Dubai's Environment

The Middle East is generally among poorer nations, but they do sell a lot of oil.  Dubia is one of the lucky to see a lot of the wealth generated by what the Middle East has to offer. They are extremely rich and expansive.  This leads to problems environmentally as we've seen in history.

DUBAI — Dubai’s skyline is the most sparkling in the Middle East. But down on the ground, the environmental problems of a quickly erected city built on sand look a lot less alluring.

Dubai has expanded so rapidly, due to their resources, that any sort of feedback from the environment was not in mind.  They built so fast they didn't account for it, and in an area of the world where there is not as much recognition towards the environment.  That's not to say that Dubai, a city so immense and expensive that it more than holds its own when compared to an industrialized nation, isn't aware to these problems.  However, several issues put Dubai in a situation where the environment is being threatened.  Many numbers are scary to look at because problems were building up as they built more and more.  Now they are forced to deal with tons of sewage and waste.  They are aware of the environmental issues they now face such as sewage going into the gulf and a problem with clean water.  The region they are in isn't as developed as nations that have gone through what they are going through.  They now are adopting western environmental policies.  They progressed quickly economically and they have no intent of repeating what others did, now that solutions have been made in industrailzed nations.

Iran's Nuclear Agreements

Iran's threat as a nuclear power is a very scary one to Europe and America.  No one wants them to have a bomb, especially when they don't have as much control and extremists in their country as many others.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and its European allies are preparing a new offer for negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program, senior administration officials say, but the conditions on Tehran would be even more onerous than a deal that the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected last year.

Iran having a nuclear weapon is frightening.  There are so many conditions where that could end poorly.  America and Europe have been working on an agreement with Iran to reduce how much uranium they get.  Right now the whole situation has many views.  Iran can wait it out then create bombs, but it puts a strain on themselves because of their connection with Europe.  Agreements have progressed but they are at a halt.  It seems like something can really be done but people are on the brink for negotiations.  America believes we have plenty of time to wait it out and hold negotiations.  Only time will tell but it seems like everyone is biting the bullet and waiting to see what comes out of negotiations.  Either Iran will create bombs slowly but surely, or the program will be reduced to something that can't produce bombs.

Obama and the State of the Voters

Obama's approval ratings are slipping.  The voters are upset with reason, but it also seems that they are misguided in decision making.  Hopefully for Obama, things will look bright.

Critical parts of the coalition that delivered President Obama to the White House in 2008 and gave Democrats control of Congress in 2006 are switching their allegiance to the Republicans in the final phase of the midterm Congressional elections, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Obama's change ideas were not supposed to happen so soon.  He is changing things, but to the people's distress the change isn't happening now.  The public seems too upset over this.  Who could expect unemployment to go down, our economy to rise and our political place in the world to be restored in just two years.  Obama has been changing but it takes time, and people seem too ignorant to recognize that.  Despite what may be happening, the voters are still mad and a majority now say they will vote for republicans.  The public is not consistent as many unchanged aspects of voting are flip-flopping; such as women now perfer repupblicans in general.  It's all confusing and frustrating because it seems like people are too stupid to understand what really needs to get done.

Friedman Tells It Like It Is

Friedman destroys everyone who is making errors again and confronts the problems with America. He doesn't just say one thing and the solution, he slams his opponents to the point where there is no argument.

I confess, I find it dispiriting to read the polls and see candidates, mostly Republicans, leading in various midterm races while promoting many of the very same ideas that got us into this mess. Am I hearing right?

Friedman talks about many issues in a short amount of time.  It's incredible he can say so many meaningful and true things with such concise language.  It is simple, however, because there's nothing to be more right about.  He speaks up during this time because of all the elections taking place.  He's sad to see some of the reform taking place might go out the window as many republicans could be elected who would undo the progress.  Friedman explains how they will revert us back to our original place and America will decline again.  Hopefully the average Joe will listen to him soon.

Mental Health Break

China's Population a Burden on Tradition

China is well known for its silk production.  The country is so crowded though that those in rural areas are tempted to leave for urban centers. 

There was a time when clean water, mulberry trees and tiny, squirming, milky-white larvae made this village one of the most famous in all of China.

China's tradition is being lost as it becomes over crowded.  One would think that the silk industry, which is traditional, wouldn't be lost and that silk is always wanted.  So why are people leaving a stable job for the urban centers.  Simply, China is crowded, and becoming more crowded.  Also, the world is seeking out these people in rural China.  They now know what lies in the cities, and they are leaving traditions behind.  It is sad for Chinese tradition which could become lost, and also a sign of China's overwhelming population.

Germany and East Europe Renewal

Europe has felt the economic recession, but Germany has kicked back and is starting to rise to where to once was.  With the help of the previous Soviet Union, German exports are up and most of East Europe is recovering.

German exporters, already buoyed by demand in China, are profiting from a modest upswing in Central and Eastern Europe as well, as the economies there revive and banks slowly resume lending to companies, according to an influential industry group.

The world is globalized, particularly for Europe and the way the countries are set up.  Europe relies on each other for economic wealth, since the EU that has been more important.  The recession has shown just how global economies have become.  Everyone has fallen victim, but now Germany is becoming strong again, with help of other countries, mostly consisting of East Europe.  Exports are up everywhere there and East Europe which relies significantly on Germany's well being is bouncing back; partially by the world being flat, although it is nothing new for Europe to interact heavly.

American Cars Going Green

As American industries finally catch up in some respect to the world, their cars meet good numbers, but it isn't nearly what was expected.  They could, however, get a high mpg under certain circumstances.

About two months before two new plug-in cars go on sale in the United States, the federal government is struggling with how to rate the fuel economy of mass-market plug-in vehicles.

GM was going to produce over 200 mpg electric cars.  The cars came out a lot lower.  The numbers are still good, and the cars are still good; they are just not quite as futuristic as we thought.  America is finally going green in some ways.  We haven't done anything really dramatic yet, but we are thinking foward and starting to show progress.  These cars are making up for what America should have been doing.  Hopefully we can keep up the production on green technology.  For the consumer, the cars are confusing.  The way they are made allows them to travel without gas for a while.  After that they drop to a reasonable mpg.  Making a generalized statement about a cars mpg will be more difficult now.  Where someone lives will play a role, depending on who supplies energy.

Hungarian Waste Spill

The CEO of the Hungarian company that is responsible for the toxic spill in Hungary claims it is not their fault. They do have obligations, however.

The CEO of the Hungarian company behind a huge toxic spill on Thursday said he doesn't know whether he's responsible for the disaster, but added, "I have moral duties and I will fulfill them."

The disaster in Hungary is terrible, and it could get a whole lot worse if it spreads.  There isn't enough being brought up about this.  It's about time people start viewing the environment with more understanding.  The spill can wipe out species and destroy the ecosystem due to its toxic components.  Fortunatley, although the CEO and the manager claim it isn't there fault like most people would, they are still helping to clean up the sludge.  I think it's a perfect way to gain environmentally friendly momentum everywhere, but most people are so narrow-minded that it might take more human deaths to do that.  Something this bad should be recognized by everybody today as a major ecological disaster.  It now has reached the river of Danube but without much effect yet.  There is a fast response to the problem and no certain outcomes as they race to stop the sludge which could still potentially devastate more regions.

 

 

My Political Position

My results to the Political Philosophy Quiz in general lead to a democrat, but the end results

The Quiz

The following are your scores. They are based on a gradual range of 0 to 12. For instance, a Conservative/Progressive score of 3 and 0 will both yield a result of social conservative, yet 0 would be an extreme conservative and 3 a moderate conservative


Conservative/Progressive score: 7
You are a social moderate. You think the progressive movement is overall well meaning, but sometimes it goes too far. On issues like abortion and affirmative action, you see the negatives of both extremes on the issue. You probably value religion, but at the same time you think it should still stay separate from the government


Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score: 8
You are a Moderate Capitalist. You support an economy that is by and large a free market, but has public programs to help people who can't help themselves or need a little help. Pretty much you believe in the American economy how it currently is.


Libertarian/Authoritarian score: 11
You're an Authoritarian. You believe that that, left to their own, many people will do immoral or harmful things. You despise drug users, pornography, violence, and all other things that you consider immoral. You also think that security is often more important than protecting rights. You think children need to be protected from seeing these things so it doesn't warp their minds, and that the will of the majority sometimes is more important than the rights of the minority.


Pacifist/Militarist score: 0
You're a Pacifist. You are angered that the United States thinks it should dominate the world through its military force. You think that the only time war is necessary is when we are in direct danger of being attacked. You also believe the US spends way too much of its money on defense, as we can practically cut it in half and still easily defend ourselves, and use that money to fix all our economic problems.

Overall, you would most likely fit into the category of Democrat

vary.

Mental Health Break

It's funny a person would streak for money. The depressing thing is that there are more laughs than complaints about it. This is a mental health break, but it sort of turned into "as dumb as we wanna be"; if a streaker is getting paid to do this in front of the most powerful man in the world and people don't find it disrespectful.