Stage Eight: Comment on a Colleague's work

In Andrea Hrejsa's blog post The Court Blog she writes about how the U.S. Supreme court will be making a decision as to when they will be deciding on the issue of same sex marriage. The U.S. Supreme court will be deciding if same sex marriage is constitutional or not.

Certain states around the country, 9 to be exact have already acknowledged same sex marriages. Many brought it to direct democracy to see what the people of the state thought and believed in. The U.S. Supreme court giving the people of the U.S. a time as to when they will decide about this issue is crucial. States in the country are going one way, while the other states are going a completely different way. The Supreme court should come into the problem and address the issue to get to a solution about what is going to happen.

I believe that the Supreme court should not move too fast about making a decision, since people could criticize them about moving way too fast. I feel that they are going to have a bit of a tough time deciding because of what the people are currently in favor for and what the people are saying. Still though the Supreme court might have to take into account that 41 states have not adapted to what other states are doing, which is a huge number, as well as the majority. If two people of the same sex want to be together and live as one then that should be their decision. I feel that them having a civil union would be a better title though.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-gay-marriage-20121125,0,511659.story?page=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/us/supreme-court-to-begin-weighing-gay-marriage-cases.html

The Christmas tree arriving at the White House shows the people of the USA how fast Christmas is approaching. This huge 19 foot tree symbolizes all of the other trees around the country which people will be putting up in their houses. Christmas is a time of being with the family, appreciating one another. Even though the White House has a huge tree, I do hope people realize that it isn't about the materialistic things but rather about love, friendship and having one another. Christmas is one of the holidays which many people associate with faith and spirituality, which I believe is a very good thing. I live by the quote "Walk by faith". My faith is the foundation of my strength. Also with Christmas being around the corner, it means the 2012 year is coming to an end. A new year to begin fresh and with a new mindset as well as goals. A tree can have so much effect on a person, especially one as important as the White House tree. http://abcnews.go.com/m/blogEntry?id=17793917&sid=77&cid=77

Stage six: Comment on a colleague's work #1

In my classmate Antonio Barletta’s blog post Get over big bird already, he writes about how he agrees with Mitt Romney's plan of not funding PBS. Also he writes about how people are blowing it out of proportion, just to make Romney look bad. I agree with what Antonio has to say. His first reason was saying how kids learn the same things that Sesame Street teaches them, such as counting, writing and reading. Sesame street is not the only place that kids learn all of these different things. I really do agree and feel that cutting the amount of money that we are borrowing from China is one of the best things that we can possibly do for this country. The USA is already so far in debt, so why add up more to it? PBS I'm sure will be able to manage on it's own.  So many other different channels are able to run without government subsidies and so PBS also doing so seems pretty fair, as well as equal. Blowing what Romney said about cutting funds out of proportion just to make him look bad is just not right at all.

Stage Five: Original Editorial or commentary #1

The article that I read was "Women, Latinos: Record Numbers In Congress" by Jake Miller. I am Hispanic, so seeing the title of the article I became interested in what the author had to say and report about. The author has so much to say about the fact that women and Latino Americans both are said to be at their record numbers on Capitol Hill. This is such a huge change, which involves way more diversity within Congress. Miller brings into question, that if more women participating and playing a part in Congress, whether the agenda will be more devoted towards families. Miller even quotes a person saying, "more women in Congress means an agenda that's better for American families." This change in Congress, the author acknowledges and see's as a positive change of the "cross-section of the American public." Although their still is way more to come about and their still has to be way more change in Congress, this is a step towards the right direction. I agree, that Congress should be equal and made up of all kinds of people of different races and such. In many years to come I see the continuation of change and a greater change coming about for Congress to be made up of all people. I believe that since the Congress is for the people, that it should be made up of all kinds of people which will be able to represent their people. Being that more woman are involved in Congress, I do believe that the agenda will be leaning more towards families and making sure everything is going smooth. I feel confident that woman will stay strong about issues regarding the family structure and will not pay much attention to smaller almost irrelevant issues. Having diversity is good because many people get their viewpoint across and many people are able to voice their opinion. Having a change is Congress is great, and although Congress still has a long way to go this is still tremendous and most definitely going in the right direction.

Stage Four: Critique an editorial or commentary from a blog

I read the article The Last Big Chance To Take On Romney's "12 Million Jobs".
This article caught my attention because of how important the elections of president are to the United States. I bet that everyone is just as anxious as myself, to see who the president will end up to be. However, in the mean time the people of this country are tuned into what is going on, regarding Mitt Romney and Obama. The author's intended audience in this article is to all of the United States because at the conclusion of the day everyone should be attentive listening to the changes and updates that relate to the elections. The arguments that the author makes are that these elections' issues that Mitt Romney brings up are all revolving around economics. The author clearly lets the audience know how Mitt Romney is saying how he will bring 12 million jobs into the country but how their would be an increase of jobs being introduced into the country regardless of if he was president. Another argument is that the math is not right because 12 million jobs would not be available just like that within the 4 years of his presidency. The author also goes on to say how Romney had one last chance at explaining himself along with the things that he is promising.I do agree with the author because the economy has been getting better and the increase in jobs is not going to be because of Romney, it is going to happen either way, so I do not believe that Romney should be taking the credit.

Stage Three: Critique an editorial or commentary from a national newspaper

The article titled Increase the Gas Tax introduces the idea that more funding for our transportation system is needed; however, many politicians are not willing to support the proposal for an increase in state and federal gas taxes to provide the money. I was intrigued by the fact that a portion of the government is contemplating substituting the increase in gas tax with a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) tax. The new proposal includes drivers paying per mile traveled instead of per gallons used. Drivers would receive a monthly or yearly bill depending on the distance traveled instead of conveniently paying at the pump. My attention was especially caught by the intrusion of privacy posed by the GPS tracking systems that would monitor the miles traveled to ensure accountability is met when paying bills according to the mileage. Increasing the gas tax seems to be the easiest option, but the hardest to get passed by the legislation. 

The author, Duncan Black, writes with supporters of increasing gas taxes as his intended audience. Duncan Black is a fellow for Media Matters for America and an editorial columnist for USA Today. Black is in favor of increasing gas taxes for the state and federal governments rather than placing the economic burden on the American population. He claims that raising gas taxes would be an unpopular thing to do with elections right around the corner. However, Washington and Nevada are testing the GPS technology and Nevada is preparing to do so, as reported earlier this year by USA Today. Black believes that paying at the pump and gas station owners turning over the money to the government rewards those who use better mileage cars and lighter vehicles with lower gas prices which in turn results in less damage to our transportation system. Black claims that another option to the GPS system would be self-reporting; however, that poses a threat to accountability.  Black concludes his argument by stating that even though the gas tax would take a toll on poorer individuals that a simple solution to this would be to lower the income tax burden for low-income individuals ensuring that the simple existing system stays in place. 

I agree with Black that the legislation should pass an increase for gas taxes rather than making the average citizen carry the burden of invasion of privacy and inconvenience. I believe that the excess work and stress for the government to implement a whole new method of enforcement and money collecting is not worth imposing on people’s rights to privacy and raising the costs of driving and getting around town. The VMT seems to be a good option in the long run, but now it seems to be a problem and the best bet is to raise the gas tax. People are used to this system and putting a whole new one in place would disrupt easy daily activities such as pumping gas when in a hurry for work into a complicated process.

Stage Two: Article Introduction & Colleague's Blogs

The article I read was "Angry Birds On Sesame Street want Obama to take down PBS ad". The article is basically talking about how the Obama campaign administration is using big bird from Sesame Street in a mocking way for a television ad, which is against Mitt Romney. Obama is trying to make the point by being sarcastic to say that by Romney being in favor of taking away the subsidies that are given to PBS, that big bird is now the enemy for Romney. Romney however, says that since Obama does not have a positive record to back himself up on, that Obama has to be using small issues turning them into huge thing during the elections to distract the audience. Romney uses the example of showing people how many times Obama has brought up the word big bird yet has not brought up much more important issues, such as healthcare. PBS asked the Obama campaign administration to remove the ad since they had not given them permission to use it, and did not want to take part in the politics. This article is worth reading because as people of this country we should be aware of what is going on with the elections, since they are fast approaching. It's interesting in this article that Romney points out and attacks Obama by saying that he tried to cover up the Libya attack in order to make himself look better. This article actually relevant to everyone since these elections have to do with the elections of who could end up becoming the next president so people should know what's going on to see who they will be going for and voting for. I decided to blog about this because this article caught my attention of recent things that are going on. The article has a great video featured on the same page along with the article.

Link to article:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/09/obama-campaign-deploys-big-bird-in-new-ad/

Stage One: Creation And Initial Blogroll

I am taking United States Government 2305 to become more politically aware of what is going on in our society. I am not too involved with politics, but as a citizen of this country, I believe, it is our duty to participate. I strongly believe in voicing one's opinion by voting and in involving younger generations, such as mine, to develop an interest in acquiring knowledge about the way our country operates to be better prepared to take over the reigns of society. I have not had my first voting experience yet, I am only 16, but I hope this class will allow me to make an informed decision based on my beliefs and morals when the time comes. Even though the legal age of voting is 18 and most people don't generally feel the urge to be politically involved until they are older, I feel one is never too young to be socially aware of policies and laws that are changing and will one day affect the younger generations. By being in this class, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying principles that government focuses on as well as the foundation of our democratic government system, The Constitution of the United States. I took the Civics Quiz and to my surprise, I am pretty knowledgable in government for my age. I scored a 57.58% while most average citizens score a 49% and most college educators score a 55%. I feel good to be one of the younger individuals that cares about their country and where the United States is heading. Below are my quiz results and the questions I answered incorrectly.

Results

• You answered 19 out of 33 correctly — 57.58 %
  If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.
  You can consult the following table to see how citizens and elected officials scored on each question.
  

Incorrect Answers

• Question: Under Our Constitution, some powers belong exclusively to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?

  Your Answer: Maintain prisons

  Correct Answer: Make treaties

• Question: Name two countries that were our enemies during World War II.

  Your Answer: China and Russia

  Correct Answer: Germany and Japan

• Question: The Puritans:

  Your Answer: believed in complete religious freedom

  Correct Answer: stressed the sinfulness of all humanity

• Question: The Bill of Rights explicitly prohibits:

  Your Answer: discrimination based on race, sex, or religion

  Correct Answer: establishing an official religion for the United States

• Question: A flood-control levee (or National Defense) is considered a public good because:

  Your Answer: insurance companies cannot afford to replace all houses after a flood

  Correct Answer: a resident can benefit from it without directly paying for it

• Question: The phrase that in America there should be a “wall of separation” between church and state appears in:

  Your Answer: George Washington’s Farewell Address

  Correct Answer: Thomas Jefferson’s letters

• Question: Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because:

  Your Answer: government planners are too cautious in spending taxpayers’ money

  Correct Answer: the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends

• Question: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas would concur that:

  Your Answer: all moral and political truth is relative to one’s time and place

  Correct Answer: certain permanent moral and political truths are accessible to human reason

• Question: In 1935 and 1936 the Supreme Court declared that important parts of the New Deal were unconstitutional. President Roosevelt responded by threatening to:

  Your Answer: eliminate the Supreme Court

  Correct Answer: appoint additional Supreme Court justices who shared his views

• Question: Who is the commander in chief of the U.S. military?

  Your Answer: Secretary of the army

  Correct Answer: President

• Question: What was the main issue in the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858?

  Your Answer: Is slavery morally wrong?

  Correct Answer: Would slavery be allowed to expand to new territories?

• Question: Which of the following statements is true about abortion?

  Your Answer: the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that underage women must notify their parents of an impending abortion

  Correct Answer: the Supreme Court struck down most legal restrictions on it in Roe v. Wade

• Question: Which of the following fiscal policy combinations has the federal government most often followed to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession?

  Your Answer: increasing both taxes and spending

  Correct Answer: decreasing taxes and increasing spending

• Question: What was the source of the following phrase: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”?

  Your Answer: U.S. Constitution

  Correct Answer: Gettysburg Address