Following the reelection of the Democratic President Barack Obama, there has been a frenzy of private citizens in all 50 states who have filed and signed petitions to secede from the Union. Many of the states that have led this craze have been predominately Republican with Texas taking the lead with over 100,000 signatures on their petition. Read the full story

[Graphic by Allen S. Lin]

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012 President Barack Obama was re-elected to serve his second four-year term against Republican candidate Gov. Mitt Romney and finished with 303 electoral votes. Read the full story

Graphic by Allen S. Lin

On Nov. 6, 2012, the public will cast their votes for the next President of the United States, or will they? Read the full story

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The 44th President of the United States has been very busy since he was elected in 2008, making and breaking promises for both Republicans and Democrats in his first term. Before you decide if he deserves a second term against competitors Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum (profiled in our last issue) take a look at his first four years.

President Obama not only ended the Iraq war, but also our military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. His administration killed Osama Bin Laden and has also improved our foreign image. The BBC World Service held a poll in 2009 asking nearly 30,000 people across 28 countries to rate countries based on their positive impact on the world. For the first time since 2005, America was given more positive than negative votes, having the favor of 46% of respondents, a sharp contrast from previous years.

The Obama administration passed the Hate Crimes Bill, and also stopped support of the Defense of Marriage Act in court. In 2009, he instituted the Lilly Leadbetter Fair Pay Act, which mandated equal pay for women in the workplace. Obama has also been championed for his Presidential Memorandum, which protects the decision making rights of gays and lesbians, as well as extends benefits to same-sex couples of federal employees. President Obama even held the first ever Passover Seder dinner given in the White House.

In health care, Obama has passed legislation to regulate drug manufacturers and reform Medicare to eliminate gaps and cut prescription costs. The President also established HealthCare.gov, a web portal for determining and comparing all consumer health insurance and health care options and made health care more available with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Barack Obama is also the first president to create a detailed vision for America’s future clean energy economy, beginning with the establishment of the Energy Partnership in America and a new climate service.

Yet, among all the good things he has done in these past four years, President Obama has made some promises he has yet to bring to fruition. Politifact for the Tampa Bay Times has been keeping track of Obama’s broken promises, here are just a few:

- Has not required automatic enrollment for 401(k) or IRA plans, and has failed to sign the Employee Free Choice Act, a bipartisan effort to make unionization easier while increasing penalties on companies that violate employee rights.

- Has not eliminated taxes for seniors making under $50,000

- Has yet to repeal the Bush tax cuts for higher incomes, increase capital gains and dividends taxes, or phase out tax deductions and exemptions for higher earners

- Did not double cancer research funding, and shot down the legal import of prescription drugs

- Has yet to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or create a national commission to improve programs for the disabled.

Make your own ruling by checking out Obama’s first four years at http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter and get more information on all of Obama’s accomplishments at http://www.obamaachievements.org/list

President states, “We sit here tonight, but will we work together tomorrow?”

President Barack Obama stood before the nation and both houses of Congress in the annual State of the Union address Tuesday night.

The address took place in the shadow of a turbulent start to the new year after college student Jared Loughner allegedly shot and killed six people in Tucson, Ariz., including Arizona Chief Judge John Roll, and wounding 13 others, among them Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

A bi-partisan spirit was evident as both Republican and Democratic lawmakers sat side by side in the Capitol chambers, with some calling their partners “dates” as a gesture of unity following the attacks.

The president challenged the country to find what he called a new “Sputnik moment,” referring to the 1950s era space race against the Soviets in the face of growing challenges from China and India. Obama called for increased investment in clean energy, research and development, infrastructure, and, most importantly, education.

Referring to teachers as “patriots” Obama introduced his new education reform package called “Race to the Top,” which rewards innovative thinking from states to solve the education crisis. He vowed to move on from the Bush-era “No Child Left Behind” program by instituting what he referred to as “the most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation.”

Obama made a big push toward solving the issue of gay rights. Not only did he invite Daniel Hernandez, the gay staff member widely credited with helping to save the life of Giffords, to sit with First Lady Michelle Obama, but he also stated that “no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love.”

Obama encouraged college campuses to open their doors to military recruiters once the policy changes are approved by top military personnel after the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was signed into law by Obama in December.

Obama appeared willing to extend the spirit of bi-partisanship in the meantime, proposing a five-year freeze on domestic spending in addition to $78 million in cuts to the defense budget.

Obama spent very little of the 75 minute speech on illegal immigration, although he did call for the country to “stop expelling talented, responsible young people who can start new businesses and further enrich the nation.”

Republican critics were quick to jump on Obama’s speech as “flat,” calling Obama’s “investment” proposals a code word for spending. There was no mention of last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the continuing foreclosure crisis, unemployment woes, and, even given the recent circumstances, gun regulation.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), the new chairman of the House Budget Committee, presented the GOP rebuttal to the State of the Union address, criticizing Obama for increasing domestic spending 84 percent following the passage of the stimulus bill into law.

Ryan noted that “no economy can sustain such high levels of debt and taxation,” although he offered no specifics on which programs should be cut.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) also issued a separate-but-equal response on behalf of the Tea Party, calling for the repeal of the health care bill and urging government to increase American energy production while reducing demand for foreign oil.

[rps]

Alex Miranda/ Staff Writer
It was leaked late last week that Obama was going to send 1,200 troops to “beef up” our Mexican boarder.

Reasons come from keeping drug dealers out of the United States as well as making sure terrorist don’t enter the country. But the thing is I find a huge hole in the problem. We’re protecting a border instead of the 2 borders we have. We all know Canadians are “p” words but terrorists can still come through that way. Which leads me to believe it’s a racial thing.

I’m not pointing fingers but it’s pretty obvious. If you look at a map of the United States it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand terrorist or drug dealers can go through both borders.

What makes this seem like the most racist crock of crap is the fact that they want to also build a wall. I’m tired of every Redneck in America screaming at the tops of their God fearing lungs that this is America and immigrants can get the F out. Yet doesn’t the bible say love thy neighbor? And these are the same pieces of crap that sit on the U.S. border with rifles!

We are all immigrants Whitey! The only people that aren’t immigrants have casinos in the Dessert on the way to Las Vegas, but we bought them out years ago by killing a much lower technological group of people that didn’t have guns.

I saw a white supremacist give a speech on local T.V. were he basically said that “the more Spics, Ni**ers, and Chinks we let into this country the worse it will become.”

To what I have to say Timothy McVeigh, AMERICAN! Columbine, AMERICAN! Charles Manson, AMERICAN! Ted Bundy, BALD AMERICAN! The KKK, AMERICAN!!

It’s crazy to say that America is screwed up because of minorities, I think America is screwed up because of the fact that we can’t band together and we contradict ourselves. I hear so many times people quote the bible “Love thy neighbor, Donate money to what ever” then turn around and damn minorities for coming to America to earn an honest living.

I’m not saying let’s open up our borders, but I’m saying let’s be proactive in how we handle our borders and admission into this country. I understand people have ways for immigrants to come into the U.S. but when a family needs money for a mother operation, hell I’d go to the end of the world. I say immigrants are going coming whether we like it or not. It’s up to us to find a way to co-exist.