According to Fox News, efforts to get Grayson to shut his lips on how the Republican health care reform was doomed to “die” were akin to those made by Democrats to get Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) to apologize for the “You lie!” incident we all know (and love) so well. But in Congressman Grayson’s case, as it was surely fact for Wilson, was he telling the truth with his shocking statement?

The Republican effort against Grayson’s statement proved futile, as the Democrat refused to apologize. (Shocking? Hah.) Instead, Grayson gave this apology, as reported by Fox: “I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America.”

Can anyone say, rather, shout MELODRAMATIC? I can, and technically, I think I just did.

I find this all to be extremely interesting. Why? Well, I’ve visited the Holocaust Museum in D.C., I’ve travelled to my local holocaust museum in St. Petersburg, Fla., and I’ve personally written at least ten reports on the horrifying event; however, I see absolutely zero evidence of this “holocaust” Grayson speaks of in the U.S.

So what, exactly, is this man talking about?

I’m sure you can all recall that lovely moment that played to American ignorance or stupidity — whichever shoe fits — on the VMA’s when English comedic idiot Russell Brand compared our health care system to his own back in merry old England. He noted that his version was better because at least in his country, people aren’t dying in the streets.

I wonder how much they paid this moron to fly over the pond and deliver not only a boring — clearly demonstrated in the silence of the audience for almost the entire duration of the show while he was speaking — performance as host, but spew idiotic information to our youth, who likely took it immediately as truth. Of course it has to be true. Russell Brand said it. Duh!

But I digress.

Have you recently witnessed any American citizen die in the street? If you have, please post a comment ASAP and I’ll respond with my personal contact information so we can get together on this.

Of course, I know I won’t be receiving any because this simply does not happen in the United States, even with our currently lacking health care system. That’s because people who need medical attention can go to the emergency room and be treated. Sure, they’ll receive a massive bill in the mail that they likely can’t afford, BUT, they don’t die in the streets.

So, Mr. Grayson, if you’d kindly get your facts straight before you go spouting any more stupidity, I’d greatly appreciate it. I might also mention that I’m ashamed to have you as a representative of my own home state, sunny Florida.

American holocaust? What a stupid laugh.

1) What If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

2) If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVD’s, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

3) If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

4) If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?

5) If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

6) If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?

7) If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to “Cinco de Cuatro” in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the Fifth of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had misspelled the word “advice,” would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potato as “proof” of what a dunce he is?

9) If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on “Earth Day,” would you have concluded he’s a hypocrite?

10) If George W. Bush’s administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually “get” what happened on 9/11?

11) If George W. Bush had been the first president to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he is inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

12) If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

13) If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

14) If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

15) If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

Now that that’s finished, if someone could please enlighten me on what it is about Obama that makes him so wonderful? And don’t worry, you have plenty of time to think on it. He’s accomplished all of the above in 10 weeks, so you’ll have a fat three years and nine-and-a-half months to get back with me.

Ever since the first grade, I’ve tried to think of ways to get out of going to school. I played every line in the book. It made me become a bit of a hypochondriac, which came in handy while living with my parents, but once I made it to college, I couldn’t fool myself.

No sickness could help me escape the fact that I couldn’t wait to get out of school. In middle school and high school I had a countdown taped to the inside of my locker that kept track of my closest break.

While college is much better, 17 straight years of education has proven to be incredibly draining. Yet, somehow, I find myself considering going to…graduate school.

(Oh, kill me.)

I’m not alone though. Tons of other college students are leaning toward getting their master’s for many reasons, but mainly to postpone entering our amazing economy.

Every college student that I’ve spoken with has at least considered it. I guess I had just missed the memo.

Brian Smith, a junior at the University of South Florida, started at USF this semester and is already planning for graduate school.

“I’m a music education major,” he said. “Really, there’s no chance that I’ll get that job right out college. So, I might as well do grad school, right?”

Maybe.

Well, the job market is especially promising for print journalism majors. I’ve heard about it from basically every teacher, guest speaker in class, and any other random person that knows my major. It really never gets old hearing that my future is going down the drain and that I should consider a backup plan. I’m not really a backup plan kind of girl but everyone’s making me think I should be.

So, I’ve begun to consider prolonging my educational career even though I’m not really interested. There are some good things that could come out of it, though. For one, it might give me more time to more experience to increase my marketability. Maybe I’d have more time to land an awesome internship. I might even learn something that would put me way ahead of my competition. Also, maybe by the time it took me to finish with my master’s, the economy will be back in good – or at least decent – shape.

I’ve heard it from so many people, “I don’t really know what I’ll end up doing but having my master’s will make it better.”

Well, yeah, but there’s arguments for not going to graduate school, too. One of those being the whole reason why our country can’t give us enough jobs in the first place: money.

As the country waits to see if President Obama’s stimulus plan actually works, we can’t predict what the economy will be like in December when I graduate, let alone in three or four years. Maybe it will be better but maybe it won’t be.

I’ll have been lucky enough to get my bachelor’s degree with less than $10,000 in loans. If I were to continue and get my master’s who knows how much in loans I’ll have to repay.

Depending on where I would choose to attend graduate school, it could cost anywhere between $12,000 and $20,000 in tuition alone.

For me, the whole money thing carries a lot of weight and counts as about three valid arguments. Then there is, of course, my love for sitting in classrooms all day.

For many, a bachelor’s degree alone will mean nothing in their chosen field. Junior psychology student at USF, Jennifer Geneus, wishes she had the choice.

“People in my field would laugh at me if I only had a bachelor’s degree,” she said.

While Geneus anticipates another five years or so of school, I can’t say that I’m swayed one way or the other.

For some people the answer is obvious and the reasons for or against are strong. Sure, it could put me at an advantage but at a high price. Maybe it’s worth it but maybe it’s not.

Sonia Sotomayor was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. Her father died when she was 8, leaving her mother to raise her. She graduated valedictorian in 1972 at Cardinal Spellman High School. She married Kevin Edward Noonan in 1976 and entered Yale Law School that same year. After graduating from Yale in 1979 with a J.D. she passed her bar exam the following year. Three years later, in 1983, Sotomayor and Noonan divorced. They had no children.

After being a lawyer for several years, Sotomayor was nominated on November 27, 1991 by President George H.W. Bush for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York after it was vacated by John M. Walker, Jr.

According to The White House’s Web site, “If confirmed for the Supreme Court, Judge Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years…”

Well, maybe you agree and maybe you don’t agree with The White House. The New York Times outlined some of Sotomayor’s “most notable court opinions.” She favors allowing lawsuits against companies performing state government functions like federal prisons. She believes that people who are medically considered disabled should be given extra accommodations. She found that the Second Amendment applies to only whatever the federal government decides.

As we know, she was nominated by President Obama to be the nation’s first Hispanic female Supreme Court justice. Because of this, everything she’s been doing is under scrutiny. She’s recently been in the news for…many things. The main issue that everyone has been discussing is her “racism.”

Self-proclaiming herself as a “wise Latina” has caused her to catch some serious slack. In 2001 at a speech in California Sotomayor said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Guess who’s getting mad about this? The white males are. I can’t say that this is racism. If anything, I would call sexist or maybe just confident. Undoubtedly there are issues you won’t agree with her on. Yet, the choice remains in the hands of the Supreme Court. As we await the decision, right and left-winged representatives continue to analyze her every move, both past and present.

Regardless, the nomination itself is a step in the right direction toward race equality in America.