"Department of Jihad" & Blitzer's Controversy?

So, here's a story that caught my eye this week. Apparently, it has recently come out that 7 to 9 Justice Department lawyers, who before working in the Justice Department, represented Guantanamo detainees while they were in private practice. Therefore, questioning their patriotism.

What makes this story even more interesting? Well, a group called Keep America Safe, whom are actually associated with Dick Cheney's daughter, Elizabeth, have recently come out with a video, headlined, "DOJ: Department of Jihad?" They basically criticized these government officials and questioned their loyalty to their country. In the video, they asked, "Who are these government officials? And, whose values do they share?"

If you don't know already, Keep America Safe has been criticizing Obama and his policies since he has entered office. So, its not the first time they have been outspoken or, in this case, outspoken with a video. They created a video prior to this one after President Obama's State of the Union address, called "State of the Rhetoric?" And, Cheney's daughter seems to be associated with them. (Seems very interesting though, that Cheney's daughter be associated with a group set against Obama and his policies. Don't you think?)

But, Keep America Safe aren't the only ones concerned with these "Jihad lawyers." Republican Senators have been asking for months for the names of these nine officials and voicing concerns about whether they are trustworthy or not. Not, only that but the media has been having a field day with this. Fox News actually identified the lawyers. While CNN went on to create a controversy of their own.

If you haven't heard, last week, Wolf Blitzer had his own controversy with this whole "Department of Jihad" situation/smear. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer apologized for the segment that focused on the smear ads from “Keep America Safe” that charge Department of Justice lawyers with being in "cahoots" with Al Qaeda terrorists. The segment actually included a graphic that read “Department of Jihad?” and ended up angering viewers.

The segment was a "debate-style point-counterpoint discussion" of the “Keep America Safe” ads. They actually opened it up to the airwaves, as they do 'many a times.' But, with such a controversial subject at bay, CNN should have known better and should have addressed the controversy themselves. Instead, they allowed the audience to debate. Should CNN have allowed for such a thing? Many have stated that the answer is in fact quite easy. It is not "CNN’s job" to resolve questions one way or another. It is to keep the questions alive for the sake of drawing an audience. So, was the graphic really the problem or was it the way that CNN went about the whole situation.

Anyway, Wolf Blitzer actually offered or was "forced?" to issue an apology for the segment. Here's the statement:

"On Friday, Wolf Blitzer apologized on behalf of CNN for the graphic, saying that “CNN had no intention of suggesting the Justice Department supported terrorism, lawyers at the Justice Department are patriotic Americans and we certainly reject any confusion that may have been caused by our graphic.”

So, what do you think? Do you think CNN should have involved viewers? Did they go a little too far?

First Haiti. Now Chile?

With 2010 already getting off to a bad start with one devastating earthquake in Haiti, followed by a large number of aftershocks, the 8.8 magnitude in Chile on February 27th has shocked many. Recovery is still in effect in Haiti and now, we have even more devastation. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet called the damage "an emergency unparalleled in the history of Chile."

The death toll has been reported at an estimated 723 people, although Chilean officials have indicated that that number is "significantly overestimated", with the actual death toll being only 497 as of March 8, 2010. An estimated half a million homes have been damaged with Chile's earthquake.

Earthquake in Chile 2010

The Chilean government called for aid as devastation sank in. Chile is considered to be Latin America's most earthquake-ready country though. Children learn how to run for cover during quake drills before even learning to read. They are ready for a variety of scenarios with their thick disaster manual. But, even with that, the powerfully devastating earthquake that damaged bridges, collapsed bridges, downed phone lines and killed hundreds, has left even more of an aftershock then they thought. Experts are saying that although the quake  showed Chile to be one of the most developed countries in the region, it is also "one of the most unequal, with huge pockets of urban and rural poor, who suffered most in the quake." Chile is certainly going to be needing a lot of assistance in order to get the country back to the way it was. And, to think, just a few weeks ago, Chile was the one giving aid, not receiving it.

New Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown: Could We All Have Spoken Too Soon?

If you haven’t heard this past week, the Senate advanced the jobs bill. A $15 billion bill of tax cuts and highway spending advanced in the Senate on Monday. What makes this so surprising or significant? Maybe, it’s the fact that one of our new Republican senators voted with the Democrats, possibly setting the mood for the remainder of his term (or Ted Kennedy's term). What’s the mood? Unpredictability? So, you may have heard about the highly publicized Massachusetts Senate races that occurred in January, in which, Republican Scott Brown won in a surprising victory. He beat out the Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley. This shifted the always Democratic state of Massachusetts to an unanticipated Republican one. Therefore, Democrats lost their super majority vote in the Senate.


With Senator Brown’s election, President Obama, along with other Democrats’ were prompted to call for increased bipartisanship. Democrats did not know exactly how the votes would go now with Brown’s election. Would he be super conservative? Or moderate? No one knew what to expect. But, the former model's first vote in this jobs bill shows us that we may not know what to expect from this new Republican senator. We may have all just spoken too soon. Senator Brown joined four other republicans, 55 Democrats and two independents in a procedural hurdle that was to set up a final vote towards the end of last week. Brown said that the bill is not perfect but it would definitely help put people back to work. "I hope my vote today is a strong step toward restoring bipartisanship in Washington." Brown's first vote shows many that there is no way to predict how the Senate is going to vote now. The apocalypse that the Democrats saw with his election may, in fact, not be coming at all. We will all just have to wait and see.