Issue 2 - The Modern Gangster

Review the horace mann

Domestic - International - Features - Economics - Science & Technology - Viewpoints

The

Modern

Gangster

Table of Contents Features: The Modern Gangster

16 The Mystery of Hashish

When an illegal drug is such an integral part of a nation’s economy, is the tradeoff worth it? by sAMIR nedzamar

18 Rich Man’s Lawn or Poor Man’s Grass?

Is legalizing marijuana the answer to crime in California? by rebecca segall

21 House of Crime

In search of a community outside troubled homes, youths are coerced into joining illegal drug gangs.

by Jessica bernheim

International

08 The Web’s Wild West

Nigeria has developed a thriving industry in cybercrime. What must be done to rectify the situation.

by Daniel elkind

30 CWD in the Water

Katherine Wyatt reports on just how vital it is to avert this tragedy of the commons.

by Katherine wyatt

Viewpoints

32 Terrorists in our Backyard

The Copenhagen Climate Summit: Challenges, Controversies, and Everything in between

We may feel safe in America, but domestic terrorism is a threat which has been overlooked for many years.

12 The Road to Closing

34 Third Term’s the Charm

10 Rising Tensions

by Mathieu rolfo

Guantanamo

by alex posner

14 The Afghani Elections

by Danielle ellison

by Samantha rahmin

35 Won’t Get Fooled Again by matthew meltzer

Corruption at its best. by zoe rubin

Economics

For additional content and updates, check out the website at: web.horacemann.org/review/

22 Regulating Wall Street by deependra mookim

25 Putting America Back on Track

by jacob gladysz-moranski

Domestic

04 The Real Nutrition Facts

An examination of the marketing’s realities in the nutrition industry.

by Emily Feldstein

06 Peace Prize Unrest

How the Nobel Prize Committee’s decision to award President Obama the Peace Prize was unwarranted and deprived other more deserving candidates of the accolade. by vivianna lin

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26 Wall Street’s Guidance Department

An inside story on a vital economic organization...

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by stephen paduano

Science and Technology

28 Preventative Measures:

The Search for an AIDS Vaccine

Although we’ve eliminated smallpox and have polio on its last legs, a vaccine for HIV/AIDS has eluded scientists for years... by jacob moscona-skolnik

HM Review Vol. XIX

Letter from the Editor The Horace Mann Review Volume XIX , Issue 2

Letter from the Editor

A Journal of Opinion on Current Events, Politics, Public Policy, and Culture

Kevin Lin Editor-in-Chief

Nicholas Herzeca Jason Sunshine Executive Editor

Dan Temel Nancy DaSilva Henry Hoglund Dan Shapiro Features Editor James Yaro Starlyte Harris Aradhna Agarwal Spencer Penn Will Dubbs Editorial Director Production Manager

Jordan Federer Freddie Adler Antonia Woodford Ben Marks Mario Alvarez Eric Schwartz Business Manager Hill Wyrough Senior Columnists

Alex Falk

Chief Copy Editor

Camille Knop Aylin Gucalp Photo Editor

Board of Trustees Maximilian D.C. Thompson, Zachary Freyer-Biggs, Charles Stam, Kunal Malkani, Venkat Kausik, Zachary Malter Production Assistants Seth Arar, Elisabeth Stam Associate Editors Deependra Mookim, Justin Katiraei, Andrew Demas, Aaron Goldman, Danielle Ellison, Victor Ladd, Daniel Grafstein Staff Writers Dorin Azerad, Justin Burris, Katie Cacouris, Jessica Chi, Wallace Cotton, Zander Daniel, Alexander Familant, Emily Feldstein, Matt Fox, Adela Kim, Christine Kim, Alex Ma, Andre Manuel, Avital Morris, Jacob MosconaSkolnik, Zoe Rubin, Rebecca Segall Contributing Writers Jacob Gladysz-Moranski, Stephen Paduano, Vivianna Lin, Samatha Rahmin, Matthew Meltzer, Jessica Bernheim, Samir Nedzamar, Daniel Elkind, Katherine Wyatt, Alex Posner Faculty Advisors Mr. Gregory Donadio The Horace Mann Review is a member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the American Scholastic Press Association, and the National Scholastic Press Association. Opinions expressed in articles or illustrations are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board or of the Horace Mann School.

Please contact The Review for information on advertisements at thereview@horacemann.org.

Visit The Review website at: web.horacemann.org/review/

September 2009 HM Review

Dear Reader, Gang violence is an issue of much gravity in our cities.

Be it in Los Angeles, with the infamous Bloods and the Crips, or Mexico, where the drug cartels wage gunfights with the police (and win), gangs have impacted lives and given law enforcement great difficulty. Yet what are the reasons behind the influence of gangs? One, which Rebecca Segall examines in the scope of California, is the drug trade. Another arises from some of our communities themselves, and Jessica Bernheim discusses the circumstances surrounding the members of these gangs themselves, while Samir Nedzamar provides an international viewpoint with the case of hashish in Morocco.

Besides our gangs feature this issue, we cover some domestic topics, such as the role of marketing in the nutrition industry, a point brought up by Emily Feldstein, or the unrest caused by the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to President Barack Obama, by Vivianna Lin.

Meanwhile, in our International section, Daniel Elkind shows us the problem of cybercrime in Nigeria, Mathieu Rolfo looks into the Copenhagen Climate Summit and Alex Posner leads us on the road to closing Guantanamo Bay. Our economics and science sections are as informative as ever, with a Wall Street update by Deependra Mookim and a spotlight on Chronic Wasting Disease by Katherine Wyatt.

Lastly, Samantha Rahmin and Matthew Meltzer bring us opposing viewpoints on a problem closer to home: Mayor Bloomberg’s bid for a third term.

I hope you enjoy this second issue of the Horace Mann Review Volume XIX. Happy reading,

Kevin Lin Editor-in-Chief Volume XIX 3

Domestic The Real Nutrition Facts ungry, you reach for a Kellogg’s Nutrigrain® bar. It is, seemingly, a relatively healthy snack. After all, the box boasts “Eat better all day…More of the whole grains your body needs.” So, not only are you satiating your hunger, but you are also aiding your body in its daily struggle to keep you fit and healthy. What’s not to like? But, wait; doesn’t it seem funny that the bar contains 12 grams of sugar? Especially when considering the fact that Linden’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, whose wrapper also asserts that they are “made with whole grain,” have 10.9 grams of sugar.

In fact, the Nutrigrain® bar and the chocolate chip cookies do not greatly differ in terms of nutrition. The Nutri-

amy lippman

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by emily feldstein

grain® bar has 2 grams of protein (so do the cookies). The Nutrigrain® bar has 130 calories (the cookies have 150). The Nutrigrain® bar has 24 grams of carbohydrates-- the cookies contain 22. Upon examination, it’s clear that the two foods are quite similar, even though one is considered a healthful snack while the other is considered an indulgent treat. Obviously, there are other factors that determine the health value of a food. However, this example still begs the question: how has our sense of nutrition become so vastly warped?

The answer, of course, is our susceptibility to marketing. As a society, we are constantly exposed to marketing campaigns. We are almost always looking at a screen, be it television or computer, and even when not exposed to more techno-

logically advanced advertisements, we still listen to the radio, see billboards, and read newspapers or magazines. People’s attentions are not hard to catch; everyone waits excitedly for the new sensation.

Once something catches our attention, we are very quick to assume it is true.

We never consider counter-examples or check additional sources but take everything at face value.

Doubtlessly, these marketing campaigns affect us, even people who choose to scorn consumerism, those who believe themselves above the fray. Otherwise, how would we know Nutrigrain® bars to be healthy and delicious, delicious cookies unhealthy? Everyone has developed, albeit subconsciously, food prejudices; some food just has to be less healthy than others.

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HM Review Vol. XIX

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To return to our example, let’s examine the websites of the two companies. It is clear that their marketing greatly affects our notions of the foods.

The Nutrigrain® brand is a division of Kelloggs. Immediately upon entering the site, one is greeted by the slogan “One good decision can lead to another…Nutrigrain® eat better all day.” It is obvious that the bar is a healthy choice. We want to change our lifestyle. and their marketing campaign capitalizes on our desire to improve our nutrition. The commercials show us that one Nutrigrain® bar can lead to dozens of healthier choices. After our first bite of the bar, we will eat salad for lunch, choose an apple over a donut, go to sleep at an earlier and more reasonable hour, and, of all the unthinkable things, walk up the stairs instead of quickly ascending in the elevator.

The Linden’s Cookies website does not have the same purpose; they aim to create nostalgia, harkening about to the good old days. After all, Linden’s Cookies have made “fine baked goods since 1934.”

When you want “those chocolate chip cookies you had in high school,” you are more than welcome to return to comforting, traditional Linden’s Cookies.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a careful policy surrounding certain health claims. If a conventional food company or a dietary supplement company states that its product combats a specific disease or condition, the FDA must qualify health claims “to assure accuracy and non-misleading presentation to consumers,” specifically relying on “the quality and strength of the scientific evidence.” In other words, before Cheerios

November 2009 HM Review

can claim that it will help lower cholesterol, it is required to gain FDA approval.

However, these are only some of the possible claims that can be made by food and dietary supplement companies. Another allowable assertion is called a structure/function claim, which is defined as descriptions of the “role of a nutrient or dietary ingredient intended to affect normal structure or function in humans.”

The Nutrigrain® bar’s declaration falls under this category. In the FDA’s words, “the manufacturer is responsible for ensuring the accuracy and truthfulness of these claims; they are not pre-approved

by FDA but must be truthful and not misleading.” What is the truth in terms of nutrition, and what defines a misleading statement? Kellogg’s and other food

The whole grains blind us to the broader nutritional questions... An awareness of what is in the food we eat is absolutely vital. companies capitalize on the ambiguities.

It’s hard to prevent unregulated claims from permeating our lives. Our culture is so focused on constant information and entertainment, anything can be sold if marketed in the right way. The FDA’s relaxed approach to the claims means that any food can be marketed in the right way. Our credulity knows no bounds; if a company claims a statement to be fact, then it must be so.

You could call it admirable that the food industry is striving to make people healthier by touting their health qualifications. We should not discourage their

attempts to remove trans fats or add nutrients. However, even what seem like attempts to make food healthier may only be attempts to make food appear healthier. The food companies advertise their whole grains, and we are quick to ignore other nutrition facts. The whole grains blind us to the broader nutritional questions. Even if a cake is made with whole grains, it is still a cake, replete with sugar, preservatives, and other unhealthy products. However, we remain gullible and easy to fool.

An awareness of what is in the food we eat is vital. The food companies may be telling part of the truth, but there is a common trend of leaving out the rest of it.

Perhaps the answer lies in the FDA’s regulations. The market should not be saturated with health claims. They become meaningless as they increase in number; actual, important health benefits become indistinguishable from the marketing of small nutrition facts that may be cancelled out by other ingredients.

Although a new approach by the FDA may help the situation, what is evidently the most important is our own consciousness of what we put into our body. We need to learn how to be smart consumers, not just natural consumers.

We choose what we place in our body, and in the end, the responsibility falls to each of us to make educated decisions.

We may demand nutrition fact reform, but we also need to try to rectify the situation ourselves. HMR

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Domestic

Peace Prize Unrest How the Nobel Prize Committee’s decision to award President Obama the Peace Prize was unwarranted and deprived other more deserving candidates of the accolade. by vivianna lin

On October 9, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. President Obama felt that he did not deserve the award and that he was unworthy compared to other laureates.

It is too early for our president to be given such a high honor because he has not made any notable achievements nor contributed significantly to the goal of world peace. The Norwegian Nobel Committee should not have bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize on President Obama when he has been in office for fewer than nine months.

The laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize is selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Each year, the committee invites qualified individuals to submit nominations for the prize. Nominations can be submitted by past and present members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, advisors to the Norwegian Nobel Institute, former recipients of the award, and members of certain assemblies such as the Institute of International Law. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to people or organizations that create peace. Each year, the award ceremony is held on December 10th in Oslo, Norway. The deadline for nominations is February 1st, meaning that President Obama had been in office for less than 10 days when he was nominated.

President Obama has not achieved

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enough to deserve this prize. He has brought the United States economy back little by little since his inauguration with the aid of $787 billion stimulus package.

He has also rescued several banks from bankruptcy. However, he has yet to fulfill the bulk of his promises. As an example, consider Health Care: President Obama promised his plan would not add a dime

to the deficit. However, his health care plan will add $220 billion to the deficit, a figure which is 2.2 trillion dimes. Surely, our president will achieve many great deeds in the future but he should not be rewarded in advance.

Since he took office last January, President Obama has certainly made progress in defusing tension in many regions around the world. However, there still is no peace in the Middle East. Despite his call for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, North Korea and Iran continue to develop their nuclear programs. Many people are still subject to civil war, ethnic violence, food shortage, poverty, and disease. While President Obama has made eloquent speeches to call for a more peaceful world, world peace continues to be an elusive goal.

Our president needs to take real action on these issues; eloquence just won’t cut it.

This year, the number of Nobel Peace Prize nominations reached a record high of 205 nominees. Among them was the Chinese dissident Hu Jia. Hu has been actively involved in AIDS advocacy

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HM Review Vol. XIX

Domestic

norway-coe

Downpayment on Peace Many were shocked and appalled when Thorbjørn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, announced their decision to award President Obama the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. Despite the criticism Jagland hold steadfast with the decision claiming that the prize may inspire Obama to act in a way deserving of the award. in China; he co-founded Loving Source, a non-governmental organization that helps people with AIDS. He has helped orphans with AIDS in the Henan province of China and he has stood firm in his criticism of the government’s treatment of AIDS victims. Hu, who has been a political prisoner several times, has also campaigned for the release of political prisoners. Hu has been detained by the police many times and has been kept under house arrest. However, he continued to express his beliefs via email and blogs.

On April 3, 2008, Hu was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for giving interviews to foreign media and writing articles that “incit[ed] subversion of state power and the socialist system.”

Hu demonstrated true strength and firmness by never wavering in his beliefs. He was not stopped by the government and he continued to fight for his ideas. Hu Jia is truly courageous, especially because he stood up to the government alone. Hu Jia demonstrated more conviction in his beliefs than President Obama and he actively fought to do what he believed was right. President Obama’s actions have not demonstrated the same conviction as the Chinese dissident.

Other Nobel Peace Prize laureates have done and achieved far more November 2009 HM Review

than President Obama. The most renowned laureates, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and the 14th Dalai Lama, have heavily impacted the cause of global peace. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the African-American social rights movement, fighting for the African-Americans’ rights. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian efforts in helping the poor, sick, and orphaned. The 14th Dalai Lama was awarded the prize for his efforts to liberate Tibet and for his opposition to violence. A more recent Peace Prize laureate was President Jimmy Carter. President Carter is the only president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize after leaving office. He was awarded the prize in 2002 for his efforts “to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” In 1982, he established the Carter Center to advance human rights and improve global health. The Carter Center has eliminated 99% of cases of the Guinea worm disease, reducing the number from 3.5 million to fewer than 10,000.

Carter has certainly contributed to obtaining world peace. Not only does the Carter Center eliminate diseases such as malaria and trachoma, but it also medi-

ates conflicts and monitors the electoral process to support free and fair elections.

Compared with these heroes, President Obama’s achievements look feeble and unworthy.

The fault lies with the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Our president did not ask to be nominated but the committee believed he was worthy. The spokesperson of the committee, Thorbjørn Jagland, stated that the prize would enhance our president’s work. President Obama was given the award for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The prize should not be given out prematurely; an award does not help accomplish world peace. President Obama may merit a Nobel Peace Prize one day but he does not deserve it now. The standards for receiving a Nobel Peace Prize have fallen.

President Obama made promises but has not yet implemented them. We hope that our president will have the strength to create real peace and that one day he will be deserving of this award. HMR

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Domestic

International The Web’s Wild West Nigeria has developed a thriving industry in cybercrime. What must be done to rectify the situation.

by daniel elkind

fraction of targeted address owners take the bait, a Nigerian scammer could earn thousands of dollars from his endeavor within only a few weeks. “When you get a reply,” a former scammer told the Los

Nigeria has become a global capital for exotic and inventive cyber scams. Scams like these cost the United Kingdom economy £150 million in 2006 and Asia.

Should you respond and begin a dialogue with the sender, he will request you provide him a sum of money ranging from one thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars in order to enable the scheme to proceed. If only a small

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Angeles Times, “its 70% sure that you’ll get the money.”

Nigeria has become a global capital for exotic and inventive cyber scams.

Scams like these cost the United Kingdom economy £150 million in 2006, and have been increasing in quantity ever

since. Today, the United States Secret Service estimates that they cost U.S. citizens hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

With only 1.85% of the world’s population, Nigeria produces about 7% of its cybercrime. A study by the FBI placed Nigeria third only to the United States and the United Kingdom, two significantly more developed nations, in cybercrime activity. These fraudulent scams are known as 419 scams, named for the Nigerian penal code section which purports to make them illegal.

Despite Nigeria’s extreme poverty, general lack of education, and notorious government corruption, cyber cafés have proliferated in urban areas. In a 2008 HM Review Vol. XIX

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ach day, hundreds of Nigerian young adults migrate to internet “cyber cafés” in their home country and allow their seemingly programmed fingers to skip across the keyboards of their computers, producing emails with imaginative stories.

Their emails might tell you they are in possession of an exorbitant sum of money, which they want your assistance in transferring to the United States, or they may promise you a significant stash of money for standing in as “next of kin” to a tragic plane crash victim whose account can not be accessed without your cooperation. Completing their work, authors reassure you that, “This transaction will be 100% safe,” before sending their messages to thousands of foreign email addresses in the United States, Europe,

International

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study by Nigerian university professors, and saved potential victims from losing and eastern European countries. South it was found that 39% of internet usage hundreds of millions of dollars. Speak- Africa and Ghana each make up 1% of conducted at these cyber cafés was for the ing about cyber scammers, Nuhu Riba- the world’s cyber crime, coming in 6th purposes of scamming. Cyber scams are du, executive chairman of the Nigerian and 7th on the FBI’s list of countries with exceedingly successful. 419 scams alone government’s Economic and Financial the most cyber crime. are estimated to be the third or fourth Crimes Commission (EFCC), states that To successfully and significantly digreatest source of revenue in the Nigerian the “Nigerian enforcement process has minish scamming activity in Nigeria, economy. become so vigorous they have migrated stringent measures must be employed.

It’s no surprise, then, that cyber scam- to mostly West African and other African It is necessary that Nigeria’s government ming in Nigeria has become a romantic nations.” According to FBI investigation, gain the will to regulate and monitor inadventure in crime. Scammers are ternet activity in cyber cafés throughknown as “Yahoo-Yahoo Boys,” out their nation. Although a signifexceptionally intelligent young icant percentage of internet activity adults who work in Nigeria’s in cyber cafés is for the purposes of engaging in cyber scamming, cafés internet cafés. Popular pop anremain an unmonitored, unreguthems titled “Yahoozie” and “I Chop Your Dollars” glorify the lated asset to Nigerian 419 scamactivities of scammers throughmers. Scammers are able to utilize out the nation and are broadcast cafés for crime without jeopardizacross public airwaves. They ining their anonymity, and withclude lyrics like these lines from out having to purchase their own “I Chop Your Dollars: “419 is just computers. The deterrence of these scammers from using cyber cafés a game… I will eat your dollars, would make perpetrating scams far will take your money and disapmore difficult for those involved. pear… 419 is just a game, you are the losers, and we are the winAdditionally, the government Internet Cafe A typical scene in a Nigerian cyber of Nigeria must strictly enforce ners.” cafe. The sign bans all scamming on those computanti-money laundering laws and inCyber scamming’s ubiquity ers. ternational conventions against the in Nigeria is explained by the nation’s immense poverty and the ease however, Nigeria produces 6% more in- laundering of funds. Cyber scamming with which young people can readily ternet crime than any other African na- activity involves transfers of large sums earn money through scamming activity. tion. Mr. Ribadu also reports that his of money which would be detected with According to CIA studies, 70% of Nige- government has “successfully disrupted adequate enforcement of money launderria’s population lies below the defined and blocked transactions worth £300 ing laws.

It is also necessary that cyber scampoverty line, establishing Nigeria as one million; €200 million; and $500 million of the world’s 10 poorest countries. Ad- respectfully.” Critics, however, point out ming be punished with significantly ditionally, the willingness of Nigerian that government agencies like the EFCC harsher prison sentences, which will government officials to act on the issue allow hundreds of millions of dollars to serve as a deterrent. Cyber scamming is a form of theft. Perpetrators who steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from unwitCyber scamming is a form of theft. Perpetrators who steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from unwitting foreigners through ting foreigners through cyber scamming should be treated in like thieves who steal cyber scamming should be treated in like thieves. hundreds of thousands of dollars from a bank or who break into a home. of internet scams is questioned by crit- be scammed from Westerners each year Although cyber scamming is chalics throughout the world. Many suggest at public cyber cafés, and argue that Ni- lenging to combat, scamming activity has that Nigeria’s government endeavors to gerian officials have not taken adequate been allowed to flourish by the inaction protect cyber scammers, since 419 scams action in monitoring and regulating cy- of Nigeria’s government. Indeed, cyber alone contribute so significantly to the ber café internet activity. scamming activity takes place in public Nigerian economy’s annual revenue. For Moreover, the popularity of 419 cyber cafés, which operate under the very the same reasons, it is alleged that Nige- scams has skyrocketed. Rather than de- noses of Nigeria’s governmental authoririan government officials are themselves part Nigeria as Mr. Ribadu claims, cyber ties. HMR active participants in many of these scams have now both increased in numcrimes. ber in Nigeria and spread into to African Nigeria’s government claims it has nations like Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, taken effective action against scammers Liberia, Angola, Chad, and even Asian November 2009 HM Review

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International

Rising Tensions

The Copenhagen Climate Summit: Challenges, Controversies, and Everything in between by mathieu rolfo

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his December, delegates and representatives from almost every nation on Earth will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark in what is being touted as one of the most significant gatherings in history. The conference’s purpose is to discuss and resolve one of the greatest issues presenting itself to the

COP-15 will be the largest assembly of heads of state to discuss and find viable solutions to the issue of climate change in history. The question posed, therefore, is will the summit be able to succeed where countless others have failed? world today: climate change. The Copenhagen summit, officially referred to as COP-15, is the last of a series of summits organized by the United Nations in order to develop a lasting plan to tackle climate change and a suitable replacement for the

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Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The first in the series of summits was held in September. At the Summit on Climate Change in New York, at which over one hundred political leaders met to discuss climate change, current United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon reminded the attending parties that it would be morally inexcusable as well as economically and politically unwise to fail to reach a consensus at Copenhagen. According to Yvo de Boer, seceratary general of the UN Framework Convention, failing to devise a solution to this issue will result in a “world that is extremely turbulent and unstable” for future generations. COP-15 will be the largest assembly of heads of state in history with the sole purpose of discussing and finding viable solutions to the issue of climate change. But can the summit be able to succeed where countless others have failed?

There is a chance for COP-15 to be a success; in the eyes of many, there can be no other option. But in order to make such progress, the world must first acknowledge that it needs to overcome several critical obstacles. Foremost in im-

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portance is the Kyoto Protocol. Set to expire in 2012, it was adopted in 1997 and took effect in 2005. Ratified by 184 countries to date, it sets binding targets on lowering levels of greenhouse gases for 37 industrialized Annex I countries and the European Union and sets looser goals for developing nations. One of the biggest problems with the worldwide adoption of the Kyoto Protocol is our own United States’ refusal to ratify it.

Although the U.S. under President Obama has re-entered negotiations on climate change, the U.S. must ensure that Copenhagen legislation be ratified by the Senate in order to avoid a repeat of our failure at the original Kyoto Conference. The most effective way to avert such disaster is to address the U.S.’s original qualms with the Kyoto Protocol.

Ratifying the Protocol may have adverse effects on the economic state of the U.S., which is frustrated with the lack of emissions caps on China and India. Given the global economy, each country must determine how capable and willing it is to adapt in order to fight climate change prior to COP-15. Global considerations before the conference will increase COP15’s chances of success. It is also vital that attending countries reconsider whether countries such as China and India, which have grown considerably since the founding of the Kyoto Protocol, should remain exempt from binding caps on their emissions. The fact that China and India’s emissions are permitted to grow unchecked poses the question: what incen-

HM Review Vol. XIX

International ing COP-15. The two groups must reach a compromise and strike a balance between the rights of nations to prosper economically and the importance of stemming global warming. The fight against global warming must be a solidified effort with contributions from every country, not just the largest and the wealthiest.

A variety of other ideas and positions must be considered by various

November 2009 HM Review

and technological resources.� If smaller countries are willing to commit to lasting action on climate change, the least developed countries can do is lend as much aid to willing participating nations as financially possible to help guarantee that the world of tomorrow will be better than that of today. Such investments in the name of sustainable development will result in lower emissions in the future

Given the global economic state, each country must determine how capable and willing it is to adapt its economy in order to fight climate change prior to COP-15. countries before COP-15. Developed nations must decide how much of their financial resources they are willing to lend to developing nations so that they may undertake initiatives to reduce their effects on the environment. Ban Ki-Moon, in his closing statement at the New York Climate Summit, reiterated the importance of “significantly scaled-up financial

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tives do smaller countries have to stick to their climate goals, when larger countries meant to lead the way in climate reform continue to linger in unregulated abandon for the environment? COP-15 faces this difficult dilemma.

Citing this unfairness, the U.S. and other industrialized nations wish to scrap or redo the Kyoto Protocol to ensure that major developing countries also have binding commitments to cap their greenhouse gas emissions levels.

However, at the recent Bangkok Climate Talks, which ended this October, the proposal of this idea during a meeting led to members of the G77 (which includes the developing nations of the world) to exit the room. The schism between developed and developing nations on how to deal with climate change and the Kyoto Protocol is creating a frustrating situation for all countries involved, not to mention decreasing the chances of obtaining any successful legislation down the road dur-

as the developing nations of the present emerge into the industrialized nations of tomorrow.

There are many reasons to be optimistic for the Copenhagen Climate Summit. To begin, the world has already completed the most difficult steps: acknowledging that the grave danger of global warming exists and exhibiting a willingness to tackle what may be the most important issue of our time. However, in spite of efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol and global climate summits, there is still a terribly long way to go. The Bangkok Conference shows that even with COP-15 less than two months away, the support for measures concerning climate change is beginning to separate into two blocks composed of developing and industrialized nations, respectively. If this divisive trend toward schism is allowed to continue, our world has no chance of resolving the issue of climate change, and we will simply disintegrate along economic lines. Regardless, there remains ample time for each and every country to consider how willing and capable they are to commit to the fight against global warming and the brevity of the situation. If the Copenhagen summit-- the best chance yet our world has recieved to solve the problem-- fails to produce a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, it may end in a complete international downfall.

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International

The Road to Closing

Guantanamo

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In December of 2002, upset by what he thought was a lack of adequate intelligence gained through normal interrogation, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld ordered the implementation of “enhanced interrogation techniques”. These harsh techniques were and continue to be banned by the Third Geneva Convention, which states that detainees “shall in all circumstances be treated humanely”, and that “violence to life and person, in

detainees to extreme temperature conditions, and sexual harassment. For the use of these harsh techniques, Rumsfeld was heavily criticized by military lawyers and Colin Powell, then the Secretary of State and a former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon.

Despite assertions from Rumsfeld that these new “enhanced interrogations techniques” procured valuable intelligence, the record has completely failed

particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment, and torture” is unacceptable.

In early 2003, Rumsfeld created a working committee to explore this new initiative. The group proposed 35 enhanced interrogation techniques to Rumsfeld, 24 of which he approved. These twenty-four harsh and cruel techniques include sleep deprivation, the use of dogs, subjecting people to painful stress positions, mock drowning (waterboarding), subjecting detainees to loud music for prolonged periods of time, subjecting

to agree. One fundamental problem with torture is the situation in which detainees subjected to “enhanced techniques” will often tell the interrogator what they think he or she wants to hear. The surge of false information gained through torture makes it difficult to distinguish what is legitimate and what is not.

Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks, is perhaps the most dangerous detainee in United States custody today.

Under the Bush administration he was subjected to waterboarding and other

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ollowing the attacks of September 11th, 2001, the Bush administration embraced a radically new approach to national security including coercive interrogation techniques and prolonged detentions without trial. The Bush administration referred to this new approach as part of the global war against terrorism.

In the fall of 2001 the United States launched a military campaign against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, over the course of this campaign, U.S. and Afghan forces took hundreds of people as prisoners. There were insufficient facilities to hold these detainees, and the conditions were very dangerous, so much so that many suffocated and died. The United States, under increased scrutiny for these poor conditions and deaths, decided to move more than eight hundred of these detainees to a U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Opened in 1903, the U.S. took control of the base as part of a settlement from the Spanish American War. Guantanamo is the oldest United States military base overseas and the only United States Military base located in a communist country.

When detainees started to be held at Guantanamo Bay, the Bush administration decided they would not be treated as prisoners of war. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney are centrally responsible for this complete disregard for the U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions.

In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. took a leading role in the drafting of the Geneva Conventions. They outline general protections against poor treatment of prisoners and civilians. Officially adopted in 1949, these human-rights conventions are now recognized by 194 countries.

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“enhanced techniques” authorized by Secretary Rumsfeld and supported by Vice President Cheney. He later told military officials that he had made up stories during interrogations—case in point.

On his second day of office, President Obama wisely rejected the use of torture and other forms of coercion authorized by the previous administration while also pledging to close Guantanamo and establish new detention policies consistent with United States and international standards. Obama created working groups to address and implement these new commitments, and officials in his administration are now working to close Guantanamo by a January 2010 deadline.

There are currently around 250 of the original 800 detainees remaining at Guantanamo Bay, and of those 250, about 50 are considered truly dangerous.

Of the other 200, 100 are from Yemen, a country which does not have the will or current capacity to take them back. So what to do?

The fifty most dangerous detainees should be put on trial in the United States judicial system. For almost every one of them, there is substantial evidence to prosecute them and put them behind bars for the rest of their lives. Many members of the G.O.P have expressed a lack of faith in our court system. We trust our courts to handle murderers and drug dealers, so the notion that they are unable to handle detainees from Guantanamo Bay is absurd. We must have faith in our system to perform as it always has. If we are successful in executing these cases, it will send a powerful message to the rest of the world.

Various legal challenges arise in the context of courts of law. Any information gathered using torture should not be acknowledged as evidence in a court of law, because it would set a standard that this type of coerced information is credible and that the use of coercive interrogations is in any way acceptable.

Fortunately, in most of these cases the US government has enough information from independent sources or from before the detainees were captured to successfully work through these cases and put the criminals behind bars.

Obama currently retains the presidential right to hold anyone prisoner at

Waterboarding Two guards hold a prisoner down as they pour water on his face.

Guantanamo indefinitely, and he will most likely exercise it for the few cases in which there is not enough information to bring the criminals to court. Hypocritical as this seems, this system of indefinite detention will apply only to this group of detainees; any future detainees will be properly interrogated, obviating the need for prolonged detention.

Recently, there has been controversy over where to hold those fifty most dangerous detainees. Those we try in US courts should be put in high security American prisons, and those who cannot be tried should be moved to the US military’s Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan, where they will be held indefinitely. Bagram is a secure military facility that recently been expanded and fortified.

In late 2001, the Bush administration began offering five thousand dollar rewards for the capture of any member of Al-Qaeda. To advertise the offer, planes flew over Afghanistan dropping informative flyers. The Northern Alliance and other Afghani militias took advantage of this offer and began picking up their political opponents, claiming them to be members of Al-Qaeda. Many of the remaining two hundred at Guantanamo belong to this group; they do not pose a significant risk to our security, and we need to find other countries willing to accept them for resettlement.

There now are one hundred Yemenis still held at Guantanamo because the gov-

ernment of Yemen is not willing or able to accept them back. The government of Saudi Arabia, in an attempt to regain a good relationship with the United States, has begun to discuss offering a helping hand. In recent years, they have begun a “rehabilitation program” for their own citizens with ties to Al-Qaeda or other extremist groups. It combines psychological discussion with practical job training and other programs to help them gradually back into society. This (successful) program can be adapted to help resettle the Yemenis still at Guantanamo.

Finally, the US needs to resettle the remaining group of one hundred detainees at Guantanamo in other willing countries. The Obama Administration is currently working with European countries, among others, that have generally offered a helping hand and seem willing to take some of these detainees on a case by case basis.

Successfully addressing this issue of torture and the closure of Guantanamo are important not only for moral reasons, but also for the improvement of America’s standing in the world. During the years of the Bush administration, US popularity in the world plummeted, due in part to international concern about our treatment of these prisoners. The Obama Administration’s new initiatives are an important step toward correcting these problems and signaling our clear departure from the illegal practices of the past. HMR

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International

The Afghani Elections desertpeace.world

Corruption at its best.

I

by zoe rubin

n the perilous Kunduz province of Northern Afghanistan, a district policeman turns on his supposed comrades, fatally poisoning eight of his fellow officers.

The man pauses briefly to gun down his superior commander, before he calls in his true allies, the Taliban. Another seven men are murdered early that Saturday morning as the local Taliban joined their agent to kill the remaining police and to destroy what had been the district’s command post. Such an attack is only a mere addition to the skyrocketing statistic of roadside bombings, ambushes, and gunned attacks that sweep across the nation’s rugged landscape each day.

With each shot or bomb dozens of men, women, and children, civilians or police, will instantly die or suffer, their bodies covered in hideous burns and wounds, as the Taliban continues to gain the upper hand throughout the nation.

In the midst of this civil unrest, election results for Afghanistan’s August 20th election are still trickling in. With

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the preliminary polls in, President Hamid Karzai, the highly unpopular incumbent, is the favorite to win. It seems that he will not have to face a runoff against his closest political enemy, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. But once the results are recounted for fraud, Mr. Karzai may find himself under attack from his numerous critics and enemies. Although in recent vote tallies, Mr. Karzai leads by fifty-four percent, in earlier polling it was found that president’s margin of victory over Abdullah was only twenty percent. This is because of the wide range of opposition candidates to Mr. Karzai. This wide range of ministers, parliament leaders, columnists, governors, and the nation’s first female candidate ever, are united in their opposition to the weak and corrupt government of President Karzai.

Mr. Karzai was in fact chosen by Abdullah to lead the nation during the Bonn Conference in Germany in December of 2001- which met to plan the nation’s future interim government. After ethnic Tajiks gained many of the Afghan-

istan’s most prominent positions, the role fell to an ethnic Pashtun to lead nation.

The Pashtun are tribal people who make up most of Afghanistan’s population.

They mostly live in the rural tribal areas where the Taliban is strongest. As the son of a politically powerful Kandahar family, Mr. Karzai was fit for the job of president.

When Mr. Karzai was first elected president in 2004, after serving as the Chairman of Afghanistan’s interim administration since 2001, he won with more than fifty percent of the vote. It was a remarkable feat, considering the election was the first ever in Afghanistan’s modern history, with a voter turnout of over seventy percent. Ashraf Ghani, the nation’s finance minister from 2002 to 2004 and now one of the leading opposition candidates, remarked, “In 2005, Karzai could have taken the country in any direction he wished.”

Initially, Mr. Karzai vowed to rid his administration of the warlords who have consistently ruled the nation for decades.

Unfortunately, he seems to have been unHM Review Vol. XIX

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International willing to, or unable to quell their power. In 2005 the global watchdog group, Transparency International ranked Afghanistan 117th on “Corruption Percentage Index” out of 176th - the fifth most corrupt state in the world. In revenue calculations made by Ghani, “due to corruption, 80 billion is being lost [per year].”

How could the leader who ran on a platform of reform so painfully disappoint expectations? Mr. Karzai’s greatest failure has its roots in the very same background that made him president.

Mr. Karzai became the leader of his local Pashtun tribe after his death of his father a decade ago. By attempting to be a man of the people, like his idol Gandhi and other great reformers, Mr. Karzai eschewed membership to any political party in favor of becoming Afghanistan’s tribal leader. Yet even his idols had started somewhere. They had led grassroots movements supported by many. Mr. Karzai’s idealism left him alone. And so, the Afghani president was powerless against the warlords who took his taxes for themselves and the international groups that swooped in on him after September 11th.

With no other support, Mr. Karzai turned to the supporters of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar— a former Afghani prime minister and a wanted insurgent who openly supports Al Qaeda. Mr. Karzai served as deputy foreign minister of Afghanistan when Hektmatyar was prime minister. Now the warlords whose power he hoped to check are his vital allies in the campaign.

Now as he runs for re-election, Mr. Karzai heads what is nicknamed by many to be “the war-lord ticket.” His first vice-president, Mohammed Qasim Fahim, has been accused of numerous human rights violations in a recent report

by Human Rights Watch, as have other prominent members of his campaign and warlords who’ve endorsed him.

Despite Mr. Karzai’s opponents’ criticism of his leadership and failures, and the public’s own unhappiness with his administration, Mr. Karzai does not appear to be facing a runoff. Yet the credibility of his victory is marred by the widespread fraud that plagues the election. In some districts, it appears that every single person voted for Mr. Karzai. All over the nation, one can buy a fake voter registraNovember 2009 HM Review

tion card for twenty dollars. The United Nations’ appointed independent Elections Complaints Commission (ECC) has ordered a recount. Grant Kippen, the head of the committee, outlined the challenge: “The complaints range from serious allegations of human-rights abuses to cases that have nothing to do with elections. You do your best considering the circumstances.” Regardless of this, Mr. Karzai still maintains that the results are honest. However, Afghani voters feel cheated. Abdullah summarized their feelings: “It’s not for the good of the country that somebody who commits massive fraud rules the country for five years.”

In a time where unity is the best way to combat the Taliban, the Afghani people can no longer even trust their own government.

If Karzai does win the election, this will spell out a graver future for the Afghani people. The Afghani people have resigned themselves to another five years of the same president whose failures led to the resurgence of the Taliban and the renewal of the nation’s opium trade. The future of the nation is, As Ghani puts it, in a “downward spiral.” The Afghani people no longer believe that their leader will bring about any substantial change, which allows the Taliban to regain their hold on Afghani society.

The re-election of Mr. Karzai is the re-election of a man who will not change his style of leadership. As Ghani put it; “Karzai will not change, he has demonstrated that. I think [his re-election] in itself is a recipe for instability in this country.” In a period of extraordinary political disorder, the Afghani people need a president they can trust, a president who they support whole-heartedly.

Mr. Karzai is not that president.

Finally, for Afghanistan to succeed in what seems a never-ending fight against the Taliban, the nation needs international support and aid. Just as the global community despised former U.S. president George Bush and his policies, causing America’s reputation to suffer, now they disdain Afghanistan and Mr. Karzai’s programs. Among the international community, even the nation’s closest allies are at odds with the Karzai administration. Obama is deeply frustrated

by Mr. Karzai’s unwillingness to allow the

U.S. to help the fight against corruption in the Afghani government - that has directly hindered American success in war against the Taliban. In her senate hearings before being sworn in as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton referred to Mr. Karzai as the leader of a “narco-state”— a reference to his inability to stop the Afghani drug trade. In his September/October 2008 article in Foreign Affairs, special envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke stated that Afghanistan’s “central government has shown that it is simply not up to the job.” Although Obama has attempted veer away from taking sides in the election— especially after it became clear the Mr. Karzai was going to be re-elected— he did state that “a continuation of the status quo would be illegitimate.”

The Taliban cannot truly win, Abdullah explained in a BCC interview, because the people of Afghanistan do not want them. Yet the Taliban will not lose their fight until they’re confronted by a president who will put an end to the corruption within Kabul, poor relations with nation’s allies, and distrust among the Afghani people. As clearly seen throughout his past term, Hamid Karzai has failed to rid the Afghani bureaucracies of their dishonest practices and shady leaders, with which he is now intrinsically connected. Mr. Karzai’s inability to unify his government has directly assisted the Taliban against him and impeded upon any international efforts to strengthen the Afghani government. If the next five years continue in the same downward spiral, success in the fight against the Taliban will be drastically more difficult. The answer to this Afghani enigma is not clearcut. It may be that no president will be completely free of warlord connections, since corruption has seeped into almost all aspects of the nation’s society. But for Afghanistan to rise from the failed state it is today into a thriving developed nation, it must have a leader able to unify the nation in the fight against corruption and the Taliban. HMR

The Horace Mann Review apologizes for misprinting this article in the last issue. We hope you enjoy the article in its entirety, above.

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Features

Features The Mystery of Hashish

When an illegal drug is such an integral part of a nation’s economy, is the tradeoff worth it?

M

by samir nedzamar

orocco is a very small country, relatively powerless on the global scale.

But its drug gangs and cartels have great power over the international drug trade-- they produce most of the world’s hashish, the crude, unprocessed form of marijuana.

At the rate the gangs are expanding, in several years they will be the dominant political and economic entity in the country. The worst possible outcome of this situation would be drug distributors’ gaining complete control of Moroccan society, leading to a state of political instability; this would be a debilitating setback to Middle East peace efforts, due to the strong alliance between Morocco and the U.S. This poses a very large threat towards not only the developed countries of Europe, but also the volatile states of Central and Western Africa, also large importers of Moroccan hashish. The close proximity of coastal Spain to the major ports of Morocco only augments the power of the drug traders because of the relative ease with which they can export the drugs to Europe. If the ports and cargo are not more strictly regulated, Morocco could very well become a thoroughfare for harder drugs (something already happening on a minor scale), which would facilitate the spread of very dangerous drugs such as heroin and cocaine into European markets, which until

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chicagonow

now have remained mostly untainted by such substances.

Morocco is located at the tip of Africa, only miles from the coast of Southern Spain. It rests at the entrance to the Mediterranean, an area perfect for ports servicing both Europe and the Americas.

Since the Phoenicians, who settled in Morocco as early as 1200 B.C.E., Morocco’s strategic position as well as its wealth of natural resources have made it an appealing territory to foreign powers. The Carthaginian Empire controlled Morocco until it was defeated by Rome, which in turn took power over Morocco and began to introduce Christianity to the inhabit-

Ever since the advent of agriculture in Morocco, hashish has been grown in the rocky areas of the Rif Mountains as both a drug and a folk medicine. ants. However, in both of these cases, the rough and rocky central mountainous terrain remained largely unconquered until the arrival of the French in 1912 under the treaty of Fez, which made Morocco a protectorate of France. Months after the treaty, many of the tribes of the Rif, the central highlands, rebelled against the French authority in a failed attempt to regain power. Political opposition grew against France under the façade of the Atlantic Charter, a document cementing

the rights of people to choose the government that rules them. Riots and protests frequently broke out, and the Istiqlal, a political party opposed to French foreign rule, was formed. Finally, the exile of Mohammed V-- a popular figure among the people-- forced anti-French sentiment to come to a head. It’s the main reason Morocco still isn’t a French colony.

Ever since the advent of agriculture in Morocco, hashish has been grown in the rocky areas of the Rif Mountains as both a drug and a folk medicine. In a traditional context, the hashish is quite unharmful; it acts more as an economic stimulus- a stimulus with very few negative outcroppings, as long as it is traded and consumed in moderation. Most farmers in these areas grow hashish or Kif as either their main crop or as a small cash crop on the side to produce extra money. Hashish is much more mild than marijuana, and until processed by smugglers and gangs it is quite worthless. Due to the close proximity to the Spanish border, it is rather easy for gangs to smuggle cannabis into Spain. Also, countries that are major producers of hard drugs, such as Colombia and Mexico, are exporting their drugs into Moroccan ports, because Moroccan ports are guarded much less stringently than those in Europe. For example, recently there was an attempt to smuggle 12.5 tons of cannabis across the Atlantic Ocean into Britain, but the tugHM Review Vol. XIX

Features boat carrying the drugs was intercepted by authorities. The men aboard the boat received prison sentences of 7 – 10 years, depending on their status within the gang. Similarly, a boat filled with cocaine bound for Morocco leaving from Colombia was apprehended off the coast of the

Destruction of the Moroccan hashish trade would be devastating to its already fragile economy.

producers will evolve into sophisticated, organized cartels. This could severely erode stability in Morocco and possibly lead to a civil war. The most effective way to cripple the drug industry in Morocco would be a combination of methods: vocational education initiatives towards cannabis growers so that alternate career options will be available to their children, stricter enforcing of ports and beaches, especially along the northern coastal hotbeds, and gradual crackdowns and field size limits would dampen cannabis’s effects. HMR

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Canary Islands by Spanish authorities.

One of the most interesting facets of this problem resides in a very unexpected place. Several of Google’s top hits for “Cannabis Production in Morocco” were actually guides detailing the methods by which a person would procure the drugs. Another reason why marijuana trade and production in Morocco flourishes aside from international demand is the large purchases of cannabis by tourists inside Morocco. The popularity of drug excursions, or “vacations,” is much increased by the unlikelihood of actually being arrested. Usually, police won’t accuse a tourist, and even if accused, bribing the officer is always an option forthe

dealer or the buyer. Dealers can make a very large profit off of even small-scale operations, and unlike in hard drug areas such as Columbia and Mexico, a large chain of people is not required to get drugs from the farms to the streets.

In most cases several farms or plots are owned by a wealthy businessman or family, and the dealers are hired by the owners and receive a small portion of the sales. Buying from dealers can be dangerous because sometimes the dealer will blackmail the buyer under a very large sum of money.

Obviously, destruction of the Moroccan hashish trade would be devastating to its already fragile economy. If the estimated 85,000 families (about 800,000 people) that grow Kif were stripped of their livelihoods, it would destroy the Rif region both economically and politically.

Cannabis trade and production provides the Moroccan economy with over 2 billion dollars every year. Although the extra income is very needed, in the end most of the money made goes to high ranking criminals and businessmen that run the rings. Even worse than this is the possibility that, as is the case in many South American countries, the drug dealers and

Blond Hashish

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Features

Taking the Violence Out Of Marijuana Is legalizing marijuana the answer to crime in California?

chemicallygreen

by rebecca segallamar

T

he debate over legalization of marijuana in California may be fierce, but the violence caused by the illegal drug trade is even fiercer.

The prevalence of successful dangerous Mexican drug cartels in California is detrimental to people and to the environment, and it’s growing every year. While large, underground drug-trading operations, such as these, yield destruction, the peaceful sale of marijuana seen in other parts of California are beneficial to the local growers, consumers, and economy.

Steps must be taken to curtail the Mexican cartel presence in California. As California state legislature prepares for what is sure to be a very controversial discussion, it seems that the legalization of marijuana would be a means to an end for the devastating effects of violent drug trade, and would additionally benefit the state of California economically as well as socially.

The impact of the illegal and destructive drug cartels in California is felt by the whole state, not only by those who buy and sell marijuana. Mexican drugdealing gangs have been migrating north

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into the United States in recent years due to a combination of reasons. The Mexican army’s updated and more rigid drug policies, as well as the increasingly violent gang wars over drug trade, have forced certain Mexican cartels to scout out new territory and bring their sphere of influence into California, which has the highest percentage of marijuana use of any state. The most prevalent and no-

It seems that the legalization of marijuana would be a means to an end for the devastating effects of violent drug trade, and would additionally benefit the state of California both economically and socially. torious cartels in California, such as Los Gueros, Sinaloa, and La Familia, have all been traced to other enclaves of Mexican gangs present in hundreds of U.S. cities.

Though the carnage occurring in Mexico is much more extreme than in California, several murder cases from this summer were linked to the drug cartels, which are heavily armed. As Drug Enforcement Administration spokesperson Rusty Paine

said, “The kidnapping and the killings are on the other side of the border. But any time you have drugs, money and weapons together, bad things will happen.”

Another harmful aspect of the unregulated drug gang trade is its environmental consequences. California has over 31 million acres of wilderness (under)staffed by park rangers. Mexican drug traders capitalize on this by growing expansive fields of cannabis plants on unprotected forestland. At least two major forest fires in Los Padres and La Brea National Park, which each consumed hundreds of miles of wilderness, were caused by drug growers. Also, to protect their coveted cash crop, many drug traffickers surround their fields with dangerous snares and traps. More often than not, these traps end up killing innocent hikers or animals. While the damage Mexican drug cartels cause is common knowledge in California, the gangs stay in business because of the incredibly high demand for marijuana from both within and without of the state. Marijuana constitutes over seventy percent of drug use in California, the cannabis capital of the country. Because their product currently HM Review Vol. XIX

Features sells to an elastic market, the drug gangs continue to prosper despite the havoc they wreak on society.

Though state and federal authorities have responded to the recent spike in drug cartel prevalence, the backlash has not been effective enough. For instance, the federally run Operation Save Our Sierra, a program devoted to expunging California of Marijuana trade, arrested

As seen on a small scale like the Emerald Triangle, marijuana is a hugely profitable cash crop waiting to be capitalized on for tax purposes.

However, a different type of response to the drug gang problem has emerged in northern California. The Emerald Triangle, consisting of Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties, is the marijuana capital of the West coast, and is supported entirely by local Californian growers.

In the Emerald Triangle, marijuana is the biggest cash crop and is accepted like any other agricultural product. In fact, it is estimated that the cannabis trade is responsible for about two thirds of the local economy, totaling in $1 billion in the last year alone. Because the volume of cannabis growth is so immense, local authorities overlook those who grow less than a certain amount of the plant. Unlike the Mexican drug cartels, which consist of a complicated hierarchy of drug traffickers and dealers, the local northern California drug trade is generally safe and simple.

Just like the market for any grown commodity, a grower spends a certain amount of money on a cannabis plant. He or she then sells it to a middleman for a slightly larger amount of money, who sells it at an even higher price to a customer to make a profit. If the use of marijuana in California is inevitable and widespread, and

the trade of it is necessary, the system of growth and distribution which is peaceful and economically beneficial is objectively preferable to the one which results in death and destruction. If all cannabis plants in California were to be cultivated and sold locally and fairly, like in the Emerald Triangle, the threatening Mexican cartels would soon be out of demand and out of the news.

This is where the debate over marijuana legalization comes into play.

For all the practical benefits of local marijuana growth, it is still illegal and cannot legitimately be grown on a large scale.

Thus, the drug is not accessible enough to meet the high demand, creating a hole for the Mexican drug cartels to fill. While the federal government is fighting a War on Drugs, however, it seems that legalization of marijuana in California would have net positive results. Not only would it eradicate the underground violence of the drug trade, but it would also decrease dangerous drug use, despite the fears of many that it would only make marijuana even more popular. If marijuana sale were legal and official, the drug would be regulated, meaning very specific rules would

spikedhumor

November 2009 HM Review

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over eighty drug traffickers this summer, all with direct ties to Mexican gangs. A more comprehensive, multi-layer police program, Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), has also made many arrests and confiscated hundreds of cannabis plants. It is run at the local, state and federal levels, and is primarily concerned with uncovering marijuana crop sites and preventing the flow of plants into the hands of dealers and consumers. However, different levels of authority often share different opinions on marijuana growth. Though it is banned by federal law, growing cannabis is legal in California for medical purposes. State and local police departments attempt to curb the dangerous Mexican drug trade and the violence that comes with it, but major investigations of marijuana growth sites are usually a high priority only to federal agents. Also, there is so much unchecked, underground marijuana dealing that occurs, and such a high threshold for marijuana use in California, that hopes for finding and arresting all cannabis growers, traffickers, and dealers in the state seem dismal. With no indication of any decline in the popularity of marijuana, it will be almost impossible for federal agents Pot propaganda Many argue that marijuana has beneficial medical uses, as well as to make a dent in the illegal that the legalization of this already very prevalent drug will lead to a decrease in criminal gangs. trading that occurs.

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Features

would go along with its consumption, much like with alcohol. As of now, marijuana use is lawless and uncontrollable; regulated, the purchase of marijuana would require an ID and would be very restrictive. This means marijuana would be less accessible to minors, though as of now, it is significantly more common among Californian teenagers than alcohol use is. Also, like the laws governing alcohol consumption, marijuana use would be prohibited in certain places and situations, such as while driving. Also, if marijuana were an accepted commodity, it would be less glamorized and dramatized in Californian society. Many of the thousands of prisoners in California jails who were arrested for buying, selling, or using marijuana succumbed to the temptation and thrill of using an illegal substance. Though legal marijuana could indeed make the drug more frequently used, the restrictions that would go along with regulation would make its use safer and less common among minors.

One of the most effective arguments for legalization of marijuana among California legislators, however, is the economic benefit. As seen on a small scale like the Emerald Triangle, marijuana is a hugely profitable cash crop waiting to be capitalized on for tax purposes. California is among the states with the heaviest debt, and the estimated annual tax

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revenue on marijuana is estimated at almost $1.4 billion. This money is sorely needed by the Californian government and would help the state immensely.

Proposition 390, a bill waiting to be debated on in the next California state legislature committee session, is in favor of legalizing marijuana.

It states that legalized cannabis would “create jobs, contribute $1.38 billion in new direct tax revenue to California, reduce crime, reduce prison overcrowding, cut funding to drug cartels, reduce police corruption, protect our public lands, and let farmers grow industrial hemp�. For these many reasons, the legalization of marijuana seems like it has more positive implications than negative ones for California.

The debate of marijuana legalization is multi-faceted. The most common argument against it is the idea that marijuana is a dangerous halluci-

nogen which cannot be condoned by a government. However, it seems that the voracious appetite Californians, and all Americans, have for marijuana is steady and on the rise. Were the government to legalize the drug, it would be regulated in the control of the authorities, meaning its use could be better controlled than it is currently. Another controversial issue in the legalization discussion is the relationship between state law and federal law.

Many wonder how the federal government would react if a state were to pass a law contradicting a federal one. Ultimately, though, each state’s laws must be assessed individually, and though the federal government is an integral part of life in all states, what may be impractical or irresponsible in many states may not be so for California. While there are still many issues surrounding the campaign for legalized marijuana in California, however, several things about the current state of marijuana trade are clear; the damage that results from the operation of underground drug cartels is hurtful to the people and the land of California; the use of marijuana is unchecked and widespread; and marijuana offers an opportunity for a huge profit to be made in tax revenue that is not being taken advantage of. For now, it seems that legalizing marijuana in California would solve all these problems and more. HMR

Pot or Not?

The Review Polls HM Students.

130 students were polled regarding this debate, 85 relating support for the legalization of marijuana. Of these 85, a majority of 28 students that reducing the gang violence caused by the marijuana trade was the most pressing issue.

- Poll Conducted by Jessica Chi, Andrew Demas, Daniel Elkind, Jacob Gladysz, & Samir Nedzamar

HM Review Vol. XIX

Features

House of Crime In search of a community outside troubled homes, youths are coerced into joining illegal drug gangs.

streetgangs

by jessica bernheim

A kilo of cocaine, according to authorities, goes for 19,000 to 23,000 dollars, more than most people in [Greenville, Mississippi] earn a year.” If you’re impoverished and come from a broken home, joining a gang can seem like the only option to make the money necessary for survival. Gang members have the opportunity to make thousands of dollars by selling and delivering drugs. The prospect of easy money is a huge incentive in continuing or becoming more involved in a gang.

Gangs use a variety of often underhanded methods to recruit young members. They target children who come from a lower economic class or from unstable homes. Using money and drugs, gangs draw in many young adults, trapping them in debt or dangerous and illegal addiction. Those who come from families characterized by neglect are often seduced by the promise of a new, accepting, more prosperous kind of family. Gang members also lend teenagers money and forcing the debtors into joining the gang as a way of repaying. Those recruits who do not comply are pressured by acts of violence inflicted on their families and close friends. Gangs can offer “lost kids” November 2009 HM Review

an identity and a new set of friends who have things in common with them. On PBS, Carol Marin, a Chicago Sun Times columnist and frequent guest on the radio program “Chicago Tonight”, discussed how over the course of two years, 60 million dollars has been spent by Superintendent Ron Huberman in order to complete “a comprehensive analysis of 500 kids who had been shot, [through gang activities]…” Huberman discovered that these adolescents were ones who did not have a lot of friends, acted out in school, and usually came from impoverished homes.

Younger members must go through initiation rites comparable to hazing before being allowed admission into a gang.

Typically, this involves a brutal attack by several members of the gang to analyze the strength and perseverance of the teenager, after which he or she is formally welcomed into the gang. Other forms of admission include the perpetration of a criminal act. It is the younger members of the gang, the teenagers and sometimes children as young as ten years old, who carry out crimes. Children face milder sentences than do adults should they get caught in the midst of a transgression,

and also look less suspicious at the scene of a crime.

At least 400,000 youths are currently in gangs nationwide, says an FBI statistic cited in a 1996 report to Senate Judiciary Committee by Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Many children are in gangs because they feel like they have no other options. It is the job of the local community to improve this mindset, but often, the city councilmen and women do not know how to accomplish this. In cases like these, intervention by the state government becomes necessary. One of the major problems with our government that is we do not try to prevent problems; instead we wait until a problem has occurred and then try to fix it. Currently, cities with a lot of gangs are likely to receive grants to find solutions. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has given 9.2 million dollars to various cities and community centers in California where gang activity is increasingly prevalent; however, the government does not understand that in order to lower youth involvement in gangs, we have to provide other options for these adolescents which will yield the same positive rewards of money and companionship that gangs do without any of the negative effects. Society makes it difficult for a student with little to no experience to get a high-paying job. If we want there to be fewer children joining gangs, this needs to change.

Children who come from a broken family need to have a home that they consider safe and welcoming. Community centers where teenagers can meet other students and perhaps even work to earn an income would also be extremely beneficial in preventing the growth of youth involvement in gangs. In Chicago, a program has been formed to mentor 10,000 of the most high risk children. This mentoring program is valuable because it introduces these teenagers to people who have been down the same path and have successfully completed high school and college and now have jobs; they are self -sufficient without becoming involved in illegal activities. If the government and local community can overcome the ways gangs seduce young adults into joining, we would see a drastic reduction in teenagers in gangs. HMR

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Domestic

Economics

Regulating A

FLOFR

by deependra mookim

lthough the economy is showing signs of a future recovery, the inadequacy of financial regulation has yet to be addressed by Washington’s proposals for reform. The structural faults in the lending industry the very same ones that pushed America into this crisis - continue to endanger the financial system. Overhauling the current system of financial regulation is the only solution for limiting the potentially disastrous effects of the flaws in the banking industry.

Mandating higher capital ratios and lower leverage ratios is a straightforward first step in reforming financial markets.

Undercapitalized and overextended financial institutions should not be allowed to take disproportionate risks. Due to the increasing interconnectivity of financial mar-

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kets, when these institutions over-leverage, they put not only their clients’ deposits and own assets at risk but also the financial system on the whole. If banks were required by law to maintain a larger capital cushion, asset bubbles would probably occur less frequently since banks wouldn’t pile excessive debt into markets and prices wouldn’t rise to illusorily high prices.

Regulatory reform should not focus on reducing fees for customers, trying to limit banks’ profits. Instead, true reform would increase transparency between banks and their customers. A central tenet of President Obama’s plan for financial reform is the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. If created and managed intelligently, this agency would decrease predatory lending and would force lenders to convey information clearly to consumers. Transparency between Americans and their financial institutions could stop potentially dangerous

and opaque financial products from existing in the first place.

The incentives in the financial industry are skewed towards creating more and more mortgages, regardless of the quality of the originated mortgages. After creating these mortgages, financial institutions can offset risks by securitizing these loans and selling them to investors. These securitized products were spread around the entire financial system. Most investors had flawed valuation models and did not understand the risks associated with them, partly due to the ineffectiveness of credit rating agencies.

Fitch, Standard and Poor’s, and Moody’s essentially have an oligopoly as credit rating agencies. In fact, these three firms, along with most of the other players in the financial industry, did not understand the risks associated with the financial products being created and traded for large

HM Review Vol. XIX

FLOFR

Pogo Principle

Economics

Expansion of Debt Growth in the financial industtry, driven at least partly by excessive risk taking, has resulted in an explosion of private sector debt. profits, especially in regard to the low-quality financial products such as sub-prime mortgages and derivatives based on their value. Bond issuers, investors, and other market participants rely heavily on these credit ratings, and inaccuracies in them can severely weaken the financial system.

Not only should the credit rating services market be opened up to competition, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should be relatively more open to certifying new agencies (certification is necessary to attain a certain degree of credibility in the industry).

Investment banks, such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, make up the so-called shadow banking system. In the run-up of the economic crisis, financial institutions of the shadow banking system played an increasingly predominant role as lenders. The shadow banking system also consists of other complex legal entities that allow for assets to be moved off-balance sheet. Normally, financial institutions have to report all their assets on publiclyreported balance sheets. Off-balance sheet assets are not regulated and are typically shifted away from the balance sheet. These off-balance sheet entities usually carry the relatively riskier assets of the firm and are almost completely unregulated. Washing-

November 2009 HM Review

ton cannot achieve true regulatory reform without first reforming the regulatory treatment of these off-balance sheet entities.

Sensible reform of the financial industry would include changes to the accounting of these assets. Most of the accounting rules that allow for off-balance sheet entities should be modified to mandate keeping more assets, if not all assets, on the balance sheets of companies. In addition to reforming this subset of financial accounting, other accounting loopholes need to be closed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Every conceivable asset and liability should be fairly accounted for in a firm’s calculations for meeting regulatory minimum capital and maximum leverage requirements. This especially applies to securitized products that have long been treated almost deferentially by current regulation and accounting standards. Securitization, which usually involves turning loans into tradable products for investors, was thought to be a very effective tool to reducing risk since the risk of an individual default was seen as much greater than the risk of many mortgages defaulting. Obviously, as we have now seen, many of these securitized loans can default simultaneously. Securitization is still a useful tool for financial markets, but its benefits have been

overstated and its flaws misjudged by both financial institutions and regulatory agencies. If a firm engages in business practices normally associated with banks, it should be regulated with the same scrutiny as a bank regardless of its name and structure.

Similar to the off-balance sheet entities above, financial institutions, especially the more complex ones, exploit accounting methods that allowed for different segments of the company to be regulated under different standards. During the years preceding the financial crisis, as companies conducted risky business practices, they artificially relieved some of this risk by shifting assets to the area of the firm that was the least regulated with the least amount of capital required. Accounting rules should change to mandate lenders to mark loans to market, which means that the value of the institutions assets are determined not by theoretical models, but by what the market price is at any moment in time. Also, lending tied to investment banking should be accounted for only in the investment banking arm of the company, be marked-tomarket, and be accounted for as other assets normally traded. Mark-to-market accounting would also make dangerous business practices visible to regulators earlier than other accounting methods. If regulators or

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Economics Spearheading Reform Shiela Bair (left) is the Chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Timothy Geitner (right) is the Secretary of the Treasury. Both are involved in reforming financial regulation.

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nesses in the financial system, they can fix the problem before the institution becomes a danger to the entire financial system. In this case, regulators could use their resolution authority (authority to seize the bank if customers’ deposits are in danger) or intervene otherwise.

Another patent flaw in modern-day financial regulation is the lack of regulation over the derivatives market. Derivatives base their value on another asset, and leverage in this market is usually high. During the run-up to the financial crisis, growth in this unregulated derivatives market exploded. The derivative itself is not fundamentally flawed in terms of how it is structured.

The derivatives market provides muchneeded tools for risk management to businesses and investors. Airlines, for example, use derivatives to hedge the risks associated with fluctuating oil prices. Using these derivatives keeps the airlines’ profits more stable than it would have been otherwise, and the derivatives in this example also keep air fares stable for consumers. New regulation must find a balance in order to systematize the market without adding costs to businesses that use derivatives. Nevertheless, derivatives should be traded through a central clearing house and regulated exchanges with full disclosure on the details of the contract. Regulating the derivatives market would reduce system risk and potentially reduce risk between counter-parties, which would also come as a benefit to those involved in creating and trading derivatives.

Generally speaking, the authority of regulators needs to be increased and their legal status as superiors needs to be strengthened and reenforced. As surprising as it may seem, federal spending on finan-

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cial regulation grew 26% under the Bush administration, and it has grown continuously for the last five decades. However, the growth of the financial industry has notably outstripped the growth in financial regulation, and especially so in the last ten years.

Thorough and competent financial regulation is only possible when adequate funding is provided by the government to agencies such as the FDIC and SEC. Financial institutions should be regulated more on a firm-by-firm basis. Of course, the basic capital requirements and other regulations will remain the same for different financial companies; nevertheless, regulators should pay attention to any given individual firm’s integrity and weaknesses. Regulatory agencies should be able to adapt to an ever-changing financial system. Also, the United States must streamline its regulatory process in order to bridge gaping holes in regulation and deter regulatory shopping and regulatory capture.

Regulatory shopping is legal and its allows financial institutions to essentially choose among different regulators. Financial institutions predictably want to be regulated by the most lenient and least effective overseer.

Under these lenient regulators, financial institutions can keep less capital to back-up their assets and engage in riskier business practices. Regulatory capture involves regulatory agencies, usually state regulators, acting in favor of the business interests of the regulated companies instead of performing their fiduciary duties. Regulatory capture, like most problems within the financial industry, cannot be fully eliminated. However, increasing the authority and the number of internal but independent inspectors at regulatory agencies would decrease regulatory capture. These inspectors would routinely audit the performance of any given regulatory agency and would bring light to any indication of regulatory capture.

While the organization and roles of federal regulators needs to be changed, the Federal Reserve should not become the central regulator of the financial system.

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The Federal Reserve has a spotty record for financial regulation; it should continue to focus on monetary policy and delve into regulatory issues only when issues of systemic risk is involved. Instead of a single powerful regulator, a council of specialized federal regulators that communicates with each other should be created. In addition to communication within the regulatory system, regulators need to routinely and proactively engage financial institutions.

This type of regulation relates to principlesbased regulation. Financial regulation in the United States is primarily rules-based, which means that quantitative observations are considered more than qualitative ones.

Principles-based regulators would be more capable of acting on the basis of common financial sense.

Either legislatively or in application, a regulatory overhaul by no means is a simple process. Nevertheless, a stable economy relies on a sound financial system that can provide credit to consumers and businesses as consistently as possible. A thorough plan for reform would incorporate the ideas discussed above, including changes in the regulation of capital levels, leverage ratios, consumer protection, financial accounting, derivatives, and the regulatory agencies themselves. In general, regulation should be centered around common sense and should not reward complexity in the banking industry. The only way to build America a strong financial foundation is to decrease the cyclicality of financial markets. Reduced cyclicality, in turn, can be achieved only through the implementation of a strong regulatory framework. HMR

HM Review Vol. XIX

Economics

Putting America Back on Track

by jacob gladysz-morawski

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merica’s growing population presages a strain on America’s already lagging transportation system.

According to the US census bureau, our population is projected to jump to 335.8 million people by 2030.

This will translate to approximately 3.75 million new trips being made by cars and planes. If the United States diverted longer trips to high-speed rail, it would reduce fossil fuel dependency, decrease harmful emissions, and bolster the economy in the long run.

In the 1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower oversaw the building of the biggest public works project in the world at the time, namely the Interstate Highway System, which replaced the previous United States Numbered Highway System. The Interstate Highways provided faster, more efficient cross country transportation and put countless individuals to work in a nation still recovering from the Second World War. A Cambridge Systematics study sponsored by the federal government states that investment in the interstate highway system provided for 31% of productivity growth in the 60’s. However, this figure by now has faded while the highway system itself November 2009 HM Review

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has become severely strained. We need a new system that supplements the current highway system and takes some of the pressure off it.

The Interstate System’s main achievement was increasing the efficiency with which goods were being transported. If some of the passenger trips currently being made using the highway system were diverted to high-speed rail, there would be more space allowed for the increased transport of goods that inevitably comes with population growth. This led to a reduction in expenditures relating to transport. This diversion of passengers would

There would be more space allowed for the increased transport of goods that inevitably comes with population growth. reduce environmental impact created by cars. Although the amount of pollution would still increase as the population increase, the amount pollution per capita would no doubt decrease.

The state of California is in fact in the pre-construction stages of a high-speed railway. According to official estimates, the building of such a railway would create about 130,000 new jobs, 29,000 of which would be in Orange County alone.

The price of expanding the current highways and airports to accommodate growing population in California would cost about 82 billion dollars, about 20 billion dollars more than the estimated railway costs, and would not create nearly as many jobs. Judging by the results in much of the developed world, revising the US’s current transportation system would be not just helpful but crucial.

Trains in the US today run as slowly as or even more slowly than trains in the 1950s. America lags in technology behind France, Germany, Spain, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Japan, and South Korea, to name a few. The United States is like a once-great athlete past his or her prime. We, the United States, who are supposed to be the very paragon of technological advancement, have been deluding ourselves into thinking we are still the champions. America still has time to advance to the technological forefront, but the gap between us and the rest of the developed world is increasing, and time is running out. America needs to make a decision: reform its methods of public transportation or sink into a mire of unforgivable debt to foreign oil, unthinkable pollution and tragic unemployment. HMR

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Economics

eptember 16th, 2008- red arrows swarmed Wall Street.

Throughout the course of the catastrophic week, the Dow Jones Industrial Aver-

firm. Wall Street began to crumble. The trading floors were in complete disarray. One Wall Street trader claimed that, “People were screaming at each other over the phone, asking: ‘How could this happen?’” Then, on a weary Sunday morning, Lehman Brothers too filed for

financial crisis. Nobody was stepping up to the plate, until the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed up, once again, to give advice to the government and revive the troubled firms of Wall St. The IMF was established for the sole purpose of guiding and leading nations, developed and undeveloped, towards a more stable and effective economy.

The IMF was able to meet the needs of troubled markets around the world. The destabilization of economies throughout the world had happened before, which we now know as the Great Depression.

After the chaos and calamity of the Great Depression subsided in the late 1930s, the newly formed United Nations met in the United States to ensure that a scenario similar to what had just passed would never occur again. In 1944, representatives from forty-four countries worked together during the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference to create a body that would help the world at large, “avoid a repetition of the disastrous economic policies that had contributed to the Great Depression.” With this

age sunk 2,400 points and plummeted eighteen percent The days leading up to what the London Times would call “The Crash of 2008” were equally as horrid. The once mighty Bear Stearns collapsed earlier that spring, as Chairman and CEO James Cayne filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Two days prior, Stanley O’Neal, CEO of Merrill Lynch, wrote down an $8.4 billion loss.

Soon after Merrill reported this loss, Bank of America agreed to acquire the

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The fall of this dynasty devastated people on both Wall Street and Main Street. Wall Street’s demise was inevitable, and its largest financial institutions had begun slowly winding down. Acting individually, the world and its leaders sought out ways to navigate their respective countries out of this recession. The chances of survival for many firms were slim. The United States government was hesitant to implement a plan on how to solve this

purpose in mind, the International Monetary Fund vowed to lead countries into economic prosperity and provide worthwhile advice to leaders.

As the recession in the United States and other first world countries such as the United Kingdom worsened, the IMF came to the side of policy makers advising them as to what they should do and when they should do it. However, leaders were initially hesitant to stray off of their economic agendas. IMF President

Wall Street’s Guidance Department When the stock market tanked a year ago, the IMF stepped right in to offer advice for a more stable Wall Street. An inside story on a vital economic organization... by stephen paduano

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the lady and the djia

HM Review Vol. XIX

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Economics Dominique Strauss-Kahn advised the leaders of emerging and flourishing markets, such as China, to reduce the amount of goods they manufacture and export to the United States and other countries.

However, the Chinese refused to compromise its manufacturing superiority over all other countries, because rather than benefiting the Chinese, the policy change would benefit economies around the world by supplying jobs in the field of manufacturing. The United States also did not take heed to the IMF’s opinion on America’s trying to facilitate other nations’ economies, while its own economy was in distress. However, the European Union (EU) came to the side of the IMF and recommended that nations and their economies work together to solve the crisis at hand.

From the view of a bystander, the IMF was successful in achieving its initial and central goal for the Crash of 2008, which was to provide the building blocks for a new, more stable, Wall Street. The IMF attacked the problem with a twofold approach. First, the IMF warned coun-

two percent of the global GDP, which, in 2008 was $60,689,812,000.00 (two percent of this being $1,213,796,240.00).

The IMF agreed to give as much support to troubled countries such as the United States, as long as they abided to the IMF’s policies. The change in executive power from President Bush and his top man in the Treasury, Secretary Hank Paulson, to President Obama and his top man in the Treasury, Secretary Tim Geithner, also changed the fiscal policies in place.

Former Secretary Paulson slowly began to change the fiscal domestic policies,

tries and their financial institutions that the current policies and tactics of dealing with a failed or failing system would not work, and that economic policies must be changed on a country by country basis according to the IMF’s recommendations.

The second way of dealing with the crisis was a highly disputed plan that had begun to be implemented in different countries across the globe. This highly disputed plan was a large fiscal stimulus package that the IMF suggested be as much as

ke, announced that they would be injecting a stimulus package into the countries’ ailing industries. They also announced a plan that was identical to the one suggested by the IMF, which we know as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. This stimulus package was made solely for financial institutions for the purpose of rebuilding them and bringing back capital that had been lost. One year later, the IMF has reported that the United States has made progressive steps in sup-

The IMF was established for the sole purpose of guiding and leading nations, developed and undeveloped, towards a more stable and effective economy. leading the way for Obama’s Treasury.

With all of the pieces in place, President Obama, Secretary Geithner, and Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernan-

porting its banks, which have succeeded in raising capital and their stock prices.

However, they have also warned that without following up on the new policies, the financial institutions can just as easily collapse as they did before.

In retrospect, the United States has learned that it cannot rely on the economic policies of yesterday. We have learned that we must enhance our financial policies so that they support and meet the needs of the financial institutions, and we must act on advice when it is offered and is trustworthy. The IMF has proven itself to be a credible organization that can give advice that benefits both the financial institutions and the people. Most importantly, this economic crisis has showed us that financial institutions indeed fluctuate wildly and that the government should accept the advice of credible sources to decide on policies and regulations. The government made the right move by taking the advice of skilled economists at the IMF; however, government officials must now stick to what they were told, and must not pe-

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November 2009 HM Review

nalize the financial institutions for their failures. Despite the fact that the citizens of the United States elect well-educated people to posts throughout the government, it does not mean that the elected people had to deal with a crisis similar to the Great Depression. The government is experienced in these matters, however when help is offered, the government must take it, or risk another financial meltdown. HMR

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Science & Technology Preventative Measures: The Search for an AIDS Vaccine

Once someone contracts a viral disorder, only their symptoms can be treated, so doctors approach viral disorders like smallpox, polio, and HIV/AIDS preemptively, with vaccination. Although we’ve eliminated smallpox and have polio on its last legs, a vaccine for HIV/AIDS has eluded scientists for years... key question that is relevant for all of science, and especially for the interpretation of a vaccine trial, is: What makes experimental evidence significant? In the case of a vaccine trial, does “significant” mean finding definitive prevention, or making a small step in the direction of prevention? One concern is that the urgency of developing a vaccine, and the pressure for one, may affect the analysis of the data. Does -- and should – societal pressure have an impact on the scientific process?

In the case of HIV/AIDS, there is mounting pressure from both health and governmental organizations to find a vaccine that prevents the spread of the devastating virus that has taken 25 mil-

the drugs do not completely eradicate the virus, the use of existing drugs in various combinations can greatly increase the amount of time that an infected person can expect to live. However, drugs are not ultimately successful over long periods of time, because of the AIDS virus’ incredible ability to adapt, by evolving in response to the selective pressure of the drugs. One solution to this problem is to continually use different drugs to kill all variants of the virus, but this is an expensive alternative, and requires that scientists and drug companies keep developing new drugs. Vaccines to prevent infection are the best solution to the problem, because they are significantly more effective, and less expensive, than dwrugs. They can prevent the spread of the virus through the population, not

However, strong desire for results cannot allow mixed results to be over interpreted. The great need for a vaccine, and the great benefit that would derive from a vaccine, must not affect the scientific accuracy and meticulous interpretation of a trial. lion lives since HIV emerged in 1981.

Drugs used to combat the disease have become cheaper, and better mechanisms have been developed for delivering them to people in poorer countries. Although

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just subdue it within the body for short period of time. Thus, the potential effectiveness of a vaccine solution, and our current inability to cure the disease, has resulted in great desire and pressure for a

working vaccine.

This pressure, however, should not lead to biased analysis of scientific evidence. Yet, this may be exactly what happened in a press conference on September 24th, when the US army announced the development and testing of a vaccine that significantly decreases the risk of AIDS. The trial included 16,000 people, and showed that the vaccine cut the HIV infection rate by 31%. “It is the first evidence that we could have a safe and effective preventive vaccine, “ Col. Jerome Kim, one of the leaders of the study, said. Statistically, there was a 96% chance that the result was “real” and was not based on chance; just above the 95% cutoff that is widely used as a measure of statistical significance. “Today marks a historic milestone,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition. These new results might have fulfilled our hopes of finding a working vaccine for AIDS, ready for widespread use. A huge and very public excitement developed around the vaccine. However, at the same time, in private briefings, researchers noted that in a healthscape

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by jacob moscona skolnik

HM Review Vol. XIX

Science works, you’ll have enough robustness in results to be significant with both analyses,” says Douglass Richman, an AIDS researcher at the University of California, San Diego. A leading HIV/AIDS investigator reported that, “The press conference was not a scholarly, rigorously honest presentation.” Colonels Jerome Michael and Jerome Kim, the lead researchers with the US army, however, strongly opposed the notion that they gave the data a “positive spin”: “We needed to get enough information our so we could give the world community a fair glimpse of what we’ve learned.” However, the troublesome question lingers: why was a vaccine success announced without presenting a rigorous analysis of the data?

Did the pressure for a vaccine—the politics—result in a slanted presentation of the The Quest For The Cure The search for a vaccine for trial results?

HIV/AIDS has become a medical Holy Grail for Despite the imresearchers around the country. This has led to both mense pressure that is breakthroughs that move us closer to a cure and false understandably felt by trials that harm the reputatioton and efficacy of the those who have spent project. Below, a picture of the HIV particle. their careers working on a vaccine for this illness, and those who have funded that research, it is important that the full story be revealed. There needs to be a clear distinction between a close attempt at achieving a preventative vaccine, or steps in that direction, and a statement that an effective vaccine has been developed. This distinction seems to have been lost in publicity around the vaccine trial. It is imperative that the vaccine be judged as accurately as possible, because the results of this trial will determine the future direc-

global times

second analysis of the data provided from the trial (not announced in the press conference) the results were slightly below the level of statistical significance—below the 95% mark. “Anything that really

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November 2009 HM Review

tions of AIDS vaccine research, committing many thousands of hopeful volunteers, and many millions of research dollars, to this strategy. In addition, potential harmful characteristics of the vaccine may be uncovered. For example, the vaccine used in the 2007 “STEP” AIDS vaccine trial may actually have promoted susceptibility to the virus. When dealing with a disease like AIDS, a problem that is unsolved after decades, it is natural to cling enthusiastically to promising results, and this may have happened in the case of the recent vaccine trial. However, strong desire for results cannot allow mixed results to be over interpreted. The great need for a vaccine, and the great benefit that would derive from a vaccine, must not affect the scientific accuracy and meticulous interpretation of a trial.

Although the vaccine tested in this trial may not be as successful as researchers initially thought, the information that has been gathered is not insignificant.

While the trial did not prove the vaccine ready for widespread use, researchers can learn a great deal from it. According to Seth Berkley, the President of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, writing in the New York Times, “A comparison of blood samples from volunteers could indicate what specific immune responses the combination may have activated to provide protection. [T]his knowledge could help scientists improve upon the more promising candidates that have emerged since the trial candidates were designed a decade ago, and determine which ones are most likely to work.”

Berkeley goes on to note, “Whether you consider the first or second analysis, the observed effect of the Thai candidates was either just above or below the level of statistical significance.” Although the 2009 trial did not result in a vaccine, and made the mistake of allowing politics to interfere with the public discussions of the science, it has brought us one step closer to discovering a way to prevent AIDS. And since no means of preventing the spread of an infectious disease is as powerful or as cost effective as a vaccine, the path to this vaccine should be sheltered from any pressures that interfere with carrying out completely rigorous, unbiased research.

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Science

CWD In the Water Chronic Wasting Disease, Mad Cow Disease’s neglected half-brother, is ravaging the deer population, threatening to drive the common deer family to the brink. Katherine Wyatt reports on just how vital it is to avert this tragedy of the commons.

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dren because they were given the brain and spinal chord, the less sought-after

ioral alterations, and excessive salivation are often observed as well. CWD is transf someone asked you about mitted via saliva, carcasses, excreChronic Wasting Disease, ment, and sometimes blood of inabbreviated as CWD, fected cervids. your response would

So, one might ask, if most likely be “CWDCWD does not infect humans, what?” However, a mention of why is it so dangerous?

While it is variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease our obligation to protect the spe(vCJD), commonly known as the cies of our planet, the bigger dannotorious and deadly “Mad Cow ger is possibility. What if CWD disease,” would immediately catch were to mutate into a humanyour attention. Believe it or not, borne disease? It is believed that the two diseases are very closely such a thing occurred years ago linked. with Mad-cow disease. Originally, Both CJD and CWD, the TSE manifested as scrapie in known as Transmissible Spongisheep. Cows in factory farms in form Encephalopathies (TSEs), the United Kingdom were fed a are caused by the smallest and one “meat-and-bone meal,” which was of the most virulent pathogens made of the ground-up remnants known to mankind, the prion. A of sheep carcasses. From this meatprion is an improperly folded proand-bone meal, cows contracted a tein incapable of proper replicamutated form of scrapie called BSE. tion. In order to create new prions, Humans then ingested the ground it warps a healthy protein’s shape beef, primarily in hamburgers, and upon contact. Though this enables contracted Mad-cow disease, a rapid spreading, prion diseases mutated form of BSE. Thankfully, have a long incubation period; the outburst of BSE and vCJD in CWD’s incubation period lasts Running out of Targets Most deer are hunted the U.K. was squashed as quickly an average of three to five years as a population control method. The danger of as possible but sporadic cases occur before symptoms appear and death CWD is that eventually, the population will be inevitably occurs. The existence of unable to replenish itself fast enough in order to across the world. Were this to happen with CWD, the effects (if not prions was hypothesized in the 60’s, keep up with the hunters, leaving a decimated handled properly and with haste) and they were isolated in 1982, but population. could very well be catastrophic. very little is known about them. It is Certain variables exist that known that prions are incredibly danger- body parts.

Chronic Wasting Disease itself is not would enable CWD to spread and cause ous and highly virulent. A single prion can infect the body via ingestion, and will found in people, such as with vCJD or major problems. There are no certified always be fatal. In the mammalian body, Kuru. It is currently found only in North treatments for prion diseases, as the prions reside almost exclusively in the American Mule Deer, White-Tailed Deer, proteins are virtually indestructible. Pribrain and spinal chord. Kuru, a TSE from elk, and moose, all members of the cer- ons are resistant to ultraviolet radiation, Papau New Guinea that has now been vid family. Its primary symptom is rapid extreme heat and cold, and antibiotics, successfully eradicated, was transferred weight loss, which accelerates until the amongst other things. One vaccine is curthrough cannibalism in the local Fore animal is so emaciated that it wastes rently being explored, though results are tribe. It infected mostly females and chil- away. Neurodegeneration, drastic behav- not yet fully in favor of the vaccine; it is by kat wyatt

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HM Review Vol. XIX

Science

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doubtful the vaccine will be released any time in the near future. Prions are highly dangerous because they are so virulent and are always fatal. In North America, our water and food distribution systems and our waste removal systems are intricately connected. If the prions got into a major food or water source, the hardiness of the pathogen would enable it to infect many people. The lengthy incubation period would facilitate the infection of thousands, if not more, before anyone knew the disease was rampant.

Some of the most recent talk of Chronic Wasting Disease in a major periodical occurred a New York Times article on October fifth titled “In Vermont, Making a Stand for Pete the Moose.”

The article discusses a moose named Peter who lives on a Vermont elk farm.

Through neither he nor the resident elk have CWD, the state is requiring Pete to be moved from his home to prevent the spread of CWD. Doug Nelson (Pete’s loving owner) and the Vermont government have reached an impasse, neither side able to compromise. People of all ages have visited Pete and protested for his right to remain in his home.

In an argument like this, picking a side is difficult, because both groups have sound points. The state wants to prevent the spread of CWD, a just and important cause, while Mr. Nelson wants to let Pete, a CWD-free moose, remain in his home. A plausible compromise,

End of an Era? If CWD is not stopped, these deer will be a rare sight in the plains that they once called home. Whether the deer family goes the way of the buffalo depends on the government and the public’s willingness to stop the disease. some much-needed insight into the mysterious disease.

In order to continue fighting the disease on a national scale, the battle against CWD would be most benefited by the spread of information. Although anti-CWD programs exist across North America, they do not exist on a massive scale. If the government expanded its operation to get the word out, people would be able to look out for signs of infected animals. In a situation such as this, igno-

There are no certified treatments for prion diseases, as the proteins are virtually indestructible. Prions are resistant to ultraviolet radiation, extreme heat and cold, and antibiotics, amongst other things. which seems painfully obvious, would be to move Pete and his local moose buddies to a very separate enclosure, nowhere near the elk. If the proper safety and health precautions were taken and approved by the government, the moose would almost certainly be safe. All the elk have been confirmed as CWD-free so they are not wthe problem. To prevent potential moose-to-person transmission, Pete and the other moose should be tested for CWD. The government cares enough about the issue to make a big deal so some tests should not be all that objectable. The tests might even provide November 2009 HM Review

rance is the most dangerous thing. If people can be made aware of the implications of this disease, they will be much more likely to assist the government in the eradication of CWD. In expanding antiCWD operations, instances of the disease should be tracked down with close precision to monitor its progression. If trends in location are found, the cervids in the region should be tested and infected cervids must be exterminated immediately.

The government must reach the heart of the problem and strike hard.

Some of the rules currently existing to spread CWD-awareness amongst

hunters include the cutting, cleaning, and wrapping meat and cleaning of bones.

The meat must also come from a portion of the animal that is not near the brain or spinal chord. If a cervid is suspected to be CWD-infected, governments require that hunters do not kill or touch them and must immediately contact the local government. If the animal has already been killed, do not move it, and then contact the government. The government must then immediately confiscate the carcass for either disposal or study.

To those who might say that Chronic Wasting Disease is not rampant enough to be a concern, please consider that while CWD has not evolved to attack humans, it has the potential to do so, as proven by Mad-cow disease. Should this evolution occur, the implications would likely be global. Even if a vaccine were created, vaccines are never accessible to everyone. Someone will always be left unprotected. This is why it is crucial to start prophylaxis; the government must cut off CWD’s ability to travel, preventing a bigger problem than that which already exists from arising. With the tragically high number of rampant epidemics across the globe, governments must do anything in their power to prevent the addition of a new disease to the ever-growing and increasingly dangerous list. HMR

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Domestic

Viewpoints Terrorists in Our Backyard We may feel safe in America, but domestic terrorism is a threat which has been overlooked for many years.

by danielle ellison

W

hen many of us hear the phrase “Islamic extremist groups,” we envision Arabs in some far-off Middle Eastern country plotting an attack that the United States government can easily prevent.

But what most Americans don’t realize is that there are Islamic extremists within our own borders, operating out of Islamic schools (madrassas), mosques, and in at least 35 alleged paramilitary training camps in 22 U.S. states. Despite the perception that the threat from extremist militant Islamic fundamentalism comes from abroad, many dangerous Islamic extremist groups exist right here in the United S. These extremist gangs endan-

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ger us not only because they have the potential to orchestrate a tragedy similar to September 11, but also because they are significant purveyors of fear and hatred

specific sets of people, Islamic extremist groups target everyone different from them. Although, as many believe, the primary focus of these Islamic extremists at this time tends to be Israel and Jews, what many Americans in particular fail to realize is that Islamic extremists also target Americans as well as Christianity in general.

But from where in the U.S. are these Islamic extremists operating? Here in America, we are lulled into a sense of security by the CIA and other intelligence and defense organizations, and we do not believe it possible that we harbor Islamic extremists in our midst. A number of these extremists are in fact illegal immigrants, often entering through the Mexican border, but the majority are indeed legal U.S. citizens. Across the country, these extremists are planning and waiting to strike.

In Islamic schools, called madrassas, students across the country are taught a strong devotion to Islam. However, this devotion is often taught to the exclusion of loyalty to America or the American government, and is based on the belief that “all religions, other than Islam, are

Despite the perception of most Americans that the threat from extremist militant Islamic fundamentalism comes from abroad, many dangerous Islamic extremist groups exist right here in the U.S. in America. These groups undermine U.S. counterterrorism policy and damage the opportunities for compromise between the U.S. and extremist Islamic groups in other countries.

In contrast to other extremist and hate groups such as white supremacy and anti-LGBT organizations, which target

false, including that of the Jews [and] Christians.” In addition, these schools (as well as mosques and other Islamic organizations) often teach bigoted, violent xenophobic lifestyles, particularly anti-Semitism. There have been numerous “reports about the content of books, pamphlets, and Friday sermons that fosHM Review Vol. XIX

Domestic

Madrassas preaching hate: Many of the Taliban were educated in Saudi-financed madrassas in Pakistan, now madrassas are established in the United States, often preaching similar messages. ter such incitement to violence and hatred.”

There are also a number of organizations in the U.S. that allegedly secretly promote militant Islamic fundamentalism. For example, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a U.S. based organization with the stated goal of “promoting a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America,” and to “empower the Muslim community in America through political and social activism.”

CAIR is likely disguising “its true agenda of supporting militant Islam and protecting the operations of radical groups supporting terrorism.” Some even believe that CAIR is a United States-based creation of Hamas.

In addition to spreading bigoted and particularly anti-American sentiment through schools, mosques, and other Islamic organizations, extremist Islamic groups have even managed to establish a November 2009 HM Review

frightening number of undercover paramilitary training camps right here in the United States. There are, as stated earlier, currently at least 35 alleged paramilitary training camps in 22 U.S. states. In effect, extremist Islamic groups are harboring

Islamic extremist groups undermine U.S. counterterrorism policy and damage the opportunities for compromise between the U.S. and extremist Islamic groups in other countries. “homegrown terrorists in our backyard.”

These camps, typically located in or near mosques or other Islamic centers, “espouse violence, hatred, and a need for terrorism.” Oddly, U.S. law enforcement is incapable of acting against these camps as they are protected by the U.S. Consti-

tution.

The goal of extremist fundamentalist Islamic groups is “espousing violence, terror, and demonizing of the ‘other.’” They are “unassimilated in Western societies and contemptuous of our civil and human rights laws and standards here in America.” It nonetheless remains imperative to distinguish between the fundamentalist extremist militant Islamic groups and the vast majority of moderate and peaceful Muslims in the U.S. and around the world. This majority neither supports the violent and hate-encouraging agenda of the extremist groups nor should be blamed for such. If the problem of extremist Islam is to be solved, we must turn to these moderate individuals to help foster dialogue and compromise to achieve peace in our nation and our world.

HMR

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Viewpoints

Third Term’s the Charm

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by samantha rahmin

he United States Continential Congress first established term limits for Pennsylvania’s politicians in 1776 as a way “to prevent every danger which might arise to American freedom by continuing too long in office the members of the Continental Congress....”(Thomas Jefferson).

This was at a time during which politicians found it necessary to put safeguards in place in order to prevent a system wide corruption; a similar idea is seen in right to bear arms. Since that time our government has been able to sustain itself with initiatives such as a system of checks and balances to ensure that such corruption does not occur. Our nation was founded on the belief that people should be able to choose the best candidate for a representative position. Term limits no longer serve their original purpose, and it is time for our nation to move on.

On October 23rd of last year, the New York City Council approved a bill by a vote of 29-22 that increases the term limits of the mayor and the city council representatives from two four-year terms to three four-year terms. The initial public reaction to this was disapproval. People thought that it unfair that the members of the city council and the mayor were able to increase their own term limits. This is a very understandable stance, but many surveys have shown that Mayor Michael Bloomberg holds a considerable margin in the polls for his reelection. This is the fundamental problem with term limits.

They were created to ensure that the government was controlled by the best representatives of the people; in truth, term limits do the opposite. If the legislation hadn’t passed in the City Council, people wouldn’t be able to vote for the candidate that they think best suited for the job.

There are reasons so many people in New York City support the mayor in his

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bid for reelection. He has an incredible track record. Compared to most other cities in America, New York has been hit less hard by the recession due in part to initiatives from the office of the Mayor.

To prepare for an economic downturn, the mayor “cut planned spending by more than $2 billion, reduced debt costs by $3.2 billion and set aside $2.5 billion for retirees’ benefits.” At the beginning of the recession, the mayor implemented his economic opportunity plan which, similarly to President Obama’s economic stimulus, invests city funds in future clean energy and infrastructure plans that create jobs. Perhaps one of the most significant improvements during his time in office is that to the city school system.

Prior to Bloomberg’s taking control, city schools were run by a board in the Department of Education, which at the time was run by Bill Thompson, the mayor’s current opponent for reelection. Under this board the graduation rate was low and in-school violence was high. When Bloomberg won mayoral control over city schools he was able to increase test scores and the graduation rate and decrease violence in schools. But Bloomberg’s biggest achievement is the decrease in crime and violence under his administration. New York City is currently at its lowest crime rate in over 40 years, including a 30% decrease immediately after Bloomberg took office.

After 9/11, one of the most important issues to New Yorkers has been counterterrorism. Since Bloomberg took office, there have been no major suc-

Too long? Michael Bloomberg has served as the New York Mayor for eight years. Should he have a ninth? cessful terrorist attacks on the city. This is in part due to the Mayor’s initiative of taking one thousand NYPD officers and assigning them specifically to counterterrorism operations. In addition to all this, the mayor has helped increase the overall health of New Yorkers through preventative care by banning smoking in public places and trans fats in restaurants. The mayor also signed into law a bill requiring chain restaurants in the city to post nutritional information on their menus, specifically the caloric content of meals.

The mayor’s job assistance programs for the unemployed has helped the city save money by having fewer people on welfare (and of course there are fewer homeless people in the city, something we can all agree is a good thing). During his time in office, the mayor has also created 527 acres of new parks. Parks give a crowded city space open space to enjoy and encourage healthy living by giving people a place where they can go for a run or bike ride. Parks also support the economy; a huge deal of workers are recruited to build and landscape parks.

Most people would agree that an important quality in a leader is experience.

Term limits take the most experienced candidates for the position and disqualify them from the election. This leaves inexperienced young men and women in key positions. In New York City, we HM Review Vol. XIX

Herald-Dispatch

need a leader that is capable of assisting the 6.5 million people who commute into the city every day; someone who is able to oversee the world’s economic center; someone who can provide for the 8 million people who live in the city. Our nation is currently in the worst economic climate in years. Now, more than ever, we need a candidate for Mayor in New York that has experience in business and economics. Bloomberg created a multibillion dollar industry from scratch. As mayor, he has proven himself time and again. Giving him another four years in office will allow our city to return to being the economic powerhouse of the past.

HMR

Won’t Get Fooled Again

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by matthew meltzer

ayor Michael Bloomberg is hurting New York by overruling the law stating that a mayor may run only for two consecutive terms. The rule of law should be honored, not altered, particularly by those who directly benefit. Therefore, Mayor Michael Bloomberg should be forced to submit to the established law, which the citizens November 2009 HM Review

voted for, and not be allowed to run for Mayor.

The majority of New York’s voters feel that the city benefited from term limits. Term limits allow different people to bring fresh ideas and solutions to problems. As a result of new people running for office, elections are more competitive and campaigns more engaging. Laws enforcing term limits give more people a chance to become involved, which brings diversity to government. This is what our founding fathers strived for. Andrew Jackson highlighted this point by saying, “The more secure an office holder, the more his interests would diverge from those of his constituents.” This comment remains true and is supported by the effectiveness of term limits on other public offices including president of the United States.

Officials that have been in office for a long time become comfortable in their position and begin to look out for their own interests. They become detached from the people they are supposed to represent. Popular officials with unlimited tenure become part of a political machine and are more likely to lose touch with the public’s best interests. Since they are part of the machine they may still be favored and reelected. Term limits prevent officials from amassing excessive power and reassure citizens that their interests take priority.

Additionally, a politician in his or her final term in office or even a lame duck has many advantages. When politicians serve their last term, they can make decisions which they believe in, decisions which may be unpopular but ultimately serve the public. A last term politician is independent-- free of the machine-- and does not need to worry about whether or not he or she will be reelected.

America’s government was founded on the rejection of the idea of monarchy.

Term limits guarantee that one person will never be able to abuse power for too long and rule in a tyrannical way. Letting the City Council allow Bloomberg to change the law could harm the city in the long run. Permanently changing this law can lead to corrupt politicians being elected multiple times. Regardless of your personal feelings about term limits,

it is unethical to allow the City Council to overrule the people’s vote. The City Council should not have the power to extend their own jobs without the support of New Yorkers.

Mayor Bloomberg has been popular among the people of New York. He has brought about positive change to the city.

These changes include creating jobs, decreasing crime rates, and changing education policies. However, when he announced that he would be attempting to change the law and run for a third term his popularity fell below 60% for the first time since 2005. Altering the law in order for him to become Mayor again has damaged Mayor Bloomberg’s reputation. He has lost credibility among New Yorkers.

The government is supposed to prioritize the peopleís interest. Our government was built on the idea that ordinary people should have a chance to voice their ideas and be elected to office. The people of New York have made their voices very clear. A poll taken by the New York Times found that 55% of New Yorkers were against repealing the term limits. They voted for term limits in 1993 and again in 1996. Not even the attacks of 9/11 convinced the people to change the law. This was demonstrated when former Mayor Giuliani decided against running for a third term even though he had a 90% approval rating. Bloomberg’s own opportunity to improve the city was fostered by term limits when he replaced Mayor Giuliani.

Not only are New Yorkers in favor of a term limit; Bloomberg felt that having term limits was a good for New Yorkers.

In 2002, he vetoed a bill that would have extended term limits for government officials.

Overall, term limits are beneficial to New York. Having term limits allows for a variety of people to bring different ideas to government. Term limits also prevent public officials from becoming to secure in their position and abusing their electors. However, most importantly, New York’s residents voted for term limits. Government officials should not be allowed to overturn New Yorker’s votes, especially when they focus on their own interests. HMR

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The Horace Mann Review Horace Mann School 231 West 246th Street Riverdale, New York 10471

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HM Review Vol. XIX