Tell you what artist you think is the best & why.
Read what others say about their favorite artists.
Try to convince them why your artists is really the best.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Practice Blogging: What's the Best Movie?
Directions:
Tell us your favorite movie & why.
Read the blogs of others & comment on what movies they think are the best.
Try to convice others that your movie is the best.
Tell us your favorite movie & why.
Read the blogs of others & comment on what movies they think are the best.
Try to convice others that your movie is the best.
McCain: Illegal Immigrants
No path to legalization. “We oppose amnesty. The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity.” Deny federal funds to “sanctuary cities” for illegal immigrants. (Senator John McCain co-sponsored a 2006 bill that called for establishing guest-worker program and setting up a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants that included learning English and paying fines.) (nytimes.com)
Obama: Illegal Immigrants
Require those “living here illegally but otherwise playing by the rule” to “get right with the law.” Support a system that requires undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens (nytimes.com)
Obama: Government Budget
Enforce pay-as-you-go budgeting rules. Honor these rules by ending Iraq war, eliminating waste in existing government programs, generating revenue by charging polluters for releasing greenhouse gases and ending "special interest driven corporate loopholes and tax cuts for the wealthy." Put all non emergency bills, passed by Congress, online for five days, to allow the public to review and comment on them before they are signed into law. Publish searchable, online information about federal grants, contracts, earmarks, loans, and lobbyist contacts with government officials. (nytimes.com)
McCain: Government Budget
Impose an immediate moratorium on the earmarking system and reform the appropriations process through full transparency. One-year pause in non-defense, non-veterans discretionary spending. Call for presidential line-item veto. "New authorizations should be offset by reducing another program, and no appropriation should be permitted without a current authorization." (nytimes.com)
McCain: Jobs
Reduce corporate tax rate "so that American companies stay competitive with their foreign counterparts and American jobs can remain in this country." Encourage agreements to reduce trade barriers that limit market access for U.S. products, commodities and services: "Greater international trade, aggressively advanced on a truly level playing field, will mean more American jobs." New nuclear energy plants will rejuvenate industrial and manufacturing base, "with nearly 15,000 high quality jobs created for every new nuclear plant built." (nytimes.com)
Obama: Jobs
End tax breaks for companies that ship American jobs overseas and provide incentives for companies that keep and maintain good jobs in the United States. Invest in advanced energy technologies and create "millions of new, good 'Green Collar' American jobs." (nytimes.com)
McCain:Health Care
Opposes mandate requiring everyone to obtain health insurance; said he wants to give individuals free to choose their own health care; would provide tax credits; has pledged affordable health care for every American
Sees controlling health costs as a top priority.
Make plans portable from job to job and accessible across state lines.
Provide $2,500 tax credits for individuals and $5,000 for families to buy their own insurance.
Eliminate the tax deductibility of employer-sponsored health insurance.
Move to compensate medical providers based on the quality of their work.
Bring greater competition to drug markets by safe reimportation of drugs and streamlining the process for introducing generic drugs.
Offer federal assistance for states to create high-risk pools that would contract with insurers to cover consumers who have been rejected on the open market. (nytimes.com)
Sees controlling health costs as a top priority.
Make plans portable from job to job and accessible across state lines.
Provide $2,500 tax credits for individuals and $5,000 for families to buy their own insurance.
Eliminate the tax deductibility of employer-sponsored health insurance.
Move to compensate medical providers based on the quality of their work.
Bring greater competition to drug markets by safe reimportation of drugs and streamlining the process for introducing generic drugs.
Offer federal assistance for states to create high-risk pools that would contract with insurers to cover consumers who have been rejected on the open market. (nytimes.com)
Obama: Healthcare
Would require that all children have health insurance; aims for universal coverage
Require employers to provide insurance or contribute to the cost, but exempt smallest businesses, and reimburse all employers for catastrophic health costs.
Provide subsidies for low-income people.
Create purchasing pool with choice of competing private plans and one public plan like Medicare.
Make plans portable from job to job.
Expand Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to people with health problems or charging them higher rates. (nytimes.com)
Require employers to provide insurance or contribute to the cost, but exempt smallest businesses, and reimburse all employers for catastrophic health costs.
Provide subsidies for low-income people.
Create purchasing pool with choice of competing private plans and one public plan like Medicare.
Make plans portable from job to job.
Expand Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to people with health problems or charging them higher rates. (nytimes.com)
Cost of Health Care: Obama v McCainPaying for Additional Costs
Paying for Additional Costs
Obama: Wants to roll back President Bush's tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000
"To help pay for all this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don't make a meaningful contribution today to the health care coverage of their employees to do so by supporting this new plan. And we'll also allow the temporary Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire."— University of Iowa, May 29, 2007
McCain: Says universal health care is possible without a tax increase
"I'm certainly not interested in raising people's taxes, as many of the Democrats are interested in doing. I'm absolutely opposed to that."— "This Week," June 10, 2007
Obama: Wants to roll back President Bush's tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000
"To help pay for all this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don't make a meaningful contribution today to the health care coverage of their employees to do so by supporting this new plan. And we'll also allow the temporary Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire."— University of Iowa, May 29, 2007
McCain: Says universal health care is possible without a tax increase
"I'm certainly not interested in raising people's taxes, as many of the Democrats are interested in doing. I'm absolutely opposed to that."— "This Week," June 10, 2007
McCain: Iraq
In favor of troop increase
“The choice we had was chaos, disintegration, a wider war, Iranian influence and all those things, versus the challenges we have today in doing what we can to see that there is further progress. ... So all I can say is of course I’m not satisifed and I won’t be satisfied for a long time, but I am pleased with the progress that has been made since we started the surge when we were on the verge of losing a war — lose the first war of the 21st century. ... There were a few of us who stood up said we can win, and the progress has been dramatic, and they got a long way to go.‗ In an interview with The New York Times, Sept. 17, 2008
Voted in 2002 to authorize invasion, still supportive; favored troop increase, and argues that security allowed political headway; against a timetable for withdrawal, but projected he would have most forces home by 2013.
“The choice we had was chaos, disintegration, a wider war, Iranian influence and all those things, versus the challenges we have today in doing what we can to see that there is further progress. ... So all I can say is of course I’m not satisifed and I won’t be satisfied for a long time, but I am pleased with the progress that has been made since we started the surge when we were on the verge of losing a war — lose the first war of the 21st century. ... There were a few of us who stood up said we can win, and the progress has been dramatic, and they got a long way to go.‗ In an interview with The New York Times, Sept. 17, 2008
Voted in 2002 to authorize invasion, still supportive; favored troop increase, and argues that security allowed political headway; against a timetable for withdrawal, but projected he would have most forces home by 2013.
Obama: Iraq
Opposed troop increase
“Too many lives have been lost and too many billions have been spent for us to trust the President on another tried and failed policy opposed by generals and experts, Democrats and Republicans, Americans and even the Iraqis themselves. It is time for us to fundamentally change our policy.‗ On the Senate Floor, Jan. 30, 2007
Opposed invasion from the beginning; opposed troop increase; wants to withdraw one or two brigades a month to finish within 16 months and spur the Iraqis to reconcile their differences
“Too many lives have been lost and too many billions have been spent for us to trust the President on another tried and failed policy opposed by generals and experts, Democrats and Republicans, Americans and even the Iraqis themselves. It is time for us to fundamentally change our policy.‗ On the Senate Floor, Jan. 30, 2007
Opposed invasion from the beginning; opposed troop increase; wants to withdraw one or two brigades a month to finish within 16 months and spur the Iraqis to reconcile their differences
Obama: Taxes
Says he would reform the child and dependent care tax credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for child care expenses. Favors tax cuts for middle-class workers and tax increases for top earners. (cnn.com)
Proposes to create an "American opportunity tax credit," which the Obama campaign describes as "a fully refundable credit" that "will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans and would cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university." (cnn.com)
Proposes to create an "American opportunity tax credit," which the Obama campaign describes as "a fully refundable credit" that "will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans and would cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university." (cnn.com)
Obama: Rising cost of Higher Ed
Barack Obama, US Senator (D-IL), stated in an Apr. 6, 2005 article titled "Remarks of Senator Barack Obama at the Herblock Foundation Annual Lecture" on his official candidate website:
"And so, as I stood in those Illinois colleges listening to students tell me about their problems, I started thinking, when did the cost of college stop becoming our problem? When did the headlines about skyrocketing tuition start getting crowded out by Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart, and when did this national priority start playing second fiddle to the latest partisan food fight in Washington?
I'm not sure, but I do know that I've met enough good citizens who think about the other guy and want to change this. And I believe there are enough members of both parties who want to start this country down the path of making college affordable and accessible for every American...
I believe it's time for Congress to follow your lead. This week, I'm introducing the Higher Education Opportunity through Pell Grant Expansion Act - the HOPE Act. This bill will make college more affordable for 430,000 Americans by increasing Pell Grant awards."Apr. 6, 2005 Barack Obama
"And so, as I stood in those Illinois colleges listening to students tell me about their problems, I started thinking, when did the cost of college stop becoming our problem? When did the headlines about skyrocketing tuition start getting crowded out by Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart, and when did this national priority start playing second fiddle to the latest partisan food fight in Washington?
I'm not sure, but I do know that I've met enough good citizens who think about the other guy and want to change this. And I believe there are enough members of both parties who want to start this country down the path of making college affordable and accessible for every American...
I believe it's time for Congress to follow your lead. This week, I'm introducing the Higher Education Opportunity through Pell Grant Expansion Act - the HOPE Act. This bill will make college more affordable for 430,000 Americans by increasing Pell Grant awards."Apr. 6, 2005 Barack Obama
McCain: Cost of Higher Education
John McCain, US Senator (R-AZ), stated in a Feb. 25, 2000 The Chronicle of Higher Education article titled "Q&A: The Candidates on College Issues":
"By far, I believe the skyrocketing costs of tuition at colleges and universities across our nation is the biggest obstacle facing those who want to continue their education. Over the last 20 years, the average tuition at public educational institutions has increased by 400 percent, while tuition at private institutions has increased more than 440 percent. These are unnerving statistics for parents just starting their families, but they are a terrifying reality for parents with college-bound children. We must do more to make college affordable for all Americans. That is why I have proposed a tax plan that allows Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money to be used for their priorities, including higher education. In addition, I will increase the annual amount families can save in tax-free Education Savings Accounts for college expenses. I will encourage and reward savings and investment by establishing new, tax-deferred Family Security Accounts which can be used for higher education. And I will continue to support funding as generously as possible federal programs, such as Pell Grants, that help make higher education affordable for all Americans."Feb. 25, 2000 John McCain
"By far, I believe the skyrocketing costs of tuition at colleges and universities across our nation is the biggest obstacle facing those who want to continue their education. Over the last 20 years, the average tuition at public educational institutions has increased by 400 percent, while tuition at private institutions has increased more than 440 percent. These are unnerving statistics for parents just starting their families, but they are a terrifying reality for parents with college-bound children. We must do more to make college affordable for all Americans. That is why I have proposed a tax plan that allows Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money to be used for their priorities, including higher education. In addition, I will increase the annual amount families can save in tax-free Education Savings Accounts for college expenses. I will encourage and reward savings and investment by establishing new, tax-deferred Family Security Accounts which can be used for higher education. And I will continue to support funding as generously as possible federal programs, such as Pell Grants, that help make higher education affordable for all Americans."Feb. 25, 2000 John McCain
Current Events: Death Penalty
John McCain, US Senator (R-AZ), stated in "The NAACP 2008 Presidential Candidate Civil Rights Questionnaire" (2.4MB) on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) website (accessed Aug. 20, 2008):
"I support the death penalty for heinous crimes in which the circumstances warrant capital punishment. I have supported legislation that sought to expand the number of federal crimes punishable by death, including terrorism and narcotics trafficking by drug kingpins."Aug. 20, 2008 John McCain
"I support the death penalty for heinous crimes in which the circumstances warrant capital punishment. I have supported legislation that sought to expand the number of federal crimes punishable by death, including terrorism and narcotics trafficking by drug kingpins."Aug. 20, 2008 John McCain
Current Events: Death Penalty
Ralph Nader, attorney, author, and political activist, was quoted in a Nov. 2, 2000 article titled "Campaign 2000: Nader and Buchanan Stances on Election Issues," published in The Daily Texan:
"Since I was a law student at Harvard, I have been against the death penalty. It does not deter. It is severely discriminatory against minorities, especially since they're given no competent legal counsel defense in many cases. It's a system that has to be perfect. You cannot execute one innocent person."Nov. 2, 2000 Ralph Nader
"Since I was a law student at Harvard, I have been against the death penalty. It does not deter. It is severely discriminatory against minorities, especially since they're given no competent legal counsel defense in many cases. It's a system that has to be perfect. You cannot execute one innocent person."Nov. 2, 2000 Ralph Nader
Current Events: Death Penalty
Barack Obama, US Senator (D-IL), stated in his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream:
"While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes- mass murder, the rape and murder of a child- so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment."2006 Barack
"While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes- mass murder, the rape and murder of a child- so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment."2006 Barack
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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