Monday, March 8, 2010
Events
For this blog I want you to discuss a current event. This can be anything you choose to talk about. What you need to do is read a few articles on the subject and report on it (quoting from the articles) and then form an opinion and develop that opinion. Can you think of why this would be relevant for you to do?
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A current event that comes to mind is the tragic earthquake that has happened in Haiti. The actual date of the earthquake was January 12th 2010. The earthquake has destroyed many homes, banks, and all types of buildings."A study by the Inter-American Development Bank estimates that the cost could be between $7.2 billion to $13.2 billion, based on a death toll from 200,000 to 250,000." This earthquake has also taken many lives. Families have unfortunatly been torn apart from this natural disaster.
ReplyDeleteHaiti was not in good shape even before the earthquake."The country is, by a significant margin, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, with four out of five people living in poverty and more than half in abject poverty." Now the country of Haiti has to deal with people who are trying to find their loved ones and trying to survive. Some people are even trapped with no way out. "Huge swaths of the capital, Port-au-Prince, lay in ruins, and thousands of people were trapped in the rubble of government buildings, foreign aid offices and shantytowns. Schools, hospitals and a prison collapsed."
Sometimes its easy for me to get caught up in all my troubles and problems and just feel sorry for myself, but when I look at young children looking for their parents or even looking for someone to watch over them, I just think how blessed I am to have a family. I really feel sorry for those people in Haiti and how helpless and alone they must feel. I think it is good for us to look at our surroundings and thank God for all we have, because people in Haiti don't have what we have.
I think that it is great that coach Morrison is going over to Haiti to help. Every person who gives forth an effort makes a difference no matter how big or small they are. Our school raising money for flashlights is one step closer for those in Haiti to see that there is hope for a better future. Personaly when I give it makes me feel better to help someone else who needs it more than me. I think of it as a way to grow closer together and a time to reach out and become closer with God.
-Carlee
(Information from New York Times)
ReplyDeleteCarlee
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRecently a mother of a two-year old little girl was accused of murder of her own daughter. The woman was at the age of only 19 years at this time. She was suspected to have suffocated her young daughter. The woman by the name of Tiffany L. Lopez was arrested on the morning of March 10, 2010. Lopez called the police at 4:30 on this Wednesday morning to say that her daughter, Kamilah, was not breathing. The little girl was taken to a Children’s Hospital where she was later pronounced dead at about 5:35 a.m.
ReplyDeleteThe 19 year old mother was taken into custody and questioned. She claimed, “She and her daughter were playing hide and seek in the apartment and she accidentally sat on the child who she said was hiding under a couch cushion.” The police didn’t believed this to be completely accurate so they decided to question Lopez. After being interviewed by Andersen and Sgt. Gus Galindo, “Lopez admitted what she had done to the child.”
So, on this Wednesday morning the 2 year-old Kamilah Russell was suffocated by her very own mother. This poor defenseless child who hadn’t done a thing wrong was brutally murdered by the very own woman who gave birth to her. In my opinion, this is a very horrific tragedy that I wish would have never occurred but not everything can be stopped.
Beth Cummings
One current event that i recently saw on the news is about a woman, a U.S. citzen, who is aiding in foreign terrorism. Her name is Colleen R. LaRose. She is 46 years old and lives in Pennsburg, Philidelphia, but Colleen also has some ties with southern Texas. She is suspected of wanting to kill Lars Vilks, an artist, in Sweden and marrying a terrorist so that they could move to Europe. She is "one of only a few such cases nationwide in which females have been charged with terrorism violations," said U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd. She has been held without bail since October 15th last year, and will be arraigned on March 18th.
ReplyDeleteThere is evidence that, in my opinion, should be enough to convict her. The police have found online conversations between her and some of the other suspects. In one of her online conversations, she hinted that because of her blonde hair and blue eyes, she would not be caught by the police. But she thought wrong and was caught in Ireland and apprehended by Irish police. LaRose had an initial court appearance on Oct. 16 but didn't enter a plea. No further court dates have been set.
In my opinion, I hope that she gets sent to jail for life. It is obvious that she commited these acts of terrorism and i hope she pays for it, along with all of the other people who participated with her. "Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it."
Noam Chomsky
-Kyle Collins
My current event is the health care bill that's in the House of Representatives. There has been a lot of controversy over Obama's health care bill. The bill was passed by the Senate last year on Christmas eve. As soon as it got to the House of Representatives it has stopped dead in its tracks. Quite a few representative that are democrats have even said that they won't vote for the bill. One of the main reasons that the bill is having trouble is because it legalizes tax funded abortion, which is banned by the House bill. This has been the law for 30 years.Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois said "Protecting the sanctity of life is a matter of principle". Most representatives say that unless the bill changes and doesn't legalize tax funded abortion it will not pass. "Unless the language changes, there's at least 12 Democrats who have said they could not vote for health care unless we keep the current law, which says no public funding for abortion" said Bart Stupak.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I chose this as my topic is that I think as high school students we need to be more aware of whats going on with our country's government. If we start learning and paying attention to the government now then we can better understand whats going on when the laws they make affect us more. We are really blessed to be able to vote for our leaders and we need to take advantage of that right. I think that abortion is wrong and shouldn't be legalized so I hope that the bill isn't passed.
As I tried to choose a current event, a previous essay that I had written for Mrs. Gilbreth popped into my head as I came across an article on the controversial universal healthcare. I wrote my essay on the short story Harrison Bergeron. My thesis went something like this: "Mediocrity is dangerous and self deprecating." In the story, everyone is "equal" by recieving handicaps from the government in the story. Well, I think this also applies with the subject of universal healthcare.
ReplyDeleteMy father says something whenever he hears one of those commercials about someone not "being able to afford healthcare." He says, "You can't afford NOT to have it!" That is true; healthcare has saved my family before. But the problem I see with "Obamacare" is the same problem we see in Harrison Bergeron. With this political reform, we will see the STANDARD of healthcare drop. This will affect not only the civilians that already have healthcare, but the doctors with have to deal with sub-par healthcare. The healthcare is also marketed as "free." But "'Free' health care isn't really free since we must pay for it with taxes; expenses for health care would have to be paid for with higher taxes or spending cuts in other areas such as defense, education, etc." It won't be free after all, we will all be still paying for healthcare! The doctors with have to deal with government healthcare, which is definitely not as good as healthcare we could achieve by paying monthly. Now there are families that truely cannot afford healthcare. But I just don't think Obama's healthcare policy will do very much to help these families, I think it's a bad idea! With the Obamacare policy, we, the patients, will not be able to be as malluable as we can as of now.
"Government-controlled health care would lead to a decrease in patient flexibility." Drug costs will not decrease because of "Free" healthcare, in fact the medical field and industry would suffer greatly. "Patients aren't likely to curb their drug costs and doctor visits if health care is free; thus, total costs will be several times what they are now."
Another point against Obamacare is the fear of a controlling government. We saw the problems in eastern Eurasia and the former Soviet Union as they made all industries and market controlled by theh government. We are feeling the effects of the poor quality of market and industry in the former Soviet Union, "Profit motives, competition, and individual ingenuity have always led to greater cost control and effectiveness." Do we really risk cost control and effectiveness on healthcare. The answer is no!
I think that the democratic idea of universal healthcare will NOT help most Americans. I felt this past election was for the middle-class so to speak. If we lower our standards, we will not be helping anyone, only hurting. So, as in the essay I wrote first semester, mediocrity is not only destructive, but also self-depricating.
Clint Bruton
sources:
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm
http://healthcare.change.org/
Well, I'm now off my soapbox and I don't mean to offend anyone by contradicting Obama's policies, so don't take it that way. I mean to only express my opinion and view on the matter.
Fourteen years ago, Jessica Click-Hill went missing. Her parents had been planning to divorce, and in "a last-ditch effort to gain sole custody", her mother accused her husband of child abuse. The claim was proved false, but it was too late. Jessica and her mother had disappeared. Only now has she been found, now twenty two years old, and she is "more surprised than anything" to have been found missing. Apparently, she has no interest in seeing her father, even after all of these years. In fact, she is "adamant about not seeing him." The police have decided that it's her decision to make, but they are still continuing investigation on the case.
ReplyDeleteNow, I think that this could easily have been avoided. Obviously, if her parents were getting a divorce, they were incompatible. They just found out too late. I think that so many stories that turn out like this could easily be avoided if people would just slow down in their relationships. Couples are getting married just months after they have met, when the relationship is still fresh and none of the big fights have happened yet. My uncle, in fact, is on his third marriage, and he married his current wife very soon after meeting her. If he is on his third marriage, wouldn't you think it would be good for him to slow down and think before getting married?
I do love my uncle, and I'm sad that things haven't gone right for him, but his problem may be the same as so many other people that go through divorce. Whenever something becomes more easily available, people use it like it's going out of style, and, sad to say, divorce is not an exception. It should be, but people just keep getting divorces. Divorce has made it too easy to get back the "freedom" of being single, and now so many marriages are only formalities or hasty decisions that fall through quickly and are undone just as quickly. People just do it, without regard to how it's going to affect people.
However, it does affect people dramatically. How do people think their children are going to grow up if they divorce their spouses? Monkey see, monkey do: their children will be more accustomed to the process, so it will be easier for them to divorce their spouse in the future. (I'm not saying that all children with divorced parents will get a divorce; I'm saying that they already know what it's like and are desensitized to the process, and since their parents did it, they will think that it is okay.) People also don't realize quite how much stress a divorce puts not only on themselves, but also on their children. Teenagers, and even young children, have enough to deal with without knowing that their parents don't love each other, and they'll never be a real family anymore. It can be a serious stress on the child, potentially leading to emotional trauma, depression, etc.
Besides the obvious biblical and moral issues with divorce, it is harmful to the mental and emotional health of everyone involved. Some people might read this and tell me, "But, Kelsey, this article wasn't about divorce. You should have written about (insert opinion here.)" Well, I tell them, "You write your essay, and I'll write mine." This is a serious topic and problem that people are taking less and less seriously, and, in my opinion, someone needed to soapbox about it. Well, I did. Whether you like it or not is up to you.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/missing-woman-interest-reuniting-father-14-years/story?id=10073748&page=1
--Kelsey Weems
It's sad that some movie stars feel the need to always be the center of attention. My current event involves Lindsay Lohan suing E*Trade Insurance Co. for $100M because she states that their commercial directly offends her. NY Post says, "Lindsay Lohan is suing the financial company E-Trade, insisting that a boyfriend-stealing, "milkaholic" baby in its latest commercial -- who happens to be named Lindsay -- was modeled after her. And she wants $100 million for her pain and suffering, The Post has learned." ...Yeah right Lindsay. Stephanie Ovadia (Lohan's lawyer) says that "Lindsay has one of those 'single name recognition' names, such as Oprah or Madonna." In my opinion, that is STUPID. Oprah and Madonna are unique names. But Lindsay? No. I know probably at least 3 'Lindsays' in my life.
ReplyDeleteChris Brown, a spokesman for Grey Group, which produced the spot, is throwing cold milk on the controversy, saying it "just used a popular baby name that happened to be the name of someone on the account team." I think Mr. Brown is totally right. Lindsay is a popular name and she shouldn't just assume that they're talking about her. This is just proof that some movie stars think about themselves just a wee bit too much, or they are just paranoid.
Entertainment Weekly says, "Lohan is suing for $50 million in compensatory damages and an additional $50 million in exemplary damages. She also demanded that E*Trade stop running the ad." In my opinion, this is ridiculous. I think she is just trying to get any attention she can, she is a drama queen. (She starred in the movie "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" by Disney, and it describes her perfectly.)
It seems lately that the Disney stars from our past have gone down wind a little bit. Lindsay, Miley, Hillary, should I even go on? It's sad that the people who should be our role models have to act in such a way that it disgusts us. It makes me sick to see how the people in Hollywood act, because it's definitely not what God wanted or planned for us. If I ever become famous, I want to be an example to everyone such as these actresses. I want to show everyone what God wanted for us, and what He planned. I'm sure there are many famous people who are Christians, such as Colt McCoy. He is such a great role model for anyone, not just boys. He's a role model to me! I wish there were more famous people such as Colt, because then maybe, just maybe, our world wouldn't be so messed up.
--Jenae
http://news-briefs.ew.com/2010/03/09/lindsay-lohan-sues-e-trade/
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/lohan_such_baby_jVdQWABj9z0MgXzCv1Nh1O
Earlier today, a Federal Appeals court in San Francisco rejected arguments that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violated the separation of church and state. The people also argued the same for the phrase printed on money, "In God We Trust." Atheist Michael Newdow said that the "references to God disrespect my religious beliefs."
ReplyDeleteIronically, the same court ruled in Newdow's favor just eight years ago after he sued his daughter's school district for having students recite the pledge at school. A couple of years later, the case made it to supreme court where the court ruled that Newdow lacked the legal standing to file the suit, because he didn't have full custody of the child (smooth move Newdow). In a separate ruling Thursday, the appeals court upheld the inscription of the national motto "In God We Trust" on coins and currency, saying that the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic, not religious. When Newdow heard about this, he just said, "Oh man, what a bummer...."
This current event may not seem major to everyone, but I believe that it's pretty important. I don't think that by saying "under God" in a pledge or having currency with the phrase "In God We Trust" imprinted on it is detrimental to any religious belief. The courts may have kept the phrases just because they thought that they were solely patriotic and ceremonial, but this event has a different importance to me. In my personal opinion, this action could have partially kept God in this country yet. I hope that these couple of phrases stand the test for years to come.
Daniel Austin
Sorry, here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100311/ap_on_re_us/us_god_and_government;_ylt=AtSp_xhywOteP6_E52reLP2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNwYzFrM2NvBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMzExL3VzX2dvZF9hbmRfZ292ZXJubWVudARjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzUEcG9zAzIEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNjb3VydHVwaG9sZHM-
(good grief, that's a freaking long link)
This is blake. The after shock in Chile was very bad, and killed many people. ". . . which took 700 lifes in chile." It was a huge earthqauke with a magitude of 8.8 on febuary 27. It moved the city of Concepcion about 10 feet,and moved the captail about 11 inches. The huge earthqack has really hurt chile econmy, and need help to go back to normal.
ReplyDeleteI think that is very bad because many places are comeing aptar as we speak. they need to pray and repent and do the best to there abilitys to change. We as christans should help with money and food too. I feel bad for lots of the people that there houses got moved and destroyed. All we can do is pray.
link is: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5385801-aftershock-tremor-in-chile
Natalie Randolph, a woman in Washington D.C., was on a pro women's football team, from 2004-2008. Now a 29 year old science teacher at Coolidge High School, will be announced the new BOYSSS football coach. Randolph, was a wide receiver for the D.C. Divas women's pro football team and also a standout sprinter and hurdler at the University of Virginia. Randolph was the assistant football coach for Washington's H.D. Woodson High School in 2006 and 2007.
ReplyDeleteIn 1985 at another high school in D.C. a woman coach was hired but the next day fired because of the beliefs of the school and everyone when they found out.
Natalie Randolph, I believe is making a very big difference in the world with men believing women can't do everything they can. Randolph, seems to be a woman of great leadership and determination. She would be able to take care of a class along with take care of a whole high school boys' football team. I completely agree that Natalie Randolph can we just as successful as any other man or woman coaching high school football. "People will have that initial reaction, but they'll realize she ... really knows what she's talking about."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/03/11/woman.football.coach/index.html?hpt=T2
-Taylor
Daniel, I totally agree with that. It seems pretty major to me.
ReplyDelete