"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/