Unit 5 Post

The Human Rights Campaign announced yesterday that they are taking a new approach to advance LGBT equality in the south. This plan targets three states (Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama) that do not offer employment, housing, or marriage protection. Their plan is to open an office in each state, as they believe a more interpersonal approach will be more successful. LGBT residents of these States suffer fro discrimination because of no legal protection, and the HRC hopes that this plan will soon go into effect.
I personally believe that no matter your race or sexual orientation, you are born with the same human rights. The end of the battle is near and anyone still in opposition of LGBT having equality is wasting their energy.

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/04/27/3431260/hrc-campaign-deep-south

Unit 4 Bureaucracy Post

Over the past six years, the State Department has lost track of contracts worth $6 billion used to pay its contractors. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick reports that the inability to file paperwork properly and a "lack of internal control at the department has led to billions of unaccounted dollars over the last six years." This came to light as the federal government has struggled with contracts and payments to private contractors. This began shortly before Hillary Clinton became was appointed Secretary of State, and continued throughout her entire tenure.
Link

Congress Seeking Refunds for Parks Affected by Shutdowns (unit 4)

Hundreds of park sites were closed for over two weeks due to the government shutting downcast November. Some states are Still dealing with financial repercussions. The second week into the shutdown, six states payed the government over $2,000,000 to reopen several locations. These states have yet to be payed back. Utah okayed nearly 1 million alone to reopen the parks for 6 days. A bipartisan group of the Senators proposed a bill that would reimburse the states. This is the second legislation that lawmakers have introduced. A similar bill was introduced i the house, but has not been taken to the floor As someone who lives in a town surrounded by a national park, I think these states should fully be reimbursed. Congress's inability to get anything done is the reason states were losing so much money.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/20/congress-seeking-refunds-for-parks-closed-during-shutdown/

Breaking the Hold on Two-Party Politics

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/05/02/why-the-two-party-political-system-is-failing-the-united-states

Author Charles Wheelan says that the current two-party system is failing America. In "The Centrist Manifesto", Wheelan offers a solution by introducing the idea of a centrist candidate. He believes that the two-party gives too much power to the extremists in each party. I believe that the idea of a third candidate would be beneficial to American politics and would be a solution to the disagreements in our government.

Unit 2: Poll says Clinton would crush Christie in 2016

Thanks to the Chris Christie bridge scandal that has slowly been unfolding over the past several weeks, Clinton would demolish Christie in the 2016 presidential election. In a hypothetical head to head matchup with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, he trailed Clinton 58 to 37 percent. For the past several months Chris Christie has been the most favored potential Republican presidential candidate but with the bridge scandal coming to the surface his popularity among the voters has quickly dwindled.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/thanks-to-scandal-clinton-would-crush-christie-in-2016-poll-says/

Health Care Law Projected to Cut the Labor Force

A Congressional Budget Office predicts that with the Affordable Care Act more people will choose not to work, making the law a recharged debate for the Republicans and Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/us/politics/budget-office-revises-estimates-of-health-care-enrollment.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0