Budget 2009

Jim Flaherty, the Minister of Finance, announced the budget to save the nation from economic downfall on January 27th. The plan provides about $30 billion to support the Canadian families and businesses. The plan states that 12 billion will be going to build roads and buldings, $20 billion for personal income tax relief, about $200 billion to improve access to financing, and $7.5 billion to Canada Skills and Transition Strategy.

However, the reactions around economists are not happy. All the economists on Don Newman's show, a political TV show, gave it a B-. The government’s order was to stimulate the economy enough to restore confidence to consumers and businesses. There are also some people saying that the budget is decent because it is spent basically towards working Canadians.

Ignatieff's Liberals decided to support Harper's Conservatives's budget, but with few amendments of his own. He stated that the report requires details such as protecting the vulnerable, creating jobs, and stimulating the economy.

This made the NDP leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe to become outraged. They had wanted the Liberals to defeat Harper's government over the budget. Layton accused Ignatieff of "propping up" Harper, and Duceppe said that the opposition coalition formed early last month "dead."

I think that the government's stimulus budget plan is definitely good enough to provide a temporary relief for the citizens of Canada who are suffering from this crisis. I think what we need now is just time and effort from every one of us.

Throne Speech

The Speech from the Throne by Governor General Michaëlle Jean was really gloomy about Canada's economic situations right now and about the 13 billion dollars that the government had promised for tax relief.

The Governor General stated that in response to this national crisis, the "Economic stimulus plan" will be put in action. The plan was fairly general in topic. The government said that it would encourage private spending and direct government action, protect stability of the economic system, support industries in difficulty, and protect the unemployed and aboriginals.

The Conservatives said that they will spent all the required money to revive the suffering economy. New Democrat Leader Jack Layton, stated that someone other than Harper would better in this situation."There's probably going to be measures there that we would support, but they are much more likely to actually be implemented by a government that believes in them," he told reporters."I'm afraid we have to say that Mr. Harper has lost our confidence and he's now willing to propose things he doesn't really believe in, in order to save his job."

Canada’s opposition Liberals stated that they will support Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s budget after the government agreed to provide regular progress reports on the plan. However, the New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois have already said that they will vote against the financial plan.

Not only does the Throne Speech bring a sense of a huge national crisis, it shows the increase of tension between the political parties. If Harper cannot bring the economy back up, the other political parties would be happy to overthrow him. His financial plan should work out really well quickly, or Harper would be losing his job.

Virginia Tech Student Decapitated

Xin Yang, a 22-year-old Chinese international student who was just trying to adapt to the school in an accounting program was decapitated with a kitchen knife in a cafe on Thursday.

The alleged killer, Haiyang Zhu, also from China, was arrested on the scene. He was found holding Miss Xin's head on the scene. He was a doctoral student in agricultural and applied economics was said to be helping Miss Xin adapt to her new school. He was charged with first-degree murder.

The reason for his murder is still a mystery, but postings were found oh him blog talking about how frustrated he was from his losses in his stock investments. He wrote that he thought of killing himself or killing someone else. This event brought back painful memories to the citizens of U.S. and the world from the Virginia Tech Massacre in April 2007.

I think that from this incident, Virginia Tech should look deeper into the emotions and the psychologies of its students. It should try to to prevent factors that might have caused this kind of wrongdoing such as depression and peer-pressure. We must make sure that these kinds of tragedies do not happen again.

Obama orders Gitmo closed within one year

On Thursday, President Obama re-inspected the law concerning how terrorists and terrorist suspects. He signed an order to close down the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within a year.

He signed an executive order banning "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the Bush administration. These techniques included waterboarding, a method of torture by pouring excessive water on the prisoner's face repeatedly. It also required the CIA to stop any secret prisons or interrogations it may be operating.

Obama said the closure of Guantanamo will be "consistent with national security and foreign interests of the United States" and said he wants to send a message to the world that the United States will continue to pursue terrorists but will also operate from the high ground. He says that the United States will watch terrorism closely and effectively in a way that goes alongside our values and ideals.

However, Republic lawmakers are saying that a problem exists, saying that they should not bring the 250 prisoners inside the United States' borders or send them back to the battlefield. Senator John McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham both said that they support President Obama's order, but said that there will be some difficulties. Many prisoners who were released did not have any place to go to because not a single foreign country were willing to accept them.

On the other hand, human rights groups were happy to hear this news. Even though they admit that the prisoners will cause some trouble, they are glad that Obama "understands that indefinite detention without trial must end once and for all.

I do not think that President Obama should have signed the order to close down Guantanamo Bay. Where wil the 250 prisoners go? Some of them will be released, and not a single country wants to accep one of them. President Obama should have personally gone to the prison camp and inspected the facility himself. Then, he will get a better idea of how things work there, and it will also show to the media and to the world that he really cares for human rights by going to a place filled with people who are suspected of wanting to destory America. He should have just fired the employees and guards and banned any kind of inhuman torturing interrogation techniques.

North Korea Proposes War Threats

There has been a lot of talking going on over the war threat made by North Korea on a North Korean news channel by a military spokesman in full uniform. People are wondering if this should be considered as just a fake threat or if this should be considered as a global crisis.

South Korea has intensified its military surveillance nonetheless, especially in the west coasts and the sea. The North and the South had engaged in naval skirmishes over the disputed sea border in the West Sea in 1999 and 2002.

The military spokesman accuses South Korea of planning an invasion, and stated, "Our revolutionary armed forces will launch into an all-out confrontational posture to crush the South." The North stated that the 30.8 kilograms of plutonium had been used to make warheads for missiles, and with 30.8 kilograms, 4~5 warheads could be made.

Why are people so worried when this is not the first war threat made by North Korea? This was the first time a spokeman made a fully-uniformed appearance. Analysts are guessing that they might be serious this time. However, most Korean citiznes are oblivious to the threat of nuclear bombs flying over their heads. Some analysts are even saying that the North are just trying to grab attention from the world due to their impoverished society.

Just days before, the new-elected prime minister Barack Obama received a message from North Korea that the 30.8 kilograms of plutonium has been weaponized. The message was delivered by the director of the Washington-based Center for International Policy's Asia Program, Selig Harrison.

Harrison also reported that Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun stated that the North wants better relations with Obama's new government. He said that the North wants Obama to make sure North Korea receives promised energy aid and to help revive their agriculture.

Harrison also said that the North Korean officials are going to stop disabling the North's Yongbyon reactor if Japan does not give them 200,000 tons of fuel oil promised by Japan. Japan had fulfilled its part in the deal saying that the North had abducted the Japanese nationals.

As a citizen of South Korea, there cannot be a worse news than the news of your country jumping into a war again, especially against your own people. The question is, "Is this another bluff? And how should we react to this threat?" I think that whether this is just a bluff to be in a better position in a negotiation or an actual threat, South Korea should really take this seriously even at the price of getting a bad deal at the next negotiation because a third world war is not needed in place of a tiny bit of the national budget. We should try to meet their demands and talk things out towards world peace. The officials should keep talking of peace, and I think that the United Nations should take part in the talks also and help out the people in North Korea who are living in poverty.