Monday, July 20th

Economic: North Dakota, a Place to go for Employment
A total of more than 9,000 jobs in public and private companies are open in North Dakota. North Dakota also has the lowest unemployment rate at 4.2%, compared to the national level of 9.5%. Michael Ziesch, a researcher for Job Service North Dakota says that a balanced economy, including robust energy and agricultural industries have kept the state strong. North Dakota also had the least exposure to subprime loans. The highest influx of people to North Dakota is from Michigan which has the highest unemployment rate at 15.2%. While its unfortuante that our country has so many states with such high unemployment rates, its refreshing to learn of a state that is actually doing well during these times, even if it is one that no one would expect.

Korkki, Phyllis. "North Dakota, the place to go for employment." The New York Times: Bussiness. The New York Times, 25 July 2009. Web. 28 July 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/business/26count.html?_r=1&sq=&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=5&adxnnlx=1248800507-uRveE1SCBxIiP7oEbZXHIg.


International:Global Views of U.S. Helped by Obama, Survey Says
According to a worl survey, the popularity of the U.S. had increased since Obama became president. On the contrary, the survey shows major opposition to his policy of sending more troops over to Afghanistan. The survey, given by Pew Global Attitudes Project, shows an all time high amount of confidence in the U.S. leader from other countries. The survey which invloved more than 24 countries and 26,000 people also revelaed that anti-American animosity was high in countries such as Turkey and Pakistan (no suprise there). 86% of Britains say that they trust Obama to "do the right thing" when it comes to dealing with worldly affairs in contrasrt to the 16 % who trusted George W. Bush. After his speech in Cairo on June 4th, Israeli ratings of our president slipped from 60% to 49%. Closing Guantonamo Bay prison and setting a troop withdrawl deadline in Iraq were the two policies that gained the most support. I think that the increase in ratings is a good thing for our country, no matter what ones political preference is. The numbers show that many countries have confidence in him and think that he will be different than Bush, a view that I agree with.

Knowlton, Brian. "Global Views of U.S. Helped by Obama, Survey Says." The New York Times: World. The New York Times, 24 July 2009. Web. 28 July 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/world/24survey.html?scp=9&sq=national&st=nyt.

National: Charges Against Immigrants Sent Home
From reviewing the cases of deportation of illegal immigrants in jails in Harris County, TX, it has been discovered that drunk driving and drug possesion are the two most popular charges held against the illegal immigrants. In the first five months of 2009, 670 cases of both crimes were recorded. Simple assault, aggravated assault, and aggravated robbery were also high on the list. 150 were arrested on trafficking charges and 101 of those 150 were also charged with running from the police. This article was not chalk full of info but did include a lot of numbers that I didn't know. I chose this article and found it interesting because I find it dumb that illegal immigrants would even engage in illegal activites such as the one above if they are already in our country illegally. I would like to find out the reasons they partook in these crimes, knowing that they would probably get sent back to their home country.

"Charges Against Immigrants Sent Home." The NEw York Times: U.S. The New York Times, 24 July 2009. Web. 28 July 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/us/26sidesecure.html?scp=36&sq=&st=nyt.