Reading+Reflection+3

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Peter King’s has organized hearings in Washington, regarding “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response.” The controversial witch hunt that democrats had warned it would be ended up being nothing of the sort, the for hour hearing was solely spent debating why the hearing came to be in the first place. It’s believed that these hearings could have accomplished a lot, but King’s unwillingness to have experts speak on the matter rather solely focusing on several incidents the hearings proved useless.======

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Despite being attacked throughout the media for organizing these hearings, Mr. King was hell bent on seeing them materialize. He believes that these hearings will solve an issue that will save American from future terrorist attacks. Mr. King believes that the congressional investigation of Muslims in America is not radical nor un-American rather a logical response to repeated warnings.======

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It seems that Mr. King is making it his duty to make the entire Muslim-American population to appear as a threat to Americans. The American-Islamic Relations council was not invited to the hearing to debate but it was referred to several times by Mr. King’s staff as a “terrorist organization.” Despite not accomplishing all King had wanted he is proud about what went on, and promises that more hearings are on the horizon. He says that the first hearings has helped break down “a wall of political correctness.”======

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An emotional portion of the hearing came when Minnesota Congressman, Mr. Ellison, a Muslim himself, spoke about his Muslim friend who had given his life to help save Americans from the 9/11 attacks. Even despite his efforts to save others fingers were still pointed at him because he was Muslim. Mr. Ellison is frightened regarding several of the comments regarding Muslims in America. One of King’s staff stated that the Muslim children in American schools today are, “the next generation of suicide bombers.” Despite Mr. King’s attempt to not let anyone speak who would contradict his beliefs, Mr. Ellsion was allowed to speak. Mr. Ellison does agree that violent extremism is a serious problem but stereotyping one group is a method of scapegoating.======

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I personally believe that if relationships on trust were build between the Muslim community and the government then they will most likely approach officials to report potentially harmful individuals in their community. The whole situation resembles during World War 2 when American Japanese were sent to isolated camps believing that they were plotting against the government. Even though it’s difficult we can’t accuse a whole race for the actions of those who only make up a small percent of the entire population. The U.S. is not at war with Islam, Muslims contribute everyday to American society. If we don’t learn from the past we will be taking several leaps backwards. Mr. King’s heart is in the right place but what he is doing is damaging.======

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Bill Gates, founder of both The Gates Foundation and Microsoft, since stepping down as president of Microsoft in 2008 has devoted his life full time to philanthropy, fund global health, agriculture development, public education and his newest project which is the eradication of polio in the world. Last week he announced his new partnership with the United Kingdom to fight this crippling disease.======

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Bill Gates has been criticized by the media, questioning his reasoning towards trying to eradicate a disease that in America is believed to be eliminated. Bill Gates believes that polio needs to be eradicated now, if not in the next ten years it will become an epidemic. It’s Bill Gates’s’ goal to get smallpox drops to all those suffering around the world preventing a future out-break. Kids presently have severe brain damage as a result of polio. The only way polio could be naturally eradicated is if parents had more children the disease would gradually become destroyed but parents rather are having fewer kids, one child will polio is difficult enough to take care of, parents in third world countries wouldn’t be able to survive such a financial burden. A whole generation of brain damaged children if the future’s working force, this generation is incapable of doing simple tasks, which jeopardizes the country’s future. Smallpox has been the only disease, which has been completely eliminated.======

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Many have believed that Bill Gates has been wasting his time; that there is no way an entire disease could be eliminated. But advances in polio medicine has made it possible for cheap shots that can be delivered either by mouth or shot. Polio was once attempted to be eliminated in the 1940’s just as smallpox was but despite the best efforts doctors found it harder to do such a task. It was easy to eliminate smallpox around the world for when a group of doctors went to a tribe they could show a picture of what someone with smallpox looked like. The doctors would offer them money, having been motivated tribe members would bring back all the diseased they could find. Polio was difficult because it was easy to see whom had smallpox but it isn’t as easy to identify an individual as having polio because often times it isn’t as obvious. But now with modern technology and the ability to communicate with a larger amount of people Bill Gates that the elimination of polio is something that can be accomplished. Bill Gates has also been working with governments, befriending them and using their medical documents to weed out whom in their country has polio.======

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Bill Gates has stated that 700 million dollars is all that is needed, in retrospect it isn’t that much money needed to ensure the well being of the entire world population. I think that what Bill Gates is doing is great, and that through the Gates Foundation his is spreading awareness regarding a disease that isn’t considered a threat to mankind. Bill Gates has raised money towards vaccines that has already saved countless lives, if keeps making the progress he’s presently making he’ll eventually eliminate polio for good.======

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Middle east unrest has been sweeping across northern Africa since December, regimes have been toppled in Egypt and Tunic, Libya has been experiencing air strikes and has been voted a U.N. security council no fly zone last week. Protest continue just like Syria, Yemen, Jordan======

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Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri is concerned regarding the well-being of his neighbors and was in Washington this week to meet with Secretary of the state Hilary Clinton to discuss the current situation in the Arab world. Despite Morocco remaining stable and strong while neighboring countries are one by one falling apart, the Moroccan Prime Minister is frightened and wants to ensure that they will be protected.======

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The Prime Mnister in every interview with the American press brings up how Morocco has had long standing relations with America. He reminds us that Morocco was the first country that recognized the independence of the U.S.A. and the first to sign a treaty of trade and protection against piracy. The Prime Minister explains why he’s been on so many news programs; he wants the U.S.A. to understand that it can’t put the entire Arab world in the same basket. Morocco fought against the Munich party established the first constitution in 1962. He wants to disclaim the misconception that the whole Arab world are chaotic, anti-American countries, he wants to reassure Americans that Morocco has been and still is a democratic nation that has been a long time friend with America. He made the following statement, “the Arab world is not monolithic, it has a mix of political systems from monarchies to political dictators to one-party systems. While the countries share many challenges including unemployment, a shortage of decent housing and the need to fight corruption, he said the responses will be different.”======

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He has been warning that the current "Arab spring" can quickly end if the transitions in Egypt and Tunisia don't lead to real democracy. He advises major industrialized countries should launch a new initiative to ensure that democratic principles and institutions are entrenched in Tunisia and Egypt where long-time dictators were recently ousted.======

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I believe the Moroccan Prime Minister is very frightened, Morocco was among the 22 participants in an emergency meeting in Paris on Saturday that agreed to launch air strikes against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces. Morocco is the closest country to Libya that voted for the air strikes. He is worried that Libya will seek revenge and attack Morocco. To ensure this doesn’t happen Morocco has tried to also befriend Libya during this time. Fassi-Fihri said his country's contribution would be humanitarian. Even before the resolution was adopted, he said, Morocco sent a medical team to the Tunisian-Libyan border, which has cared for many refugees.======

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I can’t blame him for wanting his country to be safe, but he’s trying to manipulate other countries to solve his own country’s problem. He doesn’t want Morocco to get involved with the process of making Libya a democratic country knowing that such a process never goes over easy. Seeing what has happened in Iran he made the statement that "There is a revolution in Tunisia and Egypt," Fassi-Fihri said. "We want to confirm they will not go back to other autocratic (rule) like it's happened in Iran in 1979." The Prime Minister is preparing Libya to attack them, to get ready for such an event, he’s reminding America of their long relationship and announcing to the world that Libya needs to be quickly made into a democracy in order to prevent any future chaos.======

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Tsunami M 8.8 earthquake that hit Japan strongest Japan that has ever hit Japan and the fifth strongest in the world. Swept over the city and destroyed the northeast 350 people are reported dead and more are missing. There are fears regarding the radiation levels in the nuclear power plant. Warnings have been issued in the north west of the united states and South America.======

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Obama- fragile life can be- hearts go out- America says that we are going to stand by Japan. Seth Stein of Northwestern University, a seismologist, earth and planetary scientist. A huge Pacific plate the covers most of the pacific ocean, it goes underneath Japan, it’s sub ducting. Every year it goes down a couple of inches but it’s stuck, after hundreds of years all that energy gets stored up and then it breaks and pushes its way down by many feet. As it pushes down it lifts up the sea floor, that pushes up the water above it and then that water spreads out causing a tsunami- the speed of a jet plane-comes to shore, grows in height and causes a lot of damage.======

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The earth doesn’t give any warning making it nearly impossible to predict when such events are going to occur. By looking at the plates it’s clear to see where they are going to break but not when. Japanese have been preparing for such an earthquake but no one could fathom an earthquake of such magnitude.======

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Today workers at Japan’s ravaged nuclear power plant renewed a bid to bring its command centers back online and restore electricity to vital cooling systems but an overheating spent fuel pool hampered efforts and raised the threat of further radiation leaks. Workers have now connected power cables to all six reactors at the plant though some of the machinery, including the water pumps that cool the reactors, might be damaged, officials said, requiring more repair work. ======

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Japan’s situation is very serious, the whole country is at risk of collapsing. This will devastate Japan’s already collapsing economy and if the nuclear reactors are failed to be contained the entire country could be damaged beyond repair. ======

__Charlie Rose Week #5__

Bob Iger, President and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, was named president of Disney in 2000 following chief executive Michael Eisner. Iger is responsible for some of the biggest business investments made some of the biggest executive decisions further broadening the Disney franchise. He is responsible of Disney merging with both Pixar and Marvel Entertainment, two moves that Disney has been reaping the benefits. Both Iger and Charlie Rose discussed how Disney is probably the greatest global band, everyone is familiar with Disney, essentially Bob Iger implied that it owns the world. What has made Disney such a powerful force it that it’s brand enters people’s lives at very early ages and touches their hearts and has been for decades.

Disney’s ability to incorporate the newest technology with what is produced keeps fans on their toes, excited for the “next big thing.” Bob Iger spoke about how he believes the I-phone and I-pad is Disney’s future, through these devices he believes that Disney will be able to stream shows and movies to a larger amount of people.

I’m not denying that very few children in the world know about Disney, I believe it’s a wonderful company but the happiest place one art has a darker side, which few people get to see. Stories are ripped off from unknown artists, several times such artists have come forward to fight back but Disney always manages to keep them quite. Regarding the buying of Pixar and Marvel, both were strong companies but were bullied into selling. Negotiations with Steve Jobs proved difficult and almost impossible, he saw that Disney liked what he had and he wasn’t giving it up without a fight, which has left him today as a rich man.

Despite producing great products, the consequences are often devastating. Many children actors who have worked for Disney, as they’ve grown up it becomes more apparent how their life is a train wreck. Kim Richards, Hanna Montana, Vanessa Hudgens, Lindsay Lohan all child Disney stars and are currently unstable beings who have lost their squeaky clean persona they once had. Iger spoke about how he loves challenging his staff, and working them to the bone to produce, “the best possible product.” Yes the movies and shows are great that are important parts of many children’s lives but Disney is working their children to insanity it seems.

__Charlie Rose Week #6__

This week, NATO took sole command of operations over Libya. For the past week in an effort to dethrone Muammar Gaddafi, from his 4 decades of ruling, both the U.S. and Britain have set up a naval blockade and have sent already 110 tomahawk cruise missiles into the country. Airstrikes serve the purpose of destroying both tanks and jets in an effort to weaken Gadaffi’s forces.

Following the revolts in Egypyt which lead to the dethroning of President Hosni Mubarak several of the countries that make up the Arab world have been inspired and experiencing the same public out bursts, Libya being one of them. Muammar Gadaffi has been the leader of Libya since a military coup on 1 September 1969 where he overthrew King Idris of Libya and established the Libyan Arab Republlic. His regime has focused on his own prosperity rather than the country as a whole, he has become both a wealthy and powerful man resulting from his oil wells and keeping the taxpayers money for his own selfish plunders.

Gadafi’s regime has been on a downward spiral resulting from the events of the past two months has been pushed into a corner; he has nowhere to hide anymore. The four decades that he has controlled the country has left his people crazed and disorganized. The little support he had is almost gone, he has barricaded himself in his compound, his weapons have been destroyed, the country is surrounded and this week several big players of his regime have resigned. Gadafi has become increasingly frantic following the desertion of Libya's Foreign Minister Mussa Kussa to the UK on Wednesday, a man who posses information about his regime that the British believe could cripple his regime through interrogation. Despite the U.S. withdrawing a lot of their weapons and troops, NATO is stepping in with even bigger toys that will surly rock Gadaffi out of his hiding place. I believe in the next week or to Gadaffi will be stepping down, he’s lost all support and he has no where to hide, in a last effort Gadaffi tried to rally the nation against NATO but despite his best efforts no one was listening.

Even when Gadaffi is removed from office, the country is in ruins, all officials are removed which leaves the question, who will assume the responsibility of organizing the country? I hope the U.S. has a very small part or no part in organizing the country’s democracy because the U.S. hasn’t done such a great job in the past of organizing governments. I think it’s great that America is so concerned over Libya but America is currently in a financial crisis and spending millions on missiles isn’t helping. I don’t understand why anytime there’s a crisis America has to step in to be the referee, in this case the Republicans in government are worried about oil prices regarding the oil shipped from Libya to America. Already oil has gone up in price significantly and because Libya’s situation will get worse before it gets better oil prices are predicted to go up even higher.