Category: Politics

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Israel Continues Doing What They Do

Israel continues their massacre and bombing campaign which including a one-ton bomb in a residential area, all which I should remind you is done in the name of peace. 

Gaza officials say that nearly 400 people have died and over 1,500 have been injured since Israel began its aerial assault on Saturday. The U.N. figures say at least 60 Palestinian civilians have been killed.

gaza-girl

(A Palestinian medic carries a wounded girl to a treatment room following a missile strike)

gaza-boy

(Palestinians carry the body of an 11 year old during his funeral. He was killed Wednesday after he was injured on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike. His two sisters, 12 and 4, died in Tuesday’s airstrike.)

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My United States Cabinet (2024)

So still sticking to theme of politics and with President-elect Obama nominating people to this Cabinet, I thought I would create a mock list of my Cabinet. Granted I will not reach the age requirement until 2024 – not that it makes a difference since I will never be a natural born citizen. Hypothetically if those rules weren’t in place, my Cabinet just might look like the one listed below.

The top set of nominees are listed in order of succession to the Presidency and the ones below are five positions that have cabinet-level rank, which allows these individuals to attend Cabinet meetings without being secretaries of executive departments.

Feel free to comment if you are listed below or think you should be listed but I just made this list yesterday and I know I am missing a few good people. Some of these people I haven’t talked to in quite a while but from what I remember left quite the impression. I think I did a pretty fair job of getting people with diverse views and not all left-wing nuts or right wing radicals.

Feel free to make your own Cabinet and feel free to share.

Office Nominee
Vice President and President of the Senate Krishna Hajari
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike DiAmore
President pro tempore of the Senate Pam Ahn
Secretary of State Katie Murray
Secretary of the Treasury James Kong
Secretary of Defense Mike Bocchinfuso
Attorney General Vivake Prasad
Secretary of the Interior Brian Feraudo
Secretary of Agriculture Jason Rowe
Secretary of Commerce Kate Kelliher
Secretary of Labor Joscelyn Chang
Secretary of Health and Human Services Mark Angeles / Alexandria Gamboa*
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shivani Chopra
Secretary of Transportation Joseph Sullivan
Secretary of Energy Chad Edwards
Secretary of Education Lauren Scala
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tim Stanoch
Secretary of Homeland Security Ronak Savla
Positions that are not part of the Presidential line of succession
White House Chief of Staff Stephanie Albright
United States Trade Representative Hao Yan
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Amanda Grimes
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Justin Eusebio
Director of the National Drug Control Policy Eric Abrahamsen
Ambassador to the United Nations Tanya Manifold

* – The one pick I couldn’t settle on was the Secretary of Health and Human Services… Mark and Alex can fight amongst themselves to see who wants it.

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Higher Education Act Loan Forgiveness

For those of us who are studying/graduating after concentrating in the field of applied science, technology, engineering or mathematics along with plenty of other fields that can be found at with the entire text of the amendment and extension the Higher Education Act of 1965 – more specifically pages 160 to 162.

I have quoted some of the text from the Act that shows that you are entitled to no more than $2,000 in loan forgiveness per academic or calendar year and a total amount of $10,000 over the years as long as you are a full time employee in one of the fields.

Just something useful to note as many of my classmates are reaching graduation this year along with those reaching it in the few years or even the recent graduates.

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), for each school, academic, or calendar year of full-time employment in an area of national need described in subsection (b) that a borrower completes on or after the date of enactment of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, the Secretary shall forgive not more than $2,000 of the student loan obligation of the borrower that is outstanding after the completion of each such school, academic, or calendar year of employment, respectively.

‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The Secretary shall not forgive more than $10,000 in the aggregate for any borrower under this section, and no borrower shall receive loan forgiveness under this section for more than five years of service.

‘‘(14) STEM EMPLOYEES.—The individual is employed fulltime in applied sciences, technology, engineering, or mathematics.

Thanks to my buddy Joseph Sullivan for pointing this out to me earlier in the day (yes it’s 9 AM and I said earlier in the day).

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Sports and Politics: Do They Mix?

We have seen Congress intervene on Major League Baseball’s steroid policy and now Barack Obama is talking about using his influence to finally get rid of the hogwash that is the BCS system. The two ideas could not have been met with receptions from different ends on the spectrum.

The intervention by Congress was met by questions of skepticism and outrage that shouldn’t Congress be doing other things like improve the economy and figure out a way to bring our troops back home. Yet when Barack Obama suggested on Monday Night Football right before the election and on 60 Minutes last night that there should be a playoff in College Football, all hell broke loose and everybody thought it was a great idea.

So why the double standard? Don’t get me wrong, I have been a fan of Obama for President since 2004 when he first gave the speech at John Kerry’s convention but just notice the different that a likability factor or personality factor carries with a person or a body of people. Congress generally has low approval ratings and them trying to mess with America’s pasttime was not going to improve any matters. On the other hand, a well liked President-elect recently getting support of nearly 55% of the American electorate weights on a topic (sports) that politicans usually tend to stay away and he has rattled some sticks.

I certainly hope that college puts BS bowl system away and institutes some sort of playoff format to truly decide a national champion. Maybe this is the President who can cause change all across the board from health care to a vast majority of Americans to improved tax situations for the middle class and even a playoff system for the college football fan.

Conventional wisdmon is out the door with Obama in the White House, and your priorities don’t have to be listed in 1-2-3… they can be 1-1-1. Why not be able to tackle more than one issue at a time and be more efficient?

You’re witnessing history folks, and I have a feeling the next 4 to 8 years are going to be stuff that gets highlighted in history books for all to read when we’re gone.

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Huge Election Coverage

Well not really huge but a significant election coverage widget from MSNBC. I plan to have 3 tv sets in my living room with three different stations. I might even have Fox News as one of them just to see how cheerful those guys are tonight.