New Jobs!

"The Labor Department said the U.S. economy added just 54,000 jobs in May, the fewest in eight months and far fewer than the 150,000 forecast for the month. Earlier this week, some economists downgraded their May job growth expectations after a report showed a sharp slowdown in private-sector job creation last month.The pace of hiring slowed sharply in May from the previous three months, when the economy added an average of 220,000 new jobs. Private companies hired only 83,000 new workers — the fewest in nearly a year, and local governments cut 28,000 jobs, the most since November."
After reading Jordan's it made me really think of what and how the economy will survive in the summer months. We need to do everything we possibly can to make this economy survive.
http://jordanhirsch.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=15

Violence Begets Violence

"Still more violence in the Middle East it seems…I highly doubt it’s going to be done until better governments are put into place. Simple as that. The only problem is a lot of people want a government that bases its laws off of the Muslim religion and its holy book the Quran. This would result in a society where women are suppressed, not even allowed to leave the house without head covering and certainly not entitled to an education beyond what they need to function as good housewives. This is something many Americans do not understand because they did not grow up in Muslim society, while they need to exercise their cultural relativism, I understand people wanting equality for women in Muslim societies."

I agree with Zack and that Muslim religion doesn't give women any freedome in there culture. Thats why I agree that we cant have laws and socity based on their religion and the holy book of Quran.

http://zachvanorsdel.blogspot.com/

Two in U.S. infected in German E. coli outbreak

Two U.S. residents who recently traveled in northern Germany appear to be among victims of a massive outbreak of food poisoning that has killed 16 and sickened more than 1,150 people in Europe since the second week of May, federal health officials confirmed Tuesday. The victims have been hospitalized with serious, life-threatening complications of E. coli infections caused by a rare strain of the bacteria that has taken scientists by surprise, said Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Infection.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43227702/ns/health-infectious_diseases/

Relief groups seek relief from disaster onslaught

Over the whole great plains there has been many tornadoes and at least 500 people killed from the extreme weather. The Red Cross has been busy getting shelters ready and has reportedly used 41 million dollars to help people in need. Their is now 29 shelters in 22 states due to weather related disasters around the US.
Over the past week I think we had no choice but to help the people in need with 29 shelters open so far I expect those numbers to rise because of the strong storms moving into the east. The worst spot hit was Joplin, MO and I think we need to do whatever we can to get these people the help they need.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43173326/ns/us_news-giving/

Slugger Killebrew, 74, dies of cancer

Harmon Killebrew a long time great and hall of famer of the Minnesota Twins died Tuesday after battling esophageal cancer. He was 74 years old. In his great career he ended up with 573 homeruns in 22 years of baseball. With his 573 homeruns that puts him in 11th place all time for homerun leaders. Also his 8- 40 or more homerun seasons is still tied with Babe Ruth for the most ever.

I have always heard great stories of the "great Killer" known as Harmon Killebrew. He is one of the greatest Twins to ever take the field and is known as a great guy and a man with a lot of power. It is sad to see a great hall of famer go down as he did fighting esophageal cancer, and he will always be remember by true baseball fans.
http://http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/43062969/ns/sports-baseball/

Putting Welfare to Work

Over 12.6 percent of Americans live below the poverty line, that's almost 37 million Americans. In 2005, 43 percent of those living in poverty took in income equal to half or less of $19,350 the government's definition of poverty for a family of four. This figure repre­sents the highest percentage of people in deep poverty since the government began tracking it in 1975. Also people take advantage of is the free programs given out to people in need, such as social security benefits. Some critics argue that the mini­mum wage is a weak weapon for fighting poverty because it affects only a small percentage of the workforce, and nearly half of workers receiving the minimum wage are teenagers, not people living in poverty.
I don't believe it is right for people to take advantage of the welfare program and not try to find a job. I am fine with the people who are at least trying to find a job and are getting welfare or unemployment checks, but the other people who just take advantage of it are really hurting the economy and citizens social security.

Other issues:
All Things Being Unequal
Boosting the Minimum

Obama thanks, awards team in bin Laden raid

President Barack Obama on Friday was briefed by members of the team that killed Osama bin Laden, and afterward thanked and awarded them the Presidential Unit Citation, the White House said.The award "is the highest such honor that can be given to a unit," the White House said in a statement, and was "in recognition of their extraordinary service and achievement."The Navy SEAL who shot bin Laden was among those present, but he was never singled out or identified, a U.S. official told NBC News. Other sources say that is common practice among SEALs who focus on the team, not individuals.The president and Vice President Joe Biden visited with team members at Fort Campbell, home to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

I think those six navy SEALs deserved the award for many of reasons. They took down the most wanted man in United States history. Plus he also is one of the most dangerous man in the world, so they had to make sure everything was perfect. After months of planning and searching they got the most wanted many and deserve there awards.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42919214/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/

Hole appears in passenger jet at 36,000 feet

A plane that took off from Phoenix, AZ to California had a crack in the roof. The plane then started rapidly descending 10,000 feet until stable. Several people fainted from the fast descend. They are still unclear to what has happened but a crack in the planes roof panel caused it to rapidly drop. People sitting around the panel that broke said it sounded like a gun shot and the next thing they said was that the plane started to drop. That would be one of the most frighting think that I think could happen. All they could hear is a loud bang, then the next thing the plane is dropping 10,000 feet with no announcement till things got stable again. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42385570/ns/travel-news/

Radioactive rainwater recorded eastern US

Trace amounts of radioactive iodine was found in the rain water in the Eastern US. This is linked to the nuclear plants in Japan that has been leaking radiation. The water supply is still in fair condition for people. It is just a slight increase in which is now the same that can be found in California.

For now the water supply is safe, but if the radiation levels keep going up it could get very bad. I think we have to keep a close eye on this situation for everyones safety. Radiation is nothing that should be handled lightly, because it can have a very serious impact on humans and our earth.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42301458/ns/us_news-environment/

'Crisis is still going on' at Japan nuclear plant

In Fukushima, Japan 2 reactors started smoking at a nuclear plant on Monday the 21st. Since there is no power because of the earthquake, the cooling systems at the plant shutdown. There was reports now a week later that smoke is now starting to come out of the nuclear plant. People are now racing to get the power back up to stabilize this crisis. They estimate that the cost to rebuild the northeast cost that got hit hard to be around 235 billion dollars to get it done.

With all of the tragedies that have been going on over in Japan, I think we need to try to help them as much as we can and help get this cleaned up. The radiation from these plants aren't just hurting Japan, they are hurting us just as much. Any amount of radiation is harmful to are environment which will cause global warming go get worse and destroy our ozone layer.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42188697/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

Two and a Half Men fire Charlie Sheen

On Monday Warner Bros. announced that they have fired Charlie Sheen just before he tweeted "winning". He has had many problems as of late with drugs and having his kids taken away by authority's. They asked if Sheen would sue CBS and Warner Bros. for all of the drama. He replayed "yes, for big".

I think it was stupid to fire Charlie sheen from his role of Two and a half Men. The only reason viewer's watched the show was because of him and how funny he was. They will never be able to replace this guy, and now they are losing millions because they canceled makings of the final episodes of this season. Even though he did make some really stupid decisions, I think they should bring him back because without him they will lose many viewer's.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41955659/ns/today-entertainment/

Issue #3- Social Insecurity

For many of Americans Social Security is their primary retirement money. It serves 47 million men, women, and children and is the main income for a majority of older and retired Americans. Since 1983, the amount of taxes taken in has exceeded the amount of money needed to pay benefits, and the extra money is given to pay for other programs and they write IOU's to the Social Security Trust Fund. However, more Americans are approaching retirement and by 2017 the government will be spending more on Social Security than it receives from income payroll taxes. There are some ideas of how to fix this problem; president Bush proposed a including private investment accounts. But others say that less dramatic adjustments will keep the system strong.

I believe Social Security needs to stay because if we don't keep it around people will be working till they die. Also I think it would be unfair for younger adults who put money into social security and get taxes taken out of their paychecks for what thy think will be their when they retire, but in reality they will never see it again. I think we could do it by less dramatic ways too, like by rising the cap. By rising the cap (which is currently at $90,000) it would create more money flowing into the Fund and make it last longer for the future retirees, but it will come with a cost because we will have to raise taxes. Washington Senate Sherrod Brown also agrees with raising the cap. "I'm for lifting the cap, it would make social security solvent for years to come" said Brown. He thinks that we need to keep social security strong in America, and I agree with Sherrod Brown.

Issue #1-War Dollars
http://roseyerickson.blogspot.com/2011/02/war-dollars.html
Issue #2-Spending what you can afford
http://kristens24.blogspot.com/2011/02/spending-what-we-can-afford.html

Growing economy brings whiff of inflation

Since the US began it's weak recovery in 2009 most economist keep the inflation well maintained. But now some businesses have seen stable growth over the last two quarters and now are seeing raw material prices going up because of inflation; which is then passed down to the consumers. In January their was a .4 increase in the consumer price index and is predicted to keep rising this month. This could become a problem if the economist can't bring it to a slower pace.

I think we will still see steady growth this quarter in our economy, and because of that we will see inflation. Yes, we do need it at a slow pace though because people who make a living by hourly wages will struggle if their is too much inflation at one time, because the standard of living won't equal the pay.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41625436/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

Oklahoma sees record cold: -31

Temperatures in Oklahoma set a new record low with temperatures at -31. It was the coldest temp recorded ever, it beat out the old record was set back in 1930 when it reached -27. The forecast was saying that it was only going to get to -8, but were off on the forecast. Now this weekend they are expected to get a big thaw as temps will climb into the 60's. Because of the cold and the winter storms that past though on Wednesday there were 1,200 flights cancelled in the US.

I don't see how meteorologist could be that far off. If you studied all the weather patterns and know how it works, how can you be that far off? This Arctic blast obviously caught them off guard.

Titans, Fisher Parting ways after 16 seasons

The Tennessee Titans announced Thursday that Jeff Fisher has been fired after 16 seasons of being the head coach of the Titans. Fisher had many up and down seasons with the team and was known as a .500 coach. After the '10-'11 season the Tennessee Titans ended the season with a losing record and had many problems on and off the field. The biggest problem for Fisher was his quarterback Vince Young who is known for his bad temper and his childish behavior. They never got along and was the cause of Fisher getting fired.

I thought it was the right choice to fire Fisher after 16 up and down seasons. He didn't get along with some of his players and when that happens players start to lose respect for you and will cause your team to go downhill. Also at the end of this season you could see in Fishers face that he had enough, and seemed like he quit on the team, and because of that i think it was the right choice for the franchise to move on.