Drug Cartels Next Door

I personally agree with my colegue Amy's thought on the drug cartels in Mexico. Mexico is right next door to two of our most populated states (california and texas). Mexican drug cartels and there under ground economy of drug smuggling, kidnapping, and murder have reacked havoc on the lives of some americans. This is caused by americans addiction to drugs like herion, cocain and even some presription drugs. Accoring to Amy's information more than 300 tons of cocain entered the US in 2010 and more than 34000 people died in drug related crimes. many of then homicides. The US has only takin a parcial inititive in combating smuggling by giving central american mlitary money to purchase american products like survailance software, aircraft tools and other tools used by police and the state. but sadly these efforts havent amounted to much.

Even the President of Mexico stated that the best way to curve the war on drugs is to reduce americans dependence on hard drugs. America has over a million people depended on imported drugs. There might be progress if america legalized drugs. Then maybe the Mexican economy that is fueled by the sale of drugs suffered.

Obama and the Media

When President Obama was elected I was very pleased with our countries decision. I was not old enough to vote at the time because my birthday was two weeks after Election Day but I fallowed Obama before he even announced he would run. I made a research presentation on a possible candidate and I choose Obama because he looked interesting. After reading about him I began to follow the election more closely. Obama even came to my hometown of Corpus Christi but I was in Austin at the time visiting ACC. But when I walked to my hotel I heard Obama talking near the capital. I listened to the whole speech and felt honored to hear the future president speak.

I can honestly say I have the utmost respect for our President but lately I feel as though the public has been left in the dark by our government and the president should be more open with what our government is doing to help solve our nations many problems.

The media isn’t kind to Obama and I’m sure every time he makes time for a press conference he is weary of how it will turn out for his image and his reelection capabilities but I personally feel that if he doesn’t start including the American public in what is happening with the middle east, the economy and other US interests then he won’t get the chance to be president for another four years.

I think Obama is a really smart guy but he made a really big mistake by keeping a lot of people that worked for the Bush administration. I believe that if Obama was more open in talking to younger people he would once again be able to run our country

Blog stage six comentarry

This is a very well thought out blog post. It shows how many of the faults and problems faced by the American government and our nation’s economy as a whole. It clearly shows how our government’s bipartisan system is flawed by competing agendas and competing ideologies. I think one of the main points missed though is how our nation’s economy is pressured and pressures other economies especially in the Middle East. If America’s economy wasn’t as "global" prices for foreign goods wouldn’t be fluctuating as much when a conflict arises.

I really felt informed when they commented on the budget and how it affects our countries wealth so directly.

link to Caught in the Middle blog   http://1370358.blogspot.com/ 

Federal Government Shutdown?

A week after March 31^st the federal government might partially shut down due to congress not being able to reach an agreement for a budget deal. Many federal employees are left with many questions on whether they will be needed in a week or not. Some employees on business trips also do not know if they will be able to get a flight home from out of the country if they are not essential to operations. This is extremely irresponsible of the executive branch of our federal government. If the federal government hasn’t planned for a reduction in employees due to lack of funding, what other problem’ could this lead to?

With the unrest in the Middle East and the start of a new military conflict in Libya the American people feel that every person necessary should still be employed so that problems are solved effectively and on schedule. The truth is that right and left wing politicians would rather argue for the sake of gaining party strength than working together for a common goal. American tax dollars a wasted senselessly on meetings of congress that a largely unresolved. In all honesty I am sick of our government wasting time and capital on ideological bickering. There is a way for people of all backgrounds and agendas to work in the same government and achieve common goals that would benefit American citizens in all socioeconomic classes.

If the government cannot reach an agreement serious measure need to be taken to insure that our government remains stable and reliable. It is a real shame Obama does not take a firmer grasp on the government he leads. After all he is the president and he does in fact have the power to make plans and decisions.

SIX-FIGURE BUS DRIVERS AND OTHER WORKING-CLASS HEROES

The editorial I am covering is by Ann Coulter and is about the problems in Wisconsin with collective bargaining and union job salaries.

Ann Coulter’s view point is very conservative and is intended to be read by a republican affiliated audience. But anyone who is interested in political news can benefit from reading Ann Coulter’s opinion.

In the article concerns salaries that are allowed through union bargaining and how much af the bargaining was done on a one sided basis. Basically there is a large majority of civil service employees who have higher than normal salaries and that a bus driver was granted overtime pay totaling over $100,000.

Ann Coulter feels that the Politian’s are right for opposing collective bargaining in Wisconsin if it leads to over wasting money on jobs that should not be overpaid. She says that Liberal media distort the issue by appealing to the heart string of America: “These are the people who educate our children, run into burning buildings and take dangerous criminals off our streets!” She comments: “Politicians who do not immediately acquiesce to insane union demands are invariably accused of hating teachers, nurses or cops.” Mean while American states are going bankrupt because of a recessing economy and state budgets out of control. When one of the county’s chairmen was asked about the bus drivers salary he simply said, “That’s the contract”. I think we can agree that any bus driver who has a six figure salary is completely replaceable by 2 that will do the same job for 50,000 each. And that is being overly generous.

http://www.anncoulter.com/

Why was President Obama last to speak up on Libya?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/23/AR2011022305993.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

This article concerns President Obama’s stance (or lack of one) on the violence in Libya. The author of this article is obviously conservative and not an Obama supporter. Or maybe he is an Obama supporter and is just upset about the lack of information the Obama administration is releasing to the press on the situation. Basically the author of this editorial names administrations from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and says all condemn the violence in Libya that has been brought on by President Gudhafi. The Editorial clearly asks the question, “Why hasn’t Obama opposed the violence brought on by such a tyrant?”

In an attempted uprising protestors have been gunned down by security forces in Libya under the control of Gudhafi. That is a fact. But what isn’t a fact is if Obama didn’t wasn’t the first to start coordinating international plans to stop the violence in Libya.

The author’s credibility is completely overtaken by the video in the upper right hand corner of the editorial.  Obama and Clinton clearly say that they have been working on plans to stop the violence if the violence does not stop. They say that the state department and other international administrations are doing everything they can to get Americans out of Libya and to communicate with Gudhafi. They also clearly say that a wide range of plans are ready to be carried out if necessary. And most will be coordinated with other nations around the world. The article cuts words out of its quotations and makes Obama out to be very passive on the situation in Libya, but this is not at all the case. In the press conference Obama says he and the rest of the world view the violence as appalling and says he will do everything in his power to insure the people of Libya are not deprived of their universal rights as human beings.

 If I were to write an editorial on the matter I would mainly focus on the exact details on the situation at hand and the president’s take on it. Obama clearly was very knowledgeable of the problems in Libya from the video and said necessary actions will be taken. But still the U.S. cannot just lead a full on attack when protestors are violently killed. The U.S. cannot violate international agreements and the President must do what is best for Americans first and for most. And that sometimes means being level headed and not diving in unreadily into foreign problems.    

U.S. Unemployment: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12364507

According to BBC News, the U.S. Department of Labor stated that unemployment fell from 9.4% in January to 9.0% in February. But this is still not as good as prospected. Many economists in the U.S. Department of Labor thought that the number of jobs created would be closer to 140,000 than the real total of 36,000. Many believe that this was due to the many blizzards that occurred in January, keeping many workers at home. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the number of unemployed fell by 600,000. So we might consider this a really good thing. But is it just a hoax? It is. . . When economics are concerned the U.S. classifies workers into categories. These include employed, unemployed, discouraged job seekers, and other. Many of the 600,000 people who are no longer unemployed have been placed in the category of discouraged job seekers. They are still unemployed.

The numbers of private, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors also are not as good as projected but the U.S. economy is still making progress every month. Manufacturing jobs rose by 49,000, Retail by 28,000 and healthcare by 11,000. What is very strange is that much of the data is coming from two different sources. One from households, and two from employers.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12364507