Possible Candidates for 2016 Presidential Elections

            The elections of 2016 will be a huge year for both Democrats and Republicans in politics. They will not only be fighting for Congress seats but also will be fighting for the White House in Washington, D.C. Who might be the candidates for the both sides? Nobody is quite sure but what we do know is that there are some big names that might be making their case to become the next President of the United States of America.

The biggest name that I can give you for the Democrats that might run for the presidency is…..Hillary Clinton. She has been a huge icon around the world in diplomacy for the United States and she just stepped down from the Secretary of State position under Barack Obama. She is also married to former President, Bill Clinton, which might give her a bigger advantage against all of the other candidates in the running for the coveted spot in the White House. With her knowledge on worldwide affairs she is a strong and tough opponent for the rest of the candidates that plan to get in on the race. Even though she might not have officially gotten in the race she is a strong favorite to run for President. Sadly, I couldn’t really tell you who else would run for President out of the Democratic Party but there is definitely a lot of candidates that will be coming out of the Republican Party.           

 Even though none of these candidates are set in stone they all have hinted towards a Presidential Campaign. The biggest Republican that might be running for President of the United States is Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. He has been a huge icon for Republicans everywhere and has gone through a lot with the state of New Jersey. When Super Storm Sandy hit the East Coast last year it devastated the state of New Jersey. But he united his state and they have been rebuilding ever since. He is a huge conservative that would like to cut the deficit in half and lower the debt (just like every other Republican)

           

Other Republican Candidate is Senator Marco Rubio from the state of Florida. He has been the face of conservatives everywhere around the country. He has tried to pass law after law helping out the Republicans and has done everything in his power to shut down the ObamaCare bill, which is very respectable to Republicans everywhere.

           

            These next couple of years is going to be tough for both sides of the aisle in D.C. But hopefully no matter who wins the election in 2016 they can lead this country to power once more and make this country the best in the world once again.

           

NSA Cutbacks

Barack Obama is thinking about cutting back the Nation Security Agency spying program. This is after the National Security Agency was accused of spying not only on other countries officials but also on American citizens. I have talked about this topic before but with the new situation that has been presented I feel like it is a good idea to talk about it again. Is this a good idea by President Barack Obama? Or could it lead to more harm than good?

The NSA was designed to help military intelligence force and to help catch any person who was a threat to national security. But there has been reports saying that they have gone as far as listening to normal peoples phone calls here in America. Yes, this might be a problem but has it ever really hurt and body? It is not like they are listening to everybody’s conversations and they are not using it against anybody. It is keeping our nation safe to say the least and I believe that any cut backs in funding for the National Security Agency could lead to high threats for homeland security.

All-in-all, the National Security Agency is in business for the safety of our own people. They are not doing it to just spy on some random phone call or read some useless emails that a business has received. They are there to make sure that this nation stays as safe as it is now and works to keep it like that. This nation might have to be on high alert and be suspicious of everybody if there is not a higher power like the NSA doing that for us.

So far the NSA has caught countless amounts of terrorists who have plotted to hurt people and destroy buildings and even towns across the nation. Without the intelligence from the NSA the Underwear bomber who planned to blow up a plane a few years back might have gotten away with his plan. Also, they helped stop the bombing that could have happened in Times Square in New York City if they would not have listened to someone’s phone call or read a particular person email. All I am saying is that they are doing this for our own good and without this agency the United States might be in big trouble. More bomb threats, more attacks on American civilians, and even mass shootings could be more frequent if the spying program is reduced or even suspended. 

Gay Rights Have Gotten Out of Hand

In the recent years, gay rights have been a huge topic in the United States. Gay marriage has been legalized in many states, including where I am writing this blog here in Iowa. I am not for or against it but more neutral than anything. I’m not for gay rights but who am I to tell someone they can’t live that way here in America? People take this way of life way out of context. People are also very touchy when someone speaks their opinion over this highly debated topic. But is it really even worth the fight in the first place?

            This great country was based on freedom of speech and freedom to do as you please to be successful or happy. Our founding fathers even said that we all should seek “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”, no matter what that may be. This can be directly associated to gay rights. If a gay couple can tolerate a man and a women being married, then everybody else should do the same. A lot of people these days take offense to the stupidest thing. A perfect example is from a college on the east coast who had to change the names of Christmas trees to Holiday trees because it offended other people. Like I said before we all have the right to believe and think the way we want and nobody has the right to tell us otherwise. We shouldn't judge other people’s beliefs as long as they are not hurting others or disturbing people.

            Now a lot of people say that they do not agree with gay marriage is because the Bible says it is not right. They believe that gay marriage is just plain wrong and that they aren’t accepted in the World of God. This might be the stupidest thing that any one person can say to another. A true Christian would believe that God loves everybody no matter what they do or how they live their life. This is what makes me doubt that we will all survive this world. When people say that to other all it is, is an excuse.

            No matter what you might believe, it is not your job to tell someone how to live their life. If gay people can deal with everyone else why can’t we all deal with their beliefs? People need to see that times are changing. These people who decide to live this lifestyle aren’t hurting anybody. They are just trying to live a normal life like you and me and we should all accept that. 

New Budget Deal

Congress might actually come to a compromise in the next week over a budget deal that would keep this country funded and going through the next fiscal year. This is after Republicans and Democrats were at a stalemate for over a month back in October. Is this just another fluke that will bring conflict next year or is this entire thing for real and might actually some progress in Congress?

It always seems like there is fighting in Washington D.C between the two parties in Congress. They normally can never come to an agreement and it leads to many problems that have led to shutdowns for the American government. They have embarrassed this nation and we have lost the trust of nations around the world. But after months of arguing and conflict it seems like they have finally come to terms on a deal.

The two sides must have agreed on terms for the highly anticipated ObamaCare health care law and have also came to terms on a budget that will hopefully cut spending over the next ten to twenty years. This is a deal that will bring this country back to its reign as best country in the world financially and economically and will bring back respect that we held before the financial crisis hit a few years ago.

Gun Laws in the U.S

There has been a lot of speculation over gun laws in the past few years. I have talked about it before in one of my first blog posts but with the school shooting that occurred in Colorado I feel like I should discuss the issue once more.  According to CNN, an 18 year old high school student entered his high school on Friday with a shotgun. He shot one student and then turned on himself, taking his own life. He was allegedly trying to confront a teacher over a disagreement and was stopped before being able to get to the teacher. This has just brought up more issues over gun control laws here in America and a lot of people believe that there needs to be better and more restrictive laws to try to control or even stop these attacks.

                People for some odd reason believe that the guns are the issue in these shooting. That is simply not the case. The gun cannot pull its own trigger. Also, our own Constitution says in the Second Amendment that every United States citizen has the right to bear arms and use them. Now our founding fathers definitely didn’t look this far in the future and they would not have predicted what would be happening these days but that law should never be changed. Maybe instead of worrying about the guns we should worry about the people. These people that are committing these crimes are mentally unstable and need to be helped. Like I said, it is not the guns fault for all of these shootings it is the person behind it.

                States around the nation are pushing for laws on harsher back-round checks for people trying to obtain a firearm license. This would never be a problem but the biggest thing about it is that if this does pass and is put into effect what are the chances that they go farther and change more things over time? The National Rifle Association (NRA) is the biggest organization against gun control. They believe that if all people can be taught to use firearms safely, there should be no problem with guns in the country. I totally agree with this. If all people are just taught to use guns in a safe manner there should never be any issues with guns. That is why we need to focus more on the mental state of people and not the guns itself because without a person pulling the trigger the gun is useless.

                This topic will never go away. There will always be people fighting for both sides of this conflict. But what people need to realize is that no gun can be used without a human being behind it and that it is never the guns fault when something horrible happens like it did in Colorado on Friday. 

The Wasting of Hard Earned Money

During the War on Terror in the Middle East the United States has spent billions of dollars to help and supply Iraq with weapons and reinforcements. You would think that all of this money that we have spent to help has gone to good use right? Wrong! According to FOX News, the United States spent almost half a billion dollars on planes to give to the Iraqi Air Forces that were never used. All of these planes are now sitting in a “junk yard” and they are not being used at all. This is a major problem that needs to be resolved so we never waste money like this again.

            This is just another thing that the American Government has wasted money on in the past decade with our tax dollars. The government wastes millions or even billions of dollars to pay for things that we don’t even get to see or use. A few examples of such waste would be Obama’s trips around the world. According to zerohedge.com, the trip for Obama to go to Africa a few months back cost the American tax payers almost 100 million dollars! Also, we have left over 7 billion dollars’ worth of military equipment in Afghanistan alone. This is outrageous, especially when the U.S is in so much debt anyway. We could use that 7.1 billion dollars toward our debt or give it back to the people in some way shape or form. The other sad thing is, is that those two situations of money waste is just the beginning. I bet the United States wasted close to 100 billion dollars a year on things we don’t even need. If we just saved that money over a ten year period or even longer it would help alleviate the pressure on our debt and help our economy.

            The solution to this problem is quite simple (for normal people at least). We either cut all of this unneeded spending or just make the governments, that we gave money to or supplies to, pay it all back. Now I know that the money for the trips are gone forever but we need to get back as much money as possible. With all of the help that we have given Iraq and Afghanistan it would be common courtesy to pay us back the money that we gave to them anyway. American soldiers fought and died for these countries and we deserve some compensation for that.

            People wonder why our economy is so bad right now. First, it’s because none of our politicians can agree on anything and the second reason is because we are spending too much money of things that we just simply do not need. We may not be able to fix the differences between the two sides of Congress but we can all agree that we need to cut back on our spending or else we will be in another depression that could be worse than the first. 

ObamaCare still Lacking

Throughout most of the last half of this calendar year ObamaCare has been the center of attention in politics.  I have written about it before and it has had some major issues that have taken a few months to figure out. But according to FOX News, the top officials who were creating the ObamaCare website knew back in August that there would be delays on the launching of the website. This is a problem because the entire nation didn’t know there was going to be delays until two weeks prior to the launch of the site and it created tons of problems in Washington and around the country.

                It would have been a hundred times better to delay the website before hand and not right before the launch of the health care website. It created havoc and if they wouldn’t have launched it at all there wouldn’t have been any more problems than there are now. One thing that could have made them launch the website was the pressure from other politicians and even the people to get the ObamaCare program up and running. But what good does it do when the website doesn’t even work in the first place? Wouldn’t the White House and the President be happier if they got it right the first time and didn’t have to delay and fix the ailing website? I would think so. But Obama’s ego got in the way again and all it did was hurt him and the entire Democratic party as a whole.

                I am not even a fan of ObamaCare in the first place. So with this delay for the website it just makes me even more disapproving of the entire idea. I cannot even imagine how angry some people are that need health insurance through this plan and can’t get it because of this. All I know is that this entire plan is costing us more than it will give back. The website is costing more than it should and more and more money is being taken out of the pockets of Americans and health care costs are just going to get higher and higher as the government pays for these types of programs.

                All-in-all this entire plan just isn’t going to work out. If our own government who should have the best website designers and tech crew in the world can’t even get up a website than how can we do anything else. The time and money that we have spent on this is too much and it is going to hurt this nation’s economy as the years go on. 

R.I.P Nelson Mandela

According to ESPN, former South African President, Nelson Mandela, died at the age of 95. The former President changed the world on his views of civil rights and has made sports the big thing that has united his country. He also changed the law on Apartheid in the nation of South Africa and became a figure head for equality of blacks and whites.

                Nelson Mandela was a young civil rights activist in the mid 1900’s and spoke against the ruling of the segregated government of Apartheid that South Africa had adopted. Upon being arrested for his outspoken nature he was sentenced to life in prison. He spent his first fifteen to twenty years without much recognition but then people rallied around his wrongful imprisonment and started supporting the anti-Apartheid movement. This received world-wide attention and pressure from the United States and other countries around the world.  And after twenty seven years Nelson Mandela was set to become a free man.

                After getting out of prison Mandela rose through the ranks of South African politics he was elected President of South Africa in 1994. Mandela was stuck with a hard task to reunite his country after all of the fighting over civil rights. But there was one thing that Nelson Mandela believed that united every person no matter who they were. That thing was sports. Nelson’s favorite sport was rugby and it was a huge sport in South Africa, so Mandela pushed to get the 1995 World Cup of Rugby to be held in his own nation. After long months of consideration the country of South Africa was set to host the World Cup. As the games progressed South Africa’s team won round after round to make it to the final and after a couple weeks of competition, the Rugby World Cup was theirs! This entire situation brought the country together. For the first time, whites were riding on buses and cars with blacks and nobody was judging over skin color and there was no fighting. This event is what finally brought the nation together and Mandela had done his job as a President.

                Even though Nelson Mandela only served one term as President of South Africa, his legacy will never be forgotten. He brought South Africa out of the depths to become one of the richest nations in all of Africa. He also brought equality to the nation after he abolished Apartheid. He is said to be one of the greatest men of all-time. It just shows that no matter where you start in life you can always finish on top and that nobody should ever give up on their dreams and aspirations no matter what the case may be.  

Fast Food Workers on Strike

Around the United States, McDonald’s fast food workers are striking over how much that they are paid. The employees are for the Federal Government to raise the minimum wage level to 15 dollars an hour. This is almost double of what they make now. Is it worth it to even give them this money or should it be rejected altogether?

 

            I believe that all of this is complete nonsense! What makes these workers think that they should get paid twice as much as they are making now? Yes, I do understand that nobody should be living in poverty for working full time and I do agree that the minimum wage should be raised slightly but definitely not by more than a couple of dollars. Granted I am a little biased because I work for a little over minimum wage but that isn’t my living. I’m in high school I really shouldn’t be getting paid any more than that in the first place. I do understand that these people need to live off this money that they making$15,000 a year, sadly, is definitely not going to get you far in the United States. Maybe if minimum wage was raised slightly from $7.25 an hour to $9.50 or $10.00 an hour they could consider it. But what the workers are asking for is way too much and most people who do make over minimum wage don’t even get close to $15.00 an hour.

 

            Democratic Congressman, Keith Ellision, supports the idea that these workers should be getting paid more, he supports the cause by saying that, “In the richest country in the world, no one working full time should be living in poverty.” This is 100% accurate. Like I said before, nobody can live comfortably while only making $15,000, it just can’t happen and it does need to be addressed by the American government.

 

            With some Senators and House Representative supporting this idea of a higher payment maybe these fast-food workers will be heard for the first time. This could maybe get into Congress and approved to make these workers happy in the long run. But in my opinion, I do not think that any of these workers have a shot of even getting close to the amount that they are looking for. They will be lucky to even be heard let alone get this passed into law. And even if it is passed somehow by Congress, food prices would go up for customers at these restaurants and jobs could even be lost because companies won’t be able to afford it if the minimum wage doubles in the near future.

More Help for Iraq?

The Iraqi Prime Minister has officially asked President Obama for more military aid (FOX News). This is after there have been several attacks recently over in that area. But is it worth it to give Iraq any more aid after we have already given so much to that nation?

The United States has given almost 1trillion dollars to the Iraqi government and thousands of troops. Ever since America has been fighting terrorists with Iraq, 4500 troops have been killed in over ten years of fighting. And ever since thousands of troops have been brought home there has been a rise in bombings and terrorist acts. So who knows, maybe it is right for us to help them a bit more. But in my eyes it's not worth it for us to spend more money when it seems like we are not getting anything in return.

The way I see it is if we won't give military aid to Syria, who has had more problems lately than Iraq, than we shouldn't help anybody right now. I think that we have done our part in Iraq and I think that they should become more independent and use the training that we gave them to control their people. Also it seems like no matter how much time and effort that we give to Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries it will EVER change. Sadly it is the truth and there will never be a perfect formula to create peace in that area of the world.

So no, I do not believe that giving Iraq more help will benefit us in any way. It will just hurt our economy even more and possibly risk more lives. We've already done a ton to help Iraq and there's nothing more that we could do to help them anymore. There is also more risk because they could always turn on us with our own weapons which would just lead to more problems.

Obama's Wrong's and Rights

With everything that has been going on in the American government it seems like nothing could go right. Five years of stagnation and no progress under President Obama has led not only the people of the U.S being wary but also other countries have questioned the credibility of the Untied States. So the question is what has President Obama done during his Presidency that has helped this nation?

Now don't get me wrong. Not everything that is wrong with the American government is Barack Obama's fault. It doesn't help that both the Democrats and Republicans can never get along and get important issues sorted out, but as President they have to take responsibility for those actions. But what has Obama done during his presidency that has helped America? Well he did, for the most part end the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. This in the long run will save the U.S billions of dollars and thousands of lives. Even though there is still huge problems in the Middle East, the United States has done its part in trying to get that part of the world under control. Also, he did take out the leader of  Al-Qaeda, Usama Bin Laden. This severely hurt the organization that led to all of these terror problems in the first place. It also boosted national morale and created a sense of nationalism. In my eyes these are the only main good things that Obama has done throughout with five years as president.

Next is all of the things that Obama has done that haven't  been so beneficial to the United States. Ever since he took office the national debt has risen over sixty percent or 7 trillion dollars (FOX News). This is an astounding number that looks like something we could never recover from anytime soon. The biggest, most controversial issues during Obama's presidency is ObamaCare. This health care plan will lead to Americans paying higher deductibles and premiums for health insurance so others can get health insurance at a cheaper cost. If people don't sign up for it by early 2014 they will be given a fine. This to me sounds kind of like a socialist ideal. The last main thing that I think has hindered the growth of America is the unemployment benefits that have been given out. With the government giving out money to unemployed civilians it leads to some people only relying on those benefits. With this income people don't feel the need to go out and find a job. This just leads to job growth staying stagnant and the American economy not growing as much as it could.

America Caugt in a Lie

In the last couple of weeks ObamaCare has been in a downward spiral. Its website is a complete mess and the American people have been in a backlash over the expiration date of signing up for ObamaCare. Even President Obama’s own political party, the Democrats, are turning against him because of all of the delays for people to buy health insurance through this law. Now, people who have had insurance and want to keep their plans are getting notices saying that their plans will be cancelled in a short period of time (FOX News). This is just another problem that is hindering President Obama and America and it is going to lead to more backlash in the end.

 

            President Obama promised Americans that whoever had health insurance before his health care plan came into effect and did not want to get on the ObamaCare Health Care Plan in the first place. Well, as of right now it was all of a lie. Millions got notices in the mail telling them that their health insurance plans will be cancelled because of the new ObamaCare regulations. This is after Obama had promised for so long that they could keep their plan if they wanted to. This is just another thing that our government doesn’t need to deal with right now. We already have big enough problems and now, because of Obama, our problems just keep getting worse. ObamaCare is what got President Obama elected in the first place because it seemed like a good idea for people who didn’t have health insurance. Now all it is becoming is a huge nightmare for the entire country. With our high debt, international problems, and now problems with ObamaCare it seems like he is somewhat failing at his job of being President of the United States.

           

            There has been some speculation saying that there is a bill trying to be passed through Congress that would allow these people to keep their normal health insurance plan. But who knows how long that will take. It might be too late and they all will be cancelled. Democrat, Mary Landrieu, is the person who set up this bill for the people. President Obama made a promise to the American people and Mary said that, “The promise was made and should be kept.” This just shows how bad this is really getting. Even the Presidents own party is turning against him. It seems like nobody right now is on Barack Obama’s side.

 

            This is not how a country should be run. Everybody should be on the side of the national leader and if nobody is then what is there for a nation to believe in? With no trust it just turns into a boxing match with no winner. Everybody blames the other side and it never turns out good. I know I am not the only one sick and tired of these people, who we voted in ourselves, taking advantage of us. It shouldn’t be like this and it should have never gone this far. But sadly it has and nobody knows if the United States will be able to recover anytime soon.

Obama's Downfall

There has been a lot of chaos and problems in Washington D.C in the last couple months. With the government shutdown, ObamaCare issues, and the National Security Agency’s scandal, it seems like everything is going downhill for the once extremely powerful, United States of America. Could this be it for President Obama? Can he do anything more to try to get everything under control? No body truly knows if he can survive such problems that the United States is having.

                With his health care plan being under fire ever since he came into office it seems like everybody is against him. With the ObamaCare website being a bust so far, it seems like none of this can be fixed, at least for the time being. There have been proposals to delay the ObamaCare plan and website an entire year so everything can be smoothed out properly and the government can fix all of the existing problems. But it seems like it won’t be approved. President Obama is setting up his own program up for failure by not delaying this process. This is just hurting himself even more and could lead to not just his downfall but to the entire Democratic party’s downfall as well.

                Another thing hindering President Obama’s presidency is the spying allegations made against the NSA and the United States Government. According to CNN, President Obama may have known about the invasion of privacy on our own allies, like Germany, and even “OK’d” the entire operation. This might be the one thing that leads to trust issues not just by other countries but by the people of the U.S. If our own allies cannot even trust the U.S government why should their own people? This is just the thing that could lead to the downfall of the President. It wasn’t surprising that the NSA did something like this but when our own President is okay with those types of action, we should all be a little worried.

                   All-in-all the second term of Barack Obama is going to be a mess and it’s already starting to seem like a mess and he’s not even done with his first year. Granted, it may not be his entire fault but as the Commander-in-Chief you have to take responsibility for your nations actions and there should be no excuses. So who knows, maybe this will just lead to an entire upheaval and “remodeling” of our entire government system. In my opinion it needs to be cleaned up and there needs to be people in Congress that can actually get something done and actually help America prosper like it has before.

Germany Accuses America of Spying

Allegations by the German Government show that United States Intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's of Germany’s cellphone. This is just after there were allegations that the National Security Agency was spying on American citizens through their phone and emails. This is just another thing where we could lose trust of another ally and that could just lead to more and more problems over time.

 

            Here we go again. Another scandal that will be denied and denied by the American government. Who knows maybe we were spying on her phone but there are many more questions than if they really did bug her cellphone. Why would they do such a thing? Is there suspicion of something vital going on in the country of Germany? These are some things that need to be asked during this investigation. Through all of the troubles that the United States has gone through over these last couple of weeks, it doesn’t seem possible that we could or would do something like this. But who knows. It never surprises me when these types of stories come up in the news. What people do not realize is that this probably happens all of the time. We just don’t hear about it every day like with this story. And America is definitely not the only one doing this to other nations.

 

            The reason we are hearing about this in the news is because Germany and the United States are allies. With this it just creates tension with a country that we don’t need. If this did happen what was the reason? There had to be one. According to Fox News, one official from Germany said, “One official said this kind of treatment usually is reserved for Syria and Iran.” This is very true. You would expect this type of behavior in more corrupt nations like Iran and Syria but like I said earlier it happens everywhere all around the world. This is nothing new!

 

            With the United States being under so much pressure not only from other countries but from their own people, the United States doesn’t need a new conflict with another country. Especially with an ally like Germany. We don’t need another fight and more conflict that could hurt the credibility of the United States any more than it already is. It doesn’t make any sense why the CIA or FBI would do something like this but if they did they better have one hell of a good answer and reason for doing such a thing.

           

 

The Downfall of ObamaCare

As most of us know, the ObamaCare website has been a problematic situation across the country for many Americans. I have also written quite a bit on this specific topic. These problems that should have been fixed before the website came out is becoming more of a problem than they should be and it is getting really old. Now that all of this has happened people have started to turn on the somewhat popular website and it could just lead to more problems down the road.

           

            According to Fox News, the downfall of the ObamaCare website has led to some Democrats turning on the entire idea in the first place. Before, there was deadline that American citizens meet to sign up for health insurance. This was highly supported by mostly all of the Democrats until now. Now, the same Democrats who supported Obama Care and wanted to keep the deadline the same are turning on the idea and agreeing with the Republicans (yeah, I know it sounds scary). They are now looking for a delay on the deadline to sign up for health insurance because the website is just not working and might not be fully functional until the deadline is upon all of us.

 

            A recent poll done by Fox News said that “57 percent of respondents said all of ObamaCare should be delayed for a year until more details are ironed out.” This is a huge turn of events from just a week ago when it seemed like all of the Democrats were on board with the recent obligations. This is not good for President Obama at all. The President already has to deal with the Republicans telling him that he is wrong but now he has people of his own party agreeing with the other side. Could this be the boiling point for ObamaCare? This could just make things much more complicated in the long run and make things even more chaotic than they are now.

 

            If there is another delay on when people can sign up for health insurance this is just going to push back the problem even farther. The United States has some of the smartest people in all of the world! How can we do some of the hardest things possible but not set up a website for health insurance? It just baffles me! It makes no sense why we cannot get a website set up without there being problems. It is just a problem that we should never have to deal with and it’s just hurting more and more the longer that we push off time and time again. So until we actually do something about this problem, it seems like this entire thing is going to fall apart right in front of our own eyes.  

Pakistani-United States Relations

According to Fox News, the United States has agreed to give money again to Pakistan. This is after Pakistan and United States affairs had broken down over the last couple of years. With the new budget just being voted into action and with our debt still rising is it really worth it to give Pakistan money in the first place?

It is said that the U.S will, again, give Pakistan 1.6 billion dollars over the upcoming months for military and economic aid. This is a lot of money to give to a nation that we have had estranged relations with over the last couple years. With the killing of Usama Bin Laden, who was thought to be helped by the Pakistani government, and with U.S drone attacks against Pakistani troops , the relationship between the two countries have been tense and uptight. The relationship between Pakistan and the United States in not fully mended either. This money we were going to give them was going to be “under the table” I guess you could say. This is because Pakistan doesn’t want to become dependent on other allied nations to bail them out of their economic and military affairs, even though the United States has been doing that exact thing ever since the War on Terror in the Middle East began in the early 2000’s.

I wouldn’t say that Pakistan is an “enemy” per say but I don’t see them as necessarily as “friend” either. Relations have been tight and I do not get why we are sending money over to them to help when the relationship is still somewhat heated. Another thing is that America is supposed to be out of the Middle East for the most part. And even though we say we are out of the war in the Middle East, giving money to Middle Eastern countries pretty much keeps us in the action until we decide it’s not worth it to fight anymore. There will never be peace in the Middle East, that’s just how it’s going to be, but the U.S doesn’t need to get in the middle of everything to try to create peace because it will NEVER happen.

With America still in debt, I don’t see the need to give money to a country that we have had an estranged relationship with over the last couple years. Also, if the country is not in danger of a nuclear threat, a dictator, or any other major problem, the United States should just stay out of it and keep to ourselves or we will just be in another war, a war that this country does not need. 

Rising Debt

Now that the Federal Government can borrow money again our debt is starting to soar once again. With the debt being at almost 17 trillion dollars, it looks like no plan is set to try to lower the nation’s debt anytime soon. This could lead to even more problems and just add to the one America has now.

 

            President Obama has rose the national debt ceiling six times since taking office in 2008. Since his time in office, the debt has rose over 7 trillion dollars, according to FOX News. This is a startling number and is just something else that has tainted President Obama’s legacy as President of the United States. The Republicans have been trying to push for budget cuts to try to get the nation’s debt and deficit under control. “The deficit is getting smaller, not bigger,” President Obama has said. Even though this is true our national debt has rose over sixty percent during the tenure of Barrack Obama’s presidency (FOX News). Even though the debt counter in New York is saying 16.7 trillion dollars the National Treasury has racked up an astounding 200 billion dollar debt over the years. So in real talk, the national debt is at 16.9 billion dollars and is only rising.

 

            Even though the deficit is projected to go back down over the next couple of year, it is also projected to go back up over time. This is because of high interest rates from our loans and entitlement programs (FOX News). So yes, President Obama is right that the deficit is going down but because the United States is not paying back the debt it will just go right back up after a few years of going down. Until there is a plan to cut billions or trillions of money over a short amount of time the deficit and debt will continue to rise at a very high rate. All of these problems hurt the credibility of the United States and hurts our economy, which it already has. And because the Democrats are such big spenders, they will not agree to a long term deal to cut the debt and deficit over time.

 

            This entire situation could have been avoided somewhat if we were just responsible with our money. We spend our money on some pointless things like unemployment benefits and other programs that could either be changed or entirely cut out of our budget deal. Not only would it save us money but it would make people go out and get a job to help boost our economy rather than just draining our capital and hurting the government in the long run. With compromise these issues could be fixed but until then this problem will follow us for years or even decades if these issues aren’t resolved.

New Budget Agreement

Finally, after sixteen days of stalemate between the Democrats and Republicans over the nation’s budget and debt ceiling problems, they all have agreed to a deal that will only solve these problems temporarily. According to FOX News, the new budget deal only last until early 2014 and the debt ceiling will run out a few weeks after that. Even though this last-minute deal was struck between the two sides the problem is not going disappear overnight.

 

The deal that President Obama signed yesterday funds the government until January 15th and the he rose the debt ceiling until February 7^th. After these dates, who knows what might happen. With the Republicans and Democrats never being able to agree on simple American issues they might never be able to agree on the terms for our national budget. This is becoming an annual problem that seems like it will never end and sadly the fighting will probably never stop between these two very different sides. The Republicans slammed Obama over the government shutdown because they said he refused to negotiate any issues.

 

This deal was just agreed to on Wednesday and it all seems like everything is solved and everything is working again, right? Wrong! Yes, it does open back up the government and thousands of people can go back to work, but the damage is already done. Also, President Obama said that there, “were no winners” from the budget argument and that the “spectacle” hurt the United States economy and credibility (FOX News). This deal pretty much stalls this entire process and we will probably be in the same situation here in January of 2014. This entire government shutdown happened only for them to “compromise”, I guess you could say, and just push back the problem even farther. So again we could be hearing about this in a couple months and Congress might not make any progress in between now and when the debt ceiling and budget runs out.

 

Obama mostly got what he wanted. His Obama Care bill passed and I guess you could say that the Democrats won the argument of who got what. In my eyes, the Republicans were the ones to pull their big boy pants up and get the deal done. With no major compromise between the two sides the Republicans finally gave in and gave the Democrats what they were “whining” for in the first place. If they hadn’t done this we would still be in that crisis and who knows when this entire thing would’ve ended. But up until January and February we can all take a deep breath and relax, but not for long because all of this could happen and we would all have a Déjà vu of what happened this time. And sadly, nobody can see the end of this road of fighting and arguments. I think that nothing will get done until we vote in some people who will actually get the job done and not just sit around and wait for one side to cave.

 

America Heading Towards Default

If the debt ceiling is not raised by Congress in the next week or so the United States Government will go into default or bankruptcy. This practically means that the United States will have no money and we will not be able to pay back debt or spend money because we will virtually have no money to do any of this with. This is just another issue that the government shutdown has brought upon the entire nation.
 

In my opinion it might actually be a good thing if America goes into default and we won’t have any money to do anything with. It gives Congress and President Obama a chance to get all of their priorities straight to make sure we get back on track. The downside about all of this is we will not be able to pay back debt that we owe to other countries especially China. This could all lead to back lash from these countries and who knows what they could do, if anything, to retaliate for not getting paid. Those countries might benefit even more because we would have to borrow more money over time to get America back on track if all of this goes through.

            This entire government shutdown and default scare could all lead to a trust issue that is already there to some extent. And in the 2014 and 2016 elections for new Congressmen and a new president it could all lead to a total overhaul of all three branches. It is not clear who is directly “winning” this battle over the national budget and it’s not evident if anybody is winning at all. All I know is that if we don’t get these issues resolved through compromise this could be a stressful and bad couple of months or years for all of us if this isn’t all settled in a timely manner.

 

ObamaCare Website and other issues

Ever since last week, people could go to the ObamaCare website and sign up for cheap and quick health insurance. But with all of the people going to the website, it has glitched up and most people have not been able to access the website. This is a big deal because if people don’t sign up for health insurance by March 21, 2014, they will be fined for not doing so. The Speaker of the House, John Boehner, who is the Republican leader, has said, “How can we tax people for not buying a product from a website that doesn't work?" This is true and this could lead to backlash from people who get fined if this website isn’t up and running smoothly by early 2014.

 

                This is just another thing that has probably helped the Republicans during this Government Shutdown. The website, which has been deemed a, "train wreck,” by most critics, is just another thing that is helping Republicans and hurting the Democrats. Also, this health care website has gone from costing $93 million to $634 million dollars, according to Fox News. President Obama’s approval rating has dipped to an all-time low of 37% and this makes it seem like most people have lost faith in President Obama. And his entire ObamaCare plan isn’t go as plan which is mostly his entire campaign idea during his first term as President and through the early months of his second term.

 

            With this being said, Obama is hurting big time. With all of these things going wrong it’s no wonder why he has gotten so grey over his tenure as President of the United States. Don’t get me wrong it is an incredibly demanding and hard job but as President, you have to take control and make sure that everything stays in line and doesn’t get out of hand. And none of this is getting any better due to this Government Shutdown and his glitched up website that has come back to cost America more money that what it is really worth. The question is, is all of this really worth it? For all of this trouble with his health care plan is all of the money we are spending to fun it really worth the time and money in the long run? This answer will be answered hopefully soon and all of this will be figured out to make sure that this nation gets back to where it was before all of this took place.

What is Politics?

In this blog, politics is the major topic that I have been writing about since I started it. But the real question is, what is politics? Yeah, it is the government and the people that run it but how does it affect our everyday lives? It is how people view different issues of a nation and how those issues are resolved. This post will tell you how this all leads into a normal person’s lives and what the term “politics” actually means.

 

            The proper definition of the word politics is, “the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.” This is a fairly good definition but what does this all mean to you? I think the main line in this definition is the part where it says that certain people or parties hope and look for power and how those people or parties have issues or conflicts with each other. This is very evident today. You have the Democrats and Republicans, who are always fighting for the upper hand in Congress. They do this because whichever party has the most representatives in Congress, the more power or control they have. And with more power and control, each party can do what they want and what they think is best for the nation.

           

            Politics is one of those things that will always lead to conflict. Everybody is going to have their own opinion about some things and when two people have different ideas on a subject it will always lead to conflict. That’s how it is today and it will always be like this until there is no more government. This is happening right now in Washington D.C over the budget and debt ceiling. Both the Republicans and Democrats have two different plans for the United States to go and they always clash. This is what makes politics and democracy so interesting. Yes, we vote these Congressmen and women in for the better of the people, or so we think, and it always leads to conflict, no matter what the situation may be. It would be so much better if there were no political parties that existed. It would stop some conflict and make the Congressmen and women go in favor of something they would like themselves and not just favor it because the entire party approved it. Here’s an example, let’s say that there is going to be a vote for the national budget plan today. If there were no parties it would make the people think for themselves instead of just going with what others are doing and saying.

 

            Politics affects everyday life for most people, not just here in the United States, but around the world. Government officials are always trying to persuade people to come their side and join them and they always try to convince you why their ideas and actions are better than the others. Just watch television before a big election, all of the commercials will be about, who is better for the job in the Senate or why these people shouldn’t be elected for the Presidency. It’s a huge rollercoaster that never ends and it always leads to conflicts one way or another no matter what happens

Veterans over run Barricades at WWII Memorial

             Since the Government shutdown took place earlier last week all federally funded parks, museums, and monuments had been shut down. This includes the WWII Memorial in Washington D.C. But Government shutdown didn’t stop over ninety veterans from Mississippi from crossing the barricades to see the cherished memorial. This is a very hear-warming story and is something different from what we have been hearing over the last couple of months. But the spin on this story is that congressmen from the House and Senate were there to greet the veterans at the memorial. This makes me kind of mad because those congressmen could be at the House or Senate trying to open back up all of these monuments and museums so nobody has to break down any barricades to see something that they have the right to see.

                This all ties back to some of my other blog posts about how central minded these congressmen are. Instead of trying to be the solution they are being apart of the problem. They shouldn’t be at the memorials that are shutdown, greeting guests that walk by, they should be in the Capital Building coming up with a plan to open back up these monuments. These veterans fought for these rights to see their name in the memorial. They fought for our freedom and nothing should be able to stop them from seeing what they successfully fought for. They are the reason that we are free today and not even a government shutdown should take that away from them.

                Also, the Statue of Liberty was shutdown obviously because it is a national monument. Isn’t the Statue of Liberty supposed to show the freedom of our nation as a whole? With the shutdown, it is kind of taking away that right in some way shape and form and it’s just not right. So instead of congressmen being there greeting people, why don’t they actually go and walk the walk, not just talk the talk.  

Greedy "Winner's" in Congress

                Earlier this week, an unknown White House representative said the Democrats believe that they are “winning” in the fight over the budget and Obama Care, which has led to the first government shutdown in almost twenty years. This is a bold statement that could get the Democratic group criticized over time. What this White House representative is particularly saying is that it is mostly or entirely the Republicans fault for the government shutdown. They say this because in previous polls people were to pick which party they would rather have, Democrats and Republicans. According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 43% of people chose Democrats and 34% chose Republicans. This is where the Democratic Party believes they are winning this fight.  

                 But the one question the Democrats really need to ask themselves is; is anybody really winning during this government shutdown? To me this is a very cocky approach that could come back to bite them in the long run. Even though they think they are winning, in reality, absolutely nobody is gaining anything from this shutdown. Hundreds of thousands are off of work, not being paid, national attractions that draw millions of dollars a year are shut down, and still the congressman are still being paid for really doing nothing but fight over something  that should be somewhat of a quick fix. This entire situation is like two brothers or sisters fighting over a piece of cake or candy. Both sides want more or what they can’t get and it’s hurting the entire nation. I guarantee that if the congressmen and women were not getting paid right now, they would have already had a solution written up. This is how greedy they really are.

                 Another sad thing about this entire situation is that they are not even trying to come to an agreement. An example would be that Congress took a three day weekend instead of sitting down and getting things done. This just shows how much these people, who we voted in ourselves, really care. They don’t have to live check to check like some of the families have to while they cannot work because of this shutdown. It seems like all they care about is themselves and their own well-being.  And all it is doing is making this entire situation worst as time goes on. So next time the Democrats or Republicans think they are “winning” this battle, they need to look at the bigger picture and think who is really losing and hurting from this situation.  

  

             

Government Shutdown Cont.

It is official, the United States Government has shut down after both Democrats and Republicans couldn’t come to an agreement over a National Budget for the United States. And until this gets settled, which nobody knows when it will, all federally run programs like the Smithsonian and all National Parks will be shut down until there is an agreement. Since this has happened, 800,000 federal workers will be staying home without pay and they could be home for quite some time.

 

            What’s worst about this is that even though those 800,000 workers will not be getting paid over this period of time the congressman, who get paid from our tax dollars and is the main problem in this dispute, are still getting paid. This just shows that these men and women are taking the American people hostage during the shutdown and not doing anything to solve this problem. Even though that I am a republican supporter both sides are to blame for this dumb and stupid situation. We should never be in this situation where even our own government, who the people have voted in themselves, can’t even agree on a national budget to keep this nation going. Also, due to no budget being passed Obama Care has taken affect. This means that all Americans must apply for health insurance by March 31^st or they will be fined for not doing so.

 

            This is what’s holding Congress back. Republicans want the Obama Care act to not be in the new budget and the Democrats will not compromise with them in order for both sides to agree on a budget. And even better yet the United States will go into default (bankruptcy) if the debt ceiling or the amount that the country can borrow will go up! This is all just a bad situation for everybody and nobody truly wins in the end. And who is the only one who can raise the debt ceiling? You guessed right, the House and Senate! So until these issues are resolved nothing will get done and our nation could be in great jeopardy.

           

            All the people want is for the nation to run smoothly and as problem free as possible. It’s either the stubborn or greedy Congressman come to an agreement or the United States will lose money over time. And even though the United States Government has shut down multiple times over the past forty years this may be the one that can really damage the great reputation the U.S has. The people were already sick and tired of how the government was running and this never helps. The only way anybody would be happy about this is if schools were federally funded and all of the school would have to shut down until this is all resolved. Sadly, that is not the case so nobody really wins in this situation or is happy at all.

The NSA Scandal

Ever since the terrorist attacks on the two World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001 national security has completely changed. Instead of just walking through the check-in gates at the airport, a person now must go through a series of searches to make sure something like 9/11 never happens again. Most people understand this precaution but over the years the United States National Security Agency or NSA might have gone a bit too far. The NSA is accused of spying on phone calls and emails of people who they think were a threat to national security. The only problem about this is that the National Security Agency was spying on innocent Americans that were not a threat to American National Security

Even though the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York City happened and the need for more security was necessary, the constitution has NOT changed. The NSA has violated the constitutional right for people to be as private as they would like without the interference from the government. And the only way that they should be searched or spied on is if the government has reasonable doubt that that particular person is a major threat to the American people. For all we know the government is turning into a Big Brother government that is watching our every move and hearing everything we say. We might never know but this is very concerning for the people. 

If the people are not confident that the government is protecting them the right way and not putting their nose in the middle of everything then what is the point of even having a Constitution to protect our own rights. I do understand that if there is a certain person or group that the government and the NSA thinks is a threat to the American people and the country that they should do whatever it takes to make sure that we the people are protected, even if it means spying on them. But if a person is being listened to and is not an accessory to a crime or threat then they should be left alone. This all just leads to trust issues between American citizens and the U.S government. Nobody wants to have to look over their shoulder all of the time to make sure someone is listening or following them. We all need to feel safe and if these NSA allegations are completely true they need to stop right away to make sure they do not lose the trust of the people as a whole.  

Is President Obama's second term going to be a Lame Duck session?

Is Obama’s second term as President of the United States going to be a Lame Duck session for him over these next three to four years? With the House of Representatives and the Senate being split between Republicans and Democrats, the chance for any substantial progress in the nation’s economy and other issues are very limited. This may lead to nothing really changing over the next three years and for no progress to really be made in Congress.

         

 Normally, Lame Ducks happen in Congress when a congressman is in the in-between period of being replaced by another congressman who has beaten him in an election. Not many things are dealt with and it’s a down period before the new congressmen take their position in the House or the Senate. Now, just one year after beating Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential Campaign, President Obama is in a position to become a Lame Duck President until he is replaced in 2016.

         

 What is keeping Obama from actually getting things done in Congress? Well, it’s this simple, the two sides in Congress can never agree on anything. The House is run by the Republicans and the Senate by the Democrats and without them agreeing on certain issues that concern the United States nothing will get done. This puts President Obama in a bad situation and he becomes the “neutral” side of things. Even though he is a Democrat he has to work with the Republicans across the aisle to get things done. Instead, the two parts are so far apart in their views that it seems like nothing at all can get done. Even though they can’t agree and get along, Maureen Dowd says to the New York Times, that it’s   "Actually, it is [Obama's] job to get them to behave." It is Obama’s job as President of the United States of America to make sure the two sides come together and compromise even if they are very far apart in their ideas.

         

 In other words, President Obama is putting this on himself. Yes, it would be easier if both the House and Senate were controlled by all Democrats and Republicans, but that simply is not the case. Unless Obama and his colleagues can make both the Democrats and Republicans cross the aisle and actually agree to terms on major issues that we face here in America nothing will get done and President Obama’s second term as President of the United States will be a Lame Duck term and just make things worse for Congress and the people.

 

 

-  Click on, Lame Duck Presidency, for more details on this topic

 

Obama Care

With the new budget trying to be passed in the House of Representatives and Senate, the biggest thing keeping the Democrats and Republicans apart is the highly debated topic of Obama Care or the Health Care Reform plan that President Obama has been using as the nation’s health care plan over his tenure as President of the United States.  With this plan, it will not only hurt the American economy but also the average middle class citizen in the U.S.

You may ask, what is this plan called, Obama Care? This act was signed into action in 2010. It tries to supply all people of the United States with affordable health insurance to help with any health issues they might have. Even though this sounds like a good thing for the United States and its people it actually has big problems. The first problem is that people who already have health insurance have to pay a higher premium and payment whenever they go to the hospital. Instead of paying just one hundred dollars a visit to the emergency room or hospital it has been raised almost fifty dollars over the last few years under Obama. This might not seem like a lot of money in this day and age but if a person goes to the hospital a few times a year the money really starts to add up.

 Another problem about Obama Care is that businesses have to give health benefits to any employees working more than forty hours a week. With this being said companies have been limiting their employees to fewer hours so they do not have to give them full health benefits thus saving money for the company. Even though it benefits the company itself, it hurts the economy. With fewer hours given to middle and lower class workers the less money they have to spend of items they need to live and want to have. This leads to less money in the American economy and hurts it in the long run. Third, it costs a lot of money for the government to even fund this health care plan. This plan calls for 1.1 trillion dollars in funding over the next ten years. This will just add to our debt and deficit over these years and just be another factor in the decline of the American economy.

Even though there is a need for more people to have health insurance in the United States the cost of this bill is just way too high for the already rising debt. There has to be another way for the government to be quick and efficient in finding another way in funding a health care plan. And if this doesn't happen soon it could hurt the entire United States of America not only now but in the future as well. 

 

Another Government Shutdown

        In a little over a week from now, the American Government is set to shut down if Congress does not agree to another budget for our nation. Now you may ask what does this mean? It means that everything like national parks, museums and monuments, that are funded by the national government, will be shut down and won't be able to be visited by the people. Why is this happening? It's happening because the Republicans, who run the House, and the Democrats, who run the Senate, can't agree on a Federal Budget to fund the American Government.              
             
         This has happened several times over the past four to five years and I'm sorry to say that this will happen as long as Congress is split between Republicans and Democrats and also with a Democratic president in Barack Obama. With the Republicans wanting spending cuts not only on general spending but ObamaCare as well. Democrats want to reduce the deficit but fund Obama's health care plan.
 
         Even though the two sides probably won't reach an agreement in time they will most likely come to terms soon to keep the nation running as long as it can. The only thing is, is that it will only keep it running for a short period of time. And if you ask me, it might be a good thing for a government shutdown to take place. National parks and such might be closed but it will save the government some money, and with the national debt already at 15 trillion and counting, saving some money won't hurt. And until the President, House and Senate are all either Democrat or Republican, nothing will get done because they are so far apart ideologically. So until 2016 when a new president and a new Congress is elected it's going to be a lame duck season for the entire United Stares of America.

Second Amendment Rights in America

Another horrific tragedy struck the United States in the Washington D.C area on Monday. According to Fox News, Aaron Alexis, an American veteran, entered the Washington D.C Navy Yard and shot and killed twelve people and was killed during this rampage. Because of this, I feel it’s appropriate to talk about gun laws and how it could affect us in the long run.

 

 Ever since the Second Amendment was passed during the original Bill of Rights, Americans have been able to own and carry guns with them. But with nineteen mass shootings over the past four years, some Americans, Congressman and even Barack Obama have considered making stricter laws on gun ownership and have tried to pass laws to get stricter background checks on people wanting to buy guns. As I do agree with the attempt for stricter background checks, I do not agree with Congress trying to “change” our Second Amendment freedoms of owning and carrying a gun. Another thing is that not only is this unconstitutional but wrong to tamper with something that we can never really control. It’s not the gun’s fault for pulling the trigger and killing or harming innocent people, it’s the person’s fault. It’s like saying that pencils misspell words or spoons make people fat! It’s not the objects fault it’s OUR own fault for these types of actions that can be stopped and we need to look at ourselves before the guns.

 

 As long as these weapons are used by a human being and not moving and shooting by themselves we need to look at who’s the real problem. We need to spend more time helping these people who have mental disabilities and sicknesses rather than blaming it all on the firearm itself. With more veterans than ever before PTSD is becoming very common. This can lead to traumatic mental issues that can lead to something like what happened in Washington D.C. The shooter who killed twelve people in Washington D.C had symptoms of PTSD, which could have led to what had happened on Monday. We need to get these people help for their problems and needs, to make sure these types of things don’t happened as often and even better not happen at all! So remember next time you’re hunting or just on the range shooting you’re gun that you’re the one pulling the trigger and whatever a person does with that is his or hers responsibility not the weapons.

 

 

The World's "Cop" aka the United States

Over the past two to three years the Syrian Government has been in a Civil War with the rebels over freedom and rights. The rebels are trying to overthrow the person they voted into office a few years earlier, President Bashar al-Assad. With the uprising of the Syrian Civil War and the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad the United States is put in another tough position on whether we should take military action against President al-Assad and his regime.

 

 The only problem about this is that NOBODY else will take action unless the United States jumps right in. France has said they will get in the fight only is the United States takes action and England doesn’t agree with getting involved at all. This is just another situation where the United States must be the world’s “cop”. It always seems as if the U.S must jump into every conflict that happens overseas and there is never really any reason for us to get involved. Yes, it’s terrible that the Syrian Army is killing innocent people but why do we have to be the guys to go in and resolve their issues? With our debt already and with the Iraqi war coming to an end, there is no reason to go in unless it threatens the likelihood of the American people. Also, even if Congress denies the attack on Syria, President Obama still has the right to attack on his own behalf being that he is the Commander-in-Chief. Not only is this wrong but immoral. The entire fate of this attack really depends on one man and that man is Barack Obama. It will just deepen our debt crisis and may even put the American people at risk for danger.

 

                With this said there has been some resolutions thought about by not only the United States but also the Russians. Russia has said that there’s a chance that Syria will hand over all of its chemical weapons to the U.N thus hopefully ending all of the chaos and killing of innocent men, women, and children. But can we really trust the Russians?

 

The reason I say this is because there has been some tension between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even though this is for the good of the world, are they only trying to pull a quick on the United States and the world to make them look better and more “powerful and influential”. The only thing I can say is we all have to sit on the edge of our seats waiting to see what happens. Will Syria follow through with handing over their chemical weapons? Will Congress reject or approve the attack on Syria? And the biggest question there might be is how long it will take before all of this settles down? One month? Six months? A year? Time will tell and hopefully this all gets sorted out in a timely manner and this all gets resolved as quick and clean as possible.