News of the Week--Print Journalism

This post is for the week of February 17th/19th.

This week has been all about the stimulus package. The proposed $787-billion boost to the American economy has had its supporters and its detractors. In this article by The Los Angeles Times, the undertone of the story is that no one is completely happy with the way things worked out, but that Obama is pushing ahead anyway.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-stimulus17-2009feb17,0,2931930.story

Questions: *Do you think the stimulus package is a good idea? Why or why not? Is there a better solution to the economic crisis?

*Has Obama started off his presidency the way you thought he might? Has he been derailed by the realities of our economy?



Unlikely support has come from many Republican governors, such as California's own Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charlie Crist of Florida. This is mainly because these states are strapped for cash themselves and welcome help balancing the budget. In this New York Times article, it talks of how the two faces of the Republican party are at odds over this issue. On one side, we have the Republican lawmakers in Congress who almost unanimously voted against it, and on the other side, the Republican governors who are in favor of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/politics/17repubs.html?_r=1

Questions: *Why do you think that the Republican party is at odds with each other right now? Do you think the Democrats are taking advantage of their majority in Congress? Why or why not?

* Do you think its a good thing that there have been so many concessions and negotiations on the stimulus package? Do you think that in the end, it will benefit us more if we have ideas from both parties?

Also, in relation to eveything thats been going on with the stimulus package, there has recently been controvery over a cartoon that appeared in the the New York Post. Its a picture of a chimp being shot by police officers, and them commenting on how they will now have to get someone else to write the next stimulus bill. Many people took it as a reference to Obama, but the editor of the Post said it was only riffing off the news story of the chimp that attacked a woman recently. Here is the link to the cartoon:

http://www.nypost.com/delonas/delonas.htm