http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/13/obama.main.street/index.html It think it's very good that we finally seem to be coming out of the recession. It's unfortunate that we're not out of it yet but it's heartening to know that the worst is probably over. I think that it's really good that Obama is willing to make the difficult choices required to help out our country, regardless of the fact that people may not appreciate what is being done at the time. I think that he has really good ideas for what should be done and he is not scared to do those things. I also think that it was a great idea to visit some of the country's poorer areas. It might not be a huge thing but it's a step in the right direction.
Recently, many teens have gotten involved with using a website called Formspring. It's a site where you make a profile and people can ask you questions anonymously, which you then answer and post to your page. Teenagers are using this website to send hurtful messages to people without revealing their identity. Many of these comments are very sexual. Despite the terrible things that people are using this site to say, twenty eight million people use it. A lot of these users aren't greatly affected by Formspring; they don't let people's rude statements get to them and they deflect serious questions with silly answers. Some people, however, are seriously impacted. The article talks about one girl that came to her mom sobbing, and even one girl who commited suicide from it. It's crazy how much people have to say once their identity is hidden!
According to President Obama we appear to be getting out of our recession. While this is great news that anyone would be happy to hear it also comes with some bad news. We still owe $13 trillion to other countries and there is only one way to pay it off: more taxes. We do need to pay off our debt, and taxes is a good source of government income but there is only one problem, taxes suck. To add to the fact that we are $13 trillion in debt we also passed a new health care bill. That means even more taxes on top of the taxes that we are going to pay to lower our debt. This is really disappointing but if there is one bright side to this it is that maybe by the time my grand children die our country won't be in debt.
China and the U.S. have agreed to begin discussing human rights issues in both the U.S. and China. However, as human rights seem to be low on the list of American priorities in our own backyard, it seems these discussions are focused primarity on the issues in China. While I applaud any attempt to improve global human rights, I recognize this as an incredibly volatile, delicate situation and I wonder if perhaps the U.S. is not the best country to handle such a discussions. I feel it would perhaps be better to bring in a more neutral country where toes are less likely to be stepped on and personal pride less likely triggered.
Well must I just say, wow. The EPA has administered a new limit on greenhouse gases. I am very glad that they have done so, because major industries may not realize what state we are at in the global warming issue. Senator John Kerry who sponsors the climate bill, warned “Today we went from ‘wake-up call’ to ‘last call,’ ”. I very much agree with this as how we have progressed in a short manner of time from a wake up call to the last call. What I am shocked about though is why Mrs. Murkowski has said that they plan to strip the EPA of their power to pass greenhouse gas limitations. If the government wont personally do it without a specific organization, then who will? All of this will skyrocket downwards if that power is taken away from the EPA. Sure it may not be economically sufficient, an ever increasing problem with our shaky economical issues, but it is something that should be dealed with to better the lives' of our children and their children.
This is about classes that are being offered to learn how to help clean up the oil spill. I think this is a good idea. We can get volunteers involved. I think that some of it is overkill though. I think to clean up this spill we will need every man we can get. This is one way to get more people, but not the only way.
This article talks about the latest trend in social networking sites called Formspring. It's a website where users can make an account and then random people can go and ask them random questions. Many people take this anonymity and utilize it to say mean things to the formspring owner. People get it because it's interesting at first to see what people want to ask you, but after awhile people are just rude on there. This website has caused a lot of people to become self-conscious and feel bullied. Nothing good comes out of it. The article says that the trend is slowly dying out though, which I can personally account for because I've seen a lot of my friends delete them recently.
Over the past two or three months the articles about teenaged suicides have become more popular - some caused by cyberbullying, others caused by physical bullying, or a combination of both. This girl who committed suicide was apparently cyberbullied by friends at her school via Facebook. Honestly, I'm really disgusted with this news A.) news of the bullying. B.) Done via Facebook. It's really sad how people have nothing better to do than tease other innocent (most of the time) people. It happens everywhere and it's seriously pathetic. The worst thing I think is people hear about these articles and say "Oh my goodness that's horrible!" etc etc, and then when they see someone who seems "freakish" they instantly start snickering and talking about them. People need to take a look at the big picture and grow up.
On Monday, Obama nominated Elena Kagan to fill the gap in the Supreme Court left by John Paul Stevens. Kagan, a graduate from Harvard, was originally considered for Sotomayor’s position, and thus the president had it easy when asked to choose another. I believe the Senate will definitely approve her nomination; however, there will of course be disputes in the beginning. The Republicans will always try to block out a democratic choice, or as Patrick Leahy put it, Obama “could nominate Moses the lawgiver" and would still be given a rough time by Republicans. Overall, I believe she is perfect for the seat; she was even picked by Clinton beforehand. I think Democrats, and Obama, know what they are doing.
This article is about calculating the flow of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Standard estimates are at about 5,000 barrels or 210,000 gallons a day. It turns out that more than this may be spilling daily. What really disgusts me about this situation is summed up in this quote from the article: "Since this accident has shattered the illusion that deep-sea oil drilling is immune to spills, they said, this one is likely to become the touchstone in planning a future response." Okay, the illusion has been shattered. Wouldn't this suggest that the logical solution is to stop deep-sea oil drilling, rather than to have some plan worked out for next time this happens? As long as we are operating under this attitude, there will continue to be "next times." We need to focus on switching to renewable fuel sources that do not have such a potential to harm our planet. Not only are fuels like oil contributing to global warming when burned, but they can also cause disasters such as this one. Who knows how many hundreds or thousands of kilometers of aquatic habitat is being defiled and destroyed by this oil spill?
I think that it is great that there is now a class on how to help with the oil spill and any oil spill in the future. It really shows how much people care and that they are willing to help. If enough people sign up for this class and actually go out and do what they can for the oil spill then things may get better. The class is four hours long but it teaches you everything that you need to know about what to do and how to help. I think that it is a great idea to teach people what to do because I know that many of them would love to help.
This article is about the recent statements and activities of our president Obama. He recently stated, what most people already know, that more hard choices are coming up again. With the US debt countinuing to increase, the president has decided to cut back on other spending. While i think this is a good idea, it would have helped a little while ago when all theose projects were being funding by our country. On the contrary, it is good to see that the president recently went to see the victims of the plane crash personly last year.
The article I read this week was about a bus that got electrocuted in India and electrocuted 28 people. What happened was people were on and getting off the bus when an overhead cable fell on the bus. I think this is a total fluke accident and I am surprised it happened. The people that got electrocuted were wedding guests. Twenty three women died, three men, and two children. Five people jumped to safety and suffered minor injuries, they said the bus driver was okay.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051305032.html This article talks about the man helped the man who tried to bomb Times square (Faisal Shahzad was the bomber) getting arrested. The suspect keeps on saying that he was basically working for the Taliban and that he acted as the bomber's accomplice, but the government needs more proof. The main reason for the government's skepticism is that the two stories that the suspects give have inconsistancies. The article does point out a good point though. Because the general story is true, but it's the details that are different, it is likely that they are telling the truth as they remember it, and/or they're exagerating some of the fact. 3 other people were also arrested for funneling money to Faisal Shahzad. Because the only things really linking the attack to the Taliban are the stories from the two men, nothing "conclusive" can be determined.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6430AR20100515?type=domesticNews This article is about how Obama reacts to the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico. First, it gives some background information. The plan to make a giant dome to cover up the oil spill and keep it contained failed because of frozen hydrocarbons. Now, they are going to use a riser insertion tool. It's basically a bit tube that undersea robots are going to install. It funnels the oil to the surface of the ocean. Unfortunately, that's only a short term solution. It will take around 90 days to permanently cap the leak. Obama is mad that the oil companies are trying to pin the blame on each other. BP, Halliburton and Transocean Ltd. were all companies involved in the spill, but none of them are taking the responsibility, choosing instead to blame each other. Obama also wants Minerals Management Service to be reviewed because they are in charge of directing off-shore drilling.
This article talks about an attempt to recreate the 1947 Doll Experiment, where children are shown a white doll and an African-American doll and asked a variety of questions related to race. In this study, kids are shown pictures of cartoon characters of varying skin tones from white to dark and asked questions such as "identify the dumb doll." It turns out that even though it has been decades since our steps toward desegregation, children, both white and African American, still have what is known as "white bias." Children are extremely sensitive to stereotypes, and this shows that we need to be more careful about the information we relay to children. Even though it has been years since we claimed to have eradicated racism, it is evident that there still is racial stereotypes, and there needs to be something done about it.
This makes me very upset. In an interview with a British newspaper a chief executive of BP stated that the oil spill was "relatively tiny" compared to the "very big ocean". This implies that the disaster is no big deal. "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. "The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume," he said. In regards to the fact that this could be the worst ecological disaster in american history he was quoted as saying "We will fix it. I guarantee it. The only question is we do not know when." This does not give me much confidence in British Petroleum and their cleanup efforts. The spill has massive ecological implications and BP executives are just trying to shove it off. This is wrong and I hope that this spill is corrected quickly.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/16/michigan.police.child/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn I think it's horrible that police are making mistakes like this, even though the report on what happened isn't very clear. It's also very sad that an innocent girl would be shot because there was a murderer hiding out in her house. It's good that the police force is expressing their deep sadness over what has happened, and I think it will help her parents cope with what happened a lot better. The only good thing that came out of this whole thing was that the criminal was caught, but I don't think it was worth the life of a 7 year old girl.
Recently there was a terrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. About 210,000 gallons of oil spilled out everyday. There were many worries of whether or not it would reach land. Luckily they have found a way to prevent more oil from spilling out. A ship with a tube will pump most of the oil into it and prevent it from getting more oil into the ocean. This is a great idea. Oil spills are so sad because so many animals are affected. Many people don't consider this to be much of a tragedy because they aren't personally affected but so many animals are. Many animals die from oil poisoning during an oil spill.
In the last year a new website known as formspring has grabbed the young teenagers attention nationwide. It is a website where people can ask other people question without identifying themselves. It is known for its harsh comments and questions. Many teens think it is a way to ask real questions and do not have the guts to ask in person. I think it is sad that teenagers can be so mean and make harsh comments.
This story has made me that much more depressed. The oil is going to hit the gulf stream soon, and BP is having a hard enough time cleaning up the oil as it is. The upcoming hurricane season is going to complicate this situation a hundred times over. It will not only spread the oil even further out to sea, and it will also spread it inland. Maybe the oil will evaporate and become part of the rain?? Probably not, but still. This oil spill is not only causing environmental beyond my own imagination, but I have a feeling that it is also going to have a lasting affect on the economy, especially the auto industry. But who really knows. Only time will tell.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/13/obama.main.street/index.html
ReplyDeleteIt think it's very good that we finally seem to be coming out of the recession. It's unfortunate that we're not out of it yet but it's heartening to know that the worst is probably over. I think that it's really good that Obama is willing to make the difficult choices required to help out our country, regardless of the fact that people may not appreciate what is being done at the time. I think that he has really good ideas for what should be done and he is not scared to do those things. I also think that it was a great idea to visit some of the country's poorer areas. It might not be a huge thing but it's a step in the right direction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/06formspring.html?scp=1&sq=formspring.me&st=cse
ReplyDeleteRecently, many teens have gotten involved with using a website called Formspring. It's a site where you make a profile and people can ask you questions anonymously, which you then answer and post to your page. Teenagers are using this website to send hurtful messages to people without revealing their identity. Many of these comments are very sexual. Despite the terrible things that people are using this site to say, twenty eight million people use it. A lot of these users aren't greatly affected by Formspring; they don't let people's rude statements get to them and they deflect serious questions with silly answers. Some people, however, are seriously impacted. The article talks about one girl that came to her mom sobbing, and even one girl who commited suicide from it. It's crazy how much people have to say once their identity is hidden!
-Bailey Ethridge
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/13/obama.main.street/index.html
ReplyDeleteAccording to President Obama we appear to be getting out of our recession. While this is great news that anyone would be happy to hear it also comes with some bad news. We still owe $13 trillion to other countries and there is only one way to pay it off: more taxes. We do need to pay off our debt, and taxes is a good source of government income but there is only one problem, taxes suck. To add to the fact that we are $13 trillion in debt we also passed a new health care bill. That means even more taxes on top of the taxes that we are going to pay to lower our debt. This is really disappointing but if there is one bright side to this it is that maybe by the time my grand children die our country won't be in debt.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gaucWgfCTtDtYbZ6VRnnoq4CthmwD9FM6RGG0
ReplyDeleteChina and the U.S. have agreed to begin discussing human rights issues in both the U.S. and China. However, as human rights seem to be low on the list of American priorities in our own backyard, it seems these discussions are focused primarity on the issues in China. While I applaud any attempt to improve global human rights, I recognize this as an incredibly volatile, delicate situation and I wonder if perhaps the U.S. is not the best country to handle such a discussions. I feel it would perhaps be better to bring in a more neutral country where toes are less likely to be stepped on and personal pride less likely triggered.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/science/earth/14permit.html?ref=science
ReplyDeleteWell must I just say, wow. The EPA has administered a new limit on greenhouse gases. I am very glad that they have done so, because major industries may not realize what state we are at in the global warming issue. Senator John Kerry who sponsors the climate bill, warned “Today we went from ‘wake-up call’ to ‘last call,’ ”. I very much agree with this as how we have progressed in a short manner of time from a wake up call to the last call. What I am shocked about though is why Mrs. Murkowski has said that they plan to strip the EPA of their power to pass greenhouse gas limitations. If the government wont personally do it without a specific organization, then who will? All of this will skyrocket downwards if that power is taken away from the EPA. Sure it may not be economically sufficient, an ever increasing problem with our shaky economical issues, but it is something that should be dealed with to better the lives' of our children and their children.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-443491?hpt=Sbin
ReplyDeleteThis is about classes that are being offered to learn how to help clean up the oil spill. I think this is a good idea. We can get volunteers involved. I think that some of it is overkill though. I think to clean up this spill we will need every man we can get. This is one way to get more people, but not the only way.
-Glenn Floyd
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/06formspring.html?scp=1&sq=formspring.me&st=cse
ReplyDeleteThis article talks about the latest trend in social networking sites called Formspring. It's a website where users can make an account and then random people can go and ask them random questions. Many people take this anonymity and utilize it to say mean things to the formspring owner. People get it because it's interesting at first to see what people want to ask you, but after awhile people are just rude on there. This website has caused a lot of people to become self-conscious and feel bullied. Nothing good comes out of it. The article says that the trend is slowly dying out though, which I can personally account for because I've seen a lot of my friends delete them recently.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37140455/ns/us_news-life/
ReplyDeleteOver the past two or three months the articles about teenaged suicides have become more popular - some caused by cyberbullying, others caused by physical bullying, or a combination of both. This girl who committed suicide was apparently cyberbullied by friends at her school via Facebook. Honestly, I'm really disgusted with this news A.) news of the bullying.
B.) Done via Facebook.
It's really sad how people have nothing better to do than tease other innocent (most of the time) people. It happens everywhere and it's seriously pathetic. The worst thing I think is people hear about these articles and say "Oh my goodness that's horrible!" etc etc, and then when they see someone who seems "freakish" they instantly start snickering and talking about them. People need to take a look at the big picture and grow up.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/10/scotus.kagan/index.html
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, Obama nominated Elena Kagan to fill the gap in the Supreme Court left by John Paul Stevens. Kagan, a graduate from Harvard, was originally considered for Sotomayor’s position, and thus the president had it easy when asked to choose another. I believe the Senate will definitely approve her nomination; however, there will of course be disputes in the beginning. The Republicans will always try to block out a democratic choice, or as Patrick Leahy put it, Obama “could nominate Moses the lawgiver" and would still be given a rough time by Republicans. Overall, I believe she is perfect for the seat; she was even picked by Clinton beforehand. I think Democrats, and Obama, know what they are doing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14oil.html?hp
ReplyDeleteThis article is about calculating the flow of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Standard estimates are at about 5,000 barrels or 210,000 gallons a day. It turns out that more than this may be spilling daily. What really disgusts me about this situation is summed up in this quote from the article: "Since this accident has shattered the illusion that deep-sea oil drilling is immune to spills, they said, this one is likely to become the touchstone in planning a future response." Okay, the illusion has been shattered. Wouldn't this suggest that the logical solution is to stop deep-sea oil drilling, rather than to have some plan worked out for next time this happens? As long as we are operating under this attitude, there will continue to be "next times." We need to focus on switching to renewable fuel sources that do not have such a potential to harm our planet. Not only are fuels like oil contributing to global warming when burned, but they can also cause disasters such as this one. Who knows how many hundreds or thousands of kilometers of aquatic habitat is being defiled and destroyed by this oil spill?
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-443491
ReplyDeleteI think that it is great that there is now a class on how to help with the oil spill and any oil spill in the future. It really shows how much people care and that they are willing to help. If enough people sign up for this class and actually go out and do what they can for the oil spill then things may get better. The class is four hours long but it teaches you everything that you need to know about what to do and how to help. I think that it is a great idea to teach people what to do because I know that many of them would love to help.
-Katelyn
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/13/obama.main.street/index.html?hpt=Sbin
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the recent statements and activities of our president Obama. He recently stated, what most people already know, that more hard choices are coming up again. With the US debt countinuing to increase, the president has decided to cut back on other spending. While i think this is a good idea, it would have helped a little while ago when all theose projects were being funding by our country. On the contrary, it is good to see that the president recently went to see the victims of the plane crash personly last year.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/14/28-electrocuted-in-india-on-bus-enroute-to-wedding/?hpt=T2
ReplyDeleteThe article I read this week was about a bus that got electrocuted in India and electrocuted 28 people. What happened was people were on and getting off the bus when an overhead cable fell on the bus. I think this is a total fluke accident and I am surprised it happened. The people that got electrocuted were wedding guests. Twenty three women died, three men, and two children. Five people jumped to safety and suffered minor injuries, they said the bus driver was okay.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051305032.html
ReplyDeleteThis article talks about the man helped the man who tried to bomb Times square (Faisal Shahzad was the bomber) getting arrested. The suspect keeps on saying that he was basically working for the Taliban and that he acted as the bomber's accomplice, but the government needs more proof. The main reason for the government's skepticism is that the two stories that the suspects give have inconsistancies. The article does point out a good point though. Because the general story is true, but it's the details that are different, it is likely that they are telling the truth as they remember it, and/or they're exagerating some of the fact. 3 other people were also arrested for funneling money to Faisal Shahzad. Because the only things really linking the attack to the Taliban are the stories from the two men, nothing "conclusive" can be determined.
Jamie Chen
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6430AR20100515?type=domesticNews
ReplyDeleteThis article is about how Obama reacts to the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico. First, it gives some background information. The plan to make a giant dome to cover up the oil spill and keep it contained failed because of frozen hydrocarbons. Now, they are going to use a riser insertion tool. It's basically a bit tube that undersea robots are going to install. It funnels the oil to the surface of the ocean. Unfortunately, that's only a short term solution. It will take around 90 days to permanently cap the leak. Obama is mad that the oil companies are trying to pin the blame on each other. BP, Halliburton and Transocean Ltd. were all companies involved in the spill, but none of them are taking the responsibility, choosing instead to blame each other. Obama also wants Minerals Management Service to be reviewed because they are in charge of directing off-shore drilling.
Jamie Chen
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/13/doll.study/index.html?hpt=C2
ReplyDeleteThis article talks about an attempt to recreate the 1947 Doll Experiment, where children are shown a white doll and an African-American doll and asked a variety of questions related to race. In this study, kids are shown pictures of cartoon characters of varying skin tones from white to dark and asked questions such as "identify the dumb doll." It turns out that even though it has been decades since our steps toward desegregation, children, both white and African American, still have what is known as "white bias." Children are extremely sensitive to stereotypes, and this shows that we need to be more careful about the information we relay to children. Even though it has been years since we claimed to have eradicated racism, it is evident that there still is racial stereotypes, and there needs to be something done about it.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/14/bp-exec-gulf-mexico-relatively-tiny-compared-big-ocean/
ReplyDeleteThis makes me very upset. In an interview with a British newspaper a chief executive of BP stated that the oil spill was "relatively tiny" compared to the "very big ocean". This implies that the disaster is no big deal. "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. "The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume," he said. In regards to the fact that this could be the worst ecological disaster in american history he was quoted as saying "We will fix it. I guarantee it. The only question is we do not know when." This does not give me much confidence in British Petroleum and their cleanup efforts. The spill has massive ecological implications and BP executives are just trying to shove it off. This is wrong and I hope that this spill is corrected quickly.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/16/michigan.police.child/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn
ReplyDeleteI think it's horrible that police are making mistakes like this, even though the report on what happened isn't very clear. It's also very sad that an innocent girl would be shot because there was a murderer hiding out in her house. It's good that the police force is expressing their deep sadness over what has happened, and I think it will help her parents cope with what happened a lot better. The only good thing that came out of this whole thing was that the criminal was caught, but I don't think it was worth the life of a 7 year old girl.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/16/gulf.oil.spill/index.html
ReplyDeleteRecently there was a terrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. About 210,000 gallons of oil spilled out everyday. There were many worries of whether or not it would reach land. Luckily they have found a way to prevent more oil from spilling out. A ship with a tube will pump most of the oil into it and prevent it from getting more oil into the ocean. This is a great idea. Oil spills are so sad because so many animals are affected. Many people don't consider this to be much of a tragedy because they aren't personally affected but so many animals are. Many animals die from oil poisoning during an oil spill.
-Sophie Szentes
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/06formspring.html?scp=1&sq=formspring.me&st=cse
ReplyDeleteIn the last year a new website known as formspring has grabbed the young teenagers attention nationwide. It is a website where people can ask other people question without identifying themselves. It is known for its harsh comments and questions. Many teens think it is a way to ask real questions and do not have the guts to ask in person. I think it is sad that teenagers can be so mean and make harsh comments.
Ella McBryde
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/27/hurricane.season.worries/index.html?hpt=T1
ReplyDeleteThis story has made me that much more depressed. The oil is going to hit the gulf stream soon, and BP is having a hard enough time cleaning up the oil as it is. The upcoming hurricane season is going to complicate this situation a hundred times over. It will not only spread the oil even further out to sea, and it will also spread it inland. Maybe the oil will evaporate and become part of the rain?? Probably not, but still. This oil spill is not only causing environmental beyond my own imagination, but I have a feeling that it is also going to have a lasting affect on the economy, especially the auto industry. But who really knows. Only time will tell.