Concealed Carry!!

A court ruled yesterday that Illinois must catch up with the times and implement some form of concealed carry. Currently Illinois is the only state in the union to completely ban concealed carry of a firearm. The court gave law makers until June to implement a new law otherwise the court would step in and do it for them. The Pantagraph gave a good explanation of the issues and lawmakers positions on the topic. I am personally shocked of the precedent  that this decision sets, courts can instruct state on what to do even if they have already repeatedly voted against said legislating.

How does this make you feel?

Do you think that concealed carry is a good thing for this nation even with more gun violence in the news recently?

Which Plan To Use?

Last week President Barack Obama released his plan for averting the Fiscal Cliff. Needless to say it was not what the Republicans had in mind when they had the summit at the White House.

The Obama Administration  updated an info-graphic online to outline their plan  and set up a website that citizens can have direct contact with the administration. You can tweet at President Obama and ask questions that he will be answering over the coming days.

Today, Speaker Boehner released today a letter addressed to President Obama outlining the Republican's position on the Fiscal Cliff. They wish to implement the Bowles Plan. Calling for much needed spending cuts coupled with in depth tax reform to close corporate loop holes and encourage job growth here at home.

What do you think of this battle over preventing the Fiscal Cliff?

Which plan do you want to see implemented?

If you lost there is still recourse..secession!

I can say that I completely floored by the idea that so many people are talking about seceding from the Union. I guess it is not that hard to petition the white house to allow your state to leave the USA. At We The People , the official White House  petition website, citizens can create and share online petitions.

Currently the top petition is the plight of Texans who wish to secede form the Union and they have received over 100 thousands signatures. There is now officially a secession petition from all 50 states.

The White House and Obama's Administration will comment on petitions once they reach the signature threshold of 25 thousand. Currently there has been nor official response form the White House on the secession movements but I expect to hear one soon.

Explore this website and see what other petitions have been filed as well as the official responses of the White House. It is interesting to hear the White House's plans to remedy the situations.

What do you think about all these secession movements?

Would you leave the USA just because of a lost election?

11 Days!

What's next!

With 11 full days left, so begins the foot race to the finish line. We are just beginning to hear the last minute appeals by the candidates for our support and in some cases 11th hour announcements on policy issues. Are you prepared to make your choice?

 It will come down to the pivotal battle ground states and will most likely be one of the tightest elections since 2000.  Colorado is currently tied 50/50, Ohio and Florida are both too close to call.

How do you think the Battle Ground States are going to go? What do you see as the results of the Election?

Also the battle for control of the House of Representatives and Senate will be decided on November 6th as well. What party will win control of Congress? What are the issues that will control the outcomes?

Either way these decisions will be made on November 6th in the voting booths across America!

WILL YOU SHOW UP?

Miss-steps again!

This time it is with the Indiana Senate Race! Following the debate this pas week the GOP candidate made some statements on abortion and rape that can be taken as very offensive.

Richard Mourdock's response to the abortion question was tough to follow. He meant to say that a pregnancy is life and thus is a gift from God even if the pregnancy is the result of rape.

I just do not understand why more politicians and candidates make issues out of abortion and rape after all of the issues that have already come up. Honestly Stephen Colbert said it best, the GOP needs truly avoid talking about rape it is not an governmental issue, its a horrific act that should be punished to the full extent of the law.

These issues do not just effect the candidates that are uttering the nonsense it is affecting he entire election cycle. According to the New York Times these miss steps are going to affect the overall battle for control of congress.

What do you think of all these issues? Is there really a war on Women? What is the logic with continuing to make social issues front and center if so many have been crucified for their statements?

Social Media and Politics!

What role does Facebook play in politics?

Odds are that you have heard all about the ideas that social media is a means of political engagement. Well the Pew Research Center has been "studying on the social impact of the internet." They conducted research on the impact of Facebook on the spread of political information. Understanding how the public uses Facebook for political speech can help understand what the future of civic engagement will be. 


"Here are the key findings in a recent nationally representative survey: 

38% of those who use social networking sites (SNS) or Twitter use those social media to “like” or promote material related to politics or social issues that others have posted. Liberal Democrats who use social media are particularly likely to use the ‘like’ button—52% of them have done so and 42% of conservative Republicans have also done so.
35% of social media users have used the tools to encourage people to vote. Democrats who are social media users are more likely to have used social media to encourage voting—42% have done that compared with 36% of Republican social-media users and 31% of independents.
34% of social media users have used the tools to post their own thoughts or comments on political and social issues. Liberal Democrats who use social media (42%) and conservative Republicans (41%) are especially likely to use social media this way."

To see the entire survey and its findings follow this link.

Upon learning this i would like to know what your reactions are to the finding? 

Do you feel that Facebook and Twitter are the future of civic engagement? 

Do you pay attention to the political posts and groups?

Debate Season

Presidential Debates

Last night was the second presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney. It was a pretty good slug fest between the President and Romney. I would say that President Obama won hands down. I can understand some of the arguments from the republicans against the moderator but to me she the candidates to the time limit as best as possible and ensured that both men got chances to address each issue. 

Today both men are headed to Ohio to campaign and then of to different states. The election is drawing closer and closer as the days go on and polls keep labeling it as too close to call. It it definitely going to come down to the battle ground states. Ohio and Virginia are taking center stage for the Republican efforts.

Congressional Debates

Tonight at Illinois State University there is a debate between Rodney Davis and David Gill for the Illinois  13th Congressional District.  The new 13th district was drawn with the hopes of the Democratic Party taking back the House of Representatives. From polling data that i have seen the races is leaning slightly in Republican Nominee Rodney Davis' favor. He has a slight lead but the race is not over yet. If you live in the 13th district and are close to Illinois State University's campus I recommend coming out to the debate. It is at 6:00 PM in the Brown Ball Room in the Bone Students Center. Here is the Facebook page for the event. 

The next few weeks there are debates going on in Illinois District 12 and 11 as well. These are great chances for you to learn more about your new districts and the candidates looking to represent you in Washington D.C. for the next two years.

VP Debate Recap...What's Next?

Last night was an a very interesting debate.

For one they were sitting down. I find that set up very odd and hard to think of as a debate. When I think of a debate I see both candidates standing at podiums some distant apart and arguing back and forth. It was odd that they were so close to each other. 

Second Biden was let out of the cage and was on full out attack the entire night. He interrupted and directly called Paul Ryan out on not being very specific with his economic plans while using facts as much as possible. 

Third Paul Ryan was a strong defender of what he and Romney would bring to the oval office. He even had strong points to attack the current administration.

And Finally the Moderator was very strong on the time limits and pushed both gentlemen to stay on topic. With all the issues of the first debate this moderator held her ground and forced the debate to address all topic areas. 

Overall I deem the debate a TIE! That's right there was no specific winner or loser. Biden struck back while Ryan held his ground. Both men did what they needed to do last night and both campaigns can now prepare for the next debate next Tuesday. 

What does this mean for the Election? 

This debate really wont have much effect over all. The Vice President is not who people vote for the go for the top of the ticket. So this debate is only a chance for campaigns to really lose ground rather than surge off of.

While looking for more understanding of the election I found another blog that you can check to see what states are truly battle grounds and see polling data.

Absent Issues!

The first debate was on domestic policy. What do you think of when you think of domestic policy?

I think of issues such as gas prices and energy issues, transportation and infrastructure, healthcare and medicare, as well as taxes and the economy. Yet all the first debate cover was the economy and healthcare. I feel that the issues with jobs and taxes have squeezed out many other issues that are plaguing Americans everyday.

What do you think?

Even with all this talk of jobs and the economy there is little focus on issues that are pressing and immediate concerns to many Americans living in rural communities. I have been researching the issues that congress left on the docket for after the election and found that many of the issues have received very little press. Issues that have been brought on by the summer drought such as corn yields coming in at a 6 year low as well waterway and infrastructure issues.

After a quick Google search of locks and dam issues i found hundreds of sites and articles that go in to detail on how far our water way infrastructure has fallen. Here in Illinois almost all of the locks and dams haven't been upgraded since the 1980's.  One sight in particular showed some interesting statistics about the importance of locks and dams that i have never heard about. Check it out here!

I bet that many of you haven't even heard about the Farm Bill struggles that have been going on in Washington D.C. all summer. Even if you had heard about it it has surprisingly disappeared from the major media sources. This along with the dilapidated conditions of our locks and damns are two major issues that i would have expected to be apart of the debate last Wednesday.

For more information on the rural economy and the effects of the Farm Bill expiration check out this NPR article.


Are there more issues you believe that should be focused on more in the last 30 days???

And the Winner is....

No Surprise, I along with my followers and a majority of the people who saw the debate on Wednesday would say that Romney won hands down. He was a little more combative than i would really care for and walked over the moderator at many points. It doesn't matter how you win just that in the end you win. He has been the talk of the media all weekend and this week.

Romney saw a bump in the polls and the shrinkage of President Obama's lead in many of the swing states as the debate effects take hold. The Election is obviously becoming much more competitive in these final 30 days. Romney is riding a new head of steam now following the win in last Wednesday's debate that will no doubt carry into the VP Debate. Romney has seen his critics on the right pull an about face and they are now some of the strongest voices defending him in the past few days.

The strong comeback kid theme seems to be building around Romney and his campaign. They have effectively shaken off the 47% comments and begin to challenge Obama on foreign policy in a convincing manner. It seems that he campaign is beginning to shape the conversation to prepare for the next debate. With these new statements on foreign policy Romney is posturing to offer his view on what can be done to protect Israel and create a more stable middle east.

The entire next debate is completely on foreign policy and thus thus will be what we hear about in the news next week, after the VP Debate that is.

It will be interesting to see what the Obama team comes up with in the next few days to combat the failure in the debate and prep for the next one. I have heard of many excuses that were given to try to explain the failure and by far the oddest was Al Gore's state that the President was effected by the altitude in Denver. Yea I have heard of this being an issue but its not like Obama has never visited the city for a day.

All excuses aside Obama just fell flat and will need to work to prepare better and come out guns a blazing in the next debate to hold on to his lead. In the mean time lets all get geared up for the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday.

It's Finally Time to Debate!

Tonight is the first Presidential Debate in this election cycle. Depending on which news program you have been watching the past few days you have heard of the importance of this debate on the race. 

Many see this as Romney's chance to re-present himself to the American public and prove that he has what it takes to stand toe to toe with President Obama. Romney's campaign has had multiple gaffes the past few weeks with his 47% comments and this debate is the chance for Romney to quell those saying he has no chance in this race. He had relatively good showings in the primary debates but President Obama is a very skilled speaker so I expect a hard fought debate tonight.

President Obama's campaign has been spreading the idea that the president is not as practiced as he was back in '08. His campaign is trying to lower expectations so that if the President does do really well it will make him look even better. 

Following the debate tonight I will have a poll set up here on my blog for all of you to comment on what you thought about the debate and who in your opinion performed better. 
Make sure to watch it tonight or the reruns that play for the next 3 days. It starts tonight 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central.

Here is the full debate schedule so you can mark your calendars. They are all at 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central


Wednesday, October 3 - Presidential debate on domestic policy
Thursday, October 11 - Vice-presidential debate on foreign and domestic policy
Tuesday, October 16 - Presidential town meeting on foreign and domestic policy
Monday, October 22 - Presidential debate on foreign policy

Money and its Effect on Party Affiliation

I just found a set of interesting graphs that show party affiliation and how it corresponds to income levels.

Do you feel that a persons income effects which party they belong to? Are you surprised by the breakdown?

Check out the story at NPR

Congress Leaves Unfinished Business!

Generally it is this time of year where we hear Congressmen and women coming back to their district touting the work they have completed in the past session. This year all I hear about is the list of unfinished business left back in Washington. It is the longest I have ever seen.

No Solution to the Fiscal Cliff 

No Farm Bill

No Real Budget Reform

No Solution to the Debt Ceiling

No Defense Re-authorization

All these issues must now be dealt with in an abbreviated lame-duck session following the election. With leaving these issues to the election they are poised to be huge election topics. It is sad that policies that could help so many Americans are held up for no reason. In the past session we have seen healthcare repeal acts, that have gone no where, passed 33 times while other crucial issues such as the approaching Fiscal Cliff and the new Farm Bill have not received the attention that they deserve.

The Fiscal Cliff is the compilation of Bush Era Tax Cuts that are set to expire at the same time as $100 billion Spending Cuts go into effect. Many economic experts fear that these both will cause the US to fall into another recession. Legislators are on record calling for the needed action to prevent the Fiscal Cliff  as soon as possible, yet nothing has been done. Now its up to a lame-duck Congress to sort out following November 6th.

Neither side is more at fault than the other for these issues not being completed in the previous session. The partisan bickering on both the Left and the Right have held up needed reforms for the bast 2 years. It is no wonder why Congress's approval rating is at 13%.

We truly need our elected officials to come back after the election and work together otherwise I fear even less will get done in the next session of Congress.

Are You Registered???

Every person over the age of 18 should exercise their civic duty and vote for our leaders. Are you Registered?

No. Then you should find out where and how to register. Hurry up the deadline for registration is quickly approaching. Here in Illinois the dead line is October 9th.

Check out this website and cause for increasing the youth vote. http://www.ourtime.org/

Beware the Romney Ad Machine!

It is not surprising seeing all of the coverage of Mitt Romney in the past week cause a slight dip in the polls because of the missteps this past week. The election is far from over though. I have seen new ads from the Romney campaign that may possible bring more voters to his side. The topic of these new ads, that will be run in the battle ground states, is the United States coal industry and the effects that the Obama administration policies have had so far and threaten to do in the future. Romney is truly showing that he can fight back and will be using his energy policy to show how Americans are not better off than they were 4 years ago.

The debate here is over the effect of the Clean Air Act on the United States coal industry. With higher regulations on emissions and the financial burdens that these regulations have on power plants have basically made building new coal fired power plants too expensive of a venture. Not to mention the continued regulations and inspections that would come with operating the plant. It is the Romney campaigns position that these regulations restrict business growth.  The noose of governed regulation should be loosened to allow for small business growth and the creation of new jobs. This message is very apparent in the new advertising and will no doubt bolster support for Romney in blue collar and rural america.

Watch these ads. Listen to the message that is being portrayed and you will see that they are powerful.  The Election is no where near over just because of a couple missteps. I can already see Romney trying to use his mistakes to change the message back to the economy and tax policy. Both issues that the GOP brand that continues to resonate with the American public.

What Party?

For those of you who have never thought about what party you fall under or are confused on the issues I have just what you need.

In my search for a good party identifying tool I found the Pew Research Centers Political Party Quiz. "The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The center conducts public opinion polling, demographic studies, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. It does not take positions on policy issues."

I have used the center multiple times in the past for research on college projects and just to stay up to date on the facts that are circulating in the media. I took this quiz and was surprised to find where I fall in the political spectrum and I know it will help my readers.

Take the quiz and let me know what your response to the results. Are you a member of the party you thought you were? Were you surprised about the results? Why do you think you received the party you did? What effect if any will this have on your political views in the future?

Link to Political Party Quiz

Fact Check

As you all may remember from the news programs there are people out there who dissect political speeches the second that politicians finish talking. Most recent victim was the Vice-Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan and his speech to the GOP Convention. I watch to the speech and thought that it was a great speech that was geared to make Ryan out to be the Vice-President attack dog that many said he should be.

The question is why would you put some false information in a speech like that? How hard would it have been to find more credible attacks on President Obama's record? There are a multitude of different arguments that can be made to boost the GOP but Ryan and his speech writes chose to risk it has been the focus of a lot of media.

I feel that the media jumped on him a too hard because of some of the stuff he said in his speech. He did not  lie at any point he told his side of the story and some of it may have been a little stretched.

I want to hear your opinion on this speech and the over all message that the GOP took to their convention and how effective you think it might have been. Will the coverage of the Democrats be as hard as it was on the GOP? 

To better check the facts that are spread in this campaign I recommend Politifact.com.

Beware the Political Wingnuts

I agree with every one that the current Hurricane that just made landfall in Louisiana and the gulf coast last night is a natural disaster. Those people need to be helped in their time of need. Although if you take time to think about the the news cycle that we live in you would see that it is ever changing and extremely volatile and sometimes full of issues that should obviously not news worth.

It seems that throughout the course of  week news topics rise and fall in importance by the second. Especially now with the current presidential campaign and the party conventions now upon us. With this a high stress time for the GOP the pundits and political wingnuts are coming out of the wood work to spout extremest ideas in hopes of driving home to the base that the other side is to blame for just about everything.

Rush Limbaugh has just come out accusing President Obama of playing up Hurricane Issac in order to cause the republicans to cancel a day of their convention. I respect these people for their views but I worry that Americans will believe this hog wash. I don't mean to only point out my issues with the conservative wingnuts I know that the highly liberal wingnuts will be out in a week attacking Romney and the republicans for other issues that they will truncate or miss inform their listeners on.

Take time to listen to these extremists over the next 2 weeks and try to see the holes in their stories. Look at the issues for yourself and let me know if there are other ranting extremists out there babbling nonsense in our media and claiming it to be news.

Electoral Math

Some of you may remember that day in your High School Government class when you learned how presidential elections are decided in this country. That little thing called the electoral college and the 538 electors who actually choose the next president. Our founders set this system up from beginning as a prevention of mob rule which brought down past republics such as Rome. I would venture to guess that our founders feared the public would be too easily swayed by politicians that they wrote this law directly into the Constitution.

The current system has been changed only a few times just to modernize the voting and add in a procedure in the case of no clear majority winner for President and Vice President. Every 4 years i feel like the news media completely re-educates the public on how the system works as if it has just changed. It has been relatively  the same since almost 1800, except for the addition of th District of Columbia's 3 electoral votes which were added in 1961.

I bring up the electoral college because in my recent stint of watching the news media, people can now act as pundits and mess with the votes to see what each candidate needs to win the election. I wanted to pass on to you a link to the "Magic Wall" as CNN refers to it. This is your chance to examine the board and see for your self the possible break down of battle ground states that could sway the election.

It is surprising to see how much of an up hill battle it appears that the Romney Ryan ticket has to get to the magic 270 votes (a majority of the 538 electors).

This is where i see the election:

I think it will come down the Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida. If you look at the math Romney will need 2 of those three to win if he doesn't get Florida. Florida is the big prize and the major battle ground but it will be very interesting to see how the campaigns deal with the ever volatile electoral math.

Play around with the "Magic Wall" and let me know what you think will be the final break down of the election.

This Election Could Be the Start of the Next "Civil War"

I love my country and believe in individual freedoms as much as the next person but some people just take it too far with the rhetoric they use. So I can't say that I am completely surprised to hear that according to a County Judge in Texas that this coming election in November could bring about the next "Civil War" in which "UN Forces" will be used to keep the American people under the control of the government. 

The Justice in question is the Honorable Justice Tom Head of Texas, He spoke out about the dangers of a President Obama re-election. On Monday August 20th he discussed the possibility of a "Civil War" type of revolt by general Americans because President Obama is giving up U.S. Sovereignty to the United Nations. He speaks of the importance of Militias will be in the event of a war. 

This extreme rhetoric is just one example of what this race has developed into in the past months. I believe that it is actions like that of Judge Head that cause Americans to misunderstand the views of candidates running for political office. 

What do you think this country really needs in a leader? What is this rhetoric of fear doing to us as citizens? Do you think there will be a "Civil War"?

Please if you have an opinion share it with me and my readers