Fiscal Cliff commentary

Personally, I haven't heard the term "fiscal cliff" too
often but reading the definition, on a classmate's blog
it totally makes sense to me.  The budget,
itself seems like a cliff to me.

Yes, money always seems to be the root of
most issues. It isn't everything in life,
but it sure makes life a little easier.
Money is used to buy or attain happiness
all the time.

Depending on the issue at hand, I can really
go either way with one of the major political
parties. As for spending and taxpayers paying
more, I take more of a 'Republican' stance.

Of course it makes sense that the more money
you make, the higher the tax you will pay on
it. Coming from someone that is paid minimum
wage or middle class, the thought "why not
take it from someone who makes seven times
what the average income is."

The truth of the matter is, you don't know that person's story.
Maybe they were dirt poor growing up and worked
hard so they could be wealthy or maybe
they just sat back and inherited the money.
Whichever the case or situation may be, why
are we taking more money and increasing their
taxes when our president is costing tax payers
close to $4 million?

According to Huffington Post, the President,
First Lady and immediate family's cost of regular
and extended stay on vacation is almost $4 million.

I am sorry, call me ignorant or naive, but
why, when this country is fiscally in a
downfall is it okay for the President to take
a vacation of nearly $4 million? Why raise taxes
on the wealthy? So the President can take
a more expensive trip than he has previously?

So my comment is, yes money is the root of evil,
and during an economic downfall why bother
proposing to raise taxes and make cuts when
a vacation is costing $4 million? That $4
million could be put towards to debt this country
is in.

In this commentary by CNN Contributor, Liz
Granderson, she talks about the racial
division of the political parties.

Sarah Palin's Facebook status saying "shuck
and jive" is what set Liz off in the
commentary. Liz saw her status as contributing
to a country that has a history of racial
issues, political and not.

Her point was that it was to have been said
and predicted that certain races were leaning
toward one particular party and that Republicans
were depending on white portion of America
to vote for Romney and that it is just not
a logical thing to do or a winning strategy
these days. She goes on to prove her point by
even saying that past Republican presidents
have taken steps or attempted to reduce or
eliminate the racial issues. Her examples were
Lincoln with the KKK and and Republicans
pushing for Congress to sign Civil Rights Act
of 1964.

I do agree with her on the racial division with
the current election. I, personally have heard
and read statuses on Facebook, comments, texts
that have implied that someone will vote to "not
have another white man in office". Yes, this
was our first African American president and yet
he wasn't the one to put an end to slavery,
previous "white" presidents were. So overall,
I agree with Liz, it is ignorant for people to
say and think that by having a different race
is going to accomplish something special in office.
It's not about color or sex, it should be
about the promises of what will be done to
help this country. Overall, ignorance still
stands strong, which is very unfortunate.

Reading this article brought a lot of issues to mind about the most recent presidential election. I agree that this shouldn't necessarily be about the two main parties, which candidate 'brought it' to the debate or even who won by collecting enough votes from a swing state.

I am all for America but I feel like this country has lost its way.  I saw more fights between people over who was voting for which candidate, more people wanted to 'not speak to someone' because of who they voted for which is absurd. Facebook is not the best place to discuss politics but I saw countless status's of people saying "Delete me if you don't agree but.." or "I found out a lot of who is really there for me over just an election". This is stupid. I feel like so much pressure is on who is voting for what that everyone takes it personally and with each election this country is divided more and more. For a country that uses the word "indivisible" in its pledge to have people signing to have their state seceded? Get it together, people. We may not all agree on race, gay/lesbian rights, or when to draw the line for welfare and education but we are all here for a reason, and I am sure all wanting the same things in life when it comes down to it.

It saddens me that at a time when this country needs to come together as one, people start turning their backs on others. Is that really the message we want to give off to other nations?

Fuel Recovery

This commentary is about Obama's recent
orders to the National Governments Federal
Emergency Management Agency to purchase
fuel to help the east coast recover from
the recent weather disaster.

The order of fuel which is for 12 million
gallons of unleaded and 10 mil. of diesel
fuel for impacted areas.

Obviously this is an uncontrollable
situation and it is good to see the national
government step up to see these states through
a tough time instead of just leaving it
in the hands of the Red Cross, volunteers,
donors, and the state governments.

As of right now, millions are without
electricity along the east coast. At the
beginning of winter and a colder time for
them, people are being forced to live
without heat. The generous donation from
the government, in addition to the
emergency diesel fuel loan that was given
by the Energy Department's Northeast Home
Heating Oil Reserve. All of this fuel should
be the beginning and a good lead for
our fellow Americans to regain electricity
and be on the road to a full recovery.

In this blog, written by Ann Coulter, talks about the most
recent presidential debate. The author touches
on a very logical aspect of the current election.

The audience for this blog could be any
American citizen or person living in this
country. That is due to the fact that the subject
hits home to almost every person about their
daily expenses.

Ann makes the argument that since Obama has
been president that almost everything you
have has become worthless while everything you
need to continue living has increased cost
wise. She goes on to explain that, for example,
the price is gas has increased. In 2008 when
Obama took office gas was around $1.80 and
currently is nearing $4.00 at the end of
his term. She states Obama's response was
that the economy was in the toilet when
he became president. Ann also goes on to
state, for instance in which he says he is for
something but has yet to show actions that back
that. She uses the following quote from President
Obama to back her argument,

"I'm all for pipelines. I'm all for oil
production."

Her question to that is, how is that true
when he vetoed the Keystone pipeline?

The overall article is because of a question
asked by Michael Jones, at the recent debate,

"Mr. President, I voted for you in 2008.
What have you done or accomplished to earn
my vote in 2012? I'm not that optimistic, as
I was in 2008. Most things I need for everyday
living are very expensive"

I agree with this blog, it touches home to
every American, the increase on products, food,
gas means that is more money out of our
pockets for necessities, whereas for most
people as prices increase, our paychecks do not.
I work full time, my pay does not fluctuate
with the economy, when gas prices increase, my
pay does not, which means that money has to be
taken from somewhere else. While the younger
generations may not care if Bin Laden is dead
or alive, they are more likely to care if gas
prices or cost of food increases because they
see the money literally come and go on a daily
basis. I just feel like if you are going to
say you stand for something, prove it. Actions
speak louder than words, Mr. President and I
am pretty sure Ann Coulter would agree with
that statement after reading and interpreting
her blog.

Rising to the Occasion

When reading commentary about the most recent debate
on Washington Post website, written by Michael Gerson,
I can't help but nod in agreement. This article, geared
toward an audience of Romney supporters reminds them
just why they are voting for the presidential candidate.

Although this is an opinionated article, I would say
even Obama supporters cannot deny some of the points
stated about the debate. It is true when he says,

"But his performance will be remembered, studied and
mocked for its body language. He looked down.
He looked away. It was the surrender of the averted
gaze."

In any debate you get a sense of what the person is
thinking, how they are feeling, and one of those places
that portrays that is the face. We all know, debate or
not that facial expressions are strong messages about
someones attitude, feeling, and belief about the
discussion or situation. This held true when Gerson refers to the
President looking down, looking away, at that point
it seemed like he wanted out. He most likely hasn't
debated since the last election and it showed, he was
completely disconnected from this debate. Romney may
not be the best as President, and probably is not the
best option for a Republican candidate but he
came on strong, prepared with facts and ready to debate.
I agree with most of Gerson's closing statement as well, which
sums up that debate.

"The best news for Romney is this: He rose to the most
difficult moment. When the need was greatest, and the
stage was largest, he was exceptional."

I have read numerous articles about comments Romney has
said which may not be the brightest but this night,
he brought clarity and factual information with him and
was able to rise to the occasion.

While scanning CNN website, I came across the article written by Ruben Nararratte, asking if the current Presidential nominee Mitt Romney would be better off a Latino than a white male. I couldn't help but wonder how this question even came about which encouraged me to read on. Mitt Romney speaking to a group of people in Boca Raton, Florida stating that if he were of Latino descent that he feels his chance is being elected would be a lot easier. Yes, I think the comment is absurd, if I were in his shoes and felt that way, the last thing I would be doing is announcing it to a crowd of supporters knowing full well that, that comment would be torn apart and not forgotten by many. However this article also brings to my attention just how much of the election process seems more and more to  be about pointing fingers than really helping out this country. We are not a perfect country and there are bigger issues to be solved than whether someone is better off a Latino or not.