8-Foreign Aid or foreign trade

I feel that the aiding to other countries is not the wisiest thing we have done as a country. The fact that the money aided is invested outside of the country, stolen by corrupt leaders, and spent on ill-advised programs makes the foreign aid worthless in itself. If the money was giving to more meaningful causes I would say that the foreign aid would be a good thing to continue. I feel that the U.S should focus on trade, industry, and infrastructure with the other countries. I also feel that the U.S should provide health benefits and other social services to foreign countries.

7-HDI

HDI is determined by the literacy, wealth, and life expectancy. HDI stands for the Human Development Index and it goes beyond just the income of people. The countries that are more developed have higher human development. The medium developed countries are smaller, but are still developed. Most of the countries located in Sub-Sahara Africa are the lowest human development. Sub-Sahara Africa is still in the process of developing. It has a lot of areas that are not close to being fully occupied. Here are a couple of examples of the Sub-Sahara countries with low HDI.

The HDI for Uganda is 0.493, which gives the country a rank of 156th out of 179 countries with data.
The HDI for Rwanda is 0.435, which gives the country a rank of 165th out of 179 countries with data.
The HDI for Ethiopia is 0.389, which gives the country a rank of 169th out of 179 countries with data.

6-An Orcan Adventure

I have always been an animal lover, but during one of my favorite vacations I came across a pod of Orca whales. My family has a tradition of going on a vacation every year and when I was nine years old we went to Washington. My Aunt and Uncle booked a whale watching tour during one of the days we were there. We left early in the morning and headed out to the Puget Sound. When we had departed and reached a good whale viewing spot, what we saw was amazing. A pod of Orca were right next to our boat. Over the course of half a hour the whales were so close to our book that you could actually feel the spray hit you on the face. They were so close that you could almost reach out and touch them. They seem so gently for being known as Killer Whales. There movements in the water are so graceful and they can get some pretty good height in their jumps. My family left in awe of how awesome these Killers' can be. If you ever get a chance to go to Washington I would highly recommend Whale Watching on the Puget Sound. This photograph was taken by Gerard Lacz of Animals Animals-Earth Scenes.

5-47 years of Travel Banning

Cuba is a communist ruled country in which the United States has had no ties with for 47 years. With a new President in power, Barack Obama is trying to break the ban and allow us to have ties with Cuba. With the already illegal Cuban cigars, should we be allowed to travel to this Communist run country? I feel that since Gauntanamo Bay has been shut down the travel ban should still be in effect. We still have communication to allow for ties to be made with Cuba. Since most of the prisoners will be set free it is hard to determine weither or not they will be planning future attacks. It is best if the citizens are kept safe until things are completely under control in Cuba. Later on if problems are not happening, then traveling should be allowed to Cuba. For right now though, I feel that we should stay away from Cuba and hopefully within time God will provide a stronger, less Communist government to rule Cuba.

4-Latin America Current Event

While I was searching for a current event I ran into a very interesting article. This article can be found on the following site, http://xrl.us/beg3c6. I found this article interesting, because it deals with the drug usage that is occurring all over Latin America. In this article, Bolivia and Peru are defending their use of the coca plants, which are a source for cocaine. Since, cocaine gets distributed to the U.S; these coca plants serve multiple purposes. The people of Peru and Bolivia use the coca plants for both medical and religious reasons. The coca plants supposedly prevent hunger and tiredness, which is why the people take this plant seriously. The plants were first used by Indigenous people and are still being used by these people today. The main situation regarding this plant is that the UN has listed the coca plant as a dangerous controlled substance as well as the cocaine that comes from it. One interesting fact I found, was that Peru and Bolivia are the second highest producers of cocaine after Columbia.

3-Species At Risk

The worldmapper map I chose shows where there are species at risk. I chose this map, because it has meaning to me. I have been a member of the St.Louis Zoo family club for several years and its purpose is to protect species that are endanged and threatened. I feel that animals should be allowed a certain amount of territory to live and thrive in. One thing I find interesting is that the United States has one of the highest counts of species at risk. With all the destruction of forests and countryside many of the creatures are having a hard time finding a place to live. With all the construction of houses and restaraunts several species homes are destroyed on a daily basis. Next time a new building is proposed we as a nation should consider the lives of all the other creatures we share our country with. They should have a right too.

2-LDC versus MDC

Uganda, a poorly developed country dealing with starvation and mistreated children. Most of the children suffer from HIV/AIDS. Uganda is considered to be one of the most known carrier countries of these viruses. That is probably one of the main reasons why the population is much higher on the bottom of the pyramid than it is on the top. Children hardly have time to live after having the virus for so long. Even despite all thing, Uganda stills is showing a growing population. In fact, Uganda's population growth is threatening poverty reduction. So many people in one place can cause a whole lot of problems when it comes to poverty. Even though Uganda is an LDC, there are still hope for it in the future.

On the opposite end of the scale, there is Russia. Russia has pretty sufficiant resources and a large territory. Russia has been averaging a growth rate of 7% annually since its great financial crisis of '98. That means that Russia is growing and as you can see it has a large group of people living well into their sixties and seventies. Russia is home to many men, women, and children who have been abused in their lifetimes. In fact, Russia is known as a place of safety for these people. That is also a factor for why Russia has had a growth spurt over the past 10 years.