The Inauguration.

It really was the event of a lifetime... and way better than playing ping-pong in racquets. I was glad so many teachers had it playing in their rooms. It was a truly historic day, and I'm glad i at least got to watch it. His speech was good- a little more depressing than i originally expected, but it was very fitting for the occasion. He is one of the most eloquent speakers i have ever heard- aside from the one little mishap in the oath... It marked the beginning of what will hopefully be an unforgettable term. He's got a lot of sleepless nights ahead of him with the way Bush left the office, and a lot of promises left to fulfill from the campaign trail. I really hope he can pull it off.

Mock Congress.

I actually enjoyed the mock congress we had in class, although I'm pretty sure it was a rather sketch imitation of what Congress would actually look like. I, for one, forgot that i was voting on behalf of my constituents the first day and voted based on my own personal beliefs... Everyone basically had their minds made up about the bills before they hit the floor, which i imagine is also how it goes down in real life. Our bills-for the most part- were rather outrageous, and with all our different amendments and provisions would have taken forever to actually pass had we taken the time to be realistic. The whole thing is a really long, drawn out process, and this little activity helped piece it all together for me.

Current Event 1

The article i read was from CNN.com and titled "Crowley: Balance of power trying to find balance"
It discussed how Congress is already steaming with the Democrats now in control. While you would expect the main power struggle to be between the Democrats and the Republicans, it seems as if the struggle to find balance is between Obama, Reid, and Pelosi. With the Democrats in control, Pelosi and Reid have more power than even in their respective houses, and they're not letting go. Pelosi is pissed because she wants to see the Bush tax cuts rolled back now, while Obama has remained rather silent on this issue since taking office. She also wants to launch an investigation in the Bush administration, while Obama feels there are more important things to handle: like the war and the economic depression we're currently facing.

Little battles like this usually happen when a new president takes over, but i personally think Pelosi is getting a little ahead of herself here. Instead of spending so much time establishing her own power, she should focus on accomplishing what's necessary now. I dont think it's a really huge issue at this point, but it could become rather annoying as Obama tries to move forward and bring the change he promised.

This article was relevant to what we are studying in class because it deals with the executive branch working with the Speaker of the House to get legislative bills passed in Congress.

Mr. Smith

I'll start by stating that i absolutely hate watching movies on YouTube- almost as much as I hate blogging about them.

Overall, though, I thought this movie wasn’t half bad. It showed how screwball politics can be, and how Donald Trump is probably running the entire country. Smith plays the innocent and passionate good guy who gets screwed by his lifelong hero. Trump/Taylor rules all his little political puppets and convinces them that the "compromises" he is suggesting are for the greater good. Smith catches on, throws a fit, Taylor doesn’t like it, and tries to have Smith kicked out. Smith wants to run away and give up, but his secretary is there to pick up the pieces and convinces him to stay and fight. He launches a filibuster that takes FOREVER, and Paine tries to kill himself-but he can’t even do that right- so he goes back to Washington and clears Smith's name.

After seeing this movie i realized that anyone who ever wanted to be a Senator has got it all wrong- being the rich manipulative one is where it’s at.

Pork.

I actually thought this article was interesting and made a lot of sense. I think pork is an important part of American politics- in moderation. I have to agree with Starobin when he says "I've always been a defender of pork-barreling because that's what I think people elect us for." We scrutinize our government officials for pork-barreling just to get reelected, but when someone fails to bring home the bacon they get thrown out on the street. Personally, i am a fan of what Starobin refers to as "green pork" but I also think that we have something to learn from the Jews during this whole economic depression thing and should probably cut back. In the end, I do believe that pork is a good thing when used wisely and appropriately, but according to our massive deficit, us Americans have been gorging ourselves a bit lately...

David Price

Like most of the government related articles I read, I found this one to be hideously boring. I get it, life in Congress is busy. Pretty sure everyone who ran for Congress knew how hectic their daily schedule would be and decided to take the job anyways. Personally, I would never want to do anything like that.

While I didn’t particularly enjoy this article I did like it when he stated "All of us feel occasionally that "I'd rather vote against this than to have to explain it," but we should worry if we find ourselves taking this way out too often or on matters of genuine consequence." Apparently they're as bored and apathetic as the rest of us...

The ReDistricting Game

After failing numerous times to get my plan passed by the courts, I realized that gerrymandering is not one of my strong points. While my sketchy looking Democrats were very pleased with my different attempts, apparently I forgot about all the Republicans. Rather than spending my time trying to please both fictitious sides, I decided to go on living my life.

Lesson learned: the redistricting process is both arduous and tedious.