The Senate Needs to Step Up

In the editorial “The Senate and the Spill” at the New York Times, the author talks about how the House has already passed a bill that would build from the gulf accident and make offshore drilling safer. The author then states that it would be very irresponsible of the Senate not to pass a bill that would help build and make offshore drilling better in the future. In the article the author states, “The Senate has not distinguishes itself on environmental issues over the last two years, failing to even vote on comprehensive energy and climate legislation that the House had passed. The least it can do is muster a meaningful response to the oil spill.” In the article it is mentioned that Harry Reid the Senate majority leader has a bill that could help if passed. The bill would tighten environmental safeguards and like the House bill it would require companies to list more detailed response plans before receiving drilling permits. I would have to agree with the author of this article because I believe that a bill is necessary in both the House and Senate to help prevent another environmental disaster like this oil spill that was one of the worse disasters in American history. I believe that if a bill is not passed in the Senate that oil companies will just go back to the way they did things before and another spill could occur and could be worse than this last one. The author also asks what’s taking the Senate so long in passing a bill and I agree the faster the Senate passes a bill the faster the environment and America will be safe. The author doesn’t need much logic to back up what he is saying because there is so much evidence of the oil in the ocean to prove that a bill is needed to be passed.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

In the article “Pentagon: No Plans to Change Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy after Court Ruling” at FOXNEWS  it states that the military wont reinstate any gay members discharged. The soldiers were discharged under the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” even though a judge’s ruling last week ruled the policy unconstitutional. A pentagon spokeswoman said that this decision has no affect on military policy because the current law is still in affect. The judge that ruled this unconstitutional was District Judge Virginia Phillips who also said that the policy “violates their constitutional rights and has a direct and deleterious affect on the armed forces.” The Human Rights Campaign a gay rights campaign has said that 14,000 service members have been discharged. Imagine how many more service members could be discharged if the military knew they were gay, that number may be a lot more than 14,000 in the next few years. When does the government have the power to choose who can service the military? Is the military allowed to discriminate against someone’s sexual preference?