Abortion Is Wrong!!!

Abortion is a sensitive topic in America.  There is a division between people who are for it and against it, and each side has their argument why they believe the way they do.  I agree with this editor for the article that abortion is wrong in many ways, but I respectfully disagree with many of his reasoning to get rid of abortions.  In politics you cannot solely base your decision on the mean of religion.   If that were the case then so many laws that the United States has would be wrong.  Also this country is built on and people of many cultures and religions so saying that the Bible or Ten Commandments forbids getting a abortion would be forcing others to meet your views and follow your religion when the rights of all Americans is freedom of religion.   On the part that the author talks about the moment a sperm and egg join a life has started is false in scientific terms.  Something cannot be living unless there is brain activity.  The government has also stated that adults that have no more brain activity while being hospitalized due to medical reasons are said to be deceased.  So if this were true to adults we can say the same for a embryo that has not yet hit its fourth week since that is when actual brain activity starts.  So in my thinking abortion should be allowed if it were to be before the fourth week of pregnancy, and that should give time for a decision to be made if abortion should be taken or not.  Also I feel that we should not punish a person to take on the responsibility of being a parent if some case of rape happens.  In this case the person should be allowed to get an abortion so they will not be punished with a burden for crimes they did not commit.  

Obama to Address Muslim Relations in Egypt Speech!

          September 11, 2001, the day known to all American as 9/11 was the day that Al-Qaeda put a plane through the twin towers.  As a result to this tragic event the Bush Administration went into Afghanistan to bring down this terrorist organization and leading up to the self proclaimed War on Terror.  This was one of the many leading factor that brought about bad relations between the America and the Muslim Community.  Just as the Twin Towers had collapsed on the day of 9/11, the relations have crumbled with the Muslim Community.  After all the warfare that has been going on, I believe that the American government needs to work to reevaluate this relationship and fix it so that we can once again work peacefully with the Middle East nations. 

          White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced Friday that President Obama will deliver a Speech on June 4.  This speech will be given in Egypt, and will state America’s relationship with the Muslim World.  Egypt is "a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world," Gibbs said.  The speech was originally supposed to be recited in Turkey which is more of a secular state with the President telling Turkish legislature the "United States is not and will never be at war with Islam."

          I believe that the change to Egypt was a good decision since it is a country where the Muslim people rule and is a good representation.  This will allow that the President to show by his action of coming to Egypt that America wants to work hand in hand to fix this hostile relation.  This will also give a chance for the President to talk to the Egyptian president to making his nation more democratic. 

          I think as the President gives his speech he needs to choose his word carefully so that things do not get worse.  Also when talking about the relationship with the Muslim world if he chooses to talk about Egypt becoming more democratic he needs to make sure that we do not force it on the nation and make it their decision.  This is because we have already tried force else where and that has not worked out at all.  This change in relation for the good will not only having the interest of Americans and its economy, but also having the interest of those nations and the world to better the economy and life of humanity as a whole. 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/08/obama.egypt/index.html?iref=nextin 

I Agree!!!!

The Democratic Party of New York really needs to get there act straightened out with how they are spending tax payers money and putting it back into the system.  Even though there is money going into good cause such as the seizing of drug use as well as helping the poor and seniors of the community; money is being used unnecessarily into the Empire Zone Program and useless clubs of people that don’t need the money.  Also giving money to party helpers which I think is ridiculous and is playing the government.  I agree with the author and his reason to go against the Democratic terms of thinking.  They think that these plans of there will help the economy of New York but it is just giving them more of a state deficit.  This will not help at all in the long term especially with the national economy down.  Caring about the party and there helpers is not the role of government.  This is just a road down to corruption and waste of taxpayer’s money which they work hard to earn.  If the Democratic Party does not straighten out how they use the government budget then taxpayers will start asking where their money is going.  

Restrictions!!!

In 1960 Fidel Castro came into power for the Cuban government, and since that day relationships with Cuba and the United States has been on thin lines.  Travel and trade restrictions were put on forbidding and Cuban exports to be let into America and no American could go to Cuba.  President Obama has announced a policy to loosen the travel restrictions to Cuba. 

I feel that we should adapt to the new policy by President Obama to loosen restrictions for Cuban-American’s to travel to Cuba to visit family.  Many people will argue that this is not a good idea, but the opening will not only be good by letting the people go back to see there families but will also help create other policies to work with Cuba in the long run in economical terms and many others.  With the opening the feeling of Cuban-American’s in this country will be better towards America. 

This policy will also allow people to send money to there families in Cuba to help support them and make them less depended on the Castro regime.  This was not possible in the earlier days with the policy stating that no American money could be put into Cuban economy to help it in anyways.  This would include people from even paying for hotel rooms while in Cuba before.  Even with the money flow being allowed there has still not been any official word on the stance about being able to bring Cuban products into America. 

Ninoska Pérez Castellón is one man that believes this act should not occur since we are not expecting anything in return from Cuba and says that Cuba should change first before any action from America is taken.  This is and understandable but for over 40 years we have waited for this to happen and nothing has changed.  The only thing now is that we put the first hand out for friendship with Cuba and expect a friendly hand back from Cuba.  If this is to succeed, the trade restrictions can be pulled and Cuban products can be brought into this country and help bring the economy up since a lot of these products are valued by Americans such as the Cuban Cigar.  This is also a good way for America to rework its foreign policy with countries of hostility and get allies since this is one area that has been weak during the Bush Administration and will just become worse if proper action is not taken. 

Only time can tell what good will come out with this action from President Obama and his Administrations.  With things at its steady hopefully good can come from it and new policies will not only be made with Cuba but also other Latin nations to make a friendly alliance. 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/world/americas/05cuba.html?ref=politics

http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/cuba/a/CubaRestriction.htm

Obama and Marijuana

http://www.americablog.com/2009/03/obama-and-marijuana.html

An online campaign was organized to ask President Obama about legalizing marijuana on the WH Web Site.  This commentary shows the top questions that were asked to the President about pot.   Majority of the questions asked in this campaign were about how the legalization of pot will help the economy and make millions of tax money.  No question was really based on a medical point of view or really worth the effort to answer.  Questions were based on how marijuana is less harmful then cigarettes and alcohol so why not legalize it.  The President in return to the questions just laughed and said no.  This had upset many people but as the author wrote it is not the Presidents fault since the campaign was a flop to start with.  No President in his right mind would think about legalizing pot fully.  If questions and concerns in the medical field for marijuana were brought up maybe this could have led to something, but making pot legal 100% is political suicide for anyone.  The author’s intended audience is the people who are upset with Obama for rejecting the legalization of marijuana.  I agree with him that it should not be the President at fault but the campaign that was not well organized with the right questions to ask.  It is good to think about the economy at this certain point, but thinking of only the economy is not enough.  People need to think about the other consequences that can occur with legalizing marijuana and not only about making a few bucks right now.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/03/obama-and-marijuana.html 

President Obama’s Budget: Some Honesty About Taxes — Finally

The intended audience of the author in this editorial is the general U.S. public.  His argument is based on the article from TIMES TOPICS: U.S. Federal Budget.  I feel it is more toward the middle class more then other social classes in the public.   The author talks about the government finally being truthful about how tax is going to work.  After George W. Bush’s reckless economic policy which but the government in a $1.75 trillion budget deficit, Barrack Obama’s budget plan intends to increase taxes and blindly admits that taxes must go up for the economy to recover.  The author states that if actions are not taken to control the deficit then the foreign lenders who have been financing government plans like the bailout will loose faith in the nation to repay them with the rapidly depreciating dollar.  As the author believes as well as I, that President Obama is not just talking the talk with his well planned blueprint with what actions to take to get out of this recession.  The proposed tax increase includes couples with an annual earning of $250,000 or more and singles with $200,000 or more.  Obama will let Bush’s high-end tax cuts expire in 2011 and raise it from 35% to as high as 39.6.   The author feels like this is the right move because with no tax money coming in to spend government will just put us into a higher budget deficit and he strongly believes a fiscal policy will help and believes only people who understand fiscal policy will fully agree with the tax raise.  I strongly agree with the step to increase taxes since without the public contributing we can not expect the government to get money.  The only step they would have left is to borrow from other countries which would just give us a higher national debt then we already have. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27fri1.html?scp=6&sq=editorial&st=cse

Deal Reached in Congress on $789 Billion Stimulus Plan

This article talks about the $789 billion economic stimulus bill that is being negotiated by House and Senate leaders.  The bill which declares spending increase and tax relief which will put money back into consumers and companies pockets was smaller then the House or Senate had proposed but compromises were made with Democratic and Republican parties.  The final outline of the bill includes $507 billion in spending programs and $282 billion in tax relief.  The tax cut includes $400 for individuals and $800 for family with certain income limits.  $150 billion will go to public works projects for transportation, energy and technology.  Also to help the rising Medicaid costs $87 billion was put aside.  I believe you should read this article because it is informing us on what is our government doing during the economic crisis. It will also provide information on how our government will use this money to recover us from the economic turndown which we are facing.  Also it tells how the final deal was made and how many officials still believe why the bill should be changed or why more money should go to certain parts of the economy. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/us/politics/12stimulus.html?_r=1&ref=politics&pagewanted=print