Obama Raises Taxes for Health Care Plan

Obama will propose tax raises for the wealthy. He needs it for his health care plan. He will also propose a 10-year budget plan to use the revenues for his environmental policy. The effect of these proposals will cancel Bushes tax reductions for people who make more than $250,000 a year. This upsets many people. For example, the White House thinks it's unfair to make the rich pay more. However, Obama will reduce taxes for all citizens in the 35% tax range, and most in the 33% tax range. I think this is an interesting idea but it seems a bit unfair. How do you feel?

Comet Lulin is Passing by the Earth – by Marielle

Watching The Skies For Comet Lulin

Feb. 23, 2009, Melissa Block, All Things Considered (NPR)

A nineteen-year-old discovered Comet Lulin two years ago, and now we it is passing by Earth. “After it gets dark, look for two bright stars near the horizon: one is the planet Saturn, the other is Regulus, the star, and for the next few nights, Lulin will be somewhere between them," says Kelly Beatty, senior contributing editor of Sky & Telescope magazine. Then take some binoculars and look through them and try to see the comet between those two stars. For the rest of this week, you will be able to see the comet with binoculars, but in the next month, you will have to use a small telescope. It will get harder and harder to see until you can’t see it unless you’re at the observatory.
If you look through your binoculars when it’s visible, you will see that the comet has two tails. One is in the front and one is in the back. The one in the front is shorter and the one in the back is longer.
Tomorrow night I will try to see the tails. I think that they are going to look pretty. If you try, I hope you see the comet also.

President Obama is going to Evacuate U.S. solders by 2010

 President Obama  plans to evacuate most U.S. solders from Iraq in about 18 months. Though  he said that he would evacuate the solders three months earlier in his campaign. Let's just be happy because the war will be over soon. 

Teen Goes Missing!-JC

On Friday the 13th, a teenager living in Escondido, California left her house at 7:00 AM carrying a check for a baby lamb she was going to raise. But she never arrived at school. Her family says that it was "a day she'd been looking forward to for more than a year". Her mother says that "she would not have given up that lamb for anything", so she did not run away. That is kind of strange and sad, isn't it?

    

Am I that pretty? by Marielle Bardon

Think You're Good-Looking? Think Again

New evidence shows we believe we're more attractive than we are in reality
By Jesse Bering

February 18, 2009 in Mind & Brain

How good-looking are you? You might not be as good-looking as you think. These tests that Nicholas Epley and Erin Whitchurch did have shown that most people think that they are more pretty than they are.

What they did was they took 27 college students and took a picture of each individual one. Then they put the pictures in a computer and morphed them. They morphed them ten times. Five of them made the picture look uglier and uglier and uglier, and the other five made them look prettier as they go. Then they invited each college student in two to four weeks after they had taken their picture, and brought them over to the computer. They did not say which pictures were prettier, uglier, or the same as the picture that they took. They asked the students to point at which one they thought was them. But once they did every single one, most chose the picture that was 20% prettier than they actually were.

"It is perhaps of little wonder, then, that people so rarely seem to like the photographs taken of themselves. The image captured by the camera lens just doesn't match up to the image captured in the mind's eye," said Nicholas Epley and Erin Whitchurch. Almost everybody thinks that they are prettier than they actually are. I probably think that I am prettier than I actually am, too.

Alaska is going green! (Alas)

Three huge wind turbines spin in the cool, seemingly endless winter winds in Alaska. Alaska is one of America's toughest places for being green, yet it can - and is - going Green. People have started to notice our need for green energy and Alaska is testing new ideas for renewable energy sources. Alaska is going green, not to help stop global warming, but to save money. This is a good reason for Alaskans because the diesel to power generators costs more than 5$/gallon to be shipped so using renewable sources is in the competition - and winning. Alaska produces more oil than any other state except Texas but most of it is shipped out of the state. The high prices for shipment still keep fuel prices high, but I think that it is cool that Alaska is going green! 

  Source  

North Korea Claims They Have Made New Nuclear Bombs

  North Korea has threatened Seoul (or South Korea) on Saturday 17 January, 2009. North Korea says that they have six nuclear warheads. U.S. intelligence officials estimated that North Korea have harvested enough fuel for six warheads, but not finished. "Why?" you ask, the article doesn'tsay, maybe their cruel, maybe they want to take over I don't know. Please comment if you found out.

sources: statesmen.com

       Before Roland Burris became senator in Illinois; he was trying to make money – without success – off his friends for Blagojevich; just because Blagojevich's brother told him to! Robert – Blagojevich’s brother – had been talking to Blagojevich; that because Burris was failing to raise $ Burris was letting loose the secret that he was trying to raise money to earn the Governor’s respect and/or favor. I think that he did this – showing this secret to the people late – might have happened because Rod Blagojevich – Governor – had a higher rank & has misused the seat of Governor so Burris thought Blagojevich might misuse that seat against him.

SOURCE ^{­(click here)}

Wildfires

Near Melborne, Australia there have been some pretty bad wildfires, burning many animals and killing many people. There was a story on the news about this one koala who got very badly burned. The shy marsupial came to the States for treatment. The koala was not saved but s/he did do one last thing before s/he died. Koalas are normally shy and they try to stay away from people, but this one koala, right before death came up to a person trying to save him/her and gave that person a hug. The person was astonished that the koala did this, and now that person would like to help more animals along the way who have been hurt. Many think that animals, aside from pets, have no personality. Well, this koala proved all of those people wrong. Go koalas!!

~~Elizabeth

Iphones in Afghanistan?

From the Al-Jazeera Web site: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/02/200928133747620542.html

Mullah Salaam Zaif*, a former member of the Taliban in Afghanistan, lives under house arrest at his home in Kabul. During a recent interview by the Reuters news service, Zaif produced an iPhone from his pocket and went to town.

A quotation from the Al-Jazeera posting explains why this is newsworthy: "During Taliban rule, which ended when the US and its allies rolled in and took control of Kabul in 2001, the leadership had banned just about anything associated with modern technology.

There were no televisions, no computers, no radios, no music and though iPhones were not around back then, they most certainly would not have been allowed."

When asked about his iPhone, Zaif responded as most people who own the device would: "I'm addicted," he said, "the internet is great on this, very fast."

It is certainly interesting that someone who might be considered an "enemy" of the U.S. would be so jazzed about using technologies that come from his former rival.

What might foreign acceptance of U.S. technologies signal for U.S. foreign relations? Is the iPhone awesome enough to win the hearts and minds of U.S. enemies around the world? What do y'all think?

Mr. Davidson


*Mullah Salaam Zaif is not this man's three-part name. Mullah is in fact a title of some kind. A token goes to the first person who comments or makes a new post explaining (correctly) what a mullah is.

New assignment

Howdy bloggers,

As we discussed in class the week before last, I'd like our newest blog posts to be on one of the following topics:

1) Obama's first 100 days
2) Economic stimulus package (or anything economy-related)
3) Iran, North Korea, or Iraq
4) Afghanistan
5) The Middle East

Other topics are acceptable, just run them by me before posting your story.

Y'all have made some great posts so far, and I look forward to seeing more in the future!

Keep up the good work,

Mr. Davidson

Seattle Airports are safe from Birds

A bird biologist, Steve Osmek created a radar that tracks birds. Bird are dangerous to air planes because they get stuck in the plane's turbines, which causes the plane to fall. It's like a mouse and an elephant. So if you ever land safely in a Seattle airport thank Steve Osmek.

sources are:CNN.com

An Instant Star

A 19-year old simply asked Obama a question and got a job offer and many other goodies including health care, refundable tax, and more. Barack Obama also complimented the fact that he's been working so hard at his job he had at McDonald's, flipping burgers, which pays only $7.85 an hour. This lucky man named Osegueda must be happy to take anything he gets. He also got another offer. A one-day event as the announcer for the Fort Meyers baseball team excites him. "I'll be ready," he said to the offer. For the video go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1m_k2dCj0M&eurl=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/02/62687523/1?se=yahoorefer&feature=player_embedded


My source: yahoo.com

Massive serpentine monster!

60 million years ago, after the dinosaurs, lived a relative of modern boa constrictors. He weighed over a ton, was 42 ft long, ate crocodiles, and lived in Northern South America! We found it's fossils- vertebrae from a coal mine in NE Columbia. It  happens to be the largest snake ever discovered. the existence of a large snake showed the tropic must have been hot. This is an amazing discovery!

Lake Cleanup by Marielle

Friends' lake cleanup ends with frustration

By Mark Lisheron
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Misty Chamberlain and April Miller are these two girls that wanted to do something for their community. So they went to Lake Marble Falls. Since it was dry, they picked up all the trash that they could find. They filled up two trash bags with cans and bottles, and put the rest of the stuff in a big pile next to the shore. Then they went to the police station to see who could pick it up, because it was too heavy for them, The lady at the front desk said that she would call the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, But when Misty saw the trash was still there, she went to the Marble Falls Chamber of Commerce, and they told her to go to lots of different places. But everyone that she spoke to said that they weren't responsible for that type of trash.


"I liked the idea that my friend and I were making a difference, I can't believe they'd just cover all this up with water. But right now I'm so done with trying to find out who is responsible for picking this stuff up," said Misty. I think that I would get very frustrated if I couldn't find anyone to pick up the trash that I cleaned out of a lake. I hope they find someone to pick it up soon. What they did was good. They worked hard and they helped the environment.

Painter vs. Law: a Painting with no Copyright.

A man named Shepard Fairey painted a portrait of Obama. It looks cool. One signed portrait made thousands of dollars on ebay. It inspired many people to create signs. However, it was a version that looked just like a photo of Obama. He used it to look at while he painted it. You must have permission to use that photo. Unfortunately, he didn't, so he should be in a lot of trouble. The AP confirmed that they owned the copyright. Fairey disagrees. They're currently working out the problem hoping to find a good solution. "We believe fair use protects Shepard's right to do what he did here," says Fairey's attorney, Anthony Falzone. Maybe they can compromise, workout a deal. On Fairey's side, he isn't exactly copying it, and he could have not acknowledged it at all. It was nice of him to acknowledge them and he should get to continue although maybe he should pay part of it. Where do you stand?

The Power of Common Sense

Obama wants common sense! Our 44th president has called for common sense and a $500,000 salary cap for top executives who have been affected by the federal bailout. Obama said,"We all need to take responsibility." He also repeated that the dudes on Wall Street are showing complete irresponsibility. Seriously, I agree with Obama. It's about time for Wall Street to show some "common sense."

Green Energy NOT Good for Workers

The Obama admenistration whants to millions of "green" jobs but a recent survay shows the downsides of these. The survay shows that people working at Walmart probibly gety payed less than people that work at solar and wind energy plants. The smallest pay was found at a recycling plant and was 8.25  dollers an hour. The avrege for wind and solar plants was $18.88. My sorce was "Reuters.com". -Ivy

21 police officers killed by a Suicide Bomber

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 in Afghanistan a suicide bomber, snuck in a police compound in a police uniform. The bomber detonated a very powerful explosive that killed 21 police officers. It also wounded 12 other police officers. The Taliban terrorist group claimed they committed the crime. The Taliban's have been targeting the police for about two years because they think there easy targets compared to the Western troops.                                                                                                                                                                                

                  source is Statesmen.com