This is a blog for Mrs. Ballew's Civics and Economics classes.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
4th Period Current Event 9/18
Please post your current event for Friday, September 18 below. Remember to include the link to the article you read, provide the topic of your article, and write at least 5-6 sentences discussing your opinion of the article.
I think that it's terrible that the Board voted to increase logging in the Tilamook and Clatsop forests. This article said that those forests with the timber that they have, attract more salmon to it's fresher waters. Since they have decided to increase the amount of trees, Oregonians will find that their amount of salmon with decline, that will have a strong impact on the lives of fishers. But, by increasing the amount they cut down, they might be able to improve the housing settlements. I personally think that this, while being okay on the one hand of improving houses, is a terrible idea and will be the downfall of Oregon's beautiful Tilamook and Clatsop forests.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/08/wisconsin.serial.killing.arrest/index.html I think that it’s great that they finally discovered who killed those women. I can’t believe such a serious crime could be solved by something as simple as a shoelace! Anyone who has killed that many people deserves to be locked up for a very long time. This also goes to show how dangerous prostitution is because you’re trusting a random stranger, who in this case turned out to be a murderer. The most shocking part of this article was the number of slayings that occurred in Milwaukee in only twenty years! This kind of violence is terrible and needs to be stopped!
It is encouraging to see that headway has been made in the investigation of Yale student Annie Le's recent death. The murder was commited inside her secure lab building and is considered a targeted act and not one of a serial killer. Police say that students and faculty are in no danger and that there appears to have been a strong reason for the murder of Le. Violence like this on the campus of one of the nations most prestigious universities is a scary issue. I especially find it disturbing that Le was murdered in a secure lab facility and her body dumped into a wall panel in the basement. I hope that this murder case is soon solved.
I think Kanye West is CRAZY! I think it was very rude of him to up on stage while Tylor Swift is giving her speech, and tell the people that Beyonces video is "the best in the world." Although he might of had a little bit to much of alcohol, he should have controlled himself a little better then that. I think it was very nice of Beyonce to call her back up on stage, even though it was her turn to speak. I bet it probably made Taylor Swift feel really good.
I'm not against the death penalty-- sometime's it justifiable. But I think everyone has a right to a quick and painless death. When someone has to wait for 2 hours, knowing they're going to die soon, waiting for someone to locate a vein to inject a chemical into, it gets to the point where you wonder if making them wait is cruel. It's terrible that these people have to wait and know they're going to die for such a long time, especially like Joseph Clark's case (in which they found a vein but it collapsed). When it's supposedly "skilled professionals" who are carrying out the procedure and spend so much time locating a vein, you have to wonder how much training really goes into this and whether they really are "skilled professionals".
I really hope that these new standards on mileage get passed. It is high time that America moved forward with energy efficiency in cars. Although a change to renewable fuel sources would be preferable, this is a step in the right direction and will do while renewable fuels are researched. All of the mileage/gas emission changes that are being proposed can be achieved with existing technology, which is good. After all, if the technology to have more environmentally friendly cars has existed before now, we should be using it already!
I found this article to be interesting, as there has been talk about an H1N1 vaccine for a while now. I think it's great that a vaccine has finally been approved, so that if the flu comes back as a fatal or more harmful version in the fall, fewer people will be affected. I also find it interesting that the vaccine is not in the form of a shot, but rather in the form of a nasal mist. Most people would probably rather get the vaccine through this method than having to get a painful shot.
PETA (A People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals) have requested to rent out an old prison which is going to be soon knocked down which they would like to use as a Chicken Empathy Museum. With the idea coming from PETA, it's not that strange. I imagine the museum will be filled will lots of statistics about chicken slaughter and such. Possibly even some simulations (...yay). It has been confirmed that in the museum there will be facts about chickens' intelligence and habits. If this gets set up, I wouldn't mind visiting! The decision is still being made.
http://news.aol.com/article/execution-set-for-dc-sniper-attack/672533 I think this dude is sick and should get the death penalty. He randomly went around shooting random innocent people. He murdered people in several different states. He should recieve the death penalty for wht he has done. He killed people for fun and there is definately something wrong with that POS.
I thought it was rude Of Kanye to say that at the VMA's. He did not have to say it in public. Taylor Swift deserves every award she won. Beyonce's video could have been better, but it was not Kanye's job to tell everyone. If I was Taylor Swift, I would have told the audience that I do deserve the award. I love Kanye and his music, but he really made me upset with his actions.
I agree that ethanol is incapable of being a perfect substiute for gasoline at the present. However, it is still new technology. Was not the car utterly inefficent when it was first invented? Because the technology intantly improved traveling standards, it became a success which led to further development of things like fuel efficency. Perhaps if Ford had designed his cars to run on ethanol to begin with, emmisions from cars would be a non-issue. Because we have chosen to spend our time developing a dead-end, it think that humans are simply going to have to lift their chins and take several steps back before we will be able to continue forward.
I do not necessarily agree with former president Jimmy Carters's idea that a lot the opponents of President Obama dislike him based on race. It probably is true that there are a few people who dislike Obama based on his race and I am not naive enough to think that racism in this country is gone, but by and large, I think most of his opponents have a legitimate reason to disagree with them, not just on account of his skin. I do however agree with that comparing President Obama with Hitler is just completetly out of line. Like him or not, Obama is doing his best to help the United States and even if people do not agree with his methods, comparing him to infamous historical figures is something that is unacceptable and should end.
Taxes on sugary soft drinks should be considered a necessity! Not only would this tax increase give us funds we desperately need, it would also help combat diseases such as diabetes and obesity. In fact, it is estimated that a one cent increase on every ounce of soda would generate 14.9 billions dollars in its first year. Just one cent! Of course, there is opposition, (mostly provided by the soda companies) but we should not buy into their schemes just as we did with health care. Obesity has become a major problem in this country, and doctors have confirmed that soft drinks have a direct correlation with obesity. We could reduce or even eliminate the number of obese with this tax, while saving money as well. People are treated for obesity everyday using public funds, if we eliminate obesity, we save money. Taxes are a pain, but these could save your life, so help yourself as well as others out!
I think it's weird how a murderer can be such a seemingly kind person in your community. They obviously have a dark side to them, but they can deceive everyone into believing that they are a good person. Everyone who knows the alleged killer thinks that they have the wrong man, since they remember him as a funny and kind person. Also, I think it's awful that the woman who was killed was killed just before her wedding day. It should have been the most important day of her and her husband's life, and it was taken away from her by a deranged killer.
ACORN is a government funded foundation that helps with low and middle-income families to better the community. Recent investigations have found however, that ACORN is either ineffective or provides incorrect information. The house has just passed and amendment that will cut the government funding to ACORN. Also, there will be an immediate halt of all hiring in ACORN offices. In my opinion, this was a wise thing for congress to do. If there is money from the government that isn't being used wisely there's no need for it to be spent.
I think that it is good that this inventor has decided to try to solve the worldwide water shortage problem. The fact that it can effectively turn any water, no matter how dirty it is, into 100% pure water is great because it will greatly increase our water supply. The article states that 3.5 million people die every year from water related diseases and this machine could almost completely wipe out those deaths if distributed worldwide.
I thought this was a very interesting article about the new tallest man in the world, standing 8 feet, 1 inch. but even still, there claims to be an even taller man, 8 feet, 5.5 inches, but he was stripped of his title because he refused to get measured. Its really crazy how humans can grow to be that tall all because of a tumor. It was sad to hear that Kosen, the tallest man, all he wanted was love but couldnt get it because of his tremendous height. I hope that all this news of him will help him out with getting married.
Taylor Swift is so young and talented and it's such an honor to her to win a VMA. Kanye West was way out of line. Even if you disagree with something like that you should keep your opinion to yourself. Not only is that embarrassing for him and Taylor, but it's also embarrassing for Beyonce. She handled the situation very well and let Taylor finish her speech later on in the show. It was very disrespectful of Kanye to interrupt Taylor in the middle of her speech . He should have apologized to Taylor Swift who in my opinion did deserve that award.
I am very happy that North Korea is interested in having negotiations with the United States and other countries again. A few weeks ago, North Korea had announced the it had Uranium that was entering the final stages of enrichment and weaponization, and this made me very scared. I thought about the Iraq war, and the supposed reasons for invading (the government possessing WMDs), and I did not want to have another repeat. But now, I see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=41735 I think it's really cool that Edward grows vegetables at such a young age. And, it's also nice to hear that kids are actually eating their vegetables! Except i find it weird that their garlic plant was 7 feet tall. It makes me think that they were putting chemicals in it or something. Which if you are then you shouldn't be selling that at the farmers market. People can just go to the grocery store to get poisonous vegetables.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/news/article_1502197.php/United-States-Obama-refuses-to-stop-torture-investigations Obama does have the right to continue torture investigations, and though others may think it's wrong, I don't think that Obama should let up on torturing terrorist suspects. Though it is horrible if the suspects are actually innocent, it would be a lot worse if they aren't. Plus, I still don't see how it could make anti-terrorist efforts less effective. In fact, it would probably convince future terrorists to not mess with America. Even though the suspects may turn out to not be terrorists, it's too big of a risk for them to be a terrorist and get away.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/21/afghanistan.mcchrystal/index.html Afghanistan states that more troops are needed within the next year or the war will result into failure. Parts of this article from the Washington Post were put into newspapers but some parts of the article have been omitted. Our President, Obama is considering the assessment. Obama states the Afghans need to show that they are willing to make the commitment to build our capacity to secure their own country. The US now has roughly around 62,000 US troops in Afghanistan with NATP and other allies sending about 35,000 more. They are also thinking about sending 6000 more troops before the end of this year. Levin states to CNN "If we can get the Afghan army much larger, much better equipped, and if we can also get a plan, finally, for co-opting or reintegrating those lower-level Taliban people the way we did in Iraq -- if we can get that in motion -- that hopefully will have an effect on how many additional troops we need to go to Afghanistan," Levin told CNN on Sunday. I personally feel as though we are loosing so many people after eight years in a war. Why cant we just call a quits?
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/state-and-regional/article_ce8cbbf8-9de0-11de-a081-001cc4c03286.html
ReplyDeleteI think that it's terrible that the Board voted to increase logging in the Tilamook and Clatsop forests. This article said that those forests with the timber that they have, attract more salmon to it's fresher waters. Since they have decided to increase the amount of trees, Oregonians will find that their amount of salmon with decline, that will have a strong impact on the lives of fishers. But, by increasing the amount they cut down, they might be able to improve the housing settlements. I personally think that this, while being okay on the one hand of improving houses, is a terrible idea and will be the downfall of Oregon's beautiful Tilamook and Clatsop forests.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/08/wisconsin.serial.killing.arrest/index.html
ReplyDeleteI think that it’s great that they finally discovered who killed those women. I can’t believe such a serious crime could be solved by something as simple as a shoelace! Anyone who has killed that many people deserves to be locked up for a very long time. This also goes to show how dangerous prostitution is because you’re trusting a random stranger, who in this case turned out to be a murderer. The most shocking part of this article was the number of slayings that occurred in Milwaukee in only twenty years! This kind of violence is terrible and needs to be stopped!
-BAILEY
(i forgot my password)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3Z7m0uROG-_CM8GzpRCqE2M9IbwD9ANE8T00
ReplyDeleteIt is encouraging to see that headway has been made in the investigation of Yale student Annie Le's recent death. The murder was commited inside her secure lab building and is considered a targeted act and not one of a serial killer. Police say that students and faculty are in no danger and that there appears to have been a strong reason for the murder of Le. Violence like this on the campus of one of the nations most prestigious universities is a scary issue. I especially find it disturbing that Le was murdered in a secure lab facility and her body dumped into a wall panel in the basement. I hope that this murder case is soon solved.
-Ben
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjlUpULt0Mo
ReplyDeleteI think Kanye West is CRAZY! I think it was very rude of him to up on stage while Tylor Swift is giving her speech, and tell the people that Beyonces video is "the best in the world." Although he might of had a little bit to much of alcohol, he should have controlled himself a little better then that. I think it was very nice of Beyonce to call her back up on stage, even though it was her turn to speak. I bet it probably made Taylor Swift feel really good.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/15/ohio.execution.problems/index.html
ReplyDeleteI'm not against the death penalty-- sometime's it justifiable. But I think everyone has a right to a quick and painless death. When someone has to wait for 2 hours, knowing they're going to die soon, waiting for someone to locate a vein to inject a chemical into, it gets to the point where you wonder if making them wait is cruel. It's terrible that these people have to wait and know they're going to die for such a long time, especially like Joseph Clark's case (in which they found a vein but it collapsed). When it's supposedly "skilled professionals" who are carrying out the procedure and spend so much time locating a vein, you have to wonder how much training really goes into this and whether they really are "skilled professionals".
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/business/energy-environment/16cars.html?ref=us
ReplyDeleteNew Standard Links Mileage and Gas Emissions
I really hope that these new standards on mileage get passed. It is high time that America moved forward with energy efficiency in cars. Although a change to renewable fuel sources would be preferable, this is a step in the right direction and will do while renewable fuels are researched. All of the mileage/gas emission changes that are being proposed can be achieved with existing technology, which is good. After all, if the technology to have more environmentally friendly cars has existed before now, we should be using it already!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203917304574415142309586868.html
ReplyDeleteFDA Approves H1N1 Flu Vaccines
I found this article to be interesting, as there has been talk about an H1N1 vaccine for a while now. I think it's great that a vaccine has finally been approved, so that if the flu comes back as a fatal or more harmful version in the fall, fewer people will be affected. I also find it interesting that the vaccine is not in the form of a shot, but rather in the form of a nasal mist. Most people would probably rather get the vaccine through this method than having to get a painful shot.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/14/national/a134657D31.DTL
ReplyDeletePETA's Possible Chicken Museum
PETA (A People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals) have requested to rent out an old prison which is going to be soon knocked down which they would like to use as a Chicken Empathy Museum. With the idea coming from PETA, it's not that strange. I imagine the museum will be filled will lots of statistics about chicken slaughter and such. Possibly even some simulations (...yay). It has been confirmed that in the museum there will be facts about chickens' intelligence and habits. If this gets set up, I wouldn't mind visiting! The decision is still being made.
http://news.aol.com/article/execution-set-for-dc-sniper-attack/672533
ReplyDeleteI think this dude is sick and should get the death penalty. He randomly went around shooting random innocent people. He murdered people in several different states. He should recieve the death penalty for wht he has done. He killed people for fun and there is definately something wrong with that POS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjlUpULt0Mo
ReplyDeleteI thought it was rude Of Kanye to say that at the VMA's. He did not have to say it in public. Taylor Swift deserves every award she won. Beyonce's video could have been better, but it was not Kanye's job to tell everyone. If I was Taylor Swift, I would have told the audience that I do deserve the award. I love Kanye and his music, but he really made me upset with his actions.
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14205727&fsrc=rss
ReplyDeleteI agree that ethanol is incapable of being a perfect substiute for gasoline at the present. However, it is still new technology. Was not the car utterly inefficent when it was first invented? Because the technology intantly improved traveling standards, it became a success which led to further development of things like fuel efficency. Perhaps if Ford had designed his cars to run on ethanol to begin with, emmisions from cars would be a non-issue. Because we have chosen to spend our time developing a dead-end, it think that humans are simply going to have to lift their chins and take several steps back before we will be able to continue forward.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/17/criticism.racism/index.html
ReplyDeleteI do not necessarily agree with former president Jimmy Carters's idea that a lot the opponents of President Obama dislike him based on race. It probably is true that there are a few people who dislike Obama based on his race and I am not naive enough to think that racism in this country is gone, but by and large, I think most of his opponents have a legitimate reason to disagree with them, not just on account of his skin. I do however agree with that comparing President Obama with Hitler is just completetly out of line. Like him or not, Obama is doing his best to help the United States and even if people do not agree with his methods, comparing him to infamous historical figures is something that is unacceptable and should end.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/business/17soda.html?_r=1&ref=business
ReplyDeleteTaxes on sugary soft drinks should be considered a necessity! Not only would this tax increase give us funds we desperately need, it would also help combat diseases such as diabetes and obesity. In fact, it is estimated that a one cent increase on every ounce of soda would generate 14.9 billions dollars in its first year. Just one cent! Of course, there is opposition, (mostly provided by the soda companies) but we should not buy into their schemes just as we did with health care. Obesity has become a major problem in this country, and doctors have confirmed that soft drinks have a direct correlation with obesity. We could reduce or even eliminate the number of obese with this tax, while saving money as well. People are treated for obesity everyday using public funds, if we eliminate obesity, we save money. Taxes are a pain, but these could save your life, so help yourself as well as others out!
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/17/raymond.clark.profile/index.html
ReplyDeleteI think it's weird how a murderer can be such a seemingly kind person in your community. They obviously have a dark side to them, but they can deceive everyone into believing that they are a good person. Everyone who knows the alleged killer thinks that they have the wrong man, since they remember him as a funny and kind person. Also, I think it's awful that the woman who was killed was killed just before her wedding day. It should have been the most important day of her and her husband's life, and it was taken away from her by a deranged killer.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/17/house.acorn/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
ReplyDeleteACORN is a government funded foundation that helps with low and middle-income families to better the community. Recent investigations have found however, that ACORN is either ineffective or provides incorrect information. The house has just passed and amendment that will cut the government funding to ACORN. Also, there will be an immediate halt of all hiring in ACORN offices.
In my opinion, this was a wise thing for congress to do. If there is money from the government that isn't being used wisely there's no need for it to be spent.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/11/kamen.water.slingshot/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
ReplyDeleteI think that it is good that this inventor has decided to try to solve the worldwide water shortage problem. The fact that it can effectively turn any water, no matter how dirty it is, into 100% pure water is great because it will greatly increase our water supply. The article states that 3.5 million people die every year from water related diseases and this machine could almost completely wipe out those deaths if distributed worldwide.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_britain_tallest_man
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a very interesting article about the new tallest man in the world, standing 8 feet, 1 inch. but even still, there claims to be an even taller man, 8 feet, 5.5 inches, but he was stripped of his title because he refused to get measured. Its really crazy how humans can grow to be that tall all because of a tumor. It was sad to hear that Kosen, the tallest man, all he wanted was love but couldnt get it because of his tremendous height. I hope that all this news of him will help him out with getting married.
-John Alex Porter
http://www.hollyscoop.com/kanye-west/kanye-west-disses-taylor-swift-at-mtv-vmas_21481.aspx
ReplyDeleteTaylor Swift is so young and talented and it's such an honor to her to win a VMA. Kanye West was way out of line. Even if you disagree with something like that you should keep your opinion to yourself. Not only is that embarrassing for him and Taylor, but it's also embarrassing for Beyonce. She handled the situation very well and let Taylor finish her speech later on in the show. It was very disrespectful of Kanye to interrupt Taylor in the middle of her speech . He should have apologized to Taylor Swift who in my opinion did deserve that award.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112955332&ft=1&f=1001
ReplyDeleteI am very happy that North Korea is interested in having negotiations with the United States and other countries again. A few weeks ago, North Korea had announced the it had Uranium that was entering the final stages of enrichment and weaponization, and this made me very scared. I thought about the Iraq war, and the supposed reasons for invading (the government possessing WMDs), and I did not want to have another repeat. But now, I see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=41735
ReplyDeleteI think it's really cool that Edward grows vegetables at such a young age. And, it's also nice to hear that kids are actually eating their vegetables! Except i find it weird that their garlic plant was 7 feet tall. It makes me think that they were putting chemicals in it or something. Which if you are then you shouldn't be selling that at the farmers market. People can just go to the grocery store to get poisonous vegetables.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/news/article_1502197.php/United-States-Obama-refuses-to-stop-torture-investigations
ReplyDeleteObama does have the right to continue torture investigations, and though others may think it's wrong, I don't think that Obama should let up on torturing terrorist suspects. Though it is horrible if the suspects are actually innocent, it would be a lot worse if they aren't. Plus, I still don't see how it could make anti-terrorist efforts less effective. In fact, it would probably convince future terrorists to not mess with America. Even though the suspects may turn out to not be terrorists, it's too big of a risk for them to be a terrorist and get away.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/21/afghanistan.mcchrystal/index.html
ReplyDeleteAfghanistan states that more troops are needed within the next year or the war will result into failure. Parts of this article from the Washington Post were put into newspapers but some parts of the article have been omitted. Our President, Obama is considering the assessment. Obama states the Afghans need to show that they are willing to make the commitment to build our capacity to secure their own country. The US now has roughly around 62,000 US troops in Afghanistan with NATP and other allies sending about 35,000 more. They are also thinking about sending 6000 more troops before the end of this year. Levin states to CNN "If we can get the Afghan army much larger, much better equipped, and if we can also get a plan, finally, for co-opting or reintegrating those lower-level Taliban people the way we did in Iraq -- if we can get that in motion -- that hopefully will have an effect on how many additional troops we need to go to Afghanistan," Levin told CNN on Sunday. I personally feel as though we are loosing so many people after eight years in a war. Why cant we just call a quits?