The Blame Game

Ever notice how nothing is ever anyone's fault? It's easy to place blame on someone else and that seems to be the trend these days.

Who is to blame, the illegal immigrants just looking for work or the companies who are just looking for employees? The biggest immigration raid in U.S. history lead to hundreds of workers sentenced but no company officials in trouble, thus putting the illegals at blame. However, one congressman said, "Until we enforce our immigration laws equally against both employers and employees who break the law, we will continue to have a problem with immigration." But perhaps it is the government's fault for letting the people enter the country illegally? Or we can blame the Mexican government for running their country into the ground.

Speaking of the Mexican government and it's problems... a growing number of people feel that the government is loosing its battle against drug gangs. Despite deployment of over 25,000 troops to drug trafficking hot-spots over the last year, organized crime related homicides have jumped 47% to a total of 1,378 this year. The president said, "It does not gratify us that the fight to regain lost Mexican territory necessarily means periods of violent confrontation... But that is our strategy, and it's the right strategy." Blame who you will, but it's obvious that there is a problem.

In International News

At a recent U.N. summit on the global food crisis, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe blamed the west for the problems... despite that his authoritarian rule has brought widespread hunger in his own country. The German representative said, "I find it very cynical that someone who has driven people in his country into hunger and the country into ruin dares to show up at such a conference." A handful of delegations including the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands refused to even talk to Mugabe. Perhaps because he accusing Western powers of maneuvering to bring about "regime change" in Zimbabwe, you know that election he's contesting. He also claimed that land reform, aka taking the land from the whites, was "warmly welcomed" and that the country has "elicited wrath from our former colonial masters." So it would appear that the food crisis is due to poor government leadership... Duh!

Everyone is pointing fingers regarding the Fulbright scholarships of seven Gaza Strip students whom were initially blocked by Israel from leaving the Hamas-ruled territory. The U.S. state department said, "On our side there was some decision-making that in retrospect we wouldn't have taken." An Israeli spokesman said, "Hamas exploits every opportunity to send terrorists and weapons across the border, including under the guise of humanitarian cases... Israel has a strong interest in the emergence of a moderate and educated Palestinian leadership." Israeli officials say U.S. diplomats didn't ask for special exemptions for the Fulbright students, while U.S. officials say Israel should have recognized immediately that these were a special case.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Deputy Chief Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian of China are also playing the blame game. While the two countries claim to want a more open and improved relationship they are finding quite a bit to fight about. In regards to China's intercontinental ballistic missiles Gates said, "I don't know what you use them for if it's not for offensive capabilities." Ma said, "China's defense expenditure is at a low level in contrast to some developed countries in the world... We are military threat to no other country." Ma did not mention the United States by name, but said there are concerns in Pacific about the expansion of missile defense that could create instability in the region. Tensions remain, however, leading to concerns the countries will build up their militaries in an effort to counteract and compete with each other.

Technology In Our World

Print Newspapers have long blamed the internet, and to a lesser extent radio and television, for the lacking sales. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that by the time the news is printed its old. Well according to a report by the World Association of Newspapers, Global circulation is rising and circulation of paid newspapers rose 2.6 percent worldwide in 2007. It would appear that the real enemy has not been competition so much as illiteracy. The association's president said, "They say newspapers and print are dead. Well, I just don't see it." Then again, some editors see free dailies as their competition, and internet advertising is up... way up! Give it time and print may just die, but not today.

Your Government at Work

NASA is being blamed, by itself, for marginalizing studies on global warming over the last few years. NASA's inspector general office called it "inappropriate political interference" by political appointees in the press office. The report detailed more than a dozen other actions in which it said the NASA public affairs office unilaterally edited or downgraded press releases having to do with global warming or denied access to scientists. Of course NASA public affairs officials criticized by the report called it wrong, saying they were always open and truthful. Meanwhile, an author who wrote a book on NASA faulted the report's finding that NASA administrator Michael Griffin and the White House weren't involved in manipulation.