Landmark Healthcare Bill Passes

Today, the House of Representatives made history as it passed the Healthcare bill into law with a vote of 219 to 212.

To pass the bill, House Democrats made a deal with abortion opponents within their party that an executive order would be given restricting taxpayer dollars from funding abortion. This deal gave the Democrats the final votes they needed. The law requires that insurance companies give aid to all, even those with preexisting conditions, and extends healthcare to 32 million currently uninsured people. The latter significantly reduces rising healthcare costs and will eventually reduce federal budget deficits. The bill also adds 16 million people to Medicaid rolls and subsidizes private coverage to low to middle-income people, at a cost of $938 billion over 10 years. This cost will be offset by significant reductions in Medicare and new taxes and fees on businesses and affluent americans.

What are your opinions / outlooks on the law? Does it reach far enough, or does it fall short? Additionally, the vote took place along party lines, with no Republicans voting for the bill and about 35 Democrats voting against it as well. Why do you think there is such a deep divide between parties? Looking to the future, could the success of the bill determine the continuing success of either party?

Democrats had control of the health care votes

President Obama and House Democrats had won the health care votes. The House had a long argument and at the end voted the bill to have coverage of 32 million Americans who do not have insurance. They banned insurers to deny coverage for people because of their medical condition records and they estimate a $138 billion cut in deficits over ten years. The bill that cleared Senate won at the House with 219-212. The article says that the president had 18 days of traveling to four states and lobbying to more than 60 lawmakers. This is the first time that Americans would be required to buy insurance and have penalties if they did not. Most of the money in the bill would be to families at incomes of up to $88,000 a year to have it pay for their premiums.The insurance companies cannot have lifetime dollar limits on not giving coverage to children because of their medical conditions of the past or cancel policies when a policyholder became sick. Now it is said that parents could keep children up to 26 instead of 23 on family insurance plans. To pay for the changes in the health care there would be about $400 billion higher taxes in the next ten years and about half of it is on people with incomes over $200, 000 and couples over $250, 000. The bill also "cut more than $500 billion from planned payments to hospitals, nursing homes, hospice and other providers that treat Medicare patients."

This is definitely could be a huge change to the American people. Depending on if you need health care or your income this bill could benefit or vice versa. Now many people who cannot healthcare could have it and some would have to pay more. This is a bill that I believe could help President Obama greatly as this is a major bill that he and the Democrats successfully got through House. Do you think the health care bill will benefit you or not?

Demise of coral, salamander show impact of Web

The internet...could it really be one of the "greatest threats to rare species" in the world?

According to CITES (the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), this seemingly far fetched thought is now quite a reality.

By access of the internet, many poachers and black market venders are able to branch out their clientele base to other parts of the world that were previously unaccessable to them. According to a survery, over 7,000 illegal animal species were traded online over the course of a mere three months. Ebay was also found to be a large sponsor of online ivory trading.

To combat this devistating issue, CITES has planned out an e-commerce proposal that will hopefully put an end to this.

I was surprised when I read the title to this, and was shocked after reading the article itself. I was dissapointed that there wasn't any information about how I could help out CITES, but I'm sure if I researched the subject more I would find ways.

Toyota shareholders sue over fallen stock price

Toyota shareholders are outraged over the fallen stock price of this automaker. These shareholders are heading to court with lawsuits claiming that Toyota's executives purposely misled investors and the public about seriousness of the accelerator problems in millions of its vehicles.

These shareholder cases are only part of many potentially costly lawsuits against Toyota over the acceleration issue, including those filed by crash victims and their families. Many people also argue that their vehicles are worth a lot less because of the recalls to the vehicles.

The lawsuits argue that the top company executives have known for nearly a decade that faulty electronic throttle controls caused vehicles to sometimes careen wildly out of control but covered it up to protect the company's reputation for safety, and also its stock price.

Even though the shareholders and lawsuits seem to have good arguments, Ford won a recent case over investors.

'In one of the best-known recent auto product liability cases, Ford prevailed over investors who claimed the company made misleading statements about the safety of the popular Explorer sport utility vehicle prior to a massive tire recall prompted by a series of rollover crashes. A federal judge ruled in December 2001 that although some of the company statements amounted to "corporate puffery," Ford could not accurately foresee the impact of the recall when the statements were made."

What do you think the ruling will be when the lawsuits against Toyota are taken to court? It looks like Toyota is in deep doodoo. Even if they do win their case, I'm sure Toyota's reputation will go down the drain.

Media Effects on the Public

According to Doris Graber, a professor at the University of Chicago, "People who are exposed to the mass media already possess a fund of knowledge and attitudes which they bring to bear on new information. Since we do not know precisely what this information is, nor the rules by which it is combined with incoming information, we cannot pinpoint the exact contribution which mass media make to the individual's cognitions, feelings, and actions"

I agree, people do approach the news with their preexisting views in mind, criticizing some bits of information and soaking up others like a sponge. I do believe, however, that they system is much more straightforward than Graber makes it sound.

It is obvious that these effects exist - just take a look at the type of political reporting done around elections. The media can and will sway voters, but just with different levels of intensity and effectiveness. Contrary to Graber's statement that there are no rules, independents and voters who are undecided are much more likely to be swayed one way or another by the media than voters with strong political beliefs on either end of the spectrum. Stated simply, the weaker your political convictions, the more vulnerable you are to media effects.

There is a hiccup, though, in the system. The most apparent way to measure the media's effects on "individual's cognitions, feelings, and actions" is to measure the public's response to certain news reports - but how do we measure the public's response other than through media reporting? This presents a conflict of interest in which Graber is absolutely right about the difficulty of measuring media's effect on the public. The most viable solution to this problem would be to collect data through polls, and measure media effects statistically. In this paper, Larry Bartels, a professor of politics, communications, and public affairs at Princeton does just that. Take a look.

Unfair judge with too much power?

As I was reading the news I stumbled across this article on the daily news. A judge in Hobart Australia allowed this sex offender to see his children on alternate weekends.
I think this is just flat out wrong. I think the children should be cared by their relatives instead. As said "Decisions in the Family Court are supposed to be about the best interests of the child."
Hopefully the children are safe. Do you think the judge did the right ruling to allow the father to be with his children or not?

With cheap food imports, Haiti can't feed itself

After the earthquake in Haiti smashed markets, collapsed warehouses/buildings, and left more than 2.5 million people without enough to eat, the U.S. has aided the victims in Haiti with food, especially rice. Inexpensive imports, especially rice from the U.S. has destroyed local agriculture and left Haiti unable to feed themselves. As the U.S. has been importing cheap rice and other foods to Haiti, it has resulted in a lack of investment in Haitian farming. Furthermore, this has devastated farmers because they are unable to produce agriculture. For the Haitians, "near-total dependence on imported foods has been a disaster. Haiti's government is also asking for 722 million for agriculture to fix the estimated 31 million of quake damage to agriculture, but mainly for projects restoring Haiti's watersheds to improve irrigation and infrastructure.

The policies stated earlier were led by Bill Clinton. He publicly apologized this month for the policies that destroyed Haiti's rice production. He stated, "I had to live every everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else." However, now Clinton and Bush are leading U.S. fundraising for Haiti.

Wow. I never knew that sending food, such as rice to a country in need would actually create negative effects, but now I understand how the importing of food into Haiti has devastated farmers and their agriculture. I also like how Clinton apologized for his mistake, and is now fixing it and doing more to help Haiti.

U.S., Russia will sign nuclear treaty in April

This article says that Russia and The U.S. will sign a new nuclear disarmament treaty in early April inthe Prague. Russian and US negotiators have been in intense talks to agree a successor to the 1991 START treaty,which expired in December. President Obama and Russian President Medvedev agreed last July that the new treaty should reduce the number of warheads on either side to between 1,500 and 1,675. Currently, the US has some 2,200 nuclear warheads, where as Russia has about 3,000. Furthermore, the new treaty also acknowledged a link with the planned US missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe.

I think this is a great idea to create a nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia. I think nuclear warheads are scary because if one country were to release their warheads on another country, it would create a domino affect. I do not want to imagine what would happen to everybody if the world began releasing all their nuclear missiles and weapons on each other. I'm glad that Obama and the Russian president are working to reduce the number of warheads.

She's All Yours...

I thought that this was hilarious.

Gay Men and Lesbians Barred From Some Clinical Trials

Many gay and lesbian couples are being denied participation in medical studies and research. The exact reasoning for this discrimination is unsure, but the New England Journal of Medicine stated that researchers need to be careful "when they develop exclusion criteria that are based on sexual orientation.”

Not only are they being refused from studies about sexual disorders, but they are being denied from studies about other disorders such as ADHD.

Although this is one of the least threatening issues that the GLBT community is facing right now, it is still perturbing that people are discriminating without justification.

Fashion Feels Fur’s Warm Embrace

As you may have heard, the United States figure skater Johnny Weir was pressured by fans into changing his fur costume for the Vancouver Olympics last month.

Unfortunately, it seems that the fashion world is not as concerned with being politically correct. In the New York fashion show, Oscar de la Renta included fox cuffs, Michael Kors featured Cayote Capes, and D&G featured fox mukluks.

Although fur is said to give "a richness in texture", the methods used to collect the fur are cruel, and, unfortunately unavoidable. Many animals are skinned alive and left to die painfully on the floor of factories.

Despite PETA's drastic efforts to reduce the usage of fur in high-fashion, it persists. Tossing dead raccoons and throwing tofu pies at people may be at the far end of the spectrum, but I feel that it is a neccessary evil in order to put a stop to the fur trade industry.

Because many designers may still be unwilling to relinquish the sales of their sometimes $30,000 fur jackets, the message needs to be made very clear to the fashion industry that fur will no longer be tolerated.

How to Report the News

In this hilarious video, Charlie Brooker pokes fun at how TV reporters report the news.

Makes you wonder - have we really become such a soundbite society?

Are school suspensions constitutional?

With the increasing popularity of zero-tolerance policies, there has been an ongoing debate about the constitutionality of school suspensions. Is denying students schooling a violation of their constitutional right to an education? The North Carolina Supreme Court will decide on Monday.

The case involves two North Carolina sophomore girls who got in a fight and were suspended for a semester. As additional punishment, the girls were told they could not attend the county's alternative school for troubled students and were denied aid to study at home. But do these actions really serve their purpose? Does banning these girls from school really make the school and community safer and serve as a proper punishment for their actions? Or is the effect just the opposite- do suspensions send already troubled students deeper into academic failure and dropping out?

Some school districts are revising their methods, and are providing behavioral counseling and mediation to wrongdoers as part of the suspensions. The North Carolina high school district involved in the case, though, stated that severe budget cuts required it to enforce its strict policy. "Are you going to take money from teaching in order to pay for home schooling and conflict resolution because of a child's misbehavior?" said Robert Belcher, chairman of the school board.

Are suspensions proper punishment for wrongdoers? Or do they send the wrong message that education is a privilege, and not a right? Do they truly confront the problem at hand? And the ultimate question: are they constitutional? Keep your eyes and ears open for the court's decision on Monday.

Graduation rate disparities between whites and Hispanics

A recent study by the American Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit research organization, found that the college graduation rates of Hispanic students continues to lag behind those of white students, no matter how selective the college. This report complements an earlier study done by the Pew Hispanic Center that found that only 16% of Latino high school graduates earned a degree by age 29, compared with 37% of non-Hispanic whites and 21% of African-Americans.

There are a variety of reasons for this notable discrepancy. Culture has a huge role: many Hispanics are very family-oriented, and social ties to home may restrict some students from completing their education. Language may act as a barrier as well. Additionally, university administrators have described whites as generally being "better prepared academically and financially for college."

Applying this research to the changing demographics of the U.S., where Hispanics comprise the nation's largest minority (and probably its fastest-growing, too), it is essential to close the gap between Hispanic graduation rates and those of whites. Affirmative action may be a viable solution, along with providing more financial aid to Hispanic families and devoting more attention and funds to our nation's community colleges. What do you guys think? What are some of the reasons this discrepancy exists, and how can we close the gap?

Government internet control?

The President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez wants to control the internet. He wanted regulation of the Internet and said a website "falsely reported the murder of one of his ministers." Chavez said "The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms." The President Hugo Chavez is angry with the gossip website Noticierodigital that falsely wrote that Diosdado Cabello was assassinated. Diosdado Cabello is a senior minister and close helper of the president. The president says that the website falsely kept information online for two days. There are websites like Facebook and Twitter where many people use for social networking. These websites are suppose to be very popular for people against Venezuela's current government and they use it to organize protests and other events. The article says that Chavez has complained that people use these sites to "spread unfounded rumors." People who are aginst Chavez are afraid he will have the government oversight the internet like other countries. Some countries that do this are Cuba, China, and Iran.

I think this is just flat out invasion of privacy. I personally believe that it is outrageous that governments would want to control what people do on the internet. Hopefully Chavez will not try to start monitoring the web and people could be free to say what they want online. Do you think the government should be allowed to monitor what you do online because a website made a mistake on their news?

The world's only immortal animal

This is a really short article, but I thought it was pretty interesting. I never knew the "fountain of youth" really existed. This is one unique jellyfish. However, this immortal jellyfish may cause environmental problems. Because they do not die, there is a high chance that they may overpopulate in the oceans. Maybe they might even become invasive species in the future.

Experts debate dangers of wearing popular sheepskin boots

So I was on Yahoo!'s homepage the other day and I ran across this article about Uggs. I thought it would be really interesting to post here, because SOOO many people wear these boots. I've always imagined how comfortable Ugg boots were, but I never knew that they could actually be bad for you. In the article, Dr. Drysdale stated that people's feet are slipping around inside the shoe and "with each step, the force falls towards the inside of the foot and the feet splay. This flattens the arch and makes it drop. The result can be significant problems with the foot, the ankle, and ultimately, the hip." I found this pretty shocking. However, I remember seeing a girl walking around Aragon one day with Uggs. Her foot wasn't even on the sole of the boot anymore! She was stepping on the side of the boot, as it bent to the right each time she took a step. I wondered how she was walking like that. I guess that is one of the examples of how the boot can damage your feet. Ultimately, the experts in the article state that Ugg boots, whether real or fake, just don't provide enough support for the feet. What do you guys think about this?

It's Census Time!

Guess what arrived in my mailbox a few days ago: that's right, the official 2010 U.S. Census! Beginning Monday, more than 130 million U.S. census forms began arriving in people's mailboxes nationwide. This year's census includes only 10 questions, one of the shortest in our nation's history, in an effort to increase the rate of return. Question topics include: age, race, gender, household size, homeownership, and Hispanic ethnicity.

Although many don't fill out the census form due to laziness, some Americans actively reject the census because they feel it breaches their privacy. This belief is unwarranted, though. Federal law protects your privacy and keeps your answers confidential; law enforcement, tax collection agencies, and court cannot access any of the information. In fact, census data only becomes public after 72 years, for historical research reasons.

Filling out the census means building a representative democracy. Census results are used to decide the number of representatives each state has in the U.S. Congress, and also to draw electoral districts and allocate federal and state funds. By mailing that form, you are sending lawmakers a message that you want to be counted. A government is meant to serve its people, but who are those people? This is what the census defines, and it is up to us to make that definition accurate. If the definition is distorted, our government will be too, and we will only have ourselves to blame. So fill out those forms and mail them in. You'll be glad you did.

Obama 'Birthers' could finally getting ignored

There are numerous people who are requesting proofs that President Obama was actually born in Hawaii. The state House Judiciary Committee heard that a bill permits government officials to ignore people who want the birth certificates. These "birthers" say that President Obama should be ineligible to be a president. If President obama was actually born outside of the United States then he doesn't meet a constitutional requirement for being president. Hawaii Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino says that there are vital records that prove Obama is a natural-born American citizen. Even with these vital records there are still many people who send emails to ask for verification of Obama's birth in Hawaii. There are people who believe this would be a bad rep for Obama by not responding to the requests. "Attorney Peter Fritz asked why the state would pass a law punishing repetitive requests for open records. Instead, the staet could simply say it would only answer each person's question once.

I believe it is pretty annoying how people would ask for President Obama's birth certificate proof more than once. It does take the state's time and resource to answer the questions that people have. I think Attorney Peter Fritz does have a good idea in answering people's questions, but just once and not multiple time.

Fat Women Wants to Break Record

A woman in New Jersey currently weighs just over 600 pounds, but she isn't planning on stopping there. NO, she is going for a record 1,000. She claims "'I'm not hurting anyone'" but it is evident that she is basically killing herself. And although it is her body and she has the choice to do that if she wants, she is effecting others who will be paying for her huge medical bills with their tax money that could be going to things that are actually useful to the rest of us.

The woman quotes "'I love eating and people love watching me eat.'" She wants to gain all this weight in order to be the heaviest woman on earth. To me this looks like she is in it 100% for the attention, and it seems quite sad. Is the opportunity cost of that attention, all the health risks associated with gaining that much weight, really worth it? Well apparently to her it is. The fact that she also thinks it's totally natural and not hurting anyone also demonstrates how naive she is. How could you possibly think with all the medical research out there that is natural?

Michelle Obama is trying to tackle childhood obesity, I think this is a great ambition. However, it seems that maybe remembering the older generation will help things as well. The woman in this article has two kids and a boyfriend. If kids grow up with an example like her they won't know any better, but if positive encouragement begins at home it can only help the situation.

I hope this woman realizes that she isn't receiving attention for any of the right reasons and that she is going to die extremely early due to her awful lifestyle. It is people like her who give America a bad name in terms of our obesity problem, and she is only making the problem worse.

I thought this article was interesting so let me know what you guys think. Click on the title for the full article.

Obama Can Learn From The Past

I found this political cartoon that is not only relevant to what is going on now in our economy, but is also something we learned about in class. Clinton's '92 campaign strategist first said "it's the economy stupid!" In fact, not only did he say it, he made it the main point of their campaign that essentially led Clinton to the presidency. It represented what was really important to the people of the United States. I think the carton is referring to the fact that with all of this health care business Obama has lost track of what it is the people are most concerned about. Maybe he could learn from Clinton's campaign and the famous words of James Carville before the midterm elections.

Mexican Drug Shooting

Security could find no motive for the murder of a U.S. consulate employee and her husband. The two were killed in Mexico, with their 1 year old child in the backseat of their car. The gunmen are suspected to be in a gang linked to the Juarez drug hostel, but again, so far there is no motive for the shooting. President Obama expressed outrage over the murders, and the Mexican President Filipe Calderon promised a swift investigation.
It's unbelievable seeing how out of control the drug war has become. So many U.S. citizens have been killed in the drug war, and civilians in general have increasingly become involved in shootings similar to this one, in turn, making Juarez one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Over 2,500 people have been killed in 2009 alone, and the numbers just keep rising as time goes on. It's disgusting to see so many innocent people negatively affected by this war, take for example the poor child of the two parents killed. I can only hope that the Mexican government (possibly with the help of the U.S.) can quickly put this drug war to an end.

Nomore Turf plans for Golden Gate Park

The San Francisco Planning Department is thinking about an appeal from bird lovers that get rid of their original plans. The original plan was to install new artificial turf and lights on four soccer fields. The Audubon Society calls that "a crucial habitat for birds and other critters."

The Audubon Society and other environmental and groups that are in support of preserving the habitat of the birds want a city to conduct an environmental review of the 8.9 million dollar project. This is an important place with grass because there are not many places in San Francisco that have spaces for the birds to rest and eat. The Audubon Society said that if they disagree with the request they would appeal to the board of Supervisors and sue if it is necessary to get their point across of keeping the grass fields.

Even though there are many birds that need this place there are also soccer players who believe there are not enough fields to play soccer. The four soccer fields in Golden Gate Park are used so much that they have to keep one field closed to let the grass grow back. The new turfs would provide lights that could provide much more soccer playing time, but the Audubon Society, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. want people to shut off lights at night during spring and fall migrations because the light confuses the birds migration. Lynes said, ""We've already seen huge declines in our coastal shorebirds," "We have to do what we can to protect what's left.""

I am torn between two sides and I cannot decide which is better. Being a soccer player I believe the lights let us have so much more time to have soccer fields to play, but at the same time I know it would hurt the birds migratory patterns and I don't want the bird population to decline either. The turf fields are nice, but I still prefer the grass fields even though they are much harder to maintain. I think they could have a compromise and have one or two turf fields, and have the other stay grass. I believe everyone has what they believe is important. The habitat for the birds or having people play a sport they love.

The EPA on Rising Acidity Levels on the West Coast

On Thursday the EPA said it will consider the ways US states can address rising acidity levels in the ocean. This decision was announced in a legal statement with the Center for Biological Diversity, which sued the EPA last year for not requiring the state of Washington to list its coastal waters as impaired by rising acidity levels under the Clean Water Act. In the legal statement the EPA will take public comment on the increasing acidity levels in the ocean, ways states can determine if their water are affected, and how states can limit the pollutants that cause the rise in acidity. Previously, states focused only on acidic levels in streams and lakes under the Clean Water Act and this is the first time the EPA has agreed to consider ocean acidity.
Oceans are becoming more acidic due to rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere that are being absorbed by the water. The changing acidity levels affect many types of marine life, but have a an especially strong effect on anything that grows a shell or hard covering.

Focusing on the ocean is a good shift from focusing only on lakes and streams since ocean pollution is a worldwide problem. It is good the EPA is taking steps to address ocean acidity levels, although I think this should have been done much sooner.

Water and Sewage Systems too expensive to Expensiva to Fix?

Water and sewage systems across the nation have begun to break down. Today, an average of one major water line breaks every two minutes somewhere in the US. On average, in the state of Washington alone, there is one pipe breakage every day. Studies indicate that thousands of water and sewer systems may be too old to function properly and have been ignored by politicians ans residents who are used to paying almost nothing for water delivery and sewage removal. Because of this negligence, thousands of pipes rupture, polluting drinking water supplies and damaging streets and homes.

Many residents are unwilling to pay more for their water supply and sewage systems, even though it may be necessary for proper upkeeping of the systems. George Hawkins of the DC Water and Sewer Authority stated "people pay more for cell phones and cable television than for water. You can go a day without a phone or TV. You can't go a day without water." An EPA study estimated that $335 billion would be needed to maintain the nation's tap water systems in the coming decades. A member of the city council retaliated to rate increases, stating "Subway systems need repairs, and so do roads, but you don’t see fares or tolls skyrocketing. Providing inexpensive, reliable water is a fundamental obligation of government."

I think fixing and maintaining water and sewage pipes is critical for the health of humans and the environment, but how to do so is debatable. Increasing rates would more quickly raise the funds needed to repair and maintain the pipe systems. Is it the governments responsibility to provide inexpensive, reliable water, or should it be the citizens responsibility to pay for it?

House vetoes call to withdraw troops from Afghanistan

The house vetoes an rejects anti-war lawmakers to force the American troops to withdraw from Afghanistan this week. The house vote was not even close with the rejection to be 356-65. Almost all Republicans were against this resolution and are supporting Obama's decision to increase the amount of US troops in Afghanistan from 70,000 to 100,000. The Democratics were against the war, but decided to vote against the withdraw of troops at Afghanistan because they believe it is unrealistic and not the right time. Obama said that he wants to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan starting next year in July 2011.

I believe that the House must feel the importance of keeping troops there and hopefully Afghanistan would have a stable government in a near future. I think almost everyone wants the US troops to come back home as soon as possible, but given how complicated the circumstances are I think it just isn't possible to have them return now. Hopefully they could all start returning by July 2011 like Obama said.

Obama Looks to Improve Education

Obama has proposed a new version of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law: a controversial 41-page proposal that will now circulate through the House and the Senate. The President has big plans to improve the quality of education in this country, and he wants to get started as soon as possible. His new plans include having all students get tested every year in math and English, and additional tests can be implemented in order to track progress as well, in order to see how their education is improving. Obama also plans on making these tests more difficult, as well as reshaping struggling schools, within the next 5 years. The emphasis with this new plan will be put on improvement, as opposed to the pass or fail system that we use today.

Of course there will also be plenty of money associated with this new plan. The schools that show the most improvement will receive the most money in form of a "reward", while struggling schools will be reformed. The money will not be separated equally based on state or any other region. However, states are required to classify their schools into groups, the lowest 5% of the state's schools will be forced to fire many officials and suffer other consequences. The second lowest 5% will be on a "warning" list that means they will be watched closely.

Most teachers are quite opposed to Obama's new plan and some even believe that it puts all the pressure on the teachers without giving them much ability to do anything about it. Many teachers also realize that the money being given to schools (that won't be spread out equally across the nation anyway) won't help the amount of teachers receiving pay cuts or getting laid off. With another group unhappy with Obama's new plans, it leads to the issue of Democrats losing more seats in the upcoming midterm election, since this proposal is unlikely to pass before that election.

I personally don't think this is a particularly good idea. I mean standardize tests is one of the things many people had a problem with regarding the 2002 No Child Left Behind law, well Obama's new plan would only result in more standardize testing. I also don't think the entire attempt at reform will really help those struggling schools; it doesn't seem like throwing out a bunch of teachers and the principle with totally improve the school, as much as it will just unsettle it.

If the proposal isn't passed before this midterm election, which seems likely, and Obama loses more support, which is only natural, it will be interesting to see how this new plan pans out. I'm sure Obama felt like he had to do something in terms of education, but was this really the answer? Could there have really been a better answer? All I know is that I'm sure many of us are glad we will be out of here before these new ideas are put into place.

For more info. click the title to see the article.

Vaccines Linked to Autism?

Nope, not according to federal courts, which ruled that thimerosal, a mercury-derived compound that parents say helped bring on regressive autism in their kids, does in fact not cause autism, a finding that supports scientific consensus. More then 5,000 parents had filed claims with the "vaccines courts," created in 1986 so that individuals cannot sue drug makers for illnesses and injuries caused by vaccinations, seeking damages because they believed their children had developed autism from vaccinations. The three cases that the courts chose to be considered in the hearing were the three strongest cases, making a statement for any other individuals possibly blaming vaccines for their children's autism.

Special Master Denise K.Vowell stated in a decision that "petitioners propose effects from mercury in [vaccines] that do not resemble mercury's known effects in the brain, either behaviorally or at the cellular level."
The US Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of parents who claim that the vaccines were the cause of serious problems with their children. The justices, on Monday, agreed to decide whether drug makers can be sued outside the vaccine court.

This controversy has tainted vaccines and led parents to avoid them; Paul Offit stating "It's very hard to unscare people after you have scared them."

Do you think the vaccines could possibly link to autism? I think more research should go into vaccines and their possible side effects. The vaccine courts may want to affirm government policy more than protect children. As the Coalition for Vaccine Safety states, "Government attorneys defend a government program, using government-funded science, before government judges."

Helping Haiti can hurt them?

After seeing the amount help Haiti has received, some Haitian scholars, natives, and relief workers are starting to believe that this constant aid will cripple Haiti's independence. Ronald Agenor, a Haitian-American, believes that "We're not a country anymore...It doesn't seem like we have a government. We're a place where people go to give money."
I guess you can have too much of a good thing. Although I've never considered this before, I can see where Agenor is coming from. I feel like he seems to have lost a sense of pride, seeing that his country needs help in rebuild itself. But I personally don't think what the world is doing is necessarily a bad thing or will cost Haiti its independence in the future. Yes, it seems as if everyone is doing what they can for this country, but the idea behind it is to get Haiti back on its feet, not to help it forever. Once Haiti demonstrates that there is no need for anymore help, countries will slowly start leaving. Although Haiti will need some more time, I know that they will eventually prove their independence.

New Student Loan Deal

A new deal stuck by Democratic Congressional leaders on Thursday will combine student loans and health care into one legislation, which would allow for both measure to be passed by the Senate on a simple majority vote. Without this deal, the student loan bill would have been unlikely passed because it lacked the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. The bill will allow the government to directly loan to students, ending government payments to private student lenders. It will also expand the Pell grant system. About 8 million of the nations lowest-income students receive Pell grants each year. The maximum Pell grant is set to rise to $5,550 for the 2010-2011 school year and will automatically increase every year according to inflation. Private banks are largely against the bill because it would cut off a longtime stream of revenue.

House Democrats packaged student loans and health care into an expedited budget reconciliation bill to get the votes they needed on health care because the financial aid bill is popular. Senate Democrats control 59 of the votes and only need 50 to approve the bill becuase VP Joe Biden would break the tie. Some Senate Democrats tried to resist packaging student loans with health care, but if Congress does not act soon, millions of students may see their Pell grants cut by 60%.
To see the full article click on the title.

I think eliminating payments to private lenders is smart, especially because $67 billion can be saved by direclty loaning to students instead of going through a private lender. But even with the $67 billion, an increase in students attending college and seeking aid and the weak economy will raise the cost of new Pell grants from $40 billion to $54 billion. Packaging the student loan bill with health care was a good idea because on its own it might collapse.

Artificial Sweeteners and Loud Noices Create Long Term Problems

For the past week in Spanish we have been preparing for the AP test with practice that involved reading articles and hearing pod casts regarding artificial sweeteners and loud noises. I'm sure that we all figured that these things couldn't be too good for us, but did we ever think about how severe the consequences could actually be? Well based on all the information we went over it turns out that things as simple as listening to your ipod and drinking artificially flavored drinks could have some rather harmful permanent effects. Over 50% of teenagers listen to music louder than the recommended volume, and many adults work in places where they encounter loud noises every day. The most evident effect is slight loss of hearing in the long run. Having too many treats that are artificially flavored also have long term health effects on multiple parts of the body.

However, the thing that I found interesting is that there are multiple negative consequences that appear much less obvious. Such as minimizing cardiovascular capabilities, lowering sexual interests, and increasing nerves. Although medical advances have greatly increased our knowledge of the things we do that are unhealthy for us, it's surprising that we continue to take part in many of these activities. People had no idea how bad smoking was for them years ago before they began to see the consequences in others; I wonder if there will be anything like that for our generation. And even though it seems totally unlikely thanks to new advances in medicine, you just never know (just like the surprising consequences of things as basic as listening to music or drinking a soda). I guess as of now the opportunity cost of not drinking the soda or turning up the volume as high as it goes, out ways the consequences.

Who doesn't believe in global warming?

According to the Gallup Social Series Environment poll, 48% of the people polled don't believe in global warming. Gallup believes that less people believe in global warming because "a reflection of the record-breaking snow and cold temperatures of this past winter. Additionally, evidence from last year showed that the issue of global warming was becoming heavily partisan in nature, and it may be that the continuing doubts about global warming put forth by conservatives and others are having an effect". Only a slight majority, 53%, of people believe that global warming is occurring, or will happen in the near future.

It's sad to see that less and less people believe in global warming. The fact is, global warming IS REAL, and we'll start to see the effects get worse and worse as time progresses. The problem is that the changes have been slow yet gradual enough to make a difference, but not a noticeable one. Scientists everywhere have confirmed that the earth's temperature has gradually increased throughout the years, and it's only getting warmer. Unfortunately, with less and less believers, people won't be as interested in fixing this problem as they were once before.
I'd like to know if you guys believe in global warming, or think that this is all make-believe.

Jobless aid

Today the Senate has passed a $149 billion packaged aimed at aiding the jobless by providing unemployment benefits and tax cuts. The unemployed will still receive their benefits and healthcare subsidies until the end of 2010 while businesses will still be exempt from $25 billion worth of taxes. Although unemployment aid does not create new jobs, economists say "it is one of the most cost-effective ways to stimulate the economy because recipients spend the money quickly". Unfortunately, extending these benefits come at a high cost, about $70 billion, but Democrats are making job creation their number one priority.

Although this will cost us a lot now, I know that in the future it will be really beneficial. Unfortunately people want to see progress immediately, but with unemployment so high in the nation, it may take years to bring down the numbers.

National Standards for Education

State governors and state school superintendents proposed new national education standards for grades K-12. The standards, called the "common core state standards," set grade by grade guidelines for teachers to follow in English and math. Forty-eight states, not including Alaska and Texas, participated in making the standards and if a majority of the state adopts them, the standards would replace the locally written ones that are in place now. The NY Times says "adoption of the new standards would set off a vast new effort to rewrite textbooks and standardized test."

The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State Schools started the national standards movement last year, working with English and math experts from the College Board, A.C.T., and Achieve, Inc. Over the next few weeks, education experts are invited to review and comment on the standards before the final versions are published, although some states are already preparing to instate them. In some states, implementing the standards is a simple process that could take as little as three months, while others, such as California, have extremely complicated adoption procedures.

President Obama has expressed his support for the new education standards, stating "Today's system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success mean fourth grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 point lower than students in Wyoming -- and they are getting the same grade." The Obama administration had no part in drafting the standards, but offers a $4 billion incentive for the states that adopt the guidelines.

Click on the title for a link to the Common Core State Standards Initiative website

Im glad there is effort by the states and the Obama administration to highten education, I'm just not sure how efective these new standards will be. Do you think there will actually be a noticeable change in the classroom?

A Good Side to Global Warming?

Recently there has been more talk about the melting Arctic ice caps due to global warming. It turns out that multiple countries have claims on pieces of this land, or ice caps, that is melting away as we speak (or should i say blog). Well I stumbled upon this article that I found really kind of surprising and interesting, the link is in the title. I have never really heard of positive consequences of global warming and melting ice caps, but this article talks about how it would be beneficial for China's economy. The article says that the more open water ways would make it easier, and cheaper, for China to ship all the products it exports.

This article was surprising because I find it odd that anyone would try to justify how global warming could be a good thing in any way. If China actually looks at the melting glaciers and open water ways as a bright side to global warming, they are clearly not looking out for the other few billion people they need to share the earth with. Too bad these waterways will be useless if no one overseas can buy their products because they are too busy spending all their money in medical bills to cure cataracts and cancer, or to relocate their homes on the coast that will be unlivable due to rising sea levels. You're right China, thanks global warming!

Toyota Attempts to Regain Support

So after the Toyota recall that took place a little while ago, the corporation is now in the fast lane to regain the large amount of support that it had prior to the recall (no pun intended). Toyota had previously been one of the most trusted and popular cars in America and once the recall through the company for a loop it became crucial to get things on track without losing too much profit, and or, business. Toyota is still working hard to pick up the pieces and instill trust for their products back into the American public.

Recently we learned about the determinants of demand and this Toyota issue struck me as a great example. Imagine, what would happen to the demand for Toyota vehicles if there is a recall on multiple of their products? Something tells me that the demand will go down. Why? Well because consumer expectations for the cars that had been met in the past, have now been let down and they no longer feel comfortable enough to buy this product that is such a large percent of their income. As Silton likes to say, "economics is everywhere" and this is just one example that stood out to me, so let me know what you guys think.

The Toyota Pruis...

I was looking through some stories online and found a few of these articles about the Prius problems (the link is embedded in the title). Many are speculating that floor mats may be the cause of the numerous amounts of accidents reported. Apparently, these floor mats may get caught onto your pedal, causing the Prius to accelerate. I am personally skeptical of this, and so is Toyota. The Toyota website posted an article against this rumor, which you can read here: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/toyota-consumer-safety-advisory-102572.aspx

What I found to be terrifying (besides the fact that Toyota has already recalled 700,000 of Prius) is the fact that they have also recalled a handful of their other new models. This was taken from the article:

"Other models involved in this previously-announced recall include 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2007-2010 ES 350, 2006-2010 IS 250, and 2006-2010 IS 350. On January 27, 2010, Toyota expanded the campaign to include the 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Venza, 2009-2010 Matrix and 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe."

Sports Analysis, Continued

MIT's Sloan School hosted a "sports analytics" conference at which an academic paper analyzing bias in officiating was presented, among other things. See here. The amount of coding to come up with a proper data set must have been mind-numbingly dull after a while, but still, who knew the science of social science could be so much fun in its application? Sports fans, this one's worth a click or two.
h/t: Tyler Cowen

First Same Sex Marriage in DC

Sinjoyla Townsend and Angelisa Young tied the knot today, becoming the first same-sex couple to marry in Washington DC under the new same-sex marriage law. The couple has been together for over ten years and were first in line to apply for a marriage licnese. they exchanged vows at the headquarters of the Human Rights Campaign, a lobbysit group for homosexual, bisexual, and transgender americans.

The same-sex marriage law was approved by the city council in December, but encountered immediate opposition. It was challenged by residents in a awsuit contending that residents also had a righ tto vote on the law. the lawsuit was rejected by local courts as well as by the US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, who stated that "It has been the practice of the court to defer to the decisions of the courts of the District of Columbia on matter of exclusively local concerns." He also pointes out that Congress could have voted to stop the district from enacting the law, but refused to do so. DC now joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in allowing same-sex marriages.
I think this new law is a step in the right direction and hopefully more states soon follow suit.

China and India formally go green

Two of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases in the world have formally agreed to join the Copenhagen climate accord: China and India. The two now stand alongside 190 other countries in a fight to limit the rise in global temperatures (Although the document was intended to be adopted by all countries last December, several last-minute objections by a group of countries allowed them to join the accord later on if they wished. Russia is now the last country that has yet to say whether or not it will join).

India sent its letter yesterday to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, formally stating it was planning to join the accord. A single-sentence letter signed by China's chief climate change negotiator Su Wei stated that the United Nations “can proceed to include China in the list of parties” supporting the Copenhagen climate accord.

India plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 20 to 25 percent by 2020, while China plans to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, both in comparison to levels in 2005.


I think that it's great the world is finally starting to take global warming seriously. It's especially great the two biggest greenhouse gas emitters as part of the Copenhagen climate accord: China in first place, and the U.S. in second. Although seeing actual results will take years, we all have finally set our sights on cutting down carbon emissions and promoting green energy. For those of you writing about the environment in your term paper (and those of you who aren't), how do you feel about this? Are any of you skeptical about the expected success of the Copenhagen accord?

New Findings Regarding HIV Virus

Doctors have recently discovered that the dangerous HIV virus, that can be acquired by interactions such as sharing needles or unprotected sex, can actually hide in ones bone marrow. Medication has drastically decreased the number who suffer from HIV and AIDS, but it has now become that much more important that those on this medication continue to take it even after the symptoms are gone. What has occurred is that some people's symptoms of the virus have faded away only to return after stopping the treatment. This is because the virus "hidden" in the bone marrow cells will later turn into blood cells and spread the virus to other blood cells.

This could greatly help researchers in further finding a cure to this ongoing epidemic. However, it also demonstrates how much further we really have to go in order to find a cure. Is this discovery more of a good thing, or a bad thing? I personally think it is good because the virus has always troubled doctors and hopefully this information will lead to further discoveries. But at the same time this can be looked at in a negative light, in the sense that if they just now discovered that the virus can hide in bone marrow, who knows what else they don't know about it that can potentially be very harmful.

Banning Laptops in College Lecture Halls - A New Trend?

As a soon to be full time college student, I'm not really sure what to make of this budding trend towards banning laptops from lecture halls and classrooms. The very understandable argument against laptops is that they are full of thousands of distractions. From email, to facebook, to online shopping, if the class you're sitting in doesn't quite hold your interest, a laptop surely will. However, sometimes it is necessary for students to be able to access the internet -- some professors even ask their students to do so as a part of class. Now, a solution that one college mentioned in the article has taken is to allow each room its own "on/off" switch for wi-fi. Unfortunately, this is kind of costly, and something not likely to be implemented in all colleges.

From my reading of the article, and my own experience being distracted by my laptop in a CSM class I took last semester, I completely understand the desire to ban laptops, and for the most part, I agree with it. I do think banning laptops from lecture halls would increase discussion, critical thinking and overall value of the class. On the other hand, I do see the value in being able to pull up a web page within seconds in order to supplement the class.

What do you think about possibly not being able to use your laptops in certain classes next semester (yes, it is that close!)? How do you think this lack of laptop usage will effect the teaching styles and classes in most universities? What are some pros and cons?

Energy Labeling: A Common Practice of the Future?

As Earth Day approaches in the coming month (April 22nd), I thought I'd write about something Aragon might have done soon and something that is becoming more common practice for homes: Energy Labeling.

Energy Labeling essentially figures out a building, or home's, "miles per gallon". By taking into consideration insulation, heating, cooling, size, appliances, etc, a few new companies can figure out the energy efficiency of buildings. The one mentioned in the article linked to the title, Earth Advantage Institute, calls it's energy labeling of homes an "Energy Performance Score" (EPS). Many real estate agents like this because it can be used as another selling point for homes. If you're stuck choosing between two cars, the one with the better gas mileage will probably win; so, this same principle is applied to home buying.

A few Aragon EIC (Environmental Impact Committee) meetings ago, I recall discussing a company that would potentially come to Aragon and set up equipment that would basically perform the same aforementioned task by figuring out where Aragon is spending the most energy and what amount of that energy is actually needed. Then, after figuring out where we have wasted energy, it would tell us where and how to stop the unneeded energy consumption. This would not only help the earth, but it would help the school save some much needed money. However, these rewards might be a bit delayed, seeing as this Energy Labeling costs a bit of money.

Do you see this process of Energy Labeling becoming common practice in the future and why? Or, do you see it as merely a trend that will eventually pass? What do you think of Aragon getting Energy Labeled and do you think it might actually happen in the near future?

25% of Adults Read ZERO books last year. Surprised? Me too.

If "fun" isn't enough motivation to get you to start reading books, some of the benefits noted in the article linked to the title should be (seriously, read the article. it's interesting and beneficial).

As a fellow highschooler trying to balance academia, extracurriculars, a social life and sleep, completely understand the lack of "for fun" (not related to school) reading that many teens and adults posses. Hey, our lives are busy, books can wait, right? Wrong. Studies have shown that the average amount of books read by adults per annum has been steadily increasing in the past decade; and this isn't good. Reading books of your interest on your own time, even those trashy paperback novels found at drugstores and gas stations, can have immensely beneficial effects on your brain. How so, you may ask? Well, as many of you know, but often times forget (including myself) your brain is a muscle. And, like any muscle, the more you exercise it the stronger it will get. Reading = Brain Exercise. Short and simple.

Not only does reading make your brain stronger, it can also help it, and YOU, become more skillful. Reading is an active mental process, so it engages your brain much more than watching TV or reading the short snippets of information that online articles and blogs posses. Also, depending on what you are reading, you can become an expert in more fields of information, thus increasing your human capital (yes, i went there), and thus allowing you to potentially make more money in the future. Now who wouldn't want that?

After realizing how little I've been reading outside-of-school material these past few years, I've decided to make the effort to try to squeeze some time to read stuff I actually like. Now, what I'm reading is definitely not as classy as Shakespeare or as dense and thought provoking as Toni Morrison, but those types of books just don't interest me. Lucky for me, books are books no matter what, and I'll be getting the benefit of reading them whether they have great literary acclaim or not.

So, now I ask you: How many non-school books would you say you read per year? After reading the article/this blog post, do you think you will make the effort to read more? For those avid non-school book readers out there, how do you find the time? Do you think inventions such as the Kindle will help re-kindle (pun intended) reading for fun? Leave your comments!

Couple Nurtured Virtual Child While Real Baby Starved

Police have arrested a South Korean couple whose toddler starved to death while they were raising a virtual child online, authorities said. The couple fed their 3-month-old daughter once a day between stretches in a local Internet cafe, where they were raising a virtual child in the fantasy game Prius Online. Prius Online is a 3-D game in which players nurture an online companion, Anima, a young girl with mysterious powers who grows and increases her skills as the game progresses. Police have not identified the 41-year-old father and 25-year-old mother, who lived in Suwon, a suburb south of Seoul. The father apologizes saying: "I wish that she hadn't got sick and that she will live well in heaven forever. And as the father, I am sorry," he said. The baby died five months ago. South Korea has one of the world's fastest broadband networks. Seoul has even won international awards for e-governance. Online gaming teams are sponsored by major conglomerates and 24-hour, high-speed Internet cafes, known as PC Bangs, that exist in every urban neighborhood. Police said the couple had lost their jobs and used the game as an escape from reality, especially after the birth of their premature baby. "They instead played an online game in which they raised a virtual character so as to escape from reality, which led to the death of their real baby," Chung Jin-won, a police officer in Suwon says. "South Korea remains a very conservative society so people who fall outside the norm can come under severe stress and pressure," said Michael Breen, the Seoul-based author of "The Koreans." "The Internet has provided such people with a paradise to escape to and simply get lost in."

This is so sad. A couple can spend all their time raising a virtual child and neglect to care for their living child. It must be hard for them losing their jobs and undergoing all the stress that will be built from it. But that doesn't give them the excuse to forget about their baby. And the father apologizing isn't much of an apology. He doesn't even sound remorseful for what he has done. And true, some people get influenced by the internet really easily. So easily that they forget what is important and matters most. Especially in a situation like this. The parents should have handled their economic situation before turning to computer games as the only solution to their problems. It's not going to help solve their problems anyway.

Dangerous American Arrested in Pakistan

A California-born Islam was recently detained by Pakistan officials. It turns out that this man, Adam Gadahn, has been on the FBI's most wanted list for the past 6 years and has been tried with treason; if convicted he will be sentenced to death. The al-Qaida spokesman was involved in multiple threats to the west and knows very valuable information that could really help U.S. forces fight this terrorist group and find Osama bin Laden. As far as those who unknowingly helped him begin his journey during his conversion to Islam near by in Orange County, they are quite happy that Gadahn has been caught. They feel that it is people like him who give them a bad name and without him and others alike out causing problems, there are less issues here at home.

I feel like it would be great if they could make Gadahn talk and hopefully the FBI will be able to use this information to their advantage. We can only hope that after so long, this will help the U.S. take the next big step in the war against terrorism. It is also strange to me to hear about a case of treason, since they are so uncommon ( the last convicted case of treason was a Japanese man during the time in which they were in internment camps). It will be interesting to see where the issue goes from here, especially because Gadahn is not yet even in custody in the U.S. I just don't see what would want to make someone turn against their home country in such a drastic way. Wanting to hurt people like that is sick enough, but wanting to hurt those you grew up around just baffles me.

For more info check the link in the title.

The Effects of Quakes

As we all know, the Chilean earhtquake was in fact of a higher magnitude than that of the one in Haiti, but as the article linked in the title mentions, the one in Haiti was more devastating due to the location of buildings in affected region and the way they were built. The effects of an earthquake have to do with a lot more than just the mere magnitude. Post quake occurrences such as large ocean waves can add much more devastation to an affected region. In the article, it is mentioned that one of Chile's largest oil refineries could be down for more than a month due to the earthquake.

Another interesting thing this article talks about, is how such large earthquakes, and other natural disasters, can affect the time span of a day, and what that means when all such occurrences are accounted for over thousands of years. What's surprising is that scientists say that the effect of the Chilean earthquake on the time of day won't actually have much of an effect in the long run because it will eventually be canceled out by other factors. I suggest reading the article if you want to find out more about this because it actually is pretty interesting.

Protect Yourselves from the Lurks!

Yes, the title of this post is a tad facetious, but, as a fellow teen of the facebook generation, I highly suggest reading the linked article.

As many of you probably know, Facebook made drastic changes to its privacy settings a few months ago. Yes, Facebook is always making minor changes to it's layout, applications, privacy, etc. However, it's most recent changes regarding privacy were quite drastic. Basically, unless you PURPOSEFULLY go to your account and alter your privacy setting, your information has become free game for many companies and search engines; the steroid-using equivalent of the occassional facebook lurk. Unlike the aforementioned facebook lurk (a person who just creepily browses through your pictures and info boxes but is most likely a fb friend and overall harmless), companies and search engines who access your information can share it and use it to their advantage, which means bad stuff for you.

Because of this, I not only hope that many of you read the article, but make the privacy changes recommended. Yes, it will probably take a few minutes, but if I know how the majority of teenagers spend their time (and I think I do), you'll probably be there anyway, so why not?

New York: The next Silicon Valley?

Yelp, Google, Flickr, Facebook. All of these were once tiny little tech and digital start-ups that grew to be wildly successful. Many of these full-grown start-ups now reside in Silicon Valley, the number one home of many booming tech companies, successful entrepreneurs, investors and engineers. However, New York might be giving Silicon Valley a run for its money.

Many start-ups, the majority of which are digital, are popping up all around New York. There is a growing grass-roots movement of cutting-edge technological ideas and digital start-ups. Economics professor at Harvard, Dale Jorgeson, says that a "broader shift in the types of innovation that are gathering speed in the technology industry" drives New York's growing success. This makes sense to me because if many companies make the same thing, logically each company would not have as much success as opposed to if they had created something new. New York's location as the home to "book publishing, advertising, media and even the fashion industry" has allowed for much of this innovation. New York has been the home to more of an art based creativity (rather than tech-based) for so long that now, with the popularity and utility of the internet, this artsy creativity is helping fuel these new digital startups. An example of a company that combines art and tech creativity is Gilt Group, a company that offers discounted luxury goods. By utilizing the power of the internet and the desire of many people to have name brand goods for less, Gilt Group has become relatively successful in New York. And, one of the main reasons they plan to keep their present location is because the people who they work with from Saks and Dolce and Gabbana, to name a few, are all based in New York.

Though this economic downturn has caused many-a-troubles, it seems to me that is is also reviving the creativity of the masses. After the dot com bust, "New York was a complete wasteland of dead funds and companies", but now, funds are growing as people are innovating and creating new companies from new ideas. This economic crisis has urged people away from jobs on Wallstreet, and towards jobs of the more creative sort. So, though New York might not quite be up to par with Silicon Valley, it is definitely gaining ground, and hey, I can't say I'd mind it if New York did take Silicon Valley's place. At least it would mean businesses were growing somewhere and our economy might be starting to revive.

Boy, 12, faces Grown Up Murder Charges

On a chilly morning in February, state police found 26-year-old Kenzie Houk in her bed with a bullet though her head. She was eight months pregnant. The search for her killer ended witha great surprise: 11-year-old Jordan Brown, the son of the victim's fiancé, Chris Brown. He is one of the youngest suspects to be charged with homicide. There are two counts of homicide: one covering the fetus. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in May. In Pennsylvania, there is no lower age limit where someone can be charged as an adult with criminal homicide. If convicted, Jordan, now 12, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.The question of age is being raised in the Supreme Court this year where the practice of sentencing young people younger than 14 to life in prison without parole is being challenged. In almost half the states across the country, children can be prosecuted and tried in adult court, according to the University of Texas' Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Many of the laws passed were passed during a time when juvenile crime spiked in the 1980s and 1990s. But sentencing experts say a majority of homicide cases involving children as young as Jordan are tried in juvenile courts, where the records remain sealed and sentences are less harsh. Although it is rare to charge someone so young as an adult in the United States, the prosecutor in the case says Pennsylvania law left him with little choice. Most juveniles who enter the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Detention Center come and go within a few weeks. But Jordan has spent a birthday and Christmas there. He missed a fifth-grade overnight field trip to Gettysburg and didn't get to play his final year on the junior football league. Attorney, Dennis Elisco, says Jordan is still unable to grasp the magnitude of what is happening to him. He is doing well in counseling and has hopes for the better.

The question here seems to be: whether or not Jordan should be charged as an adult? And whether being sentenced to life in prison without parole is just or unjust? Your thoughts?

Obama Ramps Up Push For Energy-Efficiency Program

President Obama finalizes his adminstration's push for a clean energy agenda today, which also emphasized the prospects for an economic recovery fueled by "green-jobs". "The jobs of tomorrow will be jobs in the clean energy sector," Obama said. "That's why my administration's taking steps to support a thriving clean energy industry across this country." Obama highlighted his proposed Home Star program, which was first outlined in the State of the Union address. The program would provide rebates to homeowners of up to $3,000 for making energy-efficient improvements to their houses. Customers would also be eligible for direct rebates at a point of sale. Among other things, this program would also provide 50% rebates of up to $1,500 for simpler upgrades, such as the installation of better insulation, duct sealing, water heaters, windows, doors and roofing. The $3,000 upgrade would be reserved for more comprehensive retrofits that include a whole home energy audit and retrofit designed to achieve 20% energy savings. The White House has predicted that between 2 million and 3 million homeowners will participate in the program. In addition, this program was designed to help cut the construction industry's 25% unemployment rate.

It's good to see that Obama is finally making some changes to the economy, as he promised. By rebating homeowners for installing energy-efficient upgrades seem like a good idea. This method can help attract more homeowners to "go green". Which will also benefit the community. And cutting back employment rate in construction industries will help put more people back to work. I really hope this program works out.

People Line up at a Job Fair For Convicted Victims

More than 3,000 people arrived in downtown Houston, Texas, Wednesday for a job fair designed for convicted felons. Organizers of the Road to Re-entry Employment Fair was created to help those with criminal records find work and reintegrate into society. They had expected a few hundred job people. The line of job seekers ran for a few blocks and even tied up traffic. "These were not individuals trying to get concert tickets or a free dinner," said Jarvis Johnson, a Houston City Council member who helped sponsor the inaugural event. "They were individuals who were waiting in line because they want to be productive members of society." "I'm an ex-con, and that's the main thing that's holding me back," Lavell Byrd said to KHOU. "It's a very, very, very hard thing that people still look at what you did in the past and not what you can do in the future."Giving people like Byrd a chance to succeed and be a productive part of the work force is in the interest of all of us and will even help keep him out of prison. "They made a mistake, but they've paid their debt to society," he said. "At the end of the day, we are all going to pay if we don't open the doors of opportunity -- whether we become the victims [of future crimes] or we have to use our tax dollars to imprison them." After Wednesday's success, organizers said they are already planning a follow-up.

I really like this program. The way it has been designed seems to be of great help to this society. Ex-cons are able to find jobs to support both themselves or even their family. This is helpful to the society as a whole. With ex-cons in work, we then pay less taxs to have them in prison. Moreover, they have already payed their debt for making the mistakes they made. It wouldn't hurt anyone to give them a second chance. This program is extremely beneficial to all.

L.A. Middle School, Students Struggle Under Budget Cuts

The Los Angeles Unified School District laid off half the school's teaching staff. Districtwide, more than 2,000 teachers were laid off as state budget deficits and the recession affected school budgets across California. In Los Angeles, as elsewhere, the layoffs started with those teachers with the least experience. That hit Markham Middle School especially hard. The principal, Tim Sullivan, says he had recruited a team of idealistic young teachers to his campus. They were eager to face the challenges of teaching in an inner-city school. Instead, themselves first in line of the layoffs. Recruiting replacement teachers to move to Markham from other schools in the district hasn't been easy, and Sullivan said he doesn't see it getting any easier in the next couple of years. Budget shortfalls are expected to mean more teacher layoffs this summer. "I'm going to lose 50 percent of my staff every year," he said. "There's nothing the union can do about it. There is nothing the district can do about it. There is nothing the state can do" unless there is a major overhaul of how schools are financed in California. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit saying that the teacher layoffs constitute a violation of the constitutional rights of inner city students to an education. Markham Middle School sits in the middle of Watts. It is a neighborhood riddled by poverty and gang violence. One of the days, the campus was locked down for two hours because two gun-wielding men had been spotted in the neighborhood. Children were locked in their classrooms as SWAT teams pored over the schoolyard, armed with assault rifles and wearing body armor. Canine teams searched room to room for the gunmen. The school district's human resources chief, Vivian Ekchian, said, "This year, it has actually become worse. Our budget deficit is right now $640 million. And we will have no choice but to lay off employees again."But if the ACLU lawsuit is successful, those layoffs won't be at Markham Middle School. If not, classes will once again be thrown into chaos. The suit seeks a court injunction to stop further layoffs at schools that were hit the hardest last year.

This is so sad. Many students all over the world are not given the chance to learn and have good teachers in their classrooms because of the budget cut. This is affecting students all over the country, not only college students. Now, kids in middle school are losing proper teachers each year and are faced with 10 different substitutes in one semester. This really affects their ability to learn. They aren't even going to be able to focus in a situation like this. The budget cut is now affecting all schools across the nation and is putting a lot of useful teachers out of work. This deficit not only affects students and teachers, but the future generation. If children today aren't recieving a proper education, they will not be able to come out into society knowing what to expect and how to make the world a better place. In a way, the present generation is dependent on them.

Man Shoots Two Officers Outside of Pentagon

A man calmly approached the screening area outside the Pentagon at 6:40 p.m. this evening and opened fire, grazing two Pentagon police officers before they returned fire. The incident happened when a man wearing a coat - with "no real emotion in his face" -- approached the officers outside the Pentagon Metro station, said Pentagon Police Chief Richard S. Keevill. As the officers started to ask him for his pass to get into the Pentagon, he drew a weapon from his pocket and started shooting immediately at the officers" from a few feet away. The two Pentagon Force Protection Agency officers returned fire with their semi-automatic Glock .40-caliber weapons and the suspect, thought to be a U.S. citizen, was critically wounded. Many shots were said to be fired during the time. The Pentagon is one of the largest office buildings in the world with three times the floor space of New York's Empire State Building and about 23,000 military and civilian employees work there.

Even though it would seem much safer for every citizen to have a gun, it's easy to see why some people would think otherwise. I personally don't have anything against limiting gun ownership. However, many gun owners commit crimes out there, even the illegal gun owners. Especially since nowadays some states don't require background checks and criminals can even buy guns on the street illegally. Furthermore, this incident seems to portray a weakness in the defense system at the Pentagon. How can trained guards overlook a suspect that had the intention to hurt them or other Americans working there. If they were unable to stop the convict, probably more people would have been hurt. I feel that they should do more to strengthen their defense system. Your thoughts? Let me know if you agree or disagree.

Is the "Green" Movement Losing its Urgency and Popularity?

It seems to me that many political topics go through phases of being "in", or the "popular" thing to talk/read about. I know that, by definition that is what news is, but I do feel that certain topics often rise to a peak of popularity that lasts for a few months, or even a year, when they overshadow all other topics. Last year, Environmental Protection and Global Warming were the big thing. This year, the talk of the town is Healthcare Reform. After realizing that I had not heard about any big, important news regarding the Environment recently, I perused some news articles (main one that sparked my interest is linked in title) and came to the conclusion that this "Green" movement seems to be losing ground.

As a topic and movement that I have a slightly stronger draw to, this realization got me a little bit annoyed. In the congress.org article, author Ambreen Ali mentions that the EPA would put off regulation of carbon emissions until 2011. Further down in the article, Ali acknowledges that debates on other issues, such as healthcare, jobs and financial regulation have greatly slowed the EPAs progress. After reading another article (link at bottom of blog), I've also come to the conclusion that confusion about the validity of the science behind global warming and environmental theories has aided this loss of "popularity".

Although I understand the reasons as to why our government is putting environmental issues on the back burner, I'm obviously less than thrilled. The O-Zone layer won't repair itself, carbon emissions won't just dwindle into nothingness, the earth's average temperature won't just stop rising, our air won't just get cleaner, etc. All of this issues need proactive citizens and politicians to promote action to better them. How many times will the government or the EPA be able to put off regulating a certain environmental issue by saying "oh, we'll just start regulating next year. Oh, we'll set those clean air and water regulations next year" before environmental problems seriously start becoming detrimental to human life?

That's my stance on the topic of Environmental Issues in todays news, what's yours? What do you think about putting the environment and the back burner while other issues are dealt with? Why do you think some issues need more urgent action than others? What do you think will be the effects of delaying environmental regulation implementation?

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/science/earth/03climate.html?hpw

Obama Outlines Final Health Care Plan, Urges Congress to Act

Today, President Obama outlines the final version of the health care bill and urges Congress to bring the plan to a conclusive vote within the next few weeks. The president says this nearly $1 trillion proposal is a compromise plan that combines the best ideas of both Democrats and Republicans. "Everything there is to say about health care has been said, and just about everybody has said it," he said. "Now is the time to make a decision about how to finally reform health care so that it works, not just for the insurance companies, but for America's families and America's businesses." Obama also said that he supported reconcialiation; meaning that changes to the health care bill can be passed only with 51 votes by the Senate. However, it is still unknown what kind of provisions can be approved under reconcialiation, which is reserved for legislation pertaining to the budget. Among other things, Obama's plan would expand Medicare prescription drug coverage, increase federal subsidies to help people buy insurance and give the federal government new authority to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies. This proposal also included significant reductions in Medicare spending, in part through changes in payments made under the Medicare Advantage program. It also eliminates an unpopular provision in the Senate bill created by Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, that exempted that state from paying increased Medicaid expenses. Administration officials say Obama's measure would cut the deficit by $100 billion over the next 10 years. They estimate the total cost of the bill to be $950 billion in the next decade.

I am glad to see that the health care plan is finally getting somewhere after all this time. However, it really makes me wonder where Obama will be getting all this extra money to adjust all Medicare and Medicaid costs to a bare minimum, so Americans can be able to afford these programs. It seems Obama will be using much of tax payers' money to help fund these new and improved programs. This, I am not sure, is going to help Americans all that much at the moment. Especially since we are already paying so much for other programs that may or may not have anything to do with us individually at all. For instance, illegal immigrants or the jobless people who are recieving government aide. What are your thoughts?

From One World Stage to the Next

For all avid sports fans out there, and maybe some of you who aren't as well, the end of the 2010 Winter Olympics was a sad event. Although there were some unfortunate events that occurred, these games gave us some incredible moments to remember and we learned the amazing stories of some of the best athletes on earth. There was no issue for me with finding something on T.V. to watch and I think it made quite a few of us fall completely in love with Vancouver (guilty). The Olympics once again found a way to bring together a semi-divided world, or at least it kind of did.

So what's next? Football season is over and the never-ending season of a sport we like to call baseball hasn't started yet. So i guess we can hold out until March Madness in a month, or the NBA playoffs. But the end in Vancouver began a much bigger countdown to the Fifa Wold Cup of 2010 in South Africa. There are now less than 100 days until the tournament, that like the Olympics comes only once every 4 years for those of you who don't know.

The road to the Wold Cup in South Africa has been a long and bumpy one from the beginning. Unlike other nations that were more than willing to host with ample facilities, in South Africa all the venues had to be made from the ground up. Although there were many times it was doubted the completion of the project would be finished in time, everything looks good to go now. The World Cup in South Africa will be a historic one that will also hopefully help an economy that could use some positive reinforcement.

The World Cup is the most popular international sporting event; it's where the best in the world collide to fight for their country. Here soccer, like hockey, is on the rise, its a hobby or a past-time, but for most other nations its a way of life. The differences in cultures is unbelievable to me and it makes me kind of upset that Americans seem to be as passionate about very few things as many other nations are about futbol, or soccer for those of you just tuning in.

Let me know what you all think about it, and don't forget to watch the World Cup this June for some amazing soccer!

Unfortunate Aftermath

As I'm sure we all already know a tragic earthquake hit Chile just under a week ago. Fortunately enough (if there really is any fortunate side to this event), the country is much more developed than the country of Haiti which suffered practically complete devastation after an earthquake of smaller magnitude hit the small island fairly recently. The buildings in Chile were much better constructed and held up fairly well to an earthquake of that magnitude, so at first the devastation seemed manageable. However, unfortunately as in the case of many natural disasters, the aftermath of the original event is what really "does the country in", so to speak.

After hearing how strong the earthquake was I was expecting there to be far more damage, but I read this article (link is in the title for anyone who wants more info) that talks about how much more damage the aftershocks and massive waves to hit the coast have created. The biggest problem is that resources can't reach these struggling people because they already live in isolated areas and now, on top of that, their ways have transportation have been destroyed. The scariest thing to think about, in my opinion, is that not only do you really never know when you're going to be hit by something like this, but on top of that once you are hit by a natural disaster aftermath is inevitable, but you don't know exactly what to expect. I can't imagine knowing something else awful is coming but not being able to do anything about it. What do you guys think?

More Natural Disasters to Come?

The recent Haitian and Chilean earthquakes have greatly increased the talk of future natural disasters and the procedures needed to be best prepared for, and overcome, their damage. The Chilean earthquake was caused by a very stressed offshore region, and this fact has made scientists take a closer look at the Pacific Northwest Fault, which would have a big effect on northwestern America.

This fault has been dormant for over 300 years, however, scientists say that " it has a long geographical history of doing exactly what happened in Chile" and it has a lot of built up stress. These scientists predict that there is an 80 percent chance this fault will break within the next 50 years and cause a "megaquake" that will greatly affect northern California, Oregon and Washington.

Many state politicians are assuring citizens that appropriate measures are being taken as quickly as possible to protect cities from the harm of such natural disasters, but how fast is fast enough? Another question that comes to mind is how much energy should be focused on preparedness instead of post-disaster rebuilding, care, etc? We all saw how long the effects from Katrina lasted, and we all know that damage will occur no matter what, so who's to say how many resources get used for prevention before or saved for the damage after?

Justices Debate Chicago Handgun ban

Chicago's 28-year-old strict ban on handgun ownership appeared in trouble Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court. The case involved the ability of state and local governments to enforce limits on weapons. A majority of conservatives claim that the U.S Constitution is already giving individuals greater power than the states. Or perhaps even equal power in terms of being able to possess certain firearms for self-protection. The question now appears to be how far is the court willing to go to preserve parts of the 14th amendment to allow some reasonable gun measures to remain in place. "There are provisions of the Constitution, of the Bill of Rights, that have been incorporated against the states, where the states have substantial latitude and ample authority to impose reasonable regulations," Justice Anthony Kennedy said. "Why can't we do the same thing with firearms?" At issue is also whether the constitutional "right of the people to keep and bear arms" applies to local gun control ordinances, or only to federal restrictions. This basic question has been left unanswered for decades. This gives the conservative majority on the high court another chance to allow Americans expanded weapon ownership rights. A ruling is expected in late June.

This appeal was filed by a Chicago, Illinois, community activist who sought a handgun for protection from gangs. Otis MacDonald announces that he wants a handgun to protect himself and his family from violence in his neighborhood. "That's all I want ... just a fighting chance," McDonald said. "Give me the opportunity to at least make somebody think about something before they come in my house on me." The city of Chicago had perhaps the toughest restrictions in the nation on applications for a handgun and had denied MacDonald of his will.

I personally don't think that allowing Americans to own handguns at home is a bad idea at all. If they ever do run into trouble, then they have the ability to protect themselves. Giving this power to Americans isn't depriving any power from the states. Therefore, states should allow Americans weapon ownership. Any thoughts?

Obama Smokes?

As of today, President Obama seems to be in perfect health, according to his physician. But his nasty smoking habit will cause him to live a shorter life. "What we don't know is how much he smokes," said Len Horovitz, M.D., a pulmonologist at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital. "But we do know that smoking just a few cigarettes a day can double or even triple your risk of coronary artery disease. That's from a study published in (medical journal) The Lancet and it's astounding. Smoking is the riskiest thing that you can do to damage your health." Obama signed an Anti-smoking Law last June to prevent the rest of the nation from smoking. His main purpose was to keep thousands of teens out there from getting hooked on to this bad habit. However, when asked if he was still smoking, Obama angrily responds that this was about others, not him.

I am somewhat glad that Obama is making an effort to help out our nation in preventing smoking from occuring at an earlier age. However, I am disappointed in the fact that he is not making an effort to quit smoking himself. He is forming an bad image of himself for the country. Presidents are supposed to be setting examples for the nation and this shouldn't be the type of example he is setting. Will this law be all that successful? What are you guys' thoughts on this?