I guess those people stocking up their ammo weren't completely crazy! But it doesn't seem to be their second amendment rights are being attacked by Obama himself. So, does gun control violate the right to bear arms? I personally think that so many laws violate these "core fundamental" rights, and they are violated everyday by police. I think that the amendments are what keep this country as decent as it is. And I think the U.S. just uses the bare minimum to be able to call itself decent. If we start revising the constitution we start messing with some serious stuff and I think they should leave it alone. The constitutional rights have always intrigued me. They constitution is like the bible for the godless. My favorite part of the video is when the man says that his fundamental rights are being violated, those rights being; "Speech, religion, the right to own a firearm..." To me it just seems like those things are completely different. Unless you talk with your gun, which some do.
Recently there have been some uranium power plants discovered in Iran. They refused that the plants were being used to make nuclear weapons, and told the IAEA, or the International Atomic Energy Agency, that they could inspect the site, but never made a date for it. Even if they weren't making weapons, the IAEA was supposed to be contacted as soon as the plant was going to be made, before construction started. Therefore it is curious that they would hide the plants. Shortly after, Iran tested some missiles. It is pretty clear what happened, Iran lied. They hid their plants and made weapons.
"Iran insists that all its nuclear facilities are for peaceful energy purposes and rejects accusations from the US and others that it is seeking a nuclear weapon"
They also don't seem to respond very much to the threat of sanctions by multiple countries, among them are the United States, Russia, and France. Thursday will bring talks among the nations to discuss. What exactly will be discussed, I am not sure. But I do think a face to face conversation needs to happen, because Achmedinijad and Obama have been talking, but not directly to one another. Personally I find it ridiculous that Iran expects people to believe they're not making nuclear weapons for warfare after they kept their plants a secret. I think it was a terrible move on their part. History shows that countrieshiding big secrets (like, say, nuclear weapons) from one another can be terrible, and lead to wars. I hope Iran will either own up to what they're doing, or provide a good reason why they were breaking the rules.
Obama says that this month 4000 troops will leave Iraq. He also says that by next year he wants all of the combat troops to be out, and to declare the combat mission over, but security troops will still occupy the country.
I think this is a good idea. Why have combat troops where you don't need them and have the danger of suffering casualties. Also, there have been instances where Iraqi government has shown it can take care of itself in some respects, for example when Iraqi forces took over security of Baghdad instead of U.S. troops. However there has still been violence against government workers and civilians, so troops should be able to mitigate everything.
I don't know how stable the government is, but if we can bring soldiers home alive, then I am all for it. I don't believe war is a good way to deal with things for any reason.
There was recently a facebook poll asking who thinks Obama should be killed. The potential answers were "yes", "maybe", "if he cuts my healthcare", and "no".
The poll was found by the secret service and of course taken down.
I don't really mind, it is the job of the secret service to protect the president so they probably look around for stuff like that all day. Also, that poll violates the facebook term of service saying "You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence". This person of course posted threatening content.
However, there still remains a page titled "I want to kill myself" which appears to be a place where people write that they want to kill themselves and post "suicidal pictures". This page has been up for a while, it seems.
It simply intrigues me that when a person talks about killing the president it is removed in a matter of days, hours even. But if a person is talking about killing themselves it is completely overlooked.
In Afghanistan, conditions for residents there are utterly terrible. In America, many of our greatest concerns on a day to day basis consist of things like, "Will I be able to buy a hybrid car", or "Do I have enough credits to graduate high school?". But for Afghans, the concerns consist of things like "Will I be shot today?". Malalai Joya is an ex-parliament member who was, to say the least, kicked out after expressing strong negative opinions of the Afghanistan government. She faces the possibility of assassination daily and has hired a small troop of soldier to follow her. John Simpson from BBC news explains how (and I am going to bold this for emphasis..)Malalai Joya is campaigning against a new law which permits men to rape, beat, and starve their wives if they are denied sex. To me, that is a huge wake-up call. I am often upset that Gay men and women aren't allowed to be married, which is also a somewhat recently established law. You can't take away peoples rights, I say. But this new Afghanistan law is outright disgusting. How can places like this exist? How can a government be so corrupt? And an even bigger question, will the rest of the world be able to stop such a horrifying government? Frankly, I don't know. NATO chief Fogh Rasmussen seems to suggest that the war may be lost without more troops. However, a rising death toll can't be helping many countries to want to send their soldiers into Afghanistan. Can this corrupt government be taken down?
"Used to be gold, but now lead is the most expensive metal," said Donald Richards, 37, who was stocking up at the Jefferson store. "And worth every penny."
Michael Mayer explaining different types of Ammo
Ever since Obama has become our president, and even while he was running, people who use guns for a variety of reasons have been stocking up their ammo. Hunters and those who shoot at shooting ranges are worried that the democratic president will pass gun legislation prohibiting the sale of ammo and guns to civilians, although they have little reason for this. Obama has proposed nothing specific with the intention of banning guns. In fact, he signed a legislation recently allowing the possession of loaded guns in state parks. The same thing happened when Clinton was elected, everyone thought their guns would be outlawed so they stocked up. As a result of this, there is a massive shortage of bullets, with manufacturers working overtime and still being far behind the demand. As the article says, "With demand, prices have also risen.". Of course anyone who knows even the most basic principals of economics would know that with demand, prices will rise. So there has been some ammo rationing- "Demand has been so heavy at some Walmarts, a limit was imposed on the amount of ammo customers can buy. The cutoff varies according to caliber and store location, but sometimes as little as one box — or 50 bullets — is allowed.". I suppose the real question is, why are people assuming that gun control is going to be so strict when Obama has proposed no policies whatsoever. I guess no body can know at this point. Maybe in a year and 6 months guns will be outlawed for civilians, but I highly doubt it. People are just afraid that they won't be able to shoot things anymore. It is very strange to me that people jump to conclusions. Personally I think more strict gun control would be beneficial, because it seems like it would probably be very easy for anyone to own one with the right connections. When people realize that their stocking up is in vain, that is if Obama never cracks down on gun control, then we will have more bullets that we can use. As long as Americans are willing to cough up the big bucks just to go out shooting targets every weekend, they will keep producing and working 24 hour shifts.
"A total of 94 banks have failed so far this year, with an average of about 10 per month. That's nearly four times the number of banks that failed in 2008, and it's the highest tally since 1992, when 181 banks failed."
The main concern I have with the banks failing is the possibility of one bank having a monopoly of everyone's money. That spells trouble for me.
As I was driving home, I saw a sign that said "funded by the american recovery and reinvestment act". The above sign is actually in a different state, but it is the exact same one. I was curious so decided to research it.
Save and create more than 3.5 million jobs over the next two years;
Take a big step toward computerizing Americans’ health records, reducing medical errors, and saving billions in health care costs;
Revive the renewable energy industry and provide the capital over the next three years to eventually double domestic renewable energy capacity;
Undertake the largest weatherization program in history by modernizing 75 percent of federal building space and more than one million homes;
Increase college affordability for seven million students by funding the shortfall in Pell Grants, increasing the maximum award level by $500, and providing a new higher education tax cut to nearly four million students;
As part of the $150 billion investment in new infrastructure, enact the largest increase in funding of our nation’s roads, bridges, and mass transit systems since the creation of the national highway system in the 1950s;
Provide an $800 Making Work Pay tax credit for 129 million working households, and cut taxes for the families of millions of children through an expansion of the Child Tax Credit;
Require unprecedented levels of transparency, oversight, and accountability.
That all sounds like a pretty swell idea to me. However, I wonder if the funding might fall short before projects are finished. Will that money come out of our taxes in that event? I just hope that doesn't happen.
This seems like a good way to help the economy by giving more people jobs and saving money where we were over spending before. They predict that in the next to years, 396,000 jobs will be saved/ created.
so this picture shows where all the money goes. I pretty much understand it all, except for "protecting the vulnerable". What is that? I looked all over that page with no explanation because it doesn't have an asterisk over it. I am always suspicious of things with such ambiguous titles. But I shall investigate farther later.
This was something I thought was cool: You can zoom in on your town and see exactly which corporations are getting money, and exactly how much.
Well it all looks alright to me but I still have questions.
"Imagine you are driving in your car and every mile you drive you throw a pound of trash out your window. And everyone else on the freeway in their cars are doing the exact same thing, and the people driving Hummers are throwing two bags out at a time.."
Nate Lewis from the California Institute of Technology says in Tom Friedman's book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded"
Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? Can't you just imagine the thousands of trash bags on the side of the road? Well, according to Nate Lewis, that's what we already are doing.
But we aren't throwing out a pound of trash, we are throwing out a pound of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
On the way home today that's all I could think about. I watched the mileage ticker number get bigger and thought of the trash.
I don't know about you, but that makes me want to drive less than I do.
If you think about how much 100 pounds of carbon dioxide is a lot, I'm throwing at like 5 times that every year, at least. It is no surprise that global warm is happening rapidly.
When you think about the fact that more and more people are driving every year as more people can afford cars in developing countries, the amount of co2 going into the atmosphere is increasing every year.
So what's it going to be people? Can we pull it together and find finding better ways of getting around? It's really up to us.
I didn't watch the president's entire speech tonight but I did catch the first half hour. Some parts made me very hopeful while others made me laugh.It bothers me when people insist that they're right or shove a point in your face without the facts. Such as Governor Palin saying that there would be "Death Panels", a rumor that Obama directly put to rest. When Obama said that illegal immigrants wouldn't be covered in the new healthcare plan, I heard booing in the crowd. I later learned from CNN.com that the boo-ing was in response to Joe Wilson shouting "You Lie!". I would like to know what he was thinking, or why he said that.
"The bill, HR 3200, would set up a health insurance "exchange," in which consumers could compare policies and choose a plan. It would create a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers in that exchange, and extend subsidies for coverage to people who aren't already covered by employers or federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid. It specifically bars illegal immigrants from receiving those subsidies. Section 246, which is included in the part of the bill that sets up the exchange, forbids payments 'on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.'
Well that's that. From what I heard, I feel like this plan may work if passed by congress. I noticed something that Obama tends to do a lot, which is state that his plans will take more than four years. Is he suggesting that he will go another term? It is possible if this works. Who knows, it is really up in the air at this point.
As a result of the horribly frustrating job market, many have taken to being stay at home moms and dads, or going back to school until the job market improves. Disturbing as the unemployment numbers are, they don't even include those who have given up working or have been forced to retire early, and there are a lot of them. this article spotlights a few individual stories that are worth reading.
A skilled carpenter who once owned his own construction business is forced to apply to home-depot and small family-owned hardware stores. He even applies for overnight shifts at convenience stores, and never gets called back. His wife makes ten dollars an hour volunteering. He has stopped applying for jobs as often as he used to, and feels completely hopeless. Can you blame him?
His story and others like it are discouraging. We need something to boost this economy, and fast. Hardworking, skilled people are forced to scrounge for cash and food. Trickle-Down Economics isn't going to cut it. Cash 4 Clunkers isn't going to cut it. We need ideas, now.
Obama plans to personally explain the specifics of his health care bill next thursday. Thank god! I have been wanting to know what the plans are but haven't known where to find out. This should be a straight-forward enough speech. Also I think people have been opposing it without knowing the details. I'm excited to see what Obama has planned, and if it is drastic enough to work, but not so drastic that it doesn't get passed.
The title of this video immediately caused me to be suspicious.
"Obama Speaking To Schoolchildren "Creepy," Says Ingraham"
and I was curious to see how she would justify saying that Obama speaking to schoolchildren is creepy.
I really don't know where to begin, so let's just break this down, shall we?
1)"department of education has provided materials to school children... students are asked to answer the following: what specific job is the president asking me to do?... students should also be encouraged to ask.. 'what can i do to help the president'?...'what is the president inspiring me to do?"
Okay, I see where this could seem a little bit strange. As some one who happens to agree with Obama's plans and ideas, i don't see this as a problem. But to someone who doesn't agree so much, I get why they would be uncomfortable with their children hearing Obama's ideas.
But even then, this isn't Hitler (as many people seem to think...).
You aren't going to look at these kids papers and see this:
1)What specific job is the president asking me to do? Kill those of an inferior race.
you may, however, see "Help clean up the earth".
OH NO! NOT THAT! FOR GOD SAKES, OUR CHILDREN ARE GOING TO GROW UP THINKING THAT THE EARTH NEEDS TO BE CLEANED UP?
Oh and here's something I'd really like to say. If a parent says that Obama is 'forcing' his ideals upon these kids, what do you think you, as a parent, are doing by pulling your kid out of school? Even kindergartners know when they don't like something they're hearing, even kids of that age can think for themselves to an extent.
2)"this is creepy! if not pure, direct indoctrination, its a slick move to market Obama to our young people"
Really, woman? I mean, come on. I understand why you would disapprove... but creepy? indoctrination? I think this is taking it way, way too far.
3)"no child left inside act. which requires schools receiving federal funds to teach about 'the enviornmental challenges' facing the planet. in other words, brainwash the young and impressionable so that they become the next generation of eco-warriors..."
For god's sake this is so frustrating. Telling children that we need to pick up our trash and recycle to help save the earth is brainwashing? I've been told to pick up my trash and recycle my whole life, and I am a free-thinking individual. heck, i dont always recycle. See, Ingraham? I am not brainwashed!
to boil this down to one point, I understand why anti-obama parents will pull their kids from school that day... but dont make it something it isnt. it isnt indoctrination... and obama is not a nazi.
"With a new breed of entrepreneurs and ambitious government policies, Chinese businesses are amongst the top producers of electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels and energy efficient appliances."
Alright so businesses in China are going green. And so are we, I suppose, but much slower than is necessary.
For the U.S., it's not so much as a race as a, "we'll get to it when we get to it" sort of thing.
