The Ebola Threat

The author of this editorial Mr. Van D Hipp, is the chairman of American Defense International Inc. and also the former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. He criticizes our nations lack of defenses towards the Ebola virus. Even though the only people in our country with the Ebola virus are people who were giving medical care to a man who contradicted this virus overseas where the outbreak occurred. I Disagree with the author and don’t think the ideas he states are warranted. I find him to be an alarmist. The “Complete Quarantine”  of the 3 “hot zone” countries is completely absurd and would be a breach in the countries sovereignty.  Training exercises similar to the ones by the DHS(Department of Homeland Security) post 9/11 would be for nothing. The author in my view does more damage than good in this post and sadly his audience(other alarmists) will eat this up.

Drop in US funding of science thwarts dreams of the next generation

In this editorial, the author argues that the drop in US funding of science thwarts dreams of the next generation. The next being young scientist and innovators like them. He states that the amount of biological research has slowed down and the National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins says the situation is “profoundly discouraging”. According to a ASBMB(American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) survey, 18 percent of scientists are considering continuing their research career in another country. With only about 2 Percent of research grants being approved the government is seriously affecting research that might help us in the near future. The author argues that public funding is essential and that funding from foundations and organizations only accounts to a third of funding. Generations of science research has saved us from fatal diseases. If 2/3 of the funding is government funding and there is a lack of funding, how will we be able to progress scientifically. If other countries are increasing they’re funding by twenty percent. And we as a world power are cutting funding where in our country, our first Ebola patient was diagnosed and the experimental Ebola drug Zmapp being unavailable to the general public including that patient. The government should be projecting funds not slowing funds down in a time of an epidemic somewhere in our world. In order for the general public to be more efficient as citizens they must be healthy, because health promotes productivity. The productivity of our nation is essential to our place in the world as a leader. Funding of scientists to find and research groundbreaking medicine is what keeps us a step ahead.

Didn't We Just Get Out Of A War

This Monday (9-21-2014) we as a nation found ourselves in another war. We found ourselves bombing targets in Syria and the political world couldn’t be more supportive. With Democrats and Republicans showing support to our President. But what’s not clear is how much is this going to cost us and will our airstrikes be effective in neutralizing ISIS (The Islamic State In Iraq And Syria).  This article raises questions that we should answer before escalating our strikes. We are a nation weary of war and transparency is what we so desperately need to revitalize our faith in our government and elected leaders.