Cartoon of the Week: Birds of a Feather

In this cartoon by Bill Day the major icons are Mitt Romney and a vulture roosted atop his smiley-faced head labeled vulture capitalism. The vulture in connection with Mitt Romney's happiness connects the vulture with Mitt Romney. It is obviously a response to Mitt Romney's tax report detailing his close to 15% tax rate over the course of a year which he manages to maintain, even being worth hundreds of millions of dollars, through investments in the stock market and other similar means which have reduced tax rates. Thus, the vulture depicts Mitt Romney as a scavenger trying to pick up as much cash as he can possibly obtain from the economy. This isn't anything new. While Newt points out the low tax rate as does Bill in this cartoon, low tax rates upon the top 1% of the American People is not uncommon. In fact the economy was made in favor of those that already had money. The economy is oriented in this way because the framers of the constitution as well as the majority of congressmen have worked towards "keeping the status quo." Bill is obviously displaying his resentment for Mitt Romney by associating him with a vulture due to his substantially low taxes.

Political Cartoon of the Week: Newt Occupies SC.

This cartoon, Newt Occupies SC, by Rick McKee features Newt Gingrich, a tent, a sign, and what appears to be two republicans as the major items. The Tent and the sign behind it connect Newt with the occupy movement, something Newt is openly against, saying that he is willing to wait in south Carolina and bring himself down to bring down Romney. Newt is made out to be a chubby, baby-like figure showing that he is being a baby about the results thus far in the election and the sign he is holding states that Romney is a capitalist pig, connoting that Gingrich isn't a capitalist which, in a capitalist country, is a bad thing to be. The two republicans in the background are stating the obvious, he's desperate. The cartoonist obviously hates or at least disdains Newt Gingrich. He is calling him a hypocritical, communist old fat guy whom doesn't even have the support of his own party and has become desperate for attention to pull down Romney. While this is all a bit extremely, the carton merely functions to show the cartoonists view that Newt is not the right guy for the presidency.

First Semester

The first semester of my senior year of high school was not what I'd expected. The seniors from the year before had made it seem as though it would be a lot easier than junior year. In reality it is the hardest year of High School. Coming in with the wrong mentality i soon realized I would have to put in some effort. Although I hadn't not put in nearly the amount of effort as I had in previous years, I found a pretty good rhythm. My grades dropped a little bit, but that isn't saying much given they were already high and having the extra time to enjoy senior year is definitely worth it. The teachers are easier to connect with in senior year and the first semester was definitely the happiest semester I've had so far. I just hope the second year is as good or better. I guess there is only one way to describe the first semester: Awesome.

Political Cartoon: Early Primaries

The main symbols in this, Daryl Cagle's cartoon New Hampshire is First, are New Hampshire, a chubby old lady with a whip, and Uncle Sam representing the USA voters. The cartoon satirizes the fact that just because Iowa and New Hampshire go first they have way more sway than any other primary on the minds of the USA voters. We take the first two primaries/ caucuses and base the rest of the nomination around them as they were being forced to. That seems to be the view point that Daryl is trying to express. I agree because people look less and less at the actual candidates and more and more at whether or not they’d so happened to be up in the polls.

GOP Nominee prediction

The GOP Nomination won't be a big surprise in my opinion. At the moment Mitt Romney is without a doubt the person I'd put my money on. Sure Iowa was a close race, but Romney has been working for months and has so many resources and general appeal to republicans that the other candidates don't have much of a chance. I'd say at this point it is probably between him and Ron Paul. However, given that Americans generally tend to base their votes upon the polls, and currently most polls state that Romney has the best chance out of all the candidates to defeat Obama. I'd say Romney will win the GOP nomination. Currently Perry is going to drop after South Carolina and Newt is simply into too much a hole to really dig himself out. Perry is the most straightforward candidate in the GOP Nomination.