Yet another on this everlasting oil spill

Background: The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have commited a crime said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder also said that they have launched a criminal and civil investigation. The investigations will cover all aspects of the spill including the death of 11 workers from the explosion and fire that started the oil leak. Holder said that there will be no rest until justice is done. If anyone is found responsible for this trajedy they must be held accountable.

Opinion: I totally agree with this investigation into this trajic but preventable oil spill. I heard on the news that they BP actually bribed the safety inspectors so they would sign them off as safe. So BP new they were breaking the laws and regulations of oil drilling just so they could more money into there bank account. Oh wait now they have an oil spill on there hands and this could potentially put them out of business. I won't be made because when you break the law you know you will be caught and you know there will be consequences.

Shrek Cup Recalls

Background: The government is recalling Shrek character cups from McDonalds due to health concerns from the material there made of. The paint on the cups contain Cadmium which can cause serious health issues. They are recalling 12 million cups nation wide. While no injuries were reported and the cadmium level in the glasses is low, long-term exposure to the metal can cause adverse health effects. Cadmium, which at high levels is a carcinogen, can cause kidney and bone damage.

Opinion: This wouldn't surprise me if these cups were made in China, but apparently the manufacturer is out of NJ. But really... How many recalls do we need before we figure it out. There is a constant recall of products it seems every week of some sort of painted product that poses a health issue. How about we figure out what paints are safe and what aren't, is it really that hard. I think companies need to start getting fined if there product is recalled because innocent peoples lives are being effected by stupid things like this.

Jail Time for Charlie Sheen

Background: According to sources close to Charlie Sheen, he is facing 30 days in jail for a misdemeanor offense of domestic abuse towards his wife Brooke Mueller. Sources also say that with good behavior he could probably only spend 15 days in Jail. He has been in and out of court since the charges started on Christmas Day. It's not been an easy spring for Sheen or Mueller. In February, Mueller entered rehab for substance abuse with Sheen seeking treatment a week later as a "preventative measure." The couple have been living in separate homes for more than a month while they "work on there marriage" and are currently sharing custody of their twin boys, Max and Bob.

Opinion: Sheen sounds like he is a rough guy with his very public and harsh divorce earlier last year and now with domestic abuse to his new wife Brooke. I think it is sad how celebrities get married like its nothing, and then end up getting divorced like 2 months later. Why even get married? This doesn't really surprise me about Charlie Sheen though he just reminds me of the wrong kind of guy that you shouldn't hang around. He seems like he is always getting into some sort of legal trouble

Last Moments on Polish Flight

Background: The last moments of that fatal Polish flight carrying there president April 10th were released today. Apparently the pilots were warned at least 8 times in 30 seconds of the danger they were facing. "Pull up. Pull up," a warning system advised pilots. "Terrain ahead. Terrain ahead." This was a flight carrying over 100 passengers including the Polish President at the time Kaczynski, everyone on board died. The president had been traveling with a Polish delegation to Russia for the 70th anniversary of the massacre of Polish prisoners of war in the village of Katyn. Some 20,000 Polish officers were executed there during World War II.

Opinion: Although the warnings and transcript makes the pilots sound like they ignored the warnings, I am sure they did everything in there power to try and keep the plane in the air. We don't know everything that happened in the plane before it crashed, just the warnings that were sounding before impact. It's sad that it just happened to carry the Polish President on his way to honor many soldiers that were killed during WWII. Its sad in itself that 100 people had to die in this crash though too.

Oil spill in gulf a big concern

Background: As the massive oil spill continues on in the Gulf of Mexico, people are wondering just how much the size of the spill affects how great of damage there is in the end. I personally think that the greater the spill, the greater the damage because as it keeps spewing out it spreads farther and farther which makes it a greater area to clean up. Before the video from BP was released, people thought that 5000 barrels a day were spilling out but now experts think that it could be 2 million gallons each day or even more. The government says that it has the right equipment to deal with the size of the spill and even a greater one. I don't think it really matters if we have the equipment to clean it up because its going to cause horrendous damage no matter what and already has so basically it doesn't even matter any more. BP has a major problem right now with this spill and they should be completely responsible for its clean up and costs.

Opinion: I don't even see the need of the governments help because this was BP's fault and only their fault. I find it absolutely ridiculous that nothing can be done quicker to slow or stop this spill. Its been weeks now and still its gushing out like crazy. Something needs to be done very soon and we as citizens better not be affected by this because we had no impact on it at all.

Agatha Packs a Punch

Background: Over the weekend areas of Central America were devastated by tropical storm Agatha. The tropical storm ravaged through Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, leaving 115 dead. Of all the countries that the storm passed through, Guatemala was hit the hardest. Emergency officials have confirmed 92 deaths as well as 59 injured, and 54 missing just in Guatemala. Around 112,000 Guatemalans have been evacuated and 29,000 are living in temporary shelters due to destruction to homes from the tropical storm. Guatemala is in a state of emergency due to massive mudslides and rapidly rising river levels. Numerous buildings and homes have been obliterated by the storm, as well as 13 bridges. In Guatemala City, a giant sink hole was created by tropical storm Agatha that swallowed up an entire intersection as well as a three story building and a house. Classes have been cancelled nationwide throughout Guatemala. In Honduras 14 deaths have been confirmed and 3,500 people have been evacuated. In El Salvador there have been 9 confirmed deaths.

Opinion: Overall, tropical storm Agatha has been quite devastating to Central America, particularly Guatemala. Now that Agatha has been downgraded from a "tropical storm" to a "tropical depression" at least the clean-up process can begin for these countries. Clean-up for most countries shouldn't be too horribly extensive, but for Guatemala it will take a massive effort to repair all of the damages done to several cities. In countries such as Honduras and El Salvador it shouldn't be too long before normalcy can return to the lives of most citizens however. The single biggest problem in terms of physical damage caused by this storm is the giant sink hole created in Guatemala City, which seems almost impossible to do anything about due to the enormous size of the hole. This hole just happens to have swallowed an entire street intersection, which is bound to cause fairly major traffic problems. Hopefully the Guatemalan government can handle this natural disaster and make the best of their resources while making repairs to their nation.

Is the Minimum Enough?

Background: Minimum wage is currently $7.25 which has recently been raised, but some people still believe this is not enough to keep full time workers on this wage above the poverty line. The United States Market-Based Economy relies on people to make money and then spend there money to keep the economy strong. It really takes down the morale of these workers when they cannot make enough money to buy the things they need like food, shelter, and clothing. With the help of tax cuts and the rise of minimum wage, millions of workers on this pay will be a able to increase the poverty line and live a happy life. Increasing the minimum wage will increase the paycheck size of these workers will in turn boost the economy because these workers will have more money to spend on consumer goods. Along with the help of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), people on minimum wage will be the best help to get our economy back on its feet and strong again. Increasing the minimum wage can also be a bad thing because it can lead to inflation of the dollar. If we let the law of supply and demand determine minimum wage then the poverty line wouldn't be so low and that wouldn't increase inflation. The increase of inflation would only hurt people in poverty because it would raise the price of a lot of other products.



Current Issues: I think that we should not increase the minimum wage because that would only increase the rate of inflation. Therefore, we should just expand EITC to more of the poor people and that would help out the poverty without interfering with the economy. If more of the poverty class would receive benefits from EITC, they would get more money because inflation would not increase. If we increase minimum wage, the dollar would decrease in value which would really put the poverty line lower. There is only a small percentage of workforce that is on minimum wage anyways, most minimum wage workers are teenagers. So increasing the minimum wage would not help out the poverty in an effective way. Recently Republicans blocked a minimum wage bill in the senate saying there is no need to raise minimum wage. Mitch McConnell the party majority leader said the GOP was opposing the motion to begin debate because the it believed the Democrats' plan did not do enough to ensure that the government would not again foot the bill for bailing out institutions deemed "too big to fail."

Issue #1- All things being unequal

Issue #3- Putting welfare to work