Luddy's Blog

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Suge Knight is '100% Innocent'

Suge Knight was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon involving a firearm and also driving with a suspended license. This happened when an unidentified man told police Knight had pointed a gun at him. Police later found Knight driving around the same area with a suspended license. Knight was arrested on the spot without incident. Knight's lawyer says he is 100% innocent and that the man that made these accusations is lying. Knight's lawyer says he was only driving in the area to meet with a potential client. Knight posted bail of $60,000 and was released from jail. Knight's lawyer says he should be cleared of all charges because Knight is not someone that would carry a gun on him. He did not do this and shouldn't be charged with the crime. Knight's lawyer says that the man who accused Knight should be the one that needs to be investigated.

I really don't know who is lieing in this situation. Knight is a big name in the Hip-Hop industry and this could be a case where he is paying the lawyer to get him off of the charges. He may actually be guilty and he will most likely get off. On the other hand, I don't see why a man of his stature would commit a crime of such stupidity. I don't believe Knight would have any reason destroy another person through assault with a firearm. That is a "thuggish" crime, and a man with his kind of money doesn't need to commit "thuggish" crimes. So he either didn't do it or he is a dumb man who put himself in the way of the law by committing a foolish crime. Either way he won't be charged though, not with his kind of power.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Mothers Meet With Detained Hikers In Iran

The mothers of the three hikers detained while accidently crossing over into the Iranian border when hiking in Iraq were able to see their children. It took them six months to be able to get the visas to allow them to go see their children. It was a tearful reunion said reporters. The mothers are also asking for a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. There is no word on if that meeting is going to happen or not. The three hikers are said to be charged with espionage and put on trial. The Swiss have been representing the Americans in the absence of formal U.S. -Iran diplomatic relation.

I think the Iranian government is taking this whole incident out of porportion. There is no way that they actually think the three hikers were spies. Spies don't cross the border and end up in the middle of nowhere. They would have a plan. I think the government is almost doing it for both attention and a way to try and get some of their prisoner's freed from America's grasp. I am glad to see that the mothers got to visit their sons though, and find out that they are ok. They must have been worried sick. I hope for the families and hikers sake they get let off and get to go home soon. I think the Swiss will pull through for us on this one, because Iran doesn't have a good case.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Wash Your Regrets Away?

Studies have shown that washing your hands can help you to temporarily forget things that you have done previously that are thought to be unethical. Sciencetists have found that washing your hands and getting rid of bacteria often improves your mental state to a feeling of cleanliness and feeling better about previous unethical behaviors. "When people have done bad things, they have sort of sins or traces or residuals from the past," he said. "By washing away the hands, there’s a sense of abstractly also washing away the past sins. Some students have conducted research and experiments to back up this theory. Their results were in line with the theories results and they backed it up.

I can understand the thinking behind this theory. I find that when people are stressed out or have a lot on their minds, they often like to take hot showers. This both cleans the body and relax's the person. This relaxation is like a cleansing of the soul. Connecting that same thinking to your hands could work. Washing the dirt off of your hands is like washing the 'dirt' off of your soul. Plus, studies have shown that this theory is true, at least in some cases. So it has to be a believable theory.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Children's Cold and Allergy Medicine Recalled

Over 40 over-the-counter child drugs have been recalled because they do not meet quality standards. They say that the recall had nothing to do with any health issues but only as a precaution. They recalled the medicines after meeting the the FDA and realizing that some ingredients are inactive and may also contain too much of some ingredients. There are many different types of medicines that are affected by the recall. These medicines were made in the U.S. and distributed to a dozen different countries. However, there are still a number of other products, generic and otherwise that are not affected by the recall.

It was a good heads up by the company to meet with the FDA to see if their products were up to par. There were a lot of medicines on the shelfs that could have harmed children. Children are weaker than adults and some of these medicines could have endangered lives. Instead parents now know to be cautionary about what products to buy to keep their kid's safe. Its good when different branches in this country work together to solve problems. The wide distribution of these products may be a challenge, but hopefully they will be able to get them all.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Issue #1 - All Things Being Unequal

Issue #1 is all about the increasing gap between the incomes of the upper and lower classes. Since 1979, the income of the upper class has increased from 45.4 percent to 53.5 percent. At the same time, the income of the lower class has decreased from 5.8 percent to 4.1 percent. These statistics show the increasing gap between the classes. Similarly, the gap between the upper classes and the middle class have also been increasing. This is due to the middle classes almost stagnant wages, while their cost of living has still been on the rise. Many government officials agree that the current economic gap is unfairly wide. However, they aren't sure what to do about it. Some people think that the federal government should impose restrictions on trade and outsourcing, in order to maintain salary levels and protect domestic jobs. These restrictions follow the rule of protectionism. Other people suggest the government should increase taxes on the upper classes and reduce taxes on the lower and middle classes. However, not all people feel that the problem needs to be fixed. People who oppose change suggest that inforcing trade barriers would reduce bussiness profits which would leave less money to distribute to the workers. Other people say that the gap between economic growth actually helps stimulate the economy. Some opponents also say that federal spending on social safety nets already consumes about half of the federal budget, and there just isn't enough money for more.

I believe that the government shouldn't do anything to help decrease the gap between the upper and lower classes. The fact of the matter is, if the middle and lower class jobs earned wages that were similar to the upper class jobs, no one would work for those jobs. People who become doctors and lawyers spend many years in college doing hard work and studying in order to get a high class salary. But if they could do less schooling and still get a fairly high paying job, I would imagine they would take it. Its really a motivational thing. Plus, if the income gap helps the economy, why would we want to decrease it? In doing so we would be hurting the economy which is what makes our country tick. I also believe that our government spends to much on programs that aren't really necessary, and they just don't have the funds to take on a project that would decrease the gap between the social classes. There isn't even a need for it. Thomas Friedman wants to raise taxes, instead of stopping trade with all countries. By doing this we would open up more markets and expand exsisting ones, which would create more jobs. This way we could expand the business profit without stopping outsourcing.

>Read more on Thomas L. Friedman

>Issue #2

>Issue #3

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Big Spill in the Gulf?

The Deepwater Horizon has sunk 36 hours after a huge explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Now officials are worried that many gallons of crude oil could spill into the sea. So far there have been ship skimming oil off the surface. But it won't be until tomorrow, at the least, before they find out if the rig is still spilling more crude oil under the surface. They are currently using a remote controlled vehicle to look around the sunken rig to see if in fact the crude is spilling from the well of the rig. Besides the worry of the spill that may occur, there are still 11 workers missing from the explosion. The Coast Guard has been patrolling the area searching for the missing workers, but they are assuming all of them are dead.

This whole situation is just getting worse by the hour. The longer it takes the Coast Guard to find the missing workers, the more likely it is that they will be dead. Plus, on top of that we have to worry about the potential of gallons upon gallons of crude oil coming out of the rig. That poses two problems: it's bad for the Gulf Coast and it hits us financially. If they don't get the leak stopped, we could potentially lose thousands of gallons of crude oil that could be used for our vehicles and other uses. I can't imagine the collateral damage that the oil will have on the ecosystem and the ocean life in the Gulf of Mexico. Not to mention the damage it will do on American's wallats. The oil companies will use this incident as an excuse to jack up oil prices.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Gov. Manchin: Let's Honor Miners Friday with Safety Review

West Virginia's Governor Joe Manchin stated today that he wants miners to return to work on Friday. But instead of mining coal on Friday he wants them all to take the day to re-evaluate safety procedures. The accident in the Big Branch Mine in Naoma killed 29 miners and proves to be the worst incident since 1972 when 91 miners died. Manchin wants everyone to work together to come up with better and safer working conditions in the mines. After all, he feels that safety is the number one concern. Upper Big Branch Mine, the part where the explosion took place, is closed until the investigation is complete. There have also been some interesting details leaked about the record of Massey Energy, the owner of the mine. Davitt McAteer, whose overseen other mine investigations, states that Massey Energy has a "checkered" record. Massey Energy also has a record of doing things the cheapest way. This way includes cutting corners and not following safety laws. In fact, just last year, Big Branch Mine got 450 citations.

This is a very tradgic event. My heart goes out to all the miners and their families that were involved in this event. Hopefully a lot of good can come out of this though. It's sad that, as Americans, we have to wait for a tradgedy before we can move forward. But since the collapsing happened, hopefully the governor will keep pushing until new safety regulations and equipment are created to prevent these things from happening in the future. It's the least we can do to honor the dead miners. Some of the new regulations could include federal inspectors checking on the mine shafts on a more regular basis. They also have to make sure that companies aren't cutting corners on safety. No amount of money is worth risking lives for.