commentary: obama ignores latinos

ruben navarrette expresses his personal opinions about president elect barack obama on his decision not to hire any latino officials in his cabinet. four years ago he wrote a column praising president bush hiring latinos into his cabinet. bush broke barriers because never before in history has a latino been nominated for one of the top four jobs -- defense, state, treasury, or attorney general (cnn.com). among them was alberto gonzales as attorney general. navarrette claims that obama is continuing this poor tradtion by overlooking latinos. he feels that new mexico govenor bill richardson would have been a better choice for secretary of state instead of hillary clinton. and why not? richardson has an impressive resume to back: seven term member of congress, u.n. amassador, energy secretary, and five time nominee for the nobel peace prize. plus richardson is the highest ranking latino in the country and latinos supported obama over mccain with a 2-1 margin which helped in four key key states. he also "turned his back" on the hillary clinton campaign to help support barack obama. not to mention the national hispanic leadership agenda sent a letter to the president elect recommending richardson to the secretary of state position. but instead he was given commerce secretary backed by obama saying this is a very important position. richardson wasnt even first choice, that goes to penny pritzker, billionaire heir to the hyatt hotel fortune. i believe richardson should have a top four job, but maybe this is karma for his "betrayal" of the clinton campaign.

guilty verdict in myspace suicide

lori drew of,49, of o' fallon, missouri was convicted of three misdemeanor counts in the case of thirteen year old Megan Meier who committed suicide over a prank using the popular website myspace.com. drew used the site to pose as a teenage boy with a love interest in the teenager than told her that the world would be better off with out her. however the jury did not convict drew of the more serious conpiracy charge over cyberbullying. becuase she was not charged with the more serious crime her maximum sentence would have been five years in prison but since she charged with a misdemeanor drew's attorneys are going to appeal to get the misdemeanor sentence which is one year in prison and a fine. drew's defence is claiming that she never read the terms and agreements portion so she cant be guilty of something she didnt know she did. the teeen's mom tina meier said she was hoping for convictions on all counts but she'll take what she can get. "It's never been about vengeance. This is about justice -- justice not only for Megan, it's justice for everybody who has to go through this, with the computer and being harassed," said Meier, who attended the trial. "I don't want another family to have to stand here and go through what I've had to endure" (cnn.com). i think they should point the majority of the blame on the mom and the website. blame the mom for not watching her daughters actions on the internet. blame myspace because they did catch or mention the problem. i say this because they have people who monitor what goes on like nude or graphic pictures that people want to post so i know some one could have prevented this if they spoke up earlier.

double murder in AZ

an eight year old boy shot and killed his father and the fathers friend on nov. 5. the boy, whose name has not been released, shot his father and friend twice with a 22 caliber rifle. the boy said after he shot his father the first time he shot him again so he wouldnt suffer. though not mentioned i assume this was the same for the friend. the fathers name is vincent romero, 29, and the friends name is timothy romans, 39, of san carlos. the police are still trying to figure out a motive as to why this as happened. there appears to be no kind of physical abuse to the boy but the police think he may have witnessed abuse in the house at some time. the boy just recieved his 22 caliber as a birthday present which is under debate as well. should the eight year old boy have been given a rifle in the first place? the dad comes from a history of hunters and was trying to teach the boy to follow in his footsteps. also he wanted to teach the boy not be affraid of guns as well. the boy's step mother, tiffany, suggested that he should at least start with a BB gun. the very rev. john paul sauter said "He was just too young. ... That child, I don't think he knows what he did, and it was brutal" (cnn.com). the boy now faces two counts of premediatated murder. there is a video out now of a shady confession by the boy. i say shady because for one its not a full confession it just sounds like one and two there was no legal representation or adult present at the time of the questioning.

new 4-star general

general ann dunwoody made history when she became the first four-star woman general in the us army's history. It was both a sign of how far women have come in the U.S. military and a reminder that women are still not considered equals to their military counterpart. Army Chief of Staff George Casey admitted "It's taken a long time, probably longer than it should have" (cnn.com). a reason being is that generals usually become generals after earning their stripes in combat. technically women still cant participate in direct combat because of congress law. The fact is American women have been fighting and dying alongside men in both Iraq and Afghanistan, two wars with no front lines, and so far 115 women have lost their lives protecting our country. dunwoody rose through the ranks through the army material command. "I didn't appreciate the enormity of the events until tidal waves of cards, letters, and e-mails started coming my way," Dunwoody said (cnn.com). the name dunwoody has a proud military history, a dunwoody has fought in every american war since the revolution. her great-grandfather, Brig. Gen. Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody, was the chief signal officer in Cuba from 1898 to 1901 and her father, Hal Dunwoody, is a veteran of three wars -- World War II, Korea and Vietnam. the younger generation of dunwoody, including ann, are writing their own. her sister Sue was the third female helicopter pilot in the Army, and her niece Jenny is an Air Force A-10 pilot who recently returned from flying combat missions in Afghanistan. maybe this is sign of things to come. a first black president and now a first female four star general, let us hope that these first and historical events are a sign the future will bring change.

Haiti school collapses

in Petionville, near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, a school which consists of kindergarten, primary, and sceondary students collapsed where at least fifty people have died. Amelia Shaw, a journalist with United Nations TV said "the school is poorly built. The disaster occurred when the second floor crumbled onto the first." rescue officials said they will work into the night to try and rescue the trapped. the school is located in a very extreme part of town which has made the rescue difficult as well. the surrounding roads are in poor condition and the UN sent a helicopter to help but could not because it was unable to land. to make things worse out of the three local hospitals only one is in service during this crisis. Trinite is the only hospital open in Port-au-Prince, the other two General Hospital and Hospital de la Paix are closed by strikes. close to sixty injured, thirty of which are severe, have been taken to Trinite. Michaele Gedeon, president of Haiti's Red Cross, said she heard the voices of distraught children as rescuers tried to calm them while she was on the phone attempting to coordinate emergency rescue efforts.
"On the phone, you can hear so many children, you know, crying, crying and saying, 'this one is dead,' 'that one is dead,' " she said (cnn.com). up to 700 people were on campus grounds when it happened, officials said, some were in the class rooms while others were on the playground. i think this sucks and feel sad when i hear stories like these. this was a poor neighborhood, which was bad enough, and then this had to happen.

arousing safe sex methods

the majority of us use condoms as a safe sex method because we know that condoms prevent the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). however there are some country and cultures condoms are not a popular way of safe sex so here are some ideas that non-profit goups and condom companies are using to spread the word. in india most dont use condoms because they associate them with prostitutes, so bill gates (everyone's favorite) and his wife have donated money for a condom ring tone. so now when their phone goes off hopefully this can remind to use a condom everytime and since ringtones launch in august more than 60,000 have downloaded the song. in western austrailia the rate of HIV infection is the highest in the nation so nurses and health officials have decided to hang condom filled canisters. most of the youth hang under the trees anyways so this is a good spot to remind them. Over 3,000 condoms are taken each month. Residents said grabbing condoms from trees was convenient and private. lets not forget about our german friends, they're always trying to one up somebody. Jan Vinzenz Krause has come up with a spray on latex condom which he claims always fits perfectly and feels natural. since his teen years he has struggled to find a condom that fit correctly until a trip to the carwash gave him the brilliant notion for the spray. krause has decided to name the spray "the Jolly Joe" and has scared men during the testing phase and its only on their fingers. he is trying for a faster drying spray like 10 seconds as the spray now takes three minutes to dry.

Palin's stylist

a report found that sarah palin's stylist is getting paid more than John McCain's foriegn policy advisor. Amy Strozzi, who works on the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance" and has been Palin's traveling stylist, was paid $22,800, according to campaign finance reports for the first two weeks in October. In contrast, McCain's foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed (msnbc.com). McCain's campaign said that the reason it was so much was because that money was owed from september because the campaign only gave her a portion of what she should have recieved. that sounds fair but reports show that the republican committee spent $150,000 in september to cover palin's wardrobe and cometics while in minneapolis. In one shopping spree for Palin, the RNC spent $75,062 at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis. It also spent $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue(msnbc.com). the $150 ,000 they spent on palin was probably worth it for the republicans. they have to take care of their investment. she now has an image that is working for her like her glasses and to me her hair is always in that bee hive style. as we mentioned in class the McCain campaign is using her because even though she may not be that smart and has an underage pregnant daughter they still think they can win because of her. they are using her to go after a demographic like women or working women with kids. when i first saw her i knew they were going to use her because of her looks. i mean is kind of attractive and young, maybe get young voters to vote for them.

soccer to the rescue!

If one sport can survive the global financial crisis it's the world's favorite game-soccer. FIFA, which relies on the World Cup for 90 percent of its revenue, is expecting to get $3.2 billion from television and marketing of the 2010 tournament in South Africa. UEFA earned a net of $400 million from this year's European Championship, and the Champions League will pull in $1.115 billion. most of these outragious sums came from tv ratings because with our struggling economy effecting other sports, like football, viewing soccer will be a cheap form of entertainment which may lead to families attending more soccer games than than football games. in football, right now, they are raising the prices on everything so i family of four has to ask themselves what do they want to do this weekend, "lets go to a football game or make a car payment?" with soccer, at least with me, tickets are always reasonably priced including food and drink inside the park because officials know that there is always tv and marketing revenue not to mention the memorabilia being sold. the only down side is the finances within the club like sponsoring. Manchester United, valued at $1.8 billion by Forbes Magazine has big debts. when mann united's shirt sponsor AIG recieved that heftybailout last month there was specualtion that AIG would pull out of its 4 year $100 million deal but this might be a win-win situation the mann united. said Philipp Grothe "Man United would get a hefty signoff fee to release (AIG) and the day after they could close a deal which is even bigger."

on air radio station regrets

on october 8, a minneaplois radio talk show, 'the chris baker show,' hosts chris baker and langdon perry accussed former nba all-star earvin "magic" johnson that he faked his AIDS to get sympathy. Johnson issued a statement Thursday saying he was "outraged that Chris Baker and Langdon Perry would minimize such a serious and deadly issue" (foxnews.com). Johnson was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 not AIDS which led to his retirement from the NBA. Johnson called the remarks "so stupid" and also wants the hosts to keep their jobs. the remarks came after a caller asserted that health care isn't a basic right. Perry responded by asking about treatable diseases that a person can live with for a long time "if you just get some basic drugs." Baker responded, "Like Magic Johnson?" Perry replied, "Like Magic with his faked AIDS. Magic faked AIDS" (yahoo news). the complete transcript can be seen on mediamatters.org. KTLK released a statement saying "We regret that some offhand remarks by commentators on KTLK did not reflect that," "To better inform our listeners and employees, KTLK will be airing HIV/AIDS awareness public service announcements, and will be reaching out to Mr. Johnson to get his thoughts on education efforts." i grew up with magic johnson as my hero and still is. to me this hurts because these guys made false accusations about something so serious. yes they have a right to entertain but not about someone who has made a huge impact in the sports world and real world.

Fossett found

investigators are reporting they have found human remains in the plane crash of missing millionare Steve Fossett. some hikers told authorities of the plane wreck when the group found a sweater, cash, and some id with Fossett's name on it wednesday in Sierra Nevada. Fossett was last seen September 3, 2007, when he took off from the Flying-M Ranch outside Minden, Nevada. Madera County sherriff John Anderson said the plane appeared to have crashed into the side of the mountain and the damage was "so severe I doubt someone would've walked away from it." because of the severity of the damage to plane and the remains no one knows how long it will take sort out the pieces of this huge puzzle. including identifying the human remains and determining what caused the plane to crash in the first place. Fossett's disappearance prompted a search that ultimately included thousands of volunteers, hundreds of officials and dozens of aircraft poring over an area more than twice the size of New Jersey.
The search was officially suspended a year ago Friday, and a Chicago probate court judge declared Fossett dead in February (cnn.com). Fossett is a well known risk taker/dare devil. He was the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon, accomplishing the feat in 2002, and the first to fly a plane around the world solo without refueling, which he did three years later. He also set world records in round-the-world sailing and cross-country skiing (cnn.com).

women rule

women rule in the house hold women rule and the men dont seem to be complaining about it that much according to a study from the pew research center that examines how gender and pwer play out in the home and in the community. 1,260 individuals were surveyed this past summer, married or living together, and found women have more decision making power in the home. in 43% of couples surveyed women made more decisions which is almost twice as much as men. "across all decision making realms, it tilts to the woman,"says rich morin, lead author of the study. as for the house hold finances the study found that couples disagree on who has the greater say. about 45% of women said they manage the money while 37% of men said they manage the money. older couples are more likely to share in the decision making compared to younger couples. more than one-third of those sixty-five or older said they share in the decision making and couples under thirty 42% said they don't share on any decisions. out of the four areas that the pew considered in the survey only 8% of couples said they make decisions together. as for me i wouldn't mind not being the head of the house hold. less responsibility for me is what i'm about. i think i'm this way is because all my life i have been taken care of. i mean i do handle some things on my own but no real major responsibility. i'm twenty-five years old and i still live with my mom and i have no dreams of moving out any time soon. well until i came out here for school but when i'm done its back to mom's house.

US Marine wont recieve top honor

US Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta will not be recieveing the Medal of Honor but will recieve the Navy Cross which is the second highest honor for combat heroism a Marine can receive. Marine Corps spokesman Maj. David Nevers told the Associated Press that the Navy Cross "is not bestowed lightly." Only 23 sailors and Marines out of the thousands who have served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have received the Navy Cross. The controversy is Peralta's family was told that he would recieve the Medal of Honor but a committee could agree on awarding the medal. Fellow Marines, who were with Peralta the day he died, feel this is not right and they are being called liars. "My honest opinion (of the medal decision)? It's BS," said Robert Reynolds, a corrections officer and former Marine who credits Peralta with saving his life that day in Fallujah(HA.com). Peralta will recieve the Cross for his actions during a Nov. 15, 2004 firefight in which he covered a live grenade to save the others. President Bush mentioned Peralta's name during a 2005 Memorial Day speech. I feel that is 'bs' as well. Any soldier that dies to protect other soldiers while already wounded deserves all the medals. I guess the only thing that could be worse is not getting any medals or recognition at all. I know thats not what your supposed to think as a soldier but to citizens like me, who is not fighting yet, i would like to see this man be recognized.

erotic anime

i found this story on msnbc.com about how the sub culture of anime, which can be considered erotic, is now becoming more main stream. anime started as part of the otaku culture. otaku is japanese for 'techno geek' basically. anime starting to grow in the mid 1990's where mostly asian college kids were the main demographic. but now the demographic is almost fifty percent women. not all anime is sexual. pokemon, hello kitty, and dragon ball- z are just a few of the already popularized amine in mainstream america. more of the adult anime can be found late night on some tv stations. though not the erotic kind these late night shows are more towards blood, death, and follow a story line like that of a daytime soap. i myself at times watch these shows and i am a fan of 'naruto' and 'inyuasha.' now that the sub culture is emerging so is the adult content. “The appeal of Japanese pop culture [to Americans] is that it is a moral-free zone,” explains Patrick Macias, editor in chief of Otaku USA, a bi-monthly magazine with a circulation of approximately 60,000. “The ideas of good/bad, right/wrong, that duality is not present”(msnbc.com). most of the erotic anime is about young girls in very, very short skirts and revealing tops who are actually the main characters. they are super heros disgized as young school girls. males are more the lesser which is why there is a lot of female followers. in japan women dress in anime costumes on a regular basis because it is now part of the culture over there. los angeles and canada are now begining to open anime themes coffee shops called a 'maid cafe.'

caylee anthony's disappearence

recent evidence shows that casey anthony, the mother of missing child caylee anthony, may have used the chemical chloroform in some way that may have helped her with the alleged murder of her daughter. "Chloroform is a dangerous chemical that can be used as a solvent. It is also considered environmentally hazardous. If too much of the chemical is inhaled, the results can be fatal" (msnbc.com). just recently casey was released from jail for the second time. police are hoping that jail time will make casey breakdown but someone keeps bailing her out. while she was in jail the second time police found the traces of chloroform in her trunk along with google searches of the chemical. police have reported saying that the three year old is dead but the grandmother, cindy anthony, is still holding on to the hope that her grand daughter is still alive. casey has a few allibies the reason she took a month to report it is that she conducted her own investigation before she called the police, she left her daughter with a babysitter in where she gave the police an address but turns out the apartment had been empty for quite a while. in my opinion i think she is guilty whether she actually did the job or hired someone. after reading a few articles the evidence seems to stack up against her. i just dont get why she would get rid of her daughter like that. by that i mean death. there are all these progams where she can give her up for adoption or something along that nature. i think she did it and is using this publicity as her 'five minutes of fame.'