A New Beginning with an Unclear End

A few days ago, Obama became president. He faces many challenges ahead of us. He creates brilliant ideas to overcome problems. But before he executes them his fellow Americans must agree with him. Some people won't say yes. "He's trying to tilt left to stay in the center so he doesn't get done in by friendly fire," said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. "Right now, I think he may be more worried about Nancy Pelosi than John Boehner." Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the house for California. Surprisingly, she's a democrat. Of course, some republicans also worry. For example, John Boehener is the house minority leader for Ohio. I think that if we all give him a chance, we can work together to avoid our problems. These are the first few days, so we know little so far. I'm interested to see how this will turn out.

My source:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090128/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_crossfire_analysis

Iceland's Government Melted Away

Iceland's Prime Minister, Geir Haarde and his cabinet resigned, Monday, January 26 of this year because Prime Minister Haarde was unwilling to meet the demands of the Social Democratic Alliance Party. Iceland is in an astronomical crisis due to the banks collapsing under deep financial debts. The banks in Iceland have "borrowed" more money then they could ever pay back. The people are crazy mad because the value of their dollar has gone down significantly and their government has abandoned them. They are reacting to this tragic situation by going into the streets in masses and hitting pots and pans in demonstration.  Iceland is going to melt...

Recruiting Goals

For the first time in a very long while, the recruiting goals for the army have been met. That means that the number of people the government had set to join the army, joined the army! There are many debatable theories on why this happened this year. When I first heard this on the radio, I was asked to think, what was one of Obama's major arguments? At first, the Iraq war popped into my mind. Then, I realized, oh, the economy, of course! What I think is a strong reason supporting the economy idea is the loss of jobs. Think of it like this, you just lost your job, you have starving children, you can't feed them, A-ha, suddenly the army seems more appealing, right? If it is a question of, your whole family starving and you being safe at home, or you going to the army, risking the dangers and feeding your family. Actually, the military gets paid a decent amount, reasonable enough, well, better than no job. Suddenly, you want to join the army just for the paycheck to feed your relatives. I think the economy is the biggest factor in the government meeting their recruiting goals.

Watch Out For 2012!

Apparently the ancient Myan's made a calender called the Long Count calendar because it had a space was 5126 years long. the Long calendar shows that the world will end on 12, 21, 2012. which is the winter solstice and also is when the sun will be at the middle of the galaxy. The Long calender has some weird calculation so that 12,21,2012 will be 13.0.0.0.0 and the next day will be 0.0.0.0.1. What might happen is the Earth might start spinning the other way. Many tourist attractions are t-shirts and survival guides saying things about 2012. Many people think that it is all just a hoax. I think that it is very interesting. -Ivy

Grusome deaths

On Tuesday A man shot and killed his wife and the rest of his family(including himself). The authorities said that he had done it out of grief of losing his job. At 8:30 am, police officers (who had been sent a fax that he was going to kill his family and himself) found 7 bodies in his house(an 8 year old girl two 5 year old girls and two 2 year old boys). I think that it is very sad that anybody would do such a thing to their family. It just isn't right!

Withdrawal

Hilary Clinton resigned from the Senate immediately after being sworn in as secretary of state. Caroline Kennedy was planning (and wishing) to take her seat in the Senate. Many disapproved of this and said she wasn't committed and other things like that while others toke note of her brains and compassion and say she would make a solid choice as a senator. Kennedy, age 51, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and a resident of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, has never served in public office.
Anyway, she has withdrawn from consideration for the vacant Senate seat in New York. A person she told of her decision said that Kennedy’s concerns about the health of her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who suffers from brain cancer and was hospitalized after suffering a seizure Tuesday, prompted her to withdraw. Kennedy believed that the seat was hers if she had wanted it, though no one has confirmed her assumption.
After hearing this there were many different reactions, some being, "Thank goodness!" and others being, "too bad!". "I would have loved to see her in office. She would have made a difference. I hope she will consider running in the future." "I wonder why she REALLY backed out." "For Caroline Kennedy to withdraw is a crying shame. Given her academic, political education and gracious, sincere manner, I am certain her Uncle Ted would prefer her seek the appointment and prove her worth for a landside victory on her own merits in the near future election."

New flashlight can change the future of law enforcement

The police have a new weapon called the Incapacitating Flashlight(IF). When the IF is pointed at some body's eye they feel nauseous and dizzy. Robert Lieberman CEO of Intelligent Optical Systems explains how it works "The flashes incapacitate a person in two different ways. The flashes temporarily blind a person as any bright light would,.... and the light pulses in a way to

cause vertigo and nausea. Its designed to be used on someone coming at you" If the suspect looks away it doesn't work.I would rather throw up instead of being shot.          

sources are Technology Review

The 2009 Inauguration

During the inauguration it was sorta chaotic at first but then it got more sorted out. I think the new President Obama's speech was WONDERFUL! It was one of the best speeches I've ever heard. There was also a guy who said "May blacks never be told to get back, may browns never be put down, may a yellow be mellow, may a red man get ahead, man! and may whites do what's right." I think that is so funny! Also, most people think President Obama forgot his lines when saying the oath of presidency but he had actually memorized the lines perfect but the guy saying the words for him to repeat mixed up the words! Oh and my source was the t.v.

--Ivy

Water Plane by Marielle

Pilot Is Hailed After Jetliner’s Icy Plunge
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
New York Times: January 15, 2009

A plane ran into a flock of Canadian geese, and some got caught in the engines, and the pilot was trying to safely land the plane. It landed in the Hudson River. “It made this huge, gigantic splash, and I actually thought it was a boat crash at first,” said Fulmer Duckworth, who works in computer graphics for Bank of America. If I was in that plane, I would probably never want to ride in a plane ever again.

Everyone got out safely, and ferry boats and tugboats helped the people get back to shore. The water was 35 degrees, so some people got hypothermia, which means you don't have enough heat in your body. When I heard about it on the radio, I was wondering how they would be able to get the plane out to inspect it. Then the next day I found out that they got all the pieces out of the water except for one of the engines. They needed both engines to see what caused them to stop. I'm not sure if they have found it or not, but I hope they do.

I'm glad that they have all these safety methods because otherwise I wouldn't feel safe in a plane. I still love going on planes, they're fun.

When Death is Defied-JC

Jessica Keenan is getting married on the 24 of January and has breast cancer. This society called the Dream Foundation is helping her to get over her illness so she can get married. Unfortunately for her, she cannot afford the wedding because the money has been "sapped by her cancer battle". I think that with a good attitude that she will be ale to have the wedding and get over her Stage 4 breast cancer. 

What a pilot!

On Thursday afternoon, a U.S. jetliner with 150 passengers (155 people) lost power from both engines due to a flock of birds. The birds found their doom (the jet engines) three minutes after taking off from the La Guardia Airport. The only reason that prevented the low-flying/gliding plane from flying/gliding/crashing into buildings like a terrorist attack was the pilot's quick thinking. He knew that without engines he couldn't get back to the airport. He landed in the Hudson river although the water was almost freezing—some people had to go to the E.R. because of hypothermia—All 150 passengers and all 5 crew members made it out alive. (So that's what they do in NY when we get home from school!)

Source