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/.