Congress and Domestic Violence

I guess Congress has MANY issues to deal with including the funds for Domestic Violence. We're kind of stretching the budget by trying to keep the funds going for Domestic Violence Centers. But, according to the article these centers are essential and they must be kept. The resources for teens and any person of any age must be kept open to offer its sources. Unfortunately there might be mid-year budget cuts toward programs directed to people that sustained abuse and many people are afraid of what the consequences could be if we go back to the days without these centers. Much to their dismay more and more people are being sent to centers due to the economic crisis and a lot of the centers are having a really hard time keeping up with the demand. Many ccenters have already put a limit and some have even closed down because of insufficient funds. The legislation of Schock and Moore would increase the authorization level for shelters and programs from 175 million to 250 million. The Doomestic Violence hotline would also become more efficient and offer more tools by allowing text messaging and instant messaging. Congress seems to have its hands full at the moment and hopefully we have enough money to help these centers out. Only they know how far we are into debt. If the funds are not granted then who knows what could happen to all of the resources the victims of abuse may have.

Goodnight.

Sears Tower!

"The leader of a group which plotted to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago has been sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in prison."

Prosecutors finally sentenced the man who conspired to send material to Al-Qaeda and also bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago. Prosecutors fought for the maximum 70 year sentence but unfortunately only got the 13 and a half year sentence. He was caught on tape and video saying that he wanted to star a "full ground war" to "kill all of the devils". Even after saying that he still went on to say that he only said that to seize the 50,000$ that the undercover FBI agent offered him. He claimed that he normally wasn't a violent person and that he only wanted respect from his country. He also had the audacity to say that he had taken absolutely no steps to wage war. I don't even know how he would even think of saying that when the FBI and the court have video and audio of him saying that he wanted to kill all the devils. His lawyer also said that the authorities overreacted and that the men had no chance of completing their plan. The lawyer also said that there was no danger present in the United States and there was no intention for war. Sometimes i really wonder if lawyers have a soul. If there is a man who is caught with undeniable evidence, how can you even defend him? This case was a great step into stopping extremist activity and it was a great find and arrest.

Bill O'Reilly and Chris Matthews aren't they the same?

This is an interview which features Barrack Obama Bill O'Reilly. This interview concerned the war in Iraq and also questioning almost everything President Obama said. You can tell halfway into the interview his standpoint in politics. You can tell by the tone he uses, the way he addresses the issues, and the way he constantly interrupts President Obama in the middle of his responses. He acts in a way very childish because he doesn't let the person he is talking to finish his thoughts or his sentences. Conservatives definitely watch his show and his interviews because he IS a Conservative. Any person who lives in America and is a conservative would definitely love to see another person of the same party grill a Democrat, question after question after question and make them look like fools.





This is an interview of Chris Matthews' show segment called hardball. It showcases John Campbell a Republican Congressman and himself. The huge issue here was that most people in America were doubting that Barrack Obama is a legitimate Native born American. John Campbell had a proposal that he wanted to use to prove that Barrack Obama was a citizen. In the middle of the interview it begins to get really heated and i find myself very surprised at how the host of the show (Chris Matthews) reacts to the Congressman's answers. It just boggles my mind at how adults can act when they REALLY want to get their point across. So, Chris Matthews is a Liberal and you can tell by the way he cuts John Campbell off almost every single time he tries to talk, almost in the same manner as O'Reilly. Liberals definitely watch this show because he's a liberal as well. I also have a feeling that some conservatives might watch his shows but only for the purpose of useing his words against him later on, or to try to criticize him. Overall, i think that the only differences between Liberals and Conservatives is their issues and their labels. They both pretty act the same when they get very passionate about their topic. They cut eachother off and they try to get their point across by either being rude or being loud.
If you would watch the video you would probably understand what I mean.

Media Research Center VS. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

I just got done going through both of those websites and I've got to say in a way they both act the same. The MRC is definitely Conservative and FAIR is definitely Democratic. Both of them act in the same way as to bash and criticize the other party through articles and videos. Although that may be the case, the MRC showcases other conservative members in the media and shows support in whatever they may do. On the FAIR website they showcase Democrats and heavily criticize other conservatives. There is definitely a huge amount of bias in both websites, because they both try to make the other party look like the enemy, but they make their own look perfect. For example, in the FAIR website in an attempt to criticize Conservatives, they presented Dick Morris. Dick Morris made an appearance in the O'Reilly Factor and proclaimed that McCain's decision to suspend his campaign was a brilliant move and that soon it would pay off. His polls of course kept on dropping and two weeks later Dick Morris said that the decision to suspend his campaign was a mistake on his part. FAIR was of course trying to make Dick Morris look bad by showing everyone that he contradicted himself. There was also a montage on the MRC website that showcased many democrat clips and soon after employees from MRC would comment on them and make sarcastic jokes to make then look "dumb". For example when Katie Couric introduces Al Gore to her show, she called him the "King of Consevation". Soon after the employees from MRC make sarcastic jokes and try to make him look bad. Both websites seem to be either very liberal of very conservative and they both criticize each other and only cover news that will make them look better to the world.

Political Cartoons

Al gore, the candidate that ran against bush is featured in this political cartoon. The media in this cartoon is twisting the actions of Al Gore. This man asks him about the growth of polar bears and Gore tells him to shut up. They end up calling the article "Another inconvenient truth." They pester him with a huge amount of questions and the people in the pool which are citizens are tired of it and say to "turn off his microphone." At the same time Gore runs away. The media controls what the public sees the person as by turning every action they make into anything they want it to be.

This political cartoon also features Al Gore. It shows him lounging next to pool with his drink while his butler brings him the latest from overseas. Gore responds by telling him to go recharge a solar cell. This cartoon is trying to explain that Gore is either a procrastinator or doesn't care. The important issues he has to deal with are being ignored and he is taking his sweet time to deal with the problem.






President Obama wants to send every senior citizen a check for 250$ hooray! The mailman brings the check to the old lady and the little boy wonders where all the money is coming from. The mailman brings in another letter but its a bill for the little boy. The grandma is happy while the child isn't. The seniors of America are getting money and they're really happy because they get free money. Unfortunately the youth are being charged with paying the money that the senior citizens are receiving. Also there might be a message of the child being so young that little kids might have bills built up by the time they reach their adult age.


Around September there were talks about getting N. Korea to talk to the 5 countries which are S. Korea, Russia, US, Japan, and China to stop their nuclear testing of bombs overseas. This shows the leader of N. Korea (Kim Jong) talking over the phone agreeing to begin talking again. In the middle of the conversation he screams fire and goes back to agreeing with the person over the phone. That author is trying to explain that he will pretend to stop nuclear testing but he is not a good person to confide in because he is very unpredictable. He puts on an act of being peaceful but he still continues to test out his weapons behind their back.

"Iran police clash with protesters"

"Security forces have used batons and tear gas to disperse opposition supporters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, witnesses and state media say."

Some unconfirmed reports also state that the police opened fire. The riot consisted of groups of people who opposed the regime and thought that the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged. Riot police and Pro Militiamen packed the in the streets centre of the capital on Wednesday. They were there on the account of reformist leaders urging their supporters to attend peaceful rallies at the the former US embassy. Their arguement is that that they went with their usual peaceful slogans of supporting peace and asking for freedom. A lot of witnesses claim that they saw no agitation or any aggression in the group but they were still attacked violently. Tear gas was used to disperse the protesters quickly. Some arrests were made and at least 30 or more protesters have died since the election in June. It's pretty hard to take sides in this kind of situation because huge groups of people coordinated into one area and the tension between the police and the group can easily cause a spark of violence. It makes sense that the police would try to disperse the group with tear gas or other manners quickly but beating them with batons and allegedly firing at them is different. If this continues to happen then the eople arrested and death toll is definitely going to rise. Although the people from iran are fighting for a good cause, creating such a huge group in one area creates a lot of suspicion for the police which can result in these kind of actions.

"Afghan bombs kill eight US troops"

The month of October has been the deadliest of all months for the American Troops. On Monday 11 soldiers were among 14 Americans killed in multiple air crashes. In addition several service members have also been airlifted to many medical facilities. After this being labeled as the deadliest month in all 8 years of the war, many americans are wondering if the situation is deteriorating not improving. There were promises made by President Obama that troops were going to be taken out and now doubts are rising in numbers. He is under so much pressure to to send tens of thousands of troops but most likely citizens won't approve such a course because of October's events. f there are so many people dying then why are we still there?? It is really getting sickening and it's really annoying to keep finding all these death facts found on the internet about people dying. Raids, bombings, and ambushes. I'm just wondering will it ever stop? It is really time to just make an overall decision and come to a conclusion to get the troops out of there. There needs to be a lot less lying and talk and a lot more action because all of these false hopes that are being placed in our heads are not even being accomplished.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8328297.stm

" Karzai 'stripped of outright win"

Recently, there was an election in afghanistan and there has been enough evidence and suspicion to believe that there was shady activity going on. Up to 210 polling stations were deducted from his total score. Mr Karzai made no immediate response but later responded as to say that he won the election fair in square. EU observers stated however, that 1 in 4 votes cast were suspicious. The Afghan president then went on to say that a victory was robbed from him and that he is threatening to stop an attempt to hold a 2nd round. Acts like these justifies that it is very possible and simple to cheat or rig an election. This kind of thing makes me wonder if our government was chosen this way when it was George W. Bush running for president. There were many rumors about him rigging the election and i always had my doubts, but now that this man had completed his plan and got caught it could be a very real possibility. I wondered why a man who drove us to debt would be re elected by the citizens of America. There could have possibly been corruption just like in this election in Afghanistan.

"Energy-from-waste powers US army"

"A system that generates energy from rubbish is being sent by defence firm Qinetiq to the US army."

A new machine has been invented that will be sent over to the US army and it will be placed in one of the 55 operating forward operating bases. There's no legitimate way to get rid of waste over in Afghanistan so they created this. It will help whoever occupies those bases to get rid of unecessary wastes, reduce the use of fossil fuels, and reducing the number of body bags. I guess this machine was made as a way to comfort the US troops for getting shot at everyday. It will help them to get rid of their waste ad will use a lot less energy than they normally would. It'll help with the fossil fuels and all the contaminants that are released into the air. At least there's a little help for the poor environment that we destroy everyday. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be too expensive to remake because there are a lot more US bases that would appreciate the help.

Good Fight and Goodnight!

"Disaffected"

I took the survey that Ms. Morales put up and i turn out to not be liberal or conservative, instead i got the title of disaffected. A disaffected is someone who is currently unhappy with his/her current economic situation and the overall state of the union. The group is deeply concerned with the environmental and immigration policies. They don't really keep up with the news or politics and only about 9% participated in the last election. The group is also often under constant financial pressure. The survey described my current situation accurately because I feel like my family is under financial pressure. I usually don't keep up with the politics and the current news. I also am unhappy with the overall state of the union. The Governor is cutting back on many things including park times and park hours. We are getting less money for education which means less books, less materials, and also less money to be able to hire teachers. I guess i can understand why he's doing it but there are always other options that can be open to making more money considering everyone says that the young are the future. Overall, the survey was great and it shows my personal standpoint at the moment.

"Big week for Obama at UN"

Obama's venture into the annual meet-and-greet fest known as the UN General Assembly this week is going to be a tough situation considering all of he subjects ad issues he address. This speech will test the high expectations he has set internationally and will set the tone for his next years in service. In Iran president Obama has to deal with the problem of the country and its over enrichment in uranium which is used to make nuclear bombs. Obama is trying to partner up with russia and china to try and convince them to stop their enrichment. Iranian president claims there are no plans to stop because there is nothing o fear about them making nuclear bombs. He will talk about the climate change bill to come to an agreement with China's representatives to cut down on pollution considering the two biggest polluters to the earth are the Unites States and China. The issue with Russia about defence systems and the US will try to come to an agreement with Russia over that issue. Nuclear disarmament will be spoken of and President Obama is going to try and negotiate a ban on testing warheads and also wanting way ferwer nuclear warheads for the safety of everyone. The US needs to begin directs talks with the Middle-east and it will be a breakthrough for the US if they can achieve this task. Another major issue is the stimulus package and if they need to keep providing them to help civilians out of the recession or if they can ease off given that growth is coming back to some economies.
Hopefully everything goes well for Mr. Obama. It seems like a solid plan that can work out if everything goes as planned. Only time will tell.

"Obama shelves Europe missile plan"

There have been concerns and some tension that has surfaced between Europe and Iran. Enough attention has been drawn to the situation that president Obama wants to take action to protect the US.'s allies. Mr. Obama said that what he was planning on doing is to build aerial and sea-based interceptors to protect Europe from short and medium ranged missiles from Iran. Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev said that it was a very responsible move on part of the US. President. Obama stated in a live TV address he wanted to create a defence system that wasn't a threat to anyone, he just wanted to protect protect his allies from any kind of missile attack, more specifically the missiles from Iran. An iranian Government official stated that the missiles are only being used for scientific purposes, there was no intention of any harm to anyone and that there was no warfare involved. Unfortunately Obama ended up scrapping his idea because it would cost-effective and it would help out the economy in any way. I thought it might have been a good move by the President to be supportive toward the countries allies. He could have showed his interest to protect his allies but he also has other problems to deal with other than protecting other people. A defence system was to be created by the end 2012 but it just isn't the right time to create such a big project when the US.'s economy is down the drain.

"US ready for North Korea direct talks"

-Tested 2 Nuclear weapons in 2003 after they withdrew from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty
-Six party system: N.Korea, S. korea, russia, US, japan, china
-Talks to disarm have stalled.
-North korea tests nuclear weapons
-US wants to hold direct talks with North Korea
-Stopping nuclear testing and getting rid of them.

In 2003 North Korea withdrew from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which served to stop all countries that would sign the treaty to get rid of all nuclear weapons. Instead, they continued to test all of their nuclear weapons. The US, Russia, China, S. Korea, N. Korea then began to negotiate to stop N. Korea from developing their weapons,however talks have stalled and north korea is in no mood to negotiate. In order to persuade N. Korea to stop building and testing their weapons the US wants to have direct talks with the Six Party System. They want North Korea to come back and keep communications with the six countries that were originally together.

Judging from the facts presented from the article I dont think that this is going to work at the moment. North Korea seems like its under unstable leadership because the leader makes rash assumptions, unclear decisions, and seems to be clouded by the violent historical relationship between North and South Korea. North Korea believes that the South and its ally the US are creating military threat and therefore are "arming and protecting" themselves. I see that the US talking to North Korea will not solve anything because in the Norths' point of view the US is the enemy. I see no point in arming yourself to the extent of testing nuclear weapons overseas and simply claiming that your "protecting" yourself. North Korea is a ticking timebomb and it is very concerning for them to think the US is the enemy and to be testing nuclear weapons. This is a very delicate situation because the US is at war, in huge debt, and it can't afford to go into another war. It would be a complete disaster if they decide to use those weapons because they are holding a grudge from historical events that happened hundreds of years ago. There is no evidence the the South and the US are threatening them but for now all we can do is wait and see if they accept the direct talk with all 6 countries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8251950.stm

"Could George W. Bush end up behind bars?"

The Obama Administration is finally taking its first steps that could lead to For president George W. Bush's arrest. CIA Agent Peter Brookes says that this situation could go to a very high level in the government. This case will mostly focus on whether the CIA exceeded their instructions and broke the law. This includes threatening with a gun or any type of weapon. This case will of course take a very long time and people are definitely going to be nervous in the white house during the investigation if they're guilty. Hopefully this does turn out to be true and the Bush administration is guilty for doing this because from all of the pictures and all of the evidence, it seems as if they were breaking the law. The pictures of waterboarding and making the prisoners endure humiliating positions and threatening them with dogs seems like breaking the law to me. If Bush ends up going to jail of course people are going to be angry for that happening, but it will probably be the right thing to do considering the people's lives that he knew were being destroyed.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/04/mann.george.w.bush/index.html

"Obama not pushing to pass immigration reform this year"

The other big story besides the huge recession is Immigration. Obama is set to release and immigration reform, unfortunately he is not pushing towards passing it this year. He says he has a lot on his plate this year and he doesn't think that he will be able to deal with this issue just yet. President Obama says that the Immigration system is broken but the economy comes first. If the president can complete what he needs to by early May, he will start the reform and he will remove incentives to enter the US legally, more border patrols and work with Mexico to slow the immigration rate. Some congressman believe that the problem can be solved now even in these hard political times, but the word overall is that the reform will start next May. The reform can either be a great success or a great failure in my opinion. It can be successful in the way that it can actually slow down the immigration rate. Or it can be a great failure in the way that it can spark anger and controversy over if it's the right decision.

Is this reform a good idea or just a bad idea all together?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/09/obama.immigration/index.html#cnnSTCText

"Questions of torture, abuse rooted in Bush-era decisions"

So it appears as if United States isn't as holy as it is put out to be. There has been a debate going on recently about the tactics of CIA interrogation. After the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, the Bush Administration created the legal basis for aggressive interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists. The techniques included waterboarding, slapping, sleep deprivation, and enclosing prisoners in confined spaces with insects. The techniques were detailed in legal memos one from 2002 and three from 2003. They were recently released in April but the Obama Administration. They also claimed that the techniques they were using were legal and constitutional. President Obama has issued a ban in this kind of interrogation and has ordered that the US Army field manual be used as a guide for CIA interrogations. In the photos in this article, there were Iraqi prisoners that were naked and made to stand in humiliating positions. There was even a picture of a prisoner tied up with wires hooked onto his fingers. Unfortunately this kind of treatment to another human being is what we have to live with in modern day America. I just feel sick and disappointed that the Bush Administration allowed this as a means of interrogation. I can't imagine the feeling of terror and hopelessness that was going through the minds of these prisoners.

What do you think about the choice by the Bush Admin to allow this kind of torture? Good decision or not?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/19/detainee.abuse.overview/index.html

"Lack of Medicare Appointee Puzzles Congress"

Yes.. another Obama post. This article focuses on Medicare and how it has been named the the "greatest threat" because of its cost. Congress has become confused because President Obama hasn't appointed anyone to run the agency to run the two giant programs. The agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are the largest buyers for health care in the United States. As the president of the Mayo Clinic says "the vacancy stands out like a sore thumb." Congress believes that under a strong administration "it could take the lead in making major changes in the health care delivery system, so we’d get better outcomes and better service at lower cost." President Obama has made a lot of decisions in his 7 months of presidency, but should focusing a lot of his time on Medicare really help out the economy the most? Is medicare the most important out of all the problems? The article clearly states that starting this medicare program without a leader in charge of it, is like leading a war without a general. It is essential to have a leader in every program or else it will not flourish. They say they are trying their best to find the best fitting candidate but they are not doing it with enough precision. They can't really wait for people to come to them, they need to look for the people as well. Unfortunately the number of executives looking for this position go away as fast as they appear.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/policy/18health.html?ref=politics

"Obama's Team Is Lacking Most of Its Top Players"

So, i just read an article in which it explains that Obama's team isn't as strong as its supposed to be. He does not have the right people enacting programs that are essential to his mission. He's trying to fix the financial markets but he does an assistant treasury secretary for the markets. He is spending tons of money of transportation but he doesn't have an inspector general to watch how he is spending the money. He is even fighting two wars and he doesn't have an Army secretary. No one is running the Agency for International Development since Hillary Clinton was sent to Africa to talk about international development. No offence to the decision to send her away but, aren't the people of the United States living on the streets and families losing their houses to foreclosure? People are not being able to make rent or just barely being able to pay it every month. Shouldn't we focus more on bettering ourselves and then worry about other people internationally? I mean there are early appointees that are 7 MONTHS into the new presidency and they are already leaving their positions. This is really disappointing considering the fact that he is supposed to save us from this recession, but maybe we are just asking too much from one person.

Any Obama fanatic have a comment on how he is working things out? Is he doing what you thought he would do? Or is he doing the opposite.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/us/politics/24confirm.html?_r=1&hp

Obama Administration creates new Interrogation Unit

President Obama created a new unit of specialized individuals to deal with interrogation and to focus on key terror suspects. The group will be called High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group The CIA has been part of the interrogation area for a long time and there have been accusations of terrorist abuse. The question that I have is, is it fair to create another group that is under white house supervision while the CIA is still up and running? I mean wouldn't it cause tension in creating 2 groups that work in the same field? There reason i'm saying this is because it has always been human nature to want to compete with others, and there will probably be competition here. The Obama administration also banned the Bush's administration harsh treatments for interrogating terrorists, such as waterboarding (a form of torture in where the person is immobilized with his head inclined downwards while water is being poured on their face making them believe they are drowning). The group will be created on the same day the Justice Department is set to release a report on the alleged prisoner abuse.

Final question: So is the CIA good or bad? They're interrogating suspected terrorists but the prisoners are being abused. Should we trust the CIA is doing more good than bad?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/24/obama-administration-sets-new-interrogation-unit/