Written on August 10th 2009

Recently America made a move that it has adamantly opposed for years.  America bargained with a terrorist for the release of hostages.  This terrorist was not a plane hijacker, a bank robber, a kidknapper, but instead he is a tyrannical ruler who is the leader of a foreign country.

America sent one of our highest diplomats, former president Bill Clinton, to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American journalists who were captured and sentences to 12 years of hard labor by the North Korean government for spying for America.

Their story of hardship and unfortunate circimstances has captured international attention.  As they were on the Chinese/North Korean border doing a comprehensive report on human trafficing across the border they were picked up and taken as prisoners by the North Korean government.

While their story continued to develop North Korea continued, more agressively than ever, to continue their nuclear program.  In recent months they have fired multiple, as many as seven in one day, long range missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead as well as detonating multiple small nuclear weapons as tests.  This is all while defying dozens of UN resolutions and sanctions that have been levied against them for years.

America so often says that is wants to take a tough stance on dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong Il yet its actions so often times say exactly the opposite.  The Obama administration, though they arguable did not plan the convoy themselves, completely agreed with the idea of sending President Clinton over there.  President Obama even went as far as to write a letter to Kim Jong Il and have President Clinton hand deliver it.

I understand that the safety and well being of the journalists is the most important thing but sending someone like President Clinton only gives legitimacy to the dictator and his regime that now rules North Korea and will allow him to further his power and control.  The Obama administration has a tough verbal stance on tryrannts and dictators, but their actions in these first 6 months in power have only legitimized regimes around the world.  What’s next?

In 2007 the Nobel Peace Prize went to former United States Vice President Al Gore and his organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). One of Gore’s very deserving co-nominees was a frail 97 year old woman names Irena Sendler from Poland.

During the Holocaust Irena was a nurse and was allowed to enter the Warsaw Ghetto to check for the spread of Typhus. Unknown to the Nazis at the time, Irena was selected as the leader of Zegota, “The Council to Aid Jews”, under her code name Jolanta.

Irena would use multiple tactics to get the children hidden and out of the Ghetto during her almost daily visits to the Ghetto. She would put children in boxes, suitcases, and crates, as well as use her ability to get in and out of the ghetto in ambulances and trams to bring in medical equipment and supplies and to smuggle out many of the larger, and older children. These efforts allowed her to PERSONALLY save over 2000 children that would of otherwise undoubtedly been killed by the Nazis while in the ghetto or while at one of the many concentration camps in the area.

In 1943 Irena was arrested by the Nazis and sentenced to death, though she was tortoured aggressively and serverly, she refused to give up any information about her actions or the secret group, Zegota, that she was in. She was saved from execution by her group who bribed the guards yet she was still thrown into the woods, left alone with broken bones, scars and bruises from her torture.

Sendler has been awarded almost every award possible by her native Polish government and many international organizations. She was recognized as early as 1965 by Yad Vashem as on eof the “Righteous Among the Nations”. She also recieved the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest civilian decoration in 2003. And even after her death in 2008, the U.N. awarded her the 2009 Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award, presented to persons and organizations recognized for helping children.

Though all these awards are prestigious, one award, undeservingly missed her. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Though this nomination was well past due, given 65 years after she first entered the Warsaw Ghetto, it was also obviously well deserved. Irena was defeated in 2007 by Al Gore’s group, yet after learning of her story I cannot say I know how she could of been pasted over.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awards to humanitarians, peace negotiators, refugee activists, and national heros like Nelson Mandela. There are other Nobel Prizes in physics, medicine, math, chemistry, and economics. Al Gore’s work could of gone into the chemistry, physics, or even economic category, but I think that one of the last choices should of been to put it up against such exploits as those of Irena Sendler.

Though Al Gore’s work has brough the obvious problem of oil dependence to the forefront of the debate in America and the world, I do not believe that work measures up to the 2500 lives save by a single frail polish woman. As the great grandchildren of those 2500 lives saved by Mrs. Sendler begin their walk in this world we must look at them and say that a video and slide show presentation about Global Warming means more to the world than all of your lives put together. I for one can never and will never do that.

As I woke up this morning I started to hear the wisper that I have known was coming for six years now.  My wonderfully corrupt governor, Mr. Rod Blagojevich, was formally charged by the FBI with corruption charges.  The FBI in their press conference that is occurring right now says that they have been wire tapping Governor Blagojevich’s phone at his state offices and even at his home.  

As I live here in the Northern Virginia area I cannot help but realize that the local congressional race is a heated one, to say the least. But is it heated about the right issues? I have seen two debates between the two candidates. The Republican candidate is a guy named Keith Fimian who is a local business man who started the largest home inspection company from scratch, while the Democratic candidate is Gerry Connolly who has been on the Fairfax county board for 14 years, the last five of which he has served as county chairman.
While at one of the debates I was sitting there watching them bicker over such things as negative adds, a projected revenue shortfall for the county, and social issues but none of those were the issues that really surprised me. The issue that caught me off guard was Chairman Connolly trying to make the race so partisan. Gerry said that “we needed new leadership in Washington” yet the spot where he is running for is lead by Democrats. Fimian seems to stress the budget shorfall that Fairfax County is experiencing way to much. They can both point to these stances if either loose the election.
Fimian’s main negative is the fact that he is not the best at public speaking. He sometimes seems lost or confused while answering questions at the debates. But his biggest positive is that he is very social. He can charm a whole room by just talking to people before or after the debate. He can approach anyone and talk to them and know them in a single conversation.
Gerry’s biggest negative is simply the fact that poeple do not like him. He has doubled he property taxes here in northern VA in the four years he has been chairman. They now are almost at $5,000 a year in Fairfax County. In his election as chairman last year he only won with 44% of the vote, running again multiple other opponents. His biggest strength is his vast knowledge of the issues and his ability to speech about them very elequently, though at times he seems to be a bit hot headed.
As the race develops with only 21 more days, I am interested to see where it will go from here. I am very involved in this race, and I am sure I will be writing more about it soon. This race, to me, shows how most races in America are during this election cycle.

Trickle down economics is one of the most hated, and beloved ideas in politics. Just the mention of of trickle down economics makes many republicans smile with a love of Ronald Reagan and many left leaners cry with a hatred of the free market period lead in by the Reagan revolution. I have been recently, like millions of Americans, been paying very close attention to many elections in my area and the opinions of the candidates. I have been hearing a lot of the blame game, especially with the Wall Street crisis. Yet I have noticed that many, if not all, of these arguements only talk about trickle down when they blame it for something bad. And always their idea of trickle down economics is wrong.
Just recently at a local debate in the VA-11 there was a democratic congressman blaming trickle down economics for the morgage crisis. This man said that more regulations by the federal governments and giving more money to the middle class will create more revenue for the government. He also said that trickle down economics have caused the mortage crisis since it has caused so few people to be able to afford their mortgages. This idea of trickle down economics is made on a false understanding on what the idea of trickle down economics is.
Ronald Reagan championed the that trickle down economics is the best way to grow the economy as well as maximizing government revenue. The idea is that if the tax breaks are given to those who provide jobs then not only will the government get money from the income taxes of the employees, as well as taxes from the products that the company provides. Almost every politician and economists will openly admit that the US government is ran by those who own and operate small business. Millions of jobs every year are created through small businesses opening and hiring employees. Those employees then in turn purchase more products and cars in our economy and thus allowing the cycle of small business to start more around the community. These purchases also provide even more taxes to the government thus increasing revenue more. This is the idea of trickle down economics, it has nothing to do with regulations, and definitely nothing to do with increasing and adding regulations.
I think that it is impossible to prove based on modern results that trickle down economics do not work. When Reagan and George H.W. Bush used tax cuts the economy continued to grow not only through the 80s and early 90s when they were in office, but also throughout the mid to late 90s as well. Bill Clinton reaped the benefits of the trickle down economics that Reagan and Bush 41 instilled. When President George W. Bush was elected in 2000 he instilled these same tax cuts and the economy grew almost 20% in just the first 5 years of his presidency. This is an unprecedented growth.
The recent economic crisis is in no way the result or the cost of trickle down economics. This crisis has been the result of multiple administrations, making multiple mistakes, and making multiple wrong assumptions about not only our economy but about the people, the companies that provide mortgages, and especially the people who controlled these companies. The democrats or Republicans are not to blame. The problem is to big to blame any one or any party. I hope that the candidate that is blaming the current president Bush, or the practice of trickle down economics realizes that his basis for that arguement is wrong and I am sure that if the congress and the country were to go on that basis then we would be in a much worse place.

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Thanks.