Extended Patriot Act

President Obama signed a one year extension on the Patriot Act that was passed shortly after Spetember 11, 2001. This act increases the government's ability to monitor Americans for public security reasons. Phones will continue to be allowed to be wire tapped and the government will be able to seize records and property. The House easily passed this but the Senate made slight changes that gave criminals more rights before voting for it.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmao3Tg9nvBQeAOMAVzmeZkrmAoAD9E4QD501

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/27/obama-signs-year-extension-patriot-act/

Hillary to Chile

Hillary Clinton is heading on a five-nation trek to Latin America. She is certainly going to Chile after the earthquake and this might help the Democrats public image showing that they care. However, her main purpose is to build support for penalties against Iran. She will mainly be visiting countries that are voting member on the UN security council and try to persuade them to vote for action against Iran. I believe it is a positive thing for the United States to share our views with others but only to a certain degree. If each nation thought like we did I am pretty sure thingfs would b worse off than they are now.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/28/clinton-heading-latin-america-chile-quake/litics/2010/02/28/clinton-heading-latin-america-chile-quake/

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/0228/Hillary-Clinton-to-discuss-Iran-s-nuclear-program-on-Latin-America-trip

A New Speaker?

Republican John Boehner is beginning to imagine what it would be like to be the Speaker of the House. This is not too far from becoming reality because the Republicans could very likely become the majority party in the House of Reps. If this happens the current Speaker of teh House, Harry Reid, will have to give up his spot to the current minority leader, Boehner. Boehner promises that the House will be run differently from not only how it is being run now but also how past Republicans have run it. This is easy to say and everyone seems to say this but it is much harder to do. So we will have to wait and see what actually happens.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/26/boehner-imagines-being-speaker/?fbid=gaEPWybFL_V&hpt=Sbin

http://johnboehner.house.gov/

Census Time
Americans are being urged to fill out one of the shortest census forms ever this year so an acuurate count can take place. The census is so important because the results are used to determine how to allocate $400 billion federal dollars. However, getting an accurate cound is much more difficult than it may sound. Illegal immigrants often don't fill out the form because they fear they will be found out and send back to their home country. This thought is incorrect though becuase all the information collected in confidential. I just hope that this census can take place cheaply but accurately. I see the importance of it but I also notice that it costs around $15 billion. If we spend this much, it better be done well and accurately. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/26/census.redistricting/index.html?hpt=Sbinhttp://2010.census.gov/2010census/

Bad News for the Housing Industry

In January, sales of new US homes dropped to a record low of 309,000 units. This was an 11.2% drop since last month and quite suprising to economists who thought sales would rebound like they had slightly over the previous months. Economists believe this drop could have occured because of the withdrawl of government support programs. This seems to show that the econmy is not improving even though some indicators are up. I guess we will just have to give it a bit more time and realize that the economy is probably never going to rebound to the level it was at before this drop. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/24/new-homes-sales-plunged-record-low-january/http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/24/real_estate/new_home_sales_January/index.htm?hpt=T2

More Money For Education

The Obama administrtion recently proposed a bill that would give more money to states with poor children who are suggling. However, the money will not just be handed out. Each state will have to come up with a plan as to where and how the money will be spent. Many people see this as socialism, but I see this as a necessary step to keep up with today's world. This will help us stay competitive by allowing children to be prepared for college or a career after high school. In addition, the Federal government is allowing the states to come up with their own plan.

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Obama-Confers-with-US-Governors-on-Economy-Health-Care-and-Education-84981862.htmlhttp://blog.al.com/sweethome/2010/02/from_todays_paper_gov_bob_rile.html

Does Iran Have Nuclear Weapons?

71% of Americans believe that Iran has nuclear weapons even though Iran's Supreme Leader says they arn't seeking or believe in nuclear weapons. Americans not only think Iran is harboring and/or creating weapons but also think there should be immediate economic and diplomatic ations taken to stop Iran. I see two problems with these opinions. First, not near 71% of Americans even watch the news or have the ability to make an informed decision about Iran. Second, Americans want taxes and the deficit to decrease but call for immediate acton in situations like this. Tax cuts and action can not take place simultaneously with deficit dcreases.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/19/cnn-poll-american-believe-iran-has-nuclear-weapons/?hpt=Sbin&fbid=qj-rN7xM3l6http://www.cfr.org/publication/21506/strategy_for_iran.html

Helping the Housing Industry

President Obama is announcing a new bill that will designate $1.5 billion to fund local housing angencies in the five states that are hit hardest from the recession. California, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, and Arizona have seen declines in their housing markets of atleast 20%. Obama will be announcing this bill in Nevada because he wants to support Reid and boost his chance at success. Reid is a Democrat who has the potential to change the balance of power in Congress but is currently trailing behind Republican opponents. If this bill is a success and Obama is able to show that Reid had something to do with its success, I see a brighter future for the Democrats.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35476054/ns/business-real_estate/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/02/rundown---021910.html?wprss=44

A Happy Reunion

President Obama met with the Dalai Lama on Thursday to encourage him and praise his goals for the Tibetan people. Obama was very supportive of the Dalai Lama's want to preserve Tibet's unique culture and identity. However, the two were forced to meet in secrecy without the press because of China's discontent with the issue. China sees the Dalai Lama as a separtist who seeks to overthrow. But this did not stop president Obama and I believe this decision will make Americans look highly upon him for standing up for what he thought was best.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35456043/ns/politics-white_house/http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/18/obama.dalailama/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Change in The House

Eight Democrats in the House have now announced that they are retiring. This is suprising, but most of all would make any true Democrat begin to worry. Instead of (alomst) automatically winning these seats again because of incumbancy advantage, Democrats will have to battle for open seats. Unfortunately, some of the areas these representatives were from are conservative. Plus, the party that is not in the White House often wins more seats at mid-term elections without having so many open seats. If I were a Democrat in the House, I would be very interested in passing legislation that would make the democrats look good. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/12/house.retirements/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/11/patrick.kennedy.congress/index.html

Are Americans Happy with Government?

According to recent polls, Americans are not happy with what the government has been doing. 52% think Obama should not get a second term because there has not been change like he has promised. I say, look at what he has done and ask yourself can anyone just turn a country around on his own in 2 short years? People need to be patient and realize that being the president is difficult and you can't just do what you say or even truly want. Plus, shouldn't Americans recognize that things havn't gotten terribly worse?
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/17/why-are-some-obama-08-blue-states-turning-red-again/http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/11/midterm.primary.dates.map/index.html

Democrats May Have Given Up Their Chance
As Democrats are beginning to look over their last year or so, they are beginning to realize that they may be a major reason why the healthcare reform bill failed to pass. Many people thought that it was just because the Republicans opposed it so much. However, now it seems that debates within the party and Obama giving too much freedom to insiders' deal making, may have been a major issue. I agree that these could have contributed to dissatisfaction with the bill, but I also believe that the bill still wouldn't have passed if the Democrats did have it all together.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35183382/ns/politics-health_care_reform/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35126009/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

No More 9/11's
According to Vic President Joseph Biden, it is highly unlikely that there would be another major terrorist attack like the one that occurred on September 11, 2001. However, this doesn't mean that there won't be any smaller attempts like the one that took place on Christmas day this past year. Terrorist groups have just seed to change their direction and attempted smaller attacks. So far, these smaller attacks have proved unsuccessful and this will prove very good for the Democrats as midterms near. This also gives Americans a sense of security because US security and intelligence is doing their job very well.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/11/biden.terror.assessment/index.html?hpt=Sbin
http://www.dallasblog.com/201002111006121/dallas-blog/fortune-teller-biden-predicts-more-terror-attacks.html

No Reelection

Congressman Patrick Kennedy announced that he will not be running for reelection. He stated that his life was going in a different direction and wants to help thse struggling with addictions, depression, and autism. This withdrawl could be harmful for the Democrats because they could loose this seat; with what happened in Massachusetts anything is possible. If he ran again, he would likely win because of the high releection rate for incumbants but now I see the likelyhood of a Republican taking his seat as very high. Especially because this is a midterm election and Obama is a Democrat.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/11/patrick.kennedy.congress/index.html?hpt=Sbin
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/11/florida-gop-congressman-to-retire

Hard Work For Nothing?
President Obama called for talks with Republicans about the health care bill that he has worked so hard for since he has been elected into office. I am happy that Obama is bringing up this subject again because for a while I thought he would just let it die and turn his focus to the economy. However, I am glad to see that he has not given up even after the Democrats no longer hold enough seats to pass he bill (since Republican Scott Brown won Massachusetts.)
The Democrats are unanimously opposing the bill because they say it is a government takeover of healthcare. However, they still see that reform is needed and are calling for smaller steps. But I doubt these steps will make any difference and instead am rooting for Obama's plan to pass so real reform can take place.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/04/obama.health.care/index.html?hpt=Sbin
http://www.statcrunch.com/5.0/viewreport.php?reportid=10228

A Hardened GOP

Republicans were not very welcoming when Obama invited them to discuss the health care bill again. I find this very discouraging and feel that the leaders of this country look out for little more than there own interests or interests of solely their party. I feel that president Obama is simply trying to solve a longstanding problem by working with together with other members of Congress. However, members on both sides of the party are unwilling to compromise and talk in any direction and therefore nothing is getting done about this problem. The sad thing is, the schism in our government is affecting every aspect of politics and life, not only health care reform.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35296874/ns/politics-health_care_reform/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35292286/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/

President Obama has revlealed a new budget that, if succeeds, will accomplish the two main problems this nations is facing economically: the weak economy and the expanding defecit. This package includes tax cuts (especially for small businesses), some sort of health care plan, investments in green technology for the future, and infrastructure programs. The hope is that these measures will create more jobs while not increasing the deficit. I am not sure how successful this will be but I am very happy that a plan is beginning to take form.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/01/news/economy/Obama_budget/index.htm?cnn=yes&hpt=Sbin
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/State_of_the_Union/obama-2011-budget-tax-proposals-president