Virginia Governor Race

As of right now, Republican Robert F. McDonnell holds a seven point lead over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds. Supposedly McDonnell is ahead 50% to Deed's 43%. At first I didn't really like McDonnell because of the college thesis paper he wrote, but I've grown to like him remembering that his paper was in the past. I think that McDonnell is still going to pull out the win because Deeds stumbled on the debate question when he admitted to intending to raise taxes. The people of Virginia don't want to spend any more of their money attempting to cover the state's transportation needs so I think people will vote against Deeds giving McDonnell the victory.

Current Event 5: Obama declares H1N1 emergency

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/24/h1n1.obama/index.html

President Obama has called a national emergency to deal with the H1N1 influenza virus. He signed the declaration late Friday and announced it on Saturday. Millions of people have been infected with this virus that began in April. At least 20,000 have been hospitalized and more than 1,000 have died. Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Thomans Frieden, says that 46 states have reported widespread flu transmission making it the peak of the flu season. The flu season at this time of year is "extremely unusual". About 18 million doses of H1N1 have been made, about 11 million of them have been distributed in the United States.

Considering all the vaccines that have been made and we still don't have enough for everyone shows that this is a serious problem. The number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths is way too high. I'm really glad that Obama is finally doing something about this crisis. A lot of people we know, friends and schoolmates, are even getting swine flu now. We need to take steps to get rid of this flu, it is getting out of control.

Current Event 4: Iranian official blames deadly bombing on 'U.S. actions'

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/18/iran.suicide.attack/index.html

In Iran, a man blew himself up in southeastern Iran on Sunday and killed at least 29 people and wounded 28. Five senior officers of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the attack. Iran blamed the U.S. for this supposed terrorist attack. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said, "We consider this recent terrorist act to be the result of the U.S. actions and this is a sign of their enmity". The U.S. replied that the accusation was completely false. The United Kingdom also said they were sorry for Iran's losses and they had nothing to do with the attack.

This makes me sad to know that Iran would even think that the U.S. would have anything to do with this attack. They didn't seem to have any specific reasons so I don't understand why would they would point their finger at us. The United States condemns the act of terrorism and mourns the loss of innocent lives, I don't think we wouldn't cause that.

Biggest political issue facing Virginia

One of the biggest political issues facing the state of Virginia today is transportation. The Metro going into Dulles is a good idea, but also very costly. Also, our highways are becoming overcrowded and we are in desperate need of additional ones. Building new highways and Metros are very expensive, so where do we get the money from? In order to be able to afford these new transportation systems, the government would have to tax the people even more. They would have to tax us and/or charge more at our toll booths. We would be having to pay a lot more money to the government, are the new roads worth it?

Current Event 3: Obstacles Ahead for Obama's Gay Rights

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/11/obama.gay.rights.reax/index.html?iref=newssearch
President Obama gave a speech Saturday night about gay rights. He is pushing Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Even his own party is having doubts about this movement, not sure if they're going to have enough supporters. Obama does not support same-sex marriage, but he thinks that they should get similar rights and protections as everyone else.
I didn't know that gay rights was something that Obama pushed for. I think he just gained even more supporters by giving this speech. I also think that gay people deserve the same rights and protections as everyone.

Obama's Grade

I would probably grade Obama a B right now. He's been doing a little better than average at everything and I give him a little extra for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. As of the war, he's creating treaties with other nations, but Americans are still dying overseas. He's made progress on the Healthcare issue, signing new Recovery Acts and providing health care for children. He is doing okay with the economic downturn helping people save their homes. There are still alot of unemployed people out there, though.

Political issue I am personally interested in.

One political issue that I am personally interested in is the debate between whether or not gay marriage should be legal. Some say that it should be illegal because of religious reasons and tradition. Marriage has always been man/woman, why change it now? I think that gay marriage should be legal, because why does it matter who people fall in love with? They're just choosing a partner to spend the rest of their lives with, it shouldn't matter what gender they are. It should only depend on what makes that couple happy, as long as they aren't harming anyone else. It annoys me how gay people can only get married in certain states and their marriage is only legal in some places, also. They should be treated just like everyone else, because they don't choose who they are attracted to, it just happens that way.

Current Event 2: 8 U.S. troops killed in battle with militants in Afghanistan

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/04/afghanistan.troops.killed/index.html?iref=newssearch

This article says how Afghan troops in Eastern Europe open fired on American troops on Saturday. 8 troops plus two other members of the Afghan National Security Force died, which is the largest number of Americans to die because of a single day hostile action in more than a year. At least 13 Afghan police officers were captured in the attack and the fighting lasted about 12 hours.

Troops over in Afghanistan is becoming a big issue these days. Americans are getting killed everyday. Obama had talked about taking troops out of Afghanistan, but then he also wants the Americans to do their job over there. The military officers say that in order to do that, they need to keep getting more troops. The more troops we send over, the more Americans that die. Is it worth losing so many American lives?