Burma

Burma has recently been hit by a cyclone. The country already needed help. Burma is ruled by a military Hunta. There were about 53 million desperately poor before the cyclone and now everyone needs help. Bush pledged a $3.25 million emergency aid to help. Burma is ruled by strong military force of 450,000. The cyclone miss the capital Rangoon. People think that there will be more unrest in Burma. The country really needs help.

Top 100

The most influential person in the world would have to be a religious leader because a religious leader can effect the hole group of people that fellow him or her. That’s why in the time 100 most influential people in the world the number one pick would be the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the leader of the Buddhist religion. Which has a lot of support in south central Asia. With the big following he has the ability to make change. Since he is a peaceful man he is liked all over the world that why when China started to persecute him the world started to protest against China. There was Protest all over, from France to San Diego. People even messed with the Olympic torch carrying around the world. Now the Dalai Lama did not say go protest. He likes the Chinese he just dose not like what they do. But to have people all around the world protest because you and your followers were being persecuted is huge and Influential.

Rules

The article entitled “Rules of Disengagement” is a difficult one to understand. I think the article is saying that money which is currently put away to help in the future as a pension fund may change how this money is invested. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut plans to introduce legislation to give all Thrift Savings Plan participants more of a say in how their money is invested. Those involved would be able to disinvest in companies that currently do business with terrorists. Countries that are currently labeled as sponsors of terrorism are: Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan. All three presidential candidates have endorsed a terror-free concept for pension plans.

Ready

Even though I want our troops in Iraq home as soon as possible I believe (just like the author of the article) “When Will They Be Ready?” that it will be years before Iraq can have full control by themselves of their country. Currently only two-thirds of Iraqi troops actually show up for their military duty. Iraq also has a shortage of officers and they have to rely mainly on coalition forces for support. Here recently the Iraqi military had to call for help during an offensive in Basra against Shiite militias loyal to the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Both the British and the American forces came to Iraq’s aid at this time. Iraqi forces are often incompetent and have poor discipline. I can’t even imagine what will happen when we totally pull out of Iraq and we leave this Iraqi military in charge. It sounds like they will be overrun and any progress that has been made will be undone.

Money

Show Us Our Money” proposes that employers show all their employees the salaries of all the workers. The reason this whole topic came about is because a lady named Lilly Ledbetter sued the company she worked for after learning (twenty years later) that she had been making less money than a man. Lilly was doing the very same job a man would do but still make less money. In 1998 after learning the exact salaries of her co-workers Lilly took her case all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed with her but did not give her any reward. Since the end of that court case Lilly has been campaigning for the knowledge of workers’ salaries to be made-known. Currently women make 77 cents to every dollar. This does not seem right especially when they are performing the same jobs at work. Lilly Ledbetter has proposed a bill called the “Ledbetter Fair Pay Act” but it failed to gain a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

GEMS

I liked the article “Gem of an Idea”. It was nice to read about the small country of Botswana and its success in helping its people get out of poverty. Most countries in Africa are not like this. Most are at war, have poor leaders and much governmental corruption. Botswana is different. First, it is the world’s biggest producer of diamonds. This small country has brought 1.9 million people out of poverty. The leaders there think to the future and to the development of their country. The country and the world’s largest mining company of DeBeers have worked together for decades as 50-50 partners. This partnership is called Debswana. Now also DeBeers has moved its diamond-sorting and valuing operation from London to the capital of Botswana, Gaborone. This will help create 3,000 more jobs in Botswana. The author insists that the reason this small nation is doing so well is because they have good leadership and are good role models for other nations. Botswana believes in itself and not in foreign aid. Foreign aid causes more problems than it helps.

Color

“The Color of Loyalty” is a viewpoint written by Michael Eric Dyson. The journalist is questioning whether black leaders are unpatriotic. Some perhaps are more unpatriotic than others. That seems normal to me. Not all people feel as strongly in their nationalistic views as others do. This is not based on color but on one’s upbringing and life experiences.
Barack Obama mentioned in one of his press conferences that he loves this country because even though we have had our ups and downs dealing with race and color we still are always moving toward perfection. By perfection he means that many Americans have risked their lives to bring the nation closer to the promise started by our founding-fathers.
Even though blacks have actively served in our armed forces and have fought in every war the U.S. has ever entered there are still those who think that Black-Americans are not as patriotic as they should be.