Almost Bailed-Out...

On Friday, President Obama declared the controversial bailout of the General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC a success and the white house is convinced that due to the bailout, the country has averted an economic disaster.

It was not just GM and Chrysler that were effected by these bankruptcies. President Obama stated in a recent visit to a Chrysler plant, "If we had done nothing, not only were your jobs gone, but supplier jobs were gone and dealership jobs were gone, and the community that depended on them would have been wiped out."

The automakers plan to make a return to public markets soon and are determined to prove that this great "rescue" was not a disaster. The Wall Street Journal reports that a Chrysler plant in Sterling Heights, MI will not close as expected and is even going to add a second shift to meet improving demand. Of the 334,000 jobs lost in the bankruptcies, 55,000 jobs have returned to previously laid off employees and employment rates are on the rise.

It's going to be a road full of struggle for these automakers to get back up on their feet and finish repaying the $60 billion from the bailout, but had the government not intervened, the repercussions may have been catastrophic. People don't consider how greatly these industries affect areas of the United States. Had these corporations completely gone under, even more jobs would have been lost. Not to mention the towns built around the suppliers plants and the dealerships would have been lost forever.

BP- Don't Ask...Dont Tell

In Dave lindorff's article "BP's Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell Policy: The Well’s Corked, But Public and Government are Left in the Dark", Professor Bob Bea, of UC Berkley, a civil engineer with years of experience in marine oil drilling explains how BP's unwillingness to share crucial information could lead to further damage of the Gulf of Mexico and its shores. Bea, a clearly qualified professional on the matter, explains that "information about oil reservoir formations is highly secretive among the oil companies." and how "BP would be loath to share information about what’s going on in a reservoir with competitors." He explains that multiple oil and gas leaks have been detected in the pipe have been found up to two miles away from where it was recently capped. He suspects that these leaks may be relatively small now but may grow if ignored by BP. According to Bea,

"natural gas moving upward from a depth of 13,000 feet below the sea floor would expand by “several hundred times” by the time it reaches the sea bottom--a potentially explosive situation, as was demonstrated with the Deepwater Horizon drill rig, where 11 men died in the initial gas explosion last April."

He sites a clear example of how these small gas leaks in the pipe can become a real threat if not tended to in a timely manner.

Lindorff presents his post to the general public to raise concern of BP's cowardly behavior of turning away from problems to preserve their already tarnished image. He has solid points, is undoubtedly qualified on the matter, and I think his concern should be addressed before we let BP's pipe further pollute the Gulfs waters.

Arizona Immigration Law Controversy

An article recently published in The New York Times addresses an Arizona law recently passed that "requires police officers to check the papers of people they stop or arrest if suspicious of their immigration status." The Obama administration has filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona to preemptively protect legal citizens from being swept up in Arizona's enforcement. Arizona's argument suggests that the Government has no grounds for issuing this lawsuit because there are no examples prosecutors can point to of legal citizens whose lives were disrupted by this law. However, this law has not been placed into effect yet which is why it is a matter of preemptive action.

This article is important because it involves US citizens right to freedom from discrimination.