Somaliland Riches Waiting to be Commercialized…

March 18, 2009 at 7:50 pm | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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For an unrecognized nation, Somaliland is still doing quite well, especially seeing how the rest of Somalia is still locked into brutal wars.  Having to rely on itself, Somaliland could now be posed to enter the international community.  Oil and natural gas deposits have been discovered both onshore and offshore.  Full story here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7935139.stm

So why isn’t Somaliland being granted recognition?  It is a stable country with little violence, especially when compared to the Somalia Civil War.  It already relies on itself, so by granting recognition, we can be sure that it won’t become an “aid-dependent” nation (i.e. Kiribati, Nauru, Ethiopia, etc.), unless something bad happened, like a drought.  On the business side, the first country that recognizes Somaliland will have the potential for a “first-come, first-serve” basis.  Enriching Somaliland and the other country even further.

Representatives to Represent

December 16, 2008 at 11:06 am | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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With an average of over 600,000 people, the House of Representatives, has been representing the people less with each generation.  The current 435 number has been frozen since 1960 when Alaska and Hawaii temporarily pushed the number to 437.  The Senate has had their 2 senators per state since the Constitution has been in effect.  With over 300 million people in the U.S. and growing the time to increase the representatives in the U.S. Congress needs to be addressed.

The Senate:
2 Senators per State- Increase the number by 4 so that each state elects 4 Senators every regular election cycle.

The advantages to this would be increased representation, and more access (From the voter view) to their politician.  This can help reduce corruption by making removing officials easier from office on charges of misconduct.

The House of Representatives:

Elected by proportion based on population of each state.  California has the most at 53.  Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota, Delaware, Alaska, and Vermont having one representative each.

Increasing the number of representatives per district (By making each district smaller) will give the “common” man a chance to vote for the one who doesn’t just have the large amounts of money to spend on advertisements and speeches.  The U.S. Constitution puts it as 1 per 30,000 for each representative.  But due to the large size of the current population, I believe having 1 per 40,000 would be more attainable.  But it would make the federal government more easier, and it would crowd out the current Chamber.  So that little problem would have to be fixed….

Overall, the number of representatives have decreased as the decades went on due to population growth.  Congress remains largely out of reach to the average Joe and the average Politician may spend tons of money just trying to win a 2 or 6 year seat.

Weird sites I’ve found:

Web pamphlet that describes the reasons behind increasing the Rep’s.

http://www.thirty-thousand.org/

They don’t do much according to their calendar….and their not there right now.  Hmmm….

http://www.house.gov/

http://www.senate.gov/

What’s Ahead

November 5, 2008 at 11:20 am | In Economia, Politica | Leave a Comment
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It’s no news that the economy is not in good shape.  Opening today was Down (And still is at the time of this post), Europe fell while Asia stayed up.

Quick snapshot:

  • Oil continues to hover around the $60-$70 per barrel range.
  • Triple point moves (Both up and down) continue to plague the DOW.
  • Very weak job market.
  • Housing market is still weak and has not found it’s bottom point.
  • Financial concerns are still rampant in the industrialized nations while China and India worry about slower growth.

Worse thing to do (that President Elect Obama wishes to achieve): Raising the Capital Gains Tax Rate from 15% to 28%.  Once that bit of information comes out, it will send stocks into a free fall as every investor looking to make money tries to grab their share before Sn. Obama becomes President.  It also will hurt the housing market severely as people try to unload their homes before having to pay out more tax.

Political outlook: The GOP has enough Senate votes to keep this projected tax at bay.  Filibustering it should be a priority once it hits the Congress floor.

Another thing to worry over: Health care

As stated in my previous post, over 1/5 of adults turn down employer assisted health care.  And this is a quick look at “who” the uninsured are:

Total: 45 million Americans (Down 2 million from last year)

These are estimates, and won’t reflect the 45 mil.  It provides an overall view on who makes up the uninsured.

  • 15 Million are those who are eligible for Medicaid but don’t sign up
  • 15 Million are adults with kids who are eligible for free insurance
  • 10 Million are childless adults
  • 10 are the estimated illegal immigrants
  • Source: MSNBC, “Fleeced” by Dick Morris

Those are discouraging figures yes, but not as much as a problem as the media and various people make them out to be.  If a person is refusing to sign up for health care or just doesn’t bother to sign up for it when they’re eligible for Medicaid then nothing should be done for those people.  Health care is an important issue yes, but one needs to review the facts before proposing solutions.

The Military:

Active-duty men and women have mainly voted for McCain.  They remember Clinton and they know how the military functions, not some politician who’s never served.  Point being:  When it pertains to the military life, let them handle it.  Let the armed forces (Active-duty) and their spouses vote on whether or not gay people should be allowed in.  Keep their wages up also!  Our brave men and women shouldn’t be so poor that they could qualify for food stamps (Under Clinton) in they weren’t in the military.

We ARE winning the Iraq War, with 13 deaths (Every death is tragic) in October McCain’s surge is working.  The Iraqis are building themselves up and will be ready to take over, but we must stay and help until they are ready too.  Not just pull out and hope for the best.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0810/gallery.obama_issues/index.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/

Obama and Censorship

October 26, 2008 at 4:15 pm | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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I heard about the following story first on FOX news this morning while I was studying.  But, I wasn’t paying too much attention to it, so I looked into it:

“Angry over a hard-nosed interview during which Barbara West of Orlando’s WFTV peppered Sen. Joe Biden with the kind of probing questions the pro-Obama mainstream media refuses to ask, the Obama campaign has completely banned the television station from future access and interviews. “

http://www.topix.com/us/politics/2008/10/obama-bans-tv-station-over-biden-questions

That’s the opening paragraph to a report on Obama banning a TV from access to his campaign.  Joe Biden (The VP canidate with Obama) was asked about Obama relationship with ACORN.  ACORN has recently been invovled in voter registration fraud for the past few weeks.

“During the interview, West asked Biden: “Aren’t you embarrassed by the blatant attempts to register phony voters by ACORN, an organization that Barack Obama has been tied to in the past?” “

Banning a TV station over a question shows something about Obama’s character that few people ever see.  What exactly that character is, is beyond me.

Annoyance…

September 28, 2008 at 4:28 pm | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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http://www.newsweek.com/id/161214

Something about this article makes me upset…Not sure why though.  It’s not a bad article, it’s written well and everything.  Hm, the only thing that Mr. Obama and I share is our bi-racial makeup.  Other than that, I don’t see a thing in common with him.  XD

My reactions to various sections:

“  What if Obama loses? How should people respond? What should they feel? It’s a common election-season concern, but it’s all the more acute in the African-American community, where more people are paying attention to the campaign—and planning to vote—than ever.  “

-Um, don’t get angry because the guy didn’t get the right amount of electoral votes?

 

 ”I’m going to be mad, real mad, if he doesn’t win,” says Daetwon Fisher, 21, a construction worker from Long Beach, Calif. “Because for him to come this far and lose will be just shady and a slap in black people’s faces. I know there is already talk about protests and stuff if he loses, and I’m down for that.”

-What?  Obama will lose because he lacks the electoral votes needed to win.  That’s that.  Why protest?!  He deserves this office only as much as the MAJORITY of the people will allow it, not because he’s half-black or because of stupid political correctness nonsense!

 

 ”Baisden hears a lot of that incipient resentment on his show, but he tries to soothe people rather than incite them. “Look, if he loses we have no one to blame but ourselves because that meant we all didn’t go out and vote in the numbers we should have,” says Baisden. “Yes, people will be upset, but it will be in a productive way. There will be a rational reaction if things are fair.” “

-Ah sanity!  As long as the votes were fair and untampered with, there should be NO protest.  (Note Baisden has his own radio show called the Michael Baisden Show”

 

Bah!  One thing I do Deplore is when some people (Remember SOME, not ALL): 1- Assume a block/group of people will vote for one person because of their identifing characteristic (E.g. Obama is black, Palin is a girl); 2- When some people assume I’m voting for Obama just because of my race; 3-  When some people talk bad about other canidates without even asking how the other person feels towards that particular canidate.

MCCAIN AND PALIN 2008!!!!!!!

I’m off to go do a 186 piece puzzle now, I need to cool off. XD

Flags and Trash?

September 6, 2008 at 11:47 pm | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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Heard this on the news, thought it was interesting:

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/06/mccain-camp-to-chastise-dems-for-discarding-american-flags/

Supposedly new-like condition flags, were being thrown away at the dumpster.  Or course, politics are involved.  Each side claims something different, with Patriotism being thrown around.  Even if it was dumped on purpose, at least those flags got good use out of ‘em.

25 Things About Barack Obama

August 30, 2008 at 6:58 pm | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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Another MSNBC tibit, this time on Mr. Obama! (I sometimes spell it Barrack and pronouce it as such, so bear with me. XD)

Not as much as I can relate with Obama:

15. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, but he got a D in eighth-grade French.  ( I got a C {70} in Home Ec.,  I later graduated 13/98. XD)

25. He doesn’t like to shop. ( I don’t enjoy shopping much either.  Unless it’s for Honey Bunches of Oats cereal. =P)

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26355299/

25 Things About John McCain

August 30, 2008 at 6:35 pm | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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MSNBC’s fact file on Mr. McCain (I always wonder if the 1st c is in the air or not. :/)

Some are humorous, some are just plain strange. XD

My favorites:

1. He has a stuffed dancing hamster on display in his Senate office.  (Um, okay? )

12.  His wife was in Bangladesh on a charity mission and brought home baby Bridget without checking first with McCain. (Wow, I hope my spouse doesn’t ever do that. XD)

21. He doesn’t e-mail. He doesn’t surf the Web. He likes to read the newspaper in print. He’s attached to his cell phone.   (I can relate a little, I can easily go without the Web, I’ve had the same e-mail since 7th grade, and I like to read newspapers.  But I hate my cell phone. =P)

22. His office window sill is overrun with stacks of books. He hands books off to friends once he’s read them.  (Sounds like my room a little bit. <.<)

Go McCain 08!!!!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26355356/

Inflate or No?

August 14, 2008 at 9:20 pm | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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4 page article on wether Tire Pressure or Off-shore drilling really helps have oil.  Who knows? XD

It tackles both Obama’s statement that keeping tire’s properly inflated will cut on oil usage.  And it also talks about McCains main idea of off-shore drilling.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/153140/page/1

Good article in my opinion.  It’s common sense (duh) to keep your car up to par, no matter what the prices are at the pump (Which is $3.429, and $2.929 for E85 here.)  I do need to get my car tuned up just because it needs it. :/  Though I’m doubtful my savings will (along with everyone else) actually change our oil comsumption.  It would either just get eaten up by new drivers (growing population) or sold somewhere else IF it did happen.  As for drilling, just the legislation proposal can send oil down if broadcasted loud enough.  So actually DOING it would make it take a dive.

You make me sick.

August 7, 2008 at 11:55 am | In Politica | Leave a Comment
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     Before I go into this rant, I like to say:  These are my beliefs about this man, while his voting record is public information, I personally don’t know Barack Obama.  As such this post reflects what I think.  The only truth in here are his words and votes in the Illinois legisature and the Congressional Senate.  This rant revolves around his Abortion beliefs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261107480446197.html

     I’d call you a murderer but as far as I (and the public) know, you haven’t personally killed anyone.  Something about you has always set me off.   I never felt the desire to trust your words or actions, which is one reason why I’m planning on voting for McCain.  I hate taxes and your plan to raise them and especially the capital gains tax, makes me want to see you lose.  (A good book to read about Obama and other issues facing America is Fleeced by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann.)

     I’m against abortion, it took me 3 years to form my opinion, I’ve done a lot of reading and I’ve found it to be immoral and down-right murder.  If you’re raped (God forbid that would happen to anyone) the baby should still be allowed to live, because since when did we as a society punish the children of criminals?  Blame the idiot father not the child.  Your stance on abortion though is probably the #1 reason I’m not voting for you.

     My question to you, Mr. Obama is how can you oppose legislation that protects infants who survive the abortion procedures and live?  What if your daughter did something of the sort?  How would You feel on that?!

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