Opinion: What should the focus of the upcoming lame duck session of congress be? Why?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/11/obama-passing-start-a-priority-for-lame-duck-session.html

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/11/131252273/congress-braces-for-hectic-lame-duck-session


Congress Braces For Hectic Lame Duck Session
by Liz Halloran

Congress returns Monday for a lame duck session that will provide Democrats their final taste of Capitol Hill dominance before Republicans take over the House and expand their Senate minority caucus in January.

But with the controlling party limping back after an Election Day thrashing, it remains unclear whether Democrats will decide to close out the final four weeks or so of the 111th Congress with a bang or a whimper.

"There is so much uncertainty going on," says Sam Rosen-Amy of the nonprofit OMB Watch, which tracks federal budget policy and spending. "I have no idea what might happen."

The uncertainty is especially strong with Republicans suggesting they'll block any measure lacking a strong consensus and Democrats in a quandary over their leadership and tone going forward.

The Fate Of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
What is guaranteed: Congress will have to quickly decide what to do about Bush-era tax cuts scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Members must also deal with a dozen current-year spending bills that they have yet to pass more than a month into the 2011 fiscal year.

What is far less clear is whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, other Senate Democrats and the White House will go to the mat on issues that include a high-profile measure that would end the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay Americans serving in the military.

"Clearly the president and his staff realize that if we don't get don't ask, don't tell repealed now, it will be a very long time before we have the opportunity again," says Aubrey Sarvis, an Army veteran and head of the pro-repeal Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

The issue took on new relevancy this week when a leaked Pentagon study due to President Obama on Dec. 1 suggested that there would be little risk in repealing the measure, which Congress passed in 1993. The Supreme Court on Friday declined a Republican gay rights group's request to stop enforcement of the ban while a lower court reviews its constitutionality.

Latino activists are also watching to see whether the freshly re-elected Reid will make good on his win-or-lose campaign promise to pursue a measure that gives children of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship through education and military service.

And other pending measures also hang, but barely, in the lame duck balance — including one that would set renewable electricity standards and another that would provide new bargaining rights to police and firefighters.

All hinge on the question of whether Democrats return to Capitol Hill on Monday defeated or defiant.

The Bush-Era Tax Cuts
The brief session is expected to be dominated by debate over the fate of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which disproportionately benefited higher income taxpayers.

Democrats have argued that the cuts, which expire at the end of the year, should be extended only to families earning less than $250,000. Resurgent Republicans, who will take over the House under presumptive Speaker John Boehner, want all the cuts made permanent — at a cost that OMB Watch has estimated at more than $5 trillion, including debt serving and related costs, over the next decade.

Republicans have yet to put forth a plan to pay for the high-income tax cut extension.

The tax-cut prospects became increasingly muddied in recent days by competing accounts of where Obama stands on the issue. The White House, which has opposed extending the cuts to people who earn more than $250,000, has attempted to beat back a report in the Huffington Post that quoted top Obama adviser David Axelrod as suggesting that the president had stepped back from that position.

"We're willing to discuss how we move forward," Axelrod later said in an e-mail to the National Journal, "but we believe that it's imperative to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, and don't believe we can afford a permanent extension of tax cuts for the wealthy."

The coming debate has also been complicated in recent days by deep cuts proposed by the heads of Obama's bipartisan deficit commission.

"The new report," says Rosen-Amy, the OMBWatch federal fiscal policy analyst, "is going to retrench partisans on both sides."

Control Of Spending
The nation's fiscal year began in October, but the government is currently operating under a congressional resolution that continues funding of the past year while a dozen spending bills have yet to be passed.

That resolution that essentially keeps government open expires Dec. 3, leaving Congress with a choice: either approve the 12 spending bills in one big package, or pass another resolution that allows the government to continue operating under 2010 budget levels until sometime after the new Congress convenes.

The latter would give Republicans, who take over the House in January, more control over the spending for the remainder of the fiscal year — a scenario many conservatives prefer.

Path To Citizenship Just A 'DREAM'?
In his tough re-election campaign in Nevada, Reid relied on Latino voters for his edge over Republican Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite. One of his promises was to raise the so-called "DREAM Act" legislation during the lame duck session.

The bipartisan measure makes children of illegal immigrants eligible for a six-year path to citizenship that hinges on the completion of a college degree or two years of military service.
Democrats had tried to attach it to the Defense Department spending bill earlier this year.

"Here's what we know: Reid promised in a very clear way that he would bring this up, win or lose," says Angela Kelley, vice president for immigration policy and advocacy at the liberal Center for American Progress.

"Reid still has a job as Senate majority leader in no small part because of the high, high turnout of Latino voters in Nevada," she says.

If the measure doesn't make it into the defense bill — GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona and others oppose its inclusion — and Reid fails to raise it on the Senate floor, Kelley says, "it will not go unnoticed by the Latino community."

Race To The Finish
Whatever the agenda, it will be a race to the finish with enormous economic stakes.
Or, as Rosen-Amy puts it: "The result could be a hectic lame duck session with trillions of dollars in spending on the table."

And that has the potential to produce, he says, "legislation motivated by political expediency rather than sound fiscal policy."

What is your opinion of the Nov. 2 election results? Are the results good for the country, good for the parties, good for the president?

Based on what you are reading, what are your predictions for the midterm elections?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/gop-keeps-emphasis-on-district.html



By Aaron Blake
Two weeks before the election, Republicans are choosing their battles on mostly friendly turf, spending heavily in districts won by Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential race.

Despite a widening playing field, most of the National Republican Congressional Committee's targets remain in districts that went for the Arizona Republican and, often, even more strongly for President Bush in 2004.

Of the 60 Democratic districts where the NRCC has spread around its $30 million in ad buys, 33 are districts McCain won, while 27 were won by President Obama. When you include four districts where the NRCC is such a heavy favorite that it hasn't had to spend money, that means the party is pursuing 37 of a possible 48 seats that were won by both McCain and currently represented by a Democratic congressman -- also known as "McCain-Democrat" seats.

In a 38th McCain-Democrat district -- held by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) -- national Democrats just spent their first money, but Republicans haven't joined the fray yet.

The only McCain-Democrat districts that the NRCC isn't spending in are those held by Shuler and Reps. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Mike McMahon (D-N.Y.), Dan Boren (D-Okla.), Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), Tim Holden (D-Pa.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.). The GOP holds some hope in some of these districts (expense may prohibit investing in districts like Altmire's and McMahon's), but many of them are lower-tier targets without big-name recruits that will likely only flip in an absolute bloodbath.

The NRCC is effectively trying to ensure victory in the most vulnerable Democratic districts while also playing in plenty of districts won by Obama. Indeed, they could conceivably win a majority just by winning McCain-Democrat districts.

They think by bringing an aggressive approach early in districts where the demographics are friendly, they have begun to push the Democrats to retrench in districts that are more Democratic-leaning.

Who has political power in America?

Give at least two examples that the person you cite has political power.

If you're looking for a good book:

Game Change is an awesome book (but it does have a few choice swear words...beware).

If it's Tuesday, it's election day somewhere in the U.S.

U.S. Senate runoff in Arkansas
Blanche Lincoln is hoping to avoid becoming the third sitting senator to lose an intraparty fight this year, but even her closest allies acknowledge that her Democratic runoff race against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter is a tossup.

Three weeks ago, Lincoln got 44.5 percent of the vote to Halter's 42.5 percent in the Democratic primary. A third candidate in that race, conservative D.C. Morrison, won 13 percent, forcing Lincoln and Halter into Tuesday's runoff.

Much like the primary, the runoff has pitted Lincoln and her supporters within the Democratic establishment -- former president Bill Clinton has campaigned for her and she has been endorsed by President Obama -- against organized labor, which has dumped millions of dollars into ads and voter identification programs on Halter's behalf.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/05/AR2010060503912.html?sid=ST2010060503894

Which races did you think were important last Tuesday and which ones are you watching for the future.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) narrowly leads Florida's U.S. Senate race, "despite nearly half of the voters saying he made a 'purely political' decision to bolt the GOP and run as an independent candidate in the Nov. 2 general election, a new St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 poll finds. Crist leads with 30%, followed by Marco Rubio at 27% and Kendrick Meek (R) at 15%. However, the race remains volatile: Crist's lead over Rubio is within the poll's four point margin of error, and nearly one out of four voters are undecided.

Blame it on the president. He's a week too late to help...

Mike Allen: "Look for President Obama to name his Supreme Court pick Monday, and look for it to be Solicitor General Elena Kagan, a former Harvard Law dean. The pick isn't official, but top White House aides will be shocked if it's otherwise.

Kagan's relative youth (50) is a huge asset for the lifetime post. And President Obama considers her to be a persuasive, fearless advocate who would serve as an intellectual counterweight to Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia, and could lure swing Justice Kennedy into some coalitions The West Wing may leak the pick to AP's Ben Feller on the later side Sunday, then confirm it for others for morning editions."

Another sign: Salon reports the White House is circulating pro-Kagan talking points.

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58112@wbbm.dayport.com

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58112@wbbm.dayport.com

Stop blogging! Go study!

Theodore Roosevelt on this day in 1910:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
"Citizenship in a Republic,"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Campaign Money and Lobbying (6:02) This is an important one.

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57698@wbbm.dayport.com

Presidential Review:

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57971@wbbm.dayport.com

(remember two reviews this week after school: Tuesday and Thursday)

Presidential First Pitches

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/thelife/gallery?id=4299989

Do you think recess appointments are appropriate or not (i.e. are they a violation of advise and consent)?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/27/AR2010032703085.html

A brief guide to the healtcare vote:

With assistance from David Waldman and Sarah Binder -- and the caveat that we don't know many details yet -- here's a very rough guide to what will happen with the health care reform bill this weekend:

The House Rules Committee will likely meet on Saturday morning to draft a special rule *that allows the House to pass a bill by approving the rule and not necessarily the bill itself. By all indications, this rule will be the now famous "self-executing" rule which "deems" the Senate health care bill passed upon adoption of the rule. While Republicans on the Rules Committee may try to amend the rule, they're dramatically outnumbered by Democrats 9 to 4.

The House will likely debate the rule for about an hour and hold a vote on whether to end debate. Assuming that passes, the House holds another vote on adopting the rule. If the rule is approved with 216 votes, the House may begin debate on the reconciliation bill that makes fixes to the Senate version of the health care bill.

The House then debates the reconciliation according to guidelines set forth by the rule. Once debate is finished, the House will finally hold an up-or-down vote on the reconciliation bill. If it passes with 216 votes, the original Senate bill goes to the President for his signature.

However, the fireworks start all over again in the Senate next week as debate begins on the reconciliation bill with the "fixes." Republicans have promised a flurry of amendments and other stalling techniques to try to block the bill.

*this didn't happen this way. there is no "deem and pass" rule.

everyone look!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!haha sorry Mr. Bretzmann go to 72:30 to see Mr. Bretzmann in 1992...with hair
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/32356-1

pminer

What are the explanations for the fact that Congressional incumbents usually win their reelection bids? What are the sources of their advantages?

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58076@wbbm.dayport.com

Above is another great video and analogy (btw: READ THE CHAPTER ON CONGRESS AGAIN!)

Below is a link to an incumbent who may NOT win! (due to a rare primary challenge)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/06/AR2010030602239.html

Interest Groups (not healthcare...interest groups)

Washington interest groups have burst back into action in hopes of bolstering or defeating a new Democratic push on health-care reform legislation, sparking another wave of rallies, lobbying efforts and costly advertising campaigns.

The fresh round offers a clear signal that the industries and advocacy groups most likely to be affected view the coming weeks as the final battle in determining whether Democratic proposals become law.

Their efforts suggest a return to the frenzied pace of last year's health-care debate, which prompted more than $200 million in advocacy ads and broke records for lobbying. Companies and trade groups last year hired more than 4,500 lobbyists to influence health reform -- amounting to about eight lobbyists for each member of Congress, according to an analysis released last week by the Center for Public Integrity.

Reacting to President Obama's recent statements that he will move ahead with legislation, health insurance companies have enlisted hundreds of lobbyists in a full-court press against the proposed overhaul, which would force dramatic cuts and increased regulation on the industry. At the same time, insurers are pushing back against a separate bill approved by the House last week that would remove the industry's antitrust exemption.

Pharmaceutical lobbyists are also targeting Obama's plan, which includes administration proposals to secure an extra $10 billion in cuts from the industry and to ban deals between brand-name and generic drugmakers that keep cheaper medicines off the market.

The ramped-up effort is particularly evident among conservative advocacy organizations, many of which had optimistically halted spending after Democratic reform plans were cast into doubt by the January loss of a Senate seat in Massachusetts. The 60 Plus Association, a conservative group, announced a $500,000 television advertising campaign last week aimed at 18 centrist House Democrats, all of whom voted in favor of reform legislation last fall but whose support is now seen as wobbly.

The National Right To Life Committee -- which strongly opposes the Senate version of the health-care package -- has launched its own grass-roots campaign to pressure dozens of antiabortion Democrats in the House, who are crucial to passage of a final bill. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative Arlington-based group, also says it bought $250,000 worth of television advertising last week and is laying plans for more ads and rallies in March.

"I think a lot of people thought we had it licked, so it was natural to let up a little bit," said Tim Phillips, president of the Arlington group, which organized hundreds of antireform demonstrations over the past year. "All those thoughts are gone now. We are re-engaged in a big way."

Democratic and liberal activist groups, meanwhile, are rallying with their own efforts in hopes of pushing legislation across the finish line.

MoveOn.org, for example, said that a "virtual march" organized Tuesday bombarded lawmakers with more than 1 million pro-reform e-mails. The group also released a television ad Friday targeting House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) for opposing the antitrust bill.

"We have the votes; let's get it done," said Ilyse Hogue, the group's political advocacy director. "We're focused on sending that clear message to the House and Senate."

One glaring exception to the renewed activity is AARP, the 40 million-member seniors group, which has spent millions on advertising and other efforts over the past year in favor of Obama's health-care plans. A. Barry Rand, the group's chief executive, called on other groups last week to lower the temperature in the debate so that "compromise is possible."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/27/AR2010022703253_2.html

Crunch time is creeping up...please read the chapter on political parties again. There is a great video summary below.

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57698@wbbm.dayport.com

Arguably, political parties are less significant in elections than they have been historically. What factors have led to a decrease in the importance of political parties?

Third parties are like bees!!!

Opinion: (At the risk of liking the British) is this what U.S. politics needs more of?

http://vodpod.com/watch/2952428-obama-speaks-to-republican-house-conference

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/218836&start=1184&end=5202

The White House released the following excerpts from President Obama's State of the Union address:

We face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope - what they deserve - is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds and different stories and different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared. A job that pays the bill. A chance to get ahead. Most of all, the ability to give their children a better life.

You know what else they share? They share a stubborn resilience in the face of adversity. After one of the most difficult years in our history, they remain busy building cars and teaching kids; starting businesses and going back to school. They are coaching little league and helping their neighbors. As one woman wrote to me, "We are strained but hopeful, struggling but encouraged.

"It is because of this spirit - this great decency and great strength - that I have never been more hopeful about America's future than I am tonight. Despite our hardships, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not quit. We don't allow fear or division to break our spirit. In this new decade, it's time the American people get a government that matches their decency; that embodies their strength. And tonight, I'd like to talk about how together, we can deliver on that promise.

Exam: Remember that regardless of the grade you NEED to get on the exam, the grade you DO get shows up on your report card!

Martha Coakley saying that Curt Schilling is a Yankees fan would be something like a Wisconsin politician saying that Brett Favre is a Vikings fan...OK never mind...bad example.

Go study for the exam.

http://www.mlkday.gov/

On January, 18, 2010, people of all ages and backgrounds will come together to improve lives, bridge social barriers, and move our nation closer to the “Beloved Community” that Dr. King envisioned.

Dr. Martin Luther King devoted his life’s work to causes of equality and social justice. He taught that through nonviolence and service to one another, problems such as hunger and homelessness, prejudice and discrimination can be overcome.

Dr. King’s teachings can continue to guide us in addressing our nation’s most pressing needs---poverty, economic insecurity, job loss and education.

Volunteer with Americans across the nation on the 2010 King Day of Service and make a real difference in your community.

http://www.mlkday.gov/

Analysis: Should the Democrats' hair be on fire as they think about losing the senate seat in MA?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/politics/

You should go to this (with your parents' permission).

THE HUMAN FACE OF THE ECONOMY: BUILDING A WORLD THAT WORKS FOR ALL

In response to the present global economic downturn, the Waukesha Plowshare Center and Carroll University are hosting a forum on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2010. The event will be held at the Carroll University Campus Center from 9:00am-noon, with six panelists addressing various aspects of our economy today. The purpose of the forum is to explore with students and the wider community the root causes of poverty and the growing disparity between the “haves and have-nots”. Discussion will also include models and projects which are restoring the social fabric by allocating resources in ways that serve the needs of all.

Pre-Forum Films will be shown on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2010 at 4:00-6:00 PM and repeated at 7:00 to 9:00 PM in the Stackner Ballroom of the Campus Center, Carroll University.

Dr. David Korten, president and founder of the People Centered Development Forum, will discuss via the Internet, “Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth”. Dr. Korten serves on the boards of Yes! Magazine as well as on the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. He is also an associate of the International Forum on Globalization, a member of the Club of Rome and co-chair of the New Economy Working Group. Dr. Korten has worked extensively with Asian leaders building civil society organizations to function as a strategic catalyst for positive national and global change.

Will Allen from Milwaukee’s Growing Power, Inc., will speak on a new agricultural model to access high quality, healthy and affordable food for all people, especially for people who live in the inner city. Growing Power is a nationwide non-profit organization which teaches innovative methods of agriculture to people from around the world at their greenhouse and training center in Milwaukee. Will Allen received the MacArthur Foundation Genius Award in 2008 and was honored by President Bill Clinton at the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative Conference.

Several other speakers will participate in this forum. They include Alice Foley, co-founder of the Plowshare Center; Bernie Juno, Executive Director of the Waukesha Hebron House of Hospitality; Dr. David Block, Carroll University Environmental Scientist; and Dr. Rich Coon; Sociologist from Carroll University. Issues addressed will include the fair trade model and how it is promoting economic justice; local poverty and the impact of the economic downturn; a positive example from East Africa; growth-based capitalism and its affect on the environment; and projects which are transforming lives by offering jobs and opportunities.

The forum is free of charge and all are welcome to attend.

Opinion: Are lobbyists good, bad, or it depends. EXPLAIN.

China's lobbying efforts yield new influence, openness on Capitol Hill


By John PomfretSaturday, January 9, 2010
Ten years ago, U.S. lawmakers publicly accused the China Ocean Shipping Co. of being a front for espionage and blocked plans to expand its Long Beach, Calif., port terminal over fears that Chinese spies would use it to snoop on the United States.

By last year, Congress was seeing the state-owned Chinese behemoth in a far kinder light. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) authored a resolution applauding the company for employing thousands of Americans and helping keep the waters of Alaska clean. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) hailed the firm on the House floor, calling its chief executive "a people's ambassador" to the United States after it rescued Boston's port -- and thousands of jobs -- when a European shipping line moved out.

The congressional about-face illustrates a dramatic increase in China's influence on Capitol Hill, where for years its lobbying muscle never matched its ballooning importance in world affairs. Members of Congress, lobbyists and other observers said China's new prominence is largely the result of Beijing's increasingly sophisticated efforts to influence events at the center of U.S. power -- and a growing realization among U.S. lawmakers that China has become a critical economic player across America.

Although many Americans still view China with deep suspicion because of its communist system and human rights record, the results of Beijing's image-and-influence campaign are clear. Members of Congress "are starting to understand that the Chinese are not communist but that the Chinese are Chinese," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). China is Oregon's biggest export market after Canada.

"China is an overarching backdrop to almost everything that I am involved with," said the seven-term congressman, adding that on matters as diverse as the U.S. economy, climate change and energy policy, "China is something that no one can ignore."

For years, as China steadily rose to global economic and political heights, it all but ignored the U.S. Congress, with outreach to American lawmakers left to friends in the business community. But now China has launched a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort so effective that it is challenging the heralded efforts of nemesis Taiwan.

A decade ago, U.S. politicians of all stripes routinely subjected China to attacks. Now acts of benevolence are more likely -- such as a resolution commemorating the 2,560th birthday of Chinese philosopher Confucius, which the House overwhelmingly approved in October.

"There was originally this kind of anti-communist view of China," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who in 1979 became the first U.S. mayor to visit China when she ran San Francisco. "That's changing. . . . China is a socialist country but one that is increasingly becoming capitalistic."

The new openness toward China is often subtle and not shared by all. But an undeniable evolution is taking place, congressional staffers and analysts said, as members of Congress, many with increasing numbers of large and small businesses in their districts that depend on trade with China, are now far more likely to kill or water down measures opposed by Beijing.

While China maintains a huge trade surplus with the United States, U.S. exports to China have surged in recent years. In 2008, according to the U.S.-China Business Council, exports to China grew in 85 percent of congressional districts. China is now the third-biggest market for U.S. goods, after Canada and Mexico.

"People in Congress are not stupid," said Minxin Pei, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. "A few years ago, China-bashing was costless. Now they will get phone calls from worried CEOs. China is creating jobs in their congressional districts."

Zhou Wenzhong, China's avuncular ambassador, has visited about 100 senators and representatives in their districts during his four-year-old tenure in Washington. But he said it wasn't simply lobbying and shoe-leather efforts that have helped China's image in Congress.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AT: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803710_2.html?sid=ST2010010900293

RIP Mrs. Biden...

Vice President Biden's mother died Friday in Wilmington, Del., the White House said. She was 92.

"My mother, Catherine Eugenia 'Jean' Finnegan Biden, passed away peacefully today at our home in Wilmington, Delaware, surrounded by her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren and many loved ones," the vice president said in a statement released by the White House. "

At 92, she was the center of our family and taught all of her children that family is to be treasured, loyalty is paramount and faith will guide you through the tough times.

"She believed in us, and because of that, we believed in ourselves.

"Together with my father, her husband of 61 years who passed away in 2002, we learned the dignity of hard work and that you are defined by your sense of honor. Her strength, which was immeasurable, will live on in all of us."

Jean Biden gained national attention with a handful of campaign appearances with her son during the 2008 presidential race. She underwent hip surgery last March after falling at her Wilmington home.

Vice President Biden returned home to Wilmington on Thursday to join family members at his mother's bedside, the White House said.

Jean Biden is survived by three sons and a daughter, as well as numerous grandchildren. Her husband, Joseph R. Sr., died in 2002.

From ABC News:

"...We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama,” Giuliani said.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/01/rudy-giuliani-no-domestic-attacks-under-bush-one-under-obama.html

Analysis: Now that there are 60 for the next big cloture vote, who won? Reid, Obama, Health Insurance Industry, Republicans, Nelson, Lieberman, Pelosi

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/politics/

Opinion: Is this a good plan or not? Was this a good speech or not?

Excerpts: Obama would start Afghanistan withdrawals in 2011

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/01/obama.afghanistan/index.html

Analysis:Is the separation of church and state a current debate, or have we already settled on a proper balance?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/23/kennedy.abortion/index.html


P.S. REMEMBER YOUR TAKE-HOME TEST IS DUE WEDNESDAY.

A filibuster!!!

If you want to see the beginnings of what a filibuster looks like, turn on C-SPAN 2 right now! Three senators asking each other questions they already know the answer to. Awesome! Cloture vote schedule for 7:00 p.m. our time tonight. It might start even earlier so tune in at 5:00. Listen for how the following vote: Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu, Nelson, and Lieberman. At this point everyone but Lincoln has said he or she will vote for cloture.

At Carroll University, 100 N. East Ave., Waukesha, WI 53186

“Changing Times: The Life of Barack Obama”
· Glen Jeansonne (Co-author of this book and UWM professor) and David Luhrssen (Co-author of this book and Editor/film critic at Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express)
· Monday, November 30—6pm
· Stackner Ballroom (Campus Center)
· FREE and open to the community

Opinion: What are the current strengths and weaknesses of the GOP? The Democrats?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/11/06/VI2009110602967.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/14/AR2009111402729.html

You must look at this to help you understand congressional preference over the years:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/gop/interactive.html

Opinion: Does it matter that only 1 Republican voted for the healthcare bill in the House?

AN HISTORICAL VOTE:
Hours after President Obama exhorted Democratic lawmakers to "answer the call of history," the House hit an unprecedented milestone on the path to health-care reform, approving a trillion-dollar package late Saturday that seeks to overhaul private insurance practices and guarantee comprehensive and affordable coverage to almost every American.

How they voted:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/votes/house/healthcare/index.html

Analysis: What are your predictions for the elections this week in New Jersey and Virginia? What do the outcomes mean?

Opinion: What should the government role be in addressing climate change?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/24/AR2009102402134.html

Analysis: What do you think the Republican and Democratic prospects are for 2010?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/17/AR2009101700890.html

Remember: Analysis is different than Opinion. See the definitions at the top of the page!

Analysis: What will the policy decision be regarding a new strategic plan in Afghanistan?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/23/afghanistan.strategy/index.html

p.s. the current blog-posting window goes through Oct. 11 due to Homecoming.

Opinion: Is the economy improving? Have the stimulus programs helped to improve the economy?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/17/interactive.economy.rescue/index.html

Analysis: What do you think the final outcome will be this year regarding the health care debate?

Reform Bill Will Address GOP Fears
But Affordability Questions Remain

By Lori Montgomery and Shailagh MurrayWashington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said Monday that he will propose an overhaul of the nation's health-care system that addresses a host of GOP concerns, including blocking illegal immigrants from gaining access to subsidized insurance, urging limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and banning federal subsidies for abortion.

But even after Max Baucus (D-Mont.) spoke optimistically of gaining bipartisan backing, lawmakers continued to haggle over a question at the heart of the debate: How can the government force people to buy insurance without imposing a huge new financial burden on millions of middle-class Americans?

Even within his own party, Baucus confronted a fresh wave of concern about affordability. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) declared himself dissatisfied with the chairman's plan, which, like other congressional reform proposals, would require every American to buy health insurance by 2013.
"Additional steps are going to have to be taken to make coverage more affordable," Wyden said, "and my sense is that will be a concern to members on both sides of the aisle."

Under the Baucus plan, described in a "framework" he released last week, as many as 4 million of the 46 million people who are currently uninsured would be required to buy coverage on their own, without government help, by some estimates. Millions more would qualify for federal tax credits, but could still end up paying as much as 13 percent of their income for insurance premiums -- far more than most Americans now pay for coverage.

People further down the income scale would receive much bigger tax credits, effectively limiting their premiums at 3 percent of their earnings. But experts on affordability say even those families could find it difficult to meet the new mandate without straining their wallets.

"We're talking about the equivalent of a middle-class tax increase," said Michael D. Tanner, a health-care expert at the libertarian Cato Institute. "Yes, they're paying it to an insurance company instead of to the government. But, suddenly, these people are paying more money to somebody."

A plan drafted by House Democratic leaders would offer more generous tax credits, but it would cost more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

Baucus's team of three Democrats and three Republicans from the Finance Committee has labored for months to cut that cost as it crafts a reform plan that could win support from both parties. By squeezing the size and scope of the subsidies, the negotiators have lowered the cost to a more politically palatable $880 billion -- within the range President Obama specified last week in a speech to Congress.

But a smaller bill would mean less help for people -- particularly those who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to easily slip the equivalent of a second rent payment into their budgets.

According to the latest Census data, about three-quarters of the uninsured earn less than 300 percent of the poverty level, or about $32,500 for an individual and $66,150 for a family of four. Nearly half are childless adults. In surveys, many say that they are not offered coverage by their employers or that they simply cannot afford it.

The centerpiece of the Baucus proposal is a series of "exchanges" where people without access to affordable coverage through their employers could apply for government subsidies and choose among a range of private insurance options. The plan would not, as liberals have demanded, create a government-run insurance option to compete with private firms, but would finance the creation of state or regional cooperatives run by consumers -- a concession aimed at winning over Republican lawmakers.

Baucus and his colleagues wrangled Monday in the hopes of persuading Republican Sens. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and Mike Enzi (Wyo.) to support the measure. The two conservatives have stayed at the bargaining table all summer, despite GOP leaders' strong opposition to the reform effort.

Baucus said the strategy is working. "Senators on and off the committee, their comfort level is starting to come up a bit," he told reporters. "I believe, in the end, we'll have some significant bipartisan support." But the chairman said Monday night that he will move forward Wednesday with or without Grassley, Enzi and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), the most moderate Republican involved in the negotiations. He said the bipartisan group, known as the Gang of Six, would continue to negotiate until the full committee begins work on the bill next week.

Baucus said he will comply with Republican demands that illegal immigrants would receive "no benefits" through the new insurance exchanges. Meanwhile, negotiators are crafting a provision that would authorize states to start pilot projects to try to lower health-care costs by reducing the number of malpractice lawsuits, an approach similar to the one Obama outlined in his speech. "States would be given resources to help them experiment with what works best," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), another participant in the talks.

Also unresolved Monday was the question of how to pay for an expansion of Medicaid to cover every U.S. citizen whose income falls below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, about $14,500 for an individual or $29,500 for a family of four. Governors in both parties strongly oppose an expansion that is not fully financed by the federal government. The Senate negotiators are scheduled to brief governors by conference call Tuesday afternoon, and Baucus predicted they would be "pleasantly surprised."

"The Medicaid costs," he said, "are not going to cost states near as much as feared."

Under the Baucus plan, subsidies would be offered to people who earn up to 400 percent of the poverty level ($43,000 for an individual or $88,000 for a family of four) in the form of tax credits that would be paid directly to the insurance company of the person's choice. The credit would be calibrated on a sliding scale to ensure that people at the bottom of the income range paid no more than 3 percent of their earnings for premiums while those at the top would be liable for as much as 13 percent.

That would amount to more than $700 a month for a family of four making $66,000 a year -- significantly more than most people at the same income level now pay, according to research conducted by Linda Blumberg, a senior fellow in the Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Families earning less than 300 percent of the poverty level also would be eligible for assistance with deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses, but families who earn more would be on their own.

"That group does spend in the neighborhood of 12 percent of their income. But it's not just the premium. It includes out-of-pocket spending," Blumberg said, adding that the Baucus plan "is going to be somewhat of a wakeup call."

Families that do not purchase insurance would face penalties on their annual tax returns of up to $1,500 a year if they make less than 300 percent of the poverty level, or $3,800 a year if they make more.

But Senate Finance Committee negotiators are quick to point out that a hardship waiver would be available.

"We're doing our very best to make the insurance requirement as affordable as we possibly can," Baucus said, without driving up the overall cost of the bill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091403573.html

What are your thoughts on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings?

(...did you notice that today is 07...08...09?)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070701605.html?sub=AR

Sotomayor critics step up rhetoric before hearing

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS The Associated Press Wednesday, July 8, 2009; 12:34 AM
WASHINGTON -- Conservatives stepped up their criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday, but it was unclear how far Senate Republicans were willing to go to create bumps in what appears to be a smooth road to confirmation for President Barack Obama's first high-court choice.

Even as the Senate's top Republican suggested that Sotomayor let racial bias cloud her rulings, he and other GOP senators refused to say whether they would accede to conservative activists' demands to try to delay a final vote to confirm her until September. At the same time, the National Rifle Association raised what it called "very serious concerns" about Sotomayor based on her stance on weapons rights, yet it stopped short of opposing her, citing its "respect for the confirmation process."

The fresh critiques of Sotomayor came as the American Bar Association, a national lawyers' group, rated her "well-qualified" to be a justice after its members conducted scores of confidential interviews with her colleagues and pored through her record and writings to assess her integrity, qualifications and temperament.

Democrats and civil rights leaders rushed to defend Sotomayor against charges that she's an activist who would allow racial bias to interfere with her decisions.

The White House gave senators a lengthy briefing book on Sotomayor that highlights key rulings in areas including criminal law, freedom of speech and religion, women's issues, gun and property rights, and immigration.

The 129-page document describes the judge in glowing terms, repeating often that she shows judicial restraint and is a moderate. It says she has a "record of judicial excellence and, for each case that comes before her, has narrowly applied the law to the facts of the case."

The Senate Judiciary Committee is to open hearings Monday on Sotomayor's nomination to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. If confirmed, she would be the first Hispanic to serve there.
(this article continues at the link above)

Check out the checks and balances in the first story. NIMBY = Not In My Back Yard

Culture War. Conventional Political Participation. Public Opinion. Interest Groups. Bully Pulpit. COMMENTS?

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama ventures to America's foremost Roman Catholic university, where the country's deep divisions over abortion and stem-cell research have moved to the forefront in a time of war and recession.

A storm blew up immediately after the University of Notre Dame invited Obama to address Sunday's commencement exercises. It still rages, with anti-abortion activists promising to disrupt the president's appearance at South Bend, Ind., where he was also to receive an honorary degree.

Students opposed to abortion rights attended an all-night prayer vigil to protest Obama's visit, and 200 people prayed at a packed Alumni Hall Chapel.

More than 100 protesters gathered and 23 marched onto the campus Saturday. Police say they arrested 19 for trespassing and four were also charged with resisting law enforcement.
In Washington on Sunday, the head of the Republican Party said Obama should be denied the honorary degree.

Obama supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare. The Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations hold that abortion and the use of embryos for stem cell research amount to the destruction of human life and are morally wrong and should be banned by law.

The contrary argument holds that women have the right to terminate a pregnancy and that unused embryos created outside the womb for couples who cannot otherwise conceive should be available for stem cell research. Such research holds the promise of finding treatments for debilitating ailments.

Within weeks of taking office in January, Obama eased an executive order by President George W. Bush that limited research to a small number of stem-cell strains.

This makes sense...maybe he should call Kevin Bacon to fix it for him!

FINDLAY, Ohio – A student at a fundamentalist Baptist school that forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing will be suspended if he takes his girlfriend to her public high school prom, his principal said.

Despite the warning, 17-year-old Tyler Frost, who has never been to a dance before, said he plans to attend Findlay High School's prom Saturday.

Frost, a senior at Heritage Christian School in northwest Ohio, agreed to the school's rules when he signed a statement of cooperation at the beginning of the year, principal Tim England said.

The teen, who is scheduled to receive his diploma May 24, would be suspended from classes and receive an "incomplete" on remaining assignments, England said. Frost also would not be permitted to attend graduation but would get a diploma once he completes final exams. If Frost is involved with alcohol or sex at the prom, he will be expelled, England said.

Frost's stepfather Stephan Johnson said the school's rules should not apply outside the classroom.

"He deserves to wear that cap and gown," Johnson said.

Frost said he thought he had handled the situation properly. Findlay requires students from other schools attending the prom to get a signature from their principal, which Frost did.

"I expected a short lecture about making the right decisions and not doing something stupid," Frost said. "I thought I would get his signature and that would be the end."

England acknowledged signing the form but warned Frost there would be consequences if he attended the dance. England then took the issue to a school committee made up of church members, who decided to threaten Frost with suspension.

"In life, we constantly make decisions whether we are going to please self or please God. (Frost) chose one path, and the school committee chose the other," England said.

The handbook for the 84-student Christian school says rock music "is part of the counterculture which seeks to implant seeds of rebellion in young people's hearts and minds."

England said Frost's family should not be surprised by the school's position.

"For the parents to claim any injustice regarding this issue is at best forgetful and at worst disingenuous," he said. "It is our hope that the student and his parents will abide by the policies they have already agreed to."

The principal at Findlay High School, whose graduates include Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, said he respects, but does not agree with, Heritage Christian School's view of prom.

"I don't see (dancing and rock music) as immoral acts," Craig Kupferberg said.
___
Information from: The Courier, http://www.thecourier.com

Great Last Minute Video Reviews, Explanations and Discussions of Terms (and look closely for the Romney signs!)

In no particular order. See my notes if you can only watch or listen to a few. Bring several number 2 pencils and a watch to keep track of time.

Federalism Video (6:37):
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57367@wbbm.dayport.com

Government and Media (6:40): A MUST SEE!
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57451@wbbm.dayport.com

Campaign Money and Lobbying (6:02) This is an important one.
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57698@wbbm.dayport.com

Candidate Handlers (7:21) Good terms here.
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57547@wbbm.dayport.com

The Concept of Suffrage (7:31)
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57623@wbbm.dayport.com

The Big Tent Concept (Political Parties in the U.S.) (7:54) A MUST SEE!
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57698@wbbm.dayport.com

The Rule of Law (6:55) A MUST REVIEW!
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57882@wbbm.dayport.com

The Power of the Presidency (7:45)
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57971@wbbm.dayport.com

A Breakdown of Congress (9:12)
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58076@wbbm.dayport.com

The Mechanics of the Exam (7:36) Some inside information. Know the format!
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58112@wbbm.dayport.com

5-4-09 !!!!!

Hi. Please check Infinite Campus to see what the time periods are when you are required to post to this blog. You'll notice that there is a large time-frame closest to the AP Exam (5-4-09). This is so that you can focus on Studying, Preparing, and Reviewing.

For those in 6th hour, here is a link to Bruce Babbitt 'standing up' at the Democratic debate (he does it about 1 minute and 5 seconds into the media piece). And yes, that's Al Franken in the Saturday Night Live skit!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x544v8_bruce-babbitt-88-democrat-president_news

See ya' soon!

Check out this website and this video. This is the guy I met at the AP Conference last month.

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57008@wbbm.dayport.com


In the next couple of weeks they will start reviewing the AP Exam main ideas. Go back here often: http://cbs2chicago.com/ and then click on blogs. CBS 2 School!

Analysis: Assuming 1 point for each task, how many points are possible for the following Free Response Question and for which tasks?

In emphasizing the importance of congressional committees, Woodrow Wilson once said, "Congress in session is Congress on display. Congress in committee is Congress at work." Perform the following tasks regarding congressional committees.
a. Identify a basic function of congressional standing committees.
b. List an example of a congressional standing committee.
c. Describe how congressional standing committees are influenced by each of the following:
Interest groups
Political parties
The bureaucracy

(p.s. this essay will be due at the beginning of the hour Tuesday)

Analysis: Didn't candidate Obama attack candidate McCain for saying the fundamentals of the economy are strong? Perhaps this is a CHANGE in thinking?

BARACK OBAMA 3-14-09:
“But if we are keeping focused on all the fundamentally sound aspects of our economy,” he added, “all the outstanding companies, workers, all the innovation and dynamism in this economy, then we’re going to get through this. And I’m very confident about that.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/us/politics/14message.html

JOHN MCCAIN 9-15-08:
"Our economy, I think, is still -- the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times,'' McCain said.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/09/15/mccain_fundamentals_of_economy.html

HERBERT HOOVER 10-24-29:
In the wake of a big stock-market downdraft, Hoover on Thursday, Oct. 24, 1929, proclaimed, "The fundamental business of the country, that is, production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis."
http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/moneybox/2008/09/17/fundamentals-our-economy-are-strong

The president plans to overhaul education. What are your opinions of his five priorities? (Remember: no cussing!)

Take a look at the leadership displayed by a middle school student when he said, "Don't cuss!"

Analysis: Constitutional or Unconstitutional? (or does the whole thing just suck "Lemons"!)

Archive for Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Obama calls for more federal faith-based funding to assist poor
In Ohio, the Democratic candidate focuses on religion during a week in which he is discussing values issues. In Indiana, McCain promises to veto ‘every bill with earmarks.’

By Michael Muskal and Robin AbcarianJuly 02, 2008
Zanesville, Ohio – Stepping into the thorny territory of church-state relations, Democrat Barack Obama today called for more federal dollars devoted to faith-based organizations that work with the poor.

Obama, a former community organizer, toured the Eastside Community Ministry, an arm of Central Presbyterian Church, which operates a food bank and provides other services for the poor.

“As I’ve said many times, I believe that change comes not from the top down, but from the bottom up, and few are closer to the people than our churches, synagogues, temples and mosques,” the likely Democratic presidential nominee said.

“The challenges we face today – from saving our planet to ending poverty – are simply too big for government to solve alone,” he said. “We need all hands on deck.”

On Monday, Obama began a week of focusing on values by speaking about patriotism. Today, he explored his relationship to religion, an area that created problems during the primary after his former pastor made disparaging comments about the United States.

“I didn’t grow up in a particularly religious household,” Obama said. “But my experience in Chicago showed me how faith and values could be an anchor in my life.

“And in time, I came to see my faith as being both a personal commitment to Christ and a commitment to my community; that while I could sit in church and pray all I want, I wouldn’t be fulfilling God’s will unless I went out and did the Lord’s work,” he said

Obama’s outlined proposals including a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and $500 million a year to fund summer teaching programs. In his speech, Obama cited past efforts by both Democrats and conservative Republicans to combine faith and federal funding.

“Leaders in both parties have recognized the value of a partnership between the White House and faith-based groups,” Obama said. “President Clinton signed legislation that opened the door for faith-based groups to play a role in a number of areas, including helping people move from welfare to work. Al Gore proposed a partnership between Washington and faith-based groups to provide more support for the least of these.

“And President Bush came into office with a promise to ‘rally the armies of compassion,’ establishing a new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives,” Obama said.

Obama’s proposals would also allow religious charities that receive federal funding to consider religion in employment decisions, and that could create some problems for liberals who support a sharper divide between church and state. The Illinois senator said he was aware of the issues but insisted his plans would satisfy both ends of the political spectrum.

“Make no mistake, as someone who used to teach constitutional law, I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don’t believe this partnership will endanger that idea – so long as we follow a few basic principles,” Obama said.

“First, if you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them – or against the people you hire – on the basis of their religion. Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples, and mosques can only be used on secular programs. And we’ll also ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to those programs that actually work.”

The Obama campaign also distributed a statement from John DiIulio, who in 2001 was director of President Bush’s White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, backing Obama’s proposals.

“His plan reminds me of much that was best in both then-Vice President Al Gore’s and then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s respective first speeches on the subject in 1999,” DiIulio stated.

“His constitutionally sound and administratively feasible ideas about community-serving partnerships hold special promise for truly disadvantaged children, youth, and families.”
While Obama focused on religion, his likely Republican opponent campaigned on law-and-order issues in Indianapolis before embarking on a trip to Latin America.

John McCain took a tough stand in a speech at the National Sheriffs’ Assn.’s 68th annual conference, where he insisted that his criminal justice policies would also make available resources needed for law enforcement.

“In all of criminal justice policy, we must put the interests of law-abiding citizens first – and above all the rights of victims,” McCain said. “We must give active support to officers of the peace across America, by providing the tools you need to meet new dangers.”

McCain also emphasized the need to appoint judges with “a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint. They will be the kind of judges who believe in giving everyone in a criminal court their due: justice for the guilty and the innocent, compassion for the victims, and respect for the men and women of law enforcement.”

McCain also returned to one of his favorite subjects, his crusade against congressional earmarks, calling such appropriations “the broken windows of the federal budget process” – a reference to the theory that small urban problems, unattended, lead to more serious decline.

Lawmakers, he said, too often distribute Justice Department funds “according to their value to the reelection of members of Congress instead of their value to police.”

“And that’s why, as president, I will veto every bill with earmarks,” he said. “It may take a while for Congress to adjust, but sooner or later they’ll figure out that there’s a new sheriff in town.”

McCain also touted his support for legislation to increase penalties for violent felons who commit crimes with guns or on behalf of gangs, improvements to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System for firearms purchases, the increase in fines paid by criminals into the Federal Crime Victims fund, and better communications technology for law enforcement agencies.

He has authored a bill, he said, that would add 10 years to the sentence of anyone convicted of using the Internet in the commission of a crime against a child.

He drew loud applause when he said the federal government “has failed to protect our borders … and this serious dereliction of duty must end.” If elected, he vowed, “we will require that the federal government assume more of the costs to deport and detain criminal aliens – because this is a problem of the federal government’s own making.”

robin.abcarian@latimes.com
michael.muskal@latimes.com
Abcarian reported from the McCain campaign in Indiana and staff writer Peter Nicholas contributed from the Obama campaign in Ohio. Muskal reported from Los Angeles.

Analysis: Will the governors do their part (federalism) to make the stimulus package work, or will they reject it because it's politically unsettling?

Read the article at this link!

What are you doing or what is your plan to learn more and study more AP Government (and get ready for an AP Exam) in 2009?

Opinion: Is the senate's stimulus package positive progress or a step backwards?

Next Big Hurdle for Stimulus: House-Senate Negotiations
By Joseph J. Schatz, Paul M. Krawzak, Richard Rubin and Dave Clarke, CQ Staff
A day after striking a deal with moderate Republicans on a massive but pared-back economic stimulus package, Senate Democratic leaders moved toward a Feb. 9 procedural vote, a vote on final passage a day later and difficult negotiations with the House.

With the backing of three Republican moderates — Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania — Democratic leaders have the 60 votes needed to overcome opposition from conservatives who remain opposed to the package.

The exact cost of the compromise remained somewhat in flux as the Senate engaged in three hours of debate Saturday and Democratic leaders put the finishing touches on legislative language. While the revised plan released Friday night carried an estimated cost of about $780 billion, amendments adopted during Senate floor debate are likely to push the total cost past $800 billion. Those additions include a provision sponsored by Johnny Isakson , R-Ga., that would create a $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers.

Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., was expected to file a motion to limit debate on the package before the Senate adjourned for the day on Saturday, setting the stage for Monday’s pivotal vote.

Democratic leaders want to quickly conclude a House-Senate conference this week and clear the bill before the Presidents Day recess begins next weekend. But meeting that goal will require a heavy lift both procedurally and to sort out substantive differences between the House and Senate packages.

The Senate will vote at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 9 on a motion to limit debate, or invoke cloture, on an amendment containing the compromise version of the stimulus. Assuming the motion is adopted, the Senate will consider the amendment itself at noon the following day. Republicans are expected to raise a budgetary point of order against the amendment, but Democrats will have the 60 votes needed to override the objection. Then, the Senate will move to a final vote on the amendment.

At the behest of moderates, the Friday night compromise shaved about $108 billion from the original Senate proposal. Appropriators cut $83 billion in discretionary spending from the Senate plan, including funding for school construction and other programs favored by Democrats in the House and Senate. The Finance Committee pared back health care spending provisions by $7 billion, and scaled back the tax cut package by $18 billion.

Democrats appeared to be united behind the latest plan assembled by a group of moderates, despite some grumbling about the changes needed to attract a handful of GOP votes.
“It’s not a perfect bill from my perspective, and I don’t agree with everything that’s in it and everything that came out, but literally we can’t afford to wait any longer to get something passed,” Amy Klobuchar , D-Minn., said on the Senate floor Saturday.

The tradeoffs needed to get enough votes for the plan in the Senate presaged tough bargaining with the House before a final bill is delivered to President Obama, who, according to one lawmaker, signed off on the Senate deal. Top House Democrats were already complaining about the Senate moves before the agreement was formally announced.

The single biggest spending cut to the original Senate plan comes out of a $79 billion state fiscal stabilization allocation that would help states avoid tax increases and cutbacks in education and other high priority services. The compromise trims that funding to $39 billion and sets up a conflict with the House-passed bill that allocates $79 billion.

Another major difference between the House and Senate bills involves school construction. The House allocated $14 billion to renovate, repair and build public schools. The Senate zeroed out the $16 billion its original bill set aside for that purpose.

The compromise also eliminates $3.5 billion for higher education facility modernization and purchase of instructional equipment. The House voted to provide $6 billion for higher education.
The compromise would cut additional funding for Head Start and Early Head Start, programs to prepare children to succeed in school, from $2.1 billion to 1.05 billion. That’s half of the $2.1 billion in the House bill.

The Senate substitute eliminates $5.8 billion in the original measure that would have been spent on grants and contracts to prevent illness through health screenings, education, immunization, nutrition counseling, media campaigns and other activities. The House has set aside $3 billion for prevention and wellness.

Funds to expand the use of electronic record keeping in health care are cut from $5 billion to $3 billion in the substitute, still more than the $2 billion in the House plan. Under the new Senate plan, a national coordinator would distribute the money to pay for technology, planning and training.

The compromise eliminates funding for pandemic flu preparedness, a prominent target of critics who said figuring out how to increase the supply of vaccine would not create jobs. The House bill includes $900 million for flu, and the original Senate proposal had $870 million.

The Senate substitute zeroes out $2.25 billion in funding for a neighborhood stabilization program, which would have provided funds to states, local units of government and organizations to purchase and rehabilitate abandoned and foreclosed upon homes. The House allocated $4.19 billion for the program.

In the compromise, funding to increase broadband access in rural areas and other underserved parts of the country is reduced by $2 billion, from $9 billion to $7 billion. That’s still more than twice as much as the $3.175 billion in the House bill.

The Senate proposal also trims additions to the Byrne justice assistance grant program, which provides formula funding to state and local police. The compromise would cut $450 million from the Byrne grants, reducing funding from $1.5 billion to $1.05 billion, according to information provided by Ben Nelson , D-Neb., an author of the compromise. The House allocated $3 billion for Byrne grants.

Other differences that will have to be resolved in conference include the additional funding for a federal program that provides home weatherization services to increase energy efficiency for low-income families. The Senate allocates $2.9 billion for the program, while the House bill has $6.2 billion.

The Senate bill includes $2 billion for FutureGen, a near-zero emissions, coal-fired plant that backers want to build in Mattoon, Ill. The project has been a priority for Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., and for Obama when he was an Illinois senator. The House bill does not include the project.

Unlike the House bill, the Senate version does not include additional funds for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps low-income families pay utility bills. The House bill has another $1 billion for the program.

Kathleen Hunter, Lydia Gensheimer, Bart Jansen, Catharine Richert and Edward Epstein contributed to this story.

Opinion: Who should the new GOP Chair be and what should his focus be?

GOP insiders say Friday’s contest to elect the next chairman of the Republican National Committee will be a long and drawn-out affair, with multiple ballots necessary to determine the winner.

In part, it’s a reflection of a party that, even after a nearly three month-long chairman’s race, remains deeply uncertain of which candidate can best lead the GOP back to power.

Linda Ackerman, the Republican committeewoman for California, said Wednesday that she was waiting to see the candidates interact with each other at the RNC meeting at Washington Capital Hilton hotel before making up her mind.

“They’re all saying pretty much the same thing. They’re all saying what we want to do for the party. They all have a little different twist, but they all know what we want,” Ackerman said. “Other than that, I just want to get a sense, a personal sense, of who would be the best one to lead.”

The RNC’s voting rules require a candidate to collect a simple majority of 85 votes in order to claim victory. In the absence of a consensus choice among the field of five candidates, though, the election appears destined for numerous ballots, involving many hours of deliberations punctuated by intense lobbying and political horse-trading between votes.

Public estimates of the five candidates’ support have tended to place incumbent RNC Chairman Mike Duncan at the head of the pack, followed by former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, with Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell behind them.

This story continues at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18188.html

Update: My mistake, the Youth Ball is aired TONIGHT on MTV at 9:00p.m. our time.

Maybe MTV will finally broadcast some music.

This is so cool. Track the cabinet nominees' confirmation processes:

http://innovation.cq.com/projects/cabinet_nominee?referrer=pw

Analysis: What does the new president need to say to the American people in his inaugural address? (not a prediction, but what he should say)

'I Was Summoned by My Country'
Nobody knows, yet, but maybe there's a clue in the inaugural addresses of the past. The headline of this post comes from George Washington's first:

Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month.

On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years -- a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.

On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.

(Yes, those are some seriously long sentences.)

You can read every inaugural address ever made at a web site set up by Yale Law School.
By David Marino-Nachison November 19, 2008; 3:09 PM ET Category: Inaugural History

1-6-09

1-5-09

End of 2008 Hodge Podge Edition:

(PICK A QUESTION, OR ANSWER ALL OF THEM. HAVE FUN!)

What do you think about the possibility of a Senator Al Franken?

Caroline Kennedy, Andrew Cuomo, or somebody else for NY Senator; who is your choice?

Are there too many familial dynasties in American politics, or is it just about name recognition (Kennedy, Cuomo, Clinton, Bush, Salazar, Sununu and the several members of congress who hold their husbands' former seats)?

Deep Throat has died at 95. What an important person in the history of our government working properly (and a symbol of how others tried to stop it from working).

"I will fight...I will fight...I will fight." Governor Blagojevich (almost didn't include this because I had to look up how to spell his name).

What are you looking forward to in government and politics for 2009?

Science and Technology:

Analysis: How will the tech-savvy Obama team remake the presidency using modern technology.

What would you like to see the new administration do?
Will these new ways improve American democracy or cheapen the democratic process?



By Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 14, 2008; Page A05

In the 26 years since the weekly radio address became a modern White House staple, presidents have often treated the speech to the nation as a task to be endured rather than an opportunity.

Not so with President-elect Barack Obama, who has been using his four minutes of weekend airtime not only to speak directly to the American people, but also to create news.

Yesterday, Obama used the address to announce Shaun Donovan, New York City's housing commissioner, as his nominee to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Obama has previously outlined a series of specific proposals aimed at reversing the nation's economic torpor, and he sketched out a plan to save or create 2.5 million jobs over the next two years.

Dan Pfeiffer, the incoming White House deputy communications director, said Obama will continue to use the addresses "to make significant news."

That contrasts sharply with President Bush, who presented little policy or political perspective in his radio addresses.


Bush's topic yesterday was the fight against illegal drugs; other recent subjects have included Thanksgiving and the transition process. Even when Bush dedicated six straight radio addresses to the economy -- from mid-September to late October -- the tone was more review than preview.

The incoming president's approach to the address also differs in how content is presented, by marrying the 100-year-old technology of radio to 21st-century tools: The speech is still beamed out to radio stations nationwide on Saturday mornings, but now it is also recorded for digital video and audio downloads from YouTube, iTunes and the like, so people can access it whenever and wherever they want.

"One of the fundamental precepts of our campaign was to use the new technology to reinvigorate our democracy. That's a commitment we will bring to this administration," senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said.

That strategy speaks to a broader revolution of how Obama will communicate with the American public, said Doug Sosnik, who was a senior aide in the Clinton White House.

"Once a decade or two, a president comes in and redefines how the White House communicates," Sosnik said. He noted that President Ronald Reagan, who introduced the weekly radio address in 1982, also perfected the political power of television broadcasts. That built on the concepts first grasped by John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s, while President Bill Clinton took it a step further by focusing on cable and satellite television.

"The mainframe for this White House will be the Internet, not TV," Sosnik added. "They will cater to TV. And it will be integrated into the overall digital strategy. But it's not going to be the end-all."

In its availability and its immediacy, online video offers a powerful newsmaking tool for the president-elect, Pfeiffer said. It is also easy to produce: A videographer can record Obama delivering the address in his transition office in fewer than 15 minutes.

"Turning the weekly radio address from audio to video and making it on-demand has turned the radio address from a blip on the radar to something that can be a major newsmaking event any Saturday we choose," Pfeiffer added.

The roots of this digital communication strategy can be found in Obama's campaign for his party's nomination for president. Faced with the prospect of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's financial juggernaut during the Democratic primaries, Obama and his team made a series of early investments in building a direct-to-voter contact operation that relied heavily on the use of Web video. That helped to reaffirm the idea that each and every supporter had a hand in any successes the campaign enjoyed, and to forge a firsthand connection.

Obama announced his intent to seek the presidency via Web video, and throughout the primaries and general-election campaign, he used the medium to sidestep mainstream media and to speak directly with voters. Campaign manager David Plouffe became something of a cult hero to Democrats around the country, thanks to a series of purposely rudimentary video messages shot in his office and sent to supporters.

And some Obama videos have become YouTube phenomena: His speech on the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. and race in America has been viewed more than 5.5 million times, while his victory speech in Grant Park on Nov. 4 is nearing 4 million views.
"Through their new-age communications brilliance and their resultant electronic fundraising, they have changed politics forever," said Fred Davis, a Republican media consultant and the lead ad man for Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. "They have given the Democrats a major advantage in presidential politics long into the future."

Making the success of that communication strategy work equally well from the Oval Office is the task of the coming weeks and months. Obama's decision to use the weekly address as a platform from which to make news represents the leading edge of that effort.

Now, instead of asking backers to register friends to vote, Obama will aim to use technological advances to build grass-roots support for policy initiatives, according to Joe Trippi, who managed former Vermont governor Howard Dean's 2004 Democratic presidential bid.

"Obama will be more directly connected to millions of Americans than any president who has come before him, and he will be able to communicate directly to people using the social networking and Web-based tools such as YouTube that his campaign mastered," Trippi said. "Obama's could become the most powerful presidency that we have ever seen."

Opinion: Is a New New Deal the right course of action for the United States?

Obama Offers First Look at Massive Plan To Create Jobs
Project Would Be the Largest Since the Interstate
System

By Michael D. ShearWashington Post Staff Writer Sunday, December 7, 2008; Page A01
On the heels of more grim unemployment news, President-elect Barack Obama yesterday offered the first glimpse of what would be the largest public works program since President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the federal interstate system in the 1950s.

Obama said the massive government spending program he proposes to lift the country out of economic recession will include a renewed effort to make public buildings energy-efficient, rebuild the nation's highways, renovate aging schools and install computers in classrooms, extend high-speed Internet to underserved areas and modernize hospitals by giving them access to electronic medical records.

"We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least 2 1/2 million jobs so that the nearly 2 million Americans who've lost them know that they have a future," Obama said in his weekly address, broadcast on the radio and the Internet.

Obama offered few details and no cost estimate for the investment in public infrastructure. But it is intended to be part of a broader effort to stimulate economic activity that will also include tax cuts for middle-class Americans and direct aid to state governments to forestall layoffs as programs shrink.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has called for spending between $400 billion and $500 billion on the overall package. Some Senate Democrats and other economists have suggested spending even more -- potentially $1 trillion -- in the hope of jolting the economy into shape more quickly.

On Friday, the government reported that 533,000 jobs were eliminated in November, the largest one-month drop since 1974, raising unemployment to 6.7 percent. And last week, the National Bureau of Economic Research officially declared that the country has been in a recession since last December.

"We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands," Obama said. "And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again."

Governors praised Obama's proposals, saying their states stand ready with billions of dollars' worth of road and school projects that could be started quickly with an infusion of federal cash. At a meeting with Obama in Philadelphia last week, governors estimated that there are $136 billion worth of projects that are "ready to go" once money rolls in.

"Here in Virginia, we have more than a billion dollars in ready-to-go bridge, highway, rail, transit, port and airport projects that have been through appropriate local, regional and state planning processes and that can be under contract within 180 days," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said in a statement.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) said the plan would "help keep people employed and create new jobs, [and] it would allow us to deliver infrastructure improvements that will last beyond the immediate economic crisis and benefit generations to come."

In keeping with the secrecy that surrounds the development of his recovery plan, Obama has given the governors no commitment about how much money they would receive for such projects. But Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D), chairman of the National Governors Association, said yesterday that he is not worried.

"Is it going to be big or little? It's going to be big," Rendell said. "I have no doubt that it's going to be substantial. [Obama] didn't blink an eye when we talked about $136 billion."

This article continues at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/06/AR2008120602187.html


Click for Obama "Radio" Address 12-6-08

No Post Required This Week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Opinion: Is the bail out of the auto industry a good idea or a bad idea? How do you feel about President-elect Obama's plan?

Obama "Radio Address" 11-22-08

Analysis: Predict who you think will fill top spots in an Obama Administration and tell why these are good choices or not.

Here is a good site to predict and keep track. What will they think of next?!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/interactivity/predict-the-administration.html

November 4, 2008 -- General Election Day in the United States of America.

From the simple to the complex, from the trivial to the sophisticated, what are your thoughts about this election cycle? What were your favorite or least favorite moments...or haven't they happend yet? What are your predictions for the election results or your predictions for what happens next? Will voting problems have an impact on the results (2000 all over again)? What did you find most interesting and what would you rather not see next time around?

Reflect on, think about, and comment on what Americans learned from the 2008 elections.

Analysis: Which congressional races are you watching and why?

Did you know that there is more than a presidential election happening on November 4 (the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November)?

Time Dot Com 08 Congressional Races to Watch

Take a look at the 17 races discussed in the above pieces. I haven't read all of them yet, but the ones I've read are well done and make me want to do more research and find out more. You should do that too (there are House and Senate races that are discussed).

All 435 members of the House are up for election every two years. A third of the Senate is up for election every two years (6 year terms, of course).

Bonus Question: With the conviction of Ted Stevens of Alaska, can the Democrats pick up enough seats in the U.S. Senate to get to 60 votes? This would allow them to pass a cloture motion with 60 votes and stop any Republican filibusters (implied bonus, bonus questions: is this a threat to Pluralism and will Joe Lieberman (I) caucus with the Democrats to help them get to the 60 vote supermajority). The fun and intrigue are just beginning...

Advanced Placement Politics and Government
(AP POGO: Hopping from one topic to the next...)

Stuff to be completed NOW ! Comments? Progress?

By Monday:
Ballots completed (includes Democrat, Republican, WI Green, Libertarian)

Second announcement explaining the Mock Election completed and submitted by second hour.

Announcement explaining why to vote and how to vote in the real election completed and submitted by second hour.

Each lunch shows 2 ads on flatscreens (Mr. Bretzmann facilitates)

Each lunch has two t.v.'s that show as many ads as possible. See Alex H. to find out who is in charge of the t.v.'s for each lunch.

CLEARINGHOUSE: Use this post as a clearinghouse to share your information and progress regarding the mock election.

What would we need?
Ballots
Matt C.
Limit who is on the ballot and not allow write-in candidates
Scott W.
Nathan L.
Matt L.
Jake K.
Pencils
Ryan H.
Poll workers
See next page

Collect votes at lunch
5a
Steph V.
Nathan L.
Tyler L.
Scott W.
Savannah B.
5b
Matt C.
Ryan H.
Steph V.
Tyler L.
Addie B.
5c
Kyle C. K.
Jessie R.
Ryan K.
Alli B.
Erik K.
Alex K.
Jake K.

Vote counters
Hour 6, Hour 7
Kyle K. (Coordinator)
List of students (divided alphabetically into 4 separate lists)
Matt C.
Scott W.
2 tables
Kyle K.
“Vote Here” signs (2)
Vince T.

Alphabetical order signs (4)
Tyler L.
Marketing Campaign Coordination
Scott W.
Kyle K.
Erik K.
Ballot Box
Jenni F.

Ask Election Commission for “I Voted” stickers
Addie B.
Information on registering to vote for real election
Jessie R.
Addie B.
Ask Administration for permission to vote and permission to run campaign ads and GOTV ads on flat screens
Scott W.

Fliers describing how and where to register for real and how to find out where to vote for real
Shannon O’
Vina A.
Copies of Fliers
Steph V.
Voting Statistics Research Coordinator
Matt L.
Civicsblog post for clearinghouse of info.
Mr. Bretzmann

Announcement that announces mock election
Scott W.
Announcement that announces real election
Scott W.
Announcement announcing results of mock election and encouraging 18 year-olds to vote today
Scott W.
Invitations to outside speakers
Nathan L.
Matt L.

WHEN WOULD IT HAPPEN?
Planning, preparation and contacts:
NOW

Voting:
November 3

Counting:
November 3 -- 6th, 7th, and after school

Results Announced:
November 4 in announcements

Analysis: Who exceeded expectations in the town-hall-style format? WHAT ABOUT THE "SITTING AT THE TABLE" DEBATE?

The Players:
Bob Schieffer, Barack Obama, John McCain.
(In the audience: Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney)



(Your choices are John McCain, Barack Obama, or Tom Brokaw)

Ben Smith reports:
"Lynn Sweet reported yesterday that the two campaigns had reached an agreement under which, among other things, moderator Tom Brokaw wouldn't ask follow-up questions tonight.

But Brokaw wasn't a party to the deal, I'm told, and hasn't agreed to it, so the campaigns are expecting follow-up questions, a senior campaign official said."

Analysis: Who completed their mission more effectively in the vice-presidential debate?