Post by Lorenzo

There was post by Lorenzo on November 26, 2014 on "A look at US military action..." and I agree with both Kevin and Lorenzo, that yes we should look after our US troops but my first question will be why does US have to go into other countries and getting into their business when they didn't even ask for help. My main point is that US always wants to reach out and help well that's a nice thing but killing innocent people, well now that's just brutal. I agree with Kevin that the ISIS group just didn't pop out of nowhere, also i agree that the US did help Syria by training their military troops and giving them weapons that would help them fight. First of all if US hadn't gone to the middle east and "helped" the people then probably these groups wouldn't have been appeared. And yes I also agree that this so called ISIS group is slaughtering innocent people in front of the camera and therefore yes they do need to be stopped. Also when I said innocent people are being killed, by that i meant was when US drops bombs on the terrorist groups, well they aren't only killing the terrorists but they are also killing innocent people . Also in random fire the innocent civilians get shot down, i am only trying to say is that US troops should be just careful when they shoot at the terrorists.

Gun Control

 Nowadays  we hear a lot about people getting killed or little kids having guns and taking at school. Some people say there needs to be stricter rules on Guns or any other type of weapon. A guy made a good argument by saying, " We have to take a driving test to get a license so why shouldn’t we have background checks for guns?" Before handing out any type of weapon first they should do a clean background check just to make sure the person isn't psycho. Some people argue that we need guns because they will help them protect their family and their freedom rights. There is a article on Gun control on USNEWS "The Second Amendment to the Constitution, which concerns the right to bear arms, is always a hot-button issue, especially during election season. Gun rights and gun control groups alike have been lobbying Congress for decades to craft legislation in their respective favors." I agree with this person because this is always a big issue on the election day and never on a normal day., and why is that? The gun issue has quadrupled in the past few years and we can see on the news or hear that kids are dying or innocent people are being killed for unnecessary reason."In the 2008 Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller the court ruled that the Constitution protects an individual’s right to own a gun for personal use. But the 5-4 decision only applied to federal laws and failed to address local and state laws." Congress is either wants to put this issue into a blunt or make it sharpen, but clearly as we can see it is not being changed that much that it would help the people of the United States. "The National Rifle Association called the ruling a landmark, but the decision did not specify what kind of gun laws can be applied to the Second Amendment."

on Oct. 31 2014 Lorezo Perales wrote a post

There was a post by Lorenzo Perales and yes i do agree with you, that these people are turning out to be bad once they leave Guantanamo bay, but the fact that i don't agree is that not all people are like that, every person has its own choice to do something so i would say not every man would turn out to be bad. Also the other fact that they are being tortured to a limit where they can't take it anymore, and that is totally wrong. Obama at some point is doing the right thing but at the other not so well. There is another way were this people won't turn out to be who they are after they leave the Guantanamo bay and its by keep a torturing to a limit and not exceeding too much that the person just goes crazy and thinks of only and only of revenge.

Global Warming

     Global warming has caused lots of destruction across the nation. There had been a devastating drought and flooding in the Midwest and destructive wildfires in Colorado and California. Coastal communities are threatened by predicted sea leave rise.  Carbon pollution is primarily known for Global warming and the largest single source of this global warming pollution is power plants, these power plants are responsible for 40% of carbon emissions nationally. Carbon pollution is so dangerous because  carbon pollution comes from burning fossil fuels like coal and oil. This increases the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events ranging from droughts and wildfires to hurricanes and severe flooding. On Thursday October 16,2014 about 540 solar industry leaders from hundreds of businesses issued a letter to the white house, asking for limits on carbon pollution from power plants and advocating that solar energy should become our main point. On June 2, 2014, the environmental protection agency proposed a clean power plan to finally limit carbon pollution from power plants. "The Clean Power Plan sets targets for 49 states to reduce carbon from their power plants by investing renewable energy and energy efficiency, cleaning up existing power plants, and switching to cleaner fuels." "This is the largest action the U.S. has ever taken on climate, and exactly the leadership we need in order to influence other nations to reduce their own carbon emissions." "“World leaders could not have a starker choice: the people in the streets or the polluters in the board rooms. America can lead the way on climate action by finalizing a strong Clean Power Plan that limits carbon from the biggest global warming polluters and speeds the shift to a 100 percent renewable energy future.”

       I am with president Obama on the issue on global warming and how he planned on changing it. President Obama came up with a Clean Power Plan, which actually i think would be great for this nation, this plan will reduce the carbon pollution and it will help the nation to have renewable and clean energy for people to breathe in. Yes i do agree with our government that global warming isnt just a little problem in fact its a world problem which we are little behind in solving it and its all because of pollution, we can make this nation or this world a better place to live by reducing power plants, staying on natural energy, and by voting for candidates who would do something to change the environment just like Obama.

India's Public Health Crisis

        There was a article on India's Public Health crisis, there was a infected man who traveled from West Africa to India and seeks for a treatment. "There, substandard treatment unleashes an Ebola pandemic. It’s the nightmare scenario set out by Peter Piot, the British microbiologist who first identified the Ebola virus." There are about 45,000 Indians live in West Africa, and Indian trade with Nigeria, particularly for medical services.
         The threat is not abroad but the real threat is in India. The nation spends less than 1 percent of its gross domestic product on public health care. "There are only nine hospital beds per 10,000 in India, compared with 41 per 10,000 in China, and doctors, nurses and lab technicians are critically lacking." The Indian government is incapable of dealing with dangerous diseases. "As many as 80 percent of the 30 million Indians infected with dengue fever every year never seek medical care or are turned away from hospitals whose beds are full." Ebola will soon take over these hospitals and there will be nothing that government could do to help the people. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has promised a universal health insurance plan inspired by the Affordable Care Act in the U.S.
         The government has set up screenings for  Ebola at international airports. But so far no cases have been found in India. "he nation has also contributed $12.5 million to contain the Ebola virus in West Africa and has pledged to use its expertise in producing low-cost drugs to develop an affordable vaccine." 
         I agree with the author because right now there is a need of protection around the world. But that one nation  that has second largest population in the world is not protected then we as whole world could be danger. Also the World Health Organization warns that Ebola can effect 10,000 people a week by the end of the year in West Africa ".... the fumbles dealing with Ebola in Spain and America, improving India’s public health system is a national emergency."  In India there are more deaths by diseases, this tells us that India needs to get up on Medical system so the whole earth can be safe. I know that America is trying its very best to improve India's medical system. I chose this Article because I have my cousins and my family who lives in India and I want to protect them, and i can only do that when there is more protection from the government.

Youngsters are underfunded while elders are fully funded!!!!

         There was a post written by Andy Harris on New York Times opinion page about people who are underfunded by the National Institute of Health Services also known as N.I.H. The younger, brilliant whose ages are under 35 are not getting that much funded as those who are old and ages over 65, who can barely walk.

         The National Bureau of Economic Research from 2005 found that over 2000 Nobel Prize winners and other notable scientists in the 20th century came with the idea that led to their breakthrough. And most these peoples people age were between 35 and 39. The writer saw that most of the innovative thinking came from the young scientists. "Francis S. Collins, has spoken out about the foolishness of NOT investing in young scientists, and his organization has take some small steps to target the younger scientists." Well the result was that the first time grant recipients has stopped rising. And this problem is still going on and the N.I.H. doesn't have any serious plan on fixing it.

         In 1999 to 2003 doubled the N.I.H. budget due to fiscal years,, by $13.6 billion to $27.1 billion, and yet the percentage of grants going to first time recipients under 36 actually dropped, to 1.3 percent from 5 percent. There are other sources of funding, "but for many fields, particularly those that don't have immediate commercial applications or sex appeal for grant making nonprofit groups, the N.I.H. is vital source of money." We can never know what breakthroughs were missed because the young investigators were not provided with the resources necessary to get unique ideas over the last 15 years. "They might have had the idea that would have led to a cure of ovarian cancer, Alzheimer's disease or pediatric cardiomyopathy."

         Authors point is to call his colleagues in congress to push the N.I.H. to promote promising researchers who are in the prime of their careers. There are some suggestions that are given by the author were this can be improved. For one thing that we can do is eliminate a budget scheme, known as the "tap," that allows the Department of Health  and Human Services to shift money out of the N.I.H.  budget into other department efforts. The N.I.H. lost $700 million to the "tap" in 2013 ALONE. Congress should also approve that the median age of first research awards to new investigators be under 40 within 5 years, and under 38 within 10 years. "Failure to meet these benchmarks would result in penalties for the N.I.H., including possible funding cuts." "Doing a better job of targeting good researchers who are doing valuable work in the prime of their careers can ensure that taxpayer money is well spent, and that science as a whole continues to benefit us all."
     


       

Ukraine seeks help from U.S

          Ukraine seeks help from U.S. with military support because beginning of this year there was a war going on between Russian and Ukraine, which kind of ended by our National Government's support. The Ukraine leader Petro O. Poroshenko came to US to ask president Obama to aid Ukrainian soldiers against the Russians. Ukraine is calling for our help because the Russians have started to attack the east side of the Ukraine, president Petro also mentioned that "....a person can't fight with just a blanket..." so not only he is asking for nonlethal weapons but also for  lethal weapons. President Obama's administration hasn't agreed to the request yet. But United States have decided to provide $72 million in nonlethal assistance. Also on Wednesday, the white house agreed on providing additional $46 million in security assistance which will help the Ukraine's military and its border guards.
         The article is worth reading because we need to know if the U.S is making a good decision by helping the Ukrainian's again, even though we had helped them once, also we need to know who  U.S. has alliances with.