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

Health care reform anger takes a nasty, violent turn

This article informs the readers on how the health care bill has caused violence against politicians who voted yes towards it. Shots were fired during a congressman’s campaign and windows of Democratic offices were smashed all over the country. Even a coffin was laid on a lawmaker’s lawn. Many hate filled and even death threatening voicemails are being left on members of Congress’ phone lines. Republicans have the right to be angry over the Democrat's health care bill, but "resorting to violent measures is exactly the wrong way to send a message," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Thursday night.

My view on this situation is that all these people who are threatening congressmen need to grow up. Honestly, the video shows a grown man holding up a poster of a women, who had voted yes for the bill, and making slapping gestures at her face. All this violence is childish. If you want to make a difference than you should have done so in who you voted into office. If it didn’t go your way than there are many different ways to express your views without using violence. Think of the children who are watching the news and seeing grownups, who they look up to, acting like immature fools because something didn’t go their way; its an embarrassment to our country. So for all you middle aged men and women who can’t get over the healthcare bill passing, its time to act like true adults and stop this nonsense of resorting to violence to express your words. Don’t you think its time to stop and think when “unruly” teenagers are laughing at your ridiculous attempts to change a bill that has already passed? Come on.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/25/congress.threats/index.html?hpt=Sbin

12-year-olds abusing inhalants

This article tells us about how drugs are not the only thing kids and parents have to look out for today. Kids as young as 12 have developed a new way to get high, without buying or using illegal drugs and it is called huffing. Huffing is inhaling substances to get the same high as you would drugs. They are using inhalants such as spray paint, shoe polish, glue, air fresheners, hair spray, nail polish, gasoline, aerosols, computer cleaners, even the refrigerant from air conditioners. The things about these items are that they are legal, cheap, and you can easily find them around your house. Recent studies have shown that kids are huffing these products more than marijuana, hallucinogens, and cocaine combined. Huffing can be fatal, leading to "sudden sniffing death." Many experts said 12 is considered a gateway age for inhalant use, but the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would like to slam that gate shut. It is kicking off National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week, which starts Sunday. The American Osteopathic Association also is joining the national effort.

I think that the use of drugs and other substitutes for drugs has gotten out of hand. When kids as young as 12 have to resort to getting high off of hair spray and other things you can find in your own house, you have to start looking at why these kids feel the need to get high. One reason I think is the media. The media today is dangerous. Pictures and articles on celebrities having drug overdoses and getting smashed is not a good image to throw out to children who are going to hold the future of the country. Another reason to get high might be peers. Peers have such a huge influence on your kids today because coming from a kid in high school, kids are mean. You wear the wrong color of jeans one day and you can be shunned from your group. Now that kid has no friends and is going to do anything to become one of the group again and most likely that involves drugs. Things need to go further than to have a national awareness week. Kids find that funny and I can guarantee that peers are going to ignore that little pep fest at school to stop drug use. It needs to be taken further like maybe the celebrities that force the ideas of using drugs to the public should show up to schools, not just the rich ones but the average joes too, and talk about how they screwed up their life by using drugs. Get kids interested in doing other things than drugs. Have them try out for sports! Kill two birds with one stone, start on the obesity problem while we start on the drug problem.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/11/inhalant.abuse/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Medalist leaves Olympics after racy pics hit Web

Scott Lago, an Olympic bronze medalist for snowboarding half-pipe, was asked to leave the Olympic Games after two racy pictures, shown below, were posted on the internet. He had apologized to the U.S Olympic Committee and the U.S. snowboard federation, and left Canada. U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt said in a written statement, "Scotty Lago is a great athlete, but with that comes a responsibility of proper conduct and his involvement in this situation is not acceptable”. However this is not the only incident where an Olympian had behaved inappropriately. There are many events where Olympians have either gotten into fights or have had pictures of them posted while they partied. Remember Michael Phelps? He had a picture of him posted on the internet of him appearing to be smoking out of a marijuana pipe six months after the Olympics and still was forced to apologize.

My opinion is that these athletes need to have appropriate behavior when they around where they compete. However their personal life should be kept personal. This type of incident would never had happened if the paparazzi would just respect their grounds! He won an Olympic medal, let him celebrate. It would be a different story if he decided to do this in front of a crowd of people and live TV, but these pictures, I’m guessing, were never suppose to be seen by anyone else but Scotty and his friend. These pictures are not even that bad! I think people are just in great desire to have a juicy story about some Olympian and catch every single mistake they make. Also if you think about it, don’t you just assume that a snowboarder is going to act that way? That’s the image that they have been stamped with and not saying it’s right, but I’m not surprised that a picture came out after the win by the American snowboarders.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/20/lago.snowboard.pictures/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Girl's arrest for doodling raises concerns about zero tolerance

Alexa Gonzalez was a 12 year old girl who attends the Junior High School in Forest Hills, New York. She was recently arrested because she wrote “I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 : )” on her school desk. The seventh-grader was taken across the street and handcuffed in front of her teachers and worst of all the entire student body. The school claims that they are just trying to enforce the zero tolerance policy. However they get younger than 12 years of age. A sixth grader was also arrested in New York for doodling with her friend in class. New York schools are also trying the system of ticketing students for being tardy. For a second offence of this you are sent to court and fined $250. In Clayton County, Georgia, juvenile court judge Steven Teske is working to reshape zero tolerance policies in schools. He wants the courts to be a last resort. "There is zero intelligence when you start applying zero tolerance across the board," he said. "Stupid and ridiculous things start happening."

My opinion is that New York seriously needs to look over their rules on zero tolerance. It is outrageous that a school hands out tickets to students who are tardy. These tickets show up on their record forever. Then to further it more they fine them if it happens again! I personally do not want to have to be ticketed if I happen to get behind a slow driver. Yes, the schools say that their tardiness numbers have gone down but at what cost. I can almost guarantee that every student is speeding to get to school, not only endangering their lives but others around them, because they are scared of being ticketed or even arrested. Also do the schools think that the court is going to take these cases seriously? The truth is no, they are not. Who is going to send a 12 year old girl to jail for doodling on her school desk. She even offered to clean it off but no, she was humiliated in front of her entire school. That girl will be scarred for life. Kids in school can get to be really mean and I’m sure none of them will forget that incident. I completely agree with Steven Teske when he says that stupid and ridiculous things are starting happen.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/18/new.york.doodle.arrest/index.html?hpt=Mid

ISSUE #3 - Social Insecurity

The Social Security fund has become a big problem in today’s world. Many people, under the age of 22, are complaining that they pay into this fund, a fund for retiring baby boomers, yet they will never receive this money back because all of it would have gone to the retired of years before them. This is because as years go by the number of years people live go up or in other words people are living longer. This means that these people need retirement money for longer than they did 10 years ago and there is just not enough money being put in to provide that type of money. However there are people out there that say this is an easy fix; all you have to do is gradually raise the retirement age. Then there are the people who think that you need to make major changes like private investment accounts. There are many different views on whether Social Security is a good working system or not and here is my opinion.

I think that major changes need to be put in place. My paychecks are small enough and yet I get taxed on a social security fund that I will never see. Now I know that this fund is for the elderly which include my grandparents but you know what, my grandparents agree with me in that I shouldn’t have to pay money to support the enormous amount of baby boomers so they can take fancy vacations; especially when I don’t get the same treatment when I’m ready to retire. Me and my grandparents are not the only ones who agree with this idea. Vice President Joe Biden also agrees that there needs to be a change in social security. He believes that we should raise the cap of $97,500. However he agrees that raising the retirement age would help but he also says that by simply raising the cap you could solve the problem.

Issue #1- War Dollars:

http://felicia01.blogspot.com/2010/02/issue-1-war-dollars_18.html

Issue #2- Spending What We Can Afford:

http://mayaseverson.blogspot.com/2010/02/issue-2-spendin-what-we-can-afford.html