Editorial #2- A Natural Choice

This editorial is about the idea that natural gas may be effective in reducing carbon emissions. Burning natural gas produces half the emissions as does burning coal, which means using natural gas as a source of energy instead of coal could put a large dent in America's carbon footprint. The author of this editorial states that there were rumors of President Obama supporting legislation that would discourage the use of coal and encourage the use of natural gas in his speech to the Business Roundtable on Wednesday. The author also said however that these rumors seemed to have been false, which is unfortunate, because nudging natural gas forward is something that the government can do quickly and relatively cheaply, to meet its medium-term emissions goals. This editorial also shared the importance of making sure America doesn't rely too much on one commodity for their energy. A drastic increase in the amount of natural gas burned would require infrastructure investments in certain regions as well as retrofits of certain plants, or the construction of completely new ones.

I agree with this editorial in the sense that if the burning of natural gas n order to generate energy can in fact reduce America's carbon footprint drastically, it is something worth looking into. With that said, I think it is important that we "look into" and research the effects of using natural gas a little bit more before any major legislation is passed. In my opinion if we use to much of any source of energy there have got to be some pretty serious effects on the environment. It would be great if there was some source of energy out there that was not bad for our environment at all, but unfortunately that hasn't been found yet, and I don' think it will be discovered anytime soon. I think that what we know about natural gas being better than coal sounds good, but that a bit more research should be done on what problems the use of natural gas could produce that coal does not cause.

Editorial #1- Lessons in the snow

Summary- This editorial discusses the effects the recent blizzard had on the Washington area. For the most part the blizzard was not to catastrophic, the were only a few deaths, and the homeless and the sick were given special attention. There were certain areas in which D.C. could have been better prepared however. One of these areas was the metro system. The author argues that when the metro closes the federal government also has to close, and although the amount of snow we got poses major problems for metro, we should have some kind of plan of how to solve the problem. Also the author argued that the federal government should do more to help the metro in this situation seeing as how tens of millions of dollars in forgone productivity are lost everyday the federal government is closed. Another issue addressed in the article was whether or not jurisdictions should impose alternate parking areas and sidewalks so that there is somewhere we can put the snow when we get as much as we did in this last blizzard.

My opinion- I would have to agree that our area did a pretty good job of controlling the situation during the blizzard of 2010. Sure there were some roads that were in pretty bad shape for a few days, but in the large scheme of things it was made sure that people in special situations such as the homeless were safe, and roads were cleared enough for emergency vehicles to get around pretty quickly considering how much snow we got. I also agree with what the author said about the metro. Poor metro has had quite a bad rap lately, but I think their controlling their snow conditions is just one more aspect they need to improve. As for the talk about imposing new side walks, parking areas, etc., I think it is a good idea in theory, but I;m just not sure it's where our money should be going right now. As we all know the economy isn't exactly in the greatest shape ever, and I think there are more pressing issues that deserve attention and funding over this jurisdiction.

Adoption of Haitian Children

So I know that my current event this week was also on the earth quake in Haiti, but what can I say it's just really been on my mind this week. I wanted to use this "personal post" to talk about specifically about one of the impacts the earthquake in Haiti has had on families here in the United States. The other night on the news, in the midst of the coverage of the status in Haiti, there were clips of American families who had been planing to adopt a child from Haiti. I totally had never even thought about this before, and it just really made me think. These families had made it through all the paperwork and interviewing and background checks (which can be an extremely long process), and had met the children they were adopting, and were simply just waiting to bring them home. It was really sad to see the pain these families were going through as they loved these children as their own, and now some of them are not even sure if their child survived the earthquake. For those families that learned that their child had survived, they were also told that the orphanages had collapsed, and that all the paperwork had been destroyed, and that it was going to be very difficult to have a legal adoption anytime soon. I cannot imagine what these parents are going through seeing pictures of the suffering in Haiti and knowing that even those who have survived are struggling to get water and food.

Political Cartoon #6- Hatian Aid Delayed

1. This cartoon was drawn by John Cole.
2. The cartoon was published in the The Scranton Times-Tribune on January 15, 2010.
3. This cartoon deals with the devastating earth-quake that took place in Haiti this past week, and the global effort to send aid to Haiti.
4. The message of this cartoon is that so many nations are wanting to help Haiti and send them aid, however it is extremely difficult to get the aid to Haiti. The Nation is in chaos, and they have a very small airport, which makes it hard for multiple airplanes to fly in at once. This is making it extremely difficult for people and supplies to get to Haiti to help.
5. I agree with this message, it is SO awesome that so many people want to help Haiti, and that already so much money has been raised around the world, but right now Haiti really needs food and water and it is almost impossible to get it to them. As with most Americans my prayers are with Haiti, and I hope we are able to get them the aid they need very soon.

What's ahead for the Obama Administration

I think that at the start of this year President Obama has a lot of work ahead of him to try and regain the confidence of the American public. Obama had a not so productive first year in office, although he did manage to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and many people who couldn't wait to get Obama into office are now unhappy with his performance. I don't really think we are headed in the right direction, because most of the problems that have been facing the U.S are seeming to go away. The economy doesn't seem to be mending, and the Obama administration has spent a lot of money that will be hard to repay. Also the problem of unemployment in the U.S has not gotten any better. Obama is taking troops out of Iraq which seems to be appreciated by Americans, however by sending more troops into Afghanistan he is kind of cancelling out the good news with the bad. It would be great to see improvement in the Obama administration, but it seems like there is a long way to go before we get there.

Political Cartoon #5-NBA, guns and body scans

1. This cartoon was drawn by Dave Granlund.
2. This cartoon was published at politicalcartoons.com on January 8, 2010.
3. This cartoon deals with two recent events, the attempted bombing of an aircraft on Christmas Day, and Wizard's player Gilbert Arenas' possession of a gun in the Verizon Center locker room.
4. Part of the cartoon's message is that airport security is not as tight as it should be is an Al Qaeda operative was able to board an airplane while equipped with a bomb. The cartoon is also commenting however on the poor choice of a professional athlete to bring a gun to work. These two events have lead the American public to loose confidence in their national security, as well as in professional athletic figures.
5. I agree with this cartoon. I think it's crazy that we almost had another terrorist attack through air travel. It really has not been that long since the attacks of 9/11, yet it seems that airport security is letting their guard down, I think i can speak for all Americans when I say i am truly thankful that the bomber was not successful. Also I think it was a very poor choice of Wizards player Gilbert Arenas to have brought a gun into the locker room. I think it is pretty obvious that this is not an action that would be taken well by the NBA or by the American public, and I think that Arenas should have been more consciences about his actions. Also I think that players as well as fans should have to got through security at sporting events to prevent something like this from happening again.

My Favorite Holiday

My favorite Holiday is Christmas! I love the season of Christmas because of all of the traditions involved, but also because of what it celebrates... the birth of Jesus Christ! On Christmas Eve my family and I celebrate by going to church, and then to my grandparents with all of my cousins. At my grandparents we eat pizza, open some presents, and then watch Home Alone 2... such a classic. On Christmas Day me and my family open our stockings and then our presents, and after a big breakfast me and all my cousins play a rousing game of street hockey. I love Christmas because I love hearing of and being reminded of the birth of my Savior, and because of the quality time I get to spend with all of my family!