I have a little bit of advice and a small assignment for you debaters today. First, the advice: always, always be aware of what is going on in the world. This may sound like common sense, but try to watch the news, browse the fronts page of the newspaper, or read the headlines online everyday. I get tons of ideas for positions that start with a simple article.
For example, today I was on CNN.com and I started reading about the swine flu outbreak and the reasons it was killing in Mexico. I noticed a quick little blip, "Sullivan also pointed to possible "complicating factors," such as malnutrition, poor housing or crowded conditions." (I bolded the important part.)
Reading through news articles can be a debater's best friend. It always gives you a working, convincing knowledge of politix or spending scenarios and how to counter them, even if you lack evidence in round.
On to your assignment, in the next few days, I want you guys to just be aware of what is going on in the world, and try to look at articles in the newspaper, online, or whatever you have available to you. Look for articles that could pertain to new resolution. It'd be great if you posted the headline, date of publication, and how it pertains to the new resolution. I think that a week from Thursday should give you sufficient time. One last little bit to this assignment, try to enjoy it.
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Great advice, Alex. As to your schedule next semester, we will play it by ear. When I was in school, I took 24 upper-division credit hours and worked 60-70 hours a week to put myself through school, so I totally get a busy schedule. I will let you know which weekends we are competing and then you can opt to judge or not--I just need to know in advance. The blog set up will be much more efficient for both you and Lisa instead of coming to Fremont on a regular basis--I know it is not ideal--but soooo much better than what we've had. Your expertise and steering us in the right direction is invaluable and very much appreciated. If I am sent in the right direction, especially over the summer, then I can pretty much lead. Camp with Jaime Saker, Scott, and Dana will help immensly for me as well as for most of my policy debaters. If you need to see serious practice rounds with my varsity teams, I'll tape them and send the video to you for you to watch when it fits in your schedule and then post redo videos on facebook for you to watch if you like. It will work out just fine, so no worries. I will be at TOC Friday-Monday (just an FYI). Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteie ie CAPTAIN
ReplyDeletekk
ReplyDeletegotch
ReplyDeleteokie!!! DOKIE!!!!
ReplyDeletegoing with that i found some info that 149 people have died in mexico because of swine flu
ReplyDeletecourtesy of USATODAY.com
Okay I guess I'm doing the same thing only it has to be related to the PF resolution....
ReplyDeleteRecalls 1976 Crisis
April 26, 2009 05:18 PM
by Mark E. Moran
Swine flu, which caused panic and a national vaccination drive in 1976, has now been confirmed in New York and Kansas. Earlier outbreaks occurred in Mexico, Texas and California.
I found some information from the CDC reporting 91 reported cases of swine flu in the United States alone courtesy of reuters.com if the United States would close their borders and suspend travel the CDC could come up with a vaccine to nullify the possible pandemic.
ReplyDeleteok dokie
ReplyDelete6 cases have been discovered in Nebraska but health officials are unsure if it is really the "swine flu" and none of them have been hospitalized yet.
ReplyDeleteCurtesy of Omaha World-Herald, front page Today's edition
Swine Influenza (Flu)
ReplyDeleteSwine Flu website last updated April 29, 11:00 AM ET
U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
(As of April 29, 2009, 11:00 AM ET) States # of laboratory confirmed cases Deaths
Arizona 1
California 14
Indiana 1
Kansas 2
Massachusetts 2
Michigan 2
Nevada 1
New York City 51
Ohio 1
Texas 16 1
TOTAL COUNTS 91 cases 1 death
International Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
See: World Health Organization
The outbreak of disease in people caused by a new influenza virus of swine origin continues to grow in the United States and internationally. Today, CDC reports additional confirmed human infections, hospitalizations and the nation’s first fatality from this outbreak. The more recent illnesses and the reported death suggest that a pattern of more severe illness associated with this virus may be emerging in the U.S. Most people will not have immunity to this new virus and, as it continues to spread, more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths are expected in the coming days and weeks.
CDC has implemented its emergency response. The agency’s goals are to reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by the new virus. Yesterday, CDC issued new interim guidance for clinicians on how to care for children and pregnant women who may be infected with this virus. Young children and pregnant women are two groups of people who are at high risk of serious complications from seasonal influenza. In addition, CDC’s Division of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) continues to send antiviral drugs, personal protective equipment, and respiratory protection devices to all 50 states and U.S. territories to help them respond to the outbreak. The swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. This is a rapidly evolving situation and CDC will provide updated guidance and new information as it becomes available
this is just some info for people bout the swine ful. ITS SCARY.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm
What is swine flu?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.
What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.
Alright, good work so far. Just to make sure though, you don't have to find info on the swine flu. I meant any article in general that could possibly pertain to the resolution.
ReplyDeleteok, i shall have stuff posted by the deadline
ReplyDeleteDo I still have to post more stuff????
ReplyDelete"Regular flu has killed thousands since January"
ReplyDeletethis is a headline from cnn.com the resolution for PF talks of a possible pandemic yet the WHO has not declared that the regular old influenza that everyone gets every winter and summer is a pandemic...?
Chrysler files for bankruptcy
ReplyDeleteSome lenders refuse offer to reduce debt, leading to Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. But Chrysler will remain in business and completes deal with Fiat.
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See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close) By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: April 30, 2009: 1:35 PM ET
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Cars that wrecked Chrysler
Chrysler was king of the hill with its 300 series just a few years ago. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Now the company may go bankrupt after a string of uninspired products destroyed its reputation. View photos
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It's doing what's appropriateIt should be working harderIt should do less and let Chrysler fold or View resultsDETROIT'S DOWNFALL
Chill out, Chrysler owners
GM bondholders want majority stake
Chrysler files for bankruptcy
Chrysler down to the wire
Chrysler: UAW and Obama on board
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Chrysler LLC filed for bankruptcy Thursday. But a deal has been reached to combine the company with Fiat in order to allow Chrysler to stay in business.
The bankruptcy filing, which was made in federal court in New York, comes after some of Chrysler's smaller lenders refused a Treasury Department demand to reduce the amount of money the troubled automaker owed them.
In remarks at the White House, President Obama said that the bankruptcy filing is not a failure for the company but "one more step on the path to Chrysler's revival."
The president harshly criticized the hedge funds and investment firm creditors that refused to go along with the deal accepted by larger lenders, saying that they had "decided to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified, taxpayer funded bailout."
Obama vowed the bankruptcy process would be quick, efficient and controlled. A senior administration official predicted it would be completed within 30 to 60 days. The combination with Fiat is also due to close during that period of time.
0:00 /4:21Fiat's big Chrysler challenge
According to the bankruptcy filing, a new company will be formed that will buy the assets of Chrysler - its plants, brands, land, equipment, as well as its contracts with the union, dealers and suppliers, from the bankruptcy court.
The company's liabilities and an unspecified number of Chrysler's 3,300 dealerships which now sell the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands will be left behind in the bankruptcy court.
While an administration official promised there will be no immediate job cuts or plant closings due to the bankruptcy filing, Chrysler announced that most manufacturing operations will be temporarily shutdown on Monday, May 4. Normal production is not due to resume until the transaction with Fiat is completed.
Once the deal closes, Fiat will examine the cost structure of Chrysler to find additional savings. Fiat has promised to use Chrysler's existing plants to build the small cars it now sells in Europe for the U.S. market.
Administration officials said the Treasury Department will provide Chrysler with $3 billion to $3.5 billion in additional loans to fund operations during bankruptcy. The government anticipates that it will provide an additional $4.7 billion of financing to allow Chrysler to exit bankruptcy.
Chrysler had asked the government earlier this year for $6 billion in new federal loans to help it stay in business. That's on top of the $4 billion in loans it has already received.
The company faced a midnight Thursday deadline from the Treasury Department to reach deals with creditors who had loaned the company about $7 billion.
Last-minute deals ensured Chrysler's survival
But the filing will not mean the halt of operations or liquidation for the troubled 85-year old automaker. Instead, the administration expects to use the bankruptcy process to join Chrysler with Italian automaker Fiat.
Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli will leave the company after Chrysler emerges from bankruptcy and completes the alliance with Fiat. A successor for Nardelli was not named by either Chrysler or Fiat.
In addition, the United Auto Workers union announced late Wednesday night that its membership at Chrysler had overwhelmingly ratified a concession contract reached between the company and union leadership on Sunday night.
As a result of that deal, the UAW will own 55% of Chrysler. Fiat will own a 20% stake with the option of increasing it to 35%. The U.S. government will own 8% and Canada will have a 2% stake.
The union issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying it supported the bankruptcy process and the combination of the company with Fiat. It said it would ask the bankruptcy court to quickly approve the merger of the two companies as well as the new labor agreement.
President Obama said Thursday he was more confident than he was 30 days ago that Chrysler would be able to emerge from bankruptcy as a healthy, competitive company. He said the deals reached over the last month are in the best interests of not only Chrysler, its workers, suppliers and dealers, but also of taxpayers who are funding the reorganization.
The administration said Wednesday evening that talks with smaller lenders broke down when they refused to meet a deadline set by the Treasury Department to accept pennies on the dollars they had loaned the company.
Major banks such as Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) agreed to reduce their portion of $7 billion in secured loans to a more manageable $2.25 billion, according to the administration official.
But an administration official said "the agreement of all other key stakeholders ensured that no hedge fund could have a veto over Chrysler's future success."
Chrysler and the rest of the auto industry have been hit by a sharp plunge in sales due to the global recession and tighter credit. Chrysler's U.S. sales during the first three months of this year were down 46% from year ago levels. That followed an industry-worst 30% slide in sales last year.
Being privately held, Chrysler has not released its financial results for recent years. But the company needed a $4 billion federal loan in the closing days of the Bush administration to avoid running out of cash, while rival General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) received the first of what turned out to be $15.4 billion in federal loans so far.
Those federal bailouts staved off an uncontrolled bankruptcy at Chrysler that could have caused a rash of failures across the auto supplier industry and disrupted production at other automakers. Chrysler owes its suppliers about $7 billion, according to the latest figures available from the company. Some of those suppliers could still be hurt by the bankruptcy filing.
Chrysler is only a fraction of its former self. It has about 39,000 U.S. employees, only about 40% of the total it had at the beginning of the decade. It has fallen behind not only Toyota Motor (TM) in sales, but it is close to being overtaken by Honda (HMC) for the No. 4 spot for U.S. sales.
The company also has about 3,300 dealers who between them have 140,000 employees. It also has 65,000 U.S. retirees as well as their family members who depend upon the company for pension benefits and heath care coverage.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this story.
First Published: April 30, 2009: 9:11 AM ET
Two Nebraska communities closed schools Friday as three new probable cases of H1N1 flu were identified in the state.
ReplyDeleteThe new probable cases are boys between the ages of 5 and 18 living in Madison, Pierce and Sarpy counties, state health officials said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The airline with most flights from the United States to Mexico cut back travel to the center of the swine flu outbreak on Friday as the federal government confirmed more than two dozen new cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus was confirmed in eight more states overnight but the death toll stayed at one - the Mexican toddler who died in Texas.
CDC said there were now 141 confirmed cases in the U.S., up from 109 on Thursday. The flu is now in 19 states, up from 11, according to federal figures. Separately a few states reported slightly higher numbers.
Federal health authorities sought to reassure the public that - aside from people with flu symptoms or nonessential travel plans to Mexico - public transportation remained safe.
"There's not an increased risk there," Dr. Richard Besser, acting CDC director, said Friday. "If you have the flu or flu-like symptoms, you shouldn't be getting on an airplane or you shouldn't be getting in the subway, but for the general population that's quite fine to do," he said.
Houston-based Continental Airlines, which has over 500 flights per week between the U.S. and Mexico, became the first U.S. carrier to curtail service. Many travelers have become increasingly concerned about going to Mexico, though authorities there said new cases and the death rate was leveling off.
Mexico has confirmed 300 swine flu cases but stopped reporting suspected infections when the number approached 2,500. There have been a dozen confirmed deaths there from the flu, although reports have indicated that roughly 120 may have died from it.
"We were already experiencing soft market conditions due to the economy, and now our Mexico routes in particular have extra weakness," Continental Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Kellner said in a statement Friday.
It wasn't immediately clear whether other airlines would follow Continental's lead. "We are hearing that there is a softening of demand to and from Mexico," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transportation Association, which represents airlines.
Clinics and hospital emergency rooms in New York, California and some other states are seeing a surge in patients with coughs and sneezes that might have been ignored before the outbreak.
The outbreak even touched the White House, which disclosed that an aide to Energy Secretary Steven Chu apparently got sick helping arrange President Barack Obama's recent trip to Mexico but that the aide did not fly on Air Force One and never posed a risk to the president.
The aide, Marc Griswold, a former Secret Service agent who was doing advance work for Chu, told The Associated Press when reached at his Department of Energy office Friday that he was feeling better.
He declined to elaborate beyond comments in the Washington Post Friday.
"We're not the Typhoid Mary family, for goodness sake," he told the Post. "We've been told that we're not contagious. We're already past the seven-day mark for that."
So far U.S. cases are mostly fairly mild and, officials said, most so far haven't required a doctor's care.
Still, the U.S. is taking extraordinary precautions - including shipping millions of doses of anti-flu drugs to states in case they're needed.
Late Thursday the Department of Health and Human Services announced it was buying 13 million new treatment courses of antiviral drugs to replenish and grow the U.S. strategic stockpile. Eleven million treatment courses have been sent to states - 25 percent of each state's allotment - and the U.S. also announced plans Thursday to send 400,000 treatment courses to Mexico.
The World Health Organization is warning of an imminent pandemic because scientists cannot predict what a brand-new virus might do. A key concern is whether this spring outbreak will surge again in the fall.
The CDC added the following states Friday to its list of confirmed cases: New Jersey with five cases, Delaware with four, Illinois with three, Colorado and Virginia with two, and Minnesota and Nebraska each with one. The CDC reported one case in Kentucky and none in Georgia, while Georgia officials report one case there - that of a sickened Kentucky resident who traveled to Georgia.
CDC previously had confirmed cases in New York, Texas, California, South Carolina, Kansas, Massachusetts, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada.
http://omahaworldherald.com/index.php?u_page=1100&u_sid=10623780
nebraska senators reject worker compensation increase Fremont Tribune, Thursday April 30
ReplyDeletethis aritcle talks specifically of this bill, but it also talks about how in nebraska, the local government favors business over workers. this could be an interesting DA
Two Nebraska communities closed schools Friday as three new probable cases of H1N1 flu were identified in the state.
ReplyDeleteThe new probable cases are boys between the ages of 5 and 18 living in Madison, Pierce and Sarpy counties, state health officials said.
None have been hospitalized, and the boys are doing well and recovering, the state said.
Administrators at Norfolk Middle School and in the Madison school district called off classes as a precaution. Both cities are in Madison County.
Norfolk Superintendent Marlene Uhing said local health officials notified the district of the probable flu case in a middle school student and recommended that the school close.
BY MICHAEL O'CONNOR AND MICHAELA SAUNDERS
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10623827
Two Nebraska communities closed schools Friday as three new probable cases of H1N1 flu were identified in the state.
ReplyDeleteThe new probable cases are boys between the ages of 5 and 18 living in Madison, Pierce and Sarpy counties, state health officials said.
Administrators at Norfolk Middle School and in the Madison school district called off classes as a precaution. Both cities are in Madison County.
Norfolk Superintendent Marlene Uhing said local health officials notified the district of the probable flu case in a middle school student and recommended that the school close.
The boy lives in Pierce County and is an option student attending the Norfolk school, a Pierce Public School official said.
Parents of Norfolk Middle School students - about 535 sixth and seventh graders - were notified Thursday night via automated message that classes and activities would be cancelled Friday.
The school is closed for cleaning as a precaution, Uhing said. She is working with local health officials to monitor the situation and is hopeful the school would reopen on Monday.
Less than 20 miles away in Madison, students in kindergarten to 12th grade were asked to stay home while that school is cleaned.
Dave Melick, Madison Public Schools superintendent, said his district made the decision because of the probable case linked to one student. That student has a sibling in the district's other building, so both schools were closed as a precaution.
"We're trying certainly not to make a mountain out of a mole hill. We're trying to be prudent and put the health and safety of our students and staff first," Melick said. "We're treating this serious. We're hoping we can stay ahead of it."
He said the decision to re-open on Monday won't be made until Sunday, and will depend on recommendations from local health officials. About 560 students attend Madison Public Schools.
Most Madison school staff - including Melick - have been scrubbing the schools since about 9 a.m. Friday.
Earlier this week, the Nebraska Department of Education issued guidelines for districts. The decision to close is a local one, and districts were urged to work closely with local health officials.
State health officials did not provide details on which schools any of the boys in the probable cases attended.
The Sarpy County boy attends an Omaha Public Schools elementary school, said OPS spokeswoman Luanne Nelson. She didn't identify which school, but said the boy hadn't attended class all week.
All OPS elementary schools were closed Friday for teacher training, and all of the districts schools also were scheduled to be closed Monday for training.
Two other probable cases of H1N1 had been identified on Thursday. Test results to confirm whether those two cases are H1N1 have not yet been released.
One of those two earlier cases involves a 19-year-old Missouri man who was in Douglas County to get care for another health condition. The other involves a Sarpy County woman in her 60s who was recovering at home.
Nebraska so far has one confirmed case. It involves a California man in his 40s who became ill last weekend while in Omaha visiting friends. He has not been hospitalized and is recovering.
World-Herald staff writer Joe Dejka and the World-Herald News Service contributed to this report.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10623827
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN3051671220090430
ReplyDeleteKANSAS CITY, April 30 (Reuters) - Nebraska health authorities said on Thursday that a man in his 40s has been confirmed as having the H1N1 swine flu, the first case in the Midwestern farm state.
The California resident became ill while vacationing in Nebraska, and is now recovering, said Marla Augustine, spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. He is recovering, she said.
State health authorities said two new probable cases have also been identified - a Missouri man who is hospitalized in Nebraska, and an elderly woman who is recovering at home. (Reporting by Carey Gillam, editing by Jackie Frank)
A lot of the mini-round aff cases have had unemployment advantages talking about how our recession is hurting individuals by costing them their jobs. although this article is about a different country, the point it makes is still relevant to what those advantages were trying to say.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6206084.ece
The man who rammed his car into crowds at the Dutch Queen’s annual parade, killing six, appears to have been driven to despair by the recession after losing his job and his home.
Karst Tates, 38, who died early this morning from injuries he received smashing his Suzuki car through barriers and ploughing through bystanders in a failed attempt to reach the Royal Family’s open-topped bus, was due to hand back the keys of his apartment today because he could no longer pay the rent.
Tates was described by neighbours as a friendly loner who had worked unsociable hours as a security guard before being made redundant earlier this year. They added that they rarely saw the shaven-headed man, who had few visitors and no known girlfriend.
The death toll rose today when a military policeman called Roel Nijenhuis succumbed to his injuries. Two men and two women died shortly after impact, while a third man died in hospital later on Thursday.
29 April 2009 – Seeing the swine flu virus spread within a raft of countries, the United Nations health agency today raised the international alert to Phase 5 on a six-point scale, signalling an imminent pandemic and urging all countries to intensify preparations.
ReplyDelete“This change to a higher alert is a signal to Governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical and the business communities, that certain actions now should be undertaken with extreme urgency,” Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said in announcing the move during a teleconference with the world press.
It’s clear that the virus is spreading, and we don’t see any evidence of it slowing down at this point “All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic surveillance plans,” she said, calling on all to remain on high alert for clusters of influenza-like illness and pneumonia. Early detection and treatment of cases, and infection controls in all health facilities were also critical, she said.
Alert Phase 5 meant that sustained human to human transmission had been confirmed, with widespread community outbreaks, in at least two regions, she said.
International cooperation was particularly important she maintained, warning that the H1N1 influenza virus has shown its “capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world.”
She added that she had reached out to donor countries and international organizations to mobilize resources, particularly for developing countries which are usually more vulnerable to the deadliest effects of pandemics.
Fortunately, she said the world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than any time in history, due to the substantial investments made to prepare for the H5N1 virus, or avian flu. “For the first time in history, we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real time,” she said.
She thanked countries, particularly the United States, Canada and Mexico, for their strong cooperation with WHO since the outbreak became evident.
“New diseases, by definition, are poorly understood, and WHO and health authorities will not have all the answers immediately,” she acknowledged, while vowing, “But we will get them.”
The agency, she pledged, would continue tracking the virus at the epidemiological, clinical and biological levels, and make their information public as soon as it is analyzed.
In an earlier teleconference today, WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda said that there has been an increase in lab-confirmed cases – from 79 yesterday to 114 – been reported in Canada, the US, Mexico, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
“It’s clear that the virus is spreading, and we don’t see any evidence of it slowing down at this point,” Mr. Fukuda said
He said that while preliminary results showed that the virus did originate in pigs, he stressed that there is no evidence that people are now getting sick from pigs or pork products.
He emphasized that experts are continuing to study the situation and that there are still unanswered questions – for example, it is currently unclear whether people, upon becoming infected, will develop mild or severe illness.
Yesterday, Mr. Fukuda said that WHO is working to facilitate the process needed to develop a vaccine effective against the swine flu virus, which the agency noted could take around 4 to 6 months, plus more months to build up substantial stocks.
Meanwhile, today at the Security Council, which is holding an open debate on the situation of children caught up in armed conflict, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call for international unity on the swine flu outbreak.
“This really requires the whole international community’s cooperation, and I count on the leadership and commitment of not only the Council member States, but the whole international community,” he said.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30638&Cr=swine&Cr1=
WHO: 331 swine flu cases worldwide, 10 deaths
ReplyDeleteand
WHO raises pandemic alert to second-highest level
They raised the alert level to phase 5. The World Health Organization's phase five means that the same virus causes sustained community-level outbreaks i two or more countries in one region yet only 331 cases have been reported and 10 deaths world wide but the common flu kills thousands of people every year.
my last post was courtesy of USA today
ReplyDeleteIllegal migrants dice with death to cross ChannelStory Highlights
ReplyDeleteThere are more than 2,000 illegal migrants living in desperate conditions near Calais
They are trying to reach Britain by stowing away in trucks
They live in camps with no running water, seven men to a tent
updated 8 minutes agoNext Article in World »
Read PHOTOSMAP
By Jessica Hartogs
CALAIS, France (CNN) -- CNN producer Jessica Hartogs traveled to France to help prepare a television news piece on the immigration situation in Calais. Below is her impression of what she saw.
French police conduct frequent checks on the migrants around Calais.
1 of 3 more photos » The men sat and stared into the distance on the outskirts of Calais as the French police talked into their walkie-talkies. They were apparently checking the illegal migrants' IDs, but how do you identify men with no papers?
This is a daily occurrence - the illegal migrants are stopped, searched, sometimes photographed or fingerprinted, detained for a few hours and released.
There are more than 2,000 of them living in desperate conditions around Calais -- up to 700 live in the woods near where the trucks destined for Britain drive en route to the ferry terminal.
As we drove through the woods we saw several men run from the bush and try to open the back of a truck as it slowed to take a corner. It's 2 p.m. and more and more attempts are made, the traffickers brazen in their efforts to get the men into or on the trucks by utilizing every possible nook and cranny.
In 2002 the French government closed Calais's controversial Sangatte detention center, which led the migrants to set up the notorious camp dubbed The Jungle in the dunes near the city.
Last year a British student journalist was allegedly gang raped by migrants in the area, and we were warned against visiting.
However, we first go to a meal hosted for the migrants by the charity, Salaam.
It is quickly apparent how segregated the migrants are. The most obvious divide is between the East Africans and the Afghans, but there is also friction between the different tribes and clans represented from Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.
The men, however, are open with their stories. Some say they fled Afghanistan after fighting in the army and fearing retribution from the Taliban. Others have been sent to Europe simply because they are the eldest son. A final group plans to send the large sums of money they will earn in Britain back to their families.
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Salaam aid worker Michel Falhault promises to take us to The Jungle the next day. He tells us to bring tea, sugar and cigarettes.
When we meet outside The Jungle he warns that if we're not well received, we'll quickly and quietly turn around - the migrants are suspicious of journalists after some entered the camps undercover.
As soon as we enter Michel is nearly wrestled to the ground for the toilet paper, bottled water and candles he is distributing. This quickly passes, though, and we are welcomed.
There are nearly 400 men living here in makeshift plastic tents, with a mosque (also made out of plastic) in the middle of the camp.
There is no running water, no place to shower; skin diseases and dysentery are rife. I could not believe I was still in France.
The men sleep up to seven to a tent and cook rice around small fires.
We hear more stories of endless journeys from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many have traveled only at night, working in various countries to pay for their journey. They've been pepper-sprayed by police, ripped off and threatened by the traffickers and often do not know which countries they were in before arriving in France.
The French government has promised to bulldoze The Jungle by the end of this year, a threat which only appears to heighten the migrants' dangerous efforts to cross the Channel.
At a truck rest stop we saw migrants laying planks of wood between the wheels of rigs to stow themselves away. Other men lined up along the highway hoping the trucks would slow down long enough for them to jump on.
Calais's residents and the migrants agree that the situation needs to change, but none think bulldozing the tents will make the problem go away.
Mexico reacts angrily to China flu quarantine
ReplyDeletehttp://uk.reuters.com
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico accused China on Saturday of imposing a discriminatory quarantine in a Hong Kong hotel where a Mexican fell ill with the new swine flu virus, and it advised its citizens to stay away from the Asian nation.
Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa also condemned China and four Latin American countries for restricting flights from Mexico, the epicentre of an H1N1 flu outbreak that the World Health Organisation fears may become a global pandemic.
At a news conference, Espinosa criticized authorities in Hong Kong for sealing off the Metropark Hotel on Friday after test results showed a 25-year-old Mexican man was infected with the virus.
About 200 guests and 100 staff were ordered confined in the hotel for seven days.
"We are especially worried about China, where Mexican citizens showing no signs at all of being ill, have been isolated, under unacceptable conditions," Espinosa said.
It was unclear how many of the hotel guests were Mexican.
Mexico says that its citizens in different parts of China have faced discrimination after being suspected of carrying swine flu.
"These are discriminatory measures, without foundation ... The Foreign Ministry recommends avoiding travelling to China until these measures are corrected," Espinosa said.
She also condemned China as well as Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Cuba for suspending flights from Mexico due to the flu outbreak. Mexico traditionally has had good relations with all of those nations.
The PF topic is talking about a possible pandemic and suspending travel in/out of the united states the chinese government was just doing what was necessary to prevent a possible pandemic within China's borders we should do the same
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/habitat/units/un05hous.asp
ReplyDeletePoor housing also makes people more vulnerable to disaster. The 1985 earthquake in Mexico City that killed 10,000 people claimed the lives of many low-income families living in flimsy structures.
hey alex and lisa, after googling, lexisnexising, AND jstoring, i have found that i am an awful researcher. the majority of the cards i have cut this year were from books, cuz i couldnt find an article to save my life. i dont want to spend $20 for a DA book. any tips?
ReplyDeleteAffordable Homes, via Foreclosures
ReplyDeleteBy MARCELLE S. FISCHLER
Published: May 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/realestate/03lizo.html?ref=business
JAMES J. VILARDI plans $70,000 worth of repair work to a three-bedroom Cape on Searing Street, one of four foreclosed homes boarded up on an otherwise tidy block in Hempstead, N.Y.
Mr. Vilardi, president of the Valley Stream-based Bedford Construction Group, hopes to close next month on the $144,500 house, one of six on Long Island that he bought from Fannie Mae in a new venture with Nassau County and the Long Island Housing Partnership.
The six are the Island’s first bulk acquisitions in a state- and federally-financed Neighborhood Stabilization Program to acquire and redevelop foreclosed and shuttered properties that might otherwise blight a community. In the process, more affordable housing becomes available.
Ranging in price from $195,500 to $301,750, the other homes that Mr. Vilardi plans to fix up as part of the program are in Elmont, Westbury, Valley Stream, Massapequa and Glen Cove. Each needs $10,000 to $65,000 in renovations — and all, like the Hempstead Cape he is starting with, are being repaired with county money. Once it gets a new heating system, kitchen and bathrooms, and once the walls are reframed and painted, it will be sold for $190,000 — discounted to a first-time buyer qualified under affordable-housing guidelines.
Working with teams of electricians, plumbers and carpenters, Mr. Vilardi said he hoped to complete all six houses within 60 to 90 days. The work “will be basic but nice,” with ceramic tile in the kitchens, the developer said
“If we can’t provide affordable housing,” Mr. Vilardi said, “we can’t keep young families here.”
Turning around the distressed properties will not provide a windfall for Mr. Vilardi. His fee, 7 percent of the total development cost of each home, comes out of its sales price. He described that amount as “very minimal” compared with his profit in private development.
“I’m really passionate about affordable housing,” he said, “and this is the way I give back.”
Last fall the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated $3.92 billion for the stabilization program for areas across the country hurt by swelling foreclosure rates and the subprime crisis. The financing included nearly $7.8 million to Nassau County, $5.6 million to Suffolk County, $2.17 million to the town of Babylon and $3.72 million to the town of Islip.
Additionally, in April, Nassau County received $3.1 million and Suffolk more than $8 million from state coffers. Thomas R. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, said he hoped to have nonprofits and private developers like Mr. Vilardi buy 100 homes, and then use the funds to fix them up and provide first-time homeowner down-payment assistance.
According to Propertyshark.com, an online company that tracks real estate data, there were 943 new foreclosures on the Island in the first quarter of this year, a two-year high, up 77 percent compared with the first quarter of 2008.
In Nassau County there were 626 new foreclosures in the first three months of the year, up 208 percent from a year ago, with the highest numbers in Hempstead, Westbury and Freeport.
Suffolk had 317 new foreclosures in the first quarter, up 14 percent from the last three months of 2008, with the highest numbers in Brookhaven, Islip and Babylon.
Mr. Suozzi says foreclosed homes are often clustered. “These houses drag the neighborhood down,” he said. “We don’t want blighted homes destroying the quality of life of the neighborhoods.” He hoped the construction related to the rehabilitation would help “put people to work and help the economy” and “put people who are qualified homeowners into affordable housing.”
Because the money to buy the homes is raised privately, Mr. Vilardi contended that the county would be able to fix up many more.
Peter Elkowitz, the president and chief executive of the Hauppauge-based Long Island Housing Partnership, which separately received $6 million in state funds, says this project is different from previous municipal rehabilitation efforts in that the homes are being fixed up before they are sold.
“Usually with a rehab,” he said, “it’s after the person owns the home.”
The housing partnership, a nonprofit organization, will monitor rehabilitation of the homes and provide prospective buyers with eight hours of mandatory mortgage counseling. First-time buyers who earn no more than 120 percent of the local median income — $122,200 for a family of four in Nassau or Suffolk — will be eligible.
Once the house is sold, Mr. Elkowitz explained, participating developers and nonprofits will recoup from the stabilization program what they originally paid for it, plus the costs of any work done. On top of that, the program will provide a subsidy to each buyer, running $50,000 to $80,000, he said. In order to put more money into the rehabilitation, the houses have to be bought “on average at a 15 percent discount,” and the money must be spent within 18 months.
Jon Searles, a spokesman for Fannie Mae, said that “the purchase of foreclosed properties demonstrates how the public sector and lending institutions can work together to assist at-risk neighborhoods, stabilize communities, and provide homes to qualified first-time home buyers.”
Priscilla Almodovar, the president and chief executive of New York State’s housing finance agencies, said Nassau County was using a targeted approach — “not just rehabbing a home for the sake of rehabbing a home,” but repairing entire neighborhoods “one block at a time.”
Diana Weir, the executive vice president of the Long Island Housing Partnership, added that the stabilization program also aimed to stem the tide of speculators who might buy a house, quickly renovate it and “milk it for the rent money.”
Renters aren’t allowed in the program, and the homes must be occupied by the owner.
Ms. Weir added, “We are really trying to build a community and stabilize it and bring in true homeownership.”
Lack of housing, funding, support dooms many mentally ill residents to a life on the streets
ReplyDelete12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, May 3, 2009
One in an occasional series By KIM HORNER / The Dallas Morning News
Richard Antwine's last home was the county jail.
COURTNEY PERRY/DMN
In the past four months, Richard Antwine spent time in psychiatric hospitals, emergency rooms, boarding homes and shelters before being arrested on a parole violation. The 47-year-old ended up there, again, after another round of homeless shelters, boarding homes and psychiatric hospitals. This time, it was because he failed to report to his parole officer. He said he missed the appointment because he was hospitalized. He has severe depression and was hearing voices telling him to hurt himself. His court-appointed lawyer said he doesn't belong in jail. "Somebody dropped the ball somewhere," she said.
Antwine's situation is all too common among the chronically homeless, those with disabilities such as mental illnesses who have been on the streets long-term. But it's not new.
Photos by COURTNEY PERRY/DMN
Mary Seville napped at the top of a stairwell on Corinth Street in downtown Dallas, where she planned to spend the night Tuesday. On any given night, there are at least 1,000 chronically homeless people in Dallas. Chronic homelessness resulted from a shift away from the institutions that once housed more than half a million mentally ill people. Get people out of the state hospitals, experts thought in the 1960s, and they can live on their own, thanks to medications that were new at the time.
But the mental health services that were supposed to help those people adjust came up short. And many of the people, including growing numbers of Vietnam veterans, were left homeless. In the 1980s, cities looking to revitalize their downtowns tore down the cheap rooming houses where the very poor lived. Finally, in the 1990s, the political climate made it difficult to get more government money for housing and mental health treatment.
The result is today's disjointed system of psychiatric hospitals, substance-abuse treatment centers and homeless shelters. It's a system that comes at a huge expense to taxpayers and doesn't come close to solving the problem.
"We've just come to accept the fact we have homeless people roaming the streets like we have rats roaming the alleyways," said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "We have grown accustomed to having human beings living on the streets. It's kind of a sad commentary."
Shortage of services
On any given night, there are at least 1,000 chronically homeless people in Dallas and more than 124,000 nationwide. At the heart of the problem is a lack of mental health services, a deficiency that's especially acute in Texas.
The state ranks 48th nationwide in spending on mental health care for its poorest residents. And this lack of commitment goes back more than a century, if you believe Dr. J.A. Corley, the superintendent of Texas' first state hospital, the State Lunatic Asylum. He complained that the 9-year-old facility was overcrowded and underfunded after it had filled to capacity with 352 patients.
"Our sister state of California, though younger than Texas, has provided accommodations for over one thousand of her insane," Corley wrote to try to shame the Legislature. That was in 1870.
Such institutions were being de-emphasized by the 1960s, the first of a series of factors that have conspired against the chronically homeless. Among them:
• A shortage of affordable housing. Revitalization efforts in the 1980s led to the tearing down of cheap housing even as federal housing assistance programs were being cut. About 18,000 people are on a waiting list for housing assistance from the Dallas Housing Authority, and the wait is three to five years long.
"The bottom line is we have a housing affordability crisis, and it most negatively affects people on very low incomes," said Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has done extensive research on homelessness.
• Low disability benefits. Many of the chronically homeless receive disability checks of about $675 a month, hardly enough to rent an apartment and pay other living expenses.
• Disenfranchisement. People on the streets with mental illness have had little voice among lawmakers. This year, the mayors of Texas' largest cities asked for $50 million over two years to help the homeless. The measure is pending.
• Fiscal conservatism. Advocates for more housing and mental health treatment face a tough political climate.
"Over the last six years, there's no doubt that there has been a tone of fiscal conservatism that has perpetuated the reputation of Texas being stingy with mental health dollars," said state Rep. David Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, a longtime mental health advocate. Farabee said he's hopeful that federal stimulus money also will allow the Legislature to provide more mental health dollars.
• A fragmented system. Many homeless people fall through cracks because of a lack of coordination among social service agencies. A person leaving one psychiatric hospital, for example, may be told to follow up at an outpatient clinic. But if the person doesn't show up, the clinic is not likely to track him or her down because it has no funding to do so.
• Stigma. There's a lack of understanding that the chronically homeless are extremely vulnerable and need significant help putting their lives back together. Instead, they are blamed for their situation.
"Generally, mental illness is something you can't cure by yourself," said John Castañeda, executive director of Turtle Creek Manor, a Dallas center that serves people with mental illnesses who also face addictions. "To say 'pull yourself up by your own bootstraps' won't work. It's impossible."
Many challenges
Richard Antwine wants to get off the streets. He wants his own apartment. And he wants to work.
Some days, he walks several miles asking business owners if he can sweep their parking lots. He talks about making a little money clipping other homeless guys' hair, saying he once attended a barber college.
But he's up against a lot. His severe depression has left him suicidal at times. He hears those voices. He has abused cocaine and alcohol, a common escape from mental illnesses.
He has a criminal record that includes drug possession, theft and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. The divorced father of three grown daughters does not have the kind of family support that keeps some others from spiraling into homelessness.
Antwine's sister, JoAnn Williams of Garland, has watched him through psychiatric institutions, shelters and jail for years. She cooks for him and gives him cash here and there, but she has a family to take care of and said her brother needs more help than she can provide.
"I don't know where he is from one day to the next," she said. "If I don't hear from him, I don't have no way of calling him. He don't have a phone, and I don't know if he's dead. I watch the news all the time. Sometimes I am scared to watch the news."
'Good intentions'
Across the nation, thousands of people like Antwine have ricocheted through institutions for years despite the many programs designed to help them.
"We've had a quarter-century of good intentions, well-meaning programs and human gestures, but to be honest, they have not worked," said Philip Mangano, executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. "The antidote to homelessness is, shockingly, a place to live."
Many programs to help the homeless traditionally have not placed enough emphasis on housing, Culhane, the professor, said.
"We have a lot of homeless people who get social services, shelters, mental health services, all of which does nothing to solve their housing problem," he said. "It's not a good use of resources to spend all this money and they're still in a cardboard box on Main Street."
Mangano, who will leave his post this month, led efforts to encourage cities including Dallas to adopt 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness. This has led to increased funding for special housing and support for the chronically homeless, and that's gotten a number off the streets.
But there's still not nearly enough housing, leaving many chronically homeless people like Antwine to fend for themselves.
Passed around
Antwine's dizzying ordeal through psychiatric hospitals, emergency rooms, boarding homes and shelters in just the last four months shows how the lack of care can doom someone to the streets.
In January, he spent about two weeks at Terrell State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital with about 300 beds and several aging empty buildings that once housed nearly three times that number of patients. From there, he was taken to a clinic, but he left before seeing the doctor.
Instead of going to a boarding house as planned, he ended up at The Bridge, Dallas' homeless-assistance center. Soon after, he said, he was robbed and stabbed as he searched for an East Dallas rooming house. He recovered at a Pleasant Grove boarding house but soon left over a rent dispute. From there, he went to the Salvation Army's shelter and finally to another boarding home.
In March, Antwine was placed under the care of a special team of caseworkers who stay in close contact with patients to make sure they take medications, show up for appointments and remain stable. It's an intensive service that few receive because of strained budgets. Antwine started feeling better and made plans to move into an apartment on April 1. But even the caseworkers had no control over what happened next.
Police arrested Antwine as he walked downtown on a warrant for not reporting to his parole officer. Instead of moving into a new home, Antwine was in jail, wearing a striped uniform, eating skimpy bologna sandwiches and staring at the wall because he could not afford anything to read.
"I don't know what's going on," Antwine said last month. "I'm just sitting here doing nothing when I shouldn't be here."
Obama faces test on Afghanistan, Pakistan
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama's ambitious strategy for Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, dubbed "Afpak" by administration officials, will face its first test Wednesday when he meets with the leaders of both countries -- neither of which is seen as able to maintain stability and fight strengthening Islamic insurgencies.
The president will meet separately with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari before holding a joint session with the two leaders. The leaders also will hold talks at the State Department, FBI, CIA and on Capitol Hill.
Obama will try to build an enduring regional alliance with both countries, enlisting them as full partners rather than treating them as battlefields for U.S. soldiers to fight extremists. But both leaders are seen as weak and are deeply unpopular back home.
The Taliban has re-emerged to retake large swaths of Afghanistan, and in recent weeks, Taliban fighters have made alarming advances in Pakistan.
Just last week, the State Department warned that al Qaeda continues to enjoy safe haven along the rugged border between the countries, where al Qaeda plots attacks against the U.S. and its allies.
U.S. concern has focused on Pakistan, which Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, on Monday aptly warned has its "pants on fire."
In Pakistan's Swat Valley, the government's recent peace deal with militants pushing for the establishment of strict Islamic law went awry, allowing the Taliban to advance within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad. The government's initial inaction prompted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to accuse Islamabad of abdicating to terrorists. Obama also expressed concern about the fragility of Zardari's government.
Richard Holbrooke, Obama's formidable point man for Afpak, insists Pakistan isn't a failed state. Yet there is plenty of concern in Washington that Zardari's government could fall, leaving Pakistan's considerable nuclear arsenal at risk.
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Holbrooke also played down reports the U.S. is courting Zardari's main political rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Rather, officials say the U.S. wants the two men to work together, which would divert Zardari's attention away from domestic political squabbles and enable him to unite the country in the fight against extremists.
This is the U.S. main challenge -- persuading Pakistan to focus on what it considers a "mortal threat," and not on what Obama himself has called the Pakistani military's misguided "obsession" with neighboring India.
The Taliban advances seem to have delivered a wake-up call to the government, which has launched an offensive against the militants. To help, Obama has asked Congress to quickly approve hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid to help the Pakistanis combat the insurgency and is supporting a $7.5 billion civilian aid package over the next five years.
Concerned about reports that the Pakistani military is working at cross-purposes and, in some cases, aiding the Taliban, Congress is trying to condition the money on progress made by Pakistani forces in rooting out extremists.
A key component of the U.S. strategy is a surge in civilian assistance to boost domestic support for both governments. In an effort to promote more economic development and cooperation between the U.S. and the two countries, the ministers of agriculture and finance from both countries have been invited to Washington to join the talks.
While the U.S. focus clearly has been on Pakistan, violence in Afghanistan has reached its highest levels since Taliban forces were driven from power after the U.S. invaded in the fall of 2001 in response to the 9/11 terror attacks.
The U.S. wants to ensure stability in the lead-up to August elections, which is why Obama has committed 21,000 additional troops, in addition to the much needed economic assistance.
Since talking office in January, Obama and other U.S. officials have been tough on Karzai, criticizing his government as ineffective and weak on corruption. Karzai further angered U.S. officials this week when he named Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a powerful warlord accused of violating human rights, as his vice presidential running mate, despite warnings from Secretary of State Clinton that Fahim would be a polarizing choice.
But despite the belief by many in Washington it is time for Karzai to go, the Afghan president arrived this week in Washington virtually assured re-election, having persuaded his main opposition not to run against him.
In a speech Tuesday, Karzai wisely said "money can't buy you love" and "force won't buy you obedience"
Those sentiments illustrate one of the deficits in Obama's strategy.
While the U.S. hopes the additional assistance will turn both leaders into reliable allies, the administration has yet to unveil a plan for communicating directly to the Afghan and Pakistani populations, both of which are skeptical of the U.S. intentions toward their countries.
Additionally, the U.S. has focused its diplomacy so far on officials at the federal level, and efforts to establish strong and regular lines of communication with provincial government officials are in their infancy. That has contributed to the lack of U.S. influence in Pakistan during the Taliban's recent advances in the Northwest Frontier.
Creating and implementing an effective strategy toward Afghanistan, and more importantly, Pakistan, is proving to be one of the most challenging, yet important, foreign policy issues facing the Obama administration. Wednesday's talks will be the first indicator as to whether the U.S. has two partners in what has been dubbed "Obama's war."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/analysis.obama.afghanistan.pakistan/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama's ambitious strategy for Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, dubbed "Afpak" by administration officials, will face its first test Wednesday when he meets with the leaders of both countries -- neither of which is seen as able to maintain stability and fight strengthening Islamic insurgencies.
ReplyDeletePakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will meet with Afghanistan's president and President Obama.
The president will meet separately with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari before holding a joint session with the two leaders. The leaders also will hold talks at the State Department, FBI, CIA and on Capitol Hill.
Obama will try to build an enduring regional alliance with both countries, enlisting them as full partners rather than treating them as battlefields for U.S. soldiers to fight extremists. But both leaders are seen as weak and are deeply unpopular back home.
The Taliban has re-emerged to retake large swaths of Afghanistan, and in recent weeks, Taliban fighters have made alarming advances in Pakistan.
Just last week, the State Department warned that al Qaeda continues to enjoy safe haven along the rugged border between the countries, where al Qaeda plots attacks against the U.S. and its allies.
U.S. concern has focused on Pakistan, which Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, on Monday aptly warned has its "pants on fire."
In Pakistan's Swat Valley, the government's recent peace deal with militants pushing for the establishment of strict Islamic law went awry, allowing the Taliban to advance within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad. The government's initial inaction prompted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to accuse Islamabad of abdicating to terrorists. Obama also expressed concern about the fragility of Zardari's government.
Richard Holbrooke, Obama's formidable point man for Afpak, insists Pakistan isn't a failed state. Yet there is plenty of concern in Washington that Zardari's government could fall, leaving Pakistan's considerable nuclear arsenal at risk.
Don't Miss
Half million expected to flee before offensive
Karzai worried about Taliban gains in Pakistan
Holbrooke: Let's back Pakistani government
Afghanistan replaces Iraq as U.S. priority
Holbrooke also played down reports the U.S. is courting Zardari's main political rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Rather, officials say the U.S. wants the two men to work together, which would divert Zardari's attention away from domestic political squabbles and enable him to unite the country in the fight against extremists.
This is the U.S. main challenge -- persuading Pakistan to focus on what it considers a "mortal threat," and not on what Obama himself has called the Pakistani military's misguided "obsession" with neighboring India.
The Taliban advances seem to have delivered a wake-up call to the government, which has launched an offensive against the militants. To help, Obama has asked Congress to quickly approve hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid to help the Pakistanis combat the insurgency and is supporting a $7.5 billion civilian aid package over the next five years.
Concerned about reports that the Pakistani military is working at cross-purposes and, in some cases, aiding the Taliban, Congress is trying to condition the money on progress made by Pakistani forces in rooting out extremists.
A key component of the U.S. strategy is a surge in civilian assistance to boost domestic support for both governments. In an effort to promote more economic development and cooperation between the U.S. and the two countries, the ministers of agriculture and finance from both countries have been invited to Washington to join the talks.
While the U.S. focus clearly has been on Pakistan, violence in Afghanistan has reached its highest levels since Taliban forces were driven from power after the U.S. invaded in the fall of 2001 in response to the 9/11 terror attacks.
The U.S. wants to ensure stability in the lead-up to August elections, which is why Obama has committed 21,000 additional troops, in addition to the much needed economic assistance.
Since talking office in January, Obama and other U.S. officials have been tough on Karzai, criticizing his government as ineffective and weak on corruption. Karzai further angered U.S. officials this week when he named Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a powerful warlord accused of violating human rights, as his vice presidential running mate, despite warnings from Secretary of State Clinton that Fahim would be a polarizing choice.
But despite the belief by many in Washington it is time for Karzai to go, the Afghan president arrived this week in Washington virtually assured re-election, having persuaded his main opposition not to run against him.
In a speech Tuesday, Karzai wisely said "money can't buy you love" and "force won't buy you obedience"
Those sentiments illustrate one of the deficits in Obama's strategy.
While the U.S. hopes the additional assistance will turn both leaders into reliable allies, the administration has yet to unveil a plan for communicating directly to the Afghan and Pakistani populations, both of which are skeptical of the U.S. intentions toward their countries.
Additionally, the U.S. has focused its diplomacy so far on officials at the federal level, and efforts to establish strong and regular lines of communication with provincial government officials are in their infancy. That has contributed to the lack of U.S. influence in Pakistan during the Taliban's recent advances in the Northwest Frontier.
Creating and implementing an effective strategy toward Afghanistan, and more importantly, Pakistan, is proving to be one of the most challenging, yet important, foreign policy issues facing the Obama administration. Wednesday's talks will be the first indicator as to whether the U.S. has two partners in what has been dubbed "Obama's war."
Poverty, Tendency to Self-Medicate Help Drive Up Flu Deaths in Mexico
ReplyDeleteBy Joshua Partlow and William Booth
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
This pertains to the resolution by proving that poverty in the world is bad, will make it a priori to help in the U.S.
Poverty increases as economy suffers
Rising rates vary widely across Wisconsin with highest rate in Milwaukee County listed at 17.3 percent
by Rachel Vesco
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 00:11
This proves that poverty is rising and we need to help
To work, Obama's new 'AfPak' strategy must fight poverty
By Mustafa Qadri
Commentary by
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
could use a joint operation cp, or plan this could be solvency...
As mental health support wanes, many doomed to homelessness
ReplyDeleteMay 3, 2009
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/050309dnmethomeless.40533a2.html
In this article it talks about how some people have lost homes when they had depression, Vietnam veterans where also home less.and then finally, in the 1990s, the political climate made it difficult to get more government money for housing and mental health treatment. and then it goes into more details about how we shouold help the homeless and why people are so roff on them.
Job recovery may be on the way
ReplyDeleteBy Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: May 6, 2009: 1:12 PM ET
http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/06/news/economy/jobs/
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In the midst of a recession, massive job loss announcements have become commonplace. But after some reports Wednesday, economists are starting to talk about a job market recovery.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has shed about 5 million jobs, according to government data. Economists expect the Labor Department's report to show that the economy lost another 620,000 jobs in April when it is released Friday.
The unemployment rate is predicted to rise to 8.9% from 8.5%, which would be the highest since September 1983.
But there's a chance the numbers may not be so bleak.
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported Wednesday that the number of layoffs announced in April fell for the third straight month
And payroll-processing firm Automatic Data Processing said private-sector employment decreased by 491,000 in April, a 31% improvement from the revised 708,000 drop in March. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a loss of 643,000 jobs last month.
In a conference call with reporters, ADP spokesman Joel Prakken said the better-than-expected report bodes well for Friday's government number.
Economists share that sentiment. Along with other recent indicators, "this sharp turn of the ADP hints of a recovery," according to Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics.
0:00 /2:38Recruiters: Jobs available now!
Brusca says once the economy begins to pick up later this year, jobs will bounce back quickly.
"The low point in employment generally comes one or two months into the recovery, there isn't much lag time." he said. Now, "we are laying the ground work for a good snap back in the economy."
Not so fast: Other economists agree that job losses may be more moderate going forward, but say a speedy recovery is unlikely this year.
Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board, says that although there have been some positive signs indicating a recovery in the job market, the real turning point is still a ways away.
In a recovery, employment is often a lagging indicator, he explained, because employers will wait until they feel certain the recession is over before they start hiring workers again. Once the economy improves, it could take another 3 to 6 months before employment picks up, Levanon said.
Weak consumer spending and a higher savings rate could further slow the engine for growth, he added.
But a speedy rebound in employer confidence is not out of the question.
"There has been a real sea change in the leading indicators over the last few months, which now gives us very objective reasons to be hopeful that the recession will be drawing to a close," said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute.
While Achuthan predicts the pace of job losses should moderate through the end of the summer, he says the nation will lose well over an additional million jobs before this recession ends.
"It's great news that the end of the recession is in sight," he said, but "let's be clear, the pain is not over."
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In the midst of a recession, massive job loss announcements have become commonplace. But after some reports Wednesday, economists are starting to talk about a job market recovery.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has shed about 5 million jobs, according to government data. Economists expect the Labor Department's report to show that the economy lost another 620,000 jobs in April when it is released Friday.
The unemployment rate is predicted to rise to 8.9% from 8.5%, which would be the highest since September 1983.
But there's a chance the numbers may not be so bleak.
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported Wednesday that the number of layoffs announced in April fell for the third straight month
And payroll-processing firm Automatic Data Processing said private-sector employment decreased by 491,000 in April, a 31% improvement from the revised 708,000 drop in March. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a loss of 643,000 jobs last month.
In a conference call with reporters, ADP spokesman Joel Prakken said the better-than-expected report bodes well for Friday's government number.
Economists share that sentiment. Along with other recent indicators, "this sharp turn of the ADP hints of a recovery," according to Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics.
0:00 /2:38Recruiters: Jobs available now!
Brusca says once the economy begins to pick up later this year, jobs will bounce back quickly.
"The low point in employment generally comes one or two months into the recovery, there isn't much lag time." he said. Now, "we are laying the ground work for a good snap back in the economy."
Not so fast: Other economists agree that job losses may be more moderate going forward, but say a speedy recovery is unlikely this year.
Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board, says that although there have been some positive signs indicating a recovery in the job market, the real turning point is still a ways away.
In a recovery, employment is often a lagging indicator, he explained, because employers will wait until they feel certain the recession is over before they start hiring workers again. Once the economy improves, it could take another 3 to 6 months before employment picks up, Levanon said.
Weak consumer spending and a higher savings rate could further slow the engine for growth, he added.
But a speedy rebound in employer confidence is not out of the question.
"There has been a real sea change in the leading indicators over the last few months, which now gives us very objective reasons to be hopeful that the recession will be drawing to a close," said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute.
While Achuthan predicts the pace of job losses should moderate through the end of the summer, he says the nation will lose well over an additional million jobs before this recession ends.
"It's great news that the end of the recession is in sight," he said, but "let's be clear, the pain is not over."
May 5, 2009
ReplyDeleteObama administration seeks $63B for world health
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1000&u_sid=10626948
may 5, 2009
Maine legalizes same-sex marriage
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/maine.same.sex.marriage/index.html
AMartin, if you are going to camp, they will teach you how to research. To be honest, just keep cutting and recutting evidence, and you will get better at it. If you are still having issues, let me know.
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