Please post your current event for Friday, February 26 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. You may also use video clips or podcasts as your current event.
Happy Current Eventing!
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/24/olympics.rochette/index.html?hpt=C2
ReplyDeleteThis is story is truly inspiring to me. Just two days after her mother's death, Ms. Rochette was not only able to compete, which is an accomplishment on its own, but she took the third highest score of the night. The courage that it must have taken to even lace-up her skates is just amazing, and she deserves gold just for continuing to compete.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/24/killer.whale.trainer.death/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteA Seaworld trainer slipped and fell into one of the whale tanks, where she was fatally injured and died. While many people believe them to be "dangerous animals", the fact remains that whales were never made to be contains in small tanks and trained to perform tricks. It is not in their nature to act as pets, and though they are intelligent they do not understand how fragile human beings are, and are just playing around.
http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/States-Test-High-School-Changes--85260902.html
ReplyDeleteA new set of exams may be instituted to allow students who are ready for college to graduate as early as the end of sophomore year. Students who pass the exams could stay in high school for an additional amount of time before taking more challenging exams to get them into competitive schools, or they could go straight to college. I think this is an interesting idea. It would determine college readiness, as opposed to the current system which keeps all kids in high school for the same amount of time. However, this won't help us get an edge on other countries, which is what it's supposed to do. The way to do that would be more intensive school, not less of it. All we would be doing would be pushing kids through the system faster than they are ready for.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/24/senate.jobs.bill/index.html?hpt=Sbin
ReplyDeleteThis is very good news. It is heartening to know that both democrats and republicans are willing to help us get out of our economic downturn. I think this bill, if passed by the house as well, would really help people to get back on their feet. I think it is really great that in it, buisnesses who take steps to make themselves more profitable and succesful in the long term will recieve tax breaks to help them out in the short term. I also like how the bill manages to accomplish what it needs to accomplish for only $15 billion as opposed to $85 billion, which is what the original draft would have cost. However, I do think that it is unfortunate that it does not extend the deadline to apply for unemployement benefits since that would help out a lot of Americans.
-Eric Anderson
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/25/new.york.plot/
ReplyDeleteIt has been suspected that two men planned three coordinated bomb attacks on the Manhattan subaway last September. Both have pleaded not guilty of additional charges, but an assistant U.S. attourney told the federal court on Thursday that additional defendents were likely to exist overseas, and added that to the list of additional charges. The belief is that these men were linked to al Qaeda, and if they have had military-type training from al Qaeda or help materially support al Qaeda, the maximum penalty for prison would be 10-15 years. I believe that this particular case could lead to more discoveries as to a lead on al Qaeda.
I think it is horrible that the school district and department of education would shut down a school just because of low tests grades. I mean, where else will they learn! While it is true that a third of the students drop out every year, this means that two thirds don’t. What will happen to them in their future endeavors? Unemployed, because their school didn’t bother to stay open! They might not even be able to afford to going to another school, then what will happen? The state will have taken around 1,000 people and basically sentenced them to live in the streets for the rest of their lives. I think closing this school, or any school for that matter is just wrong!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/education/25central.html
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/93421?fp=1
ReplyDeleteThis was an article about the killer whale at sea world that was involved in its trainer's death. The whale, named Tilikum has been involved in two previous human deaths and has a violent history. Tilikum was typically isolated from other whales due to its voilent behavior. I believe that Tilikum was never meant to be in captivity and that steps must be done to either reduce its violent behavior or let it go free so we don't have to worry about this happening again.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/12/house.retirements/index.html
ReplyDeleteA lot is happening with the members of the House of Representatives recently. First of all, a large number of them are retiring. Eight Democrats and six Repubicans have already announced their retirement, and a number are persuing other political positions. Also, it is expected that the Republicans are going to do much better next year in the house, as opposed to this year where the Democrats have a 255-178 seat ratio.
-Bailey Ethridge
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/25/news/companies/madoff_name_change/?hpt=P1
ReplyDeleteBernie Madoff's daughter-in-law has filed for a name-change with the New York Supreme Court. Imagine that. She's going to change her surname and her children's surnames to Morgan. Her reasoning is she's been threatened, harassed, and embarassed becauseof the fact that she is Bernie Madoff's daughter-in-law. I for one don't blame her for wanting to change her surname for that reason because Bernie Madoff is famous (not for the best reasons) therefore he and his family were bound to get truckloads of media attention from this. I can imagine that's definitely not a great thing to wake up to in the morning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/education/25central.html
ReplyDeleteI really do not agree with the current decision to fire all of the current teachers and staff members at this school. Yes, the amount of graduating students is not very high. But even if the statistics are not very high and students need more help, it is not okay to rid the jobs of all the teachers in the entire school. To find teachers to fill all these jobs will be difficult and the teachers that were there do not need to be treated like that. And if the school board thinks that firing all their teachers in the middle of the school year will help students grades, they will most likely not.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/24/killer.whale.trainer.death/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteI thought that it was very sad that a trainer at sea world died by being dragged into the water by a killer whale. Some stories say that she slipped in but others say that she was dragged in. I was suprised to hear that they were still planning to keep the whale even though he had killed three people. The reasoning behind this was because he is the primary breading male and is the future of sea world. I think that this violence has been caused by the whale being kept in captivity and that he should be let back into the wild.
-Katelyn
-Katelyn
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/25/jaycee.dugard.garrido.response/index.html?hpt=Sbin
ReplyDeleteI think it's awful that kidnappers have the ability to manipulate children into believing everything they say. Jaycee Dugard spent 18 years in captivity. Those are years that she will never get back. The Garridos are awful people for ruining Dugard's life. It's unfortunate that mental illnesses, such as the one Garrido has, often cause crazy, unlawful actions. He didn't see anything wrong with keeping Dugard captive in his own home because in his mind, it was justified.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/25/health.care.democrats.reconciliation/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn
ReplyDeleteI think it's good that the Democrats are trying something different to try to get a health care bill passed. Since they will only need 51 votes instead of 60 votes to get the bill out of the Senate, I think that there is a very good chance that the health care reform bill will pass. The Republicans have also used the shortcut lots of times and I don't think Democrats should be worried about losing popularity because of what they are trying to do since Republicans have done it a lot more.
Jamie Chen
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022505948.html?hpid=topnews
Though Jacob may say that it's good that Democrats are making an effort, the Republicans semm to be doing the exact opposite. According to this article, Republicans do not think that the state could afford it. Instead, they would rather want people to go to high-risk insurance pools for guaranteed coverage. Unfortunately, the cost of the high-risk insurance pools are supposed to be between a third and half of an average person's pay. Even worse is that the Republicans haven't even offered to vote for the reform even if the Democrats change it.
I feel that getting the vote passed will be pretty hard, because the Republicans seem against the Bill just because they're against Democrats. Looking beyond all of this, we can see that our health care will probably not change very much for a while.
http://politics.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=23888&external=189354.proteus.fma
ReplyDeleteI think its really cool how Obama invited Brown to play basketball. It's good that 2 people from different parties will be casual like that. I think we need more of this. I think everyone should just calm down and talk things over. Playing basketball is good and it shows them accepting one anothers views. It is a great way for Obama to spend time with other polititions and it is new and not all serious and big business like
-Glenn Floyd
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022505948.html?hpid=topnews
ReplyDeleteSeveral others have used this article and I chose to put in my thoughts on it. This is not even news. It is a clearly biased opinion to the effect of "republicans dont care." I think that such biased partisan politics are horrible, not only in congress but in reporting as well. We need to accept that not everyone agrees with Mr Obama and that quite a few people disagree with his job performance. It is true that republicans refuse to make key concessions, but at the same time democrats fail to recognize that the proposed bill will do more harm than help as many practices are considering not accepting government insured patients for treatment (which is perfectly legal). The fact is that we need to admit that the bill isnt perfect and that republicans do have some beneficial ideas towards healthcare. And that Steven Pearlstein needs to report on fact, not his opinions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/education/25central.html
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the decision to hire new staff members due to the school's low performance. Those teachers have done all they can, so why fire them? They should have came up with ways to improve the school before coming up with this plan. I think it was wrong. I do not understand how getting a new staff is going to help. It is just going to cause more confusion.
Ella McBryde (I was absent.)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/25/jaycee.dugard.garrido.response/index.html?hpt=Sbin
ReplyDeleteIt's scary to think that something that traumatic, can happen so easily. Jaycee Dugard was 11 years old when she was kidnapped. Phillip Garrido was charged with kidnapping her. He held her for 18 years and she was found when she was 29. He claimed to be hearing voices of angels. It's scary to think about people who have mental problems like this because they do things that seem normal to them but are not acceptable for the rest of society.
-Sophie Szentes
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/business/04drug.html?ref=health
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard that there was treatment for Alzheimers in a Russian hay fever drug, I immediately thought: no way. Well, I was right in my thinking. The studies show that it didn't work. Of course, a cure for Alzheimers ( or at least a damper for it) seemed too good to be true. The drug failed the tests which had cost millions and it is questionable on whether or not Pfizer will pull out of the trials or continue on in hopes of the drug working. I think that using a Russian hay fever drug, Dimebon, may not be enough to help the mental problems that people with Alzheimers can have.