Presidential News conference
CNN
October 11, 2001
This was a speech about the social problems of war and terrorism. The President was trying to reassure the American public and encourage unity. He tells us not to be frightened, as this is what they want. He uses the word “evil” quite a bit in this speech, I suspect that this term is designed to keep us supportive of the war. He says, “There is evil in this world and we learned a good lesson on 9/11.”
The president offers two solutions, war, a social problem of it’s own, and/or finding the evil doers and bringing them to justice as well as following up on every credible threat. The government has arrested and detained hundreds of suspects now; I wonder how many are justified. I am concerned about another social problem, racial and ethnic profiling. The FBI has issued a warning that another attack may occur in the next several days. The President assures us that the new Homeland Security office is in place and that there is cooperation and seamless information sharing between the CIA and FBI. Mr. Bush says that the first shot in the war was fired when we began to cut off the terrorist’s money supply. He emphasizes that we must rid the world of terrorism so that our children and grandchildren will be safe. A 22 Most Wanted Terrorist List has been put out; extremely large rewards for any information are being offered. Suspected terrorists were featured on America’s Most Wanted television program. The president is trying and succeeding to drum up support for this current war, he says it is essential that we act now. We are at war with Afghanistan now but it sounds like he wants to extend the war to other nations, such as Iraq, when we are finished there. Will the public be behind a broadening of the war to other countries? I don’t know. The President makes a veiled threat to Saddam Hussein. He says, “ The leader if Iraq is an evil man, we are watching him carefully. It would be to his advantage to allow inspectors to come back in to see if he is keeping his weapons agreement.” He claims to be amazed that there is such a misunderstanding of our country that could make people hate us so much. I am surprised, but for the President that would be naive. President Bush asked every American child to donate $1.00 to the Afghanistan Children’s Relief fund.
Well, I guess it is obvious that I am a Democrat, though I am behind the President. I have a flag on my car too, but let’s not get carried away and start thinking that this war is a good thing. It is just necessary, not something to be happy about. My father has worked for the CIA all my life and I seriously doubt that information is being seamlessly shared by any of the agencies. A lot of what he says is propaganda and I know it but it is reassuring. I don’t see a good and effective solution to this problem of terrorism. I’m hoping it just goes away.
Global Warming
An increase in temperature of 9 degrees F. in next 200 years would be extremely disruptive to our planet. Ice at the poles would melt. Glaciers would retreat. Tropical plants and animals would migrate north. Tropical diseases would spread further away from the equator. Bleaching would destroy coral reefs. As the atmosphere warms water evaporation would increase causing more precipitation and flooding. Sea levels would rise; seawater would expand due to heat and melting ice would add more water to the oceans, as would the increase in precipitation.
The poles would warm up and ice would begin to melt (this is already occurring). Northern ice sheets would break up. Icebergs might be found around England and Norway. Northern Europe would experience a year round winter. They would burn more coal for heat, increasing global warming even more. This melting of ice would add water to the sea, increasing sea level and decreasing salinity. Deep ocean currents could be disrupted, they are driven by density and winds. Currents move heat from one place to another and keep dissolved carbon dioxide in the deep sea. Density of the oceans would change because of freshwater being added to the ocean by melting ice and rainfall. The ability of the ocean to absorb excess carbon dioxide would be reduced, again increasing global warming. There would be a reduction of density and salinity; cold water would not sink. This could affect the Gulf Stream, possibly deflecting it to the south. England, France, Germany and Norway would then be very cold.
There would be an increase in water temperature, an increase in evaporation, and an increase in clouds. Would these clouds shade us or trap the heat? Precipitation in some areas would increase causing flooding and thus disrupting agriculture. Plant
growth could be affected by plant eating insects that would breed quickly in the warmer environment. Mold and weeds that flourish in warm climates could also affect food production. Plant crops and seafood would be decreased in low-lying coastal areas. Areas such as Bangladesh, India and China where rice is grown would be affected. Fisheries would be disrupted.
The rise in sea level would cause some beaches to disappear. Manhattan and the Florida Keys would cease to exist. Low lying islands such as Cook Island and the Marshall Islands would be submerged under water. Many people would have to migrate inland. This mass migration of one third of our population could cause social disorganization and instability. Plants and animals might not be able to adapt and migrate quickly enough and some species could become extinct. Estuaries might become saltier, disrupting the environment of fish and shellfish and contaminating water supplies.
There would be changes in the weather. The heat would not be evenly distributed; some places would be very hot while others would become extremely cold. There would be an increase in heat related deaths. The intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes and other violent weather would increase and El Nino would become more frequent.
An increase in ocean temperature and the addition of fresh water could cause coral bleaching. Productive coral reefs could be destroyed as well as the fish and other organisms dependent on the reef.
Global warming is a natural process but it seems that man is aggravating it. This would be particularly disruptive to the area that we live in here in Southwest Florida.
Malpractice, it's not just for Doctors
Malpractice, It’s not just for Doctors
Barbara S. was a recent accounting graduate with no real world experience. Barbara’s accounting professor had always emphasized the importance of internal control, close supervision and guidance for new and inexperienced accountants and double checking everything. Unfortunately, because of its heavy workload, the firm that employed Barbara provided her with very little guidance. They failed to emphasize the risks involved with auditing and reviewing the financial statements of large corporations. They also failed to discuss with her the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 82 that had just been released. Barbara knew very little about auditing liability. Barbara was assigned to audit the financial statements of a new computer software company owned by Gary R. Gary’s company, Computer King, had recently gone public and Barbara failed to confirm several substantial accounts receivables. Some of the reports that Barbara failed to confirm were fraudulent. The accounts exceeded million and gave the company a positive net worth. Because of Barbara’s heinous mistake, the software company was able to obtain a million dollar loan from the Bank of Punta Gorda using the fraudulent financial statements. The fraudulent accounts were discovered when Computer King filed bankruptcy several months later. The Bank of Punta Gorda and the shareholders of Computer King including Sam K. and Ashleigh R. sued Barbara’s firm. The lawsuit was settled for million (not including attorneys’ fees). Don’t let this happen to your accounting firm!
In court, accountants may be held liable for malpractice or negligence. Since 1931 they may be sued not only by their clients but by injured third parties as well. If the third party could be expected to reasonably rely on fraudulent financial statements, they may sue the accountant for fraud or gross negligence. For example, if Barbara’s firm knew that Computer King Software was planning to use their financial statements to obtain a loan from The Bank of Punta Gorda, they could be held liable by the bank. Accounting firms are open to many types of lawsuits including aiding and abetting, RICO, negligence, and knowingly understating liabilities. To protect your accounting firm from malpractice suits follow these commonsense guidelines.
Require every accountant to perform his or her duties with “due diligence” and reasonable care.
All new and inexperienced accountants should be oriented, trained, and fully understand their duties and responsibilities.
Accounting firms should strongly emphasize the importance of GAAP and the Code of Professional Conduct.
New accountants must be supervised closely and their work reviewed by a more experienced accountant before being finalized.
Be aware that if you claim to be an expert in a particular area, the courts will hold you to a higher standard of care.
Seek the advice of an attorney and maintain adequate insurance coverage to protect against financial losses.
After seeing the cost of attorneys’ fees and being fired by her accounting firm, Barbara S. went on to become a rich and successful lawyer.
The cost of obtaining seafood is rising. With new technology come increased costs. Fuel for fishing fleets has increased, as have the costs of running processing plants. Wages for crews are on the rise and the boats must travel greater distances to catch fish. Despite new technology, world fisheries have peaked and will decline in the near future. The maximum sustainable yield (the maximum amount of a species which may be harvested without impairing future populations) has been reached. Fishing fleets are harvesting less fish with more effort and must travel further. About 45% of fish stocks currently suffer from overfishing, leaving to little breeding stock to sustain the species. The fishing industry does not seem concerned with this. In the past they have depleted seemingly endless resources. For example, in the 1830’s halibut became popular and was harvested until depleted today catches of halibut in that area are very rare. The fishing industry’s highest priority is financial gain even at the expense of wiping out a species or disturbing the fragile marine ecosystem. As the number of boats and technical advances increase, harvests decrease. Our population is outgrowing seafood as a resource. Fish are harvested until they become commercially extinct, meaning unprofitable. When this happens fishers go on to other species until they too become depleted and uneconomical. In an example of madhouse economics, the fishing industry spent billion to catch $ 70 billion worth of fish in 1995. Easter Island is a good example of what can happen to natural resources when a population uses them with no restrictions until they are gone. There is not an endless supply of marine resources. Fishing net ans bottom trawling are depleting reproductive stock at an alarming rate. Marine resources become more costly as they become more scarce. Fish can be a renewable resourse is harvesting is managed properly but attamtpts to do so have been mostly unsuccessful. The ocean cannot provide enough food to keep up with our increasing population. The bykill, unintentionally killed marine life, exceeds the targeted harvest. According to the governor of Alaska, the untargeted fish that are killed and discarded could have provided many millions of meals. |
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