Who will win the Virginia Governor race???

The Virginia governor race is a close race however sample polls show that republican Bob McDonnell has a lead over democrat Creigh Deeds. The main issues in this race are transportation, the economy and eneregy/enviornmental issues. In recent debates McDonnell has attacked Deeds for plotting to raise taxes if he is elected governor. Meanwhile Deeds has attacked McDonnell for not knowing all the facts about global warming. Also Deeds has attacked McDonnel for writing a thesis back in college that mentions women working being detremental to the traditional family.
I believe that McDonnell will win this race because in a bad economy the last thing Virginians will want to do is pay more taxes which McDonnell claims Deeds will do. I feel that even though McDonnell might have flaws in enviornmental and social issues most Virginians will over look those and vote for him simply because he has a better economic plan. It will be interesting if McDonnell wins because the last two virginia governors were democrats and Virginia voted democrat in the 2008 presidential election.

Current Event 5-Obama declares H1N1 a National Emergency

Late Friday night President Obama signed a declaration that made the H1N1 virus a national emergency. Obama said that this was done because the number of people getting the virus in certain areas and communities was rapidly increasing and this would help these area get more supplies to treat this pandemic. By signing this declaration Kathleen Sebelius the secretary of Health and Human Services is allowed to temporarily change certain requirements to help health care facilities enact emergency plans to deal with this growing virus.
I think that declaring the H1N1 virus a national emergency was a good move by President Obama. I know that H1N1 is a serious problem simply becuase litterally half of my friends have been infected by this virus as well as a numerous amount of other kids at my school. I believe that since Kathleen Sebelius is now able to change the requirements of helathcare and medicaid the virus will decrease. This is because areas in need can get more vaccine which will eventually lead to a decrease in the pandemic. I hope that the gaining of more vaccine works and that the pandemic decreases so that I have less of a chance of getting the virus.

Biggest Political Issue facing VA

I feel like the biggest issue facing the state of Virginia is there transportation problem. Part of the reason i feel this way could possibly be because I constantly hear both my parents complain about the traffic coming home from work, but also I have personally witnessed this issue. The reason this issue is frustrating to me is because the state of Virginia gets the majority of their money from Northern Virginia because it is significantly more populated than the rest of the state. That money from the the Northern Virginians has recently been used on roads in other areas of the state like Richmond for example. I think it is just common sense that atleast a good portion of the money should be used on improving the roads in Northern Virginia.
Another way this problem could potentially be solved would be by expanding the D.C. metropolitain metro system to more parts of Northern Virginia. I am pretty sure that extension of the metro system to NoVa is actually in effect but obviously building an underground train is not an overnight job. I feel that this would definitly take a few cars off the road and help people get to their jobs more efficiently. Hopefully the Virginia government will come to their senses and actually use our money to help our transportation problem.

Current event 4-Arizona Sweatbox

On October 8th at the Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona, Arizona a group of about 65 Americans entered in the "sweatbox" a facility comparable to a sauna with steam and hot temperatures for 2 hours. This experience inteneded to strenghten one mentally and physically ended in a tragedy with 3 deaths and 18 seriously injured. Late saturday night a woman named Lizabeth Neuman, 49, a Minnesota mother of threee died at the Flagstaff Medical Center. The sweatbox experience was led by expert James Arthur Ray who is some what famous for his self help methods. Neuman's family has recently hired an attorney and will be taking action to figure out who is responsible for Liz's death.
I was honestly shocked when i heard about this incident. It makes you wonder about some peoples judgement. What i found interesting is that the people that participated in this bizzare event seemed to be average everyday americans ranging from 30- 65 in age. I feel that this shows how easily some Americans can be influenced to participate in unsafe behavior. I am interested to see who Neuman's family will blame for Liz's death.

Current Event 3- Obama addresses Gay Right

On saturday night President Obama gave a memorable speech to the largest gay rights group at dinner for Human Rights Campaign. This speech was very important to gay rights activists because gay rights was a significant part of Obama's campaign when running for office. However gay activists thought that Obama had put this issue on the backburner once he got into office. In his speech he praised the gay community for making significant strides for equality. More specifically President Obama called for the repeal of the ban on gays in the military.
I found this article interesting because I was not aware that Obama was pushing for gay rights. I think this was a good move for Obama to give this speech because he now has significant support from gay rights activists. I also 100% agree with Obama's decision to call for a repeal of the ban on gays in the military. I think it is ridiculous to deny someone to serve and protect our country due to their sexual orientation.

Obama report card week 3

If I were to give President Obama a grade on his performance as president I would give him a B. When regarding the issue of health care Obama's bill for helath care is yet to be accepted and has taken lots of criticism. As far as the economy and nthe economic downturn the country is still in a recession and in debt. This being said the economy was so bad before he took office that it would be ridiculous to think that he could solve this problem in his first few weeks of office.
Obama has made strides in other political issues such as the nuclear weapons problem in Iran where he called for an inspection of their powerplant. Also he is making strides for gay rights when he recently addressed the gay community at the dinner for the Human Rights campaign. Another issue he is taking care of is removing prisoners from Guantanamo bay.

Political Issue I'm interested in- Iran Nuclear Weapons

After much speculation of Iran's power plant containing nuclear weapons and materials, the United Nations have decided to inspect the nuclear powerplant for nuclear weapons. Although Iran claims that there plant is only for peaceful purposses, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) feels it is completely neccessary to evaluate it. The inspection is said to take place on October 25.
This issue interests me for a couple of reasons. The more obvious being that if they had nuclear weapons or materials for them it could lead to use of these weapons on countries one possibly being the U.S. Another interesting side to this issue is that Iran is requesting enriched uranium from the IAEA to help treat cancer. The IAEA is reluctant to give them this uranium because of their advanced nuclear system. I find this interesting because it brings up the question if the IAEA should do this for them. I am very interested to see what the U.N and IAEA find during the inspection on the 25th.

Current Event 2- Eight U.S troops killed in Afghanistan

On Saturday hundreds of militants attacked U.S forces. 8 american troops were killed and 2 members of the afghan nation security force also died. According to military reports hundreds of militants targeted and attacked 2 U.S-Afghan outposts. Air support came in 30 minutes but was too late as 8 U.S troops were killed. The 8 U.S troops killed is the largest number of military casualities in a single day in over a year.
I feel that this tragic event is very important to our country. Not only did 8 of our soldiers get killed, this shows that the war against terror is not close to being over. For all the Americans that thought the war was coming to a hault this event proved otherwise being the most violent day in over a year. I also feel that this event may alter the Obama administration's plan as to when he will take troops out of Afghanistan. I am very curious to see how president Obama will react to this.