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.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/25/earlyshow/main6241789.shtml
ReplyDeleteWhale kills trainer
Describes Death of Veteran SeaWorld Trainer in Jaws of Killer Whale Tilikum. Reports state that Other Whales Were Agitated Before Incident. Tilikum attacked and killed Dawn Branchea, who was 40. Killer whales are dangerous and deadly even when trained. Whales were not cooperating during show. This shows how deadly these animals are and how this could not have been predicted.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/24/colorado.school.shooting.benke/index.html
ReplyDeleteTeacher describes how he stopped a shooting.
Denver, Colorado.
During emergency drills at Deer Creek Middle School, teacher David Benke who used to tell his students that if anything ever happened, he would want to be able to do something about it, actually fulfilled his promise. He saw a man shooting at students as they were leaving school on Tuesday and tackled the gunman who had shot and wounded two students, and with the help of another teacher and some bus drivers, was able to hold him until the police arrived. According to the police, the shooter had been a student at the school in the 1990's.
He was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder. He has been placed on a $1 million dollar bail and is going to undergo mental treatment. Investigations are ongoing. The eigth-graders who were wounded are doing well at the hospital and hope to be released soon.
I think this man deserves to be called a hero for risking his own life to save the lives of kids who could've been killed. I personally think the shooter requires excessive medical treatment because, he is, with no doubt, completely insane. I'm glad, however, that the kids who were shot survived. I just hope I wouldn't have to experience a thing like this in my life.....
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/25/colorado.supermax.silverstein.solitary/index.html
ReplyDelete"Terrible Tommy" spends 27 years in solitary confinement
This article is about a man, Tommy Silverstein, 58 years old, who has been in solitary confinement, an isolated prison cell, for 27 years so far. After he killed a prison guard, he was sentenced to solitary confinement and has been there since 1983. This is the longest term anyone has served in seclusion and his lawyers are now suing, so that he may have more privileges and be in public prison, saying this punishment violates the Eighth Amendment. I think that his sentence does violate the Eighth Amendment because it's been proven by psychologists that solitary confinement can cause a person to go insane, with severe anxiety and depression, especially after 27 years. Also, I don't think this punishment fits the crime. Yes, he did commit murder, and he had also done so previously, but to be isolated from the outside world is too harsh and unusual of a punishment. Some would say that death row would be better. I think Silverstein should have been sentenced to just public prison and not to solitary confinement, or that his confinement should not be for such a long amount of time. He says how in his free time he meditates and does a lot of art, which serves as a method of therapy. I think this type of thing could be good for some criminals but definitely not for 27 years, which is more than half his life. It's ridiculous that his sentence has lasted so long and it's hard to believe that the justice system would allow something like this, especially when people who have committed crimes far worse than Silverstein get punishments that are not as harsh.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/ap_on_re_us/us_california_no_cussing;_ylt=AiutM6.cZ8zW8i31W64D7ftv24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTNkcjRsbTYyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMjI1L3VzX2NhbGlmb3JuaWFfbm9fY3Vzc2luZwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzQEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNjYWxpZmxhd21ha2U-
ReplyDeleteThis article was really interesting to read! It is about how the state of California wants to pass a resolution on Thursday talking about how they want a statewide "Cuss Free Week". The state thinks that with no cussing it will promote "greater harmony and connectedness". It says that they won't enforce the week, but it would be good to give it a try! I think it's a good idea, it would be fun to try and see how long people can go without cussing. I've never heard of a no cussing club but apparently there are many all around the country! Cussing is definitely not a huge problem but it is something that needs to be controlled.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/22/olympics.bobsledder.homeless/index.html
ReplyDeleteOnce Homeless Olympian
This article is about Bill Schuffenhauer, a U.S. bobsledder. Bill was homeless as a child because his parents couldn't provide. Both of his parents were drug addicts and his mom was a prostitute. The family kept getting evicted. Bill lived in parks, foster homes, and skipped school most of the time. When he entered middle school, his grandmother took him in and helped him get on the right track. Bill started going to school regularly and also joined the track team. He was very fast and was trying out for the Olympics. When he injured his ankle, he missed out on going to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Bill lived near Salt Lake City and heard about the US men's bobsledding team. He came to watch them practice a few times and soon asked if he could try. Bill was pretty good and got a silver medal in those games. He's now in Vancouver trying to win another medal. This story is really uplifting. This kid goes from being homeless and on the streets to Olympic medalist. Even though he had such a bad background and childhood, he never gave up. Bill says that if it wasn't for his grandmother setting him straight, he wouldn't be where he is now. This story makes seem realistic that anybody, can be anything they want to be.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119501§ionid=3510203
ReplyDeleteRecently, Obama has released his own healthcare plan in an attempt to finally pass some legislation and reform our current healthcare system.
I completely agree with our president in that this is an urgent issue which needs some serious reform. There are way too many uninsured Americans out there, and our current healthcare system simply proves to damage our country and horde money over to huge corporations. The fact that republicans simply dismissed the plan before they even heard it is simply ridiculous. Partisanship within our government has led to our representatives acting like little angry children, striking back at each other simply to hurt the other team, rather than out of the interest of this country. The democrats have it right in this case. We simply can't afford to sit by and wait for a whole new plan to be formulated, only to have it shot down again out of pure spite. If our congressmen are too childish to come up with their own healthcare plan, why don't we just give our president a shot?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/25/new.york.plot/index.html
ReplyDeleteSo in this article, it talks about two new suspects that pled guilty in an alleged bomb threat in new york. It was told that the two planned a triple coordinated bombing in the new york subway system at rush hour. Jeffrey Knox, an assistant U.S. attorney said "It was to be similar to the al Qaeda London attacks in July of 2005," These attacks he mentioned killed 52 people. Both men are 25 and from the Queen's borough. Personally, I think ive heard way to much about either bombing threats or actual bombings taking place both in the U.S. and around the world. I do hope that we can find a better way to crack down on these to drastically reduce the number of occurrences.
-Kevin
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/25/whales.seaworld.death/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteA seaworld trainer died because a whale, named Tilikum, killed her. Whales are not used to being enclosed into such tiny spaces, especiall ones as tiny as a pool. Whales swim hundreds of miles a day in large groups, wide in the open. Being in such enclosed spaces resulted in the whale to become neurotic. The whale is not to blame for such an action and neither are the trainers because such things do not occur often; however, whales should not be enclosed in tiny areas.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/25/colorado.supermax.silverstein.solitary/index.html?hpt=C2
ReplyDelete"Terrible Tommy"
Tommy Silverstein has been in solitary confinement for the past 27 years; no one else has ever been in solitary confinement for quite this long. He was put in this situation for murdering a prison guard in 1983. Silverstein is has not been allowed to have direct contact of any kind with people, instead he writes letters and paints. His attourneys have recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for violating the 8th amendent (no cruel and unusual punishment). I strongly support Silverstein's attourneys because I definitely agree that solitary confinement for such a long period of time is both a cruel and unusual punishment. It is bad enough to be put in prison for 27 years, but what Silverstein has been going through would be so much worse. Even though it isn't written anywhere or anything, I think that it should be an unalienable right that all humans deserve other human contact. I also think that as laws and regulations for prison systems change over the years, certain sentences should also be changed/reversed. For example, the cases in Colorado where the boys killed their parents and got life sentences to jail without parole would have different outcomes today, as would Silverstein's case. I know it is not realistic to assume that these people would be rehabilitated and be welcomed back into society, but alternative forms of punishment can be applied that are actually constitutional.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35566392
ReplyDeleteThis article is about a killer whale that just recently attacked and killed its trainer in Sea World Florida. The trainer was extremely experienced. This occured during a preformance with the trainer and the wahle for an audience. Audience members and other bystanders saw the incident and were tramatized. This attack however was not the first time that this particular individual whale has had a chance to live up to its name. This incident was actually the third time this individual killer whale killed a person. First in Canada, then in Sandiago where it was moved and now in Florida after being moved once more. I feel that this event could have been prevented if actions had been taken towards the whale after the first incident. Its important to be causious when around any wild animals, no matter how "trained" they are said to be.
Snow,Snow, and more snow. The North east has been hit with tons on snow. New York seeing what some have called the worst snow in years. North Carolina has seen some snow too, tet the infamous Chapel - Hill Carrboro city public schools have over and under reacted. When Durham and Hillsborough get school canceled we don't. But when it rains we have a two hour delay. Just yesterday it was snowing hard and we still had school. Neil make up your mind.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kirotv.com/news/22681951/detail.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteA gunman fatally shot a special education teacher in Tacoma Washington this morning at 8:00 a.m. The shooting occurred at Birley Elementary School. The man had been waiting outside for two hours. This is a horrible thing that happened. It's really sad that an elementary school teacher was killed, especially a special education teacher of all people. I think people need to be more aware of gun violence in the United States. It's a serious problem.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/26/florida.seaworld.death/index.html?hpt=T2]
ReplyDeleteDawn Brancheau was killed earlier this week. A whale pulled her down and drowned her to death. I feel that these animals are held agaist their will and feel that they need to get out. This was a very sad death that i fell could have been averted easliy.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/25/whales.seaworld.death/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteThis article is about a trainer that got attacked by a whale, and killed. In my opinion, this whale should be kept in captivity because it has previously hurt other employees at its last two residences. I think that this case will open the eyes for others and raise awareness that these animals are very dangerous, and that they have risks attached if they are going to be used for shows. I believe that neither one of the parties involved are right. The victim should have been more aware of the risks before hand, and the owners should have properly trained, and equiped the whale for being in interaction with humans. This is a tradgedy, but it is going to raise awareness for this serious problem
Mikkie
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/04/05/somalia.tanker.hijacked/index.html
ReplyDeleteAnother ship has been captured by pirates. This 300000 ton ship had no guards because they thought they were venturing into safe water. The cargo is worth about 170 million dollars. I think that they should of hired some guards even if they thought they were safe. Unexpected things may happen and you would want to be ready for them. The government will not negotiate with the pirates.