President Obama urged those who are contemplating a career choice to become a teacher while stressing the importance of education in his 2011 State of the Union address.
But recently we have seen Republican Governors like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie attack teachers and their unions. With so much divide, would you want your child to become a teacher?

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7283845n#ixzz1CLwznXCg

WASHINGTON (AP) - Reaching for unity, President Barack Obama
implored Democrats and Republicans Tuesday night to rally behind an
economic agenda of federal spending on core areas alongside a long,
hard commitment to reining in the nation's debt. He promised to
veto any bill that contained pet projects and said that the
nation's political leadership is now a "shared responsibility."
The president called on Congress to simplify the tax system and
get rid of loopholes, announcing that he would support using the
saved money to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in
25 years without adding to the deficit.
He called for freezing discretionary government spending outside
of national security for the next five years, saying that would
save $400 billion as a step toward reducing the country's
staggering debt. The president said the budget discipline would
require "painful cuts" in cherished programs without identifying
any of them.
The White House released Obama's prepared speech about an hour
before he delivered it to a joint session of Congress in the House
chamber.
Obama said the nation needs a "bipartisan solution" to
strengthen Social Security and keep the program on firm financial
footing, but he offered no specific prescription. He did set some
limits, though, including that any reform must come "without
slashing benefits for future generations and without subjecting
Americans' guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock
market."
Obama's address was built around promoting concentrated spending
in areas such as education, research and transportation and
promising reductions in the nation's staggering debt and reforms of
government at a time when voters are tired of federal bailouts and
regulation.
He was delivering his speech to a television audience in the
tens of millions and, in front of him, the members of the new-look
Congress. Over his shoulder a reminder of the shift in power on
Capitol Hill: new Republican House Speaker John Boehner.
In a broad proposal to reshape the government, Obama said he
would seek authority to merge, consolidate and reorganize federal
agencies. The White House said that would be the first such
overhaul of the bureaucracy in half a century.
The pitch was part of an overarching reform theme in Obama's
address. He also was calling on Congress to become more open and
show when members are meeting with lobbyists.
The public has been clamoring for a leaner government, although
his efforts are likely to be more modest than the government
changes sought by some conservatives.
In tougher language than he's used before, Obama threatened to
veto any legislation that contains the special, targeted
congressional spending measures known as earmarks. He has been
demanding limits on pet projects since his 2008 presidential
campaign, a call he reissued following Republican victories in the
2010 midterm elections.
On health care, the president defended his landmark overhaul law
against Republican efforts to repeal it.
Obama said he knows there's opposition to the law's provision
extending insurance coverage to 30 million people. But with
patients who've benefited from the law watching from the gallery,
he said he's not willing to go back to the days when insurance
companies could deny coverage to people with pre-existing
conditions.
And in a speech with little focus on national security, Obama
appeared to close the door on keeping any significant U.S. military
presence in Iraq beyond the end of the year.
"This year, our civilians will forge a lasting partnership with
the Iraqi people, while we finish the job of bringing our troops
out of Iraq," the president said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Health care is Shannon Taylor's "big, big hot
button" and no wonder. She is a nurse in Tennessee who examines
hospital bills for a health insurance company, and a mother who saw
President Barack Obama's health care law come just in time for her
family.
In the State of the Union speech Tuesday night, she will be
looking for Obama to stand firm against Republicans who want to
take the law apart. Health insurance for her daughter, who has
lifetime medical problems, could hang in the balance.
Many other Americans feel a personal stake in what Obama will
say Tuesday and do later - and what Republicans do in response. The
hunger for jobs and economic growth stood out in interviews with
more than 1,000 people, part of an Associated Press-GfK poll asking
Americans what one thing they most want the government to
accomplish this year.
It is apparent, too, that health care is still very much on
people's minds, that spending has reached frightening proportions
for many and that a notable share of Americans wants nothing more
than to see partisan bickering end.
In upstate New York, Donald Dixon puts his faith in Republicans
to restrain Democratic spending and bring down a debt that he
believes makes every economic problem worse - and robs his
grandsons, each with a master's degree, of good jobs.
It's enough to make the retired Baptist preacher invoke the fire
and brimstone rhetoric of the pulpit, even as he renders his
judgment in a cheerful tone.
Obama "tells us we are going in the right direction," Dixon
says, "which to me is over the precipice of hell."
It falls upon presidents to describe the state of the union when
much of that union is in the depths of winter's gloom.
The polling revealed a season of discontent; also some stirrings
of hope. More than half disapproved of Obama's handling of the
economy and just more than one-third said it has improved in his
first two years. Still, he's considered likable, strong and in
touch.
Altogether, 38 percent cited the economy or an economic issue
when asked what they would most like to see the government
accomplish this year. Fully 31 percent said health care is the No.
1 issue to tackle - regardless of whether they favor or oppose the
law - and 21 percent cited the budget. Among economic concerns,
jobs topped the list.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The new Republican-led House is poised to vote
to repeal President Barack Obama's landmark health care law.
Republican lawmakers are expected to deliver an emphatic
thumbs-down on Wednesday, though they have no ready substitute of
their own for fixing the nation's health care system.
The House vote could turn out to be the high-water mark for
repeal, a goal that energized conservative voters in the midterm
elections and helped Republicans return to power in Congress.
Democrats, who hung on to the Senate, have vowed to block the GOP
drive.
But House Republicans warn not to underestimate their
determination or their willingness to use parliamentary maneuvers
to deny the Obama administration funds needed to carry out the law.
The law aims to provide coverage to more than 30 million
uninsured people.

Sen. Richard Lugar pushes for assault weapons ban

Indiana U.S. Senator Richard Lugar said Monday that he will push for a renewal of the assault weapons ban.

“I believe it should be, but I recognize the fact that the politics domestically in our country with regard to this are on a different track altogether,” Mr. Lugar told Bloomberg.

The Indiana Republican is the first Republican to come out in support of renewing the ban following the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. A number of Democratic politicians have said they plan to introduce legislation aimed at increasing gun control.

New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy plans to introduce a similar piece of legislation. Ms. McCarthy says she will include a ban on extended magazine clips similar to those used by the alleged gunman.

Rep. Peter King has suggested legislation making it illegal for anyone to knowingly carrying a loaded gun within 1,000 feet of certain high-ranking public officials, including members of Congress. The proposal is not expected to pass, with Speaker John Boehner reportedly saying he will not introduce the measure.

Source:
http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/sen-richard-lugar-pushes-for-assault-weapons-ban/

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama honored the legacy of
Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday by participating in a painting
project at a school on Capitol Hill.
On the federal holiday named for the slain civil rights leader,
Obama brought his family to Stuart Hobson Middle School, where he
and first lady Michelle Obama helped paint apple characters on
pillars in the lunchroom to encourage healthier eating.
Obama said King's legacy is also about service and urged
Americans to get out into their communities on Monday - a step he
suggested would have special meaning following the shooting rampage
in Tucson, Ariz.
"After a painful week where so many of us were focused on the
tragedy, it's good for us to remind ourselves of what this country
is all about," he told reporters.
Monday also happened to be Michelle Obama's 47th birthday. To
mark it, the crowd at the school sang the Stevie Wonder version of
"Happy Birthday," which the musician wrote to honor King.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The deeper officers get into the
investigation of the Tucson, Ariz., shootings, the more they hear
about "two" Jared Loughners (LAWF'-nurz).
Officers interviewing people who knew the suspect are learning
about the younger Jared, a normal, happy kid -- and also about the
older deeply disturbed Jared.
Sheriff's Capt. Chris Nanos says that at some point there was
"something in this kid" that "someone could say, 'That's my son,
I love him."'
Documents released earlier show Loughner was judged mentally
unhinged and suspended from an Arizona community college.
Authorities also have revealed that Loughner also was carrying a
knife on Saturday, but didn't use it.
There's a funeral today for 9-year-old Christina Green, one of 6
people killed during an assassination attempt on Democratic Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords.
Giffords is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Sarah Palin posted a nearly
eight-minute video on her Facebook page early Wednesday, accusing
journalists and pundits of inciting hatred and violence in the wake
of a deadly Arizona shooting that gravely wounded U.S. Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords.
Last spring, Palin targeted Giffords' district as one of 20 that
should be taken back. Palin has been criticized for marking each
district with the cross hairs of a gun sight.
In the video, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate said
vigorous debates are a cherished tradition. But she said after the
election, both sides find common ground, even though they disagree.
"But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding,
journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that
serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to
condemn. That is reprehensible," she said.
The term "blood libel" is the false allegation that Jews kill
non-Jews, especially Christian children, to acquire blood for the
Passover or other Jewish rituals, according to the Jewish Virtual
Library. It has been used in other contexts, and Palin's meaning
was not clear. Her aides did not immediately respond to an e-mail
early Wednesday.
Jared Loughner, 22, is accused of trying to assassinate
Giffords, wounding 12 others and killing six people.
"There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for
the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical
criminal," Palin said. "And they claim political debate has
somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less
heated? Back in those 'calm days' when political figures literally
settled their differences with dueling pistols?"

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has laid out
an agenda of education and pension reform in his first State of the
State speech.
The Republican governor said Tuesday that big changes are needed
in the year ahead for New Jersey to remain affordable.
Christie used the 38-minute speech to outline his plans to
overhaul teacher tenure, close poor-performing schools and fix the
teetering public pension system.
He also hinted at the tax breaks he'll propose next month.
Christie took office a year ago after winning an upset victory
over incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine.
Christie began by leading a moment of silence for victims of the
Arizona shooting.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The shooting rampage in Arizona seems to have
created a reset moment for confrontational politics, as lawmakers
reflect on the repercussions of the overheated rhetoric traded on
the airwaves and on the campaign trail.
Members of Congress from both parties called Sunday for civility
over belligerence as the House temporarily shelved the contentious
debate over repealing the health care law and lawmakers paused to
contemplate the tragedy.
Critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the apparent target
of a lone shooter, emerged as a potent and cautionary symbol of the
current political climate. Still, there was no clear motivation for
the attack, and some warned against making provocative politicians
and commentators the culprits in the assault.
Six died and 14 were wounded in the shooting at a Tucson
shopping center where Giffords was holding a gathering with
constituents.
Authorities said the attack was the work of a single gunman.
They described the apprehended suspect, 22-year-old Jared Loughner,
as mentally unstable.
President Barack Obama will lead the nation in a moment of
silence at 11 a.m. Monday. He has postponed a scheduled trip
Tuesday to Schenectady, N.Y., where he planned to promote his
economic policies. "It will be a time for us to come together as a
nation in prayer or reflection, keeping the victims and their
families closely at heart," he said.
The Supreme Court said it plans to convene 10 minutes early on
Monday, at 9:50 a.m., so the justices can observe the moment of
silence at 11 a.m.
House Speaker John Boehner told lawmakers in a conference call
Sunday to "pull together as an institution."
"What is critical is that we stand together at this dark time
as one body," he said. "We need to rally around our wounded
colleague, the families of the fallen, and the people of Arizona's
8th District. And, frankly, we need to rally around each other."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi canceled a scheduled
appearance Monday at the Detroit auto show.
Such unifying pauses are usual after national tragedies. The
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack was a coalescing moment in the
nation that for a time improved the tone of Capitol Hill debate.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy
Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on political
rhetoric, said there were similar breaks after the assassinations
of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
"There was a lot of discussion about the meaning of the moment
and what rhetoric had done to incite it," she said.
What's more, the attack on Giffords has given members of
Congress a sense of unusual common purpose. Leaders from both
parties worked together Sunday to offer members assurances that
they were reviewing security measures.
Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., the chairman of the House Democratic
Caucus, said his colleagues hope for "greater comity within the
House and the discourse that takes place all across this country."
Still, politics is a quarrelsome business and those breaks are
short-lived. In the 1990s politicians lamented "the politics of
personal destruction." President George W. Bush was the subject of
vicious criticism from the left, and President Obama has come under
stinging, personal attack from some of his critics.
Congress has also become more partisan, with a dwindling number
of moderate lawmakers. Veteran members of Congress have lamented a
changed culture where legislators spend little time socializing
with each other, a development that contributes to fewer
cross-party relationships.
While Sunday's calls for unity and civility were bipartisan, the
discussion had a partisan subtext as Democrats pointed to
anti-government language from the tea party movement and to
rabble-rousing imagery and rhetoric from conservative figures such
as Sarah Palin.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democratic leader in the
Senate, on Sunday mentioned Palin's combative rallying cry, "Don't
retreat; reload," and the crosshairs she used to signal
congressional districts where she wanted Republicans to win.
"These sorts of things, I think, invite the kind of toxic
rhetoric that can lead unstable people to believe this is an
acceptable response," Durbin said Sunday on CNN.
Republicans were especially sensitive to suggestions that their
side of the political spectrum was contributing to a more poisonous
political environment.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., noted Sunday that the suspect in
the Tucson rampage was connected to Internet postings that included
Marxist and Nazi literature.
"That's not the profile of a typical tea party member, if
that's the inference that's being made," he said on CNN.
To be sure, combative language in politics is not the province
of a single party. It was Obama who declared during the 2008
presidential campaign, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we
bring a gun." And Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, ran
ads during last year's campaign that portrayed him with a
high-powered rifle, placing a cap-and-trade energy bill in the
crosshairs and blasting it to pieces.
The Tucson shooting could also result in hypersensitivity, where
lawmakers take any partisan comment as an invitation to incite a
fight.
"The danger in this is that people misread it and so the first
time that someone makes a statement that is partisan, it's
condemned as inappropriate," Jamieson said.
Experts say angry political language is made all the more
prevalent by the Internet and opinion-driven cable television,
amplifying the sense of confrontation. Jamieson says she doesn't
believe current Congresses have been more uncivil than past one.
"But the media culture has given us access to incivility that
probably was there all along but didn't have that much
accessibility," Jamieson said. "The consequence of broader
exposure is that it becomes normalized."

WASHINGTON (AP) - And let it be said, on this second day
following the convening of the 112th Congress, newly sworn members
of the House shall stand and read aloud the Constitution of the
United States.
And so it was Thursday, as lawmakers took turns reciting each
verse and article of the document. Republicans in charge of the
chamber rattled it off with missionary zeal, as if in a school
civics class. Democrats pitched in, but with seemingly less ardor.
Congressional historians say it's the first time the nation's
governing document, which went into operation in 1789, was read in
its entirety on the House floor. New Speaker John Boehner
(BAY'-nur) opened the recital, followed by outgoing Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, who ceded the gavel to the Ohio Republican on Wednesday.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Saying "government should be responsive to
the needs at the time," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo promises a
different kind of State of the State address on Wednesday, one less
about political pageantry and more about governing in a crisis.
Cuomo said he will use his first opportunity for speech to cast
himself as the hard-fisted manager needed to lead New York out of
more than two years of fiscal crisis, with $11 billion in current
and future deficits still ahead.
He said he will consolidate the hundreds of state agencies,
departments and authorities to save money and run more efficiently,
while leaving open the question of additional public worker layoffs
beyond the 900 he's carrying out.
But the most anticipated remarks may be those of powerful
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver's support is essential for
Cuomo's plans to cut spending, establish a 2 percent cap on the
growth of property taxes, enact nonpartisan redistricting of
election districts for the next 10 years so majority parties don't
protect their power, and other key proposals.
"I am going to say unequivocally in the speech that we will
pass a property tax cap, us and the governor working together
trying to find common ground," Silver told The Associated Press.
"And the Assembly will pass a reform of the redistricting
process."
He also said he will support Cuomo's plan to cut state spending.
"There is no doubt in anybody's mind that we have to restrain
spending as a result of the economic crisis going forward," said
Silver, a Democrat like Cuomo. "We will have to fill a gap of $10
billion. It's obvious there have to be cuts to fill that gap."
Cuomo moved the site of Wednesday afternoon's speech to the
Empire Plaza convention center, able to hold 2,000 people, or twice
as many as the traditional venue for the annual speeches, the
Assembly chambers. Seeking to work with the Legislature that has
derailed Govs. Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson before him, Cuomo
has provided unprecedented time to the Senate and Assembly leaders
for brief speeches.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican repeal of President Barack Obama's
health care overhaul law would take away personal freedoms and put
power back in the hands of insurance companies, the
administration's top health official said Tuesday.
House Republicans have scheduled a vote next week to repeal the
law, calling it a job-killing mandate that raises costs all around
and promotes government intrusion in decisions that should be left
to individuals and doctors, business owners and regulators at the
state level.
Previewing the administration's counterattack, Health and Human
Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said new benefits under the
law have freed millions of Americans from worry that they'll lose
or be denied insurance, made it easier for small businesses to
sponsor coverage for their employees, and provided more affordable
prescriptions for seniors on Medicare.
"The new law is giving people more freedoms and more choices,"
Sebelius told reporters. "Repeal really takes away all of those
freedoms and shifts power back to the insurance companies."
While the repeal push is likely to win in the House, it appears
headed for a dead end in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where
leaders have vowed to block it.

Chris Christie
NJ Gov. Chris Christie Stands By Absence From State During Storm
Eric Kleefeld | January 3, 2011, 10:02AM

Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), who was on vacation in Disney World during last weeks' big snowstorm, returned to the state on Friday to defend his absence -- and to blast the local mayors' handling of the situation.

"I wouldn't change the decision even if I could do it right now," Christie told reporters on New Year's Eve, the Star Ledger reports. "I had a great five days with my children. I promised that." He also added that his wife Mary Pat told him to not "even think about" canceling the trip.

"I would have been doing the same thing here as I was there," Christie said. "I would not have been out driving a plow. I would be in a room somewhere on a telephone. That's exactly the same thing I was doing in Florida."