Monday, March 21, 2011

American Government 3/21/11

In Class - Group work on education project.  Presentations begin on Wednesday.

Homework - Update your blog.  Finalize group presentations for Wednesday and Thursday.  QOW due by Friday, March 25 by 11:59 pm.

QOW - Pick a current political topic in which we have not discussed in class (you will have to do some outside research for this) that you feel is important to the United States right now.  Write a detailed analysis of the topic and the reasons of why it is significant to the United States.  Discuss the issue or problem and develop an argument as to why it is important to the United States.  For instance, you could select any of the following topics or choose one on your own: unemployment, the economy, world issues (Libya), presidential or political talk, terrorism, domestic issues, earthquake/tsunami in Japan to name a few.  Provide an MLA Works Cited with a minimum of two different sources to support your arguments.  Do quality work!

This is due on Friday, March 25 by 11:59 pm.

32 comments:

*Sparkles* said...

I feel that a major political topic that is important to the United States is job creation. In the Inland Empire alone, 15% of people are unemployed. I know by personal experience how frustrating this is. My dad was unemployed for 5 months and it was very hard on my family. My friend’s dad has been unemployed for over 2 years. This is a big financial burden. I think we need to do all we can as a country to have jobs available for those looking for jobs. Unfortunately, this often times means we have tax increases so that there is more money in the economy. I also think that there should be more jobs, but the process should be a little harder. Often times there are people getting hired that really don’t need the job, or don’t care to have the job. This is just taking up room for people, like my dad, who needed a job to keep supporting his family. Jobs also need to be created for high school/college students because this is where we are at a peak. We need money to continue our education so we can have high paying careers. It doesn’t seem fair that jobs look mostly on job experience. For those of us without job experience, it is nearly impossible to find a job. Once jobs are created, many people will put their money into the economy, which will help the large deficit. We need to get the money flow moving. Right now everyone is saving their money because they feel that their jobs are not stable. If they have stable jobs, people will spend more, and this is good for our economy.

Venus, Larry. “3/11/2010 - San Bernardino-Riverside Unemployment Reaches Record 15 Percent .” Inland Empire News. Inland Empire.US. March 11, 2010. March 23, 2011.
http://www.inlandempire.us/rss/article.php?client=redfusion&id=20100311162158

“Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010: Information Center.” IRS.gov. USA.gov. US Treasury. January 4, 2011. March 23, 2011.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=233907,00.html

Berger, Judson. “Dems ask GOP: ‘Where Are the Jobs?’” House of Representatives. Fox News.com. February 10, 2011. March 23, 2011.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/10/dems-ask-gop-jobs/

Jamie Tyson
Period 1

TheStarBabyy said...

Well to me i feel like one of the major issues that our country is struggling with is our Economy. The economy is the main source for all our problems in my oppinion. I feel like because our economy is doing to bad everyone wants to point fingers at one another saying there not doing there job or not making the right desisions that they should. Our Ecnoic debt is growing and we have taken away peoples jobs, education teachers geting laid off, and just troubles all over. Money makes our country go forward but we dont have any. We are in the trillions and there isn't any stop to the economic struggle so far. Alot of the country is unemployed and everyone is looking for work, but we all need more education for these future jobs that arent even created. Our economy is starting to recover but we have gotten to a point were money is an problem.

The U.S. National Debt and How It Got So Big
By Kimberly Amadeo
http://useconomy.about.com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/US_Debt.htm

http://www.greenjobs.com/

http://www.answers.com/topic/unemployment-2

Allan Baray
Period 1

Cheyanne said...

An important political issue that is disturbing in the United States, is immigration. I think the way we have the obtainment of citizenship set up is complete crap, and it leads people to do crazy thing in the ways that they sneak into the country. I understand why people want to cross the boarders, and that they could have a lot better life here for their families. And i also understand that these people, illegally, help our economy out by providing cheap labor. But i also recognize that we pay for that in other way by providing them with free healthcare in our emergency rooms, and free education, also we grant them citizens to their children that they birth here. I don't mind them being in our country, afterall we are a melting pot by history, but I am so tired of having to pay taxes for all of these people. I am so tired of planning my life and income status based on what I am able to provide for myself, as well as planning to pay for my retirement and everybody elses. I don't see the trace of "fair" I see in immigration is the "Lassaise Faire" that I wish was still happending. We need to do a better job at securing our boarders and speeding up the citizenship process.




http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/immigrationnaturalizatio/a/caillegals.htm



http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/california-immigration.html

Syqlizard said...

In Sudan, there are anti-government campaigns on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Sudan had street protests in January, and the governement acted violently towards the protesters. The focus is on Facebook, where supporters of the National Congress Party were posting replies towards the dissidents that they must not participate in the protests. Threats were given. It is believed that there is a "cyber batallion" waiting in store for the protest, and the National Congress Party haven't the clue if the batallion even exists. In July 2010, the southern Sudan which produces oil, became independent from the north. I believe it can be important to the U.S. because those social networking sites, mostly Facebook, were developed in America. The governments in the middle east may use that as an excuse to halt the relations between the individual countries and the U.S. It may not be a huge issue, but the finger can be pointed to the U.S. since our government is mostly focused on freedom, democracy, and oil in the middle east.

Biar, Zechariah Manyok. "Sudan’s NCP Says Its "cyber-Jihadists" Ready to "crush" Online Oppositionists." Sudan Tribune: Plural News and Views on Sudan. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.

"Sudan to Unleash Cyber Jihadists." BBC.com. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.

Erik Ramirez
Period 1

Zee :] said...

The earthquake in Japan is significant in the us because it is affecting the us is in our population and it can possibly affect our future.We must do whatever we can to help them because what if we the us go through that and we don't have anybody that will support us.The earthquake killed thousands of people and destroyed their population including fishies :) and japan is struggling to repopulate the country.They weren't prepared for this event to happen and it is a tragedy families and friends are suffering for their losses.

N.DeAndrade said...

It doesn't make any sence. You talked about peace, but then bomb Lybia. YOu talk about change, but still do what was done years before. You say that the mission is meant to prevent a slaughter of Libyan rebels and other civilians by forces loyal to strongman Moammar Gadhafi. My question is, "Why is the US alwys in someone else business?" It's not like we don't have enough problem to deal with at our own home. Obama is a great president, that just made a very stupid attack. There will be much criticism, as if there isn't already enough, & there will be concequences. Obama needs to listen to himself & not what everyone else is telling him.


Silverleib, Alan. "Obama Facing Mounting Criticism over Libya - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .

JeSsIcA* R said...

The tsunami/ earthquake that hit Japan has caused many worries, such as bigger earthquakes in the future, and health problems. Japan has these worries because they're in the middle of it, but the United States has a few worries as well. Radiation exposure is one main worry because it can cause cancer 10-20 years after being exposed. They can lose white blood cells which makes people vulnerable to sickness. And even though we arent't getting dangerous radiation people are still afraid, and it's always better to be safe than sorry. The big earthquake has also opened our eyes into upgrading our technology. Japan had at least 30 seconds to a minutes notice that the earthquake was going to hit. Thirty seconds to a minute may not seem like alot, but it's enough time to get to safety, or out of a dangerous place. And now the United States is trying to make some type of machine that works like the one Japan had.And if we do come up with it we can always upgrade it, a minute can turn into 30 minutes and so on.The U.S is is also planning to put our nuclear power plants underground. We are taking steps to make sure we won't suffer like Japan is suffering right now. If a devasting earthquake were to hit us right now I don't believe we would be prepared. So changing our ways and upgrading our technology could make sure we are safe.

Citations
-Adam Ragusea."Radiation in Japan Scary, Probably Not as Dangerous".2011.
Radio Boston.wburg.org.22 March 2011

-"Major Radiation Exposure in Real Life Events"
Oracle Think Quest. librarythinkquest.com.22 March 2011

MarkieMark said...

One issue in our country that has been addressed with multiple times is our interest in Libya. With the exception of maybe one or two presidents, Obama has absolutely no military experience n for being our commander-in-cheif that is kind of worrying me and I'm sure plenty of other Americans. I think we are all somewhat troubled and curious as to what our interest is in Libya. "In fact, the limited, sometimes contradictory, case made to the American people by members of your administration has left some fundamental questions about our engagement unanswered," Boehner said this in a letter to the Obama administration. Although Obama has no military experience, I still feel it is necessary for our armed forces to tend to chrises like this because it shows that America is still a superpower and is willing to help any people to freedom against an unjust and inhumane leader and we show this everytime we put our foot in the door. About a week ago, the USS Barry, an American naval destroyer, launched a Tamohawk missile which hit Gadhafi's stronghold and killed a confirmed amount of 48 loyalists. I feel we have done a pretty good job and the right thing when it comes to foreign affairs because we do enough to help, yet it is still the people of that country's war.
Another issue is how will the U.S. get out of Libya, especially after firing that cruise missile. Obama wants to help, but now it seems like he got us sucked in. He is torn between fully engaging and driving the war in Libya, or pulling out and let the rebels try to handle it while taking a more diplomatic solution. But sometimes in order to pave the way to a diplomatic solution, there must be bloodshed. "
So far, Obama seems to have pleased almost no one. For those who had been urging military action from the start, Obama dithered and remains too cautious. For those wary of another open-ended U.S. commitment in the Muslim world, Obama suddenly turned from restraint and became reckless." This radical group has been a problem for many years. I am not talking about the Muslims, I am talking about the Terrorists. I know some peaceful Muslims who believe that those people are crazy so the only thing we should be fighting over there in the middle east is the war on terror.

Mark Arnold
Period 1

Walsh, Deirdre. "Boehner Challenges Obama on Libya Military Mission - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Cable News Network, 24 Mar. 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .

Zakaria, Fareed. "Obama's Libya War Challenge: Limit U.S. Military Mission - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 24 Mar. 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .

bdelfino3 said...

An important issue in the world today is the war at Libya between the rebels and Gadhafi. This is relevant to the United States because already there has been involvement of American military forces. This is also an important topic for president Obama because he stands for democracy and this issue is very important to his administration. Earlier this week Obama spoke in Brazil about the importance of defending Democracy; from an article source a statement was made by Anne Applebaum that Obama was keeping his head low to set the least expectations possible since he cannot make promises of success in Libya. I don’t seem to agree with her point of view because she did not take in consideration that this is not the United States responsibly, they are not trying to make it theirs but off course they are getting involved in "the name of freedom” along with many other nations aiding Libya like France and Great Britain. As things stand right now nobody really knows where they may end, Gadhafi has proven to be unpredictable and out of his mind, at one point or another someone will have to stop him. The latest news on Libya is that NATO countries (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) agreed to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya to protect civilians against Gaddafi’s forces. There will be a meeting next week with the Libyan government and the African Union to make an agreement to cease fire and find a political solution for Libya, but this is not the final solution. I believe Obama has a big responsibility on whether or not military forces take complete control of the Libyan military operation. He stated confidence that they will be able to hand over control of the operation within days. This will be a big step for his presidency and for United States involvement in this issue.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42247045/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

http://www.slate.com/id/2288872/?GT1=38001

Juan Gamez said...

I feel like a issue that no one tends to acknowledge nowadays is the War In Irag. It seems like other world issues and united states issues are sort of making the war in Iraq quite forgotten. Issues like healthcare in America, education in America, jobs in America are some issues that people talk about and forget to mention the war in Iraq. The United States invasion of Iraq took place in 2003, and eight years later, the same United States who has political issues and money issues is still over there. The United States of America has spent 3 trillion dollars in the war effort. Knowing that wars take a couple of years to end the mayhem, i question why hasn't this war ended? The US first order of duty was to end Saddam Hussein reign as dictator in Iraq. ( accomplished). Then they had to clean up what was left of Iraq and try to make it more regulated and peaceful. Its been like sex years after Saddam Hussein was killed and the United States is still involved in war. I'm aware that soldiers have been sent away from Iraq, but it still is costing America about 225$ million dollars each day. I think America should seriously consider reducing their participation in the war. If they were to have partial participation they would save millions of dollars that could be spent on other issues that plague America. I haven't heard America in the news and their participation in Iraq in a long time, perhaps that means that everything is rather calm now. That money can be spent on healthcare for people who cant afford it, schools who need them, (buses, lunch).

Schoen, John W. "How Much Is the War in Iraq Costing Us? - Business - Answer Desk - Msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News - Msnbc.com. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

2008, March. "Iraq War." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

Pablo LSDub said...

I believe that our economy and our unemployment rate needs to be improved, and we need to have better jobs. There are quite a few people who are jobless right now and work is very slow. I know so many people have lost their job due to lack of work in their buisness. The issue that strikes me the most is people receiving unemployment checks. There has to be atleast some kind of time limit to how long a person can receive unemployment. If people are getting free money, then why would you work? I feel bad saying that but our unemployment rate is very high as of now. This goal will take a long time to accomplish, but i believe anything is possible, it will just take some time, especially for everyone to get jobs, or atleast for the unemployment rate to decrease. It is very difficult to get a job, obviously if there were more jobs created then there will be more money. For example, ive known a friend of mine that got "laid off" about two years ago, and to this day he is still on unemployment. He needs to be motivated to get a job, instead he is just enjoying his free money and playing Xbox all day. Our unemployment rate in California is 8.4 percent. Another thing that would help our economy is if we stopped spending money on the war in the Middle East that is not necesarry at all. If we stopped spending money on missles and tanks etc. We would possibly be able to focus on our own country and spend money on our own problems instead of what problems other people have. We are the worlds police.

CITATIONS:
"Unemployment Rates - Unemployment Rates by State from CNNMoney." Business, Financial, Personal Finance News - CNNMoney.com. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .


Doyle, Alison. "Unemployment Benefits: How to Collect Unemployment Benefits." About.com Job Search & Employment Guide - Job Search Advice, Jobs, Resumes, Letters, Employment. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .

SaraCarreno:) said...

Tsunami in Japan
Since the 9.0 Tsunami in Japan on March 11 occurred many things have been struck by it for instance thousands of people dieing, water distribution and other problems. Engineers and other people have not been going to certain places in Japan because of the radiation that can cause problems. The National Science Foundation said they were accepting proposals but it would take weeks either way. It is said that the recovery is going to take 5 years and hundreds of billions of dollars. There was a concrete funneled the tsunami making the speed, height and power stronger. The effects of the radiation from the nuclear power plant is not so affective if your 50 miles away from it. Some accidents that have been affecting peoples health has been because of floodwaters, downed power lines, wet electrical outlets, and interrupted gas lines. Another thing to look at is that because of the radiation is that Japanese should consider not keeping their personal items because they can be affecting which is pretty sad because they can be important things like valuable items like photos or any important materials.

Fountain, Henry. "Extent of Damage to Japans Infrastructure Still Unclear".New York Times, 24 March 2011.

"2011 Earthquake, Tsunami, and Radiation Release in Japan: Health Information for Expatriates and Students Living in Japan".Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 17 March 2011.

AZUCENA said...

I think immigration is one of the top issues in America because of the those innocent people wanting to come to the U.S. and have a better life.Those people are willing to risk their life's just to support their families, with good jobs and try to have everything they need to live better.It is also important that anybody should have the chance to make the best of themselves i mean yeah they might be immigrants but those "immigrants" that America call are the most hard working people that can have a chance to show their skills and have the opportunity to show the world that they have a very special skill and want to work they want to have a good life they will absolutely appreciate with what they can get by working.It is very hard for those people that are unemoployed and don't have the opportunity to win work for a better life.Their should be a change and give a chance to these people and i'm sure that with that chance they are going to become someone big and important to America.Their should also more jobs because there is people that really do need jobs to keep either supporting their families or keep themselves alive or even help those who need it. "Jobs" is the big word that's what America need right nor MORE jobs and that way the economy would be better and taxes would be less cuts and the U.S. would be in better conditions.The president should step up and make a decisiona and give these people a chance to have a better life he the presidents should take action and save the country the president should get this huge issue in his mind and stop wasting his time in focusing in other thing that are less important yeah there are other problems but just to get one of the issues out of the way then he should do his own thing and step up.Immigration should be finished and get helped.That's why all these protest come in from because the united states is not paying attention to immigration.


www.cnnnews/us.com
Groups plan immigration law protest for georgia capitol
by the cnn wirestaff "top issues in the us"

period 2

Michael Nguyen said...

I think the big problem in the U.S. is immigration. Too many illegal residents that don't contribute much to us Americans. They don't paid taxes like we do and some do live off welfare which we have to pay for. I believe if we can solve the problems with immigration here in the U.S. we wouldn't be in trouble with all the debts. California have a lots of illegal residents and even people know who is illegal they wont report it to the police. I see so many things wrong with our government but only time will tell until things get better. Right now the largest labor unions in the U.S. are lobbying Congress to grant amnesty to millions of illegal workers, to stop enforcing laws against employers who hire illegal workers, and to keep up the flow of millions more foreign workers. The Obama Administration has launched a new worksite enforcement policy that ostensibly is aimed at employers and avoids the arrests of illegal workers that was an integral aspect of previous enforcement efforts. This new policy likely will have the effect of undermining any effective prosecution of employers for deliberately hiring illegal alien workers and leave the illegal workers free to seek a new job. Summary fiscal cost estimates by state amount to $36.6 billion dollars annually for providing public K-12 education, incarceration and emergency medical care for illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children. Like i said if we can solve the problem with immigration U.S. would be in a better place then right now, but for now i guess we just do what we can to improve.

http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/issues/illegal_immigration.html


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/02/report-cites-problems-immigration-calls-overhaul/

theresa.jones said...

I think that one important topic in America is actually what is going on in Libya. When I watched the breaking news bulletin stating that we were shooting missiles at Libya, I had to have my dad repeat why we were doing it about three times. I just don’t get it. I mean, I understand that what Qaddafi is doing is terrible. I understand that there is a no fly zone over Libya, well except for the American and European planes flying over it and making sure no ones flying. I understand all of this, but I don’t understand why that means we have to bomb them. I know its not the innocent citizens that are being bombed, but I don’t think the men that are trying to protect their country should be bombed either. I, personally, think we should be shooting missiles strait to Qaddafi, and just end that problem, but I guess it’s a bit harder than that.
I think one of the reasons this really bothers me is the fact that there are so many faults in America. Why are we not trying to fix these? Why do we always have to help out everyone else, when its really us that need the help? I feel that we need to fix our mistakes before we even try to fix another country’s.

ERLANGER, STEVEN, ELISABETH BUMILLER, and ALAN COWELL. "Libya News - Protests and Revolt (2011)." Times Topics. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. .

Jess said...

Unemployment seems to be decreasing more and more rapidly all the time. It seems to a pretty big problem. It seems there are no jobs and the jobs that most teens would normally get older people that have been laid off or that need jobs and have experience. Jobs man has an effect on the way students view their education now days too. Most students want a part time so they can help them sells pay for their higher education. Sometimes this is a part of the motivation that we need and lack. Everything we could blame we could blame the unemployment. We could say it’s the fault of everything happening but that’s only partially true. I really have no solution to unemployment though I doubt anyone dose. It’s something that is killing us all at the same time there’s nothing we can do except sit around and wait for things to get better.

Baybee'G said...

I feel a major issue in U.S is the population growth. For the last 50 years the world population multiplied more rapidly than ever before and more is expoected in the future. For example, in 1950, the worl had 2.5 billion people, and in 2005 the world had 6.5 billion people. By 2050, this number could rise to more than 9 billion. the overall effects of this growth on living standars, resouces use, and the enviroment will continue to change the worl landscape long after. I think that more people increase faster in our nation than any other country. U.S. has so much immagrants than any other race.The Census Bureau shows that Hispanics accounted for more than half of the U.S population increase over the past decade, exceeding most states' estimates."These are big demographic change," said Mark Mather, an associate vice President at a non profit Population Reference Bereau." The more increase in our enviroment needs much more needs to survive because so many immigrants or americans gather around looking for jobs or places to stay that is why they decide to stay in U.S. So U.S should be ready to produce more if it wants to maintain the honor of its people. We need to look for ways to have enough room for up coming families, freinds, or even the families we are one day going to support.



New census milestone:Hispanic to hit 50 million-fox news.com
march 24,2011 3:30 a.m

http://us.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html

jhorowitz1 said...

According to many professionals in the fields of medical and geological sciences, the United States is underprepared for a major catastrophe. Even though most of our nuclear power plants are not in operation, should a major earthquake occur, we would not be in the same predicament as Japan. We don’t have bomb shelters or water supplies or much of an escape route plan. There is a “run” on bottled water in Japan because it is in such high demand. Are we prepared to handle that kind of high demand? The Japanese people are afraid to use the tap water, even when the government says it is safe now; do we trust our government to tell us the truth?



"Major Radiation Exposure in Real Life Events"
Oracle Think Quest. librarythinkquest.com. 25 March 2011

Black, Richard. "Fukushima - disaster or distraction?" 25 March 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12789749

Cesar_Arreola said...

I think one big issue that is going on right now just recently happened. A monster earthquake hit Japan on March 11th at 2:46 local time. Later, a tsunami hit the northern coast of Japan killing thousands and causing people to go missing. In addition, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has also sent a warning to all residents that live 18 miles within power stations beacause of high levels of radiation.
Japan is known to be one of the US "most important ally" as said in the article "Japan becomes USA’s most important ally" by Vladimir Anokhin. Since WWII Japan has been a great help to the United States. In 2004 japan sent ground troops to help our soldiers in Afghanistan.


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23718

http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/02-03-2009/107169-japan-0/

Arevik Martirosyan said...

I think that Guantanamo Bay is one major issue that is always being overlooked in the United States. On January 22, 2009, Obama issued an executive order calling for the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to be closed permanently within one year. A year later, two-hundred and forty-five detainees still remained in custody. On March 7, 2011, President Obama signed an executive order making several changes to policies regarding those detained at Guantanamo Bay. The order resumes military trials for the detainees. The order also creates a periodic review process for those long-held Gitmo detainees who have not been charged, convicted, or designated for transfer; however, they must continue to be detained because they “in effect remain at war with the United States.” White House officials state that the Obama administration are still fully committed to closing the detention facility. Furthermore, officials state that these new changes go according to the president’s long-term strategy toward achieving that goal. However, experts argue that it is unlikely that Guantanamo will be closed by the end of Obama’s four-year term. It has been nearly three years since Obama’s presidency began, and the possibility of keeping this extremely difficult promise seems more distant now than ever.

"American Way: Failure to Close Guantanamo Bay Is a Symbol of Barack Obama's Failure to Deal with World Realities – Telegraph Blogs." Telegraph Blogs. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. .

"Obama Reverses Stance on Gitmo – American Morning - CNN.com Blogs." American Morning - - CNN.com Blogs. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. .

Danny Alvarez said...

I think one of the big issues in the united states is the unemployment rate that is going on with the economy. Today the unemployment rate is 9%. It is becoming a major issue for alot of people in america because alot of these people have families and bills to pay. There are people that take getting laid off not to well because they get depressed and they dont know what to do or how to get money. Couple days ago on the news i saw a very tragic story about a guy who was laid off by his boss and that guy went to the top of a building where he worked an jumped to his death. This is very sad that people are losing their jobs and its really hard to get jobs too. People looking for jobs is proably going to take them a while to find one because of whats going on in the economy. People need to support their famalies and provide them with food and stuff. And with the gas prices getting higher its not doing any better.



“Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010: Information Center.” IRS.gov. USA.gov. US Treasury. January 4, 2011. March 23, 2011.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=233907,00.html


Unemployment Rates - Unemployment Rates by State from CNNMoney." Business, Financial, Personal Finance News - CNNMoney.com. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .

Jennifer D. said...

I think that one major issue that is very important to the United States would be the war going on in Libya. It has been the most significant problem going on right now since it has been having daily reports in the news media. The problem also is is that the United States has gotten too involved right now. Many are criticizing Obama's decision in having certain parts of Libya bombed which is unnecessary. I don't think the U.S. should have gotten involved in the first place because now we are stuck with it also. Why does the U.S. try so hard to find solutions to other countries' problems and not our own? I mean like in this article that was posted today said that the United States, Great Britain, and France were the ones held responsible for the bombings and violence going on in Libya on Qaddafi's military forces. What the United States should do, well actually, what President Obama should do is let the country try and fix itself and let them come up with a way to reform without the unnecessary violence going on today. Other countries have done it in the past so why not now? It is understandable that the younger generation wants change, I mean who wouldn't right now? Unfortunately, change should be seen as difficult and very complicated because then people would have to adjust to what goes on now. So, this issue won't go away for some time, especially since Qaddafi doesn't plan to leave his position as a leader. Right now, it was said that President Obama plans to limit our state's involvement in the war of Libya which is good to know but the question is that will it happen? Or will U.S. get even more involved as this issue progresses. This issue is pretty significant and it will require time to have it under control but hopefully without the U.S. involvement.

Jennifer Duque
Period 2

"Qaddafi Pulling Out All Steps to Keep Hold on Power". Web. Foxnews.com. March 25, 2011.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/25/libya-airspace-control-qaddafi-regime-rebels-meet/

"Obama to Address Nation Monday night on U.S. Role in Libya". Web. Foxnews.com. March 25,2011.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/25/key-libya-despite-nato-deal/

Louie said...

Once the burning core of passionate heated arguments, SB 1070 still affects Arizona today, as many may have forgotten. Its effects have been ethnically and economically negative. It is a major human rights violation to be able to discriminate one by his or her race. The bill condones racial profiling. I recognize that illegal immigration is an issue, but the absence and fear of hispanics have proven to be a problem, evident by the bill's effects. Because of its controversial action, Arizona has lost $130 million due to being boycotted and is still under a scandalous image. The fear hispanics have been assigned due to the bill has prevented them from interacting with the government; they are afraid of interactions such as reporting crimes. The thought of them being questioned and accused prevents them from contributing to society. Some illegal immigrants are also outstanding in schools. Reform is possible but SB 1070 is not the right way.


"Phoenix mayor says SB1070 hurts public safety education." Fox News Latino. Fox News. Web

Fernandez, Valerie. "SB1070 Casts Shadow on Arizona's New Anti-Immigration Bills." News Media America. Pacific News Service. Web.

kauluwehi93 said...

In my opinion, I believe that the one thing that that the U.S is lacking of is the Economy in general. The economy is the one thing that just basically makes us. Meaning everything we receive is from the economy. In my case the economy is just really burnt out. Many citizens lost their jobs because of the economy."The bad economy of the time caused massive layoffs, and record unemployment. History does teach us that at least it seems to be cyclical, so it may just be a matter of time before things correct themselves." This proves that many citizens in the U.S will be suffering because of the layoffs. Gas prices go up, stock prices are low and ect. With the economy down, the citizens in the U.S are quite upset and jobless. It was said I believe that the U.S is so low that there may be a bankrupt. So, in my opinion I believe that the U.S should focus more on trying to get our economy back on the right track.

Paul
"Unemployment Worse Than 1982"

-Takaua Tupou
Period-1

152-pounder said...

The political topic id like to disscuss would be unemployment. Unemployment is a major problem in the U.S. right now. I believe the reason why we have not created any jobs right now is because the recession.It takes money to create jobs and that is something we do not have.I Mean we have the ideas such as green technology and jobs we just do not have the funding. I feel if we increase our exports it would raise the demand for jobs. It would also bring more money into this country making it an even better reason to raise our exports.Raising our exports will lower our imports enabling us to keep more money within this country.I know this cannot be done right away but we need to do something to get our citizens working.Some citizens right know are living off of unemployment which by the way isnt much. Although we may not have the money for it i say we take a chance and invest in grren jobs.


Bryan Hales
Period 1

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/24/jackson.rogers.green.jobs/index.html

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/category/unemployment/

gabriela said...

Something that has been in my mind since this semester started, which is Darfur. ever since the first day, i saw the poster in your room Palo. It just brought me saddness to mind. I remeber watching videos about darfur, and how bad and serious things were, i feel like we just totally forgot about Darfur and their people.

As the problem in Darfur enters its sixth year, conditions continue to worsen for civilians. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed. The United Nations puts the death rate at about 300,000. Up to 2.5 million Darfuris have left their homes and arte now living at camps throughout Darfur, or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic. Based on Sudan’s behavior over the past five years, it is clear that unless the international community imposes additional political costs for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s intransigence, his government will continue to buy time by accepting initiatives only to backtrack later or impose new conditions that make them useless.

Basically things in Darfur have that gotten better, and it really make me wonder how us americans treat things like this. when it doesnt have to do about us, we can feel sad for a couple of months and move on, like if dont have a care in the world. I really think this is sad, as i reed through the articles i see how bad it is.Lets not forget.


http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/primer

http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/background

http://www.savedarfur.org/

gabriela vasquez period 4

Jarel said...

What happened two weeks ago in Japan has given the United States a warning regarding the consequences of a major catastrophe. We’re not well-prepared for unpredictable, extremely disastrous events, and so we must look to Japan to see how they handle the situation. Notice how the world experienced a pattern of huge earthquakes in Haiti and Chile (and Turkey, I believe) in 2010, and the ones this year in Japan and Thailand. Who knows if we’ll be next? Because of the destruction made by the tsunamis and earthquakes, Japan’s nuclear power plants leaked massive amounts of radiation, contaminating food and water. Some countries are halting food imports from areas near the nuclear power plant after finding levels of radiation on the imports. The radiation has limited the amount of food and water resources for the Japanese, consequently causing a hard strive for nourishment and hygiene. Brave Japanese volunteers are risking their lives to mitigate the nuclear power plant issue, and the U.S. commends them for their efforts. It is in times like these that we must lend a hand to help one another, so that when we become victims of a major tragedy, we’ll have friendly allies come to our aid.


- Jarel Lim Per. 4


Bradsher, Keith. "Shipping Lines Pull Back From Japan." The New York Times. 25 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/business/global/26shipping.html?src=busln

Press, Associated. "Breach Possible at Troubled Japanese Nuclear Plant." Yahoo! News. 25 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake;_ylt=AtOxMIXxS.71jvnhnk101cSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNqMWhzOGl2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzI2L2FzX2phcGFuX2VhcnRocXVha2UEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMzBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNmdWxsbmJzcHN0b3I

Vvsince93' said...

An important issue that is ocurring now in history is the crises in Libyia. The basics to what is down-playing within Libya is how the U.S and allies interviened to shoot missels at the Libyian militairy to overthrow Gaadafi, the dictator of Libyia that had been in power for 42 years. They want to overthrow him because he wasn't benefiting his country and instead treated his people with no respect. Therefore the citizens of Libyia proposed a insurrection.Afterwards, Gaadafi proposed no mercy on the Libian rebels and didn't care if he murdered inoccent civilians along the way. My opinion of this situation is that Obama and the government have made a vague unecessairy choice. Like yeah it's nice how our country tries to to save other countries from tragic incidents, but we have to realize that we are no gods to try to save the whole world. A human can only do so much. We are always trying to get into everyone's problems, when we can barely even help ourselves.Right now we are trying to mend our own problems such as the recession that we are in rite now and the other wars that we are encated in etc., so I don't understand how our government just doesn't focus on curing our own problems. Many people are just so devestated because they try so hard to make a living but fail to because our gov. is lacking to provide an increase in salaries, jobs, good education etc. Aren't we trying to stay as the world's powerful nation?If so how are we supposed to remain this way if our government is just making choices that might just makes things worse. On an article that I read over this issue stated, that even though America and it's allies will help in this war, America will be the one running the war because it has been said that we can "afford the war", we have more technolgoy and trained personel. Professionals have stated that America will be spending about a billion dollars a day. This is just going to extend our recession for more years. How will we ever succeed to maintain at least an "ok" type country when our problems just seem to be molding into a huge ball of misery?The answer to that is probabbly unknown because there are various amounts of diverse opinions in this country which makes it extremly difficult to just form on opinion that will please every single citizen in the United States of America.

Citations:

Stephen L. Carter.Why Libyan War Is America's War.The Daily Beast.March 22,2011.http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-22/america-owns-the-war-in-libya-whether-we-like-it-or-not/#


David Ignactious."An allied intervention in Libya".Washington
Post. March 19,2011.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/an-allied-intervention-in-libya/2011/03/03/ABhS5Yx_blog.html


Ashley Bates and Siddhartha Mahanta.What's Happening in Libya Explained.motherjones.com. March 24,2011.http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/whats-happening-libya-explained

Everentity said...

A current political topic in which we have not discussed in class that I feel is important to the United States right now is what is going on in Japan the earthquake and tsunami disaster. It is significant to the United States for many reasons, now that a little over two weeks has passed much of the United States is in unison with the fact that in reality we are not prepared for something to happen to us. As Americans we think that we are pretty well of yet the truth is that something may happen to us in the future. What happened in Japan was an extreme disaster. It’s no doubt destroyed a lot of Japan’s livelihood, such as the economy and the people. Not only has it taken a toll on Japan as a Nation but also worldwide as well when we take into account of amount of food they have. Already we are hearing accounts of them clearing out shelves in supermarkets and stores, food and other provisions are to, like clothing and places to stay etc. The Nuclear Plant that is leaking radiation into the water and food is another problem that is affecting this disaster stricken Nation. This has caused other counties to stop the importing of food from that area. Indeed affecting all parties that had dealings with Japan. ‘Two weeks after northeastern Japan was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami, the cost of the disaster is becoming clearer. The Japanese government has estimated the direct damage at as much as $310 billion, making it the world's costliest-ever natural disaster. As of today, more than 10,000 deaths have been confirmed and another 17,000 people remain missing.
At Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, it raised suspicions of a possible breach when two workers waded into water 10,000 times more radioactive than normal and suffered skin burns. Earthquake survivors return to their homes to collect what they can find, to mourn their losses, and try to find a sense of normalcy in lives that have been ripped apart.’

Azalea Armixo - period 4

Taylor, Alan. "PICTURES: Japan Earthquake, Two Weeks Later - Friday, March 25, 2011." NationalJournal.com. 25 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. .

BubzBeauty. "YouTube - Feel Good Video." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 20 Mar. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .

Beech, Hannah. "Japan Aid Effort: Is Government Bureaucracy Slowing Help? - Yahoo! News." The Top News Headlines on Current Events from Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .

ERICKR24 said...

I think I serious issue in the U.S is that there is some states that are tracing radiation coming from Japan. Officials are saying that their picking up radiation 5,000 miles away from the leak from Japan. Some signs of radiation were also picked up in Portland and in Colorado . According to the EPA some small amounts of radiation particles were also picked up in Hawaii but the levels weren’t considered harmful to humans.
Some people are getting worried about the situation that according in Japan and are afraid that it’ll affect us. But the U.S. is saying there is nothing to worry about and we shouldn’t have to worry about buying the medicine potassium iodide which counters the harmful radiation not to affect the human body.
I think we should take this matter more serious because we do not know how much radiation went into the waters of Japan and as far as I know water travels and also goes into our air and solar system. I don’t thin the U.S. should be taking this so light because its better to be safe then sorry so I think this is a serious issue.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/23/colorado.oregon.radiation/index.html?npt=NP1

Erick A Rosales
p.2

MjH(: said...

A political topic that i feel is greatly affecting not only other countries around the world but also the United States is the uprising oil prices. What's pushing oil prices higher is concern that global supplies will decline this year as energy usage grows around the world. The world is approximately going to use 88 million barrels of oil in 2011. Oil prices has hit its highest since the last recession. On wed$105.75 per barrel, the highest level since September 2008. Gas prices are ridiculous, and economically speaking the US is in the hole. With all these uprising conflicts in MENA region (Middle East and North Africa- including Tunisia,Egypt&Libya)its threatening to further push oil prices and reducing production. The more food prices and gas prices continue to rise the more likely we will be undergoing a depression. The only mere(mere because it will take time) solution we can seem to come up with is developing new technology for the energy's future. New ways of reducing the amounts of oil we consume to produce the energy we like to in take. All in all this is a serious political topic that has been taunting us for years now, and only seems to keep getting worse.

Watson, T.. "THE PRICE OF REVOLUTION. " Canadian Business 28 Mar. 2011: Platinum Full Text Periodicals, ProQuest. Web. 25 Mar. 2011.

Graefe, L.. "The Peak Oil Debate. " Economic Review - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta 94.2 (2009): ***[insert pages]*** Platinum Full Text Periodicals, ProQuest. Web. 25 Mar. 2011.

Kahn, Chris. "Oil Hits Highest Levels since Recession - Yahoo! News." The Top News Headlines on Current Events from Yahoo! News. 25 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. .

nader said...

Among the issues that are going on in the United States and around the world that are also causing some impact in America. I think that unemployment is one of the major issues that are playing a big role in effecting the economic stability. It is one of the problems that have a great influence toward other problems such as the economic crisis. It started with people spending more money that they actually don’t own and adding it up to their debt until some banks bankrupted due to people not paying off their owes. This problem didn’t end up only with some common circumstances, such as people destroying their credit history and banks becoming more strict on giving out loans to people, but also businesses depending on bank loans’ had to suffer the same circumstances leading some companies to shutdowns. This issue had to also rollover its effects among employers who drastically started losing their jobs. As a result to this case employment opportunities lowered to the ground. More companies gave up for the fact that they were no more able to increase the amount of workers, in which a lot of employees were left out without any chances to cover up their daily costs. With an increase in the unemployment rate, the economy was even suffering more, especially that the economy lays the most on consumers’ expenditures. I am really concerned about this issue because the more we look into its aspects and to the further worries we might get into, how it is controlling our economy’s future, to where we are heading to if we eventually leave it up to time to heal, and the advantages of solving such an issue, I find a lot of benefits that if we aim to cure would be a worthwhile of effort that we would give into planning a better future.

“Claims for Jobless Benefits Rose Last Week”. The New York Times. 10 March 2011. Web. 10 March 2011.

Aversa, Jeannine. “Fed: Economy needs $600B bond-buy program.” USA Today. 26 January 2011. Web. 27 January 2011.