“Personhood” was a very controversial litigation case passing through the Mississippi courts. On Thursday, the Supreme Court in Mississippi refused to block bill known as the “Personhood Amendment.” The final vote on the Supreme Court was 7-2. They cited that they cannot restrict the citizens rights to amend the constitution.

“We cannot invade the territory of the legislature or the electorate to review the substantive validity of a proposed initiative, and thereby, we will honor the maxim embodied in the constitutional mandate of separate of powers,” said Justice Randy Pierce for the court.

He went on to say that unless more control is given to the Supreme court regarding matters of public opinion, they cannot restrict the voters rights to voice their opinion on an open ballot.

Anti-abortion groups are hoping that if the law is passed, it will move on to the United States Supreme Court and perhaps give the justices the option to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision in the 1970s that legalized abortion.

“Although our opponents were beaten in this lawsuit, we know that they will not stop in their desperate attempts to deny the obvious truth that life begins at conception and that every life deserves to be protected in the law,” said Steve Crampton, general counsel of the conservative legal group Liberty Counsel. “Not only Mississippians, but all Americans, should support this commonsense amendment.”

As of now, Mississippi is the only state in 2011 to have the “personhood” issue on their ballot. However, there is approximately 5 states that are looking to get this issue on the ballot in 2012.

The bill is comprised of 253 billion dollars in tax cuts and 192 billion dollars in new spending. The total spending for this economic stimulus plan would be 447 billion dollars. Many analysts say the bill in its current form has no chance of passing through the house, which is controlled by the conservatives. The republicans are very skeptical about any bills that call for new spending.

On the tax cut portion of the bill President Obama wants to extend the tax break that United States citizens have on their first 106,000 dollars worth of wages. Normally the rate is at 6.2%, but as of now it is only 4.2%. Not only does he want to extend the tax break, but also bring the percentage down even more from 4.2% to 3.1%.

He also has business tax cuts in his stimulus plan. First he wants to lower the payroll tax businesses have to pay to 3.1%, and if the business either gives a current employee a raise or hires a new employee, they are exempt from payroll taxes all together.

Now that we have talked about the tax cuts, lets talk about Obama’s plan for spending. First off he wants to create an infrastructure bank. Initially the bank would cost the tax payers 10 billion dollars, but according to Obama’s plan it will be self sustained from interest off of loans.

Obama also asked for 50 billion dollars in immediately to help repair our nation’s roads.

He also asked for 5 billion dollars to help modernize some 30,000 public schools and community colleges.

The last thing major thing he wanted his economic stimulus package to do was extend unemployment benefits. Obama said 43% of the unemployed have been that way for 6 months.  He believes it will help the economy if he extend our benefits to help those people.

Obama is expected to release the intricacies of his plan when he speaks in front of congress on Thursday evening. His plan for funding this stimulus package is focusing the infrastructure spending we already have while still maintaining targeted tax cuts.

“I’m going to propose ways to put America back to work that both parties can agree to, because I still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems,” Obama said in a Labor Day speech in Detroit.

Many analysts believe this expenditure is going to be received adversely by congress. One thing that will affect the congress’s decision regarding the stimulus package is the looming 2012 election. Most people believe that conservatives will object to the stimulus package with out even thinking over it. One reason they will cite is the failed stimulus package of 2009 that was President Obama’s idea.

One option that is being discussed under this stimulus package is a “infrastructure bank.” This will require 10 billion dollars and is designed to help spur more development in the private sector. The plan is to make the bank self sufficient by collecting interest on the loans they give out, which is a great thought in theory.

The President also wants to pass some similar to the HIRE Act of 2010. This will give businesses a tax credit that hire unemployed citizens.

One of the final things President Obama is expected to ask for is an extension on unemployment benefits. In 2009 they were extended to the current 99 week maximum we have today. In 2009 it cost the government 56.5 billion dollars to extend the benefits. Republicans were outraged, while Democrats say that unemployment money is almost directly deposited back in to the economy.

While President Barack Obama spoke in Detroit, his republican adversaries were at the Palmetto Freedom Forum in Columbia, South Carolina. This televised live on CNN. All of the republican candidates called for the end of the health care reform and the “Wall Street reform,” which were both passed by a liberally controlled congress.

Other issues the republicans discussed at the Freedom Forum were abortions and the values and principles of marriage.

Republicans that are fighting for the GOP nomination have been hitting early primary states very hard lately, obviously to try and sway a portion of the vote in their favor.

In President Obama’s speech he straight forwardly challenged republicans to stop obstructing his plans to make new jobs. He reiterated that action is needed now, not later. ”These are tough times for working Americans,” Obama told the union-dominated crowd at a rally that included a warm-up from Aretha Franklin. “The time for Washington games is over. The time for action is now.”

He said that our congressmen and women need to stop their bickering and actually pass a plan of action to help our great nation get out of our current economic rut.

Campaigning for the 2012 election is fully under way. The incumbent is making more appearances than usual, while the challengers are traveling through our nation trying to get a stranglehold on the republican bid for the presidency.

The right-wing tea party movement has already had it’s effect on many republican candidates. The real question though is this: Who is going to break away from the pack of Bachmann, Perry, Ron Paul, and possibly Sarah Palin to be the leading contender against Mitt Romney, who many consider the leading candidate for the GOP as of now.

“All the candidates are competing to oppose Mitt Romney,” said Darrell West, the vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “Essentially, we’re going to have a tea party primary with the winner earning the right to face off against Romney.”

Since Perry announced his campaign bid a few weeks ago, he has sky rocketed in the polls because of his traditional christian roots and beliefs. Some conservatives see him as the only real candidate that will be able to defeat President Barack Obama in the up coming election.

Perry does have his work cut out for him. First off, there is a money issue. Since Romney’s campaign was relatively successful in 2008, he already has a line of sponsors willing to give him money for this election. This is a huge disadvantage to Perry, because like we said, he is still getting his campaign off the ground as he just declared a few weeks ago.

Perry also use to be a Democrat, and supported Al Gore in the 2000 election against President Bush. This also leaves some conservatives skeptical.

“If Perry is able to clear the field without committing political suicide, Romney would be forced to take a more active approach and engage Perry in a one-on-one contest,” said GOP consultant Ford O’Connell, who worked for Sen. John McCain in the 2008 campaign. “Such a situation would not play into Romney’s strengths.”

While attempting to explain that China has a forthcoming entitlement crisis because of its enforcement of the rule of ‘One-child’ per family, he made, according to some, statements supporting the policy. According to the official transcript of the event, the Vice President’s words were: “Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family, the result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable.”

Apparently, Biden was trying to explain that the drastically falling rate of population growth will lead to problems in the coming years when fewer young people are trying to take care of many older people. Fewer people working will mean less money supporting retirees. However, in commenting that he was “not second-guessing” the country’s policy, he became the subject of criticism back in the United States.

His comments were quickly slammed by conservative groups and Republican presidential candidates alike. Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts and a leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, questioned how Biden could give a pass to China’s policy which he called “gruesome and barbaric”. Texas Governor Rick Perry, said in a statement, “Vice President Biden’s refusal to ‘second-guess’ this horrendous policy demonstrates great moral indifference on the part of the Obama administration,”

The Vice President’s office has released statements saying that Biden was attempting to bring to light the unintended reults of the country’s policy and not to give approval of it.

Most political analysts believe that the administration will attempt to keep the case out of the Supreme Court as long as they possibly can. It certainly seems plausible that the Obama Administration would like to avoid seeing the health care law argued in the Supreme Court until after the upcoming elections.

Analysts have said for many months that there is absolutely no doubt that the recently passed health care law will eventually reach the Supreme Court. The recent decision reached by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has certainly done a lot to spark the debate that seems to have lost steam after the bill was signed into law in March of 2010. Could this decision work to speed the case right to the Supreme Court?

As far as constitutional cases go, this is one for the history books. Now that a Court of Appeals has stricken down a Federal statute that was signed into law, it almost seems impossible for the Supreme Court not to get involved. So, what action will the White House take?

Most analysts believe that they will attempt to do all in their power to delay a Supreme Court decision. Perhaps they will ask the full appeals court to rehear the entire case. That could postpone a decision for several months. Then, the White House would probably take the maximum allowed amount of time to request consideration from the Supreme Court. Perhaps they will drag their feet enough to push the decision back pass to the upcoming elections. On the other hand, it may be interesting to see how a Supreme Court case concerning the health care law would play into the 2012 presidential race

The United States president is the most significant political figure in the world. Because of this, he is always receiving unprecedented amounts of media attention. This is perfect for campaigning, as he will have the loudest voice out of any of his competitors. It also gives him a chance to portray contemporary issues in America the way he wants to. An example of this is the economic diversity we have faced in his presidency.

Obama is currently on a bus tour traveling through 3 mid-western states. He took the Marine One helicopter from Washington D.C. to Maryland, then flew on Air Force One from Maryland to Minneapolis. At Minneapolis, he boarded his 1.1 Million dollar secret service bus and started traveling southbound toward Iowa.

Obama’s motorcade is blocks long, and is drumming up huge amounts of attention to small town communities. During this tour he has talked to citizens of our country about his revamped programs. He has explained how they are different from the previous policy’s and how they will be better.

Lately Obama’s public approval rating has been falling. Many experts believe he is trying to use this tour to help that weakening rate.

Here is a perfect example of how this trip has helped his approval rating: Jim Pape is a 78 year old retiree from small town Iowa. Obama’s motorcade stopped at the diner to eat their one morning. Obama and Pape exchanged greetings and made small talk. Afterwards, Pape had to say this about Obama, “I wish him well. He isn’t all bad, but I’d prefer a different president.” Although Pape may prefer a different president, I think we can all agree he would be more inclined to vote higher now on Obama’s approval rating since he has met him personally.