Maytag recalls 1.7 million dishwashers

This article is informing all the people who have Maytag dishwashers that their dishwashers can cause a fire in their home. Maytag recalled 1.7 million dishwashers because they are known to start small fires. However in some cases, these small fires can amount to something much bigger. Reporters say that the Maytag repair man is going to be busy.

Companies that have been known for great quality, what’s going on?! Toyota and now Maytag? I know that everybody is capable of making mistakes but come on! People trust you and buy your product because you are supposed to be the best of the best. If you are not sure about something in your product, don’t skip steps just so you can get the product out faster! Make sure it works before you bring it into someone innocent life.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/03/dishwasher.recall/index.html?hpt=Sbin

NY to conduct civil ceremonies for gay couples

This article describes the actions of a New York City clerk’s office and how they are allowing gay couples a domestic ceremony. Since then the office has only been allowed to hand out certificates of marriage to the couples. The city mended their rules some and the office took advantage of it. They are now adding what they call “fanfare” to the unions and to conduct marriage-like ceremonies to the gay couples. The domestic couples still don’t receive the same all the rights that married couple does they are allowed to receive hospital visitation and health benefits.

My thoughts on this article are that this is a good step towards less and less discrimination. These ceremonies are probably making the gay couples very happy yet I can see why they want more. They should have the right to have the same ceremony that a regular couple does for marriage. If not, it’s like saying that a black person can’t get married to a white person. And that would be a big taboo around the country. Uproars would start and all hell would break lose. However for the gay couples…well they just don’t even get a change because it is still against the law for them to even be together.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/03/ny-to-conduct-civil-ceremonies-for-gay-couples/?hpt=Sbin

More efforts to cap the oil spill

This article talks about BP’s latest attempt to stop the oil from spewing out into the Gulf of Mexico. They have been unsuccessful yet but are trying to get ahead and gain some lost ground. The spill is affecting many. Not only is the coastline suffering but the amount of fishing area is being restricted. Its newest attempt to cap the spill was to drill into the well again to cap it. However the diamond edged saw they were using was jammed and they could no longer continue with the procedure. They are now using a robotic arm cutting device that will make a smoother cut and hopefully not get jammed. BP says this is a difficult process because 5,000 feet under water however they are trying everything they can think of and that they only want to stop it. They are funding a $360 million dollar project to block the oil from the cost with sand.

This oil spill has caused many upsets among America and the world. However has any stopped and thought about why this happened? My thoughts say that this would have never gotten so bad if BP would have had a back up plan that was actually tested and proven reliable. But no. They didn’t have a back up plan that was tested and when their backup plan failed miserably they sat there and said uhh ohh. If you are a company that wants to drill off shore even though everyone is saying not too because it is to hard to cap a spill, you better have 3 or more reliable plans to fall on if something did go wrong. I am grateful however that they are willing to pay for the project trying to prevent more danger to the shores of America.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/02/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Oil spill could be disaster for animals

This article talks about how many different species are being affected by the oil spill. Most of the animals are birds considering they are on the top of the water which means they are directly on the oil. What the oil does to them is basically destroys their skin and gets into their lungs and eventually killing them. Birds are not the only ones. Fish, shrimp, oysters, otters, dolphins and even sperm whales are being affected. Some species are still recovering from other disasters like hurricane Katrina. Experts say that something drastic needs to happen or the wildlife along the shore will suffer great losses.

I think that the government and BP needs to cap the oil leak first and then worry about wild life. If they don’t cap it then it will keep spilling into the shore and killing more animals. Once they do that then they need to step it into high gear and start getting people down there to help clean the animals and save the ones that need saving. We as a country cannot just sit here and watch the news and expect that the world will work itself out. We need to come together and do something.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/oil.spill.wildlife/index.html

Issue #3 Putting Welfare to Work

Over the years anti-poverty initiatives have been trying to help out the less fortunate. These groups and services include social security funds, Medicaid, Medicare, wage assistance programs, minimum wage, food stamps, and welfare (AFDC) or now known as TANF. Social Security and Medicare is leaned towards helping the elderly and provides many benefits in the health care area. Medicaid also provides free or reduced costs for medical care for low-income Americans of any age. One more commonly known program would be the Federal Minimum Wage. Minimum wage is the lowest level set where employers can pay their employees. This level should be set at a wage that a person can live on however it is proven that you can’t live off of $7.25. The Food Stamp Program provides credits on cards for needy families to get food at participating stores. Finally, welfare (AFDC) provided direct cash payments to low-income families, with children under the age of 18. Much of this money went to single mothers. After years of criticism that the AFDC created dependence and provided incentives for recipients to stay unemployed they changed their name and policies. Now it is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This program now has more time limits and work requirements.



I think that welfare is a good program however I see how the original program was questioned. If you are giving direct cash payments to people that might be telling them that,”It’s okay to be unemployed; you can live off of other people’s money”. This is not true. The unemployed need to know that it is necessary to have a job in order to live. The welfare cash might not always be there. So yes, I agree that there should be restrictions on who gets the cash payments during their difficult times. As far as the other programs, I think they are great. They provide much help to people and are greatly appreciated. Also I glad that people did not forget about the elderly. Not all the people living in poverty are young or middle aged, some are in their last years of life. Barack Obama also agrees with me in saying that welfare receipts know how to become successful but need help. (http://www.ontheissues.org/Welfare_+_Poverty.htm#Headlines)


Maya's Issue #2-http://mayaseverson.blogspot.com/2010/04/issue-2-boosting-minimum.html

Felicia's Issue #1-http://felicia01.blogspot.com/2010/05/all-things-being-unequal.html

Lawyer: Beheading planned in Saudi sorcery case

This article informs the readers about a man named Ali Hussain Sibat who is sentenced to death by the Saudi Arabian government for committing the crime of sorcery. He is sent to be beheaded tomorrow, however his lawyer is not giving up. Sibat is the former TV host for a popular call-in show. In his show he would tell the future and give advice to his audience on air. During his visit to Saudi Arabia in May of 2008, he was arrested by the religious police on the charges of sorcery. He was put on trial in November of 2009 and found guilty. Sibat's lawyer told CNN that Sibat will appeal the verdict for the second time.

Sorcery. I seem to remember people believing in sorcery about a billion years ago! To arrest a man for committing sorcery is wrong but to sentence him to be BEHEADED is a little insane. Honestly how many people try to predict the future or give advice to the world... a lot. And how many of them are right? Slim to none my friends slim to none. I myself am starting to wonder if these judges even checked to see if his so called "predictions" turned out to be true, and if they turned out to be false..well than that's kinda embarrassing. This man was not even living in Saudi Arabia he was just visiting to preform the Islamic religious pilgrimage known as Urma. To me this guy sounds honest. He has a wife, looks like two kids from the picture.. those kids don't want to see their father's head cut off! Those types of things only happen in movies! If it were up to me, I would for sure let the guy go with his head attached and than have him tell me my future.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/31/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Two suspected suicides confirmed at Cornell; total now at six

This article updates us on the suicide situation at Cornell University. In February, a freshman jumped off a bridge over one of the area's well-known gorges. The body of a sophomore engineering major was found March 11 under similar circumstances. Police are also searching for a body in another suicide witnessed March 12. David Skorton, the president of Cornell University, has been praised by many people because he encourages openness on issues that other colleges try to keep on the down low. He has done many things since this incident, like putting information on the school website for help and also putting ads in the paper reading, "If you learn anything at Cornell, please learn to ask for help. It is a sign of wisdom and strength." This message may be getting through. The first sentence of the quote has been written in chalk on one of the bridges where the suicides took place. The cause of the suicides is still unknown.

Suicides are a terrible thing and I’m glad that there are many organizations out there to help people with that problem. However, six suicides in one academic year is far from normal. A college should have maybe two suicides a year, maybe. I think that there is a bigger picture here. I have talked about this issue in school with some classmates and one said that there was a group at Cornell trying to prove that they had academic stress and by doing so they think it’s a good idea to go and kill themselves to prove their point. This is ridiculous. Whoever thought of this idea needs serious help and for all the people in this group please get out of it. Killing yourself will just cause more problems like families being depressed, friends becoming depressed and thinking about committing suicide, and yes, it will cause more academic stress. So before you step on the top of that bridge to jump off take a second and think….there is Cymbalta!!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/20/new.york.cornell.suicides/index.html?npt=NP1