Obama Asks for More Money

President Obama plans on asking Congress for an additional $83 billion to fund the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He believes it will be enough to fund the war through the rest of 2009 and he would like for the additional funding to be given by the end of September.

The total cost of the war is steadily approaching $1 trillion dollars, with the majority of the cost going to the fight in Iraq. Obama does plan on backing off in Iraq and shifting focus on Afghanistan. He will start pulling troops out of Iraq in the next few months and sending them over to Afghanistan.

$75 million will go to military troops and reinforcements while the rest will be spent on government agencies and rebuilding Iraq.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/09/obama.war.funding/index.html

Steve Lyons

Journalism 311 student

Illegal Immigrants Becoming Legal

There is new hope for illegal immigrants in their quest to become citizens of the United States. President Obama has plans to reform the immigration system in the U.S. to make it easier for illegal immigrants to become a legal U.S. citizen.

Obama's plan of reform will not be released until May but it is clear what his goal is. He plans on reforming the policy to a "policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system,” said the official, Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House.

When Obama was campaigning for office earlier last year, he promised to implement an immigration legislation system that would make citizenship possible for an estimated 12 million immigrants. He has admitted that the state of the economy will make this bill harder to pass.

Opponents of this bill say that it is wrong for Obama to legalize 12 million illegal immigrants when so many Americans are already out there looking for jobs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/politics/09immig.html?_r=1&hp

Steve Lyons
Journalism 311 student

Obama Visits U.S. Troops in Iraq

President Obama visited United States troops stationed in Iraq on Tuesday and he was met with affection from the crowd. A member of the crowd even shouted "I love you" to which Obama replied, "I love you too."

Obama told the troops that it was time for a transition in Iraq. He said it was time for Iraq to take responsibility of their country. He also praised the troops by saying they gave Iraq "an opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country."

This comes after Obama revealed a 19 month exit strategy for Iraq. He does plan on keeping at least 50,000 troops in Iraq even after the 19 months.

While in Iraq, Obama met with the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki. During their meeting, Obama suggested that al-Maliki should try to include Sunnis into the government.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/04/200947141454476854.html

Photo Credit: NevadaThunder.com

Steve Lyons
Journalism 311 student

Obama Reaches Out to Turkey

President Obama was in Turkey on Monday to deliver a speech to Turkey's Parliament. Obama expressed his desire for the United States to build a positive relationship with Islam and he has decided to start in Turkey.

Turkey is seen as being a perfect place for the U.S. to start. Turkey recently went through a political power shift that landed a new group of elites in office. The old regime was a secular while the new one incorporates Islam into the government. Turkey's new Prime Minister is Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Obama spoke to both the old and new regime during his speech. He talked about wanting to establish a strong and secular democracy in Turkey. Obamas vision of a strong and secular democracy seemed to please both regimes.

Sedat Ergin, the editor of Milliyet, a newspaper in Turkey that has questioned the new regimes religous roots, saw Obama's speech as a step in the right direction. “The most important part of his speech was the emphasis on the secular democratic structure in Turkey. He won back hearts of the secular circles in Turkey," said Ergin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/world/europe/07turkey.html?_r=1

Steve Lyons
Journalism 311 student

North Korean Missle Launch

North Korea had the world watching Sunday when they launched a long range rocket. The rocket is called the Taepodong 2, and it was launched from a military base in the northeastern part of North Korea.

The launch was viewed as a failure by North Korea despite the rockets ability to clear Japanese airspace. The Taepodong 2 was attempting to enter into Earth's orbit.

President Obama made strong comments regarding the rocket launch. Obama called the launch "a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind."

Obama also called the launch a provocative act while saying North Korea ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations. He also urged North Korea to refrain from further provocative actions.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/05/us.nkorea.reaction/index.html
Photo Credit: rferl.org

Steve Lyons
Journalism 311 student

GOP Questions Obama's Economic Plan

The GOP is questioning whether President Obama's economic plan will help or hurt the economy. The main argument made by Republicans is that Obama's plan will hurt future generations.

Rep. Paul Ryan admitted that Obama was given a bad situation to work with. Ryan sees the plan as being a quick fix that will hurt the economy in the long run.

"Put simply: the Democrats’ budget spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much from our kids and their kids. … Their budget puts all the sacrifice on future generations. It makes no tough choices. It’s only tough on our children and grandchildren," said Ryan.

Obama's $3.5 trillion budget was passed by the Senate earlier this week.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/04/gop-response-obama-fixing-crisis-or-making-it-worse/

Steve Lyons
Journalism 311 student

Obama's Census Pick

President Obama made a controversial pick on Thursday for the next census director. Robert M. Groves, 60, was selected as the census director and will conduct the 2010 census.

The census is used to determine the number of seats each state gets in the House of Representatives and to allocate federal money.

Groves is very experienced in this field. He was the Census Bureau assosiate director of statistical design from 1990 to 1992 and he has been researching ways to improve research response rates for decades. The senate must still vote and confirm Obama's pick before Groves will offically be the census director.

Many Republicans in the House of Representatives disapproved of the selection. "We will be watching closely to ensure the 2010 census is conducted without attempting... statistical sleight of hand," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-census3-2009apr03,0,4840650.story

Steve Lyons
Journalism 311 student