Allies?

Today the identity of the suicide bomber that attack an American CIA base in southern Afghanistan. He was identified as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi a Jordanian doctor and a long time informant for the United States. Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi is now considered to be a double agent, this is how he was able to gain access to the CIA base without being searched. The attack killed a total of eight CIA operatives, two were from the private military company Xe and one was a Jordanian Army Capt. Sharif Ali bin Zeid a member of the Jordanian Royal Family.

Its sad to see that the people we thought were our allies in the region are responsible for this horrible attack. Also just the huge loss that we received from this attack, its hard to train operatives that often take years to get ingrained into the region. I feel like there will be action taken to avenge the attack, I mean the CIA doesn't just let something like this go without retribution. I find it scare how the terrorist group are able to infiltrate and integrate themselves into our side just waiting for an opportunity to get us. When I step back and look at it some more hoe is that an educated man, a doctor can be part of terrorist plot. I really thought that someone in this man's position would not be such a fundamentalist. I do think that we'll be prepared for another event like this and something like this won't happen again.

Welfare

The number of people currently receiving welfare has dropped dramatically from past years. One of the reason for the successful drop in number is due to the restructuring of the welfare program itself. In 1996 the program was renamed TANF and placed restrictions on the program, the welfare system was no longer a just a check every month. Several restrictions were placed on welfare that made it successful, the recipient of welfare had to find work within two years and they were also limited to a total of five years of help in their life. This helped force the people on welfare to start looking for jobs and that following year the number amount of money given out dropped by 60%. They one side of this believes that this program is affective and serving its purpose. While the other side says that this program is still leaving some people out in the cold, arguing that poverty is still on the rise.







In my opinion a program like this is a very good thing its there for people when they need it, but it also encourages them to take care of themselves and to try and become self sufficient again. We're are not just handing out checks anymore we're making people do something to improve their lives. Some people argue that the jobs that these people can get are low paying and don't help them. Well I think that these people have to start somewhere those jobs are ways to gain work experience and career advancement. And what does just handing them a check every month really do to make a person able to provide for themselves??? IT DOESN'T! Everyone needs to work for everything they have and work their way up and TANF is away to help the people who slip, but can get back up. President Obama supports the idea of helping people when they slip but eventually having them stand on there own. http://www.ontheissues.org/Economic/Barack_Obama_Welfare_+_Poverty.htm















Two Other Issue Blogs:

http://gigaphone.blogspot.com/

http://oliviarice.blogspot.com/

Vaccine Recall

800,000 H1N1 vaccines are being recalled by the french company Sanofi Pasteur. The company is one of five major manufactures that supplies H1N1 vaccine to the United States. The reason for the recall is because the potency is about 12% less then what it should be. This vaccine in particular was meant for a specific age group in this case kids ages 6 months thru 35 months old. The vaccine wasn't called back because it wasn't safe and they say that if a child has had the shot not to worry. It was also stated that it does need to be more potent for it to work that this shot should still give the kids an immunity.

I really don't see this as a very big deal, the vaccine even though its less potent it will still get the job done. I can also see how a vaccine like this could have flaws in it. The pressure to get a H1N1 vaccine available to the public is immense, there is a huge scare that if you don't get a vaccine you're at risk of dying. When a company is placed on a time table for something like this they are pressured to produce a drug as fast as possible. So really the company did their job a because the vaccine serves the same purpose and works the same. The main thing that's most important is that this vaccine isn't a danger to the kids who have received the vaccine already. I also applaud the company for coming out and saying that the vaccine was under strength, this wasn't a demanded recall the CDC didn't say there was a problem with it. The company just wanted to put out the best product that they meant to make the first time they just didn't say that it was good enough.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/15/flu.vaccine.recall/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Strides in Healthcare

On Wednesday the after much debate there was a deal met by the liberal and moderate democrates on the public option portion of the healthcare bill. The White House was extremely pleased in the progress of the healthcare bill and the compromise met on the public option portion. Several senators from all over the United States participated in the debate and help come to an agreement on public option. The goal of the public option is to create competition for the current health maintenance organizations that run our healthcare system.

I like to hear that we are making progress on the healthcare bill and that its not being bogged down in senate committees. As the world superpower I feel that we should have a strong healthcare system that takes care of it's citizens. Don't get me wrong I love the capitalist drive that we have in this country, the ability to make profit. But I also feel strongly that we should not be trying to make huge profit off our nations sick and dying. We should not have to worry about paying bills if you get sick, if you're sick you get the help you deserve. The way we have it now private insurance companies charge what they want, limit the patients options, and deny them proper medical coverage. We need to figure out what is going to happen to change our system and this compromise is on the road of this countries healthcare reform.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/09/health.care/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Who's to Blame and What Now?

In a report released by the Democratic Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says that in 2001 that we should have caught Osama Bin Laden. The report says that Bin Laden was cornered in Tora Bora mountain region in Afghanistan. Its even reported that Bin Laden wrote his will during this time. The report goes on to state that the Bush administration messed up the whole situation and with held the troops needed to cut off osama's escape. The report also suggests that catching Bin Laden in 2001 would have prevented the problems we are having now in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I find this report quite interesting in the fact that all they are doing is pointing fingers. What good does it do to say that someone screwed up there's nothing that can be done to change what happened. I do believe that more troops were necessary in that situation and could have possibly lead to the capture of Bin Laden. But in reality its just speculation we can't know what would have happened. I personally would like to think that we would have caught him right there and saved yourselves alot of problems. We now need to focus on what we're going to do in the here and now to catch Bin Laden, I have no doubt that we can catch him and that we will. In the years since the attacks of 9/11 Osama has been hiding he hasn't been able t show his face anywhere and he is living in constant fear of capture. We need to say strong and keep the hunt going a report like this means nothing it's all just a bunch of could've would have should've. Let's live in the hear and now!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/29/bin.laden.2001/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Quality Care for Everyone???

With trillions of dollars flying out the doors of congress does the common citizens well being get paid for in that? The United States of America spends over 2 trillion dollars a year on healthcare but we still have over 47 million people with out any form of healthcare. The government has programs like Medicare and Medicaid to help the elderly and low income citizens. But even with these programs that 47 million people aren't getting healthcare. Something needs to be done to help secure every American medical care when they need it. Now there are several ways in which policy makers have purposed to make reform. Right now even those who receive care through medicare or medicaid are not receiving the best medical attention possible. Currently medicare pays doctor based on the number of patients they help and one side of the debate support this saying that they are helping more people. Those same people want the doctors and hospitals to provide the lowest cost care to patients to save money. But even though the doctor is helping a larger quantity are those patients receiving the best help. The new proposal pushes for doctors to get paid for the quality of healthcare they provide.

I strongly support the idea of doctors being paid by quality of work not quantity. Isn't that an American motto that our companies and manufactures produce good quality products that last forever. Why can't it be the same for American healthcare? We need to pass laws that require the system to give patients the healthcare they need. We as Americans should not have to receive cheap inefficient medical attention that doesn't help us when we're sick. The United States spends more on healthcare then any other nation in the world, so how is that we can't get proper coverage for everyone. The current system is mad the healthcare in this country run by corporations that are trying to make a profit These companies are looking to give the cheapest care to make a profit this doesn't transfer into the quality of the medical attention received. The opposition says that they are saving money by doing what they are doing, i think that that is false and that these corporations exploit the system to get money from the government that drive up costs of healthcare in general. They are several people who see this issue the same way I do and feel its time for Obama's favorite word, "CHANGE". One of these people who believe in this view is the famous film maker Michael Moore. Moore is a film maker who has done several documentaries on the subject of healthcare and sees it for what it is. You can visit his site and see for yourself. http://www.michaelmoore.com/

You can visit these blogs for more info on other topics:http://oliviarice.blogspot.com/

http://caitlin-canavati.blogspot.com/

Prostitution in Iraq (response blog)

The religious strife in Iraq and the economic turmoil in the country has now cause many of the women in Iraq to resort to prostitution. Thousands of women are now forced into prostitution because of the limited availability of jobs for these women. Most are widows or orphans of the war in Iraq and have no one to get support from. The women are exploited severely by their pimps and they have to find ways to make money making this the only choice.

Its so that women in Iraq are being forced to such horrible ways to make money. I feel really bad for theses women's situation and wish there was a easier way for them to find help. This really to me speaks out about the problems that are going on in Iraq right now. I wonder if U.S. involvement help cause some of these problems and if we can help make things better. I think we should have someway to help set in place a support system for these women. Also how is it that Iraqi men don't get in trouble for being involved in prostitution and the women go to jail. 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/02/iraq.prostitute/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Kate Gearman's blog has a similar view to my blog and i support many of the same views that she has. To see more on her opinion on this subject go to http://kategearman.blogspot.com/2009/11/war-forces-iraqi-mom-into-prostitution.html