The Mass Exodus of the Incumbents

Senator Evan Bayh, D-Ind., announced today that he won't run for re-election, citing "excessive partisanship" in Congress. His announcement comes after similar announcements by Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Patrick Kennedy, D-RI. This leaves the Republicans a chance to whittle down to 59-41 Democrat majority in the Senate during the November elections. Hello, deadlocked Congress.

Read the MSN article here.

John McCain Fights for Party Nomination

Senator John McCain of Arizona is having trouble getting his own party's nomination for the Senate seat. Most of his party is instead backing J.D. Hayworth. This comes as recent news notes a frustration with incumbents in Congress. Only 40% of Arizona actually approves of McCain right now. Tough break, considering this guy was the face of Arizona and the Republican party a mere year and a half ago...

Read about his tribulations here.

Rush Limbaugh Has A Purpose...?!

So I'm not really sure what this has to do with politics, but it made me laugh, so here goes it.

Scientists have recently discovered that playing recordings of Rush Limbaugh's (the famous ultra-conservative crazy Republican) voice causes pine beetles to go crazy, and it throws off their natural behavior. Originally, scientists played to recordings normally, but switched to playing them backwards so they themselves weren't annoyed. By using these recordings to disrupt the beetles' behavior, they hope to prevent further damages to forests, which is a major problem right here in Colorado.

Just what Rush wants to here...he's actually helping save the environment. Ironic, huh?

I'm not making this up. Read for yourself here.

Yay for Debt!

So I was watching the NBC Nightly News last night, and a story came on about our national debt. Apparently, right now the only thing keeping our head above water financially is the national debt, which is currently at $12 trillion dollars. (According to author Bill Bryson, if you were sorting one $1 bill every second without stopping, it would take 3,094 years to count out $1 trillion. Now multiply that by 12.) Also, the report said that if our national debt keeps growing at this rate, by 2040, 45% of every individual's incomes would need to be taken through taxes to keep the debt from expanding even more. So...is the national debt good? Yes. Is it bad? Yes. Hmmm...weird.

What IS the Tea Party Movement?

So with all this news of the Tea Party Movement, I decided to look up what exactly it is. The only information I found was that it is a movement to stop government overspending. According to a recent poll, 1/3 of Americans approve of it, but 40% don't know what it is. I'm still not completely clear on it's concept, so in my book, this interest group is not very effective...

Read about it on CNN here.

Leading His Troops

President Obama got a little mean today, both at his party and the GOP. The message, however, was an inspirational one. Obama called on Democrats to not "play it safe," and instead lead the country the way they were before Scott Brown's election (which has Democrats worried about upcoming re-election campaigns). Obama also blasted Republicans for their attempts at blocking Democratic legislation. Excuse me, Mr. Obama, but if you're trying to get rid of the competition between parties, shouldn't you not blast the Republicans? Instead, let's talk about the issues, and not point fingers because you aren't accomplishing what you set out to do.

Read the CNN article here.

Hookt on Fonics Werkt 4 Me. (Thanks, No Child Left Behind.)

President Obama is planning on overhauling Bush's "No Child Left Behind" act, and getting rid of the accountability system. As it is now, schools have to show proficiency on state tests and improvement every year. Obama's plan is to instead focus on getting kids ready for their post-high school plans (although no specifics were provided on how he'd do this. Hmmm...). To do this, Obama needs $49.7 billion. I like his plan for tax cuts for college kids, but I'm still not convinced. You show me your detailed plan, I'll show you my money.

Read the ABC article here.