"change that we can believe in "

Nestor Hernandez

            The United States entered a recession period in 2007. When President Obama was elected everyone was talking about how he was going to deal with all problems that were left unsolved by former President George Bush.  The main topic talked about was the economy. People were desperate to find out how the new president would contribute to better the economy.

            On his first speeches Obama , focused on the economy saying that he was going to do everything on his power to improve the economy. People were already relying on his word. As time went by the public was dissatisfied with the outcome. The unemployment rate was increasing and the Obama admistration was not successful at creating more jobs. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has predicted that “unemployment rate will remain high for five years.”  The public started to question if Obama strategy would really work.

            Obama was and still is under pressure because Americans are still waiting for that change.  The president not only has to deal with economic issues but also domestic and international issues.  He can’t just focus on one problem; he has to work with staff and congress to approach the most important issues affecting the nation. Another issue he has to deal with is immigration. Immigrants relied on Obama that he will pass a law that would allow them to work and live in the United States legally. He can’t alone make the decisions.  Some people do not understand when a new president sets in, he has to explore his surroundings and then start acting on his main priorities. People were expecting greatness from him and they wanted to see change right away.  When people see that it is not how they picture it, they start criticizing the president. He has been called a liar during one of his speeches. Republican Joe Wilson interrupted Obama during his speech and said out loud “you lied”. He later apologized by saying that “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.” It can be said that after such incident Obama continued with his speech and that shows that he is strong character and that’s why he is leading the nation.

Recently Obama appeared on the John steward “the daily show”, he emphasized that change is not going to happen right away and “"When we promised during campaign 'change you can believe in, it wasn't change you can believe in, in 18 months, yes we can but it is not going to happen overnight" Obama said to applause from the audience. “We're going to have to work for it." He is letting the public know that he is doing the best he can, to better the situation that he is been facing since he came into office. When the public is satisfied with the president performance and keeps the economy in good shape they tend to be more lenient when judging the president. For example the media coverage of the Lewinsky scandal, it was a mistake on the president  clinton's part to have an affair but since the economy was good, people kind of let it slide because he was doing a good job. Public performance as president counts and Obama will have to show his abilities that he can do it. This way he will keep the public happy. Although he might not be involved in a scandal but if the economy is good, he will be a successful president. I think he has been efficient to this point because no other president has faced many challenges. For example the post 9/11 atmosphere, war in Iraq and the economic crisis. 

            What we can hope that is things get better as his term matures, so that people can really notice that he is a great president and that he will do what he promised. “change that we can believe in”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/09/gop-rep-wilson-yells-out_n_281480.html

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/can-obama-create-more-jobs-soon/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/28/barack-obama-jon-stewart-the-daily-show

Drug Cartels

Nestor Hernandez

The drug cartels are destroying Mexico. As a result, the economy is in bad shape and innocent people are dying. The government is not performing its job efficiently therefore the country is falling apart.

Mexico’s economy depends heavily on tourism, but since drug cartels have taken over, tourism has reduced dramatically. People from the United States, Canada and other Europeans nations for whom Mexico was their favorite place to visit are now afraid to go there.  They fear for their lives and choose to go somewhere else thus affecting Mexican tourism.

Another issue with the drug cartels is that they kill anybody that gets on their way.  In the last two years more than 28, 000 people have been murdered (NY times Jun, 3 2010) by cartel members in the city of Juarez alone. This is an alarming amount for a city of its size.  Recently 72 people were shot and killed. They were migrants coming to the United States illegally. According to Mexican officials, they were murdered because they refused to participate in illegal activities related to drugs (El Paso Times Aug 26, 2010). The governments of Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador were upset at the Mexican government because of their inefficiency in combating drug cartels. The migrants were mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador and Brazil.  The drug cartels have become such a problem that is affecting other nations as well.

There have been reports liking police officers to collaborating with drug cartels because of their low salary. They need money to survive and if the government pay is not enough, then their other choice is to turn to corruption. This is what is contributing to the chaos in Mexico. (CNN Aug 2010). Police officers and town mayors have linked to have some affiliation with drug cartels.

Felipe Calderon, the current president of Mexico, has spoken to his people telling them, that he will do everything in his power to better the situation. In his past speeches, he has said “the government would press ahead in its military led battle against drug cartels”. The death toll is increasing every year. This proved that his strategy is not is not working. He needs to come up with a different plan. A good example that Mexican citizens are turning their backs on the government is the 20 year old police chief who was hired recently in Juarez.  She said “my job will not be to fight drug cartel because that’s the responsibility of the organs of governments.’ (msnbc, Oct, 20, 2010).  I agree with her statement because she is being brave by taking this positions that nobody wanted because they were scared.  She alone can’t make a difference. She needs help from the federal government and hopefully she gets the help because she has taken a risk that many could not handle.

The Mexican media is doing a great in reporting on drug cartels. They are also too graphic by showing dead bodies of dismembered people.  This sends a message to the government that they need to do something about because it is affecting the lives of Mexican citizens.  Based on the information I found I sincerely think that Mexican government lack of efficiency when it comes to dealing with drug cartels. The president has said that he is trying to control this problem but it doesn’t seem like it because innocent people are still dying at the hands of these criminals. The U.S government has spent a lot of money trying to combat drug cartels but has little or no result. An estimated 25 billion dollars is destined to fight drug related activities as pointed out by the secretary of state Hilary Clinton. She stated “Our Insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade”.(Washington Post March 26, 2010)  All of this money is being wasted because in the last two years things have gotten worst. I think that the Mexican government as well as US government should make this war on drugs, one  of their priorities in their agenda. If the government doesn’t stop them who will? I think a possible solution to this problem would if the Mexican government hires a group of well trained officials from the U.S to specifically hunt and incarcerate these individuals. If this is not enough then the U.N has to step in and help the Mexican government because clearly it is out of their hands. Drug cartels are too powerful; they even have better and advanced weapons than the Mexican army. Sooner or later the government has to stop this or will cease to exist because drug cartels will run Mexico. 

Is black gold worth more than the lives of animals ?

Nestor Hernandez

           

The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was devastating and caused a lot of damage to the environment as well as the wildlife. Moreover affecting the fishing industry, but who is to blame for the disaster. As the oil spill progressed more animals were being affected by it. The public reaction to the issue was that Oil Company that should respond to the disaster was BP. BP staff ignored that some species could possibly face extinction.

            ABC news had a whole report on how the oil spill was damaging the animals’ habitat.  It was shocking to see these animals struggling to survive. They showed a picture of a pelican with stained feathers standing on a rock. Animals should not be victims of human error. The BP staff lacked of solutions to stop the spill oil and prevent from lasting that long.  They are trying to save the lives of the animals by physically washing off the oil that got on their feathers, but is it enough?

            They are aware of all the calamities that this brought to the wildlife, but can they completely restore the habitat of the animals? As of June 7^th, it was reported that 189 sea turtles, 12 dolphins and 23 birds had already died (Los Angeles Times). These creatures did not have to die because of the stupidity of the oil companies. They only care about generating profits so they can get richer. Today they are probably more worried about all the millions that they lost than trying to speed up the process to save the lives of these animals that are still at risk of dying. Many animals died, they can’t undo what is been done. So hopefully they will do what they said they would do to improve the environment of these creatures.  BP and all other oil companies have to come up with a more strategic plan to deal and prevent this type of disaster.  These incidents are unpredictable but preventable. In case another oil spill occurs, the people involved in it, should focus more on the damage that it would bring to the wildlife.  If they are not prepared to deal with an oil spill, more animals have to go through the same vexed situation.

It is also important to point out that the oil spill has affected the lives of those people who make a living out of fishing. The shrimp sales went down dramatically .no one wants to buy seafood that might be contaminated. Some of them went out of business. Experts claim that it will take a considerable amount of time for the water to clear up (New York Times, Jun 2).  Meanwhile they have to find a way to make money because they have been fishing all of their lives.

Thanks to the intensive coverage of the media on the issue got more people involved. It helped them to become more aware of what is happening to the environment and the animals living in it.  People could protest against the oil companies involved in the disaster, maybe this could help prevent animals death toll from rising. As for the oil companies, our planet is deteriorating slowly and it is up to us human to protect it not destroying it.