QOTW #4

I really don't have a favorite holiday memory, but one Christmas Eve that really stands out in my mind was the one when I directed a Nativity scene for my Grandmother.

Every year, we spend the entire Christmas Eve up until midnight at my grandparent's house in Reston where all of my extended family from all over the country comes to celebrate and be with each other. Although I am not a religious person, my grandmother certainly is. She grew up during the post World War 2 period in Southern Germany so faith, specifically Roman Catholicism, became a huge part of her life. Naturally, many of our Christmas Eve traditions are Catholic/Germanic in nature like the German Christmas Eve feast or the songs that we'd sing together ("O Tannenbaum", Stiele Nacht", etc.) but by far my grandmother's favorite tradition is the Nativity scene where all of her grandchildren dress up as various characters from the scene and sing songs.

One year, I got all of the grandchildren together and decided that we would take things a step further and turn the one scene into the entire Nativity Story. We spent the entire week memorizing lines and verses, learning songs, and creating a backdrop until it was finally time to perform on Christmas Eve. My grandmother, who knew nothing of our plan, was so incredibly happy as she saw all of her grandchildren acted out such an important story to her and even began to cry when we performed for her "Silent Night/Stiele Nacht." When it was all done, she hugged each and every one of us and said that was one of the greatest Christmas presents she had ever received.

Although I don't believe in the Christmas Story the same way or to the same extent that my other family members do, I understand how much it means to them and how it and the holiday season brings us all closer together as a family and for that I'm truly thankful.

Political Cartoon 4

This political cartoon by Rick McKee of the Augusta Chronicle is centered around the government shutdown scenario that occurs when the Congress cannot create a proper budget. Although in actuality, the House passed a nearly 1 Trillion dollar spending bill in order to avoid the crisis, the thought that if our elected officials had not compromised in time many "non-essential" government services would have shut down is still a rather unsettling one.

McKee uses many objects and techniques to convey the event in the political cartoon. The three main objects in the cartoon are the caricatures of the protestor and the congressman as well as the various objects that denote that the location of the cartoon is in Washington D.C. If the sign that says "Occupy D.C." in the upper left did not demonstrate that the Capitol was where the cartoon took place, the Washington Monument in the lower right could have also told you where this took place. The caricatures of the protestor and congressman are also very important to the piece. The protestor, drawn to look like a stereotypical hipster/hippie is angry at the politician and threatens to shut down the government. The congressman, characterized by a his suit and briefcase as well as his "fat-cat" figure, only smiles and responds with "Not if we beat you to it..." Many techniques besides caricature are used in the piece including the use of contrasts. While the protestor is angry, bitter, and not well put together, the congressman is calm, collective, and well put together. McKee also uses allusions through the speech of both the protestor and the congressman in which the two refer to the occupy movement and the government shutdown respectively.

All the symbols, objects, and techniques accumulate to help amplify the cartoon's and Mckee's message. As demonstrated by the speech bubble of the congressman, McKee believes that Congress, while having much more power over change than the Occupy movement, is doing little in terms of fixing the budget and stabilizing our economy even in the threat of a government shutdown. Even though the House was able to compromise and passed a near 1 Trillion dollar spending bill at the last minute, the fact that our elected leaders were not able to compromise until the very last second is unsettling and frankly just plain unacceptable.

QOTW #3

According to the information displayed in the polls conducted/found on Gallup.com, Obama will have a difficult bid for reelection next year. Currently, his approval rating is at 43% while his disapproval rating is 49%. His approval rating is also sitting 8% less than the average approval rating of previous presidents during the same time frame most of which are in the low 50's. Ever since May and the heat of the Republican Presidencial Nominee coverage began, the President's approval rating has been sharply drawing and I would expect that the rhetoric and attacks used by many of the candidates are in some part a reason as to why the public finds Obama less capable. Although there are no real frontrunners for the Republican Nomination and the race right now is fragmented, the intensity of coverage is not helping Obama in any way shape or form. Clearly, if Obama is to win reelection, it is time for him to get into full-on campaign mode and fight back against the Republicans and to show the nation what kind of leader he really is. If he is able to accomplish this and if no strong nominee is selected for the Republican nomination, I place Obama's odd at a good 4:3. If he isn't able to get into gear and the Republican party IS able to find a suitable representative, then Obama might be in a world of hurt come next year.

Political Cartoon 3

This political cartoon by Montie Wolverton is about the Protect IP Act/SOPA Bill that is trying to be passed in Congress. The bill, if made law, would give corporations the ability to take down any and all videos, sites, images, etc that they feel infringes upon their intellectual property. Since the wording is so loose in the bill, the major fear is that the bill can be interpreted by corporations in any manner that they see fit, essentially allowing these corporations to stop the democratic free speech nature of the internet.

The major symbols and imagery used are the baby, the knife, and the corporate businessman. The baby is used to represent the internet community and those who would be affected by the passing of the bill. The image of the baby is used in order to evoke innocence and to lend sympathy to the plight of the online community and their situation with "internet corporatocracy". The businessman represents the "internet corporatocracy" who would be given free reign with the passing of the bill to take down anything they feel conflicts with their intellectual property rights. Finally, the dagger represents the bill itself, the ability for the Internet corporations to misuse the bill for their own benefit and the harm it could do to the internet as we know it.

The two major techniques that Wolverton uses is his use of imagery and symbolism as well as his use of sympathy. Each object in the picture is a representation of an idea like the bill, the internet community, etc and the scene that the cartoon creates helps describe the interaction between the three ideas. Sympathy is evoked through the plight of the innocent baby that is the internet who, with the passing of the Protect IP bill, would be severely hurt.

Through the cartoon, it is very clear to see Wolverton's point-of-view and message regarding the Protect IP bill. He, like I, believe that the passing of the bill would have serious ramifications that could result in the limiting of the freedom of expression that the internet currently provides. If the bill is passed, content on the internet, just as the cartoon's message expresses, could be severely censored and limited due to the seemingly unlimited power that Protect IP would grant corporations.

Political Cartoon 2

This political cartoon drawn by JD Crowe is centered around the now infamous video ad that Rick Perry is currently ran in Iowa and online where he stated that, "There's something wrong in this country when gays can openly serve in the military, but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school." This ad has been seen as homophobic and down right offensive and idiotic to many, prompting Crowe to create this cartoon.

In the image, the two main symbols/objects are that of the caricature representing Rick Perry and the Jake Gyllenhaal character from Brokeback Mountain representing Homophobia as clearly stated. Rick Perry's line, "I wish I knew how to quit you" is a direct quote from the movie and serves to further satirize his homophobic remarks. Besides the caricature of Rick Perry and the use of allusions to the film, Brokeback Mountain, Crowe also uses ridicule and satire by placing the Rick Perry character in a relationship that the real life Rick Perry is opposed to.

Through this cartoon, Crowe is able to demonstrate his point-of-view regarding the Rick Perry situation and the ad. In drawing this, Crowe is mocking Perry's views displayed in the ad and calling attention how homophobic and insensitive they are. Crowe's point-of-view further amplifies the cartoon's overall message that Rick Perry's comments were irrational, insensitive, and most of all, insane.

Political Cartoon 1

This Political Cartoon by artist Rick McKee of the Augusta Chronicle is satirizing Donald Trump's recent talks about potentially running for the presidency as an Independent through Americans Elect. He stated that after The Apprentice ends in may, he could, if he wanted to, pursue the presidency and, "if the Republicans pick the wrong person...seriously consider running."

McKee uses a number of objects and devices in order to mock Trump. The caricature of Trump is the most important object in the piece. By giving the Trump character narrow eyes and an enormous head, the caricature represents Trump's inflated ego and his constant teasing of the presidency with his potential running. His vanity and ego is also represented by other objects in the room such as his giant painting of himself labeled "The Donald" and the fact he is reading a newspaper article about himself. The secretary character and the phone she is carrying represents the American people and their overwhelming distain to Trump's constant media coverage and teasing. Other techniques McKee uses besides caricature is ridicule in the fact that he berates Trump's constant need for media attention.

All of these devices and objects combine to demonstrate McKee's message and point-of-view regarding the Trump presidencial campaign situation. McKee, through his cartoon, shows the audience that he is tired of the constant teasing of a potential run for presidency that Trump does and the overwhelming media attention that Trump gets whenever he mentions his candidacy further inflating his ego. The underlying message of the cartoon, therefore, is that much like Trump, those who tease just for the attention are not paying attention to.

QOTW 2: Mitt Romney

In my opinion, Mitt Romney is the most capable of the Republican Nominee candidates in actually winning the Presidential Election. However, before he can even run for the presidency, he must secure the Republican nomination which could be very difficult for him. One thing that could make him lose is his religious faith. Many of his opponents have used his Mormonism as a point of attack and many Republicans, as polls have showed, are hesistant in nominating a Mormon Candidate. Those who look past his personal faith, however can see why he'd be the best choice for the Republican Nomination. His track record as the Governor of Massachusetts and his history with business and economic reform is very attractive to voters who are perturbed with today's economic conditions. Due to the public's split perspective on Mitt Romney, he is, by far, one of the more interesting candidates to follow, and follow him I will.

QOTW: Rick Perry

In my opinion, Rick Perry does not have a strong chance at achieving the Republican nomination for presidency. Firstly, he, like Herman Cain, are both trying to recover from the major blunders of the last two weeks. Many organizations agree that his candidacy is dead due to his "oops" moment during last week's debate, but there are much deeper reasons why Rick Perry cannot achieve the Republican nomination. He is campaigning to a much more conservative base than most Republicans want to vote for, and even if he managed to still win their vote, he couldn't win the National Election. Plus, his ideology, job position, and TV blunders all remind me of a former U.S. Texan President and that's someone I wouldn't want to be compared to.

Question of the Week 4

The most important political issue in the state of Virginia is transportation, by far. The Northern Virginia area, Washington D.C, especially is one of the most congested commute areas in the nation which means a lot of our tax payer money goes into maintaining and constructing roads. Whether it is Route 7, 123, or 495, every Virginian is dependent on how well maintained and efficent the road systems that they use every day are, which is why transportation is the most important political issue in the state of Virginia.

Blowin' Smoke

When it comes to describing Herman Cain, a lot of words come to my mind: unconventional, conservative, and for some reason the number nine. However, when it comes to describing his advertisements, I am at a total loss of words.

His latest viral video is an advertisement featuring his chief of staff, Mark Block, talking about his candidate in front of a building. What would be a lackluster campaign ad borders on bizarre thanks to shotty camera angles, an awkward smile at the end, and the piece de resistance: Block lighting up and smoking a cigarette.

The last factor has been the subject of many news stories this week. CBS's Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer claimed that Cain's ad, "sends a signal that smoking is cool." Herman Cain refuted this claim stating that Block smoked during the commercial because, "Mark Block smokes. That's all the ad says. We weren't trying to say it's cool to smoke."

Whether or not you agree with what Cain said or how Block acted, there's no denying the amount of coverage the advertisement has gained. It has gained over a million views on Youtube alone and has had the whole informed internet world buzzing about it for a week now not to mention Cain is now leading in the polls over Mitt Romney. In its essence, as Mark McKinnon producer of McCain and Bush advertisements says that Herman Cain is different. "And that's kind of the whole Herman Cain message: Why not something different? Why not Herman Cain?" I can agree that we do need change in Washington, but I'm still not sure if Herman Cain is the type of "different" we want.

Nein Nein Nein!

As the "Occupy" protestors and rallyers all over the country and world demonstrate, it's safe to say that many Americans don't find our current economic situation as the best it could be. With the complexity and problematic nature of the federal tax system in it's current state, many groups feel it's time for the government to change its taxation system. Enter Herman Cain and his ""9-9-9" Plan.

As stated on his campaign site, the "9-9-9" Plan is a plan of, "...bold action [in order ] to truly stimulate the economy and renew America back to its greatness." It is actually the first phase of a two phase plan to get the economy back quickly, which involves the implementation of a single 9% Business and Individual Flat Tax as well a 9% National Sales Tax. This, according to Former Reagan Treasury official, Gary Robbins, will "...expand GDP by $2 Trillion," and, "create 6 million jobs..." This is funny seeing as another Reagan Administration official, Bruce Bartlett, claimed that, "At a minimum, the Cain Plan is a distributional monstrosity. The poor would pay more taxes while the rich would have their taxes cut..."

The simplicity of the plan and its potential benefits has excited many voters eager to cast away the tangled system of the past, but others still are skeptical of the plan that candidate Cain has proposed. "While on paper Cain is promising a tax cut, in reality tens of millions of lower-income Americans would face tax increases," Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post wrote discerning that most of the promised tax cuts would actually go to higher wage earners.

His fellow candidates were also very quick to dismiss the plan. "When you take the '9-9-9' Plan and you turn it upside down, I think the devil's in the details," said Michelle Bachmann during the New Hampshire debate. Former Utah Governor, Jon Huntsman, also found the name humorous remarking that he, "...thought it was the price of a pizza when [he] first heard about it."

Still, the biggest "critics" of the plan come from the gaming community. Many fans of Maxis' SimCity4 know that the default tax settings for a new city are almost identical to the tax system devised by Cain 8 years after the game's release. Coincidence? Highly likely, but if Cain's clean the streets initiative turns out to involve Godzilla demolishing half the city, then I'll start to get suspicious.

No matter what amount of flack Cain is receiving for his plan, it is good to see that the candidates are stepping up to the plate and providing the public with specific courses of action if they were to be elected. It demonstrates how serious they are for the position. It also in turn allowed Cain to propel himself to a frontrunner status these past two weeks which has put all the other candidates on edge. Although I may not agree with the plan Herman Cain has proposed, I still applaud him for his effort to create change to help our current financial situation. Maybe with support and cooperation on both ends and initiative like Cain's, we can finally move forward away from this economic state.

Visit CAIN'S SITE in order to read more on his plan

CLICK HERE to read Glenn Kessler's analysis of the plan

WATCH CAIN defend "9-9-9" on NBC

Two L.A Times Articles concerning CAIN'S, PLAN

Maxis' Humorous response video to the PARALLELS

Presidential Progress Report

Hello New Contact,

Attached is a progress report for Barack Obama in U.S Presidency (First Term).

Thank you for your attention.

Regards,

Nicholas Lytle

War on Terror 101 (A-): Obama is able to plan and execute tasks exceptionally well. Both his plans to assassinate Osama Bin Laden and to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq have gone according to his plan. However, with the continuing War on Terror and military presence of various countries overseas, Obama still has a hefty workload.

AP Economic Downturn (2/4 stars): Obama has difficulties working well with other students. Although he encourages bipartisanship, many of his resolutions for the economic condition, such as his recent Job's Bill, has been met with stark opposition by his conservative critics.

Health Care Honors(Pass): Pass as in he was able to Pass his Health Care Reform Bill almost two years ago, yet still people are fighting over it and debating on whether it should continue and there are excellent arguments for either side.

Recommendation for U.S Presidency (Second Term)?: If one were to average all of Obama's scores together, it wouldn't really make any sense since all of the scoring conventions are different. Still, despite what critics may say, Obama was able to accomplish many feats in his first term as President, and I HOPE that our current President can CHANGE our current situation and problems in the same way he resolved our other crisises.

Also, no one Republican Candidate is promising to be a good opponent, so I'm very safe in saying that Obama has a fairly good chance at being potentially reelected maybe.

Question of the Week #2

The issue that interests me is the extension of the right of freedom of speech to certain forms of entertainment like Video Games. Although it doesn't seem like an issue, it was almost a year ago in the Supreme Court case of Brown v. The EMA in which California was trying to ban the sale of videogames deemed inappropriate by the state to minors. I'm a huge supporter of the 1st Amendment and all that it entails as well as artistic medium like video games so this issue has been a personal one of mine for the past 4 years. Hopefully in the future when I have free time, I can elaborate on this further and talk about my experiences with this issue.

Squawk, Don't Run

*Picture courtesy of the Burning Platform*

Well, it's now official. After over half a year of "Will she, won't she" spotlight coverage and a bus tour around America, the former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, declared on Wednesday through the Mark Levin Radio Show that she would not be running for president in the 2012 elections. Since this announcement, many have tried to decipher as to what implications her (in)decision will make on the Republican Primary and to the 2012 election as a whole.

Some, like Fox News writer Chris Stirewalt believe that her declaration is the beginning of, "...Round two of the GOP nomination fight," and how it is a call for the Republican nominees to become more serious in their campaign efforts. Although she has stated that she is better suited in this campaign "...to help elect other true public servants to office," at the present time, she doesn't believe there is a perfect candidate for her to support further putting stress on the Can't do Candidates to step up their game.

Others, like Donald Craig Mitchell of the LA Times believe that this announcement came as no surprise to those who were following Palin's presscapades. "She made no effort to establish campaign organizations on the ground in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina," and instead spent her time during this election season, "promoting books, making paid television appearances, giving paid speeches..." Mitchell argues believing that Palin had no plan at all to run and only used the drama to further hype her media fame.

Others still, like Sarah Palin's Twitter and Facebook followers, think that her decision is a sign of the inevitable doom that will fall upon America. "The sadest day in America next to9/11 was Sarah decision not to run," was written almost an hour ago on Palin's Facebook page by Kay Matthews whose deep grief over this issue has apparently made her unable to spell saddest correctly or use proper grammar.

Whatever your political leanings or opinions of the famous hockey mom may be, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that Palin's role in the 2012 election has been a prominent one indeed. I for one am glad that the former governor's decision has been made known, because now we can finally focus our sole attention on the present candidates and see who among them can be crowned the Republican presidential nominee. However, some part of me is waiting with anticipation as to how Mrs. Palin will influence and affect the rest of the 2012 race to the White House. Will I be tuning in regularly to look for the answer to my question? You betcha.

NPR's article can be found HERE.

Stirewalt's interpretation can be read in full on FOX NEW'S SITE.

Mitchell's full analysis is on THIS ARTICLE of the LA Times.

Political Alignment

I tend to lean more with the Democratic Party side in terms of specific issues. I believe in the protection of individual rights when it comes to social issues like Gay Marriage or Abortion, I disagree with the influence of religion in schools, and I favor many government programs like Healthcare.

Tough Crowd...

You might remember the chorus of boos that soldier Stephen Hill received on September 22 during the Fox News/Google debate. You might also remember Skeeter, the lovably quirky sidekick of Doug who was the main character of the very popular 90's cartoon of the same name. Only one of these two things will be the topic of my blog post.

Although the debate happened over a week ago, developments regarding the incident have surfaced over the weekend. President Obama, during a Human Rights Campaign dinner this weekend, criticized the conduct of the candidates stating that if they want to be president, they, "can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient." Sen. John McCain also spoke out against the responses the candidates gave to the question and the fact that none of them defended the soldier.

This criticism led candidate Herman Cain to tell ABC News that he should have asked the audience to respect the soldier when the boos happened saying that action, "...would have been appropriate." Although Cain has apologized for his lack of action, most of the other candidates have made no attempt to do so.

From watching the past debates and the controversy around some of the incidents during them, I'm beginning to realize that the relationship between the audience and the candidates is an awkward one to say the least. As the audience boos an openly gay member of the armed service, cheers for the murder of 234 death row inmates, or screams to let a person without healthcare die, none of the debaters call the crowd out for their outrageous behavior. It's like watching a babysitter giving into the demands of a child just because they're afraid the kid will whine and they won't get paid. I can understand that the nominees are afraid of biting the hand that's feeding them, but in cases such as Stephen Hill's, snapping back is more than justified. I hope that in future debates these incidents caused by the audience will not happen, but judging by past events there will most likely be a fair share of crazy during the upcoming debates. What I EXPECT, however, is the candidates to speak out against these events during rather than after the debate.

If you didn't have a chance to catch the debate, please watch a clip of the incident talked about HERE.

NPR also wrote an article regarding this event and Fox News also did a piece on Cain's comments.

Also, if you were disappointed on the lack of a Mr. Doug Funny, please enjoy his Theme Song as a proper ending to this post.