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