Wikileaks

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, was arrested on Monday in London from several sexual charges. The United States and several other countries have been angry at Wikileaks posts for giving out confidential information dealing with their national security.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/wikileaks

What is your opinion about this? Should Wikileaks be shut down or should it be allowed to give out all this information?

In my opinion, this information should be taken down. This website gives out information that can jeopardize our national security. Although I believe that freedom of speech is a right, giving out information that can hurt the people of our country should not be given out at all.

A New Arms Race

Today we heard in class that President Medvedev of Russia predicted that there would be a new "Arms Race" if the United States and Russia did not sign a weapon pact.

What do you think about his? I think that we need to sign an arms pact with Russia but it should not be our highest priority. I think that this is a very important pact that needs to be made between the United States and Russia. We do not want to have another Cold War. We need to continue to gain in our technology like we always have but not to have Super Powers displaying their strength by seeing who can create the most deadly weapon and who can have the most of it.

60 Minutes Blog

We just watched a clip from 60 minutes that had an interview with Barack Obama. Although President Obama said that he was responsible for everything that is happening, he did make several excuses. This shows that he thinks that it is not his fault. I think that he needs to do a better job of being responsible for the United States' problems. He needs to find solutions to the problems with the economy and not just blame every single thing on the Bush Administration. At the beginning of the video, Obama said the statistics of the jobs lost each month before he stepped into office and the months afterward. He blamed President Bush and his administration for the jobs lost. I think that President Obama, if he wants to work with the Republicans, needs to take responsibility for the state that the country is in now.

The Death Penalty

Today, I read an article on the Indianapolis Star talking about the death penalty needing more money to be able to pay for it. It said that most likely, we will just pay more money for capital punishment rather than abolishing it and saving money.

http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=indystar&sParam=35076435.story

In my opinion, I think that capital punishment should be banned everywhere. I think that it makes more sense to have someone suffer for the rest of their lives in prision than for someone to suffer only for a short time. Also, according to the article, money will be saved if we ban the death penalty. What do you think about this? Should we ban capital punishment? Give me your reasons why or why not it should be banned.

World Relationships

Last week, we heard of President Obama visiting India to improve business relationships and also to support India in obtaining a seat within the United Nations. Also, we heard of Govenor Mitch Daniels making a trip to China to try to improve business between China and Indiana. What do you think about this situation? Should the United States expand its busnesses even more with other countries or should the United States become more of an isolated business country?

I think that what we are doing now with the other countries is the right thing to do. I think we need to expand business opprotunities for American companies. We need to improve relationships with all nations around the world. The United States needs to provide more economic openings for American businesses.

Iraqi Christians

Last week, we heard of a hostage situation in an Iraqi Church that killed 52 and wounded 67. Men with guns and bombs straped to them took over the Church because these people were Christian. Then, to make it even worse, Iraqi police did not do the right thing, and rushed into the Church and took it back over. Since the Iraqi police did not try to negotiate or tactically atry to retake the Church, the terrorists began to kill all those people.

What do you think about this situation? I think that because this has happened and now that Al-Qaeda has threatened Iraqi Chrisitians, there needs to be much more security for Iraqi Christians. Also, Iraq needs to train their police force to be able to handle their situations with care and concern while also being able to carry out successful tactical moves.

Yemen Terror Plot

This week, we heard of a terror plot that was foiled originating from the country of Yemen. There were two seperate bombs aboard flight being mailed to two synagogues in Chicago.

http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=indystar&sParam=34922461.story

What are your thought on this situation and should we have even more procautions on airplane travel? I think that we need to take more procautions with not only people traveling, but also packages simple on mail flights. The two bombs were hidden in printer cartrages and we need to be able to check inside of everything. We were lucky to not have another September 11th.