The NBA has officially cancelled its first two weeks of the regular season on October 10th. The lockout was caused by the players and owners’ inability to come to an accord over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The players have asked for 57% of the league’s revenue (which was $4 billion last season) in salaries, while the owners only offer 46%. In recent days the two sides have come closer and discussed a possible 50-50 split, however a deal was not done. The last lockout occurred in 1999 when the two sides couldn’t come up with a deal until Jan 6, with the season ending up being 50 games (down from 82).

This lockout means that all the sport arena employees; ushers, security, parking lot attendants, restaurant workers, and others are now being laid off. These people will now add to America’s unemployment problem which is already at 14 million as teams have already started firing staff. Secondly a lockout risks losing the loyalty of its fan base who can switch to other sports, just as many NHL fans have switched to NFL after the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, therefore the league will start losing more money. Fans are starting to feel unappreciated, and if a deal is not put in place quickly then it could have severe consequences on NBA’s future.

Work Cited:

“NBA Labor — David Stern cancels first two weeks of NBA season – ESPN.” ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. <http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7085089/nba-labor-david-stern-cancels-first-two-weeks-nba-season>.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has proposed a bill to have a 5.6% surtax on individuals making $1 million dollars or more, an idea supported by president Obama. The Tax Policy Centre has estimated that this bill would on average increase the Millionaires’ tax bills by more than $110 000. The bill’s primary goal is to help fund a $445 billion stimulus package to reduce the deficit. Following the proposition of this bill, the Democrats have stated that individuals making $999 000 are still part of the “struggling middle class” and have to be protected from tax increase. If this bill would pass, it would mean that as of 2013 the Millionaires would be taxed up to 50% through the expiration of the 2001/2003/2010 tax laws, in addition to the health law tax and Reid’s bill.

In my opinion this bill is ridiculous since it proposes that the government should treat millionaires different, and take more of their hard earned money. This is discriminatory as its not ethical to take more money away from people who have earned it. These type of bills would only result in millionaires hiring accountants to help avoid the tax, and discourage people from making more money since they know they will give it up through taxes. Its not fair that successful people should be treated differently, and forced to pay more in taxes. These actions will make the government lose the support from the rich, and affect their business opportunities.

Work Cited:

Obama, President, 000, and the Tax Policy Center estimates. “The Democrat’s Millionaire Tax: Smart Politics, Awful Policy – Forbes.”Information for the World’s Business Leaders – Forbes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/10/06/the-democrats-millionaire-tax-smart-politics-awful-policy/>.

In light of the recent President’s decision to use a drone strike resulting in the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, who was one of the most successful terrorist recruiters in the world, former Vice President Dick Cheney has responded by saying that Obama owes an apology to the Bush Administration. The drone strike has also killed an American citizen, Samir Khan who was a programmer for Al Qaeda, as well as two other passengers. Dick Cheney has criticized the president as he feels it was hypocritical for Barack Obama to suggest that the enhanced interrogation techniques used under president Bush’s administration made them ” walk away from America’s ideals,” while having the Obama administration authorizing drone strikes that have resulted in the deaths of two Americans “without due process”.

In my opinion it is non humanitarian to authorize drone strikes that resulted in death of terrorist suspects without due process. Suspects must be tried and their guilt must be proven before any course of actions is to be taken. Both the enhanced interrogation techniques by the Bush administration and the drone strikes under Obama’s authorizations are unjust methods that directly violate human rights of suspects. In addition drone strikes result in deaths of innocent civilians, and intervene in the sovereignty of other nations; therefore these methods must be banned from practice.

President Obama’s speech on interrogation techniques:                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPpXIhoZVB0&feature=relmfu

Video detailing the drone strike:   http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/10/01/starr-al-awlaki-killed.cnn

Work Cited:

“Cheney: Obama Should ‘correct’ Criticism of Bush’s Anti-terror Tactics – CNN.com.”CNN.com – Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. <http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/02/politics/cheney-obama-terror/index.html?hpt=hp_t2>.