This is one of my newest sections for the website. It's going to end up being a news section, with focus given to whatever stories I happen to find interesting at any given time. With that said, I'm hoping to have this frequently updated to keep up with the times, so with any luck, this should end up being a set of pretty fun feature articles. As always, let me know what you think.
One of the major headlines within today's Philadelphia Metro had to do with a financial crisis within the United States Postal Service. "We are facing losses of historic proportion. Our situation is critical," stated Postmaster General John Potter. Basically, it seems as if the USPS doesn't find ways soon to cut down on costs, then we may soon end up in a nationwide crisis.
One particular strategy that Potter did have was to cut down on delivery. As he said, "reducing mail delivery from six days to five days a week could save $3.5 billion annually." While I think that this is great idea, it seems like it would only end up being a temporary solution at best, given the current economic situation.
Personally, I have multiple accounts and I find it much easier to simply go on-line and check everything there. Rather than wait for account balances on the monthly statements, I could just head on-line and check my balances, which update on-the-fly with every deposit or deduction. This keeps me fully integrated with every aspect of each of my accounts.
If one considers that the majority of the American population is connected to the web, then we can utilize that resource to a greater extent and begin featuring paperless statements and notifications. A system such as this would reduce the amounts of paper mail greatly, thus lowering costs even more. In addition, the majority of domestic bills are with big name companies, so if we could get every one of these converted to an electronic format, then a great percentage of paper mail would be eliminated.
Basically, if the USPS would like to implement this system, then I would have absolutely no problem whatsoever accepting credit for the idea. After all, it's up to them to decide what the best course of action is for the given situation, I just hope that they could get this whole crisis figured out.
Another story that caught my attention was one concerning the influx of illegal immigrants over the U.S./Mexico border. According to Metro, "the U.S. Border Patrol has hatched plans to use an Agent Orange-like chemical to poison the dense foliage on the Rio Grande riverbank."
What worries me is the fact that when Agent Orange was used in the past as a herbicide in the Vietnam War, the results were ghastly. Now, I'm just incredibly shocked that we're planning to use something similar so close to our homeland. Although I'm not entirely sure how close residential areas are to the border, I do believe that there will be a significant protest against this decision, with the main argument having a "Not in my Backyard" approach.
Regardless, if this plan is carried out, it will definitely help the Border Patrol in seizing and arresting illegal immigrants, but I still cannot help but wonder what the effects of this chemical will be on the environment and those attempting to cross the border. Agent Orange had horrific effects on the people exposed to it in Vietnam, so if this chemical is similar then I can only assume that it is just as deadly. Sure, this can end up lowering the amount of illegals in our country, but at what cost?
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Who am I?
My name is Mike Revak, a Journalism major at Temple University. For more info, please click the About Me tab at the top of the page. Other than that, this is my website, I try to update frequently on a variety of topics, so check it all out and let me know what you think! CategoriesArchives
April 2009
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