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.

The State of America

4 billion dollars goes missing in Iraq, Bush vetos 6 billion dollar child health care bil and then asks for 40 + billion more for the war in Iraq. Things just keep going down hill for our country, thanks in large part to the man who is steering it there. HOW can you misplace 4 billion dollars of money that was supposed to go towards rebuilding Iraq, although that might be a very insignificant sum of money compared to what we waste it is a hugeee amount of money for a country trying to rebuild itself. But more importantly, how do you turn down 6 billion for childs health care one day then beg congress for over 40 billion for Iraq???? The priorities of this administration are not where they need to be. Is childs health care really that unimportant? This was supposed to be the easiest part of the health care plan because it was believed that not many people could argue 6 billion for healt care, o how they were wrong. This is just the beginning of what is going to be a horrific and very painful process in order to change the current healthcare system. The state of America is depressing and the future is looking just as dark.

Child Health Care still Denied

The house failed to overide the white house veto on childrens health care. The debate bogged down on two key issues in the broader effort to cover the 47 million people uninsured in the U.S.: costs and the role of government in helping middle-class families, not just the poor. Even worse than the veto not being overturned in the the thought that this was supposed to be the easiest part of healthcare reform. This showed how difficult it will be in the years ahead to reform the larger insurance system, even though it is a top national priority. WE are in some rough years.

More Death in Iraq

The US Military acknowledged that it killed 15 civilians and wounded four others Thursday while it was targeting alleged senior leaders of the group Al Qaeda in Iraq in a region northwest of Baghdad, 19 suspected insurgents also were killed. Iraq has become a place of constant violence and death. 8 more people were killed by suicide bombers who injured 37. We have succeed in creating a much more violent Iraq. We have torn their country apart to the point where it is hard to go a single day without a suicide bomb going off and killing innocent people. The leaders of our military need to come up with a new strategy that will start protecting civilans in Iraq. I believe that most of these attacks are brought upon by the presance of American Troops and the best solution would be to start with the withdrawl of American troops.

Jobless in America

The unenpolyment rate went up from 4.6% to 4.7% last month. This however is a good thing. The economy created a net of 110,000 jobs last month and say that this is a good sign of slow, but steady economic growth. Fed Vice President Donald Kohn said "Once we get through the near-term weakness caused by the extra down leg from the housing contraction and any spillover from tighter credit conditions, I am looking for moderate growth with high levels of employment. We will need to be nimble in adjusting policy to promote growth and price stability."
This is coming at a time when the unemployment rate is historically low. I am happy to see more jobs are being created but if the unemployment rate is going up I do not see how growth is happening. There needs to be a change and this should become a much more important issue in the campaigns of the presidential candidates.

Judicial Racism Still Thriving in America

This week Mychal Bell, a member of the Jena Six, was released after prosecutors announced they would no longer fight to try him as an adult. Bell has spent the last ten months behind bars after he and five more black students beat up a white student. LaSalle Parish Dist. Atty. Reed Walters tried to charge five of the six black teens as adults with attempted second-degree murder. These charges could have put them behind bars for up to 50 years. Reverand Al Sharpton expressed his feelings about the unjust standards in this statement, "You cannot have adult attempted murder for some, and a fine for others," The judicial system was trying to deliever the harshest punishment possible for these kids, but what if it was the other way around. Would they work so hard to put 5 white youths in jail for 50 years? Would they want to try them as adults? Although we do not know the answer to this question for sure, I do not believe they would be so determined to put 5 white kids behind bars. A movement is starting behind the Jena Six and I believe that it is a movement this country needs in order to create a more just judicial system that does not play favors to any races, religions, or ethnicities.

According to Bush, U.S. is thriving on low taxes

America is drowning in debt, the dollar is worth less than ever before, and according to the Presidant the U.S. is thriving on low taxes? America's economy is safe in the Hands of Presidant Bush. He believes our economy is and will stay strong as long as we stay away from tax increases. How is this possible if we are in the most debt in the history of our country Mr. Bush? "You need to talk to economists. I think I got a B in Econ 101. I got an A, however, in keeping taxes low." (Bush) O well that settles it. After everything I have been reading lately the only explanation I can come up with for Bush's current actions is he has lost all concern for the course of the nation but instead is focusing on not going down as the most hated Presidant in the History of the United States. Not everyone is convinced by the Presidants words of the thriving economy, because after a two-day rally the Dow Jones Industrial Avearge dropped 48.86 points. The drop is a reflection of higher oil prices and a weaking dollar. Two factors that have increased the fear of inflation.

Victory redifined as "Success"

George Bush has now decided to agree with the American public that the war can not be won. Instead he hopes that America can be "successful" in its efforts in Iraq. The men who are running the war -- Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, had even more limited hopes for America's struglle in Iraq. When asked if we have a realistic chance to be successful in Iraq, General Patraeus replied, "I believe we have a realistic chance of achieving our objectives." (LA Times)

The goal of Bush's speech was to inform the American public that the military effort is making progress, and that patience and persistence will make further troop withdrawals possible.
In short, he was trying to regain some support by telling Americans that we can be "successful" in Iraq and that all hope is not yet lost.

Personally I am skeptical about our success in Iraq when I see the leader of our country settle for success rather than Victory and when the leader of the war in Iraq shys away from a question about our chance of success in Iraq. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco called Bush's new plan "a path to 10 more years of war in Iraq." and unfortunatly this might be da truth (La Times).