mmckerral's blog
One of the ways we can contribute to the discussion of public policy comes with the chance to comment to federal regulatory agencies.
Unfortunately, most of us do not. And part of the problem is that unless you pay close attention to the alphabet soup of agency acronyms and their business, it’s hard to know they want your opinion. Most of us don’t spend a lot of time reading the Federal Register.
I am not sure if Americans can reach a point where they look beyond a book’s cover when making judgment. I do know that events on Sept. 11, 2001, have made it more difficult.
But it would seem that “the academy” would offer a place where we might escape discrimination based on how someone dresses.
The relief effort in Haiti continues with the United States at the forefront. A recent news story got me to thinking about how countries get labeled “rich” or “poor.”
The article focused on how “rich” countries, such as the United States, bear the burden of doing more to help countries such as Haiti when trouble strikes. I wondered how someone could conclude that a country in excess of $11 trillion in debt deserves to fall into the “rich” category.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled on an election finance issue that could alter the landscape of campaigning — again. The court’s 5-4 decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission struck down key provisions on and limitations to spending by corporate entities on elections.
President Barack Obama must start every day wondering what could go wrong next.
His list of priorities includes two wars, a fierce battle over heath care, a struggling economy, a grim forecast for the midterm elections and questions about security — his during White House parties and the nation’s with regard to terrorists who manage to slip through all levels of protection with bomb-filled britches.
The First Amendment offers five guaranteed freedoms, and newscaster Brit Hume managed to bring three into play with recent comments he made about the life of Tiger Woods.
By this time, we all are familiar with Tiger’s tale. And to be honest, within a few days of Tiger driving his life out of bounds, I held no interest in him or the bizarre events that led to what will probably be a temporary demise of his golf career. The demise of his personal life is permanent.
The TV show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy enjoys some popularity. It captures the TV template for success: quizzes/trivia, give away money and make presumably intelligent people look stupid.
When it comes to knowledge about how American government works, most do not have to be made to look stupid. Many are.
I read and hear constantly about the need to “cut down the size of government,” about pubic concern over “too much government” and the evils of “big government.”
So, how does government get so big?
I attended a conference a few weeks back that focused on developing citizen engagement at the college level by organizing students using the Internet and the Web.
So, when I heard about a Dec. 5 blog post by Andrea DiMaio titled “Why Citizen Participation May Be An Illusion,” I eagerly checked it out. A link to the blog appears in the “Resources” section at the end of this post.
Some like to discount comparisons between U.S. policy in the Vietnam War and the war in Afghanistan.
But a recent look at some presidential archives makes a good case for history repeating itself — and not in a good way.
