Political Youth

(Source: christopherstreet)

(Source: firstfamily)

Well That’s Unfortunate: Woman dies after meeting Obama.

A woman died this morning from a heart attack hours after meeting the president. Ann Harris, owner of a small restaurant, served president Obama this morning on his bus stop tour across Ohio.

I can see the Fox News headlines already.

Knock, knock.

Whose there?

Freedom.

(Source: jonny5fefrenzy)

Whoops! Well this is awkward: Former Arizona Governor get’s stopped by Border Patrol, assumed to be an illegal immigrant?

Former Arizona Governor, Raul Castro, was held up by border patrol when he accidentally set off a radiation sensor while driving to his 96th birthday. The border patrol agents proceeded to interrogate him despite his explanations that he had gone through a medical procedure which was likely the reason the sensor went off. Honest mistake…

Except that the former governor has been withheld by border patrol on more than one occasion:

Nearly half century ago, working on the front fence of his Tucson horse farm in his work clothes, Castro was stopped by a passing Border Patrol car. The agents asked if he had his work card. Castro said no. When they asked whom he worked for, Castro referred to “the señorita inside.” The agents nearly arrested Castro until he showed them the sign by his farm entrance: “Judge Castro.” A former Pima County prosecutor, Castro had become the first Latino Superior Court justice in the state in the 1960s.

And then there was this time:

“I once had a home in San Diego,” Castro said. “One day my daughter and I returned and were stopped by Border Patrol. ‘Hey, where were you born? I wasn’t about to lie. I was born in Mexico, I said. The guard starts questioning me. ‘What about that young lady?’ She was born in Japan, I said, during the Korean War. He thought we were being smart. He didn’t want to let us go.  In the meantime, someone came by and recognized me. Governor, how are you?”

I’m not a huge supporter of the “show your papers” law that Arizona passed for personal and, what I see as, obvious reasons. Laws that are based around racial stereotypes are faulty by design. They are based around societal perceptions and untrue stereotypes. A person, simply because he looks like this-and-this, must be this-and-that. A person is reduced from an individual to another statistic.

So, to some extent, I’m glad the governor’s awkward questionings are coming to light. They show the ridiculousness of such “show me your paper” laws. Now, believe me, I’m well aware of the problems that immigration has on the state of Arizona but turning your back on a fellow individual simply because of the way they look is wrong.

Hey, A Billionaire Speaks: Bill Gates supports higher taxes on the top percentile; doesn’t buy argument that taxes hinder jobs.

Everyone remember that guy that founded Microsoft? You know, the guy who is the second richest man on the planet? Well, he spoke last Thursday and came out in support of higher taxes on the rich:

“Even as the economy improves and you end the wars, you’re going to have to raise taxes and certainly, whatever form it takes, and I’m not an expert on this — the rich should bear a larger increase than the rest,” the billionaire founder of Microsoft told Fox News Thursday in Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum.

He also talked about the argument that higher taxes lead to less jobs:

“There is no strong correlation between job creation and what the tax environment has been at any point in time,” Gates said. “If something’s a profitable activity, you’re going to engage in it. Yes, there are tax rates that are so high that people may work less. But that’s — you have to get up in the 50, 60 percent range before that’s the case.”

Interesting. The world’s second richest guy talking about the effects of taxes on job creation. The guy that helped create an entire industry. Hm, you’d think people would listen.

This Week in Politics: Obama doing what he does best, gives powerful State of the Union Speech.

Boy, Obama knows how to speak, doesn’t he?

Every year, around January, the President speaks to Congress and to the people of America about the current state of the country. In the speech, he gave some facts about the current state of the country in terms of job creation and about his future plans for this country.

It’s important to note though, the President has no real power to pass laws in the United States. That job goes to the Legislative Branch. Usually, a certain party will control both the Presidency and the Congress which makes passing laws a lot easier (getting the amount of votes, etc). However, this isn’t the current case and if you’ve kept up with the history of Obama-approved bills and laws that have passed the Congress since the Republicans took power… Well, you’ll see they haven’t passed that many.

So, it’s kind of a tough position for the President to be in. People will tune into the speech, listen to the President’s suggestions and wonder why nothing has really changed. Well, now you know. He can suggest and lay out a plan but unless Congress actually takes an initiative or serious look at his plan we won’t see any of the President’s changes at all.

Regardless, this State of the Union was a great speech as always and the President talked about a lot of things. He talked about the banking industry and starting a new group to investigate the practices that the banks did that led us to the housing market crashing. He talked about taxes on company’s that send jobs overseas. He talked about the 3.2 million jobs that were created in America.

It was overall a great speech and if you have the time click the link and watch the enhanced version of the speech that shows you facts alongside the President’s speech.

Obama’s back and he’s not holding back at all.