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.