Extra Credit

Mayor Steve Williams gives State of the City address at Town Hall

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams gave his first State of the City address Friday to the city of Huntington.

The speech lasted about 50 minutes, and included keynotes such as the city budget, a beautification plan, the art community bringing more business to the area and lowering crime rates.

Williams also announced that Chief Randy Ellis would be relieved of his duties as Fire Chief. Carl Eastham, retired firefighter will take over Ellis duties.

Williams seemed nervous and eager at the beginning of his speech. With a few stumble Williams veered off of his planned script and spoke frankly.

State Of The Union

State of the Union

In President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Obama returned to some unfinished business from his first term as president.
Standing before the world and a joint session of Congress, Obama delivered his fourth State of the Union address.
In an earlier column, I predicted that immigration would be a key point during this year's address.
I also predicted the president would speak on gun control, gay rights, equal pay for women, climate change and the economy.
While the president hit on all the topics I predicted, there were a few shockers that the president will have on his agenda.
The president announced that American forces will move into a supporting role and more troops will come home.
“Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan,” Obama said.
By far, the surprise topic of this year's address is the growing threat of cyber attacks. Not many if any had this predicted as key point in the president's speech.
The president has called on Congress to face the rapidly-growing threat from cyber attacks.
Obama said that our enemies are seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems.
“We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy,” Obama said.
During the 2012 presidential election, in response to former Massachusetts Gov. Romney’s statement of the U.S. having less naval ships, Obama said, “Well Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets.”
During Tuesday's address, Obama seemed to focus on bringing America's defenses into a 21st century standard.
I made the prediction Obama would address the topic of immigration reform. For the past few months, immigration reform has been a hot topic. For example, during this year's presidential campaigns, both nominees considered vital to go on Telemundo. Romney even had a fake tan to appeal to a more Hispanic demographic.
Obama laid out a specific plan for how he would deal with immigration reform. Obama said he plans to strengthen border patrol and create a more responsible way for immigrants to earn citizenship. The president catchphrase on this key point was simple but infectious.
“Let’s get it done,” Obama said multiple times, which drew one of the largest ovations of the speech, from both sides of Congress.
Yet the emotional climax of this year speech came during gun control with Obama saying yet another catch phrase, “They deserve a vote.”
Obama used the examples of Gabby Giffords, the families of Newton and the families of Aurora to personalize the issue.
Yet for me, the strongest voice of this speech was Haidya Pendleton. Pendleton was a 15-year-old girl who lost her life during the shooting less then a mile away from Obama’s house.
Even Obama struggled with the emotion during this portion of his speech. His eyes glazed over as he said, “Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed.”
During the loudest standing ovation among Democrats, Obama repeated they deserve a vote. However, they deserve a vote only means to give gun control legislation a chance and that may be all the president will be able to do.
One thing is clear, it will not be easy for those who oppose the president's legislation on gun control.
Right now, Obama has time on his side, but the longer it takes to pass legislation, the less support he is going to find among a bipartisan bill.
While I predicted Immigration reform would be a significant topic, I was also surprised to find that the president touched upon reducing our nuclear arsenal and cyber hacking.

State of The Union

In his first speech before a joint session of Congress since his reelection, President Barack Obama is expected to tackle several major issues, including making immigration reform one of his top priorities.

            It seems illegal immigration has hit its political breaking point in Washington, D.C.; Obama will be proposing changes to the current immigration policy.

            During the last election, Obama forged a bond with a growing Hispanic population and has pledged to help solve immigration problems resulting from undocumented immigrants.

            We can expect the President to propose legislation to make clear paths for citizenship and to crack down on companies that employ illegal immigrants.

            According to the official White House website, Obama’s immigration reform includes four main themes.

            “Responsibility by the federal government to secure our boarders, accountability for businesses that break the law by undermining American workers and exploiting undocumented workers, strengthening our economic competiveness by creating a legal immigration system that reflects our values and diverse needs and responsibility from people who are living in the United States illegally.”

            Obama did not wait to emphasize the importance of immigration reform. On Jan. 29, Obama spoke to the media in Las Vegas and gave his full support to comprehensive immigration reform.

            “Now is the time to fix the nation’s broken immigration system,” Obama said.

            The U.S. Senate proposed plan for immigration reform highlights similar ideas as the president’s.

            The Senate would like to pass legislation that includes clear paths to citizenship, border-state security, enforce fines to illegals and provide current illegal citizens a chance to apply for permanent residency.

            The New York Times reported the proposed principles of the Senate were consistent with those in Obama’s 29-page blue print for immigration reform, which he issued during May 2011, and made a significant platform during his re-election campaign.

            The last significant reform to immigration was passed into law more than two decades ago.

            The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was signed during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

            In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Arizona governor, now Homeland Secretary, Janet Napolitano wrote on immigration.

“For 20 years, our country has done basically nothing to enforce the 1986 legislation against either the employers who hired illegal immigrants or those who crossed our borders illegally to work for them,” Napolitano said.

            The Boston Globe published a recent editorial that said the time is ripe for comprehensive immigration reform.

The Globe said business leaders and farmers are unified in demanding a system that meets 21st century economic needs, which recognizes more than 12 million illegal immigrants who are already inside our borders.

            In a time when U.S. farmers struggle to find work because of the cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants, Obama will be faced to address the growing issue of immigration. 

            Obama may change how the system works to legalize immigrants, but he needs to take a look at a bigger problem. He needs to secure the border from those who illegally come to our country.

            I have no personal dislike of immigrants, and I’m the son of Cuban political refugees. My family understands the need of escaping a bad situation in a foreign country.

            I am proud to say that my family did it the correct way. Even though it was a struggle, they waited until it was legal for them to move to Miami.

            With immigration reform, we do not need to help those immigrants who tried to avoid becoming a U.S. citizen, but those who plan on seeking it.

            Obama will also be speaking on the topics of women’s rights, climate change, gay rights and the economy.

            Equality in the work place will be an area Obama will be looking to push as he has campaigned for equal rights for woman in the work force.

            One think is sure tomorrow's speech is going to set the tone for the Obama’s presidency.