Missing man found alive four days after car crash

Four days after a car crash off a New York parkway, a missing man was found seriously injured but still alive. Tomas Wopat-Moreau, 22, was last seen leaving a party on May 30. He drove off of the road and launched his car more than 400 feet into the woods. The New York state police found Tomas at 2:10 p.m. after tracking a signal from his cell phone. They found a three-mile radius where the phone call was coming from and they searched that area.

This is a bad incident that can happen to anyone. It just happened to happen to this guy after he was leaving a party. People need to be aware the dangers of driving after attending a party. It is too bad that it had to happen to this guy. It is a miracle that this guy is alive since he flew 400 feet into a woods. Hopefully he can fully recover from this incident and maybe he will learn from his mistake so that it won't happen to him again.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/03/new.york.missing.man.found/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

BP says oil flowing from ruptured well to ship on Gulf surface

The news came out that BP is going to close four vents atop the containment cap. Once the vents are shut they are hoping that very little oil will escape. Since the oil spill the oil has already hit islands off of Mississippi and Alabama. BP completed a complex underwater maneuver when it lowered a cap over the ruptured well after they cut off a piece of the damaged pipe. They didn't make a fine cut on the pipe so it is a possiblility that the cap won't be snug around the pipe and it may allow oil to still flow out.

This is a great attempt to try to limit the amount of oil that is released into the Gulf of Mexico. It still won't repair the damage that has been made to the Gulf and US states around the Gulf. It has caused the animals to have to struggle to survive through the oily sludge. It has caused great damage to the Gulf and surrounding states and it will take many years for it to get back to it was like before this disaster.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Wounded taxi driver 'watched friend shot in face'

Twelve people were killed in a shooting rampage in the town of Whitehaven. Derrick Bird was the shooter and shot at Don Reed. Reed watched his fellow friend, Darren Rewcastle get shot in the face. Reed was previously in the military and he used his training to crawl over to where his friend was lying down. When he got to him his face was gone and he was dead. Bird drove away shooting at other taxi drivers and he eventually shot himself.

This would be a horrible thing to witness. Seeing anyone shot in the face would be bad but when it is one of your friends it makes everything worse. It is probably going to haunt Reed for the rest of his life. He is going to replay that day when he saws his best friend get shot at and crawling over to him to see him lying there with no face and dead. I don't know how I would be able to handle it first getting shot at yourself but then seeing your friend's face getting blown up from the shot.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/06/03/uk.cumbria.shootings.witnesses/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Feds have launched criminal oil spill investigation, AG says

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have had a crime commited 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.

If someone is found guilty for this spill they should need to do something to repair the damage that is being done to the Gulf. This disaster has caused many changes to that area and they should have to repair it. This oil spill will take many years to get it back to what it was like before the spill. If someone commited a crime while creating the oil spill they should feel guilty and they should know that they changed the Gulf of Mexico forever.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/01/holder.gulf.spill/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Transcript reveals last moments of doomed flight

During a flight in April the pilots of a Tupolev-154 plane were warned that there was danger ahead. The pilots were warned about eight times that they should pull up and that there was terrain ahead of them. The pilot didn't listen and the plane crashed and killed 100 people one of which was the president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski. The president was on his way to Russia for the 70th anniversary of the massacre of Polish prisoners of war in Katyn.

This is a bad incident especially since the plane was warned that there was danger ahead of them. The pilot of the plane should have listened and pulled up. The pilot should have been more responsible knowing that his life was in danger but more importantly the lives of many others. He decided not to listen and he eventually killed 100 people and a president from Poland. Now there will be many families that will have to try to determine what the pilot was thinking and a country that will need to have a new person step in to be their president.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/06/01/poland.crash.recording/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Holder: Pakistani Taliban helped direct Times Square plot

The man that was charged in result to the failed Times Square bombing was working with the Taliban movement in Pakistan. Attorney General Eric Holder says that evidence shows that the Pakistani Taliban directed the plot on Time Square. Faisal Shahzad was charged on May 1 for his attempted bombing. He attempted to set off a car bomb but the bomb failed to detonate. He was arrested while attempting to fly out of New York two days after the attempted bombing. Shahzad is a Pakistani-American and he had traveled to Pakistan many times in the last few years.

This is another bad sign for our country. We need to try to find a way for our country to stop terrorist attacks from happening to our country. It is sad that a person who is recognized as a United States citizen tries plot a terrorist attack on his own country. We should try to monitor the people who are US citizens but have ties to the Middle East. We need to watch these people carefully so that they don't turn on their current country like Faisal Shahzad did.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/09/times.square.suspect/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Unheralded Braden keeps making us believe this is his defining year

The most important thing to know about Dallas Braden is that he was never considered a talented prospect. He was the 1,383rd player taken in the 2004 draft. He wasn't known coming out of high school. He went to a small college in Sacramento where the coach didn't even know him from his high school career. He had a stellar year and he was good enough to play for Texas Tech. He impressed enough people that the Oakland A's drafted him. Braden might have only been drafted because he had the ability to throw a knuckball which is very rare in the game today. He was voted the minor league teams player of the year and yet he was only the 19th best prospect in the organization. One of the main reasons that Braden is in the big leagues and pitching well is because he believes that he belongs in the league. He has struggled though the fact that his mom died when he was a senior in high school. He lived with his grandmother and Braden said that if she hadn't influenced him like she did, he would have probably ended up in jail.

This is a great story for the MLB and for everyone who believes they can achieve when others think that they can't. This show that with hard work and the confidence that you can do it, a person can achieve just about anything. It is a great story in that Braden was never looked at as a great pitcher. He was average at best and he worked hard and he believed in himself that he could pitch in the major leagues. Now he will be remembered forever because he is now one of only nineteen pitchers in the history of the MLB to throw a perfect game. This should give him even more confidence and maybe other people will finally start to believe that he does belong in the MLB and that he will be a great pitcher for many years to come.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/05/09/dallas.braden/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

April Jobs report: Best gain in four years

The month of April showed the greatest increase in the amount of jobs in a long time. There was a gain of 290,000 jobs for the month. It was the largest amount of jobs added to the labor force since March 2006. This increase in jobs is higher than what economists expected which was a gain of 187,000 jobs for the month. With this new increase in jobs the economy has added jobs in five of the last six months after not adding any jobs for two years.

This is a great sign for our economy. This might be an indicator that our economy is finally coming out of the recession. This means that more people will be able to get jobs because there are now more jobs available. Since more people are working our unemployment rate will go down.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/07/news/economy/jobs_april/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Schools in China prepare for copycat attacks

After many attacks on young children China's kindergartens preschools increase their security. Their latest attack happened recently when an armed man entered a preschool with a hammer and he injured five preschool children before commiting suicide by setting himself on fire. Another attack happened a few days before this last one. In this attack a man killed 28 kindergarten kids with a knife in east China. A day before this attack a man attacked 18 students with a knife in Xinha, China. Following these attacks teh Chinease authorities have begun to teach safety awareness in teh school's curriculums.

I don't understand how a person can kill so many little children. I feel bad for the many families who lost their children because of these dumb people and their attacks on the school. Because of all this the schools now have to put more money into the security of their school so that these attack won't happen again.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/30/china.school.attack/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Issue #2 Boosting the Minimum

The issue over the minimum wage for workers is a hot debate. Many feel that the minimum wage should be raised and this increase would raise the take-home pay of many millions of Americans. There are many Americans who are working a full-time job earning the minimum wage and they are still living below the poverty line. They feel that with the wage increase and the assistance of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) people will rise above the poverty threshold. People feel that the wage hike will positivly affect many Americans, including single mothers. It will give people more money to spend and it will also help to boost our economy. There are other people that say that the wage increase will not be good for people. They feel that the minimum wage is not the answer to fighting poverty because it only affects a small percentage of people.

I feel that the minimum wage should be increased. It will help many people to get above the poverty line. It will give them more money to use and they will be able to live a better life because of it. People will be able to buy more goods and because of this there will be more money out in our economy. It will help to boost our economy and will help our economy to get out of a recession.

President Obama's opinion on Minimum Wage

Issue #1 All Things Being Unequal

Issue #3 Putting Welfare to Work

Police: Missing California family may have disappeared intentionally

It now appears that a Southern California family left for Mexico. Police say that it looks like the McStay family left on their own to Mexico and they have been missing since February 4. There is no record of the family using their credit cards or cell phones. A sport utility vehicle belonging to the McStays was found abandoned on February 8 two blocks from the Mexican border.

This is a weird situation. I don’t understand why people would just leave the country and not tell anyone about it. They have family in the United States that are worried about them and they don’t know where they went. They should have at least told their relatives so that they could stop worrying and the authorities wouldn’t have to investigate what happened to them.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/30/california.missing.family/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

4 dead in D.C. shooting

Four people have died following a shooting Tuesday night in southern Washington D.C. A total of ten people were injured. Authorities said that there were multiple shooter that opened fire on a crowd Tuesday night. This lead to a police chase that resulted in an arrest of three men. They haven't given out any more information but they think that it might be gang related.

This incident is just not right. People just go around shooting other people. This is too bad for the innocent people that were shot and killed. They were just around the D.C. area and then for no reason they are shot and killed. If this happens to be gang related, people in the D.C. area are not going to be happy and they might have to change something about gangs in the D.C. area.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/31/dc.shootings/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Autopsy: SeaWorld trainer died from drowning, traumatic injuries

An autopsy released Wednesday showed that Dawn Brancheau died of drowning and tramatic injuries to her body. A month ago Dawn was attacked by a 12,000 pound killer whale. Dawn was working with Tilikum, a killer whale, that grabbed Dawn by her ponytail and drug her under the water. The autopsy showed that Dawn's spinal cord was severed, and she sustained fractures to her jawbone, ribs and to a cervical vertebra, in addition to the drowning.

This is a very unfortunate event. The animal trainers at zoos are very skilled and they are risking their lives every day. This incident doesn't happen all that often and it is too bad that this had to happen this time. After this people realize that the animals in the zoos look nice on the outside but they may be dangerous.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/31/florida.seaworld.autopsy/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Healthcare Blog

Issue #2 - Insuring Quality Care for Medicare Patients

Polcymakers are devising a plan to reduce Medicare expenditures while Medicare patients still have access to quality services. As it set up now, doctors get paid on the quantity of their work and not the quality. If a doctor misdiagnoses a patient they will get more Medicare reimbursments. In 2006 legislatures approved a "pay-for-performance" system that allows to pay doctors a 1.5 percent bonus for providing information about the type and quality of their services. Supporters of this legislation want Medicare to reward superior doctors and high-quality hospitals for their work.

I agree that the Medicare plan needs to change. A doctor shouldn't be given Medicare every time that they help a patient. If they get more reimbursements for seeing one patient more than once they may begin to not care about the patient and they may tell them the wrong information so that they will have to come back and then the doctor will get more reimbursments. I like the "pay-for-performance" plan as rewards the doctors that do their job well and tell their patients the right information even if it means less reimbursments.

GOP succeeds in forcing another House vote on health care

After a session that lasted into the early part of Thursday morning, Senate Republicans found two violations in the proposed package of changes in the new health care law. It now has to be sent back to the House of Representatives to have a another vote. Among the amendments to the bill is provision to prevent the bill's planned Medicare cuts from being used to finance other programs. Another amendment that they are working on is to eliminate new penalties being imposed on businesses whose workers use federally subsidized insurance.

This shows everyone that not everything in the Healthcare bill was good. There were violations in the Healthcare bill that people voted on and wanted it to become a law. Somebody found these violations and now it has to go back to House of Representatives to vote on it again. This is going to prolong the process of getting this Healthcare bill signed and it will take longer to make it into a law.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/25/health.care.main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Texas tour bus crash kills 2, injures 18

A tour bus that was going to Matamoros, Mexico tipped over near Campbellton, Texas. It flipped on its right side on the side of Interstate 37. The bus was carrying about forty people all between the ages of 40 and 60. Two people were killed and 18 were injured. Most of the injured are being transported to San Antonio's Brooke Army Medical Center and University Hospital to get treated for their injuries.

This incident just shows that anything can happen while driving. When peope ride on these tour buses they never think that this sort of thing is going to happen to them. Accidents happen and this could have happened to anyone. People need to be prepared and they have to realize that this incident could have happened to anyone.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/16/texas.bus.crash/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Spending What We Can Afford

Both the President and Congress develop a budget for our federal government. Together they decide how much money should be spent on different things such as health care, education, education, etc. Congress passed a "pay-as-you-go" budgeting plan. This plan may also be known as "paygo". This spending plan is a plan that the government can only use money that they currently have instead of borrowing the money from someone else. Many people aren't happy with the way that the government is spending the money. They keep borrowing money for more entitlements and our country is growing deeper and deeper into debt. People that are opposed to this new program say that this new budget program will cause taxes to increase in order to pay for the new programs.

I think that this paygo plan is a good plan for our government to use. This is better because our government can only use money that they have in funds. It will allow our government to manage their money better because they know that they only have a certain number of dollars to work with and they will have to be more aware of where they are using the money. They won't be able to borrow from other countries and it will help to lower our debt some because we aren't using money that we don't have on ne programs that our government is paying for.

Obama's opinion on paygo: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/06/obama-announces-push-for-paygo.html

Issue #1 War Dollars

http://maloney10-maloney10.blogspot.com/2010/02/war-dollars.html

Issue #3 Social Insecurity

http://mschmidt1.blogspot.com/2010/02/issue-3-social-insecurity.html

Tiger Woods set to make public apology

On this day Tiger Woods finally spoke out about what he did. His speech was about 14 minutes long and it was the first time that he has spoken since his November car crash. He spoke to an audince of about 40 reporters and in his speech he apologized for the news that he made recently. Tiger was quoted saying, " know I have bitterly disappointed all of you... For all that I have done, I am so sorry..." No questions were allowed to be asked as they didn't feel that Tiger would want to talk about it more than he had to. After his speech, Tiger embraced his mother and others that were in attendence.

I was happy to hear that Tiger finally was able to talk about his past. It had to have been hard for him to stand up there and tell people about the things that he did wrong. I think that this is just one point on his way to playing golf again soon. I hope that he can get back to playing golf soon because he is the face of the sport and the tournaments don't have as much meaning if he isn't playing in them.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/19/tiger.woods/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Using pressure as fuel, White takes place among rare champions

After defending his snowboard halfpipe title in the olympics, Shaun White was asked what he was planning on doing next. He said that he was going to "hit every street in Vancouver." Going into the 2010 Vancouver olympics Shaun White was the only American athlete that had more pressure on his shoulders. White embraced this pressure and his coach said "It's his enemy and his ally...He's scared of it, he embraces it. It gets him up in the morning." White's two runs were flawless and now he says after winning the gold, "I can finally go to sleep now!"

Shaun White was better than any other competitor in this competition. During the competition they compared his straight air with another competitor's. During his straight air he was at least ten feet higher than his competitor. The competition was even close. He won the competition in his first run and he didn't even perform his signature trick. After everyone but him ran his second run he already knew that he had won the gold medal. He debated with his coach if he should ride down the middle or give the audience a show. He decided to give them a show. He pulled out his signature trick on his last hit and he landed it perfectly and he even got a better score on his second run. This competition wasn't even close because Shaun White is the best snowboarder in the world.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/olympics/2010/writers/austin_murphy/02/18/shaun-white/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29##ixzz0gNSmf4Bd

Three die as plane hits California neighborhood

On Wednesday February 17 three people were killed after a twin-engine Cessna 310 fell to the ground in East Palo Alto, California. It hit a utility tower and it then skidded down the street and it hit a home. It hit two houses and they started on fire. The three deaths were all from people that were on the plane and none of the people on the ground were injured. The city was without power for almost the whole morning as the power lines were damaged.



This is very unfortunate for people that lived in this city. People aren't expecting a airplane to crash and hit their home and it is very shocking when it happens. This incident could have been a lot worse as there could have been people still in the houses and their could have been more people that could have killed or injured.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/02/17/california.plane.crash/

Canadians trying to guess who will light Olympic flame

One of the major questions that is going on in Canada is who is going to be the celebrity that is going to light the Olympic torch. They say that the decision is between Wayne Gretzky and Betty Fox, the mother of the late Terry Fox. Singers Bryan Adams and Sarah McLachlan are two singers that will also be performing during the opening ceremony. The Canadians are excited to host the Olympics and are trying to win gold because the last time it was in Canada they didn't win any gold medals.

Lighting the Olympic torch is a great honor for the person that is choosen to light it. I think that Wayne Gretzky is a great choice to light it. He is a Canadian that is one of the best hockey players of all-time and I think that he should be the one choosen to light the torch. I feel that Canada has a lot to prove because the last time that the Olympics were held in Canada they failed to win even one gold medal. They should excited to go out for their country and finally win a gold medal in their own country.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/11/olympic.ceremony.preview/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29