College Education Program

As Arctic refuge turns 50, some want drilling ban

On Monday the Arctic National Wildlife refuge will celebrate its 50th anniversary and President Obama is being urged to bestow it with national monument status to prevent it from being drilled for oil. There currently is eleven billion barrels of oil under the beautiful land but this status would block oil companies from ever harvesting it. Members of congress, scientist, and businesses are pressuring the president to put an end to the fight to extract the oil and bestow this great honor. However, all people are not for blocking the oil companies from the rich good, including Alaskans who say the oil is vital to the future energy needs of the United States. This is a great example of the problems the energy issue cause.
-Will Kalish
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40509239/ns/us_news-environment/#

Terrorism makes NYC more wary, gradually

This article depicts the changes New York City has gone through since the 9/11 attacks. Since then New York has taken numerous steps to prevent terrorism. Most people would say that this is a great thing; however, it has been taken way too far. There are now cameras all over the entire city watching citizens at every minute of the day which is an obvious violation of the citizen’s privacy. Also, police are on every corner and occasionally search people’s bags randomly. Now it is important to protect the people, but all of these precautions are making life in the city miserable not only for its current residents but tourists as well, who are not allowed to see attractions which used to be popular.
-Will Kalish
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40509559/ns/us_news-security/#

Obama makes surprise trip to Afghanistan

The primary focus of the president's trip is to meet with and thank U.S. troops. He also will do a secure videoconference meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, after a planned trip to the palace in Kabul as part of the visit was canceled due to bad weather. The new strategy announced last December authorized 30,000 additional troops to be brought in during 2010 to step up the fight. Most of the added forces were in place by October, increasing the U.S. contingent to about 95,000. They are supplemented by 48,000 military personnel from 47 other nations in the coalition, led by NATO.

Post by: Ziying Yuan

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-1204-obama-afghanistan-20101203, 0,7077667.story

Wikileaks

It's been a long and restless past few days for the United States a well as significant others including: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and many European countries all due to one man, Julian Assange. Assange recently leaked 220 confidential cables that were never meant for public eyes and gave away secret relations between countries that could potentially jeopardize national security. The United States recently debated whether or not Assange should be tried and prosecuted for espionage or terrorist activities but it seems Interpol beat them to it. Assange claims that he is just the publisher not the "leaker" and should not face penalties under the 1st amendment. Assange's mother desperately pleads for her son's safety, now realizing how many powerful enemies Assange has made with his recent publication of confidential information. Assange calls himself a crusading reporter but is that what he really is? I personally believe he should be prosecuted because even though he hasn't released any Top Secret files YET, Assange did release information that is destroying relationships between once friendly nations and publishing national security secrets that show the way certain organizations operate.


Sam Lanfear
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/01/3081532.htm

Higher Taxes, Budget Cuts Needed to Reduce Deficit

Higher Taxes to Reduce Deficit

A majority of Americans believe taxes will have to be raised and government services will have to be reduced in order to cut the federal deficit. President Obama on Monday announced a plan to freeze the pay of government workers in order to save as much as $60 billion over the next decade. The CNBC poll said that 54% of Americans believe that taxes will be raised in order to lower the federal deficit. “Most poll respondents (54 percent) say changes made to close the deficit should be evenly distributed among all Americans-a shared burden with shared sacrifices and shared costs. But, more than a third (38 percent) say the changes should be targeted to impact the wealthy. Only six percent say the changes should focus on low-income citizens.”

            This is unfortunate news for us graduating from college in the next few years. Most likely all of us will fall into one of the higher tax brackets. The tax expenditures proposed are taking money away from us before we ever start to work As young adults we have mostly relied on our parents for financial support. Everyday we see new taxes being created which is going to heavily lower our income.