “Republican lock," the party is rapidly losing their edge to what Ronald Brownstein, calls the “blue wall.” In a blatant attempt to win over a significant portion of the minority vote, Michael Steele, the former African American lieutenant governor of Maryland, was appointed to the position of the RNC's chairman a mere ten days after President Barack Obama was sworn into office.
I completely agree with Broder’s assertion that “Republicans have to change if they are going to climb that wall.” While I associate myself with the GOP, I believe that most of the party members are far too stuck in their ways to realize that they need to take far strides if they are ever going to regain the nation’s majority and win back the White House and seats in Congress. They need to become more open to the more liberal positions on abortion, immigration, stem-cell research, and the teaching of evolution if they ever want to put their more important views into action.
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