This is a blog for Mrs. Ballew's Civics and Economics classes.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
4th Period Current Event 4/9
Please post your current event below. As always, include the topic of your article, a link to it, and a 5-6 sentence summary. You may use a podcast or video clip instead of an article.
In China, five trapped workers were found dead in the mine. The coal mine was flooded dut to underground water leak. More than 115 miners were saved and pulled out while the crowd cheered. They tried to save more but unfortunately not all was saved. I think it is sad that people have to work in hard conditions. They work really hard but are underpaid and suffer health problems from the mine. People should not have to work in such conditions, but better ones.
I think that Pheobe's story is very sad. I was very glad to hear that these kid's received charges for their harassment. This story proves that bullying is a very serious issue that we need to work hard to eliminate in our society. Although most of the time it doesn't have that severe of an effect on the victim, it can get out of hand if we don't give it proper attention. It's terrible to see a kid get driven to death by their own peers.
Well, I already knew that trees can show you so much just by taking a core sample from the tree. What I didn't know is about these kauri trees holding so much information. The more we can learn from these trees about the last major climate change, the easier it will be to prepare for the one looming over our heads.I think it is awesome that we can take something so simple and use it to understand what we might have to do. Also, to learn about how humans survived it in the past would be very helpful for those who are scratching their heads over the fact of finding enough to eat and getting enough heat. Professor Ramsey of Oxford said "The radiocarbon measurements should give us important new data that will help us to understand interactions between the atmosphere and the oceans during this period when there was rapid and dynamic change." Again, this will better help us to understand how everything was effected at large.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/06/crime.scene.photos.privacy/index.html?hpt=C1 I think that the proposed bill should pass. The families of the victims have it bad enough without everybody in the country being able to view their dead loved ones in such a horrible manner. I do see the legitimacy of the argument that the public has the right to see what happened but I think that in this case the families right to privacy should prevail. I think that in these cases distributing the photos would be much to painful for the families. Such brutal crime scene photos should only be available to the public if for some reason public safety is at risk.
I believe that victims families have the right to keep grisly crime scene photos private. It's heartbreaking enough for them to have to deal with a death in the family without millions of random strangers being able to see the photos documenting the horrible incident. I understand that people are curious, but the family's wishes should outweigh citizens' curiosity. I would never want the photos of the murder of one of my family members to be viewable by anybody on the internet. It should be kept private at all costs.
The second suicide bomber involved in the bombing of Moscow's subway is Maryam Sharipova. The bombings killed 40 people and injured more than 80. The two suicide bombers set their bombs 40 minutes apart that morning; Sharipova's bomb was a homemade explosive. Sharipova was identified with her Dad's help when he saw photographs of her remains online. Her father said she was a quite pious girl and never expressed any rebellious/radical views. Her parents also had no idea that she was planning on going to go to Moscow on the 29th and were in disbelief when officials called them up to break the news.
I think that it would be pretty ridiculous to charge people to use the bathroom on this airline. Tickets are already very expensive and this airline already has many fees on other things. People gotta go when they gotta go and they can't always help it so charging people would be stupid. For some Europeans this wouldn't be a very big deal because they already have to pay a small fee to use public restrooms but for others it may be a problem. I know that Americans wouldn't want to use this airline, especially if they wouldn't be able to use the bathroom for free. Why would anyone pay for that when there are plenty of other airlines that don't charge. By making this change this airlines numbers are sure to go down because it just doesn't make sense.
This article is mostly about a nonviolence-centered movement in Israel. Palestinians are trying to get Israel out of the West Bank. Previously they had been employing violent methods of resistance. I think nonviolence is an excellent step forward. I am not sure what my opinion is on the occupation of the West Bank, but I know that Palestinians will continue to protest until they achieve some kind of result. Nonviolence is much better than any other kind of resistance. It has historically been able to enact a great deal of change, such as in the fight for Indian independence. It also generally leads to far fewer deaths on both sides. Conservation of human life is always a good thing.
On Monday, April 5, 2010, extended unemployment benefits were temporarily stopped, as the Senate left on its Spring Recess without approving an extension. This will surely affect millions (seeing as the unemployment rate is around nine point seven percent,) and I for one feel this is awful. Some may argue that the senators who rejected this plan are trying to save money, but they didn’t seem to be saving money when they voted to begin two wars. Why are we hurting our own people, but attacking others for no reason? Why don’t we just end the war and use the money to pay for the unemployed. In fact, using the money to help the unemployed might even pay down our national debt in the long run (they might be able to find jobs quicker, saving us unemployment benefit money later on.) Overall, the decision to stop the extended unemployment benefits does not go well with me.
I don't agree with the "lavatory fee". I'm aware that the economy is going through some pretty harsh periods right now and airlines are losing money right now, but I draw the line at people paying to use the bathroom. It's something you can't control, and the tickets itself are already expensive, and most airlines require you to pay to bring carry-on bags onto the plane. There are a lot of variables to consider, especially the idea that someone who might have a medical condition that would require them to use the bathroom more often.
the doctors in this part of the country are fighting a battle against people addicted to prescription pain medication. The beginning of the story focuses on the father of a young woman who was shot because he refused to subscribe pain medication to an addict. Personally I think there should be more regulations on subscriptions and more safety nets put in place to ensure that addiction stops before it starts. There should also be prevention methods in place to educate people (especially the 18-24 range who are more than twice as likely to begin an addiction) about the risks of prescription pain medication.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/08/pelosi.threat/index.html I think that wanting to kill someone over their political beliefs is rediculous. This man obviuosly has other problems. The FBI arrested him. They wont release many details. He said Pelosi had target on her back and he wanted to kill her. I guess it was a credible threat because the FBI arrested him. Im glad noone was hurt
An inmate in Camden County jail, Georgia, broke out of jail and stole 14 packs of cigarettes and was sentenced 20 years. I think that is ridiculous. First, its impressive he was able to break out of jail. But, the fact that he came back to jail after stealing cigarettes shows that he wasn't trying to get out. It just shows he needed some cigarettes. What else are you going to do in jail? It's probably really boring, its better to smoke a cigarette than get in fights. I personally think 20 years is pretty stupid.
That's really sad that all those horses died. Recently there have been a lot of fires in Chapel Hill. Fires are scary because they are unexpected and can do a lot of damage. Because these small horses were so helpless they couldn't do much about the fire. Hearing about things like this makes you more thankful for everything you have. Along with the 13 horses that died in the fire, about 5 acres of woods were destroyed. Fires are quick but they create a lot of undoable damage.
"The United States Sees a Surge in Wind Power" In 2009, the US saw a tremendous leap in the amount of wind power available. Yay! I find this to be incredibly encouraging news. I was particularly impressed by the fact that 14 states now have enough wind power to provide sustainable electricity to 10,000 homes, totaling 140,000 homes potentially powered by wind. My only concern is that trees do not grow in the shape of wind turbines, thus they must be cut down to build such things. I have often wondered how to factor the amount of fossil fuels used to produce and install the turbines and the land that must be clear-cut for this purpose into the overall efficiency of wind power. It seems as though there is not yet a perfect solution for climate change...
I got very excited when I started to read this story. First of all, I'm a huge tech dork, and so I love stories like this, especially Apple related products. Once I got over my nerd-spaz, I started to think about how far our technology has come in the past 15 years. I remember playing Pokemon Red on my 8-bit Gameboy Color when I was 7, and how cool it was. It just had one shade of color, and it I only had 2 buttons. The internet really didn't exist, and cell phones were just starting to make their rise, and only for wealthy business men. Now, lightning fast internet, multi-tasking, and touch screens are expected in all cellphones. It's kind of mind boggling when you compare the distance we traveled from 1800-1900, and how far we've traveled since 1995.
The current event I decided to write about this week was a video I watched about a 16 year old kid who filed charges against his mom about hacking in to his facebook and posting things. I think this is very funny that this kid got so mad that he decided to file charges against her. In the interview with this boys mom she said she did post things as his mom, but she had no intension in hurting him, she was just looking out for her son. I do agree with the kid in the way that I think he probably wanted some privacy, but I dont think he needed to take it that far. I think this story shouldnt get any bigger than it already is and they should just not talk about it.
Justice John Stevens announced just before his 90th that he will step down from his spot as supreme court justice after this summer. Gerald Ford nominated him in 1975 for the job and has been serving ever since. Stevens has been known for being liberal so I don't find it coincidential that he retired now, leaving Obama to find his replacement. Stevens has served for 35 years and I believe that it was probably time for a change. I just want to hope John Stevens the best, and I look forward to seeing Obama's replacement choice.
This article was mainly describing the controversial topic of whether the pictures from deaths and murders should be able to be seen by the public. The families who have had a member of their family murdered should definitely have the right to keep the pictures of the crime seen away from the public. It is absurd that they even thought it would be acceptable for the pictures to go out in the media. The family has already expierenced a tragic event and do not need the whole world to see and comment on what happened. Unless the family wants to show the world what was done, they should be able to keep the victims body from view.
Jamie Chen http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/11/nuclear.security.summit/ This article is about Obama hosting a two-day summit to discuss nuclear security. 42 countries are going to be represented at the summit. Basically, they're going to find out (starting monday) how they are going to safeguard weapons material. So far, Obama has signed a treaty with Russia to reduce their nuclear stockpiles and revised the U.S. nuclear arms strategy to reinforce the nuclear deterrent and issolate terrorists and other states that won't listen. His main concern are the old nuclear weapons that aren't safeguarded as well as the new ones.
I think it's crazy that the investigator can get 20% of the 60 billion dollar fraud if he can prove that it is going on. Also, the fact that we even have such a huge problem in our health care system is not good at all. 60 billion dollars being wasted on health care that isn't actually going to health care could be a huge help to the government if it can get the money back. I think that if the investigator actually does end up figuring it out and gets his 12 billion dollar share, I think he should give a lot of it to the government, since it was theirs to begin with and no one person really needs 12 billion dollars anyway.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/06/china.mine.collapse/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteElla McBryde
In China, five trapped workers were found dead in the mine. The coal mine was flooded dut to underground water leak. More than 115 miners were saved and pulled out while the crowd cheered. They tried to save more but unfortunately not all was saved. I think it is sad that people have to work in hard conditions. They work really hard but are underpaid and suffer health problems from the mine. People should not have to work in such conditions, but better ones.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/06/massachusetts.bullying.suicide/index.html?iref=allsearch
ReplyDeleteI think that Pheobe's story is very sad. I was very glad to hear that these kid's received charges for their harassment. This story proves that bullying is a very serious issue that we need to work hard to eliminate in our society. Although most of the time it doesn't have that severe of an effect on the victim, it can get out of hand if we don't give it proper attention. It's terrible to see a kid get driven to death by their own peers.
-Bailey Ethridge
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100405103837.htm
ReplyDeleteWell, I already knew that trees can show you so much just by taking a core sample from the tree. What I didn't know is about these kauri trees holding so much information. The more we can learn from these trees about the last major climate change, the easier it will be to prepare for the one looming over our heads.I think it is awesome that we can take something so simple and use it to understand what we might have to do. Also, to learn about how humans survived it in the past would be very helpful for those who are scratching their heads over the fact of finding enough to eat and getting enough heat. Professor Ramsey of Oxford said "The radiocarbon measurements should give us important new data that will help us to understand interactions between the atmosphere and the oceans during this period when there was rapid and dynamic change." Again, this will better help us to understand how everything was effected at large.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/06/crime.scene.photos.privacy/index.html?hpt=C1
ReplyDeleteI think that the proposed bill should pass. The families of the victims have it bad enough without everybody in the country being able to view their dead loved ones in such a horrible manner. I do see the legitimacy of the argument that the public has the right to see what happened but I think that in this case the families right to privacy should prevail. I think that in these cases distributing the photos would be much to painful for the families. Such brutal crime scene photos should only be available to the public if for some reason public safety is at risk.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/06/crime.scene.photos.privacy/index.html?hpt=C1
ReplyDeleteI believe that victims families have the right to keep grisly crime scene photos private. It's heartbreaking enough for them to have to deal with a death in the family without millions of random strangers being able to see the photos documenting the horrible incident. I understand that people are curious, but the family's wishes should outweigh citizens' curiosity. I would never want the photos of the murder of one of my family members to be viewable by anybody on the internet. It should be kept private at all costs.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/06/moscow.subway.bombings/index.html
ReplyDelete2nd Subway Bomber Revealed
The second suicide bomber involved in the bombing of Moscow's subway is Maryam Sharipova. The bombings killed 40 people and injured more than 80. The two suicide bombers set their bombs 40 minutes apart that morning; Sharipova's bomb was a homemade explosive. Sharipova was identified with her Dad's help when he saw photographs of her remains online. Her father said she was a quite pious girl and never expressed any rebellious/radical views. Her parents also had no idea that she was planning on going to go to Moscow on the 29th and were in disbelief when officials called them up to break the news.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/07/ryanair.lavatory.fee/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be pretty ridiculous to charge people to use the bathroom on this airline. Tickets are already very expensive and this airline already has many fees on other things. People gotta go when they gotta go and they can't always help it so charging people would be stupid. For some Europeans this wouldn't be a very big deal because they already have to pay a small fee to use public restrooms but for others it may be a problem. I know that Americans wouldn't want to use this airline, especially if they wouldn't be able to use the bathroom for free. Why would anyone pay for that when there are plenty of other airlines that don't charge. By making this change this airlines numbers are sure to go down because it just doesn't make sense.
-Katelyn
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07westbank.html?ref=todayspaper
ReplyDeleteThis article is mostly about a nonviolence-centered movement in Israel. Palestinians are trying to get Israel out of the West Bank. Previously they had been employing violent methods of resistance. I think nonviolence is an excellent step forward. I am not sure what my opinion is on the occupation of the West Bank, but I know that Palestinians will continue to protest until they achieve some kind of result. Nonviolence is much better than any other kind of resistance. It has historically been able to enact a great deal of change, such as in the fight for Indian independence. It also generally leads to far fewer deaths on both sides. Conservation of human life is always a good thing.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/05/unemployment.benefits/index.html
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, April 5, 2010, extended unemployment benefits were temporarily stopped, as the Senate left on its Spring Recess without approving an extension. This will surely affect millions (seeing as the unemployment rate is around nine point seven percent,) and I for one feel this is awful. Some may argue that the senators who rejected this plan are trying to save money, but they didn’t seem to be saving money when they voted to begin two wars. Why are we hurting our own people, but attacking others for no reason? Why don’t we just end the war and use the money to pay for the unemployed. In fact, using the money to help the unemployed might even pay down our national debt in the long run (they might be able to find jobs quicker, saving us unemployment benefit money later on.) Overall, the decision to stop the extended unemployment benefits does not go well with me.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/07/ryanair.lavatory.fee/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with the "lavatory fee". I'm aware that the economy is going through some pretty harsh periods right now and airlines are losing money right now, but I draw the line at people paying to use the bathroom. It's something you can't control, and the tickets itself are already expensive, and most airlines require you to pay to bring carry-on bags onto the plane. There are a lot of variables to consider, especially the idea that someone who might have a medical condition that would require them to use the bathroom more often.
Michael Brews
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2010/04/07/am.costello.addicted.pt3.cnn?iref=allsearch
the doctors in this part of the country are fighting a battle against people addicted to prescription pain medication. The beginning of the story focuses on the father of a young woman who was shot because he refused to subscribe pain medication to an addict. Personally I think there should be more regulations on subscriptions and more safety nets put in place to ensure that addiction stops before it starts. There should also be prevention methods in place to educate people (especially the 18-24 range who are more than twice as likely to begin an addiction) about the risks of prescription pain medication.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/08/pelosi.threat/index.html
ReplyDeleteI think that wanting to kill someone over their political beliefs is rediculous. This man obviuosly has other problems. The FBI arrested him. They wont release many details. He said Pelosi had target on her back and he wanted to kill her. I guess it was a credible threat because the FBI arrested him. Im glad noone was hurt
-GLENN FLOYD
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36225894/ns/us_news/
ReplyDeleteAn inmate in Camden County jail, Georgia, broke out of jail and stole 14 packs of cigarettes and was sentenced 20 years. I think that is ridiculous. First, its impressive he was able to break out of jail. But, the fact that he came back to jail after stealing cigarettes shows that he wasn't trying to get out. It just shows he needed some cigarettes. What else are you going to do in jail? It's probably really boring, its better to smoke a cigarette than get in fights. I personally think 20 years is pretty stupid.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/04/08/1363982/orange-county-horse-stables-on.html
ReplyDeleteThat's really sad that all those horses died. Recently there have been a lot of fires in Chapel Hill. Fires are scary because they are unexpected and can do a lot of damage. Because these small horses were so helpless they couldn't do much about the fire. Hearing about things like this makes you more thankful for everything you have. Along with the 13 horses that died in the fire, about 5 acres of woods were destroyed. Fires are quick but they create a lot of undoable damage.
-Sophie Szentes
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14845646?nclick_check=1
ReplyDelete"The United States Sees a Surge in Wind Power"
In 2009, the US saw a tremendous leap in the amount of wind power available. Yay! I find this to be incredibly encouraging news. I was particularly impressed by the fact that 14 states now have enough wind power to provide sustainable electricity to 10,000 homes, totaling 140,000 homes potentially powered by wind. My only concern is that trees do not grow in the shape of wind turbines, thus they must be cut down to build such things. I have often wondered how to factor the amount of fossil fuels used to produce and install the turbines and the land that must be clear-cut for this purpose into the overall efficiency of wind power. It seems as though there is not yet a perfect solution for climate change...
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/08/iphone.os.wired/index.html?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteI got very excited when I started to read this story. First of all, I'm a huge tech dork, and so I love stories like this, especially Apple related products. Once I got over my nerd-spaz, I started to think about how far our technology has come in the past 15 years. I remember playing Pokemon Red on my 8-bit Gameboy Color when I was 7, and how cool it was. It just had one shade of color, and it I only had 2 buttons. The internet really didn't exist, and cell phones were just starting to make their rise, and only for wealthy business men. Now, lightning fast internet, multi-tasking, and touch screens are expected in all cellphones. It's kind of mind boggling when you compare the distance we traveled from 1800-1900, and how far we've traveled since 1995.
I should write a book.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/04/08/pn.facebook.feud.cnn?hpt=C2
ReplyDeleteThe current event I decided to write about this week was a video I watched about a 16 year old kid who filed charges against his mom about hacking in to his facebook and posting things. I think this is very funny that this kid got so mad that he decided to file charges against her. In the interview with this boys mom she said she did post things as his mom, but she had no intension in hurting him, she was just looking out for her son. I do agree with the kid in the way that I think he probably wanted some privacy, but I dont think he needed to take it that far. I think this story shouldnt get any bigger than it already is and they should just not talk about it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100409/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_stevens
ReplyDeleteJustice John Stevens announced just before his 90th that he will step down from his spot as supreme court justice after this summer. Gerald Ford nominated him in 1975 for the job and has been serving ever since. Stevens has been known for being liberal so I don't find it coincidential that he retired now, leaving Obama to find his replacement. Stevens has served for 35 years and I believe that it was probably time for a change. I just want to hope John Stevens the best, and I look forward to seeing Obama's replacement choice.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/06/crime.scene.photos.privacy/index.html?hpt=C1
ReplyDeleteThis article was mainly describing the controversial topic of whether the pictures from deaths and murders should be able to be seen by the public. The families who have had a member of their family murdered should definitely have the right to keep the pictures of the crime seen away from the public. It is absurd that they even thought it would be acceptable for the pictures to go out in the media. The family has already expierenced a tragic event and do not need the whole world to see and comment on what happened. Unless the family wants to show the world what was done, they should be able to keep the victims body from view.
Jamie Chen
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/11/nuclear.security.summit/
This article is about Obama hosting a two-day summit to discuss nuclear security. 42 countries are going to be represented at the summit. Basically, they're going to find out (starting monday) how they are going to safeguard weapons material. So far, Obama has signed a treaty with Russia to reduce their nuclear stockpiles and revised the U.S. nuclear arms strategy to reinforce the nuclear deterrent and issolate terrorists and other states that won't listen. His main concern are the old nuclear weapons that aren't safeguarded as well as the new ones.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2010/04/29/ac.harry.markolpolos.intv.cnn
ReplyDeleteI think it's crazy that the investigator can get 20% of the 60 billion dollar fraud if he can prove that it is going on. Also, the fact that we even have such a huge problem in our health care system is not good at all. 60 billion dollars being wasted on health care that isn't actually going to health care could be a huge help to the government if it can get the money back. I think that if the investigator actually does end up figuring it out and gets his 12 billion dollar share, I think he should give a lot of it to the government, since it was theirs to begin with and no one person really needs 12 billion dollars anyway.