Anchormen are Just a Bunch of Sadists!

Stimulus Plan Just Used Up Money? Think Again

In the past year or so, America has been stuck in a recession. Many criticized Obama's stimulus package, and, ironically, the majority of those who opposed the plan were the ones who thought it was all right for former president Bush to cut taxes while waging an extremely expensive war.
It has just been declared that the job report is the strongest since the start of the recession. Instead of seeing the estimated 250,000 additional jobs lost during the month of November, there were only 11,000 lost--a significant difference. As for 2009 all together, the actual number of jobs lost is significantly lower than the estimate.(The light blue represents the estimate and the dark blue represents the actual job loss)

DC Sniper, John Muhammad Executed

John Allen Muhammad was executed Tuesday, November 10, on the charge of killing 10 people and wounding 3 in the course of a three week period in October 2002. Muhammad and his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, would randomly gun down men and women going about their lives in a normal fashion. 53-year-old Dean Meyers was shot while pumping gas into his car. Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, was gunned down while vacuuming her van. Jerry Taylor was killed on a golf course.

Muhammad has always claimed innocence, although he has never shown any sympathy to those whose family members and friends were lost due to these sniper attacks. In a letter written to his first wife shortly before the execution, Muhammad wrote:

"Carol, I miss my family for the past eight years. I don't want to be missed the day that these devils murder my innocent black ass."

Fox New Blooper

Lay off the drugs and stick to the lines on the screen, will you?

House Passes Reformed Bill for Health Care

This is what Obama has to say about the passing of the health care reform :



Although the bill only passed by 5 votes, it is on its way to the Senate. Who knows what will happen from here.

Island of Trash is Growing and Possibly Spawning

Not only is there a floating, swirling, mass of toxic garbage twice the size of Texas drifting in the Pacific Ocean, but there it is growing over the years. A research team, published by the New York Times has found that "water samples from February contained twice as much plastic as samples from a decade ago." Mr. Moore, the man who discovered the garbage in 1999 while sailing from Hawaii, came back and told reporters: "This is not the garbage patch I knew in 1999. This is a totally different animal.”
Currently, there are fish and ocean life living in the middle of the pollution and feeding off of plankton that is growing directly on the garbage. The fish that ingest these plankton also ingest small pieces of plastic and toxic chemicals. The second concern is for the predators of these fish and the predators of those predators. All these toxic chemicals will be transferred from one fish to another and possibly to your local grocery store.
Now the real scare is that this garbage patch is only one of FIVE that may be trapped in gyres around the world. Ponder that for a while.

New Jihad Code

The Jihad Code has recently been rewritten in 400 pages that was first published on September 6. 2009. This revolution in the definition of Jihad could challenge al Quaeda to find a legitimate reason for their actions. A direct attack to al Quaeda's policies is stated in the new code is stated as:

"Jihad has ethics and morals because it is for God. That means it is forbidden to kill women, children, elderly people, priests, messengers, traders and the like. Betrayal is prohibited and it is vital to keep promises and treat prisoners of war in a good way. Standing by those ethics is what distinguishes Muslims' jihad from the wars of other nations."

This document has been seen by some of the most respected religious scholars in the Middle East who are backing it up completely. This could lead the way to the slow death of religious wars in the name of God.

Passport of 9/11 Suspect Found

Said Bahaji. That is the name. He is a suspect linked to the famous 9/11 attack. A CNN report states:

"The passport was found in South Waziristan, where the Pakistani military has been battling to wrest territory from the Taliban in Pakistan. It contained a Pakistani visa issued in August 2001 showing that the bearer entered Pakistan on September 4, 2001, and appeared unusually new for a document eight years old"

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Clinton Challeneges Pakistanis on Al Qaeda

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, recently traveled to Pakistan in efforts to improve relations. She boldly suggested that certain Pakistani officials were responsible for letting Al Qaeda terrorists operate in safe areas. Clinton added:

“I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are, and couldn’t get to them if they really wanted to,”

In her statement, Hillary Clinton stated exactly what many American politicians, officials, and citizens have been thinking for a long time. They say that a drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts, but maybe it just takes a brave person to stand up and be boldly blunt about it.

Somali Women Beaten for Violation of Strict Islamic Law

A group of hooded Al-Shabaab dispatched men carrying whips went into the market place and flogged any woman they saw without socks. As if their feet were not already covered in floor length dresses. In addition to this, Al-Shabaab gunmen rounded up 50 women for not wearing a veil which they could not afford as vegetable traders. In the past two days alone, there have been attacks on 130 people, including some men. All this for not completely 110% following every minute detail of their harsh laws. The world has stood by long enough, it is time to take action. I am not referring to the US as the world's policeman, mind you. But within the whole of the entire globe, I think we can recognize this as wrong.

Iran Decided Not to Ship Out Uranium

Draft agreement in reached in Vienna allowed for Iran to keep one fourth of their uranium, while the other 75% would be sent to Russia for processing and would be returned able for use in the medical field only. This would have depleted the stockpile of uranium enough so that Iran would be incapable of producing a nuclear weapon. However, Iran realized this and rejected the document. American officials say that they are not willing to compromise, but it looks as though there is no other options if Iran's final stance is to keep the enriched uranium.

Capitalism: Friend, Foe or Somewhere in Between?

When we were young, our mothers used to tell us not to eat too many sweets. Likewise, if we ate only vegetables, our bones would grow thin. However, there is a medium between all of the food groups that has to be met in order to have a healthy diet. I believe the same is true for the extent of governmental control. Neither extreme is the answer.
The problem with capitalism is that it can hurt people who are being controlled and abused by companies that are solely interested in money. Such companies include Wal-Mart, which has oppressed its workers for years, never paying for overtime and even employing illegal immigrants (to whom they pay less than minimum wage) just to save money and get ahead with business. In addition to this, Wal-Mart practices racism and sexism towards the workers wishing to pursue a higher ranked job in the business, such as store manager. Not only do certain corporations behave this way, but there are also people who are homeless and have no food while others live in beautiful houses with a three-car garage. It seems silly that people are allowed to have an abundance of unnecessary luxuries while others can not afford the bare essentials of life.
The main alternative to capitalism, socialism, has its own set of dilemmas. Socialism is one of those ideas that looks great on paper but doesn't work out so well in real life. This is largely because of the fact that humans are, well, humans, not machines. If we realize that no matter how much work we do, we will still get paid the same amount as someone who gets hardly anything done, we will become less motivated to do better; and there is no longer any incentive for us to strive for perfection. In addition to this, the government generally becomes a dictatorship, which means that the dictator has complete power and there is no shred of democracy—a risky position to be in.
Both versions of government have positive aspects as well, and if we combine these to create an effective equilibrium, we get a sort of a hybrid between capitalism and socialism. This would enable individuals to climb the rungs of the ladder of success if you choose to be productive and work hard, and yet it could also mean higher taxes to accomplish universal health care, an issue that has been plaguing Washington for some time now. To ensure the distribution of wealth is even, the rich could be taxed in higher quantity, and the money could go to welfare given to those who are struggling. This, however, should not go so far as to make every income the same. The rich would still be able to acquire a fortune while still being good Samaritans by having part of their wealth go to the less fortunate. The other parts of this system would work in a similar way by making sure that no one goes hungry, while keeping the motivation of a good life for those who are hard workers.
A mild government would be the ideal for any developed nation such as ours. Too much of one thing is never a healthy choice.

Raise Your Awareness

Most people in a developed country can not even begin to imagine the life of a girl in Swat, Pakistan. Here is a video that follows a girl through some of the hardest times in her life. This contains images that may be disturging, yet I believe it should be seen.



May these girls have hope that one day they will be freed from this.

A Restatement?

An article at CNN.com headlines: U.S. attorneys told to go after pot traffickers, not patients. Although Justice officials seemed to go after this point quite thoroughly, when did they ever ask the police to go after patients who were prescribed medical marijuana?? However the writer, Terry Frieden, goes on to say

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which advocates legalization of marijuana, declared the government's memo Monday a "major departure in the so-called war on drugs" and "a major victory for citizens who support cannabis law reform."

Still, I see no change in current laws. This might be the first time that the government has said these words out loud, but how can a citizen of this country be arrested on charges of carrying a drug that was specifically prescribed to him or her??

Recycling is Growing Rapidly

People across the country are committing to going from less waste to no waste at all. Many restaurants/cafes that originally used plastic utensils are no using plant-based plastics that decompose like compost. Even waiters are switching from putting uneaten food scraps in the trash to a compost pile. This trend is being known as “zero waste”. Leslie Kaufman wrote in the New York Times article about this new policy...

Though born of idealism, the zero-waste philosophy is now propelled by sobering realities, like the growing difficulty of securing permits for new landfills and an awareness that organic decay in landfills releases methane that helps warm the earth’s atmosphere.

This is a significant step forward to help the environment. If we could make sure that all the products we use are either recyclable or decomposable, we would be living in a much greener earth.

Medicare Cost on the Rise

It is predicted that Medicare, what eats up most of our tax dollars, will increase in cost, breaking $100 for the first time next year. Robert Pear, from the New York Times, explained who will be forced to pay more in a very simple fashion:

About 12 million people, or 27 percent of Medicare beneficiaries, will have to pay higher premiums or have the additional amounts paid on their behalf. The other 73 percent will be shielded from the increase because, under federal law, their Medicare premiums cannot go up more than the increase in their Social Security benefits, and Social Security officials announced last week that there would be no increase in benefits in 2010 because inflation had been extremely low.

In a time of economic uncertainty, this will be a hard blow to the seniors in the country who have no way of making any income. So what is there to do? Tax the young, or force the rest from seniors' retirement funds? Action must be taken soon if we don't want to be in the same situation later in life.

No Tolerance Policy: Helpful or Destructive?

The New York Times recently published an article about the no tolerance policy of schools in context of weaponry. Parents were concerned that maybe absolutely no tolerance should be changed to a careful review of each individual case when a first grader was expelled. The boy, a new boyscout, was excited to bring his special eating utensil to school that served as a spoon, a fork, and a knife. The boy's parents were immediately outraged at the school's lack of concern of the problems this silly incident would cause the boy later on. Many other parents who had similar experiences with their children and the schooling systems agreed and wanted a change in the strict no tolerance policy.
This is completely outrageous. How can a school assume that a small child, excited to show off a new boyscout toy, would think about using it as a weapon against another child or a teacher??? These policies need to be changed, especially regarding small children.

Obama Disappointed as Chicago is NOT Hosting the Olympics

Recent media claimed that Chicago as the hosting city of the Olympics was a fair bet. Many thought that since President Obama went in person, Chicago just HAD to be the clear winner. Those who are anti-Obama now question how he sets his priorities.
It is a shame that Chicago will not be hosting the Olympics, as it would be such a boost for our economy, not to mention helping the US seem more gentle in the face of other countries. Yet some people are entirely too upset about it.

Chavez Indirectly Asks Iran for Uranium

When Chavez met with the Venezuela's Minister of Mining, Sanz, he asked how the uranium was progressing in Iran. Though it was said jokingly, people are taking it quite seriously as Chavez had earlier declared that he was seeking Russian help to develop nuclear energy in Venezuela. In addition to this, Sanz by letting it slip that Iran was going to help Venezuela locate their own uranium mines. What a shocker! Everyone seems to be trying to get into nuclear weapons in recent times.

ARAB FEMINISM CONFERENCE

Embedded video from CNN Video



Women in Lebanon are talking about basic rights and highlighting the fact that women ARE, indeed, human beings and need to be treated as such. Media in the area tamed this down, but political cartoons drawn by women illustrate the negativity of polygamy and not have such basic rights as being able to drive your own car. The organization also talks about honoring your body and the sacredness of it. Magazines are being published talking about female sexuality and even homosexuality! This a really big step for the Middle East. I'm proud of these women for taking these first steps to the independence that they have not even had the fortune to experience.

Safety Measures Need to be Kicked Up a Knotch

26 miners in China were killed in an accident. A brake failure in the elevator system caused 31 miners to fall abruptly. 19 of the miners died on the spot while the other seven died of severe wounds.
It seems insane to most US citizens that 26 people should die because certain standards of safety were not met (especially the brake system of an elevator!). But not only did 19 humans die as a result of poor standards, but another seven could not be saved from their injuries. With all the money that China is currently making, I do believe they could stand to increase their safety measures. I mean, really....

Tatics to Make Prop 8 Successful Are Questioned

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker asks gay marriage-challenging Prop. 8 sponsors to disclose information about about their campaign tactics. Supporters of Prop. 8 ask the federal Judge to suspend his order on this issue. However those who are anti or disinterested towards Prop. 8 say

"...notes and e-mails between planners of last year's Prop. 8 campaign might help them prove that the ballot measure was motivated by anti-gay discrimination."

However, the Yes on 8 lawyers claim that voters had the complete ability to change the definition of marriage and the intentions of the campaigners are irrelevant.

NASA Set to Crash on the Moon in Search of Water

The idea is to find water in the moon's soil with the LCROSS probe. The next step is to relay the information back to Earth and then crash into a crater near the moon's South pole. NASA TV is planning to broadcast the two crashes live this Friday.

"NASA is encouraging amateur astronomers to join the watch party."

says CNN news.

How Do the Swiss Get Along With Guaranteed HealthCare for All, and Without Problems?

Switzerland is not the only country that guarantees health care for all their citizens, in fact, all of Europe has the same policy. But how do they do it?? This will answer all your questions. The main point, is that health care in Switzerland

"does not remotely resemble the model of bureaucratic, socialized medicine often cited by opponents of universal coverage in the United States."

The other important part is that ALL citizens are REQUIRED to buy health insurance in exchange for treatment REGARDLESS of age or medical history. Kind of an interesting concept...

Why Does Obama REALLY Want the Olympics to be Held in Chigao?

There are many choices for the next Olympic games to be held, but Obama and his wife, Michelle, are really trying to bring the international athletes to their hometown of Chicago. This might seem a touching story, but there is an economic and socio-political reason for this being a good idea for the US as well. Not only, would holding the Olympics in the US help our economy quite a bit from the recently lost tourism, but it would bring us up in the eyes of the world again. For those who live in developing countries and are still young, they do not know the greatness of America (hello Al-Qaeda!). This hatred because of recent events can be turned around. It won't be easy, but I do believe this will help.

Abortion Support Declines Dramatically

Pro-life has been outnumbered by pro-choice for quite some time now. However, there has been a strange reversal in the statistics. Supporters of abortion have dropped by 7% while the number those who claim abortion should be illegal in all or most cases has risen 4%. This change was not only in one specific group of individuals, but people from all religious, ethnicities, and political standpoints are changing their opinion on abortion.

The only groups whose opinions on abortion did not change were African-Americans -- who tend to oppose it -- and young people and those not affiliated with any particular religion, who tend to say it should be legal, he [Gregory Smith of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, one of the survey's authors] said.

Interesting... I wonder why this is so.

Scared About N1H1 Virus (Swine Flu)? Here's a Reason to Ease Worries

The rollout of vaccine intended to protect against the global pandemic of H1N1 influenza is continuing on or ahead of schedule, a federal health official told reporters Thursday.

Vaccines may come out as early as sometime this week. 600,000 doses are expected to arrive in 21 states. This should ease the public on the H1N1 virus. Yet, I still find it humorous that officials had to change the name from "swine flu" to "H1N1" because of the decrease in pig product sales. What an amazing example of Tom Friedman's idea of "dumb as we wanna be".

Cash for Clunkers: Did it Help, or Make Things Worse for Auto Companies?

I'm sure many of you have heard of, if not benefited from, the Cash for Clunkers deal that was in progress a short time ago. It seemed like a great idea to help the environment and auto companies at the same time, as well as get the economy going again. However, many car dealerships have suffered tremendous loss from a "cash for clunkers hangover". Car sales have declined as a result of cash for clunkers. Economists say that it was to be expected for car sales to return to "normal" post-cash for clunkers, while others struggle to find out why this is so. Even Japanese firms saw their sales decline.

New Fossil Discovery Extends Knowledge of Human Evolution

Archaeologists uncover findings of a female skeleton that could be a direct ancestor of humans. Carbon dating shows that the fossils are just over 4 million years old. How exciting it is to know that the line of the evolution of humans has fewer holes in it now. Take that creationists! This is further reason to not teach the religious idea of creationism in school.

First Ammendment Dies in Pittsburgh

Multiple military units attack citizens of Pittsburgh with "tear gas and sound cannons" as a reaction to an "unpermitted protest". There are even images of pepper gas being used against those to choose to speak their minds. This is ridiculous. What has this nation come to?

Growing Problem in Afghanistan=Bankruptcy

Here, Dr. Paul talks about foreign policies of the U.S. with Afghanistan and Obama's decisions on war and nation building. I think you'll find this very interesting. I do agree with a lot of what he says. Yet, Dr. Paul fails to address who this war is REALLY helping...

Children are Taught to Praise Obama in Music

Remember the scare about Obama's speech about doing well in school? Skeptical parents thought that it was an outrage. Those parents would tear out their hair if they heard about this one.

School children are being taught to sing songs that praise Obama. Now, I'm not one to be overly conservative, but isn't that considered brain-washing? These kids are probably in the second grade and have no idea what is going on in the world. I know that I wasn't too politically knowledgeable when I could hardly read. And isn't it a law that teachers are not to influence their students politically or talk about their political opinions? This is out of line.

Don't Believe in Global Warming?

My grandmother doesn't think global warming is a real issue. She doesn't even think it exists. I need to show her this... It's quite eye-opening if you have the patience to watch the whole video. However, if you don't have too much time on your hands, look at the last several minutes.

A Step Forward! ...In the Wrong Direction.

Recently, the Obama administration has been trying to get the EPA to regulate carbon emissions. However, Senator Murkowski (another Alaskan) is trying to ban the EPA from doing so. This seems more than slightly stupid. The entire world knows that we are digging ourselves into a deep hole with pollution, and here we have the opportunity to move ahead, yet some are still trying to block the path. What is happening to our used-to-be innovation?

Homosexuality Turns Socialist.... What's Next?

Looking at some blogs, I ran over this that literally made me do a double-take. Apparently, gay marriage is a step towards communism. This makes absolutely no sense and so it seems right that it was said by a conservative Republican Steve King. He spoke about it on a radio interview.

I hope most Americans can look at this and laugh. Otherwise, we've run into even bigger problems...

Obama's School Speech

Some parents are outraged by Obama's speech to school children, but the real question is why? Do they REALLY believe he is going to corrupt the young minds of America? I think it's ridiculous. After all, several other presidents have done the same thing before.

Shocking!

This is exactly what Tom Friedman means by "crowded" in his famous "hot, flat, and crowded." If we don't change our ways soon, crazy stuff will happen.

Health Care... Revolt?

Health care activist bites off his opponents finger in a dispute. Are actions like these really about health care or about something more? I believe there is an underlying issue that is not being said. What? We have yet to find out.

State of Denial?

Some believe it was a myth that China forced abortion in order to adhere to the "one child rule". I have found an article that claims otherwise. Though it might be slightly exaggerated to prove a point, this still is an issue that plagues (or enhances?) life for Chinese women.

Investigation of Afgahn Elections

Being honest will pay off in the long run...

Getting Started...

Here is something my father sent me one day in an email. I think you'll find it rather interesting...

LeMay and the Tragedy of War
When basic survival trumps civil liberties.

By WARREN KOZAK

On Sept. 12, 2001, it is highly doubtful that any member of Congress
was worried that our government would be too harsh in its treatment of
terrorists. When countries are threatened, basic survival trumps civil
liberties not just for enemy combatants but for citizens as well. Our
priorities change.

We saw that with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Days before Japanese
warplanes destroyed the U.S. Pacific fleet on Dec. 7, 1941, 80% of
Americans did not want to go to war against either Germany or Japan.
The day after the attacks, those numbers reversed themselves. Over the
next four years, the United States did things it would never do in
normal times -- Japanese-Americans were placed in prison camps, press
reports and the mail of American soldiers were censored by the
military, and the FBI tapped phones without court orders.

In peacetime, a country can deliberate the balance of its security and
civil liberties. It can even apologize for actions that were clearly
wrong. When a nation is in peril, however, a forceful defense takes
priority.

Following Pearl Harbor, this country asked its military leaders to
commit acts that, when taken out of context, can be viewed as war
crimes today. Between March and August of 1945, 38-year-old Gen.
Curtis LeMay ordered the deaths of more civilians than any other man
in U.S. history. No one else comes close, not William Tecumseh
Sherman, not George S. Patton -- no one.

On the night of March 9, 1945, LeMay sent 346 huge B-29 bombers loaded
with napalm from the Mariana Islands (Guam, Saipan and Tinian) to
Tokyo. The first planes dropped their incendiaries on the front and
back of the target area -- like lighting up both ends of a football
field at night. The rest of the planes filled in the middle. More than
16 square miles of Japan's capital city were gutted, two million
people were left homeless, and 100,000 were dead.

It didn't end there. Washington gave LeMay the green light as his
bombers burned 64 more cities. He used the World Almanac and just went
down the list by population. Altogether, an estimated 350,000 people
lost their lives. Anyone hearing this for the first time in 2009 would
be hard pressed to defend such an action.

Yet at the time, newspapers across America heralded the event as a
tremendous achievement -- not unlike the moon landing 24 years later.
The New York Times ran the story of the bombings on its front page for
10 straight days. Its lead editorial on March 12, 1945, warned the
Japanese that if they didn't give up more was on the way. The New
Yorker magazine ran a glowing three part series on LeMay. Time
magazine put him on its cover.

Today Japan, which has been one of the most successful and responsible
nations on earth for the past 64 years, doesn't seem like it should
ever have received such punishment. Without understanding the context,
some people would argue that the U.S. was just a wild, racist nation
bent on payback after Pearl Harbor.

What many Americans today do not know was that for almost 10 years
prior to LeMay's bombing, Japan was on a genocidal tear throughout
Asia. There was a second Holocaust in World War II that most Americans
are unaware of -- one that killed upwards of 17 million Chinese,
Koreans, Filipinos and other Asians.

So when LeMay finally figured out a way to bring the war to a faster
end, there was jubilation not just in the U.S. but throughout Asia.
LeMay also knew that both the U.S. and Japan were preparing for what
would be the largest invasion (and most horrific bloodbath) in
history.

With the fighting becoming more ferocious as the Americans came closer
to Japan, Washington focused its attention on landings scheduled for
November 1945 and March 1946. Combat troops who had survived the war
in Europe were being brought home, given a one-month leave, and then
shipped to staging areas in the Pacific. The Japanese were also
getting ready by mobilizing old men, women and children into suicide
squads. Squadrons of kamikaze planes were set aside to hit U.S. ships.
The atomic bomb would not be tested until July 16. No one could be
sure it would work.

In the strange calculus of war, LeMay helped prevent an estimated one
million American casualties and upwards of two million Japanese by
helping push Japan's Emperor Hirohito to surrender before the
invasion. Killing large numbers of people to save even more lives is
not a decision most of us would want to make. But at the time, the
majority of Americans were thankful that LeMay was willing to do it.

Today, some question whether the ends justified the means. In 1945, no
American with a husband, brother or son serving in the military did.
For them, the speediest end of that horrible conflict was the only
goal.

Mr. Kozak is the author of the just published "LeMay: The Life and
Wars of General Curtis LeMay"