This weeks featured discussion: President Elect Barack Obama has won the election based on an ideology of change. What kind of change does Barack Obama plan to implement and how does he plan to address current issues that concern the American public? Please do a little research and give us some of his key initiatives and concerns he plans to implement. Please be specific in your response and avoid generalizations
We will also be highlighting one organization every 2 weeks that has made an impact on social change around the world. If you would like to nominate a group feel free to post a comment including their wedsite address. Check our blogroll for a quick link.
This weeks organizational spotlight: endpoverty.org
Just for fun: every week we will be uploading a portrait od a famous philospher, social scientist, political scientist, leader, teacher, economist, or psychologist in the author’s avatar section. See if you can be the first to identify the picture. Please post your response in the comment section. Good Luck!
Mystery Man to the left of President Elect Obama?
Congratulations Matt..you are correct this is French President Nicholas Sarkozy.
You win the bonus!!!!
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This weeks featured discussion: President Elect Barak Obama has won the election based on an ideology of change. What kind of change does Barak Obama plan to implement and how does he plan to address current issues that concern the American public? Please do a little research and give us some of his key initiatives and concerns he plans to implement. Please be specific in your response and avoid generalizations.
Nicholas Sarkozy! The French President!
President-elect Barack Obama has run on a consistent message of change throughout his campaign. As President, he plans to make numerous policy changes involving our economic system, our society, and our place in the world.
We currently face a massive economic crisis, and we need solutions fast. Some of Obama’s plans include $1,000 rebate checks to families, job creation through the repairing of infrastructure, and tax cuts to families making less than $250,000 a year. He also plans to create 5 million new jobs dealing with the production of renewable energy. Obama would also like to implement a Digital Smart Grid, which would allow consumers to produce their own electricity, and allow them to sell their electricity back into the grid for others.
Our country’s future well-being also depends on the well-being of the American people. Education is of vital importance for our future advancement. Barack Obama wants to ensure that every child receives a “world-class education and wants to make college more affordable. He plans to create a tax credit to make “community college completely free and cover two-thirds of the cost of tuition at a typical public university.” However, recipients of this would have to provide 100 hours of public service a year.
Dealing with our leadership in the world, Barack Obama plans to remove our combat troops out of Iraq over a period of sixteen months and keep a “residual force in Iraq to perform limited missions.” He also plans to use diplomatic efforts when dealing with countries like Iran rather than using force.
Well first off Coach Schwab has incorrectly spelled Barack Obama’s name. Now to swing back to the topic on hand from listening to the news Barack Obama has claimed that he will create tax cuts for those families whose income is not as fortunate as other families. I think that this is fair to those families who do not make over $250,000 a year because its already hard for them to provide for their family and now on top of that they have to pay taxes, which actually may send them toward bankcruptcy.
A second idea which Barack Obama has proposed, he says, will help the economy all over the globe. Obama and Biden plan for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. They will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world.
Third plan Barack Obama has talked about the removal of United States troops from Iraq, this action will have a Yin and Yang outcome. For example it will be great for families who have mothers,fathers,sisters,brothers, and other family members who serve our country ( Who I have Great Respect for). Although families reunite, what will happen if Pakistan takes over Iraq and threatens us with the stop of oil to our country if are not stationed in the Middle East to patrol what is taking place over there.
For my last topic Barack Obama is for abortion and most likely he will allow it to become legal. Personally I am not for it at all becausethe Bible says ” Thou shalt not kill” and abortion is murder. Although the mother says its their body and they could do whatever they want, why would you want to kill your baby which is growing inside of you and basically it becomes apart of you. If you did not want a baby in the first place you should not have been messing around in the first place. Though that is my opinion, what is to be done if the birth of the child endangers the life of the mother. There is only two options Kill the baby and let the mother live, or kill the mother and let the baby live; but i would not know what to do in this situation. To sum it all up ABORTION IS BAD
The Future 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama has been the symbol for change in the 2008 Presidential Election. He constantly mentions, ” It is a time for Change,” but what does he want to change? Well, first of all he wants to provide 95 percent of working Americans tax relief. He will do so by creating the “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. Also, on the economic aspect Barack wants to eliminate all capital gains taxes on new businesses that are just starting up. This is a great change because it will help create new businesses, by doing so it will also effect the employment and consumer aspect of our economy.
Another important change he wants to incorporate deals with education. He wants to create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth $4,000 in exchange for community service. This is a very positive idea that will greatly impact our youth. By allowing young people to achieve money for further education will help them achieve a better future. Also, by giving the youth the opportunity to get financial help ;will not only effect American education but also the overall economic aspect of our future society.
The freedom of choice is something Obama believes every woman should have. Therefore, he believes that abortion should be a option of an expecting mother. This is a very controversial issue. Personally, I believe that it is wrong to kill a baby because it goes against my morals. Although, it is the mothers choice wither to keep her child or not. I believe their should be a better option besides killing a innocent child.
We all need to keep in mind, that the baby is a Human being too, not just a cell or undeveloped being. It is God’s creation and nothing less. We have no right to destroy it. On the other hand, I can see where people would say it’s a matter of choice, but we all need to stop and think about what abortion is.
In conclusion, Obama has some great ideas that implement positive change for the future of America, but there are some issues that we as Americans need to examine carefully. : )
The name is correct
Congratulations Matt..you are correct this is French President Nicholas Sarkozy.
You win the bonus!!!!
Obama has many plans for change for America.
One of his main concerns is tax relief for middle class Americans. Obama wants to provide a tax cut for working families with his “Making Work Pay” tax credit. This credit consists of up to $500/person or $1,000/working family, like Ellie said. It’s supposed to completely eliminate income taxes for about 10 million Americans.
Barack Obama also plans to eliminate all income tax of seniors who make less than $50,000/year, providing them an average savings of $1,400 annually.
These seem like good plans. Actually lots of his plans seem prettyyy good, like they’d help our country. But there are some that I’m not so sure about. Like.. “spreading the wealth”…..
And also abortion. I pray to God Obama doesn’t legalize it. Like Christian said.. ABORTION IS BAD! Mothers do not have the right to kill their babies. God is the only one who can make life, so He is the only one who can take it away.
I’ll give the three subjects most important to me.
Education
For K-12, there will be a push for a reform of NCLB which starts by funding the law. Obama and Biden don’t want teachers to be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on SATs. He will change the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace rather than SATs. Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB’s accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them. Great news for public schools here.
They will push to make college affordable for all Americans by creating an “American Opportunity Tax Credit”. This credit will allow the first $4,000 of a college education to be completely free for most Americans, cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or universit, and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service. Also, they will push to simplify the application process for financial aid by eliminating the current FAFSA form and enabling tax payers to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application. Lovely, but we will still have to do the FAFSA >:(
Technology
A key reason the Internet has been such a success is because it is the most open network in history. It needs to stay that way. Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet. Instead of government regulation, the Obama Admins are to give parents the tools and information to allow parental regulation of the Internet. This will protect our First Amendment rights while allowing parents to control what is accessed through their lines. It won’t be the government’s fault anymore, it’ll be the parents’.
Immigration
Obama and Biden want to preserve the integrity of our borders by supporting additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology on the border and at our ports of entry. I guess our military will need something to keep themselves occupied after being withdrawn…
Obama and Biden support a system that allows illegal immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. Sounds good, and the fines from all those illegals will help pay for the fuel of flying the rejects back.
Obama and Biden believe we need to do more to promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration. Wait.. what? We should help Mexico to prosper like us… so that we are now the wetbacks? Sounds like a good way of stopping illegal immigration: Ruin our country so no one wants to come here.
Oh, and because I like arguing so much, I’ll put in my two cents on everyone (but Victoria and Coach)’s favorite topic: Abortion.
I’ll give two perspectives on this
It’ll be mostly the dummies getting abortions, meaning families with Christian morals will have a greater opportunity to become the majority of America. By ending their own legacy, the dummies are allowing people of Christian morals to raise their children way. This means the voters will have Christian morals, the candidates they elect will have Christian morals, and the entire nation will take on Christian morals. If the fools kill themselves, they only help us to succeed.
On the other hand; a businessman, like myself, needs consumers. Over 50 million babies were killed already. That translates to: “I lost 50 million customers in 30 years.” This is worse than a war! How is our nation supposed to prosper if our work force keeps getting DOAed? How am I supposed to dominate a prosperous economic market when our generation will have to work harder than any generation in the past to fund the “Social Security Benefits” debt?!
raise their children their own way
Fixed
hmmm..Matt I find a defintie lack of compassion with your post. Abortion is a serious topic and it has serious mental, psychological and spiritual ramifications for the parties involved. In my opinion we must take an attitude of redemption and love with anyone involved in any circumstance that may have lead up to the issue of abortion. Don’t be afraid to love a little.
President-elect Barack Obama plans to make CHANGE in several areas of American policy. For taxes, hes decided to make working class pay less taxes and is giving rebates. I won’t get detailed with that becausee that seems to be the heated topic.
HEALTH
-Okay, so Obama decides that everyone should be able to afford healthcare. He says that when you buy healthcare plans the costs will reduce by 2.5k. It’s a good thing to save millions from dying each year. I hope this passes because it will help regulate health insurance bureaucrats and their hidden agenda. Although, I agree with his “yay everyone should have the right to have a medical examination” plan, I can’t help but wonder why he didn’t implement unborn babies in this “humanitarian” act of his.
RETIREMENT
-Create Automatic Workplace Pensions: The Obama-Biden retirement security plan will automatically enroll workers in a workplace pension plan. Under this plan, employers who do not currently offer a retirement plan, will be required to enroll their employees in a direct-deposit IRA account that is compatible to existing direct-deposit payroll systems. Employees may opt-out if they choose. Experts estimate that this program will increase the savings participation rate for low and middle-income workers from its current 15 percent level to around 80 percent.
“http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/womenissues”
WHAT?! HOW DARE YOU. Personally, I think this invades a person’s control over his own life. I do not agree with this plan because (1) the government has no business taking money out of my paycheck (2) if you are close to the poverty line you cant afford to maintain a continuous deduction in paycheck and (3) if i die earlier than the retirement age…who gets mah money?!
COLLEGE
That rules me out. Well, as long as youre a good samaritan i guess you don’t need to write any essays for scholarships or tire yourself out on academics anymore. WOOT.
-100 hours of….service in exchange for free community college and a huge coverage if you decide to go to a public university. *thinks how much good she’s done to the community* …………..Well
Matt does have a good point there and I agree with him. I really don’t like Obama’s veiw on abortion including the partial-birth abortion, which is plain obvious murder.
Most people have already pointed out what Obama plans to do like the troop withdrawl from Iraq, his negotiating with terriorist (Iran), his tax issues to give people tax cuts but increase taxes on buisness which ultimately go back to screw the consumer over.
increase taxes on buisness which ultimately go back to screw the consumer over
Ever looked at the bottom of a Jiffy Peanut Butter container? See that newly implemented, concave bottom? Price of the PB stays the same, but they save by giving you 5% less.
ahh, messed up on the html…. sorry about the bolding…
♪ like barack obama said, its time for a change!
New Energy Plan
-He plans to help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
-He also intends to put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars (cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon) on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
-In addtion, he wants to ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
-He wants to implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Healthcare
-The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing healthcare system, and uses existing providers, doctors and plans to implement the plan.
-The Obama plan will lower health care costs by $2,500 for a typical family by investing in health information technology, prevention and care coordination.
-Obama and Biden will require coverage of preventive services, including cancer screenings, and will increase state and local preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Foreign Policy
-Obama and Biden will secure all loose nuclear materials in the world within four years, and will negotiate a verifiable global ban on the production of new nuclear weapons material to curb the spread of nuclear weapons.
-Obama and Biden will present the Iranian regime with a clear choice. If Iran abandons its nuclear program and support for terrorism, they would offer incentives like membership in the World Trade Organization. If Iran continues its troubling behavior, Obama and Biden will step up our economic pressure and political isolation.
-Obama and Biden will renew American diplomacy to meet the challenges of the 21st century. They will rebuild our alliances. And they would be willing to meet with all nations, friend and foe, to advance American interests.
*information from barackobama.com
like everyone already said, President- Elect Barack is wanting to make a change in this country. i got the following information from http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
>Obama’s Stance on the EconomyObama’s Stance on EducationObama’s Stance on EnergyObama’s Stance on Foreign PolicyObama’s Stance on Health CareObama’s Stance on IraqObama’s Stance on Taxes<
Barack Obama provides a middle class tax cut for 95 percent of American workers. Middle class families will get three times the tax relief from Obama than they would from John McCain.
“Ever looked at the bottom of a Jiffy Peanut Butter container? See that newly implemented, concave bottom? Price of the PB stays the same, but they save by giving you 5% less.”
Exactly.