New Jersey Ends Capital Punishment

The New Jersey Assembly voted today to abolish the death penalty, leading the state to become the first since 1965 to eliminate capital punishment.
The govener acknowledged that by signing the bill he could be opening himself to political attack, but said that the current system clearly was not working and "for lots of different reasons, I think the state is taking a painful but constructive step." This ban could have a domino effect on other states leading them to also vote against the death penalty.

Plea to North Korea

President Bush sent a hand signed letter to North Korea's Kim Jong ll asking for his country's report on their nuclear weapons by the end of the year. Kim made a deal with Bush to list precisely how much weapons-grade nuclear material it has produced and whether it has provided nuclear material or information to others. This is something that could help with the peace and stability of the world. The denuculization of North Korea is something would benefit all of us.

Mortgage Crisis

The mortgage crisis is having a massive effect on the U.S economy. The mortgage bankrupcy has increased 94% since last year. The risk of recession is growing and the Federal Reserve is being pressured to slash interest rates for the thrid time. Our economy is sliding downhill far to fast, next year "homeowners will see their property values sink by $1.2 trillion and 524,000 fewer jobs will be created" (LA Times). Wall street is poised to take a 400 billion dollar hit this year but as bad as this is it is not nearly as bad as teh overall effect on the economy. Their is a chain reaction to take place effecting out economy. For example, Less houses being bought means landscapers and swimming pool contracters will be out of work, Real estate agents and loan officers are out of work, rising defaults and forclosures have destroyed home equity giving people less opertuinity to finance big purchaes such as cars and other things. All of this is destroying our economy and I would like to hear presidential candidates make this more of an issue before it becomes somethign we can no longer fix.

Democratic Debate

The candiates finally stepped out of their shell and began attacking their opposition Thursday night in Vegas. Barack Obama and John Edwards attacked Clinton's stand on the issues and also her lack of a soild position. Obama started it off with this comment on Hillary Clintons weak stance on the isues "What The American people are looking for right now is straight answers to tough questions, And that is not what we've seen out of Sen. Clinton on a host of issues." Hillary did not just sit and take it, she barked back taht Obama's healthcare "plan would leave 15 million Americans out,That's about the population of Nevada, Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire." The night continued on this way and no giant strides were made for teh Democratic party.

No child left behind gets left behind

The campaign for the no child left behind has come to a halt. Not only has it not passed, no formal legislation has been introduced, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy says it will not happen this year. "It's going to tip over to next year," he said. This is a big issue because there are presidential candidates on both sides denouncing the program. “This was supposed to be the one area where the embattled White House and the assertive new Democratic Congress would find common ground, thanks to the unlikely partnership between a Texas conservative and a Massachusetts liberal”. But like most of Bush's legislative agenda, No Child Left Behind has fallen victim to a political standstill. “Bush is fending off foes from the left and right”. Teachers unions stand alongside hard-line conservatives against the program, and civil rights groups team up with business organizations in support of it”.
House minority leader John Boehner and other original authors of the law have become very pessimistic about their chances to reauthorize the bill, "It's slim to none that it gets reauthorized," said Sen. Judd Gregg.

The Risk of Taxing the Rich

Today in America the gap between the upper and lower classes is widening. Today, "the top 300,000 income earners in America now make more than the bottom 150 million combined" (John Edwards). North Carolina Sen. John Edwards released a plan to raise taxes on the rich and cut them for the middle class. This is a very risky move today because the power in this country lies in the hands of the rich. But as income inequality has become a major issue in this country and is now too important to ignore. The middle class is vital to our society and it is depleating rapidly. By shifting some of the tax burdens to the rich the lower classes will recieve some much needed relief. The upper class may argue taht they already pay too high of a percentage but that is their responsibility. In 2005 the richest 1% of Americans earned 21.2 % of all income up from 19% in 2004. This number is rediculas and will continue to go up. The government needs to step in and fight for the middle class and give them tax relief instead of those who make over 250,000 like what Bush did.