On June 11, 2009, the Swine Flu was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The group increased the flu alert level to phase 6, which means the flu is a "widespread human infection."
Roughly 70 countries have reported cases of the H1N1 flu, many caused by traveling to other areas that already had the virus. Over the past few weeks, West Virginia has increased from sporadic flu spread to local spread. As of June 18, there have been 77 cases reported in West Virginia. Several of these include Cabell and Putnam Counties.
The West Virginia Bureau for Health reported 115 cases in West Virginia as of 115, only four have been hospitalized.
The Department of Health and Human Resources announced on June 10, that the West Virginia State Lab is now certified to test Swine Flu cases, after confirming five cases and having them tested by either a center in Atlanta or another certified lab. Once both labs tested positive, West Virginia's lab became a certified testing location for the flu.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Investigating Journalism
Case study 1:
An officer shot himself in the foot during a gun demonstration and the beat reporter did not cover it because he did not want to jeopardize his relationship with the offers. Later, officers told the reporter the sheriff forced new personnel to donate $2,500 to his election campaign.
Case study 2:
A reporter for Buchanan Record-Journal started investigating the Buchanan mayor after learning that he was involved in a hidden last trust. She discovered that he was using city personnel to assist him in obtaining cheap properties in another town and reselling for three times the amount.
Investigative Story:
Reporters at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contacted West Virginia University in 2007 after Heather Bresch, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin’s daughter, took a job as top executive at Mylan Inc., discovering that she did not complete the graduate program and earn her MBA. The reporters, Patricia Sabatini and Len Boselovic, called the school to confirm Bresch’s credentials when she took the new position at Mylan. The initial article published Friday, December 21, 2007, dealt with the reporters’.
No one appeared to know that Bresch had not properly earned her degree, until officials at WVU told the reporters when they contacted them. This story was not just an ordinary story to cover because it had to be researched and the reporters had to contact several people to get to the bottom of the story. Obviously the fact that the degree had not been earned was being hidden or more people would have known about it. When the reporters contacted Bresch, she said that she was unaware that she did not earn her degree.
The reporters contacted school officials and former classmates and went over class rosters, instead of having one key document. They even looked into a lawsuit that Bresch helped Mylan with, showing that was traveling during the time she was supposedly taking classes. There are photos of Bresch, Manchin and WVU officials featured in the article, to allow readers to see who the people are in article that are being mentioned.
When the story first broke out, students in West Virginia made comments that Bresch still received the degree because she was the governor’s daughter. However, the company she works for probably found an interest in the story as well, questioning her credentials. Students at WVU and other schools, WVU officials, and parents would probably read copies of this story, since it first appeared that Bresch was being favored.
After the article initially ran, other newspapers such as New York Times and USA Today publishes articles about it. The headlines stayed simple. The headline in Post-Gazette was “MBA mystery in Morgantown.” USA Today ran a headline reading “State ethics commission probes WVU degree scandal.”
All the information was obtained lawfully from credible sources at the school. The reporters seemed to depend more on information received from them, instead of focusing on information from only Bresch’s classmates.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Diesel Prices Remain Unstable, Truckers Make Changes
Fluctuating diesel prices have some truck drivers making changes to keep a profit, with some even choosing to leave the business.
“The rates are outrageous and they’ve been like that for years,” said John Johnson, of St. Albans, W.Va. He previously owned a flatbed that he leased to a company in Chicago. The company would find jobs and contact him with loads to pick up and deliver. In return, he paid the company 10 percent of the profit.
“In my part, I would try to run anywhere from $1.25 to $1.29 a mile,” Johnson said. “These people (the companies hiring drivers) are going in and paying 75 cents a mile.”
Self-employed truck drivers are being hit harder by fuel costs, causing some drivers to find employment with a company. According to the 2008-09 edition of the Occupation Outlook Handbook on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, self-employed drivers made up 9 percent of the 3.4 million tractor-trailer drivers in 2006. The bureau also projected employment for truck drivers in 2016 to be 3.6 million drivers, an increase of eight percent.
“I believe the increase in prices affect self-employed drivers more than company drivers,” said Calvin Bench of Hurricane, W.Va. He drove for a company for 34 years and was self-employed for six years. Within the past month, he returned to a company that hauls chemicals, because the increase of fuel prices “demolished” his profit as a self-employed driver, he said.
“I gained no profit for a year due to high diesel costs,” Calvin Bench said. Vacations and eating out were among the things that he had to cut back on to save money. He also had to stay on the road longer to help make up for loss profit. After driving so much, the amount of fuel used would eventually level out and there would not be as much of a loss, but not much gain either, he said.
Bud Bench, Calvin Bench’s brother from Pittsburg, Kansas, has been driving a flatbed tractor-trailer for 25 years for Slay Industries. He said he does not have to worry about diesel prices as much because the company buys the drivers’ fuel.
Instead of finding employment with a company like the Bench brothers, Johnson left the business last year after driving for 37 years, when diesel prices started to increase over $5 a gallon locally causing him to lose money.
“Gas prices went clear over $6 a gallon and I couldn’t afford it,” Johnson said. “After it hit $4, I was spending $2,500 to $3,000 a week in fuel and should have been spending only $1,000.”
The furthest he would travel was to Arizona because other western states would not pay as much per mile, and he would lose money because of that too. After quitting the business, he eventually sold his truck, after someone made an offer that he could not turn down, he said.
Each driver said their truck averaged five to seven miles per gallon, which cost them $400 to $600 a day for fuel. “When you go to fill up a big truck, it’s anywhere from 200 gallons to 300 gallons,” Johnson said. “Each (truck) I had, had 125 gallon tanks (on each side). Some guys have 150 gallon tanks on each side.”
On top of the price truckers are paying for fuel, they also have to worry about oil changes every 10,000 to 15,000 miles, which costs a few hundred dollars, a service check-up every three or four weeks and the trucks have to be greased every weekend as well, Johnson said.
The trucks also require tires that cost around $300 each. Johnson used 10 tires for the truck cab, costing him $3,000 for tires each time they were changed. That was not including the tires for his trailer. Most tractor-trailers use a total of 18 tires, depending on whether or not the truck is a Bobtail or including a trailer. The Bobtail Insurance for Johnson was around $500 a week.
“There ain’t nothing you can really do, but run it back and run 50 mph,” Johnson said about saving fuel. “There’s a lot of trucks running 55 mph, but they’re not really saving anything.” The trucks also burn five to six gallons of fuel during the driver’s idle time at night.
Some drivers change the type of burners they use in their trucks, so that only one or two gallons of fuel will be used nightly while they idle, he said.
Fuel surcharges are also being added to delivered products to help prevent drivers from losing money from fuel prices. “The companies supply a fuel surcharge allowing the drivers to receive back one-third of the money spent on fuel,” Calvin Bench said.
“A fuel surcharge is a fee that can be added to the freight charges, and they don’t require governmental approval and you do not need to file an application with DOT to implement a fuel surcharge,” according to America’s Independent Truckers’ Association Inc. web site.
Even though Johnson left the business because of lost profits, he is thinking about returning to the business because he still made more money driving than he does with his current job. He wants to purchase four or five trucks and flatbeds, hire drivers of his own and start his own trucking company.
The current national average price of diesel as is $2.59, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report released Tuesday morning. That is an eight cent increase from last week and 22 cent increase from May. The highest recorded average price for diesel was $4.84 in July 2008. The current average price in West Virginia is $2.65, 11th highest in the country. Hawaii ranked first, with prices at $3.88.
Although the current prices are low compared to last year’s average price of diesel, the price is more than twice the amount it was 10 years ago. In June 1999, the average price was around $1.06 a gallon. Earlier that year, in January, February and March, the cost of diesel was below a dollar a gallon, according to Energy Information Administration web site.
“Right now it’s kind of an iffy, iffy guess,” Johnson said about whether diesel prices will continue to increase. The EIA web site projects that the average diesel price in 2010 will be $2.67.
“The rates are outrageous and they’ve been like that for years,” said John Johnson, of St. Albans, W.Va. He previously owned a flatbed that he leased to a company in Chicago. The company would find jobs and contact him with loads to pick up and deliver. In return, he paid the company 10 percent of the profit.
“In my part, I would try to run anywhere from $1.25 to $1.29 a mile,” Johnson said. “These people (the companies hiring drivers) are going in and paying 75 cents a mile.”
Self-employed truck drivers are being hit harder by fuel costs, causing some drivers to find employment with a company. According to the 2008-09 edition of the Occupation Outlook Handbook on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, self-employed drivers made up 9 percent of the 3.4 million tractor-trailer drivers in 2006. The bureau also projected employment for truck drivers in 2016 to be 3.6 million drivers, an increase of eight percent.
“I believe the increase in prices affect self-employed drivers more than company drivers,” said Calvin Bench of Hurricane, W.Va. He drove for a company for 34 years and was self-employed for six years. Within the past month, he returned to a company that hauls chemicals, because the increase of fuel prices “demolished” his profit as a self-employed driver, he said.
“I gained no profit for a year due to high diesel costs,” Calvin Bench said. Vacations and eating out were among the things that he had to cut back on to save money. He also had to stay on the road longer to help make up for loss profit. After driving so much, the amount of fuel used would eventually level out and there would not be as much of a loss, but not much gain either, he said.
Bud Bench, Calvin Bench’s brother from Pittsburg, Kansas, has been driving a flatbed tractor-trailer for 25 years for Slay Industries. He said he does not have to worry about diesel prices as much because the company buys the drivers’ fuel.
Instead of finding employment with a company like the Bench brothers, Johnson left the business last year after driving for 37 years, when diesel prices started to increase over $5 a gallon locally causing him to lose money.
“Gas prices went clear over $6 a gallon and I couldn’t afford it,” Johnson said. “After it hit $4, I was spending $2,500 to $3,000 a week in fuel and should have been spending only $1,000.”
The furthest he would travel was to Arizona because other western states would not pay as much per mile, and he would lose money because of that too. After quitting the business, he eventually sold his truck, after someone made an offer that he could not turn down, he said.
Each driver said their truck averaged five to seven miles per gallon, which cost them $400 to $600 a day for fuel. “When you go to fill up a big truck, it’s anywhere from 200 gallons to 300 gallons,” Johnson said. “Each (truck) I had, had 125 gallon tanks (on each side). Some guys have 150 gallon tanks on each side.”
On top of the price truckers are paying for fuel, they also have to worry about oil changes every 10,000 to 15,000 miles, which costs a few hundred dollars, a service check-up every three or four weeks and the trucks have to be greased every weekend as well, Johnson said.
The trucks also require tires that cost around $300 each. Johnson used 10 tires for the truck cab, costing him $3,000 for tires each time they were changed. That was not including the tires for his trailer. Most tractor-trailers use a total of 18 tires, depending on whether or not the truck is a Bobtail or including a trailer. The Bobtail Insurance for Johnson was around $500 a week.
“There ain’t nothing you can really do, but run it back and run 50 mph,” Johnson said about saving fuel. “There’s a lot of trucks running 55 mph, but they’re not really saving anything.” The trucks also burn five to six gallons of fuel during the driver’s idle time at night.
Some drivers change the type of burners they use in their trucks, so that only one or two gallons of fuel will be used nightly while they idle, he said.
Fuel surcharges are also being added to delivered products to help prevent drivers from losing money from fuel prices. “The companies supply a fuel surcharge allowing the drivers to receive back one-third of the money spent on fuel,” Calvin Bench said.
“A fuel surcharge is a fee that can be added to the freight charges, and they don’t require governmental approval and you do not need to file an application with DOT to implement a fuel surcharge,” according to America’s Independent Truckers’ Association Inc. web site.
Even though Johnson left the business because of lost profits, he is thinking about returning to the business because he still made more money driving than he does with his current job. He wants to purchase four or five trucks and flatbeds, hire drivers of his own and start his own trucking company.
The current national average price of diesel as is $2.59, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report released Tuesday morning. That is an eight cent increase from last week and 22 cent increase from May. The highest recorded average price for diesel was $4.84 in July 2008. The current average price in West Virginia is $2.65, 11th highest in the country. Hawaii ranked first, with prices at $3.88.
Although the current prices are low compared to last year’s average price of diesel, the price is more than twice the amount it was 10 years ago. In June 1999, the average price was around $1.06 a gallon. Earlier that year, in January, February and March, the cost of diesel was below a dollar a gallon, according to Energy Information Administration web site.
“Right now it’s kind of an iffy, iffy guess,” Johnson said about whether diesel prices will continue to increase. The EIA web site projects that the average diesel price in 2010 will be $2.67.
Monday, June 15, 2009
HURA Hold Elections, Changes to Come
HUNTINGTON- Four officers have been elected for the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority board, including a new president but that is not the only change to come.
Months after elections were initially scheduled to be held, HURA finally had enough members in attendance to hold the election at Monday’s meeting at Huntington City Hall at 1:30 p.m.
“It’s been a long time to get to this point,” Nate Randolph, board member and architect for Edward Tucker's Architects Inc., said about the elections held June 15.
Randolph was elected president of HURA, replacing Dr. Phil W. Carter Jr. Carter, a professor in the department of social work at Marshall University, appeared to be caught off guard by the decision and politely declined nominations for every other office on the board.
After each office had been voted on and approved, Carter quietly stepped down to allow Randolph to finish the meeting. As Carter took his seat with the rest of the members, Diane Mufson, a psychologist with roughly two to three years on the board, said Carter had done “a masterful job (as president).”
The other chosen officers were Brandi Jacobs-Jones for vice president, Mufson for secretary and Herb Stanley for treasurer.
Once the talk about offices was over, the board began its discussion about the Federal Reserve Account, local savings account and land bank authority, which took up the rest of the meeting that ran about an hour.
The board received a statement from a bank it previously had an account with, stating that the account had $500,000 in it. The board members knew they had removed all the money but Jacobs-Jones contacted the Federal Reserve to clarify the validity of the statement. As the members suspected, they did not really have $500,000 in an account. The statement was explaining that the board was insured for that much at the bank.
Mufson later mentioned to the other board members that Chase Bank, where HURA currently banks, charges a fee for little or no activity in their account and requested they create an account with a local bank. After discussion on how to go about choosing a bank, the members agreed that they would change banks. Jacobs-Jones said she would work with the purchasing department to create a Request for Proposal for local banks to bid on.
The biggest discussion of the meeting involved the Land Bank Authority. HURA and the Huntington Municipal Development Authority are both being considered for the Land Bank. Jacobs-Jones removed herself from the majority of the discussion, because of a potential conflict of interest since she is also involved with HMDA.
The Land Bank Authority takes control of houses that are considered abandoned by owners that do not pay their tax liens within 18 months. This also allows homeowners who have the intention of paying the lien, to not lose their house, Randolph said.
The idea of having the Land Bank Authority, a five-year program, is that it would allow the opportunity to create more projects similar to that on Artisan Avenue, where several houses have been torn down and new ones rebuilt to make the area look more presentable, Randolph said. He also said HURA would be the better candidate for the Land Bank because it has been more successful than HMDA.
“HURA has been residentially driven,” Randolph said. “HMDA has traditionally ventured more into the real estate agency.” He also referred to the Kinetic Park project that the HMDA has not completed.
The other members also agreed with Randolph, that HURA would do a better job. “My belief is that HURA is the entity to take leadership,” Carter said.
If HURA is chosen for the Land Bank, the board will have to hire staff or contract people to help keep up with the properties included in the authority, Jacobs-Jones said. Although the question about how much came up, it was unknown at the time. Stanley said that the Land Bank would be a challenge but he thinks it would be interesting to see how it develops.
“It’s going to be a monitoring process the first couple years,” Randolph said. There are less than 200 houses in the area that are designated as dilapidated housing, he said. However, there may be more houses than this.
Carter mentioned an idea to conduct a conference or workshop in Huntington on Land Banks. This would allow other areas that have Land Banks to give advice to people in Huntington, as well as vice versa. Jacobs-Jones questioned the idea because of potential expenses if the board chose to hold such a conference, such as travel accommodations.
Currently, the courthouse deals with abandoned houses and tax liens. Once the Land Bank is started in the area, the houses will no longer go through courthouse, which allows other companies to purchase the houses and gain interest off them. Some of these businesses allow the housing to remain in its current state of dilapidation.
The City Council will make the final decision on which board will take the Land Bank Authority.
Months after elections were initially scheduled to be held, HURA finally had enough members in attendance to hold the election at Monday’s meeting at Huntington City Hall at 1:30 p.m.
“It’s been a long time to get to this point,” Nate Randolph, board member and architect for Edward Tucker's Architects Inc., said about the elections held June 15.
Randolph was elected president of HURA, replacing Dr. Phil W. Carter Jr. Carter, a professor in the department of social work at Marshall University, appeared to be caught off guard by the decision and politely declined nominations for every other office on the board.
After each office had been voted on and approved, Carter quietly stepped down to allow Randolph to finish the meeting. As Carter took his seat with the rest of the members, Diane Mufson, a psychologist with roughly two to three years on the board, said Carter had done “a masterful job (as president).”
The other chosen officers were Brandi Jacobs-Jones for vice president, Mufson for secretary and Herb Stanley for treasurer.
Once the talk about offices was over, the board began its discussion about the Federal Reserve Account, local savings account and land bank authority, which took up the rest of the meeting that ran about an hour.
The board received a statement from a bank it previously had an account with, stating that the account had $500,000 in it. The board members knew they had removed all the money but Jacobs-Jones contacted the Federal Reserve to clarify the validity of the statement. As the members suspected, they did not really have $500,000 in an account. The statement was explaining that the board was insured for that much at the bank.
Mufson later mentioned to the other board members that Chase Bank, where HURA currently banks, charges a fee for little or no activity in their account and requested they create an account with a local bank. After discussion on how to go about choosing a bank, the members agreed that they would change banks. Jacobs-Jones said she would work with the purchasing department to create a Request for Proposal for local banks to bid on.
The biggest discussion of the meeting involved the Land Bank Authority. HURA and the Huntington Municipal Development Authority are both being considered for the Land Bank. Jacobs-Jones removed herself from the majority of the discussion, because of a potential conflict of interest since she is also involved with HMDA.
The Land Bank Authority takes control of houses that are considered abandoned by owners that do not pay their tax liens within 18 months. This also allows homeowners who have the intention of paying the lien, to not lose their house, Randolph said.
The idea of having the Land Bank Authority, a five-year program, is that it would allow the opportunity to create more projects similar to that on Artisan Avenue, where several houses have been torn down and new ones rebuilt to make the area look more presentable, Randolph said. He also said HURA would be the better candidate for the Land Bank because it has been more successful than HMDA.
“HURA has been residentially driven,” Randolph said. “HMDA has traditionally ventured more into the real estate agency.” He also referred to the Kinetic Park project that the HMDA has not completed.
The other members also agreed with Randolph, that HURA would do a better job. “My belief is that HURA is the entity to take leadership,” Carter said.
If HURA is chosen for the Land Bank, the board will have to hire staff or contract people to help keep up with the properties included in the authority, Jacobs-Jones said. Although the question about how much came up, it was unknown at the time. Stanley said that the Land Bank would be a challenge but he thinks it would be interesting to see how it develops.
“It’s going to be a monitoring process the first couple years,” Randolph said. There are less than 200 houses in the area that are designated as dilapidated housing, he said. However, there may be more houses than this.
Carter mentioned an idea to conduct a conference or workshop in Huntington on Land Banks. This would allow other areas that have Land Banks to give advice to people in Huntington, as well as vice versa. Jacobs-Jones questioned the idea because of potential expenses if the board chose to hold such a conference, such as travel accommodations.
Currently, the courthouse deals with abandoned houses and tax liens. Once the Land Bank is started in the area, the houses will no longer go through courthouse, which allows other companies to purchase the houses and gain interest off them. Some of these businesses allow the housing to remain in its current state of dilapidation.
The City Council will make the final decision on which board will take the Land Bank Authority.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Huntington Urban Renewal Authority meeting
The May 2009 Voucher Schedule, Artisan Avenue Redevelopment Project and the election of officers are among the several topics to be discussed at the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority meeting. These topics will be followed by discussion of the Federal Reserve account and local checking and savings accounts.
The monthly meeting will be held at Monday at 1:30 p.m. at the Huntington City Hall in the Mayor’s Conference Room. Seven members make up the board.
Full Agenda:
1. Call to order
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Roll Call
4. Approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of the board on May 18, 2009
5. Approval of May 2009 Voucher Schedule
6. Election of Officers
7. Charles Holley, Director of Development & Planning to update Board on Artisan Avenue Redevelopment Project.
8. New Business
9. Unfinished Business
a. Federal Reserve Account
b. Local Checking/Savings account
c. July Meeting
10. Adjournment
Check back Monday for more information about the HURA meeting.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
U.S. Continues to Face Issues with Foreign Distrust
Updated version of column, including my professor's corrections.
Past presidents have dealt with communism, terrorism, nationalism and several other factors. Now that the deadliest part of the Iraq War seems to be over, since the fall of Saddam Hussein on April 9, 2003, Obama seems to be picking up all the pieces that President George W. Bush left in the Middle East. Every president seems to have the same goal when it comes to relations with other countries. Spread peace, as well as democracy of course. However, not all presidents have followed through with their promises of peace. (Note: The first version of the article read that the Iraq War was over. That's far from the truth. The idea was meant to be that the worse part of the war seems to be over because today's casualties are no where near those that occurred at the beginning of the war.)
Former President George W. Bush compared the Iraq War and Cold War in a speech directed to the Military Officers Association of America, according to The Christian Science Monitor. "Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them," Bush said.
When Ronald Reagan presented his speech at the Berlin Wall during the Cold War on June 12, 1987, his advisers were cautious about the content of his speech and the impact that it would have, according to TIME Magazine. On the way to the location, his advisers were still undecided, especially about one of his advisers', Peter Robinson's, addition to the speech, “Tear down this wall.”
TIME Magazine also reported that TASS, the Soviet news agency, referred to his speech as "openly provocative, war-mongering.” At the time, the speech sounded provocative to many German citizens, as well as other country leaders, as though Reagan was doing more than just challenging Gorbachev to get rid of the wall. However, when listened to today, it does not seem as off the wall as history has portrayed.
In the end, Reagan decided that the full speech needed to be said no matter how “provocative” his advisers believed it to be. He told them that reading the full context of the speech was “the right thing to do,” according to History Net . Obviously, Reagan made a good decision to go against his advisers and challenge Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall.
Two years after Reagan's initial speech in May 1989, Gorbachev visited West Germany and said that Moscow would no longer try to stop democracy from converting in the outlying states, according to the Cold War Museum Website. On August 9, 1989, Günter Schabowski, leader of East Berlin’s communist party, said that citizens of Germany could begin to travel abroad from East to West Germany and vice versa.
Several presidents have traveled to Berlin, before and after Reagan's speech. President John F. Kennedy traveled to Berlin during a tense time but Reagan seemed to have a better impact on getting something jump started because he had the guts to be forward with what he wanted Gorbachev to do. Barack Obama also traveled to Berlin. He went as a senator, not as president. News Week Magazine named Obama’s biggest threat at the time as “anti-Americanism, not the Soviets...he had no wall to point to, or enemy to call by name.” (Note to readers: I realize that I brought Kennedy back from the dead to visit Berlin AFTER Reagan's speech. That did not happen, at least not to anyone's knowledge.)
Obama may not have been faced with an enemy at the time, but after taking presidency, he has since travelled abroad to spread his message to less trusting countries. His trip to Cairo University in Egypt received mixed reviews from Muslims, such as calling the speech unrealistic.
Obama’s speech was made during a time when there are fewer believers as far as having trust in what other leaders say they will do during their time of rule. According to the NPR Website, Iran’s supreme leader reacted to Obama’s speech at Cairo, saying that his words could not erase the “hatred” of the U.S.
Today’s situation for Obama is not the same as those that previous presidents have dealt with. Reagan experienced countries feuding over communism and democracy, not necessarily terrorist attacks made upon America itself. He now has the importance of gaining trust from other countries in order to stop terrorism and help bring peace into the Middle East.
This needed trust is similar to that American soldiers are trying to gain while helping bring peace in countries such as Iraq. Some Iraqi citizens have trust in the U.S. and believe that the soldiers have helped them but others view the former Iraq war and continuous battles today, as unnecessary or as though it’s causing more damage than what was already being done during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
The war has already taken place, so that cannot be undone. Obama has no choice but to move on from now and what has happened in the past and find a way to regain trust, spread peace and stop the hatred that many Muslims feel toward the United States. That task could become a very tough and lengthy issue for the president.
Guardian News, a newspaper based out of the U.K., had a headline that read “Barack Obama in Cairo: The speech that no other president could make.” The article mentioned that Obama “showed understanding, if not always acceptance, of what one might call the Arab and Muslim narrative.” Not all former presidents had the personal knowledge about whatever issue they faced, as Obama does about the Muslim community.
During the presidential campaign, Obama’s affiliation with Muslims was often mentioned by opposing parties trying to cause Americans distrust Obama and not vote for him. Those same affiliations may be what help bring Americans and Muslims to peace, if he can continue to show interest in the Muslim community.
In a way, Obama seems to have the same perspective on speeches as Reagan. As stated earlier, Reagan read the full content of his speech at the Berlin Wall because he thought it was needed. Now, Obama’s speech at Cairo University is being referred to as “truth-telling,” instead of trying to sugar-coat problems that the world is facing.
One of the reasons Obama is going to have a rough time gaining back the Muslim trust most likely has a direct connection to George W. Bush’s response after 9/11. In his speech the day after 9/11 occurred, Bush said the United States respected the Muslim faith and the people of Afghanistan. The Muslims might still have trust in the United States, if American solders had not bombed Middle East countries, killing some innocent Middle East citizens. Hostility was obviously going to rise, along with the tension as soon as Bush made that decision.
After Reagan’s speech, there were the usual positive and negative responses that presidents usually receive after speeches, but within the next two years, the Berlin Wall had fallen and changes were in full swing. Changes do not always occur that quickly after presidents announce their plans for the future.
For example, it took years after 9/11 for changes to start being made. Even now, going on eight years later, soldiers are still in the Middle East. That was not the case with Bush’s comments and promises that he made to Americans, Muslims and other nations during his presidency in regards to the war on terrorism.
The Middle East is reluctant to trust in Obama’s promises because the tension stayed high between the Middle East and America throughout the entire ending of Bush’s presidency and everything he promised to do, was not always followed through with. Obama now faces the challenge of picking up where Bush left off and holding his word to the Muslim community.
It seems as though the Muslims may find faith in Obama since they do not have the same past with him, as they do with Bush. No matter what reactions Obama has received from his speech at Cairo University, no one can say what the future holds for the United States and its foreign relations with Muslims. Chances are, he has a better chance at forming a trusting relationship and peace with the Middle East than Bush, just because of his Muslim background.
The tactics used in the Cold War and goals that Reagan made to bring peace to other countries during his presidency are similar to those that Obama looks to be following. Only the future can show whether or not the invisible barrier and tension between the United States and the Middle East will fall just like the Berlin Wall.
The Middle East is reluctant to trust in Obama’s promises because the tension stayed high between the Middle East and America throughout the entire ending of Bush’s presidency and everything he promised to do, was not always followed through with. Obama now faces the challenge of picking up where Bush left off and holding his word to the Muslim community.
It seems as though the Muslims may find faith in Obama since they do not have the same past with him, as they do with Bush. No matter what reactions Obama has received from his speech at Cairo University, no one can say what the future holds for the United States and its foreign relations with Muslims. Chances are, he has a better chance at forming a trusting relationship and peace with the Middle East than Bush, just because of his Muslim background.
The tactics used in the Cold War and goals that Reagan made to bring peace to other countries during his presidency are similar to those that Obama looks to be following. Only the future can show whether or not the invisible barrier and tension between the United States and the Middle East will fall just like the Berlin Wall.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Presidential Trips Abroad
After researching Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and President Barack Obama's speeches, I found that several reactions that the speeches had in common, as well as differences among them. The following is information found thus far.
When Ronald Reagan presented his speech at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, people were afraid of what he might say. He was known to say what he wanted, as opposed to what his advisers thought he should. On the way through Berlin, he overruled his advisers about what he was going to say and decided that what he wanted to say was “the right thing to do.” The advisers, as well as others, thought it was too provocative and thought it may cause more negative reactions, rather than good. Peter Robinson was on his team of advisers and he is the one credited for adding, “tear down this wall,” into Reagan’s speech, against the other’s advice.
This was the ending to the Cold War.
The following is the line he spoke at the Brandenburg Gate aimed at the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that his advisers were especially against:
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
As a result of Reagan’s speech, changes began in Berlin. Gorbachev visited West Germany in May 1989 and said Moscow would no longer try to stop democracy from converting in the outlying states. The end of the Cold War began on June 13, 1990, just 3 years after Reagan’s speech. However, his speech is known for beginning the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Obama's speech at Cairo University had both positive and negative reactions but not the same impact that Reagan's had as far as spreading peace and diplomacy. Reagan's speech helped start the falling of the Berlin Wall, as well as end the Cold War.
According to the NPR Website, Iran’s supreme leader reacted to Obama’s speech at Cairo, saying that his words could not erase the “hatred” of the U.S. Some of the Muslims that attended the speech said it was misleading and not realistic.
Sources:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,964707,00.html
http://www.patriotpost.us/opinion/jeff-jacoby/2009/06/08/obamas-missed-opportunity-in-cairo.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/25/obama-speech-to-congress_n_169726.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104967625
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1821104.stm
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