This article discusses the possible threat of a terrorist country obtaining a nuclear weapon and potentially using it against the United States. There were many nukes "on the loose" in Ukraine and other countries such as Kazakhstan in 1991 when the USSR collapsed but most of them were returned to Russia. Obama would like to fully protect the US from these threats by securing all nuclear materials worldwide and adressing the trade of nuclear supplies on the black market. In the end of the article, the author discusses the case of Al Awlaki, a Mexican-American cleric suspected to be involved in a attempted bombing of Detroit last Christmas day.
Four UN peacekeepers were abducted in Darfur. The UN has been trying to prevent the Sudanese government from killing their own people. The four men were police advisors. Their kidnapping has been confirmed. They were last seen on Sunday. This is just one in a horrible string of violent events. However, it indicates a trend of violence towards peacekeepers that is only perpetuating the war in Darfur. Few people want to go help when they know there is a danger of being kidnapped.
http://ballewcivics.blogspot.com/2010/04/1st-period-current-event-416.html This article is about a group of African American workers from a factory in Paris, Texas who have endured relentless harassment from coworkers. The article reports that investigators have discovered that the managers of the company allowed the harassment to continue and gave African Americans harsher punishments. I am disgusted by the actions reported in this article, however I am not shocked. I know that discrimination still happens in the United States especially in the south among the generation of people who lived during the civil rights movement. I hope that articles like this get attention and help prevent discrimination from continuing.
A rapid series of strong earthquakes hit a mountainous and impoverished area of China's Qinghai province early Wednesday, killing 589 people, state run media said, quoting local quake relief headquarters. At least 10,000 others were injured, the Xinhua news agency reported, and many victims, including school children, were buried under debris. Rescuers were struggling to clear debris with their hands and save those trapped below.
This article is about Obama's plan to destroy and rebuild our nations space program. It is a little confusing because it first says that Obab is planning to dismantle the American Space programs completely. But the article also talks about Obama's new strategy that will be better for the budget, provide more jobs, and bring larger opportunities to our astronauts. Obama is planning to reveal this new idea in Florida tomorrow. He apparently has new ideas for trips into space and visits to constellations. He also has plans for long stays at the National space station. Some of the legendary astronauts like Neil Armstrong, are complaining that Obama's plans are destroying NASA and are not in the best interest of the space programs. They are only what Obama thinks will be best for his already over budget, budget. The space programs that we have had for a while now have been wonderful and we are learning so much... Why is Obama marching in and trying to change something so he can use the budgeted money elsewhere...?
According to the medical journal The Lancet, the number of children that die during pregnancy and childbirth worldwide has dropped from around 526,300 in 1980 to 342,900 in 2008. The study found that this was caused by a combination of lower pregnancy rates in some countires, higher income and improved nutrition and health care, more education for women, and an availability of medically-trained attendants that help women during birth. This study has caused some controversy among women's health advocates, as they believe the publication of these findings hinder their cause. However, while maternal mortality dropped in some countries (such as 8.8 percent per year in Maldives), it also rose in others (5.5 percent in Zimbabwe). The study found that maternal mortality is rising in eastern and southern Africa largely due to the number of pregnant women who die from AIDS. The information found in this study makes me feel better about the future of global health, as generally it seems to be improving. Obviously, there is still a lot to be done to help those living in extreme poverty, but in about three decades a nearly 200,000 drop in maternal mortality seems to be relatively successful.
At 12 on Thursday, Britian shut down all airplane travel because of the volcanic ash drifting down from a volcano erupting in Iceland. Denmark and Sweden have also closed their airspace. The ash can damage visibility obviously, but can also lead to damage of the ariplanes engines. This shut down effected about 6,000 flights and started to cancel flights around 11 on Thursday. They plan to have the airspace reopened around 6 p.m. and to have flights back up in the air around 7 p.m.
Russia has decided to formally halt all adoptions by Americans because of last week's incident. In Tennessee, a single mother who had adopted a young Russian boy last year, sent the child back to Russia by himself, carrying only a note explaining her intentions. The boy, whose Russian name is Artyom and who is nicknamed Justin in English, arrived with the letter explaining that he could no longer be handled because of “violent and has severe psychopathic issues.” However, Russian investigators have claimed that he behaves normally.
This is a severe issue for this child and for anyone else to whom this has happened. Imagine what this can do for a 7-year-old who has been unwanted by his mother - twice! It could cause serious problems in his future. Rather than suspending adoptions, I think that more concrete measures need to be taken to make sure that children don't end up in adoptive homes like these. And, if something like this were to happen (whether or not the child has mental problems or not), we need to have already established backups in our own country rather than having the adoptee be sent back and have to go through the orphanage process again. I wish the very best for this poor kid.
Former national security agency official Thomas A. Drake was indicted for leaking classified information by email to a reporter. He as also accused of obstructing justice by shredding documents, deleting computer records, and lying to investigators. The information leaked had to do with government secrets.
Since the information was classified, indictment is definitely reasonable, but it's not clear what those secrets actually were (which makes sense, as they're secret). However, I think the government needs to be a lot more open with its citizens about its policies, because this is supposed to be a democracy, run for the people by the people. The American people should know what its government is actually doing, so I guess I'm really on the side of Drake for trying to let citizens know what's going on.
This Thursday a veterinarian warned people who had come into contact with a rabid donkey at Elodie Farm's in Durham to contact their doctor about rabies shots. A donkey named Eddie had died on April 8 and tested positive for rabies. They think that the donkey could have infected people it had come into contact with as early as March 10. Health Officials think he may have contracted rabies from an animal that might have wandered on to his farm at night. Eddie could have infected people even before he was showing signs of having rabies. I think this would be scary for some people because March 10 was over a month ago and if they had come in contact with the rabies it could possibly too late to help the person out. Even though its hard to prevent wild animals form getting into farms, farmers should try to put up more electric fencing to shock the wild animals. Thankfully, they tested the donkey for rabies because if they didn't people would get very sick.
This article is about how worldwide, the number of deaths that occurred during childbirth has decreased. Everyone thought that maternal deaths were unavoidable, but new data suggests otherwise. Those that are part of the movement to find a way to prevent these deaths did not want the data to be publicized, thinking that it would distract the public from the issue at hand. However, others believe that it is helping the case. New studies show that deaths during childbirth and pregnancy might be attributed to other factors, like AIDS or other diseases. If those diseases can be avoided, than maternal deaths can be avoided as well. I think that it is wonderful that the number of deaths is reducing, and in our modern times, we should be able to prevent even more from occurring.
This article is about a girl who was bullied, and is now being hospitalized for emotional distress. Bullying and it's negative effects on people has been a focus on the news for the past couple of weeks, and as a student I find it rather pressing that schools take more action. Bullying is 100% preventable, as are the suicides and distress it has caused in many families across the country. Teachers and other staff members need to take a bigger role in their students lives. They should try and connect with their students more so that students know they have someone they can talk to. I also think they should hold more meetings so that students know what is going on, and that there are things they can do about it. If students and teachers strengthen their relationships I think bullying will go down because students will trust their administrators more than currently and they will be more willing to confide their problems in them.
A massive ball of light, or "fire ball" was seen over the northern sky in parts of Illinois and Iowa. Before breaking up into smaller pieces It left a trait of smoke. The scariest part of all is that scientists are totally unsure what the cause of this fireball across the sky actually is. Some suggest it may be a large meteorite, but it is unclear whether any debris has fallen.
I think that sometimes the human race needs for something like this to show up in our sky... it shows us how insignifigant and vulnerable we really are! And for some reason, it greatly amuses me that people are puzzling over what this fireball is, and why it is in our atmosphere.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7387451 Today in downtown Raliegh rally there was a "tea party" held in front of the state capitol. The goal of the rally, which began at 5PM, was to protest high taxes and government corruption. This year there was a conflict over the legalitly of waving American flags on poles. A newly enacted rule declares these flags a dangerous hazard in big crowds; but the rule was suspended for today. Organizers of the rally were mightly glad to have the "flag-flap" behind them so that they could move on to promoting the event's big message which is: Smaller government and smaller taxes. The party included contributions from many speakers and foundations and organizations.
This is a story about a man who lives in Massachusettes and was sending threatening letters. He sent them to churches and NAACP. He's being faced with a $250,000 dollar fine and 20 years in prison if he's convicted. It's so weird to think that this kind of stuff still goes on, especially so close to home. Maybe it's because I've lived in Chapel HIll my entire life, and there isn't that much racism here. The weird thing about this article is they didn't say anything about racism. Usually in such an article they would. Another thing i'm confused about is why the charge is so big. I mean yeah, it's a horrible thing and this man diserves to learn a lesson, and I in no way condone his actions, but that is a big charge. Thats like equivilent to rape punishment.
This is surprising to me, that someone would threaten the church for what other people voted for. (the president). I'm glad, however, that the church did charge him for making threatening letters towards them. Unsafe people should not be running around the streets. It really is scary to know that someone out there may hurt you.
This week's post isn't up yet so here's my current event:
My article is about six women suing Wal-Mart because of all kinds of unfair statistics about how women have been generally beat down whilst working for Wal-Mart. I am really glad this lawsuit is happening, because the truth is, even if the women are wrong, it's about time SOMEONE made some money off Wal-Mart. I also feel that many of these underpromoted women deserve more equal opportunities. I'm not calling for affirmative action, just fair action.
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/united-states-should-be-more-realistic-1.612450
ReplyDeleteThis article discusses the possible threat of a terrorist country obtaining a nuclear weapon and potentially using it against the United States. There were many nukes "on the loose" in Ukraine and other countries such as Kazakhstan in 1991 when the USSR collapsed but most of them were returned to Russia. Obama would like to fully protect the US from these threats by securing all nuclear materials worldwide and adressing the trade of nuclear supplies on the black market. In the end of the article, the author discusses the case of Al Awlaki, a Mexican-American cleric suspected to be involved in a attempted bombing of Detroit last Christmas day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8621060.stm
ReplyDeleteFour UN peacekeepers were abducted in Darfur. The UN has been trying to prevent the Sudanese government from killing their own people. The four men were police advisors. Their kidnapping has been confirmed. They were last seen on Sunday. This is just one in a horrible string of violent events. However, it indicates a trend of violence towards peacekeepers that is only perpetuating the war in Darfur. Few people want to go help when they know there is a danger of being kidnapped.
http://ballewcivics.blogspot.com/2010/04/1st-period-current-event-416.html
ReplyDeleteThis article is about a group of African American workers from a factory in Paris, Texas who have endured relentless harassment from coworkers. The article reports that investigators have discovered that the managers of the company allowed the harassment to continue and gave African Americans harsher punishments.
I am disgusted by the actions reported in this article, however I am not shocked. I know that discrimination still happens in the United States especially in the south among the generation of people who lived during the civil rights movement. I hope that articles like this get attention and help prevent discrimination from continuing.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/14/china.quake/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteA rapid series of strong earthquakes hit a mountainous and impoverished area of China's Qinghai province early Wednesday, killing 589 people, state run media said, quoting local quake relief headquarters. At least 10,000 others were injured, the Xinhua news agency reported, and many victims, including school children, were buried under debris. Rescuers were struggling to clear debris with their hands and save those trapped below.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/14/white-house-rejects-armstrong-claim-space-plan-devastating/
ReplyDeleteThis article is about Obama's plan to destroy and rebuild our nations space program. It is a little confusing because it first says that Obab is planning to dismantle the American Space programs completely. But the article also talks about Obama's new strategy that will be better for the budget, provide more jobs, and bring larger opportunities to our astronauts. Obama is planning to reveal this new idea in Florida tomorrow. He apparently has new ideas for trips into space and visits to constellations. He also has plans for long stays at the National space station.
Some of the legendary astronauts like Neil Armstrong, are complaining that Obama's plans are destroying NASA and are not in the best interest of the space programs. They are only what Obama thinks will be best for his already over budget, budget. The space programs that we have had for a while now have been wonderful and we are learning so much... Why is Obama marching in and trying to change something so he can use the budgeted money elsewhere...?
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/14/436142/fewer-women-die-in-childbirth.html
ReplyDeleteAccording to the medical journal The Lancet, the number of children that die during pregnancy and childbirth worldwide has dropped from around 526,300 in 1980 to 342,900 in 2008. The study found that this was caused by a combination of lower pregnancy rates in some countires, higher income and improved nutrition and health care, more education for women, and an availability of medically-trained attendants that help women during birth. This study has caused some controversy among women's health advocates, as they believe the publication of these findings hinder their cause. However, while maternal mortality dropped in some countries (such as 8.8 percent per year in Maldives), it also rose in others (5.5 percent in Zimbabwe). The study found that maternal mortality is rising in eastern and southern Africa largely due to the number of pregnant women who die from AIDS. The information found in this study makes me feel better about the future of global health, as generally it seems to be improving. Obviously, there is still a lot to be done to help those living in extreme poverty, but in about three decades a nearly 200,000 drop in maternal mortality seems to be relatively successful.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world/europe/16ash.html?hp
ReplyDeleteAt 12 on Thursday, Britian shut down all airplane travel because of the volcanic ash drifting down from a volcano erupting in Iceland. Denmark and Sweden have also closed their airspace. The ash can damage visibility obviously, but can also lead to damage of the ariplanes engines. This shut down effected about 6,000 flights and started to cancel flights around 11 on Thursday. They plan to have the airspace reopened around 6 p.m. and to have flights back up in the air around 7 p.m.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world/europe/16adopt.html?hp
ReplyDeleteRussia has decided to formally halt all adoptions by Americans because of last week's incident. In Tennessee, a single mother who had adopted a young Russian boy last year, sent the child back to Russia by himself, carrying only a note explaining her intentions. The boy, whose Russian name is Artyom and who is nicknamed Justin in English, arrived with the letter explaining that he could no longer be handled because of “violent and has severe psychopathic issues.” However, Russian investigators have claimed that he behaves normally.
This is a severe issue for this child and for anyone else to whom this has happened. Imagine what this can do for a 7-year-old who has been unwanted by his mother - twice! It could cause serious problems in his future. Rather than suspending adoptions, I think that more concrete measures need to be taken to make sure that children don't end up in adoptive homes like these. And, if something like this were to happen (whether or not the child has mental problems or not), we need to have already established backups in our own country rather than having the adoptee be sent back and have to go through the orphanage process again. I wish the very best for this poor kid.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/us/16indict.html?ref=us
ReplyDeleteFormer national security agency official Thomas A. Drake was indicted for leaking classified information by email to a reporter. He as also accused of obstructing justice by shredding documents, deleting computer records, and lying to investigators. The information leaked had to do with government secrets.
Since the information was classified, indictment is definitely reasonable, but it's not clear what those secrets actually were (which makes sense, as they're secret). However, I think the government needs to be a lot more open with its citizens about its policies, because this is supposed to be a democracy, run for the people by the people. The American people should know what its government is actually doing, so I guess I'm really on the side of Drake for trying to let citizens know what's going on.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/15/438897/state-issues-warning-about-rabid.html
ReplyDeleteThis Thursday a veterinarian warned people who had come into contact with a rabid donkey at Elodie Farm's in Durham to contact their doctor about rabies shots. A donkey named Eddie had died on April 8 and tested positive for rabies. They think that the donkey could have infected people it had come into contact with as early as March 10. Health Officials think he may have contracted rabies from an animal that might have wandered on to his farm at night. Eddie could have infected people even before he was showing signs of having rabies. I think this would be scary for some people because March 10 was over a month ago and if they had come in contact with the rabies it could possibly too late to help the person out. Even though its hard to prevent wild animals form getting into farms, farmers should try to put up more electric fencing to shock the wild animals. Thankfully, they tested the donkey for rabies because if they didn't people would get very sick.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/health/14births.html?pagewanted=1&bl
ReplyDeleteThis article is about how worldwide, the number of deaths that occurred during childbirth has decreased. Everyone thought that maternal deaths were unavoidable, but new data suggests otherwise. Those that are part of the movement to find a way to prevent these deaths did not want the data to be publicized, thinking that it would distract the public from the issue at hand. However, others believe that it is helping the case. New studies show that deaths during childbirth and pregnancy might be attributed to other factors, like AIDS or other diseases. If those diseases can be avoided, than maternal deaths can be avoided as well. I think that it is wonderful that the number of deaths is reducing, and in our modern times, we should be able to prevent even more from occurring.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/15/massachusetts-girl-hospitalized-months-bullying/?test=latestnews
ReplyDeleteThis article is about a girl who was bullied, and is now being hospitalized for emotional distress. Bullying and it's negative effects on people has been a focus on the news for the past couple of weeks, and as a student I find it rather pressing that schools take more action. Bullying is 100% preventable, as are the suicides and distress it has caused in many families across the country. Teachers and other staff members need to take a bigger role in their students lives. They should try and connect with their students more so that students know they have someone they can talk to. I also think they should hold more meetings so that students know what is going on, and that there are things they can do about it. If students and teachers strengthen their relationships I think bullying will go down because students will trust their administrators more than currently and they will be more willing to confide their problems in them.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/15/midwest.fireball/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteA massive ball of light, or "fire ball" was seen over the northern sky in parts of Illinois and Iowa. Before breaking up into smaller pieces It left a trait of smoke. The scariest part of all is that scientists are totally unsure what the cause of this fireball across the sky actually is. Some suggest it may be a large meteorite, but it is unclear whether any debris has fallen.
I think that sometimes the human race needs for something like this to show up in our sky... it shows us how insignifigant and vulnerable we really are! And for some reason, it greatly amuses me that people are puzzling over what this fireball is, and why it is in our atmosphere.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7387451
ReplyDeleteToday in downtown Raliegh rally there was a "tea party" held in front of the state capitol. The goal of the rally, which began at 5PM, was to protest high taxes and government corruption. This year there was a conflict over the legalitly of waving American flags on poles. A newly enacted rule declares these flags a dangerous hazard in big crowds; but the rule was suspended for today. Organizers of the rally were mightly glad to have the "flag-flap" behind them so that they could move on to promoting the event's big message which is: Smaller government and smaller taxes. The party included contributions from many speakers and foundations and organizations.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/15/439509/mass-man-arrested-for-threatening.html
ReplyDeleteThis is a story about a man who lives in Massachusettes and was sending threatening letters. He sent them to churches and NAACP. He's being faced with a $250,000 dollar fine and 20 years in prison if he's convicted. It's so weird to think that this kind of stuff still goes on, especially so close to home. Maybe it's because I've lived in Chapel HIll my entire life, and there isn't that much racism here. The weird thing about this article is they didn't say anything about racism. Usually in such an article they would. Another thing i'm confused about is why the charge is so big. I mean yeah, it's a horrible thing and this man diserves to learn a lesson, and I in no way condone his actions, but that is a big charge. Thats like equivilent to rape punishment.
Daniela Thielisch
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/15/439509/mass-man-arrested-for-threatening.html
This is surprising to me, that someone would threaten the church for what other people voted for. (the president). I'm glad, however, that the church did charge him for making threatening letters towards them. Unsafe people should not be running around the streets. It really is scary to know that someone out there may hurt you.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/business/27suit.html?hp
ReplyDeleteThis week's post isn't up yet so here's my current event:
My article is about six women suing Wal-Mart because of all kinds of unfair statistics about how women have been generally beat down whilst working for Wal-Mart. I am really glad this lawsuit is happening, because the truth is, even if the women are wrong, it's about time SOMEONE made some money off Wal-Mart. I also feel that many of these underpromoted women deserve more equal opportunities. I'm not calling for affirmative action, just fair action.