How Will Prop 19 Change Mexico?

"In California, supporters of Proposition 19 say one reason to legalize pot in the state is to help reduce the violent illegal drug trade south of the border, where Mexico's drug war has claimed some 29,000 lives over the past four years."
Original Article

      Over the past four years, the war over drugs in Mexico has taken the lives of over 29,000 people. Many people in Mexico doubt that if Prop 19 is passed in California, it will have little effect on Mexican drug trade. The Mexican senator says that, "The number of victims is very high.Consumption isn't going down. Production isn't going down. Money laundering isn't going down. Violence isn't going down." Four years ago, the war between the government and drug cartels began, and so far little has changed.

Four Loko: A Deadly Drink

"Mixing alcohol and caffeine is hardly a new concept, but a rash of cases involving students and others who landed at hospitals after drinking beverages that combine the two in a single large can has alarmed college and health officials around the country." 
Original Article 

Four Loko is an alcoholic drink mixed with an energy drink. This drink is 12% alcohol. People say that it is dangerous because the energy part of the drink makes you stay up and you continue drinking more than you realize you have been drinking. This drink has sent dozens of college students to the hospital and it is now showing up and more high school parties. Some states are starting to ban the drink all together.

Medial Marijuana in Nursing Homes?

"When states began embracing medical marijuana, few anticipated this inevitable scenario: patients using it would grow older, and many would need to enter assisted living and nursing homes."
Original Article 

     Nursing and medical homes get a lot of their funding from the government depending on Medicare and Medicaid. Now that the legalization on marijuana is on the ballot, many nursing homes wonder how the funding from the government will work because originally it was illegal for anyone in the nursing home to be using medical marijuana. If their patients are using medical marijuana to relieve pain, the home may receive less money from the government.

It Has Already Been 4 Years?

"The Crosses of Lafayette project was started almost four years ago by Jeff Heaton, a local building contractor, to recognize American service members who were killed in Iraq. The white markers of the antiwar site dot the hillside and are easily viewed from Highway 24."

Original Article 

If you were to ask anyone who lives in Lafayette about these crosses, they will know exactly what you are talking about, but majority of the people do not know the real meaning of them. They do know that it is a symbol for all of the people lost in the war. Many people do not know that there are also little crosses mixed in with the big ones that represent children that were lost. Some of them also have different symbols for different religions of people that were lost. The hill of crosses has been vandalized many times. At first the crosses only represented people who were lost in the Iraq war, but later 600 crosses were added to the hill to represent the people who were also lost in the war in Afghanistan. 

What is Parkour?

Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

"Anxiety has been growing fiercely that the cholera epidemic, which began last week in the northwest of Haiti, will soon strike the earthquake-ravaged Port-Au-Prince metropolitan area." 
Original Article 

     As of October 24th, 2010, there have been more than 250 deaths and over 3,100 cases of Cholera in Haiti. In areas around where the outbreak is, people are handing out soap and water purifiers and are stressing the importance of hygiene. Even though the death rate has gone down, that does not mean the disease is going to be gone quickly. 

Republicans are in the Lead for the Midterm Election

"American voters would give the edge to Republicans over Democrats by a 9-percentage point margin if the Congressional election were held today, according to a Fox News poll."
Original Article 



The upcoming election is predicted to be a very interesting one, and the results of it will be effecting everyone. A vote says that, "Three of four voters -- 75 percent -- are extremely or very worried about the future of the country, and 61 percent think life will be worse for their kids. Just 27 percent think life for the next generation of Americans will be better than life today."
Many people are worried about the economy, and people are questioning whether Obama should have handled things better when it came to the economy and health care. People are also questioning the congress and some  
say that, "an 'everyday American' could do a better job than most current members of Congress."

How can Another Spill be Prevented?

"Aid to victims of a toxic mud spill that killed nine people in Hungary last week came from all directions Thursday, as the plant behind the disaster prepared to resume production."
Original Article 

On October 4th, 2010, a horrible accident happened in Hungary, with results that are devastating. The toxic spill killed 9 people, and destroyed the possessions of many people. The cities that were effected by the spill were evacuated (almost 800 people), but are able to return to their homes on Friday October 15th, the same day that the factory will start up again. It is said that the spill will take over 12 months to clean up, and the area will, most likely, never return its condition.

Poverty Rate is Growing: How do We Fix it?

"The percentage of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was the highest it has been in 15 years, the Census Bureau reported Thursday, and interviews with poverty experts and aid groups said the increase appeared to be continuing this year."
Original Article 

Right now, the economy in America is the worse that it has been since the Great Depression. Researchers say that one in seven Americans are now living in poverty. Researchers also say that the poverty rate would be higher, but many people are "getting by" by living in homes of relatives and even non-relatives.
"For a single adult in 2009, the poverty line was $10,830 in pretax cash income; for a family of four, $22,050."
Food banks and soup kitchens have seen a giant growth in the amount of people they serve, simply in the past few years and it is suspected that the number will keep growing. 

Mysterious Mammal Found

"A new species of carnivorous mammal has been discovered in Madagascar."
Original Article 

Durrell's vontsira was first seen in 2004, but it was not captured for the first time until 2005. It was named after conservationist Gerald Durrell. After taking many samples from the animal, such as blood and tissue samples, the mammal was then declared to be a relative of the brown-tailed vontsira, but scientist are not positive. Scientist know very little about the mammal, but they do know that it lives in the wetlands of Lake Alaotra in Madagascar. They suspect that it eats small mammals and fish that live in the lake. The animal is very mysterious and there is still a lot for scientists to learn.

What is my Party?

The following are your scores. They are based on a gradual range of 0 to 12. For instance, a Conservative/Progressive score of 3 and 0 will both yield a result of social conservative, yet 0 would be an extreme conservative and 3 a moderate conservative

Conservative/Progressive score: 8
You are a social moderate. You think the progressive movement is overall well meaning, but sometimes it goes too far. On issues like abortion and affirmative action, you see the negatives of both extremes on the issue. You probably value religion, but at the same time you think it should still stay separate from the government

Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score: 9
You're a Social Capitalist, you think that, left to its own, Capitalism leaves a lot of people behind. You think that Health Care should be free to all, that the minimum wage should be raised, and that the government should provide jobs to all that are capable of having them. You likely hated the Bush tax cuts, and believe that the middle class has gotten poorer, and the rich have gotten richer over the past several years. The far extreme of social capitalism is socialism.

Libertarian/Authoritarian score: 5
You're a Moderate. You think that we all have certain inalienable rights that must be protected, but that sometimes laws need to be made to protect the majority's lives or quality of lives. You might think that the 2nd amendment isn't necessary anymore because letting everyone a gun is extremely dangerous to the community. You might also be against illegal drug use or public pornography because of its possible harmful effects to society.

Pacifist/Militarist score: 2
You're a Pacifist. You are angered that the United States thinks it should dominate the world through its military force. You think that the only time war is necessary is when we are in direct danger of being attacked. You also believe the US spends way too much of its money on defense, as we can practically cut it in half and still easily defend ourselves, and use that money to fix all our economic problems.

Overall, you would most likely fit into the category of Democrat

69 Days Later: Miners are Safe

"With remarkable speed — and flawless execution — one miner after another climbed into a slender cage deep beneath the Chilean earth, was hoisted through 2,000 feet of rock and saw precious sunlight Wednesday after the longest underground entrapment in human history."    Original Article 

After being stuck under ground for 69 days, the miners have finally been rescued. For the first 17 days, no one new if they were even alive, but they all survived the 69 days they spent under thousands of feet of earth. The task of getting the miners out was no easy thing. There were many factors for people to worry about. Even though almost all workers had not been damaged physically, it is said that their psychological issues are much worse. Many of the workers have been reported as acting depressed and disconnected from the world. "Chile has promised that its care of the miners won't end for six months at least — not until they can be sure that each man has readjusted." The workers now have to adjust to an entire new way of life that was nothing like the life they were living before they were trapped.