Monday, November 15, 2010

November 19th current event

Happy only 5 day week in the month of November! There has been a lot going on in the United States and the world over the last few weeks, so there is much to learn. The topic for this week is...(drum-roll)...YOUR CHOICE! Have fun finding something that YOU are interested in (and then we will be, too). Do not forget to stick to the format: first paragraph= summary, second paragraph= opinion/relevance.






 

55 comments:

  1. The FDA has spent the past year examining alcoholic energy drinks to determine whether they are safe and should continue to be legal. These drinks have already been banned in some states due to questionable effects of mixing alcohol with caffine. There have been numerous accounts of young people, the primary consumers of beverages such as these, getting far more intoxicated than is safe consuming drinks like the popular Four Loko. This is due to the fact that the caffine hides the effect of the alcohol. Beth Martino, a spokesperson for the FDA, says, “We’re taking a careful and thorough look at the science and the safety of these products." They plan to announce a verdict some time this week.

    I personally think that although these drinks may not be entirely safe, neither is any alcohol. Banning them won't solve the problem of underage drinking or seriously lessen deaths in this country caused by alcohol. A better solution would be to raise awareness about not drinking too much of these alcoholic energy drinks. The key is moderation, something far more important to worry about then whether what people are drinking has caffeine in it. Without valid proof, I feel that there is no legal justification for banning drinks like these without banning all alcohol, something that will never happen.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/us/16drinks.html?pagewanted=1&ref=global-home

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  2. Jessica Yin
    7th. period
    Nov.15th,2010

    The article is basically about how President Obama will face the loss of control of the House during the election after he came back from Asia.Republicans are trying to extend Bush-era tax rates, Obama gave his warning that even though the Republicans are taking control of the House,their action have to be corresponding to the American people's purposes,not just all about doing things that are opposite to the democrats.The democrats,who still have the control of Senate,said that they can make a compromise about the extension of tax rates,but there must be a limit that make the original income to below $1 million instead of $250,000.But Obama's opinion is that he'd like to keep the Bush's policy for the amount of incomes,but opposes the extension with higher incomes.
    It had been an embarrassing period of time for President Obama that the democrats had such a loss in the election,and now the Republicans are tend to take the control on the political stage,the extension of Bush-era tax rate must be a big step for them that it actually can increase the power of republic due to they might get higher income than before.I ultimately agree with the compromise of democrats that we may continue,but we do need a limit for the income level,think about it,it will make a lot of people's lives easier if they pay the taxes for their year income below $1 million instead of $250,000.And it also may be like what the Senator of SC said in the end of the article,that another compromise could be they would bear 2 or 3 year extension for the high-income earners.In a word,I think that both of the republics and democrats should make their compromise for this decision,for the economy of America is now decreasing---better,but we still got a lot of work to do.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/us/politics/15obama.html?ref=politics

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  3. Kendall Simms 6th pd.
    http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/11/15/glee.effect.show.choir.comeback/index.html

    The art of singing has taken a noticeable step up in the cool department says a number of recent studies. Popular TV shows such as “Glee” have suddenly made singing a more socially acceptable activity in schools. More choir and show groups have sprung up across the country causing singing to take on a new life. This comes a time when the arts have taken a huge decrease in schools. This new spark resulting from the popularity of musical television shows has created a sense of hope in art directors nationwide. Harlingen High, for example, has started one of the first show choirs in Southeast Texas, drawing its inspiration directly from “Glee.” Kids are beginning to become more comfortable with participating in art programs that they otherwise would never have taken part in. Directors everywhere are in agreement that the arts are definitely benefiting from the popularity of music themed TV shows

    Yes, I am an avid “Glee” watcher. The combination of the plot and spins on popular songs is actually pretty entertaining. The fact that it’s causing more people to take part in show choirs and things like that doesn’t surprise me at all. Watching the show can make even the most shy shower singer want to potentially belt in public. One of my friends can’t even keep from singing several songs from the “Glee” track list every other day of the week. So naturally there’s going to be an increase in the show choirs and performing groups. I think it’s great the television can actually spur something good like this because art programs can definitely use the support.

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  5. http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/15/gay-rights-protesters-arrested-at-wh/

    Andrew Cohen
    7th period

    Thirteen gay rights activists were arrested Monday afternoon after protesting by tying their hands and feet to the White House. These picketers were protesting President Obama because they want him to be more aggressive in his approach to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Their protest was a direct result of Obama’s hesitation towards action on the repeal of the controversial amendment. Their leader, Lieutenant Dan Choi, organized specific chants during their protest. One of was "I am somebody! I deserve full equality!” Lieutenant Choi and four other veterans who were arrested Monday had been arrested before for civil disobedience this past March.
    This event is important because it shows that people are still willing stand up for what they believe in, even if it means that they will be arrested. Lots of people want “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to be repealed but not everybody is willing to tie themselves to the White House in an act of civil disobedience to draw attention to the act. This relates to the movie we watched, Iron Jawed Angels, because those ladies also picketed the White House and were arrested. In fact, I immediately thought of the movie as soon as I saw the headline. I think that it is great to see people so passionate about politics and individual laws.

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  6. A lot of schools, from middle school up to college, are using handheld devices called "clickers" to conduct class. Each student is given one, and then they use it to sign in as present and answer questions for the class. They also can use it to signal that they are confused without having to raise their hand. Because they have to answer questions throughout the class and the teacher is alerted of their input, they are required to stay awake and pay attention in class. These "clickers" are also used to poll for opinions, and apparently after conducting one of these polls and displaying the graphs, students were more willing to speak up about their opinions when they saw that others share their same opinion.

    I think that this is kind of cool, and an effective way of getting students to pay attention. We've done similar sorts of things for reviewing in class before, and I always liked doing that. However, at the same time, I don't think I'd like the environment using these all the time would create. I prefer less formal classes, where there's room for discussion and it's not strictly formatted. I do think it would be nice to be able to submit opinions or say that you're confused and remain anonymous though. I think this would work better for larger college classes, but not as well for smaller ones.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/education/16clickers.html?_r=1&hpw

    Kate Boyd
    7th pd

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  7. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/house-democrats-re-elect-pelosi-as-their-leader/?hp

    The current House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, was re-elected as the leader of the democratic party. She defeated Senator Heath Shuler of North Carolina by a whopping internal party vote of 150 to 43. Shuler claims to have acknowledged his lost before the vote had taken place, saying that he only wanted to give democrats a chance to vote against Pelosi. During the midterm election, Republicans allegedly singled out Pelosi and attacked her in their campaigns.
    Pelosi claims that she wanted to continue to be the leader of the Democrat party due to the domination of the Republican party during the elections. By holding her position, she thinks she will be able to stop any Republican effort to undo past legislative accomplishments, such as healthcare.
    Although Pelosi has been very successful, it is evident to me that there is some disagreement with her. The fact that Shuler ran against her just to give other Democrats a chance to vote against her supports this idea. If everyone liked her and agreed with her, there would not have been a need for Shuler to run against her. I think the democratic party was smart in re-electing her because they know that she has been successful, and most likely, that she will be successful in the future. As the first female speaker of the house, her success if very evident, but I think she should try harder to please more people. If people in her own part disagree with her, there's something that should be fixed.

    P.S. It is mentioned that Heath Shuler was a quarterback. :D

    Nicole Chang
    7th period

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  8. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/world/europe/18germany.html?ref=europe

    Recently Germany has been suspicious about terrorist attacks in the airports and train stations there. They sent several armed police and bomb-sniffing dogs to heavy populated areas in Germany. The security has already raised a lot of threat in Britain and France. There was an urgent meeting called in Berlin to discuss this serious topic. People said that there were terrorist attacks dated to be roughly around the end of November. Many other countries are dealing with threats like this from trained terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Word has got out that 25 people who are linked to Al Quadea are planning to attack Britain, France, and Germany. Several of these men have been either captured or killed, but some are still out there plotting against countries. Just to be on the safe side, the countries have increased their security. France has imported 5,000 extra military and police officers because they are nervous about any sort of suspicious activity. Several suspects have already been arrested linking towards terrorism. One of these suspects was supposedly involved with the idea of assassinating the leader of the Great Mosque of Paris. Daily, people are getting messages that new attacks are targeting mainly Germany. Many people insist that there is nothing to worry about, and something like this has never happened to Germany. You can never know though, and Germany has brought in a lot of security and police to be there just in case.

    Ever since 911, anything that deals with terrorist threat is a big deal for the country especially for the United States. Most countries really don't know what to do, and the only thing that they can do is bring in security and make sure they are very strict in populated areas like airports, subway and train stations. I think that is the best thing that they can do. Right now, Germany needs to be on top of everything especially in the airports. Many of these officers who are saying that nothing is wrong should be worried but stay organized. Terrorist attacks have been a big topic to a lot of countries, and it puts a lot of stress on the people in charge. A lot of countries are doing a good job in keeping them safe, and they will just have to keep an eye on things because anything could happen unexpectedly.

    Stacey Cutrell
    Period 7

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  9. In Haiti there has been an extreme outbreak of cholera. Many believe this has been caused by the United Nations Peacekeepers who have been sent there to help. This has caused many violent demonstrations to occur throughout Haiti. But medical authorities in Haiti have decided to push away this center of attention and focus on their patience needs. Some of the peacekeepers believe that the Haitians have chosen to use the cholera outbreak as an excuse to get them out and make their country unstable right before their presidential elections coming up. It has been found that this strain of cholera comes from South Asia which is where some troops are from who had been shipped in to help right before this outbreak. This bacteria lives in feces and is said to have contaminated a river where people get water their water from. Although things are being said that the peacekeepers have started this outbreak the United Nations still deny it is the troops fault.

    I believe strongly in the people who are saying the main focus shouldn’t be on the starting point of this outbreak. I think this because right now there are thousands of people sick and so many already dead from the earthquake and cholera the main focus needs to be making sure the injured and sick are being treated properly. But is everyone is focusing on where the outbreak is from, and blaming the peacekeepers, and starting violent riots then they are never going to be able to get anything done and more people are going to die than necessary. The medical teams down in Haiti that are trying to help need to be one hundred percent focused on treating the sick people and they shouldn’t have to worry about the violent protest and all the chaos going on.

    Leah Whitney
    Period 7

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  11. http://money.cnn.com/2010/11/17/news/economy/unemployment_benefits_cost/index.htm?hpt=T2


    Over the past three years, unemployed Americans collectively have received $319 billion dollars in jobless benefits. The costs of these benefits are going to be open for debate in Congress as they decide whether or not to extend these benefits longer. Some form of action must be taken by November 30th; otherwise nearly two million people could begin losing their benefits. The federal government pays for part of the unemployment benefits, however states generally pay out most of the benefits. Due to the fact that unemployment rates have been at record highs for the past few years, the accounts used to fund jobless benefits have been drained. 31 states collectively have had to borrow $41 billion from the federal government and businesses, through taxes, must pay back these loans. Employers are expected to have to pay close to twice as much in taxes this year to cover the loans.


    I think that the jobless benefits program is an excellent program that provides widespread benefits to those who need it. However, I don’t think the funds are being applied correctly. I think that instead of paying out all of the money to the jobless, money should also be allocated to business expansion. If the businesses were specifically targeted, then they could hire on new employees, thereby lowering the unemployment rate. I also think that this method would cost less money. $319 billion is an incomprehensible amount of money. And yet, this amount has to be paid back; it isn’t something that can be spent and then forgotten about. If Congress votes to continue the benefits as they are, not only will they increase the national deficit, they will also place a crippling debt upon businesses across the nation.

    Zach Visco
    November 17, 2010
    Period 6

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  12. The theology of Facebook, an online 'altar'
    Ryan Hegedus

    The author writes about how Facebook may have a deeper meaning. He offers the idea that Facebook’s ability to keep our friends around us and never really lose connection with anybody could be what we believe to be a characteristic of afterlife. This idea does challenge the faith of religious groups, but can Facebook help more than hurt these groups? The author leaves this thought up for debate, but says even though the idea of Facebook can be a problem, the publicity Facebook offers seems like it would be much more valuable. Whatever they case may be, the author does well to present this intriguing take on a social networking site.
    When reading this article, I began to see where the author was coming from. Many of hisv ideas at first seemed ridiculous and stupid, but with futher analyzation, I made the connection in my brain and chuckled to myself in my seat. The idea that Facebook may very well be a model for the afterlife starts be be all to attractive. Next time I log in to my facebook profile, I will begin to see the website in a whole new light.

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/11/18/facebook.theology.gallaga/index.html?hpt=Sbin

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  13. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/science/23obmacaque.html?_r=1&ref=science

    Researchers in Germany have recently found evidence that humans’ habit of making friends may stem from our ape ancestors. The researchers studied a form of monkey called Macaque. They noted that male monkeys tended to form close bonds with only a small group of others, like humans. These monkeys tend to live in groups of fifty or sixty, but are “friends” with just a few of the other monkeys. The researchers defined friendship as spending great amounts of time within 1.5 meters of each other or as grooming each other often, especially in places that could be reached by themselves. The similarities in this behavior and our own leads the researchers to believe that the practice of forming close bonds with others of our own species has been around for a long time.

    I think that is really interesting that friendship has been around for so long. It has probably been naturally selected for over the millennia as a survival technique. Creatures with large, powerful gangs can beat up the loners and stay alive. We can see direct connections between this and our own lives. In school, we tend to see people with many friends “surviving” high school better than those without. By this I mean that people with friends seem to be happier. Having bonds with people can even help those who have less money to actually survive. Having other people to rely on has helped people and animals throughout the ages. Friendship bonds have increased. I wonder how we will rely on each other in the future.

    Chiara Salemi

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  14. Shane Sater
    Nov. 18
    Pd. 7

    After a passenger from San Diego, John Tyner, refused to go through a Transportation Security Administration Full Body Imaging Scanner, citing privacy and health concerns, there has been a large outcry to new security procedures that many see as invasive. After refusing to go through the scanner, Mr. Tyner was told that he would have to undergo a pat-down search, which involved TSA personnel feeling his groin. As he was unwilling to do this, he opted to have his ticket refunded and not board the flight. After telling him that he "had given up a lot of his rights" after buying his ticket, the TSA employees told him he was free to go, and a local police officer escorted him out of the area. Later, a TSA supervisor apprehended him, and told him that he would be fined 10,000 dollars for leaving the security area. The detailed account of the happening that he posted on his blog was widely distributed, and has led many citizens to question the validity of invasive TSA procedures - some have even stated that they violate the Fourth Amendment. In the midst of the outcry, some legislators are calling for reform. Senator George LeMieux of Florida recently said, "I'm frankly bothered by the level of these pat-downs... I wouldn't want my wife to be touched in the way that these folks are being touched. I wouldn't want to be touched that way."

    I think that the current TSA measures are at least somewhat outrageous. Merely a response to a knee-jerk panic after 9/11, this agency spends an unbelievable amount of money to ease public fears without any real effectiveness. In more than nine years since 9/11 the TSA has not apprehended a single terrorist with explosives or other life-threatening devices at a security checkpoint. In fact, terrorists such as the infamous "underwear bomber" were able to board flights despite security measures, only to be stopped later by luck. In the meanwhile, the TSA, with its current policies, offers a breach of basic civil liberties. Although the basic metal detector walk-through seems reasonable, the new Full Body Imaging scanners unduly violate privacy, giving access to naked images of everyone who goes through one. Although the wording of this could be debated both ways, these procedures do indeed seem to violate the Fourth Amendment - "The right of the people to be secure in their persons... papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures".

    http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html
    http://flightaware.com/news/ap/Feds-holding-firm-on-intrusive-airport-security/2308

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  15. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20022855-503544.html


    About a year ago, president Obama declared a plan stating that the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan would start in July 2011. However, they left themselves wiggle room and said that they could change the date if things were to start going wrong. Problem is things have not been going well in Afghanistan, due to this the Obama administration now plans to have the troops all back by 2014. But the 2014 date, just like 2011 is simply a target that can be changed any time. This is a very difficult situation for Obama and the rest of the US, because they want to make sure that there is no terrorism going on. This could take a while but at the same time lots of Americans are against the war in Afghanistan, meaning they also have to try to get the troops back home as soon as possible. A tough situation but we’ll just have to see what happens.
    I would be bummed out if I were to be in this situation because there would be pressure coming from all cylinders. I’d try to send a lot of troops down to Afghanistan right now and have an incredibly thorough check on any terrorists activity going on, and if there isn’t any reports at all then I would bring the troops back within a year or so. However, if soldiers die then I would have to ensure that Afghanistan is stable before reeling in the horses.

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  16. http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_missouri/friends-of-mason-adam-are-furious-over-posts-on-a-facebook-memorial-page

    A student at Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, Missouri was hit and killed by a school bus on his way to class, and a memorial has been placed at the intersection where the event occurred. Friends of the student, Mason Adams, created a facebook page as a memorial to Adams' memory. Incredulously, someone started posting pictures on the facebook page, mocking Adams' memory. He died on Monday. Friends of Adams' and basically the entire school of 820 students is enraged that someone could be so disrespectful to his memory. In the words of senior Cory Stover, "Anybody who has a heart could not do that to somebody."

    This article caught my eye, mostly in disbelief that someone would be so irreverent. It's a bad thing to insult the memory of someone who has passed away, and its infinitely worse to mock the passing of someone who went so recently. This is a problem with computers and the internet especially. It allows for the propagation of more malicious and more brazen bullying than in person. And whats worse, it can be done anonymously through an internet avatar. This isn't exactly cyber bullying, but the shameless mocking that this person did to the memory of Mason Adams is despicable.

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  17. Arms Treaty Ratification Attempt

    Eric Plevy
    P6
    11/19/10

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/18/start.treaty/index.html?hpt=T2

    Recently, Obama has planned to ratify a treaty known as the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). This treaty has been planned to be ratified due to the fact that we have not been able to monitor Russia’s nuke count for a long while, and this increases the level of a national security threat. This ratification will offer mutual checks on nukes between Russia and the U.S.A., and limit Russia’s and our nuke count to 1,550 warheads and 700 launchers per country. However, the Republican Party wants to hold off on the ratification of until early next year since the Senate will have Republican majority. Since this session was held right before a new person or group goes into power (a Republican-based Senate in this case), it was a “lame duck session”. If this ratification is approved before the new Senate takes over, it would be the first time that an arms control treaty would be ratified in a lame duck session. However, the Republicans want to hold off until the new Senate comes into power, and Russia has not approved this yet, so this ratification may not be approved at all.
    In my opinion, this should be done as soon as possible. With an increased national security threat, the decision should be a fairly simple decision to make. I really think that the Republicans are causing a highly unnecessary interference in this case. Of course I understand that they would want to wait until they have more people from their party in the Senate; however, there is no legitimate reason for them to wait till their party takes control of the Senate when dealing with deadly, long - term devastation - causing devices. The importance of this situation is that this treaty can improve relations between the U.S.A and Russia, and more importantly, can prevent nuclear warfare. This ratification is vital to relations with Russia and national security. However, instead of limiting the amount of nukes, I think that all nukes should just be disarmed and prohibited to create. This relates to what we are doing in class since we are talking about how documents have to be approved by all, including the president and the Senate. Hopefully, our nation, along with Russia, will go through with this ratification so there will be lesser tensions between the U.S.A and Russia along with an increased level of national security for both nations.

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  18. Arms Treaty With Russia
    Maria Miggs
    11/18/10
    p.7

    There has been much action in Washington lately with the results of the midterm election. The new congress will be seated in January, and Obama is eager to ratify an important treaty concerning nuclear weapons. This treaty, New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), will insure cooperation with The United States and Russia in arms, namely nuclear weapons. START will limit the amount of nuclear arms for both countries and instate reciprocal inspections for both countries. The United States and Russia would be limited to 1,550 warheads and 700 launchers each. Obama believes that Russia has a formidable pile of nuclear weapons and the U.S should be taking measures to decrease that number, or at least be aware of it. He thinks that sacrificing some of our arms is a just price to pay for this assurance. Others believe that giving away some of our nuclear weapons would weaken the United States and lessen our protection against other nations. Obama is fairly certain the treaty will get at least 67 votes in senate, therefore it will be passed.

    I agree with Obama on this issue. Limiting the number of nuclear weapons that Russia has would be a great step for the security of our nation. 1,550 warheads and 700 launchers is still a large amount of arms that will protect the country. Some of the congress members and politicians who don’t approve of this treaty are going to be against Obama no matter what he does so I’m not surprised that START is contested by a few. It will be easier for START to be ratified now, with the current congress then the congress that will be seated in January, so the sooner the better for the ratification of START.

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  19. Ryan Rainey
    11-18-10

    House ethics committee votes for censure of N.Y. Democrat

    The House ethics committee voted 9-1 on Thursday to censure Rep. Charles Rangel, D-New Yor. It was discussed for a while before being made official around six pm. Many people were apologizing for him talking about imbarrassment that he brought with him and more. He was seemingly suprised about the turnout of the issue. From the article it seemed that Rangel recieved several chances and then continued to struggle. Rangel said in a quote that at some points what he had done was stupid. He said he did not consider these consiquences and he knows he could have tried harder and not made the careless and "stupid" choices. To be honest after this many oppurtunities, the US literally had no choice. The ethics committee said to him multiple times that he should reset funds. He just seemed to never have that time. What he was doing, only he knows. He faced a pretty embarassing consequence though.


    http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/18/rangel.ethics.hearing/index.html

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  20. Jay Htut
    6th period
    http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-13/world/myanmar.suu.kyi.release_1_aung-san-suu-kyi-house-arrest-military-junta?_s=PM:WORLD

    Aung San Suu Kyi, after spending the past 15 out of 21 years under house arrest, has been released. Suu Kyi was detained due to her opposition against the militaristic government of Burma. In the 1990 general election, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament. However, she was already detained before the elections began. Due to her beliefs and actions, Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Finally, after many years under house arrest, Suu Kyi was released on November 13, 2010.

    I think that it is great that Suu Kyi was released. In my opinion, the Burmese government was very wrong in arresting her. She was just an innocent citizen that wanted her voice heard in politics. However, her democratic ideas were not approved by the government, which led to her arrest. I think that the main reason why the Government let her go was because of international pressure, especially from countries like the United States who advocate a Democratic Government.

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  21. Norman Archer, 6th Period Civics

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/nyregion/19rangel.html?_r=1&hp

    Today a House Panel recommended a censorship for Congressman Charles Rangel of Harlem, New York. This punishment is very serious, and Rangel was lucky not to be expelled. Rangel’s ethical misconducts include failure to pay taxes, improper fundraising, and not reporting of financial disclosure forms. Rangel is the first member to receive such punishment cine 1983. He has served as a congressman for Harlem since 1971 when he was first elected.
    I think that Rangel’s actions are terrible. He is the chair of the Ways and Means committee in the House, making him one of the most powerful people in the house. It is truly shameful that he cannot follow the own laws that he himself set up (he is also on the joint committee for taxes).
    Although it is clear that Rangel has done many bad things, I do see value in what Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat from North Carolina on the committee stated (urging a more lenient punishment of reprimand). He said that Mr. Rangel’s misconduct was unintentional and that his long record of public service should be considered. I do believe that one must consider all action of a person before judging them, not just the good or the bad.

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  22. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gm_ipo_obama

    President Barack Obama on Thursday celebrated the return of a reborn General Motors to the U.S. stock market, saying it shows some of the "tough decisions that we made" during the financial crisis were beginning to pay off.

    The government's $50 billion taxpayer-backed rescue of the venerable automaker includes more than $36 billion injected by the Obama administration and more than $13 billion approved by Obama's predecessor, President George W. Bush.

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  23. Leon Pickles
    11/18/10
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/science/space/19comet.html?_r=1&ref=science
    NASA scientist have noticed a comet that flew by the NASA spacecraft that was a giant block of frozen water. It is letting off many streams of carbon dioxide and the scientists say that they have never seen anything like it. Also streams of water vapor are flowing out. The stuff coming out of the comet is not big chunks of stuff but more like powdery snow.

    I think this is very interesting because it means that there is water somewhere else in the universe not just Earth. It could also mean that there are other life forms and someday we could meet them. Probably not in my life but in the future when we have flying cars.

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  24. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/asia/19beijing.html?ref=world

    A woman, Cheng Jianping, 46, in China was sentenced to one year in labor camp for forwarding a cynical message on Twitter urging its receivers to go beyond just smashing Japanese products and attack the Japanese Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo on Thursday, November 18, 2010. The original message came from Cheng’s husband, Hua Chunhui. The international director of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Renee Xia, said Cheng and her husband were part of “daring freelance advocates known as weiguan who travel across the country to show up at courthouses where dissidents are on trial” Now this might sound like a harsh punishment to be sent to a labor prison for year, but there is more to the story. Twitter and Facebook websites are blocked in China due to the government’s concern about social networks and their services. However, small groups of people have managed to subscribe to Twitter by going past the Chinese government’s firewall. Therefore Cheng’s small action would receive a larger punishment than expected. China’s legal system is very different from ours because they are allowed to send people to be “re-educated” in labor camps for up to four years without trial. These camps are made to hold up to 300,000 people at a time, but many say this power of just being able to put people in these places is being misused. Some of the people in these camps are in there for things such as pick pocketing, using drugs or prostitution; however there are also people in there who had committed political offenses. By putting Cheng in this kind of prison, it shows us how strict China is with theirs rules about social networking. This is because the Chinese government wants to demonstrate to people who break the government’s blocks on these sites that they mean business and their actions will not be taken lightly. Cheng was sent to the “Shibali River women’s labor camp in Henan Province.” Her husband told BBC that despite her blood-pressure issues, she has gone on a hunger strike so that they will move her to a prison closer to her home.

    I think this woman is crazy for going against the Chinese government just to be on a website; on the other hand, I don’t agree with China’s legal system. I don’t think it’s fair for them to be able to put people in labor camps without a trial. That would be unconstitutional here in the US. The laws in China are much more strict than the laws we have here. When I read that she had gone on a hunger strike in prison, it reminded me of the women’s suffrage activists in the early 1900s, the only difference is that these women were fighting for a good cause, not a silly thing they did like Cheng.

    Laura Musalem
    6th period

    ReplyDelete
  25. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/asia/19beijing.html?ref=world

    A woman, Cheng Jianping, 46, in China was sentenced to one year in labor camp for forwarding a cynical message on Twitter urging its receivers to go beyond just smashing Japanese products and attack the Japanese Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo on Thursday, November 18, 2010. The original message came from Cheng’s husband, Hua Chunhui. The international director of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Renee Xia, said Cheng and her husband were part of “daring freelance advocates known as weiguan who travel across the country to show up at courthouses where dissidents are on trial” Now this might sound like a harsh punishment to be sent to a labor prison for year, but there is more to the story. Twitter and Facebook websites are blocked in China due to the government’s concern about social networks and their services. However, small groups of people have managed to subscribe to Twitter by going past the Chinese government’s firewall. Therefore Cheng’s small action would receive a larger punishment than expected. China’s legal system is very different from ours because they are allowed to send people to be “re-educated” in labor camps for up to four years without trial. These camps are made to hold up to 300,000 people at a time, but many say this power of just being able to put people in these places is being misused. Some of the people in these camps are in there for things such as pick pocketing, using drugs or prostitution; however there are also people in there who had committed political offenses. By putting Cheng in this kind of prison, it shows us how strict China is with theirs rules about social networking. This is because the Chinese government wants to demonstrate to people who break the government’s blocks on these sites that they mean business and their actions will not be taken lightly. Cheng was sent to the “Shibali River women’s labor camp in Henan Province.” Her husband told BBC that despite her blood-pressure issues, she has gone on a hunger strike so that they will move her to a prison closer to her home.

    I think this woman is crazy for going against the Chinese government just to be on a website; on the other hand, I don’t agree with China’s legal system. I don’t think it’s fair for them to be able to put people in labor camps without a trial. That would be unconstitutional here in the US. The laws in China are much more strict than the laws we have here. When I read that she had gone on a hunger strike in prison, it reminded me of the women’s suffrage activists in the early 1900s, the only difference is that these women were fighting for a good cause, not a silly thing they did like Cheng.

    Laura Musalem
    6th period

    ReplyDelete
  26. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40126918/ns/travel-news

    The Carnival Splendor, a cruise ship, embarked on a three day journey that was later christened the nightmare cruise, the cruise from @#!*% , and even “Spamcation”. An engine fire interrupted what was originally a seven-day cruise and turned the nice vacation into an utter nightmare. The fire disabled the electricity, resulting in no air conditioning and no hot water or food. Navy helicopters delivered Pop Tarts, Spam, and other canned foods. At mealtimes, passengers had to climb nine flights of stairs and wait for hours in a line to receive this undesirable food. All of the swimming pools were closed because the cruise could not pump chlorine and the toilets were backed up and could not flush. However, conditions improved as the days wore on. Free drinks were served as a minor compensation. A group of 250 magicians entertained the passengers, and live performances from bands helped lift some spirits.

    I will be traveling on a Carnival cruise over winter break, and this article leaves me feeling a little unsettled. Carnival cruises usually receive good reviews, and I am sure that the engine fire was an unplanned, one-time event that will not repeat itself. However, I hope that Carnival has offered these passengers sufficient compensation for this traumatizing experience that ruined many honeymoons and family vacations. I commend Carnival on successfully managing this "cruise from @#!*% " and finding ways to entertain passengers amid stress and anxiety. Hopefully, this nightmare cruise will not duplicate itself in the future.

    Maria, 6th

    ReplyDelete
  27. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/science/space/19comet.html?ref=science

    Two weeks ago one of NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft's flew within 435 miles of an amazing sight. Comet Hartley 2 appeared as a snow globe, with large snowflakes, ranging from the size of golf balls to that of basketballs, being thrust off of it's surface. Scientists are amazed that the cause of this is not what usually happens, when water vapor inside the comet is heated and then causes the ice to fly off. What is happening on this comet is dry ice inside the comet being heated, causing carbon dioxide jets to form and force the snowflakes off. Fortunately the spacecraft did not suffer any damage while passing through the storm.

    I think this is just amazing, the pictures look beautiful, and the breakthrough is amazing. Scientists have only ever seen carbon dioxide jets on planets, never on comets. I think it's a shame that NASA's funding for discovering things like this has been cut, and I feel like as a country it's our responsibility to advance our scientific fields as much as possible, and without enough funding NASA cannot make amazing discoveries such as this. I think this is just another piece of evidence that we should give NASA back the funding we took away.

    Ariel Gunn
    Period 7

    ReplyDelete
  28. Riley Hutchison
    7th period

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/asia/19beijing.html?_r=1&hpw

    Cheng Jianping was sentenced to spend one year in a labor camp in China for forwarding a satirical blog message attacking the Japanese Pavilion. The police accused her of "disturbing social order", and therefore sentenceed her to a labor camp. She was merely repeating the words of others, and her fiance was supporting the same cause she was. Ms. Cheng's fiance was arrested the same day she was last month, although he was realeased 5 days later. China's legal system allows police to send people to "re-education centers" where they are forced into labor, for up to 4 years without trial. There are approximatley 300,000 people in the system and most of them are pickpockets, drug users, prostitutes, and the few polital prisoners like Ms. Cheng. Ms. Cheng used an online name (Wang Yi) to send out messages to a small group of chinese intellectuals who subscribe to twitter, which is blocked by the government as well as facebook. The government is fully perpared to send other people to labor camps for using these blocked webistes, and making comments agains the government.

    In the USA freedom of speech is the first amendment in the bill of rights. We live in a country where we have grown up being able to express our own ideas freely, and not have to fear being punished. I can't imagine growing up somewhere where i can't openly express my feelings about what our government is doing. This situation Ms. Cheng is in as a political prisoner reminds me of the position Alice and Lucy were put in, in Iron Jawed Angels. They were sent to work in a labor house, just for protesting government by repeating the words of others. Obviously China has different views about personal expression, but i would say that sentencing someone to a year of labor for simply repeating what someone else said is slightly extreme. China must feel so threatened by the power of its people, that it forced them to ban social networking cites such as Facebook, and Twitter.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Gavin Welch
    Per 7


    Two weeks ago a NASA space craft captured photographs of a comet. This comet was interesting to scientist because it releasing hundreds of tiny pieces of ice as it flew by Hartley 2. What fascinating scientists the most was that the pieces of ice were carbon dioxide. This was the first time that carbon dioxide had been observed at a comet. The scientists who analyzed the phatos of Hartley 2 said that the frozen carbon dioxide within the comet must date from a the beginnings of the solar system because once it turns to gas, it disperses into space.

    I think this is really cool what NASA viewed from our space craft. I also think that this is amazing to think how far we’ve come. The Human species has come a long way. It’s amazing to think that we are able to send a satellite up into space and have it take pictures for us and send them back to earth.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/science/space/19comet.html?_r=1&ref=science

    ReplyDelete
  30. Recently, a professor of molecular and cellular physiology and his team at Stanford developed a process called array tomography. The technique was designed to allow scientists to see the physical changes in the brain when you learn a new skill. They cut a thin slice of the cerebral cortex from a mouse and dyed the different kinds of synapses, the structures that allow brain cells to connect with each other, different colors. Then they took thousands of high definition photos near the whiskers of the mouse and put them into a kind of 3D map. This allowed the team to show where each kind of synapse was located and gave them hope in the future for an actual moving picture of physical changes in disease like Alzheimer’s.

    Frankly, I am kind of shocked that the news would pick this up. Studying tissues of the cerebral cortex has been around since the 1800’s and fluorescent stains have been around since the late 1970s. What this team did was simply a higher technical version of the same thing we have been doing for the last 150 years. Even the kind of stains they used were invented in the 1980s. This group is basically uploading the information of years past onto new technology. While this is helpful to the scientific community in better studying the results on computers, nothing new has really been invented. Along with that, they are giving false hope about Alzheimer’s. A map on how the brain changes is not truly going to help for scientists already know the reason for the disease is lack of connection between synapses. I hate to be a pessimist, but these scientists have not truly given the scientific community a new solution to age old problems.

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/11/18/131422064/touring-memory-lane-inside-the-brain?ft=1&f=1001

    Jenny Vaughn
    Period 6
    Due 11/19/10

    ReplyDelete
  31. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372994,00.asp
    Scientists have recently discovered an even more successful way to store antimatter and from this they have crafted an idea. Scientists have decided that since they now can store antimatter effectively and it uses 100% of the energy released. This means that we can increase the amount of energy used by nearly 99% and some scientists believe that with this vast increase in efficiency they will be able to craft stars hips. They believe that the only way a star ship could be created was if they had an increase in the efficiency of energy used and this definitely could lead them. Some other scientists were much more skeptical about this claim from some scientists, but nonetheless this is a great breakthrough in science.
    I think that this is so cool. It isn't every day that you can look in the news paper and see that they might begin making star ships soon. It seems like every day we're becoming more and more futuristic and this is one of the coolest advancements in science that we've had in a long time. Once we have star ships we can begin exploring and we will learn a whole lot more about the universe. This is also an advancement because it means that we can do a whole lot more with antimatter that we couldn't do before. Learning how to store antimatter is a huge achievement and thats another cool part about this article. Overall, this article grabbed my attention because its such a cool concept that in just a few years we might have the initial designs for star ships like in Star Trek.

    ReplyDelete
  32. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_fidel_castro


    Fidel Castro says he is happy with the direction Cuba is taking under the leadership of his brother Raul. He commented to some students that he is happy that his country is moving forward. Castro stepped down in 2006 due to a serious illness that almost killed him. Castro, 84, remains head of the Communist Party. Dispite that he is nolonger making the choices but his brother Raul is.

    I think that peolpe ing cuba are prisoner in their own country because they are not to leave the counrty of cube, if it's not illigal, or if you dont get married. I think it is not far for them to live like that. I think they should leave and get distroy fidel and become free. i also belive that when Fidel dies the Raul is no longer going to rule like him I think that he is going to free them.

    ReplyDelete
  33. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101115/us_yblog_thelookout/gay-michigan-student-defends-suspended-teacher

    In Howell Michigan, Jay McDowell, a teacher at Howell High School, was suspended for a couple of reasons: he asked one student to remove a belt featuring the Confederate flag and kicked two other students out of class. One of these two students was junior, Daniel Glowacki. Glowacki argued with McDowell over why the girl should have to remove her Confederate flag belt when other students wore purple for Spirit Day, “a voluntary event for students designed to raise awareness about anti-gay bullying”, on October 20th. Glowacki is against homosexuality and was reported to have made “inappropriate and offensive statements regarding gay students”. Howell was simply following the school policy of asking students not to wear inappropriate clothing, the Confederate flag being a symbol of hate. A Facebook group was started several years ago using this flag as the profile picture and contained hate speeches and in the 1970s and 80s, there was an active Ku Klux Klan north of Howell.
    I really don't know what my opinion is on this topic. On the one hand, does the one studetn not have the freedom to wear what she wants although somewhat limited in school. However if she wore the belt as a sign of support for the two hatw groups, it seems only proper to have asked her to remove this item of clothing. I don't think Glowacki had the right to compare this incident to Spirit Day as the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate for this community whereas Glowacki's poor outlook on homosexuals is personal.

    Jacob Harris 7th

    ReplyDelete
  34. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_bi_ge/us_jobless_benefits

    The holiday season picture for the unemployed just got a lot foggier as congress announced that because of budget cuts, the jobless benefits may be cut. The bill to extend them was overruled in the House and a bill has to be made by December 1st for the benefits to apply. The main concern is the cost of the benefits. They are approximately $310 per week for each of the 5 million people who have been unemployed for 6 months, which, if you do the math, totals up to 80.6 billion dollars per year, a huge amount. The republicans say they’ll pass the bill if the 12.5 billion dollar cost isn’t added to the national debt, which is at an astonishing 13.8 trillion dollars.
    I think that the benefits should still go on because without the extra money that the unemployed get they can’t keep there homes and can’t live normally. I think it’s weird that they’re never budget increases; only budget cuts. While I don’t like the idea of increasing the national debt, I also know we shouldn’t have gotten there anyway. Besides, it’s almost Christmas time and you don’t want the jobless stranded.

    Mark Stouffer
    Period 7

    ReplyDelete
  35. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/18/umbilical.cord.public.banks/index.html?npt=NP1

    Many people believed that only a private bank for storing a baby's umbilical cord blood cells was available. However, new parents are discovering that there is actually a public bank available where they can store the umbilical cord cells for free. Unlike in the private banks, the cells are available to anyone who may need it. If the donor baby is ever in need of his/her cells however, it will be there for him/her as long as it hasn't already been given to someone else. There's a 95 percent chance that your child's cells will still be there. However, not all cells are stored due to quantity and quality of the umbilical cord cells according to the director of the Carolina Cord Blood Bank at Duke University Medical Center. Transplant specialists and some private banks do say that the cells from the donor may not help him/her at all. This is due to the fact that the cord blood cells might contain the diseased cells, and cells with genetic mutations. Transplant specialists from Duke University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center both say that they have never used a child's own cord blood cells to treat him/her. It is very rare for a child's own cord blood to treat him/her.

    I think that it's a good idea to donate a baby's umbilical cord blood to public banks because it may save a person's life. If you put it in a private bank and never use it, that cord blood is just going to go to waste. However, if it was in a public bank, it might have saved a life of someone who desperately needed it. It also says that it is rare to have a child's own cord blood benefit him/her. The doctor's practically never use a child's own cord blood. Therefore, there's really no reason to spend thousands of dollars putting it in a private bank in my opinion. Since the public bank is free, you don't really lose anything from donating. It's for a good cause. What could possibly make a person feel more special than the fact that they just have saved a person's life? Nothing in my opinion. Reading this article made me realize what a great opportunity it is, and I think that I will donate my children's cord blood to the public banks when I have kids in the future.

    Jenny Jin
    11/18/10
    7th period

    ReplyDelete
  36. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/call-of-duty-smashes-five-day-sales-records/?ref=technology

    The latest video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops, continues to break worldwide records. Since its release late last week, the video games has made a gross profit of over $650 million in worldwide sales, resulting in the largest five-day launch in entertainment across any media including theatre, movies, and gaming. In these first five days of Black Ops’ birth, more than 2.6 million people have played the game. The company who manufactured this game said it has seen a lot of interest in a 3-D version of Black Ops, even though few people actually have 3-D televisions.

    The statistics on this game really astonish me. I know boys like their video games, but this seems to be a much bigger deal for video gamers all over the world than I can imagine. Even though I don’t see the attraction of shooting aliens for hours and hours on end, this really makes me realize how advanced we have become in technology over the last few decades. I wonder about all the new the inventions that are yet to be made, and the types of games our children and grandchildren will be playing. Honestly, I can’t imagine anything more technologically advanced than touch-screens, 3-D TV’s and video games that don’t require controllers.

    Cerys Humphreys
    7th Period

    ReplyDelete
  37. Current Event
    11/18/10
    P6

    This week since we’ve been talking about the House and the Senate I decided to do an article that related perfectly. This week in the news the House of Ethics committee wanted Representative Charles B. Rangel to censured or in other words punished for ethical misconduct. It was a very emotional day for Rangel and some of his other colleagues. At one point the article had said that he fought to keep his composure. He has been a representative of Harlem for 40 years. In 2007 he gained the position as the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. If this censure id approved fully by the House then Rangel will be the first member to have been accused of such a harsh accusation since 1983. As a part of this process he would be required to stand in the well of the House as he is basically read his dismissal papers. He was found guilty on 11 counts of ethical violations, including improper fund-raising, failure to pay taxes on rental income and failure to report personal income on his Congressional financial disclosure forms. He was also fined by the committee to pay thousands of dollars in taxes on his villas that he owns in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean. However Rangel felt as though the media was “victimizing” him and his family. Rangel goes on to say that all of this was due to poor record keeping and a personal gain in profit was never intended while he held his position.


    In this case I’m a little on the fence. I’m not really sure where to stand on this issue but it’s obvious that wrong doings were committed. There is no way that there was that much of poor record keeping that he happened to build up all of the debt he accommodated. I sort of feel sorry for him though, only because he’s now 80 years old and I can’t help but to think of my grandparents, so I have a little compassion in that sense. However, it’s doesn’t take away from the fact that he still committed a crime and therefore he has to be punished. It really surprised me that someone who has been involved in politics for so long slipped up this much and landed himself in such a bad position.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/nyregion/19rangel.html?_r=1&hp

    ReplyDelete
  38. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_myanmar_suu_kyi

    Recently Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi had been released from house arrest for nearly 7 and a half years, all for opposing the government. Now 65 years old Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi wants to reinstate her political party in time for the November 7th election. On Tuesday she had filed a affadavit with the country's high court in order to reinstate her party, now as she waits for them to reply she must tread carefully, most likely she'd be detained without hesitation if she does anything wrong. On Thurday November 5th, the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Suu Kyi and paired a “warm and coidial conversation,” Ban's spokesman Martin Nersirky said. The world body leader expresed his admiration for Suu Kyi's courage and dignity as a source of inspiration for millions of people around the world. She has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years, but has remained the dominant figure of Myanmar's battered pro-democracy movement, and more than 2,200 political prisoners remain behind bars.
    I'm amazed at how much pain, and work shes' put in attempting to gain democracy for Myanmar. In 1988 at age 43 she returned home to care for her ailing mother, in her absence mass demonstrations were breaking out against military rule, and because of this she was quickly thrust into a leadership role because she was the daughter of Aung San. She's given so up so much in her life to save the people's freedom from this military regime, such as seeing her husband in 1999 before he died of cancer. She has also not been able to see her sons in a decade, and has never met her 2 grandchildren, and yet she still refuses to leave or give up her fight, even during her brief periods of freedom she refused to leave, fearing that she would not be able to return.

    ReplyDelete
  39. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/world/asia/14myanmar.html

    Myanmar's symbol of democracy, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was released from house arrest on Saturday, November 13th. She had been placed under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years, and she stepped out of confinement at age 65. Thousands of supporters greeted her, many holding signs and shedding tears of relief. “We haven’t seen each other for so long, I have so much to tell you,” announced Mrs.Aung San Suu Kyi to the massive crowd, eager to continue her advocacy for human rights and political freedom as soon as she could. In addition, the government of Burma publicly described her freedom as unconditional, and in both Europe and the United States, the release of a global icon has countless supporters celebrating.

    Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's unconditional devotion to her country is extremely inspiring. I recall that few years ago, when she was given a chance to leave Myanmar without consequence, she chose house arrest to advocate for her selfless cause. Though Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi is officially freed, her struggle is far from over; in my opinion, she has been "freed" into a larger prison with a myriad of political and social issues. The future is uncertain for her, and the volatile nature of Myanmar's militaristic government may lead to a third round of arrest and confinement. However, I have faith that this symbolic act will propel the citizens of Myanmar in their journey to democracy.

    Jessica Gao
    6th Period

    ReplyDelete
  40. Mount Everest Paintings
    http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/german-artist-juergen-staeudtner-paints-ill-fated-everest-climbers/19712073

    Some recognition has been given to Mount Everest climbers thorough brilliant paintings. Juergen Staedtner of Germany has painted eight different climbers of Mount Everest who have either died or had severe injuries. Some of his subjects include Lincoln Hall and Usha Bista. Both were survivors but were severely injured. Hall made it off the mountain with black, frost bit fingers while Ms. Bista lost her thumb. Staedtner has also painted subjects such as Briton David Sharp who died in May on the Mountain. The German artist’s original attempt was to paint the mountain itself, but decided to portray the climbers of the Mountain instead.

    It’s touching to see how this artist recognizes these powerful people that climb Mount Everest. I think it’s beautiful that he decided to portray the people rather than the mountain because it’s only typical that one would paint the mountain. I also think that showing the people actually shows the power of nature better than painting the actual mountain. Painting the mountain just shows its physical attributes, but showing what the mountain does to people shows that nature is not a force to be reckoned with. I think that by painting this Staedtner is recognizing important, brave, and daring people, while showing the power of nature.
    Tristin Van Ord

    ReplyDelete
  41. Thomas Nguyen
    11/18/10 Period 7

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/17/us/politics/AP-US-Airport-Security.html?ref=airport_security



    The government is responsible for the new security features at the airport. People have been complaining that the new security features which include pat-downs and airport scans reveal too much privacy of people. The body scans scan the entire body and upload images onto a screen without revealing the face of a person. If one does not like the full body scan, they can opt out for pat-downs, which allows TSA officials to slide their hands along the body. they slide their hands along the thigh and near the groin and the chest. A Traveler from San Diego resisted the full body scans as well as the pat-downs. He said this to a TSA official, If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested." Even some lawmakers disagree with the security procedures. Senator George LeMieux, R-Fla, says that he and his wife do not want the pat-downs like people are receiving in the airports.



    I think this is a major issue heading into the holidays, where a lot of people are traveling. This can cause major delays at the security checkpoint and people are going to miss their flight. Some people complain that this violates the 4th amendment, which states that unreasonable searches and seizures are not allowed. I personally do not like the full body scans and pat-downs even though I have never been through one of them before. This is a short term solution to our problems with terrorists on planes, but there has to be a better solution on security that does not breach the privacy of people. With the additional security such as pat-downs and full body scans, I think people are more opted to stay home and not travel. I would not want to travel by the airport any time soon.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Geoff Thomason - 11/19/10 - Period 7
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/business/19security.html?ref=business

    Three weeks ago, the Transportation Security Administration decided that more the pat-down security checks at airports, should be more aggressive and effective. Of course, along with the more intense security checks, came the enormous amount of complaints about them. Most of these complaint letters were either about the sheer embarrassment that came with the humiliating search, or the insulting and inappropriate comments made by the agents and airport employees. However, some of these complaints even include occurances of genital contact. Passengers are mainly saying that the new physical searches are surprisingly agressive and personal. One of the comments, by Kaya McLaren, an elementary schoolteacher from Cle Elum, Washington, was particularly graphic. Kaya, who was patted down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last Saturday, was quoted saying that the security officer searched her vaguely and then touched her genital area, claming that it was all part of the new test. Kaya was also understandably upset for the reason she had to be searched in the first place; the body scanner detected a tissue and a hair band in her pocket, and security thought that these could be dangerous for some reason and chose to search her.

    Personally, I think these new searches are uneccesscary in the long run, but are temporarily needed. The reason for the new searches was to try to eliminate allowing terrorists on board an airplane with concealed weapons. I think that this is a good cause and deserves some attention, but I also feel that there are better solutions than a more intense search. Although I think that these new searches won't last long, I do think that they should be kept in effect until a better solution is reached.

    ReplyDelete
  43. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/brain-odyssey-offers-brain-exercises-in-a-social-game/

    This Wednesday, a new game was introduced by Posit Science (a company specializing in educational games). This game is called Brain Odyssey, and is basically a social networking game that exercises your brain while you play. It has been proven to increase cognitive performance, and challenges players to think their way through a series of challenges. The creator of this game, Dr. Michael Merzenich, believes that it will also improve areas of the brain related to memory, and improve the brain's ability to process visual. This game has not been put on the market yet, but it hopefully will be soon.
    I think that this Brain Odyssey is a great idea. Many young people are very interested in video games/social networking, and are very uninterested in learning. This game could possibly link the two together in an appealing way for many people. I think that this game gives a real opportunity for so-called couch potatoes to learn and improve their brain's ability when they might not have willingly done this before. I also see this as a way for adults to enjoy video games, because it isn't just silly or violent, there's a real purpose and it's helping them. I hope to see this game put on the market as soon as possible, and I would love to play it myself, if only to just see what it's like and how they plan on meshing social networking and education.

    Kim Rubish
    6th Period

    ReplyDelete
  44. Hannah Blackburn 7ths period

    http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/11/17/1428078/un-radio-21-civilians-killed-by.html?storylink=

    (also used: Bonobo Handshake by Vanessa Woods)

    In 1994, Rwandan Hutus crossed the border into Congo. These Hutus, called Interhamwe, had participated in the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis and the Hutus who refused to kill them. It was a very personal genocide, with neighbours killing their Tutsi neighbours. When the Tutsis regained control of Rwanda, the Interhamwe fled to Congo. They have been there ever since, and war has completely destroyed Congo. Wilikale, in eastern Congo, is one example of the constant violence. This summer, 303 rapes were reported in four days. The latest news in this area, reported via UN Okapi radio, is that a civilian truck was attacked by Rwandan Hutus. Three people were initially reported dead, but the final number has not been reported yet. The reason civilians are being attacked more and more often is that militaries have forced the Interhamwes out of hiding. They attack civilians for food and supplies.


    303 rapes in FOUR DAYS. We can't even imagine living in conditions like these. The war in Congo is the most revolting and violent war in the world right now, with the msot deaths since World War II. People chop each other up and eat each other to stay alive, and western powers take advantage of the chaos. They make deals with various war lords in order to mine Congo's rich soil. Congo has a lot of oil, diamonds, gold, and other precious metal and minerals. I find it frustrating that the extreme Hutus and Tutsis can't see the vicious cycle they are in. If a Tutsi kills a Hutu, another Hutu will kill two more Tutsis! There is no government and no western aid. The media should talk about the war in Congo as much or more than they talk about Afganistan and Iraq.

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  45. In the three weeks since the Transportation Security Administration began more aggressive pat-downs of passengers at airport security checkpoints, traveler complaints have poured in.

    Some offer graphic accounts of genital contact, others tell of agents gawking or making inappropriate comments, and many express a general sense of powerlessness and humiliation. In general passengers are saying they are surprised by the intimacy of a physical search usually reserved for police encounters.

    “I didn’t really expect her to touch my genitalia through my pants, said an elementary schoolteacher from Cle Elum, Wash., who was patted down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last Saturday because the body scanner detected a tissue and a hair band in her pocket.



    The agency has so far responded to the complaints by calling for cooperation and patience from passengers, citing polls showing broad support for the full-body scanning machines.

    Still, it remains to be seen whether travelers approve of the pat-downs, especially as millions more people experience them for the first time during the holiday travel season.
    I think that the TSA made a terrible choice with this new policy. In the three weeks, this new search has yielded no terrorists trying to bomb a national monument. In fact, all the searches have accomplished is to make several thousand people actually cancel their reservations for flights. When you read the article, you can see why. These airport security officers are MOLESTING people. They cite incidents of people hiding drugs and bombs in their genetalia or other body cavities, but this is still wrong. They cannot allow these people to do this because officers are clearly not patting people down to look for bombs, but to touch them. Reports have been made of agents making innapropriate comments as they pat people down! I know that if I fly and a security officer touches me innapropriately, there is going to be a big problem. The TSA needs to eliminate this policy because it is only hurting the airline business. You cannot tolerate your employees molesting your customers, which is exactly what they are doing.
    Sam Freedberg
    6th Period

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  46. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/education/16clickers.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=clickers&st=cse

    College students all across the country have been “clicking” their way through class. Not just by texting on their cell phones though. Students have been assigned “clickers” in class that count their attendance in class, allows them to answer questions and ask for help. All without raising a hand. These devices have been said to keep students focused in class, make it difficult for them to skip class, and make it nearly impossible to take that mid-class nap. Many students dislike the big brother aspect of the “clickers,” but many students actually like that it makes them focus during class.
    I feel that the remotes are a good thing. They really do force kids to attend and pay attention in class. I can see where some of the kids are coming from with the “Big Brother” aspect of the remotes, and it could be true that the remotes might be overbearing. Overall though, I think the remotes will bring grades up, because school is always easier when you actually attend, and participate in the class, and that’s what the “clickers” make you do.

    Brady Strine
    6th period

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  47. The Iraq president would not sigh a death order of Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister who was sentenced to death last month. I will not sign Tariq Aziz's death sentence," Jalal Talabani to a French international meeting. He says “ as a social democrat I am against the death penalty. He wanted to stop the penalty to be pit in order on the grounds of un humane rights . The president is soon try to see the death penalty go to court but if it goes to international grounds than he will be sentenced to death.
    I think that the president should just sigh the death penalty orders because this man has done great damage and needs to pay for his mistakes. I am not for the death penalty but when some one this evil has the chanced to be punished than he really should be put to death. I don’t know the exact reasons for him to hold back on the death penalty but there is a lot o speculation and he should make the speculation going away by sentencing to death.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111706954.html

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  48. My article waas about a mand that was killed and his wife ws injuered during an invasion of their home. This all happened in Mich there basically it took a long time for the family to get help. they called gor help but really did not receive straight away. I personally think that people call on the authorities for help looking to reveive help. This family did not and i think that that was something that shoulf be reported. The job that people take up the poeple should acknowledge their responsibilitied.

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  49. The Transportation Security Administration began more aggressive pat-downs of passengers at airport security checkpoints three weeks ago. Since the start of this pat-down there have been many traveler. The complaints seem to come from people saying ther feel innapropriately touched to others saying they feel humiliated. the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, claiming that the new screening procedures violate Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. But legal experts are trying to figure out whether or not the courts will find the searches reasonable.

    I personally think that the airport scanners and pat-downs are necessary especially after 9/11. Many people may think that they don’t need them but in my opinion we cannot afford another terrorist attack due to lack of security.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/business/19security.html?_r=1&hp

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  50. Jose

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear

    North Korea is now building a new nuclear powerplant. That fact that North Korea is a small country that has a high population, it is very dangerous that they do this without any one being affected. North Korea is looking forward to have a large asenal of nuclear weapons.

    I dont agree with North Koreas idea of making nuclear weapons and powerplants, they have to many people that could have a bad accident and be infected.

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  51. Leila Doerfer
    period-6

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101119/ts_nm/us_mexico_drugs

    The drug war in Mexico has killed more than 31,000 people in the last four years. The National action Party is trying to keep the president from having the laws he wants passed, to be passed. The laws that the president wants to pass are ones that he thinks are necessary for helping Mexico out of the drug war. Congress is split on the idea of passing the presidents laws so it will probably be a while before any progress is made regarding this situation. The president wants to make the police forces less corrupt and he wants to "hit the criminals where it hurts most, on the economic front." He wants to get rid of the money factor when it comes to solving the problem, because he knows that money is a contributing factor. The scare factors are making businessmen hesitate when it comes to investing in dealing with the gangs and the drug war.
    I think that it's a really good idea to have a solution for this problem, that doesn't include money. Money would just be fuel on a fire. I think that congress should have these laws passed because I think it would be the best solution to the problem. The opposing parties need to work together for the common good of the people. I am shocked at the violence that the gangs are resorting to, such as beheadings, bombs, and assasinations. Right now the only way to end this brutality is to listen to the presidents plan.

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  52. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/europe/19start.html?_r=1&hp

    Jackson Wright
    6th Period
    11/19/10

    Just two weeks after the election left Obama's party in shambles, Obama is already back on the offensive. He is beginning to confront senate republican's with a fight on arms control. Obama looks to win the republicans over by threatening that the country will have a disrupted relationship with Russia and coalition countries against Iranian Nuclear weapons if they do not help the bill. I agree mainly with the Liberal point of view on this subject that guns must be controlled. Even though I have relatives with many weapons and that enjoy hunting, I do not support the hunting or the possession of multiple weapons. I think the possession of one or two weapons, controlled, is alright, but not any un-controlled weaponry.

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  53. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/world/asia/20nz.html?ref=world

    In an mine explosion today in New Zealand, at least 27 men are trapped underground. The local news reported that two men were successfully removed from the mine, but the company that operates the mine did not report if the two men were counted in 27 or if they were an extra two. Fortunately, there were no deaths have been reported. Rescue teams are checking the vents of the mines for built up gas before going down the mines. The miners had with them a device that supplies oxygen for thirty minutes. The electricity in the mine reportedly went off before the collapse.
    I think that this is a tragedy especially after what happened a month ago with the Chilean miners. I think that the Chilean's situation will hopefully give the now trapped miners hope of survival. After all, the Chilean miners did survive sixty-nine days underground. I think that many people will now question whether or not to be a miner after these two incidents. I hope that they will be out of the mine soon!

    Jessica Batson
    7th

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  54. Tanner Gardner-7th Period

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/12/shweeb.urban.transport/index.html?iref=allsearch

    Shweeb, the brainchild of Geoffrey Barnett, offers the world a new, hyper-efficient mode of travel. The idea, meaning "to float" in German, came to the Britain teacher when he had to bike through hectic and hazardous Tokyo traffic daily. He envisioned a system of railways suspended above the chaotic streets that would carry his ingenious invention, a simple pedal-powered, Plexiglas capsule. The design reduces wind resistance significantly by having the passenger in a lying down position while cycling. Almost any passenger can pass 30 mph easily due to the fluidity of the system. Normally such a fantastical concept would not be instituted, if it were not for Google endorsing it with a $1 million grant. The idea was one of thousands submitted to the Project 10 to the 100, a Google contest searching for the most innovative ideas in the world. "The cost of innovation in public transportation is often very high, sometimes in the billions of dollars," Google spokesman Jamie Yood said. "We looked for a concrete project where the funding available to us with Project 10^100 has the potential to yield impact. Shweeb's innovative approach toward low-cost and environmentally friendly urban transport has the potential for significant impact in the future."

    This idea is so brilliant because it's so simplistic. The cars require no energy but human's, providing them with a free workout of a commute everyday, if they so choose. This could be very successful in highly urbanized cities, where everything is in such close proximity to each other that a Shweeb system could be a money and time saver. The result, swift and futuristic transportation in cities, fewer motor-vehicle accidents, and less pollution.

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  55. Recently, the Transportation Security Administration has been tightening up their security. They've created new security checkpoint measures of which some travelers call "groping" and "virtual strip searches." The TSA has amped up the use of pat-downs and full-body scans to protect against non-metallic threats. Eighty percent of American's are in favor of these increased security measures, but there are many citizens and groups rising against it. One group from the University of California is saying it's a potential health hazard, while another groups have filed lawsuits against the Department of Homeland Security, saying it's violating their 4th amendment right, the Privacy Act, as well as other laws. One man is facing a ten thousand dollar fine after refusing a full body scan (therefore opting for a full-body pat-down), and telling security agents "If you touch my junk, I'm going to have you arrested."

    I am in favor of the increased security measures. I think there's definitely a thick line between checking for weapons, and invading privacy, of which shouldn't be crossed. Some travelers may find it annoying and unnecessary, but having to take an extra three minutes to be thoroughly checked for weapons and explosives definitely beats facing another attack. If there was to be a terrorist attack, people would blame the TSA for not catching it in time. I believe when it comes to protecting our country, we can never be too careful. However, the TSA needs to edit this system to accommodate for pilots, flight attendants and frequent flyers, because the radiation emitted by the full-body scanners could pose serious health hazards if gone through frequently.


    http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/19/airport.security.issues/index.html


    Julie Wulforst
    Period 6

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