Hello Readers,

On July 1, 2007 we launched our second newspaper, Local Talk Newark. Since then, it has become a household name. Local Talk and Local Talk Newark’s goal is to uplift the quality of life for the residents of its coverage area. First, I thank the city of Newark and its charismatic and dynamite mayor Cory Booker, the Newark City Council, and the employees of the city of Newark for helping us in our growth. I must thank all of our advertisers for their support. I thank all of the staff and volunteers of Local Talk for their undivided focus, and last but not least, Local Talk Newark’s readers. Without them, Local Talk Newark cannot be a success. I think Newark is growing, and Local Talk Newark would be very happy to be a part of its success in the process. Let’s move Newark forward together.

Nine persons entered the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel and launched an attack like the one in Mumbai. Taliban insurgents wore grenades and suicide bomber vests. They passed three heavily secured check points. At the pool side were Afghan Police, with AK-47 rifles securing the area. But how can someone defend against suicide bombers? At the time they entered the hotel, the Afghanis were busy partying near the pool and their visit to the beautiful hotel. At least 10 people were killed, and it took 5 to 6 hours for NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in the air and Afghan Police on the ground to get control over the situation.

Hello Readers,

President Obama has plans of withdrawing 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan in 2011. The troops have kept the Taliban under control, but how long will we have to protect that country? Our goal was to capture Osama Bin Laden, and under the leadership of Obama, we were success in an operation launched in Pakistan. We have finished our main goal, but we still have to curtail terrorism from around the world. We cannot be the police for the world. Our job should be to go in and out, when a country needs help. We have spent billions of dollars to protect our allies. However, our economy is not doing great, so we need that money here.

Hello Readers,

We think that the government is for the people, and we think that they will do only the right thing. The government is supposed to be against monopolies, and not hooking people up to bad habits. However, lately I have seen billboards for the lottery tickets like “Mega Millions” and “Power Ball”. The government is against anyone in the state running any organized gambling, except their buddies at Atlantic City. That means the state has a monopoly in running state-run lottery (or we can call it gambling) businesses. Now they are trying to advertise more, as they know more and more people are hooked on it and are ruining their lives.

I have heard that many people spend their most of their social security money on these lottery tickets hoping to win. But politicians claim that the state is for the people, and will argue that the income from lottery operations will go to education and what not? Is it not tax money that goes to education? Politicians can hire their buddies; give contracts to them, without flinching. And out of that, only some money may be spent for the benefit of the people, if there is any left! The state government should stop publicizing the lottery, and stop encouraging people to gamble as an addictive habit. This is my personal opinion.

Hello Readers,

America was known for its customer service. Recently, a consumer report survey came out stating that Americans are losing patience with poor customer service. A new survey finds two-thirds of Americans have walked out of a store in the last year simply because of frustration. What happened? Due to global competition, we cannot compete with wages. India is leading in that way for call center business. All the large companies are trying to cut down their costs for customer service and trying to make it impossible for the customer to have a live operator. Many times I have been on hold 30 minutes to ask one simple but necessary question. There are some companies that still believe in good customer service, and good customer service might win at the end. The companies are losing business left and right, due to the poor and/or rude customer service. I hope we can hold our edge in customer service. I believe in customer service, and so far we have kept an over 85% customer retaining record.