Monday June 29th, 2009

International: Pakistan: Taliban buying children for suicide attacks
Batiullah Mehsud, a prominent leader of the Taliban, has been reported using children in suicide attacks in Pakistan. Once the children are trained in the Taliban camps, Mehsud sells them to other Taliban leaders from anywhere between $6,000 and $12,000. Mehsud has admitted to this crime but in certain areas that are heavily populated the security cannot check everyone physically so he can get away with using kids in those areas. Pakistan has launched a mission to capture Mehsud, hopefully drying out his supply of bombers. There was recently a drone attack at a madrassa, a site for Taliban training that killed 14; the U.S. is the only country present in Pakistan that has the ability to launch missles from remote controlled drones so many are blaming our country. I personally think that using kids in these missions is not acceptable and should be stopped as soon as possible, no matter what it takes.

Robertson, Nic. "Pakistan:Taliban Buying Children for Suicide Attacks." CNN 07 Jul 2009 Web.7 Jul 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/07/pakistan.child.bombers/index.html.


National: South Carolina GOP Votes to Censure Sanford
On Monday night, July 6th, South Carolina's Republican party, after many hours of deliberation, decided to censure Sanford for escapading overseas with his mistress. However, the Republican party did not ask the governor to resign. The censure reprimands the governor for "falling below the standards expected of Republican elected officials." Sanford replied with a thank you and an announcement to earn back the trust of the party and his state. To arrive at this decision, officials had to go through four ballots before a majority was reached. Sandford is refusing any calls telling him to step aside. The situation is made even more historic and significant because it is the first censure of a sitting governor in the South Carolina Republican Party. I agree that he should be given another chance because everyone makes mistakes and he did not hurt the state as a whole. Of course it affected his family and I'm sure even some of his close friends regarding trust but it did not harm his state at all.

Hamby, Peter. "South Carolina GOP Votes to Censure Sanford." CNN 07 Jul 2009 Web.7 Jul 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/07/south.carolina.sanford.censure/index.html?iref=mpstoryview.


Economy: GM to Get Final $20B in U.S. Funding This Year
General Motors Company will receive $20 Billion from the government throughout the rest of 2009. This will enable the comapny to leave bankruptcy court and launch a public stock program in early 2010. Steven Rattner, the head of the Obama autos task force, said that "an IPO for a portion of the government's stake that would return GM to public ownership would need a "decently robust" stock market to succeed." Officials predict this will happen sometime next year. In the "New GM", the government will receive a stake for $60B to support GM's turnaround. Before GM is fully back on its feet, the government will continue to monitor its progress similarly to how an institutional investor with a large stake in a company would. I don't really have an opinion as of right now because I think it is really unpredictable how spending that much money on GM will turn out. I think it could end up being a success or a failure, and $20B is a lot of money supporting a failure.

Reuters, "GM to Get Final $20B in U.S. Funding This Year." Fox:Bussiness 07 Jul 2009 Web.7 Jul 2009. http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/transportation/gm-final-b-funding-year/.