The wonderful Governor Corbett

Are you smarter than a middle schooler?

I've discovered reecently how blantantly ignorant some people are about political facts and how my 7th and 8th graders have a better grasp of current issues than they do. It's astounding, depressing, and reassuring all at the same time. I'm astounded that at such a young age they actually get, depressed because people their parents age don't get it and reassured because these are our future leaders and will be the people running the country. It's also frustrating because as a history major I have spent 4 years studying what has happened in our country and around the world and people somehow claim I'm ignorant about what's going on. What did Churchill say, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it? Well, I've learned from the past and I'm pointing out how it's being repeated while others are telling me to shut up and that I'm way wrong. Take for instance tax cuts and trickle down economics. It has been proven that this plan failed under Reagan and failed again under Bush, but what did we do, we let those tax cuts stand because somehow higher taxes kill jobs. Once again, history has shown us the opposite with the boom era of the 1950s under another Republican, Eisenhower, where the top tax rate was near 90%, and the economy was growing. Another grand notion is smaller government, which was tried under the Articles of Confederation during the 1780s and once again was a failure. And let's not forget states' rights, which was settled during the Civil War, but somehow southern Republicans still think they can leave the Union. Speaking of unions, how about Wisconsin and Ohio where workers' rights are being taken away. Remember what happened in Europe when workers were oppressed? REAL socialism and communism took hold because they stood for the working man. See how much trouble could be avoided if politicians, especially Republicans, paid attention during history class. And yet 13 and 14 year olds ask me, "why are they (politicians) so dumb?" All I can say is "because they think about themselves instead of the people who voted them into office." While the present might look bleak, at least I have hope for the future.

It's time for a Progressive revolution

The Tea Baggers, I mean Tea Partiers, have swept across the country, using the GOP as a way for their voice to become heard and to destroy the country as we know it. They have aligned themselves with corporate interests and have hijacked the political process. Their corporate overlords got them to create fiscal emergencies all in an effort to further benefit the rich SOBs who filled their campaign coffers. This isn't a populist movement like some many try to make you believe. It's greed, taken to the max. They see that the Democrats are on a path to undo everything the Bush administration put in place to benefit them and now they're scared. They saw the popularity of Ron Paul's movement in '08 and decided to latch on to it, but use it to their own advantage. The use the fear tactics so commonly used by the GOP, saying that the Democrats are going to destroy the country with their "socialist" agenda and that if things don't change soon, a revolution might happen. Those fear tactics worked, so we get men like Scott Walker and Tom Corbett running states into the ground. And as we've seen in Wisconsin, that revolution the Tea Party feared would happen is actually happening, not because of Socialist fears but because of GOP idiocy taking away the rights of the working class, the people that make this country great. The working class will take this country back, back to the way it should be.

Obama After 26 Months

I am going to make this short and sweet. Mr. President here are a list of promises yet to be fulfilled, and as always, issues that have arisen during your presidency that need resolution:

1) Guantanamo Bay - Still open after 26 months, now considered a necessity by the Obama Administration

2) Iraq - Declared an end to combat operations? Sounds like W. declaring "Mission Accomplished"

3) We are still in Afghanistan. Also the man conveniently referred to as "Gen. Betrayus" by Obama supporters is now in charge of operations.

4) Gasoline prices are up 67% since Obama took office. Where is the policy that was going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil?

5) Unemployment over 9%, still. That stimulus has more shovels rusting that ready.

6) The bank bailout was perfect. House are still be foreclosed and banks have been doling out bonuses, not loans

7) GM is still ranked as one of the worst automakers, next to Chrysler by Consumer reports. This was a solid investment for the American taxpayer?

8) What ever happened to kicking someones ass with regards to the Deepwater Horizon spill? The well is capped, and the story disappears, just like deep water drilling.

9) An American friendly mid-east ruler is forced to step down and rightfully so in Egypt. Why so quiet with regards to Libya and a terrorist regime?

10) If The Patriot Act was so bad, why did you re-new it, stating it is a necessity?

11) Why so quiet on the situation in Wisconsin? Aren't Unions your biggest supporters? Should you not go on the record with regards to ease the discontent within the state, or at least bring Democratic representatives back from their paid vacation in Illinois?

It has been over two years, foreign policy is a mess, domestically the nation is stagnant. My personal feeling is we are on a rudderless ship. The man who would be Captain (Obama) does not know how to handle adversity. I am tired of the blame game "Its all the Republicans fault!" or "Give him time!, it took eight years to get us into this mess!" Well President Obama ran on the promise of curing many of the above ailments within his first two years, had the House and Senate votes to do it, but was too afraid to make a decisive decision for fear of public backlash. He got that anyway at the midterm elections. Ours is a nation that needs to move forward. If you are going to say you are going to do something, do it. Don't act like the world is not watch as North Africa is destabilized and you are hosting a 3-on-3 basketball tournament!!

Time for Obama to step up to the plate

Gasoline prices across the country have really taken a hit in the unrest in Libya and Middle East. Gasoline prices are fastly reaching $4 a gallon and could reach $5 by the summer. California is already over $4 and could be hit even harder. In an effort to alleviate this mess, President Obama is being pushed to open up the Strategic Petroleum Reserves along the gulf coast. But this won't help because the prices aren't being truly affected by the crises in the Mid East and north Africa, it's because the oil companies are greedy and taking advantage of the situation. Only 3% of our countries oil comes from Libya and our main supplier, Saudi Arabia, isn't in a state of emergency right now. So while we're suffering from the worst recession since the Great Depression, oil companies are continuing to line their pockets and take advantage of a situation not affecting them. The president needs to go back to what he said during the 2008 campaign and bring out a penalty tax on the oil companies for the large profits their making. Not only will this help the consumer, but it can go towards the deficit. But we all know this won't happen because the House of Representatives is controled by the GOP, which is in Big Oil's pocket. They don't care about the people that elected them, only the large donor fat cats that gave them campaign money. It's just sickening.