Short Writing Assignment #4: Blog 4

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/17/liberal.wishlist.ap/index.html

With the recent Democratic takeover there have been a lot of happy faces floating around. Most of those happy faces belong to people from liberal groups who now see hope. These groups range from feminists to gay-rights to abortion rights. With the change in power they are hoping to have their proposals considered, however, they are not going to push. Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign said, "What we've got is a new and respectful Congress that's open to our community." With the new change of power all the issues that Democrats support are now going be given serious consideration. Gay-rights groups want congress to get rid of the "don't as, don't tell" policy. Pro-choice groups want to ensure that sexual education classes are giving accurate information on contraceptives. There are going to be some serious changes facing our nation within the next few years and because Democrats are in control, all these changes are extremely possible. Although with these changes they cannot take away our freedom of speech, or can they? According to Reverend Louis Sheldon "All Americans must be prepared to endure serious threats to their freedom of speech."

Short Writing Assignment #4: Blog 3

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/20/rangel.draft/index.html

Representative Charles Rangel announced that he would introduce legislation reinstating the draft. "A draft would help keep America prepared for potential future action in Iraq, North Korea and Iran" Rangel Said. Being prepared for Iran and North Korea is understandable considering they are potential threats, but to say it would keep us prepared for future action in Iraq is odd considering the Democrats position on the Iraq war. When Democrats came into power it was assumed that ending the Iraq war would be their first big task. But according to Rangel it seems they may be thinking of keeping our troops over there, or worse, sending more troops over. Luckily, Pelosi has stated that she would not support Rangel's proposal to reinstate the draft. It is understandable to think about reinstating the draft because with the majority of our ground troops are in Iraq, many are coming home and then being sent back over at least once. However, that is what they signed up for. Reinstating that draft would only cause resentment from American citizens. Rangel’s been pushing to reinstate that draft for a while. It seems that he is going to have to continue pushing.

Short Writing Assignment #4: Blog 2

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15802130/

With election news dying down politicians are returning to their old ways: pointing fingers and playing the blame game. This blame game all revolves around one key issue; one that played a big part in the Republicans being dismissed from both house and senate: the war in Iraq. "Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq,” said Henry Kissinger. Is he right? As the death toll increases victory seems to be nowhere in sight. Supporting the Iraq war was something many did when the war began, but years later the need for this war to end is overwhelming. Kissinger said, "If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country ... I don't believe that is possible." If our troops leave things will get worse, but by us staying there things will only continue to get worse. The only obvious way to handle this is to pull out, set a time period, and have our troops out by the deadline. Hopefully with the shift in power we will be seeing troop reduction in the near future.

Short Writing Assignment #4: Blog 1

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/16/congress.leaders.ap/index.html

Nancy Pelosi is a woman of class and power, but a woman whose credibility is beginning to fade. According to CNN Pelosi said, “Let the healing begin.” However the only healing that needs to be happening is the relationship between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and new Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. An obvious candidate for Majority Leader was Steny Hoyer. However Pelosi decided to back John Murtha who, according to the Huffington Post, is in one of the top 20 most corrupt members of congress. Why back somebody who is clearly not highly regarded by many? The only reason for Pelosi’s bizarre decision is she wants to stir up trouble and create some political drama. Even without Pelosi’s support Hoyer cruised to victory as predicted; the Republicans lost control because of mistakes they made, if Murtha had won, that would have been the first mistake the democrats have made. After his victory Hoyer said, "The Republicans need to know … our caucus is unified today." With all the events that have happened since their smashing victory I have not seen unified; the only thing they are portraying right not to the public is a divided party.