Letter to Santa leads to molestation arrest

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28245241/
A girl in Texas was innocently writing a wish letter to Santa and when her teacher read the letter it was discovered that the little girl (approximatedly 9 years old) was being molested by a relative. not only was she being molested but so was her sister! her wish this year was for the relative to discontinue this nasty act upon them!!! even worse, it is estimated that this molesting has been taking place for somewhere around 4 years! the man from the town of Pharr was arrested and could face up to 99 years of inprisionment for continuous sexual abuse of a child.

i believe this man should be convicted of this crime especially after having interviewed the child and reading her christmas wish. she obviously knows that this behavior was wrong and scary and it upset her enough for her to turn to Santa claus in hope for an escape! this is really one of the saddest christmas stories i have heard in a very long long time. hopefully the girls can have a wonderful christmas and the nasty child molester will be molested in jail.

California city shocked by shackled teen case

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28088907/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,462346,00.html

California city officials and child abuse experts are now questioning how the abuse of a seventeen year old boy could go undetected for well over a year. Tracy (which was once dubbed as the second safest city in northern California) is a simple middle class area. neighbors said they had seen the boy who looked rather skinny taking out the trash on occasion. and in that they sometimes questioned why he was not partaking in school. The boy said the former guardian was known to use baseball bats, belts and knives on the boy and also restraing him with chains. the boy was discovered to have stumbled into a gym behind the families home with a chained padlock on him. Michael Schumacher and his wife Kelly are accused of many charges, including torture, kidnapping and child abuse. The former guardian, Caren Ramirez, was charged with similar offenses.

i believe in this case there should be enough evidence to convict all three of the adults that took part in this and all the other children that have been placed in those homes should be removed immediately and taken to a pyschiatric care clinic to see what vile things may or may not have been done to them. there is no doubt in my mind that all of the adults should face 15 year plus sentences if not life sentences. Kelly has admitting that they all participated in the abuse, the torture devices have been identified, the boy is in safe keeping for now so the punishment should fit the crime. they deserve to be locked up.

Teen shows up bruised, chained at Calif. gym

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28014820/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460067,00.html
A teenager who was naked and wearing a broken chain around his ankle was found in the custody of gym owners. These people are now being questioned as to how they came into contact with the said boy. This boy approximately, seventeen years old, said he had fled from his foster home in Sacremento, California in persuit of finding his "real" family. On is journey he was captured and help against his will for what is believed to be over a year. In his state of mental and physical condition, the boy was brought to a hospital in San Fransisco. He was believed to have been held in Tracy (60 miles east of San Fransisco!!!) The couple who are in their 30's are only being questions and have not been charged or even arrested.

I don't really think the couple the boy was found with actually had anything to do with the boys capture, torture, or disappearance...due to lack of any evidence. when/if the boy regains mental ability to describe the trauma that had happened to him, we can make further conclusions. Until that point the main focus should be on getting the boy well, finding out why the boy ran away from his foster home (because only to find his real family sounds a little sketchy) and identify sex offenders in the Tracy area and continue to search for evidence in this bizarre case. My main question, is why did the boy run to a gym???

Police: Wife shot and killed at N.J. church

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27874881/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jOAQKzY-aOBqDspFkEAV_ZO65vZAD94KUOG00

This article describes a man following his wife who fled him and his abusive ways, and him later finding her and killing her at the church service she was attending. He was said to have shot her in the head, there were 3 shots heard, two other victims were injured in this sick mishap. Reshman James left her husband Joseph Pullipurath in California to get to New Jersey to escape him but he found her there anyway. Then to end it, he shot her.

I think this man is crazy and should be penalized not only for the murder of his wife but for the attempted murder of two other individuals. Obviously he was a very abusive man and he should not be allowed bail or any other conviences of the court system. He's sick and deserves the punishment fitting of the crime, the death sentence. in no way should a maniac like Pullipurath be allowed to go free any longer than he has been for so long.

Shot girl's dad: I drank vodka as I cleaned guns

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27800038/
In washington a man was arrested after shooting his 6 year old daughter. he said he was cleaning his shot guns and such WHILE DRINKING double shots of vodka. appearantly, his daughter, Stormy, was going to retrieve another gun for him to clean we he "accidentally" pulled the trigger, shooting his daughter, and later causing her death!! His bail is set at $250,000 and is being investigated for murder in the first degree!

IN my opinion this man has a serious drinking problem if he has to drink while cleaning his guns. and tell me he isnt a child endangerment spokesperson in this situation. Not only was he drinking double shots of vodka while having a six year old in his presence and under his care but he also had her handling and being near fire arms!!! this man is a wack job and needs to be charged. he was not drinking responsibly and his poor daughter had to find the fatal side to her dads problems. not ok at all. death sentence, pronto!

Secret Service Officer Arrested During Prostitution Sting

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,449169,00.html
This article discusses an officer who is currently working for the secret services was discovered trying to make a deal with a prostitute. this "prostitute" however was an under cover officer who was merely posing as a prostitute in Washington. He made an agreement with her for $20 to have sexual acts with her and he was then arrested and is under administrative leave and is pending on sentencing in this case.

i think its good that this officer was caught trying to buy prostitutes. Number one it proves that police officers can sometimes be the offenders and proves that the police system is a little faulty. and then it also helps put into point of view that prostituting is an issue. (or can be depending on how you feel about prostitution) the officer should be put on leave considering he did break a law that is currently active and that means he basically violated the whole purpose of this job.

Report: Drilling in Federal Waters, Public Lands Could Be Faster

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,446925,00.html

This article focuses mainly on how to go about drilling for oil. the main idea of it, is the "use it or lose it" idea that companies CANNOT lease for more land without using the land they currently own or lease. this may seem to slow production. Small amounts of gas and natural oil were produced. there is talk of doubling domestic oil. less than six percent of the land was drilled and oil produced from it.

i believe that all the land leasing and oil drilling is kind of a waste of time and resources. in my personal opinion i dont think we should be drilling off shore or on shore because it hurts the environment. like up in alaska, its endangering caribou and what not. so i think the best option at this time is to put more money into finding alternate resources and quit focusing so much on leasing land that companies arent even using

Spy Agencies Spent $47.5B in Fiscal Year 2008

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444452,00.html

There was a law passed previously by Bill Clinton that the spy agencies (including the FBI, CIA and homeland security) have to release how much money they spend and this year they spend approximantly $4 Billion dollars more than the year previous to this. this is said to be big new on account of the current economic state and the fact we are dealing with multi-billion dollar increases.

my opinion on this is that all government branches and any thing like the spy agencies and what not should have to release how much money they spend and where exactly the money goes to avoid any situation where the money may be misused or is not placed in proper fundings. the fact that they spent $4 billion dollars more than last year alone, is kind of a red flag and this situation should be investigated more to be sure that no power abuse took place during the use of this money. because relating back to previous topics when the CEO's of the AIG company took a little vacation at our expense, that would be unethical and i would not want to allow circumstances like that to keep happening.

Kennedy Targets Health Care Reform From Home

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444016,00.html
Senator Kennedy is fighting for better health care coverage. Kennedys plan ties in with Senator Barrack Obamas plan also. Kennedys assumption for the out coming of the current election is also a factor. The plan he is working on slightly mirrors the plan from Massachusetts which they have been acting on since 2006. Simply, the main goal is to make health care more affordable. Although adults will NOT be forced to purchase coverage, all children will be required to be covered. Baucus said that there have been some turf battles and they are working hard to over come these, the fact that the economy is lagging in some areas is a major down fall to this. Kennedy had been fighting cancer and is working on this project from home. now, he is making more and more outgoings and doing a little better, he still keeps in constant contact with staff (etc) to prevent from dooming the health care plan from the start as is said of former president Clinton.

I think the health care plan of combined Kennedy and Obama makes quite a bit of sense. lowering the prices so it is more affordable, will help the average family and the fact that children will be covered is a great idea because childrens health and well-being is so important to our government. the fact the Kennedy has been ill with cancer and has been battling this from home WHILE still keeping up with his health care plans and still working very hard on the idea proves that this is a priority to him and he has put a great deal of thought into the process and the outcome of this. Although, the economy has been seeing major problems this may also play an important role in recovery for the economy as well! I think that this health care plan should be given a chance even under the current financial circumstances.

I agree with Erin on Barrack Obama

http://erin00159882.blogspot.com/
Erin stated she agrees with all of Obamas ideas and proposals just as i do. she supports his ideas of change in our government, she likes the idea of spreading the wealth to help impoverished people and she supports powell as well. we both have agreed our current policies are just not working anymore and barrack obama is the candidate to bring change to fix our economies problems.

Obama Grabs Nine Point Lead Over McCain

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,443343,00.html
Obama is ahead of McCain, because he is leading in percentages with the Independent parties, the Catholic voters, Democratics supporting their representatives, and also new voters (those who have recently registered to vote). He is in the leading percent with 46% of votes to McCains 39% of votes. Main topics of why Obama is leading the pack is because of the peoples trust in him to pull our economy out of its slump and to push Washington into better things. Although, McCain is known to have more experience and to be seen as the "safe" vote. Independents voted they would be more likely to come to Obama with tough decisions but McCain is more trust worthy. Collin Powell made a speech in favor of Obama, although, Powell is a republican. Although this fact does not sway many voters decision, will it be enough to give Obama more of an edge? other factors like Obamas "spread the wealth" plan have been key to these votes. Some see this plan as very unpopular but the supports of it are very dedicated. McCains freezing the government plan is supported 63% to the 29% who think it is a bad idea.

My opinion personally is i agree more so with Obama. NO i do not agree with all of his ideas but i believe it is time for a change. He seems more likely to make a change in our government and our economy and our current plan just is NOT working for me. (i am not trying to persuade anyone, just giving an opinion) where as McCain would like to stick to current politics. I fall into the white Catholic, Democratic party and im a strong supporter of Powell and all of these factors have aided my decisions slightly but his personality in general has lead me to the decision of Obama for president. im not sure what to think about the Spread the wealth vs. the freezing the government plan. because i would like to help out other people, i hate knowing people are living in poverty but i also feel like some people may take advantage of this plan and it is leaning dangerously close to socialism. but McCains plan, to me, seems like it will not accomplish anything anytime soon.

Rescue Pup Refused

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,437483,00.html

Rescue Pup Refused

Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis, Mn is fighting for the possibility of bringing home her adopted puppy from Iraq. She rescued Ratchet from a burning pile of rubbish in Iraqi streets and fell in love with him. Now she is being forced to leave the dog behind to fend for itself in place where it is viewed as a nuissance and a disease carrier. Not exactly ideal conditions. Although bringing home pets is prohibited this rule has been over-ruled before and for Ratchets sake, Beberg hopes once again it can work this way.

I believe that Beberg, and others should be allowed to adopt animals they rescue from Iraq..(etc) because these animals are not wanted there and are subject to cruelty it would be almost inhuman to leave them behind without finding better shelter for them. The animals are not playing a significant role in the middle east so saving them from the misfortune they face and giving them a better chance by sending them home with well deserving soldiers make sense to me. Although it may be able to be argued that these animals are being taken from there homes and because there is already a rule instate AGAINST this act, there still have been several incidences where animals well being make this rule seem a little less important compared to the danger of the animals living in the filth of streets and in risk of them being "Annihilated"

North Korea Nuclear Disablement??

North Korea came to an agreement with the United States and has once again began to disable all nuclear weapons and facilities with a possibily of creating weapons. The United states decided to take North Korea off the list of states that support terrorism. Previously, North Korea became frustrated when the United States failed to remove them from the terrorist supporting state list, and once again began working on plutonium- producing facilities. This is also supposted to help lead North Korea to give up producing all nuclear weapons.I think it was a good decision that the United States removed North Korea from the list of countries that support terrorism, by the fact that they began disabling once again and it may finally lead to North Korea ending their nuclear weapons program. I also feel that North Korea shouldn't have been taking off of the list because they are not cleared out as a threat. Proven, when they began building up plutonium once again when they did not get their way and were not removed from the list. So, all in all this decision is very complicated because either way North Korea could be building up against us and "gaining" our trust while plotting behind us. This is an issue of not only trust and agreement but of national security and treason against the United States once an agreement is found.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,436542,00.html

Environmental Crisis vs. Economic Crisis

There is a debate going on within the parties and the houses. It was a plan to begin capping off pollution and try to mend previous damage and prevent further damage to the environment. Thus helping with the global warming crisis at hand. But the economic crisis is also a major issue in this debate. It is an expensive program to complete and with the economy being in such a low point, its hard to choose which issue is more important. The democratic party is trying to develop a plan that will function with the ecomonic crisis while keeping the environmental campaign going. The republican party would like to drop the idea for now while the economy is bad because they fear that limiting energy right now would push our economy off the deep end.while i believe the economic crisis is a valid and devastating issue at hand, i also believe we have been putting off resolving some of the environmental problems for FAR too long. we should make an effort to change things now before it becomes too late and becomes too expensive for our economy and our nation to handle anymore. The democratic party has come up with a few solutions to this problem and one being auctioning off emission permits. this will help move our nation away from using fossil fuels. this is the best option to get our nation on track and may help our economy in the long run.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,436565,00.html

I agree with Erin on AIG punishment

Erin had said in her blog that she is all for the AIG punishment because its extremely suspicious that the bank went under but the execs can still go out for a rousing game of golf..... pretty shady. we both also think that they deserve punishment on an epic level that would bring justice to what they did to the American people/tax payers. bikini waxes and pedicures are NOT on my priority list to have to pay for for OTHER people with MY money..... www.erin00159882@blogspot.com

Punishment for AIG execs

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,435361,00.html
Senator Baucus wants "heads to roll" in response to learning about the execs of AIG going on a spa vacation directly after being bailed out. Baucus considers this an outrage and wants all the money back from this trip as soon as possibly, along with firing as many of the people responsible as possible. tax payers money was tapped into (the $85 MILLION) and $440,000 of it was spent with execs sluffing around, playing golf and getting day treatments.

i believe that all of these execs should be thrown in jail because they are stealing on a national level from tax payers for personal gain. this is in no way NOT stealing, so it should be considered a major crime. The execs themselves should have to pay back every cent of the money that was used on this retreat and any previous retreats that were taking using AIG money. Its ridiculous these people were trusted to invest our hard earned money and then do so incorrectly, almost driving the bank under along with all of the honest peoples money invested in in. And when we come to bail them out, they take it as free agent money and go buck wild!!!! not okay. hang em.

Abortion license plates

Anyone on this site
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,433421,00.html
An anti-abortion group located in San Fransicso finally forced Arizone to issue "Choose Life" license plates. They were denied the first time they approached with this notion but they argued that this slogan was a freedom of speech issue which is already one of our more "gray area" rights ... Because Arizone returned with the fact that this is also a freedom of speech to say no to the pro-life statement. Not only did they say that it was their right to deny this license plate but they also consider it to be too controversial and too diverse for it to be considered an appropriate license plate. this license plate would cost more than the average and it is a choice not a requirement.
in my opinion every one is entitled to their freedom of speech. because this license plate is an option for those who want it and it helps the pro-life group obtain money to support their cause it should be allowed. no one is forcing those who do not support the cause to participate. This is no more offensive than that of a pro-life bumper sticker or something of that matter. it is just putting your opinion in the open, where everyones opinion is available.

Military Attacks

Anyone on this site
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,434308,00.html
An airstrike initiated by the United States has taken out innocent civilians. The United States made an estimate that was far LESS than the amount killed. The Afghan claims the totals reached up to 90 innocents dead. This is creating conflict. Robert Gates is making an effort now to increase our accuracy and prevent any more innocent casualities. Although is it said that this act was in justice of acting while under attack and credible knowledge of the outcomes.
My personal opinion is we are at war with Afghans and their may be innocent lives lost but many American soldiers have been sacrificed in this war. Innocent people died in the terrorist attacks on September 11th. So maybe the Afghan people need to suck it up and take this as a factor of war. yes, the United States can make more of an effort to prevent civilian deaths but we should not need to beg for forgiveness for something that is happening to our own people. They did not ask our forgiveness, so we should show them no mercy.