Please Don't Drill Baby, Drill

Please Don't Drill Baby, Drill

It is approximated that only six percent of the world's crude oil lies in the United States- and about a fourth of the world's crude oil can be found in Saudi Arabia. However, America is the top consumer of oil in the world. Thus, even if America was able to harness all of the projected oil resting in its reservoirs, the oil found would not be anywhere near enough to make a true difference in oil cost for Americans, and it would be a huge expense and an even bigger step backwards for clean energy efforts in America.
President Obama has proposed, in his new energy plan, to begin drilling in and around several stretches of American coastline. "The likely return... [is about] two week's supply [of oil]," Keith Olbermann said on his show tonight. Obama's plan, which is seemingly a grab for some Congressional support from Republicans, will not provide any substantive energy to Americans.
Congressional Republicans don't seem interested in offering support, however. Some have begun to make statements against the plan, and other Republicans, outside of Congress, have done the same. Sarah Palin tweeted against the plan, and others have had similarly negative reactions. This proposal will decrease support from both liberals, who don't want to see any increase in drilling, and conservatives, who also oppose the plan for either not being sweeping enough or, quite simply, for being Obama's plan.
Several environmental leaders have spoken out against the proposal. Obama's plan would allow America to continue to rely on oil, rather than promoting new, 'green' energy methods. "We are seriously disappointed with the President," Eric Pica, of Friends of the Earth, said, although he noted that if this was attached to a green energy bill aiming to reduce climate change the proposal could be accepted by the community.
Still, any increase in drilling is negative. President Obama must remember that he was elected on a platform that focused on energy efficiency and that he was elected instead of a man whose vice presidential pick made a name for herself by calling out "drill baby, drill."

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A Matter of Life and Death

A Matter of Life and Death

The House just passed the Senate's edited version of the reconsolidated health reform bill, marking the end of a year-old polarizing debate. However, it is imperative that this legislation is kept in perspective. Although congressmen and women vehemently fought each other over small pieces of the bill, Americans need to remember that health care is, quite literally, a matter of life and death. Reforms are nice. Regulations are nice. Caps and changes and extensions are all nice. But real health reform will not have been achieved until every American has affordable and comprehensive health care insurance. Neither the current law nor the recently passed reconciliation do this. And until this real health reform is achieved, less Americans will be able to receive imperative surgeries and treatments, less will be diagnosed with illnesses by qualified doctors, and more Americans will become ill.

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Quote 3/25/10

Quote 3/25/10

Anthony Weiner        

"Sooner or later they are going to live in a New York City where gay marriage is not only legal, but it's common and they don't even notice."

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GOP Leadership

GOP Leadership

Michael Steele, the contentious chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), is, in all technicality, the official leader of the Republican Party nationally. Rep. John Boehner and Sen. Mitch McConnell are the highest ranking congressional Republicans, and Sen. John McCain is the party’s most recent presidential nominee. However, Republican leadership has been attributed to everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck to Mitt Romney.

The future of the GOP is an incredibly uncertain one, as current obstructionist tactics are unlikely to propel Republicans through either the 2010 midterms or the 2012 presidential, and the question of who will emerge as a Republican Party leader and candidate going into the 2012 election will be highly discussed. Potential candidates, including Romney, Palin, Mike Huckabee, and Tim Pawlenty, have all already been considered by the media as a new Republican leader, but none have really taken ownership of the party.

Romney, a more moderate conservative, would have a hard time achieving the GOP nomination if the tea party objects to his slightly more right-of-center beliefs, and the same goes for Pawlenty, although he appears to be becoming consistently more conservative. Palin, on the other hand, would have a contrasting problem. Her controversial actions and far-right beliefs would make her nearly impossible to market as a mainstream candidate, even to very conservative Republican voters.

Currently, no Republican in national office has complete leadership over the party. It is in Republican’s best interests to enter the 2012 elections united under one candidate. The inclusion of a tea party candidate or a struggle during nomination between traditional Republicans and the tea party will give massive advantage to the Democratic Party.

In order for Republicans to be united in 2012, a leader needs to emerge. Whether this leader is Palin, Romney, or even Beck doesn’t matter, as long as Republicans are in complete support of this leader. Otherwise, as Keith Olbermann said on his show Monday in a Special Comment, they will go from being “the party of no… to the party of no relevancy.”

 

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Post-Nothing

Post-Nothing

A year ago, the American media was quick to declare the budding Obama presidency a result of a new, post-racial America.  It sounded nice, as though the traditional biases held by average Americans had finally been dropped and America, now free of bigotry, would emerge victoriously as a completely accepting nation.

However, racial discrimination in America has not ended. Some of it, in fact, is aimed at the president who seemed to be above it all, like the often made- sometimes even by elected officials- claims that President Obama was not born in the United States, but rather, in Kenya.

“Barack Obama's presidency will not deal a death blow to racism. Racial inequality still affects the quality of the air we breathe, the quality of our health, the likelihood of being erroneously shot by police, the likelihood of being poor, of having little education and of being unemployed. Race is sticky and racism is real. Being black will still mean living poorer and dying younger,” wrote Mellissa Harris-Lacewell, an associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, in a piece for The Nation in 2008. In the piece, Lacewell talks of the great strides made by the African-American community, both separate from and due to the election of Barack Obama. Still, Lacewell acknowledges that his presidency will not mean a post-racial America. Rather, it will lead to a more racially-empowering America.

Another epithet the media likes to attach to America when referring to the Obama presidency is ‘post-partisan’. But as the health care debate has shown, Washington is anything but. The American people and their representatives are now more polarized than ever, partisan politics suddenly becoming imperative to survival in Washington. The media may wish to, in the future, about declaring America done with any terrible action or unfortunate habit. 

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Reform?

Reform?

It has been nearly four months since the Senate passed their health care reform bill. And yet, despite this seemingly lethargic pace, the House of Representatives voted late last night, 219-212, to pass the Senate's version of the bill. Although this bill is unlikely to be the final piece of health care legislation this year- the promised reconciliation appears imminent- certain assumptions can be made about what reform will actually take place after its signing.
The bill will, over time, extend protections to all Americans who are currently being discriminated against by the insurance companies. 90 days after the bill goes into law, insurance companies will be unable to deny coverage to children with preexisting conditions. Some others denied health care insurance will, soon after, be able to buy plans in a high-stakes insurance exchange.
Eventually, insurance companies will be forced to declare a justify proposed rate hikes before being allowed to enact them. Medicaid will be expanded to include more of the uninsured. Employers will be under more pressure to provide insurance to employees. Insurance companies will be more regulated, and less able to drop customers while being forced to provide minimum care.
However, the reform bill is not nearly as reaching as it could- and should- be. The bill does nothing to provide viable competition for insurance companies, completely ignoring the possibility of a public option, even a reactive one. Despite limitations on companies' ability to raise rates, no plan is given to lower them. The bill offers a mandate, forcing all Americans to buy heath care insurance- but forces them to buy a private plan. By not providing a public option, the US government is forcing Americans to buy a private product.
The bill could act as a stepping stone to more sweeping reforms. It is potential- although unlikely- that the reconsolidated bill will make great strides to cover those still not insured under the current plan. Still, regardless of flaws, the recently passed bill is a step in the right direction. 

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Infrastructure Spending

Infrastructure Spending

Voters love tax cuts; Republican lawmakers love cutting taxes. Small businesses and corporations alike love paying low, even nonexistent tariffs on their goods and products. Due to the conservative ideal's immense popularity, one may believe that tax cuts are the most effective way to stimulate the American economy.
The logic behind this thinking appears sound- if taxes paid by small business owners are cut, these business men and women will have more money to pour into their companies and, therefore, will be able to provide jobs for more Americans. Moreover, tax cuts, according to the idea's proponents, will give consumers more money to spend on goods and products that may have, in the past, been too expensive for the interested parties. The consumer spending, in turn, would stimulate the economy- or so pro-tax cut politicians say.
However, cutting taxes is not the best way to stimulate the economy, nor is it a particularly effective one. Tax cuts, while popular, will only make a small difference in a huge economy, and do not provide for a scenario in which the small business owners do not return the money saved to their companies.
In order to stimulate the economy, the US government must fund programs to provide jobs to American people, with a heavy focus on infrastructure spending. Infrastructure spending, or government funding of the building of roads, bridges, schools, etc, provides structure to America's crumbling infrastructure.
American buildings are falling apart. Destruction from natural disasters and simple age still ravage America's infrastructure, and the repair of roads and the like has become one of the most important issues today on a local level. America's buildings affect nearly every American every day, as they go to school, work, or home. The long term maintenance of failing infrastructure will result in incredibly high cost for the American taxpayer. If the problems are not immediately fixed, the financial consequences of quite literally rebuilding America will be great.
Additionally, infrastructure spending provides simple, viable jobs to US workers. In the current economy, with the shockingly high unemployment, workers are in desperate need of work that projects created by infrastructure spending will easily provide.
Often, the government will also hire small businesses to restructure the roads and buildings that must be repaired. Not only does that provide jobs, infrastructure spending funds small business, and, by extension, stimulates the economy on a national level.

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