Henry, 26, dies day after dispute

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died from injuries he suffered after falling out the back of a pickup truck during what the authorities described as a domestic dispute with his fiancee. Henry has been in trouble with the law before, but the players, even the owner of the team, will tell you that he has left that in the past, and was excelling in his professional career. They also say that he was a lot different than the public say him. Bengals receiver Andre Caldwell went on and said: "People thought he was a bad guy, but he had a big heart." According the call the police got, Henry was in the bed of the truck that was driving fast on a curvy road

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4750615

This is a very sad story. Not only was Henry a fun football player to watch, that was just coming to his prime, he was a good example of lives that had been turned around. It is a story that we wish had never happened, but unfortunately he was in a despute with his wife, and it happened. We will miss Henry, and we will pray for Henry's family and his entire team.

All Things Being Unequal- Issue #1

Today, the separation between the top earners and the middle class appears to be growing rapidly. Between the 20 percent of households earning the most, they control about 53.5 percent of the money, and on the other side of the spectrum, the bottom 20 percent earners control only 4.1 percent of the money. The issue now is what we should do to try to solve this growing gap. Do we lessen the tax on lesser earners, like those making about 21,000 a year or even as low as 11,000, and raise it on those making 250,000 or more? Or, do we just hike up the taxes on the CEOs that are making crazy amounts of money, some even making 26 million dollars in one year. Some have criticized the recent CEO pay packages as excessive. At the same time, some people say that we can not tax the more wealthy because their spending is needed to help with the Market-Based Economy. The people that believe to tax the rich, also want to reduce middle and low income taxes to more fairly redistribute the nation's wealth. They also want to add to our safety net programs we have in place. Those opposed to the tax raises, believe that job protecting and trade barriers would reduce business profits and leave less to distribute to employees.



It makes me sad that there is a growing separation between the wealthy and the middle class, but i don't think it is right to punish the wealthy for being successful. Why would someone want to get a raise if it means more taxes? Not everyone was born into that high paying job they have, most have to work very hard to get to where they are. I think that the range making about 250,000 is not above the economic hardships, they may not be able to afford huge tax hikes, but the CEO's making the millions upon millions of dollars can afford tax hikes because most of the time they have good lawyers that get them out of paying the amount of taxes they are supposed to pay. In conclusion, I believe that something needs to happen to stop to separation, but i don't believe we have to right process yet and i have no clue what the right one would look like exactly. I think that if we cap pay, give job protection it will stifle business because there will be less motivation to advance and succeed, which will hurt profits causing people to get less pay which will drastically injure our Market-Based Economy.



Some changes from Bush's cuts, and the good things those cuts did are listed here. (My paste isnt's working so click on here.)
For issue #2 go to Olivia Rice's blog.
For issue #3 go to Steve Carlson's blog.

'Blind Side' No. 1 at box office

After 3 weeks of following, the Twilight series hit new movie, New Moon, Blind Side sneaks into first place. During the weekend it pulled in 20.4 million dollars, while New Moon sucked in less money, 15.6 million dollars respectfully. Also for Sandra Bullock, this was an amazing movie that shows us all that she is a leader in the field, and will keep getting better. Blind Side eclipsed other movies like, "Christmas Carol" and "Old Dogs" which are sliding as they get older. Also the true lump of coal was the horror comedy "Transylmania," which grossed a lifeless $274,000 from 1,007 theaters. This is an average of 2-3 viewers per showing. With not to much competition, we look for Blind Side to keep up the pace during this holiday season.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/06/boxoffice.ew/index.html


With lead actress Sandra Bullock preforming one of her best movie to date, and a story line fit for all ages there is no wonder why "Blind Side" is such a major hit. The movie about a homeless African American teen, seen as dumb by most, was taken in by a loving lady, Sandra Bullock, and is introduced to the game of football. Since he is so big and protective, he excels and turns pro at the end of the movie. I took my student match to this movie when it opened, and we both enjoyed it greatly. It has everything needed to be a good movie, and I cant wait for it to come out on DVD.

For more details about this strong movie visit Alexa's blog at http://goetsch.blogspot.com/2009/12/blind-side-num-1-at-box-office.html

Tiger Woods cancels tournament appearance

Tiger woods recently said that he will not be attending the tournament he usually hosts, The Chevron World Challenge in southern California, stating the reason to be injuries suffered in his car crash. Woods was injured when he can his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a tree, in his gated community, early Friday morning. He has stated he will not play in any remaining 2009 tournaments, but will start in 2010, only a month away. He has taken the blame for this accident and says that his wife acted bravely to save his life, but at the same time he says he and his family are very embarrassed. Woods has rejected meetings with the police three times, and is not, under the law, required to make a statement. Allegations are that Woods has been having an affair with a nightclub hostess, but she has denied it.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/30/tiger.woods/index.html

I think its a shame that he isn't playing in the upcoming tournaments, for all the tiger fans with tickets, this is a big disappointment. To me all the pieces do not add up, there has to be something else going on. I believe we will soon find out what really happened, and why should would need a golf club to knock out a window to help him in such a minor accident. About the affair, I don't think we should invade his private life, and spread rumors. This should remain a private matter for Tiger and his family, but the paparazzi will never have that.

Couple didn't crash White House dinner, husband says

Tareq Salahi said Tuesday he and his wife "did not party-crash" a White House state dinner last week, but the White House administration says that the couple attended the party when they were not invited and were only allowed in through a breach in security. Tareq and his wife have said that the aftermath of this night, with the couple being portrayed as "Party Crashers," it has been devastating for them, but they stand strong in there statement, "The truth will come out soon." At the same time, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday the Salahis were not on an invitation list of guests. In an interview he stated that they were defiantly crashing the get together. The Salahis said they believed they had an emailed invitation, but the supposed woman who they though they got an email invite from denies it firmly. Many media officials have characterized this couple as publicity hounds, stating this was all for show.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/01/state.dinner.couple/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

I don't believe anything that this couple is trying to say about how they thought they were invited. Why would they be invited? This is a special dinner. I believe they are trying to get the publicity through this whole thing, and maybe land themselves a new TV show. The scary part about this is the fact that they got through as the major security stops, somehow, as far as to shake the hand of the president himself. I think what we need to take out of this event is the security should be tighter. We need to research how they got through, to fill that gap, so no one with more dangerous intentions sneaks through.

For even more information on this weird occurrence please check out Alexa's blog at http://goetsch.blogspot.com/2009/12/couple-didnt-crash-white-house-dinner.html

Wal-Mart Black Friday ad: TVs top deals

Some of Walmart's black friday dals have been leaked. These deals are mostly electronics that are going to get their prices cut drasticly. Not all of these deals have been confirmed by Walmart, but most of them have been by Walmart officials, they also said the deals will only be availble from 5 am to 11am on November 27th. Some of the confirmed deals are, 50 inch plasma 720p HDTV for $598, a Magnavox Blu-ray player for $78, a Tom Tom GPS for $59, select children's clothing for as low as $3, a $7 reversible fleece jacket for kids and adults, and the Barbie Power Wheels Ride-On, a toy Jeep, for $88. There are many other products that are on sale that day as well, but these are the top ones.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4465006318058248895

These deals are amazing. The fact that you can buy a 50 inch HD lcd tv for under $600 is crazy, a year or two ago those tvs were over two grand. In an economy like the one we have currently, it will be nice for people to see these deals, and be able to affored luxuries. This may help the numbers in these companies not to be low for the pinacle of shopping days, "Black Friday."

Ensuring Quality Care for Medicare Patients

Medicare may soon run out of money causing the program to cease to exist if drastic changes are not made. In 2006, the cost of medicare for the government was over $420 billion dollars, this cost was %25 more than just a year before. For this reason the majority of political minds all agree we must try to reduce expenditures while providing even better services to its millions of dependents. Soon the number of medicare recipients will be on the rise with "baby boomers" coming to retirement. One study found that by 2020 more than %16 of the U.S. population will be over the age of 65. At the same time, medical suppliers have stood strong in the task to improve their programs to service these aging people, but it all has a cost. The equipment is expensive to buy, it must be worked by highly trained, and these people must be paid high amounts of money. Also some doctors know how to work the Medicare system, they mess up on their diagnosis, and do multiple procedures and appointments to get more money from the government. To save money, and to try to keep doctors more honest, the "pay-for-performance" system was established in July of 2007. This voluntary program will provide doctors with a 1.5 percent bonus for providing information about the type and quality of their services. The people that don't like ideas like this believe some doctors will become "cook book doctors" because with so many regulations it may undermine the doctor's judgement. These are a couple of the ideas of how to improve Medicare, and try to save it before it runs out of money, leaving millions without care, and stressing their budgets to try to afford insurance.

I agree that something drastic needs to be done to try to save the Medicare system. With millions of people depending on the coverage they receive to keep them healthy in their later ages. The way to accomplish this necessary task, I am very undecided. I think it is necessary, but sad, that we need to have the pay-for-performance system in place. Doctors should want their name to be recognized with good work, and want to take pride in their work, but with greed people tend to try to bend the rules to get as much money as they can. We need to try to do something to get drug companies to lower their prices on medicines and new medical instruments. With increased costs because of aging men and women, we need to find a way to pay for the system while trying to improve it, if possible to do both. I think the only way to keep Medicare supporting millions, we will end up having to raise taxes or cutting certain people off. We may have to make a decision who deserves the care, although all have paid for it if they had jobs that pay taxes, but some people take a lot of the money. If one person lives a healthy life and needs a little help, we should help them, but if someone smokes, drinks, is overweight, should we help them? Did they not know the consequences? This would be another controversial way of solving the scarcity of funding. I don't know if that is the answer, but we should certainly consider it. All I know for certain is that we need to do something drastic before the program is wiped out in the very near future, causing a backlash from the taxpaying baby- boomers, who have lost all the money they were expecting to obtain. An opinion from, Kevin Pho, shows an exapmple of cutting back on doctors errors that they collect money twice on. You can read it at http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/01/medicares-mista.html

To read a blog on comprehensive vs. incremental health care reform go to Olivia Rice's blog at http://oliviarice.blogspot.com/.

For a blog on Issue #3, "Safe to Eat?", go to Kate Gearman's blog at, http://kategearman.blogspot.com/.

War forces Iraqi mom into prostitution

Wedad has no other ways to make a living. She was recently widowed after her husband was murdered in the war. After he was gone, she tried to find work to make money for the time being. She wasn't able to make money because it was not possible for her to find a job because the men hiring her would not give her the job for just the skills that she has, and so she started to have to use her body to get the jobs she wanted. She started to have to become an illegal prostitute to make money for herself even though if she is caught she could have to spend 3 or 4 months in jail, but this rarely happens. Some Iraqi women, like Yana Mohammad, really fight for women's rights in Iraq. They estimate that there are thousands of women like Wedad, and they all have similar stories.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/02/iraq.prostitute/index.html

This is a horrible story, I am sad to here of anybody in a poverty situation, but when they have to disgrace themselves and use their bodies to get any sort of money the story is even worse. The fact that thousands of people have to go into prostitution is gross, and we need to help people like Yana Mohammad in their battle to fight this growing trend, and bring the respect to women in Iraq that they really deserve.

For more information on this issue, visit Kate Gearman's blog, which agrees with my opinion, and goes further. Visit is at http://kategearman.blogspot.com/2009/11/war-forces-iraqi-mom-into-prostitution.html

Ask the right question about gang rape

On the campus of Richmond High School, in northern California, a 15 year old girl was gang rapped for two hours while 10 or more witnesses watched and said nothing. This has sparked questions like "What is wrong with our kids?" and "Why didn't anyone try to stop it?". The answer some have come up with is the "bystander affect" which states the more people involved in an illegal act, the less likely someone turns it in. At the same time the question of how to stop something like this from ever happening again comes into play, which most say could be stopped by better patrol of danger sites around the school before, during, and after dances like this. This incident occured in one of these places, a scary dark alley near the back side of the school, is how many students describe the area. Some believe that more education is needed for students to know how to deal with something like this and turn it in, but many say the students first need to develop a trusting relationship with the police.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/02/astor.gang.violence/index.html

This is plain disgusting. All types of school violence are spiraling out of control, and needs to be put to a stop. I cant comprehend how someone could stand by while seeing some being brutally rapped, or anything of the like. When people say it might have been the bystander affect, I don't believe that is anything but a lame excuse. We have morals, or at least we should, and no matter how many people are doing something awful like this we can tell its wrong and contact the authorities. Even if there are tip lines to turn things in that we don't know the number for, for something like this, we all know to call 911. The question, "What is wrong with these kids?", is one that comes to my mind, and makes me realize how many truly sick people we have in this world, and it worries me.

Ford reports a nearly $1 billion profit

Ford Motor Company reported a surprising profit to its investors, almost $1 billion dollars, coming from a boost in auto sales from the government cash for clunkers program, and its success from restructuring. It was overly surprising because financial forecasters were predicting a loss of hundreds of millions for this time. This was a very needed profit coming after a $161 million dollar loss. This profit comes as a surprise, showing that the company may be turning the corner in spite of a economy still in a downturn. Their sales are up 5% from a year earlier, translating in more profit, and better revenue and cash flow.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/02/news/companies/ford_results/index.htm?postversion=2009110211

I am glad to hear that companies like Ford Motor Company are making come-backs. This is something our economy desperately needs to become stable again. The fact that their sales are up %5 from a year ago, shows that Americans are finally feeling more optimistic with their financial situation, so they feel they can afford a new vehicle, a big investment for both. I think this shows we are finally on our way back out of a horrid recession, and that the cash for clunkers program worked better than many believed it would.

Haunted houses thrive in scary economy

KathE Walker owns four haunted houses in the Denver area with her husband and two sons. She says that in that business if they don't run out scared, they will never come back. Especially when they are waiting in line, and paying 14.95 to go in. Considering her houses will have about 40,000 to 50,000 go through them this year,even with the economy the way it is, she works on the houses full time, getting the props ready for next year. Larry Kirchner, the President of the Haunted House Association, says that business is booming across the country because it is a good date night thing. Although the gross income is high, these houses cost the owners a lot, so they don't make a ton of money, but they still love to do it for the thrills.



http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/10/29/haunted.houses.thriving/index.html

This is a fun, and interesting story. I think its good non harmful humor, and the people that make a business out of it are very smart. Young people are just looking for a scary adventure at theses places and will go back if they get the thrill they were looking for. 40,000 to 50,000 is a very good number this year, especially when our economy is in the tough shape that it is. When the customer has fun, and the owners have fun, everybody wins!

Feds to question attendants of wayward jet

On Wednesday night, a Northwest Flight 188, an Airbus 320 carrying about 144 people flew past the Minneapolis airport while on the way back from San Diego, California. They missed the airport by 150 miles, and did not respond to any of the radio controller’s responses for 78 minutes. Once landed, the pilots were given a breathalyzer test, but both blew 0.000. One of the pilots said that neither of them was asleep, and that they were not having an argument. On the other hand, the other pilot said they were in a fierce argument. With no answers coming out yet, the FAA says they are going to interview and question the flight attendants; they are also going to review the recordings in the black box that contains 30 minutes of recordings. Fighter jets were launched in fear of a high jacking, but called back after reconnecting with the plane.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/26/airliner.flyby/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

I think that it is unbelievable that with the technology that we have in planes in this day and age, that without being asleep or drunk or something, there would be no way to miss your target by that far. I think that both pilots should be punished, and have their licenses revoked for a long time, if not forever. They endangered their passengers lives, and put the government in a tough spot with the fighter jets, luckily the drastic measures were not taken.

Federal Budget Blog

Spending what we can afford is an important issue that could in fact make or break this country. With the national debt racking up to nearly $12,000,000,000,000 (12 Trillion) in debt, and even more coming at the end of the year because of a 1.5 trillion dollar budget deficit to come from 2009 alone, the lending comes from the United States Population, lending institutions, foreign banks, and the Social Security trust fund, It is growing more and more everyday with everything we spend going on the tab. With the economy in a recession, and spending on the rise, more and more loans are being taken out by the United States. Some experts predicted surpluses through 2010, but with the economy the way it is, taxes have generated less monies the past year. Taxes could bring in more money within the next few years some think because Bush’s tax cuts will be taken away, which he argues will not help the economy because the cuts brought us out of the recession when he was in office. Earmarks, “Pork” to critics, cost the government more than $64 billion dollars. Money we could spend on other programs that approved by Congress, which could benefit our country greatly. Our $2.9 trillion spent of programs and agencies, breaking down the spending into four main categories: defense, nondefense, discretionary, mandatory, and interest on the national debt. The spending on nondefense discretionary spending, amounting to about $456 billion, pays for the federal programs adjusted every year. With Medicare spending it could consume nearly half of the whole federal budget, within the upcoming 10 years. These are the reasons for the rapidly growing debt, and concern for it.

Spending in this country needs to be re- analyzed. This year in particular with the bailouts to many companies for billions of dollars, and the proposed health care that could cost billions, spending has increased while we have not brought in as much money with the economic situation we are in. Loaning money from other countries puts us into their hands, and gives them power. As Robert Barro, renowned economist believes and so do I the way to fix that is to only spend what we can afford using a method of pay-as-you-go budgeting, also known as “paygo.” I think that the government should follow the same guidelines that my families, and the rest of America uses, spend only what you can afford and pay for. Without spiking the taxes of the wealthy, like many like to do, and just controlling our spending on unnecessary programs and earmarks, we can accumulate enough money to start to have surpluses, and pay back to our debtors.

Social Insecurity

http://goetsch.blogspot.com/2009/10/federal-budget-blog-entry.html

War Dollars

http://bigsteveblog.blogspot.com/

ACORN chief says videos 'made my stomach turn'

ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), a federally funded organization, is a community- based organization working with low income families on neighborhood safety, heath care, and other social issues. This article is the reaction of its chief on the videos surfaced showing its workers advising its visitors on how to start a prostitution business with underage, foreign girls. She said these videos, “Made her stomach turn.” At the same time she said that these videos were taken illegally, and that they were highly edited. She believes that the problems they have had in the past, embezzlement, fraud, and corruption, were only speculation and nothing else until proven. She believes that the enemies they have made during the elections are just trying to end their threat. She has been the chief of this organization since 2008, and states that she will be there for at least one more year trying to re-strengthen, and reorganize ACORN.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/06/acorn.press.club/index.html

I think it is sick that an organization that needs to provide such a needed solution to a problem that is often overlooked, would mess up this horribly. With social problems of these people, they are in desperate need of advice from ACORN on how to change their lives for the better. Instead of good advice they are told how to start an illegal business. Millions of dollars have been given to this organization that has repeatedly stumbled with embezzlement by family of its founder, and fraud and corruption during the recent elections. The governments as well as organizations like Bank of America have pulled their funding of the programs ACORN provides until it is proven that the allegations are false. I would do this if I was them as well, hopefully the chief can better the system soon

Obama plans trip to Denmark to seek Olympics

Obama is leaving on Thursday to travel to Denmark to speak to the international Olympic Committee, in order to pitch the idea of having the 2016 summer Olympics in Chicago, Illinois. No other president of the United States has ever done this before. He is there competing against other leaders from countries like Spain, Japan, and Brazil which are also competing for the Olympics to be held in their countries. We have only held the Olympics 4 times in our countries rich history. While he is there he will be visiting some of the royalty there, and the Prime Minister.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/28/obama.olympics/index.html?eref=rss_politics

Hosting the summer Olympics would be a very fun opportunity. With the games in a city within the United States, it would provide a spike in economies that vastly need it. Travel companies, car rentals, restaurants, malls, shops, and hotels would see much needed money. Although we will likely be out of this recession by this time, the money will be a nice bonus to those companies that suffered badly during the recession. Also jobs will be provided in a city that usually has a pretty high unemployment level. I think it shows a real interest that Obama is taking, and realizes that Americans would really like this opportunity!

U.S. to Iran: Prove your nuclear program is peaceful

After recently disclosing a new nuclear facility in Iran, the United States wants to fully inspect it due to concerns of the plants ability to develop new weapons. The Obama administration stated that the plant was built illegally, and in their minds probably for intended for developing weapons. It all looks suspicious as Gates puts it, "If they wanted it for peaceful nuclear purposes, there's no reason to put it so deep underground, no reason to be deceptive about it, keep it a ... secret for a protracted period of time." The united states along with the six world powers are very upset because Iran clearly broke the agreement of the "IAEA".


http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/27/us.iran/index.html?eref=rss_politics




I am in favor of allowing countries to continue their research in ways to create new energy sources including nuclear energy, although there is a fine line. I wish I could say that I believe that Iran was working to create new energy, but the suspicious behavior is questionable. The fact that the power countries of the world were not informed, and the newly created is unnecessarily deep underground, seems to point only to the fact that weapons were trying to be developed. I believe that we must get a search team in there as soon as possible to diagnose what is going on down in that plant, for the safety of all countries.

Obama projects $900 billion the fix health care

At the start of Obama’s speech he talked about the two ideas of the republicans and the democrats. He does not like the idea of a “single- payer system” like Canada because it makes the government pay for all of the care, but he also does not like the idea of having individuals buy their own insurance. He supported the idea of people pooling their power and money to negotiate better insurance prices on their own. He also stated that the money spent is less than we have spent in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as less than the tax credits given to the wealthy in America. The “Ultimate goal” of Obama’s plan is to ensure coverage for uninsured, and stability of insurance for the people who already have it.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32752036/ns/politics-health_care_reform/



Obama's plan seems like nonsense in my opinion. If we develop a better mapped out plan, and figure out a way to provide insureance to those in need without giving the bill to the same americans that pay a rediculous amount of taxes already, or taking the money we should already be saving from other departments and spending it, we could accomplish this great feat. I do not understand the idea of taking the very slightly flawed insurance system that we have in place which works for millions of americans and risk messing it up. If the government runs the new insurance system as productivly as they run the postal service, this plan may be disasterous for all of us. Also if the $900 billon bill is able to pay for itself by eliminating waste in other departments of government, we should work on saving that money, and end the cycle endless spending leading to unsermountable debt!

To further your reading, and a view of a different opinion on this topic, go to Olivia Rice's blog at http://oliviarice.blogspot.com/2009/09/obama-projects-900-billion-to-fix.html