"Such rhetoric cannot and will not be tolerated."

In a town-hall meeting, Paul Broun, a Republican representative from Athens, Georgia, was startled by quite a remark from an audience member. "Who is going to shoot Obama?" This remark was difficult to hear for some but was still greeted with laughter. Broun did not directly denounce the statement, but instead calmy mentioned the general unhappiness of Obamacare, the healthcare plan that was passed last year. He said later that he chose not to say anything directly to that audience member because he felt the comment deserved no recognition or dignity. The Secret Service questioned the accused and found them to be of no danger to the president or other government officials. He or she just acted "in poor taste.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41780873/ns/politics-more_politics/

I think it is incredibly sad that someone would say that! How embarassing for them! It's pretty ridiculous that even though most people seem aware of how tight everything is regulated in our society, especially when it comes to security, that someone would still make such a comment that's obviously going to draw a lot of attention. I was also pretty surprised the Broun didn't say anything to the comment, but I  suppose he handled the best he could spur of the moment like that. If it was a Republican-hosted meeting, it's pretty safe to say most attendants aren't too happy with Obama, but this, as the Secret Service said, was just an act of poor taste.

Spending What We Can Afford

Unfortunately, budget deficits have become a very common thing and ultimately, they lead to economic stress and unease among Americans. America is so far into debt right now that no one is really sure what we should do. Of course there have been several ideas proposed but like any other debate, each idea's positive is accompanied by it's drawback. President Bush tried to fix the budget by issuing temporary tax cuts. However, these have expired now. Congress's solution to too much spending was issuing a pay-as-you-go budgeting rule (aka "paygo"). Basically, we will spend only what we can pay for. This also requires a balance between entitlement spending and other spending reductions. People supporting this measure also say that if the recession gets too out of control, it can always be suspended. People opposed to paygo spending believe it will just make voters angry, hurt them, and upset the economy. They say that economic growth is the key to eliminating deficits, not by increasing taxes and cutting programs.

In my opinion, I don't think pay-as-you-go budgeting is the solution to our huge national debt. If we're always paying for things now, when will there be time to actually work on cutting the debt? It seems like a rather temporary solution to a problem that's haunted us for quite awhile now. The tax increases and program cuts and other such measure that would be required just don't seem worth it now. People are frustrated and getting tired of our poor economy and they will only get more angry at the government if we are forced to pay more! John McCain also withdrew his support for paygo in the Senate by voting against it.

http://media.townhall.com/Townhall/Car/b/varv06092009a20090609051258.jpg (picture link)

Other issues:
War Dollars: http://roseyerickson.blogspot.com/2011/02/war-dollars.html
Social Insecurity: http://boesen-boesen.blogspot.com/2011/02/issue-3-social-insecurity.html

Piracy!

Jean and Scott Adam and  Phyllis Mackay and Robert A. Riggle are two American couples out on a sailing adventure of a liftime. They were sailing around the world in their yacht, Quest, handing out donated Bibles to villages in remote places of such countries as New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Alaska, and French Polynesia. Their trip took a turn for the worse when some Somali pirates hijacked their boat. The yacht is supposedly going to land in Somalia on Sunday (February 20, 2011). It is being said that these pirates have made a huge mistake; they aren't going to get any ransom money which will definitely "threaten their business model." Thankfully though, a Puntland minister is calling for an urgent rescue and says they are going to deal with the pirates "relentlessly and mercilessly."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41672888/ns/world_news-africa/

This whole story almost doesn't seem real! It just blows my mind that right now, people are being held hostage in their own boat by pirates. It's always seemed that pirates are something only in stories and whatnot, but there are actually pirates out there! This story also made me a little sad. Apparently there have been over 600 hostages held by pirates within this last year! It would be scary enough to be out in the ocean so far away from land for so long; having unwelcome visitors would definitely be freaky! I just hope they get rescued soon, unlike the Chandlers who spent 388 days captive! Hopefully it won't come down to killing either, but that may not be so hopeful because the Somalians are pretty angry at Americans for the recent sentencing of a Somali pirate to 33 years in prison.

Quest, the yacht the couples were sailing in

Diet Soda Drinkers: Stay Tuned

A study that was conducted on more than 2,500 New Yorkers over the course of nine years came to the conclusion that there is an increased risk for vascular problems, such as heart attack or stroke, associated with drinking diet soda every day. In fact, the results show that people who do drink this kind of pop every day are at a 61% higher risk of a vascular event. That is, compared to people who completely avoid such drinks. However, the study isn't conclusive enough where the researchers can start telling people to avoid diet drinks. They aren't completely sure if this close relation is really due to the pop or if other occurances such as an otherwise unhealthy diet are contributing.  Additionally, caramel- colored drinks have shown a correlation with an increased chance for a vascular problem. Still, these findings are enough to scare some people away, especially those who may already be at risk for a heart attack or stroke.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41479869/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/

Personally, I don't drink diet pop. That is, unless it's mixed in with some of the regular stuff. But really, no matter if it's diet or not, soda isn't something you should be drinking every day! Drinking anything that unhealthy every day would obviously have some sort of impact on your health. Also, I don't know if the researchers did a thorough enough job because even though they say they have a conclusion now, it's still not conclusive enough because they didn't keep track of what other kinds of food the subjects were eating or possible pre-existing conditions. Also, to me, it always seems like people are trying to find what could be wrong with diet soda as if they don't believe it's really possible to have a sugar-free pop.


http://www.getyourtruthaboutabsbonus.com/fat-burning-foods/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/diet-soda.jpg