US budget shutdown tomorrow?

I know most Americans are following the issue over the fiscal budget and hoping that something will be agreed upon before tomorrow.  Our government has not even signed a back up plan that would go into affect if nothing is agreed upon.  BBC news has introduced an article that notes Obama has stated that a potential US government shutdown is "entirely avoidable; " however, he has criticized Republicans for trying to fight the budget in order to further delay his health care law.  "Republicans in the House of Representatives- and their allies in the Senate- have continuously demanded that [Obama's health care plan] be repealed or stripped of funding as a condition for continuing to fund the government. "  Either way major portions of the law were passed back in 2010 and will take effect on Tuesday even if there is a shutdown.  The shutdown they are describing would cause the close of all non-essential federal services at midnight and more than 700,000 federal government workers could be sent home on unpaid leave until this issue is resolved.  Although Obama seems very concerned for the well being of the federal workers, he along with fellow Democrats in the Senate say that they will reject any House bill that touches the health care law.  So there it is, the Republicans will do anything to make sure the health care law does not go into full effect and the Democrats will do anything to make sure Republicans cannot shoot it down and because of this complete lack of understanding or compromise we as a nation will have to see what happens tomorrow.
What are your thoughts on the subject?

article:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24341801

Syria hands in information on chemical weapons

The BBC introduced an article today that stated that the international chemical weapons watchdog has received an "expected" account of the chemical weapons.  This announcement was introduced before the deadline set in the Russia-US deal.  Syria is believed to have 1,000 tonnes of chemical toxins and these weapons are supposed to all be dismantled by the middle of next year.  The UN confirmed that the chemical sarin had been used in an attack on Damascus.  The report did not say who was to blame for the attack; however, it has been assumed that the Syrian government is behind it.  Of course the Syrian President Assad has blamed the rebel groups for this retaliation and even though Russia believes that the rebels did provoke the Syrian government, there has been 100,000 deaths since the uprising against president Assad.  Whether this deal we have made with Syria and handing over their chemical weapons will work we will have to wait and see.

Chemical weapons plan

The US and Russia have come to an agreement stating that Syrian chemical weapons must be destroyed or removed by mid-2014.  In addition, the document also states that the US and Russia must be notified, in detail, of Syria's stockpile of weapons within a week.  If Syria does not agree to these terms it will result in an UN Resolution because Syria has recently joined the Chemical Weapons Convention.  The government of Bashar al-Assad still denies any involvement in the use of gas or chemical weapons against its citizens.  It is great to hear that the US and Russia have, both, taken a stance against Syria.  The only steps now would for Syria either to choose to cooperate or for Assad to not cooperate which would introduce the use of force under an announced UN Resolution.  The US somewhat expects for Syria "to live up to its public commitments" and wanted to let the population know that if Syria chooses to not obey the rules that our government is still prepared to take action. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24098159

During the G20 Summit talks about Syria continued and Putin continued to stress that the US not intervene in the issue in Syria.  In addition, this past week after Obama asked approval from Congress to intervene in the issue I noticed that there were several stories about how Obama wanted to share the blame, but I find that this was a good stance for Obama to take.  If he went ahead with the order to engage in Syria conflict without Congressional approval and it went downhill he would be blamed; however, this issue is clearly a major international crisis where Congress should, and did, agree to take a stance against Assad and the Syrian cruelty.  Today on BBC news Secretary of State, Kerry, spoke out about his stance on the Syrian conflict and noted that there will be a bigger risk if the US does not take action.  Even though Russia urges for peace talks and Assad said that if the US attacks militarily we should be prepared for retaliation Kerry finds that it would be a greater risk to allow Assad to continue using chemical weapons.  In addition, during the Summit Syrian leaders denied any knowledge of chemical weapons and stated that the weapons were not used on the population. This conflict urges the question of,  on the international stage if someone does not intervene when a country uses chemical weapons then what will happen next???

*Ultimately my answer for this question would be that other countries will see that the use of chemical weapons was frowned upon but there was no reprimand so it will enable the use of chemical weapons. 

What do you think?

Kerry's article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24016844

"Never give up"

After watching the news yesterday evening I have to blog about Diana Nyad.  She ultimately reached her lifelong dream of swimming from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.  Diana, 64 years old, swam the 110 miles for fifty-three hours straight.  Diana has been trying to fulfill this dream since she was 28 and this was her fifth attempt at swimming this long treacherous distance.  After she got out of the water she looked very distraught but continued to walk and praise supporters telling them to never give up on their dreams.  Diana's story is a brave and very encouraging story for others to uplift others, especially women. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23915203
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/02/20288819-diana-nyad-makes-history-swimming-from-cuba-to-florida?lite

What has the media today become?

As we all watch and anticipate a FINAL verdict on the Syria crisis the media has went stir crazy with articles.  CNN and BBC have created articles that are key for the uninvolved US population to read and become more aware of this evolving problem; however, some articles I have come across are problematic only because of mass media.  Yesterday, as I was reading my daily news at work I noticed that one of the top stories reported on Syria was about one of Assad's children threatening the US through his Facebook.  In Hafez Assad's page long status update he rants on about how he wishes the US would attack and that the US may have more weapons but they will never completely cease the resistance that has been built up in Syria.  Honestly, I do not feel that an article about Assad's 11 year old sons rant on Facebook trumps real stories about the human rights tragedies happening in Syria, President Obama's stance on Syria, or any article that will let us know how close the US is to attacking the nation.  After reading the ranting Facebook status I wondered, are US citizens really more concerned/interested in this little boys tantrum and could they care less that we are about to potentially bomb another nation and have our whole country put at risk??  I have found that some of the media lately has been consumed with stories that are completely bogus about the latest celebrity scandals (especially Miley Cyrus's VMA performance) and about royal weddings, babies, and scandals.  I am SURE that there are some people in the US today that have heard about Syria, but have not read or watched anything beneficial to the subject. 


This blog pertains to:
http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/30/bashar-al-assads-young-son-dares-us-to-attack-syria-in-facebook-rant-photo/

Important articles:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23918157#TWEET874893

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/world/europe/syria-civil-war/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+(RSS%3A+Politics)