Keeping up with the Times: Tues, Sept. 29, 2009

Iran's display of test-fire missiles this past Sunday has fueled accusations, threats and strong debate among other world leaders. German and French spy agencies have suggested that the Iranians are possessors of more nuclear power than has been made public. However, the Obama administration, unlike its allies, suggests that Iranian efforts to design nuclear weapons were most probably stunted early in 2003. Photographs of a suspiciously, hidden faculty on the front page, hint at Iranian attempts for designing a nuclear warhead. According to Israeli spy intelligence, a plant in Qum has been identified as the center for uranium enrichment: an element crucial to creating bombs and is in fact, the hardest step in warhead design. This is an argument all-too similiar to the intelligence argument on the eve of the Iraq war. Hopefully, this doesn't escalate into a third distraction for the White House and the Obama administration.

While on the subject of White House policies, the health care reform plan proposed by Obama has been questioned and criticized at every angle. Yet another more controversial medical issue that would have to find a niche in the health care reform plan is abortion. Legislators have yet to establish any solid policy on the Pro-life/Pro-choice debate. President Obama has promised that federal subsidiaries would not pay for elective abortions, but both sides of the debate in the House and the Senate are fighting to determine the finer details. As of now, it is agreed by Democratic Congressionals that insurers would have to finance their abortions through private sources. This would obviously be counterproductive to the problem with private insurance companies and Obama's vision of federal overhaul of health care. I think it raises a good question as to how government would need to endorse particular sides to ethical debates. Is abortion ethical? Should abortion be covered under a federal health care plan? Legislators are in over their heads trying to sort through every situation of medical coverage.

In the Science section of the New York Times, is an article discussing the growing problem of free-ranging domestic cats as unnatural predators in wildlife ecosystems. I was learning about this very issue in my Wildlife Ecology class so it caught my attention instantaneously. Domestic cats whether free-ranging or feral, have been invading wildlife ecosystems, disrupting species populations and even driving some to extinction. The problem is that ground-nesting birds, small mammalian species and other prey species have not evolved to deal with such predators as cats, making them vulnerable. I have kept a number of cats as household companions in my lifetime, none of which were let outside. I think its an issue not many people have considered. I know when I first heard about it, it was a surprise to me.

Keeping up with the Times: Mon, Sept. 28, 2009

The bombardment of regretful headlnes alerts us to a dangerously rampant trend in this country: "Redding Woman Sentenced in Texting Accident Death," "Texting Eyed in Crash that Killed 5 Teens," "Woman gets 6 Years for Texting Accident." Regardless, every day, cars barrels past at 70mph on the interstate highway, drivers texting on a cellphone with only occasional glances up at the road. Imagining it alone might make you cringe. It might not bother you at all. Now replace that small Toyota with a semi-truck and the cellphone for a laptop. Does it change things?

Truckers argue that it does. The front-page article, "Truckers Insist on Keeping Computers in the Cab" raises the practicality and morality of distracted driving in regards to truckers. Truckers use computers to get directions and keep in contact with dispatchers. Legislation that would ban all practices of distracted driving would affect truckers. Truckers are already under pressure to meet their deadlines despite weather conditions, keeping their sense of direction, and mechanical setbacks. They argue that pulling over every time they needed to use the laptopt would waste 10-15 minutes of their time: time they don't have to spare. I cringe whenever I see a person roaring in the fast lane, head down with an iPod in their hand. I can't imagine a trucker, someone who commands a very large, very fast, very heavy vehicle doing the same.

Beyond that, Monday's issue holds mostly international news: well-to-do Indonesian families stranded by their employees, opt for holidays at the end of Ramadan; 121 Chinese children test positive for excessive lead in their systems; attempts at mediating the political crisis in Honduras are outted by the de facto government; Palestinians and Israelis clash yet again, so on and so forth.

Yesterday, Iran, in a show of defiance against the U.N., test-fired 3 short range missiles. Besides upsetting and discouraging members of the U.N., the Obama administration has quickly reacted by gathering up allies and in composing sanctions against Iran. Interesting that Obama has focused his attention on Afghanistan policies, putting Iraq on the backburner. Will Iran prove another distraction for our government?

Keeping up with the Times: Thurs, Sept. 24, 2009

Some points of interest in Thursday's paper: unresolved conflict between the two self-proclaimed presidents of Honduras, 200 new discoveries of oil, and Taliban leaders stationed in Pakistan complicate White House strategies for the Afghan war.

On page A6, "Vietnam Finds Itself Vulnerable if Sea Rises" discusses the threat of climate change and rising sea levels to areas of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. According to experts, in a worse-case projection, one-third of the delta will be submerged under seas where 17 million residents have built their lives and half the country's rice is grown. In a more optimistic projection, only one-fifth of the delta would be flooded. Vietnam's postwar economy which has always been unsteady could take a huge blow, never mind the potential social and culutral consequences of a displaced population.

On page A15, "Ovens on Feet Beckon Germans to Bratwurst" mentions a spreading trend of "grillwalkers" who take to the streets of Germany strapped to a canister of propane to cook and sell bratwurst for cheap prices. The article is a profile of grillwalkers such as Mr. Stiller and Mr. Rohloff (who patented the invention). It is a typical rags to riches story. However, I'm not a fan of bratwurst nor am I German, so I can't say that I will be in Berlin buying any of his cooked sausages anytime soon.

A nice layout on the cover of Business Day: an article in the presentation style of a coupon cut-out. Everyone from the well-to-do to middle-class shoppers are using these money-saving slips of paper again in lieu of the recession. Bargain hunters have made a comeback which, I would imagine, is to be expected. My family has been using coupons in the Sunday flyer from our local grocery store for years. I suppose people might not have the time anymore to cut them out and set a grocery list accordingly, but money is always a strong motivator.

Keeping up with the Times: Wed, Sept. 23, 2009

On the front page of the Times today is a depressing photograph: a suburban street of otherwise pristine white houses submerged under mucky, brown water. Buried deeper in the paper on page A17, the story reports on disaster flooding in Georgia. After days of torrential downpours, Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia declared a state of emergency in 17 counties. Several bridges and sections of interstate highways were closed, houses and cars were swept away and at least 8 deaths have been confirmed. These natural forces can be dangerous; we saw that last year here on campus when the icestorm hit in December that knocked out power. Its only lucky for us that no one was hurt or killed.

My roommate is a lover of clove cigarettes, and I knew this would get her goat when I read the headline to her, "Eye on Youths, U.S. Bans Flavored Cigarettes." Federal health officials made the ban official on Tuesday. The article comments that this is the first major crackdown since the FDA was given the authority to regulate tobacco, but I've seen plenty of "major crackdowns" on smokers in only the past ten years. No more the days of walking into Applebees to be greeted with "smoking or non-smoking?" and no more the days of taking that long-needed drag where you please. Amusement parks, campgrounds, and other public areas now have designated "smoking areas." They have jacked the prices and taxes on cigarettes. I know this because all my life, I've listened to members of my family bicker and grumble at these same headlines. My mother and aunt now share tips on where tobacco can be bought at its cheapest. My mother has recently taken to rolling her own cigarettes with a cranker. It makes me wonder what they will ban, prohibit or regulate next in the tobacco industry.

Published in The New Hampshire

Check out my article titled "Swasey Indoor pool receives a 'green' facelift" on page 13 of Tuesday's issue this week!

Keeping up with the Times: Tues, Sept. 22, 2009

Headlines on the front page of the New York Times today read, "Healthy Banks Could Assume A Bailout Role," "Aggressive Push by White House In States' Races," "A Pragmatist, Gates Reshapes Policy He Backed," articles of political interest but that do not necessarily grab my interest.

On the other hand, some news on the front page that could be monumental in the field of environmental science reads "Refitted to Bury Emissions, Plant Draws Attention." The article does a profile of an experimental power plant. Mountaineer is "poised to become the world's first coal-fired power plant to capture and bury some of the carbon dioxide it churns out." This new technology is referred to as "carbon capture and sequestration" and has garnered world-wide interest from scientists. Still, we ought to view this with a watchful and apprehensive eye. Hasn't anyone considered the potential environmental repercussions of storing carbon dioxide in the earth? Its still being produced and thus, still harmful, produced waste. Will its effects raise up from the ground or penetrate water supplies as some worry? Its certainly something to watch with hope, but best watched with skepticism too.

On the bottom half of the front page is a headline that catches my eye immediately reading, "Drill Sergeant at Heart, She Ascends to a Top Spot in the Army." This article was a profile feature of a woman ascending to the rank of commanding Drill Sergeant over an army school, something that has never been done before. I, personally, come from a military family. Along with my father (a Gulf War Veteran and Naval Commander retiree), cousins deployed to Iraq, grandparents, and uncles, my mother was a drill sergeant in the Marine Corps. As a Marine, my mother had a take-no-prisoners attitude. So did this woman. I was taught that limitations should never bog you down. Its great to see women breaking through into the higher ranks!

Skimming over the Arts section, something of concern: the burial site of Shakespeare is in threat of collapsing? The Holy Trinity Church is scrambling to raise the money in order to fix an unsupported beam in the ceiling. As a student of English literature by profession and personal fan by choice, I certainly hope he can be protected!

Keeping up with the Times: Mon, Sept. 21, 2009

I've been told time and time again that all great writers were also avid readers. As a journalist-to-be, what would be a better sampling of great, credible journalism than The New York Times with "All the News That's Fit to Print"?

Today in The New York Times, a unique slideshow of photographs plastered on the front page caught my eye. Obama defended his plans for health care reform in not 1, not 2, 3 or 4, but 5 back-to-back televised broadcast interviews on Sunday. The media broadcasters included ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster. The article called it a "remarkable- and remarkably overt- display of media management." No other president has been a guest on so many Sunday talk shows at once. Up until this point, it seems that Obama has been gun-shy about defending and standing beside his health care reform ideas in the strong face of opposition by town hall protests and even questioning liberal Democrats.

Obama is a deft, articulate speaker with all the inspirational charm of a politician; this cannot be denied. Yet on the flip side, he has the coy elusiveness of a politician on shaky ground. He cunningly eludes the tougher questions on potential impacts on taxpayers' wallets with vague answers. It makes me wonder when will the whole picture on Obama's health care reform finally come out?

Another interesting point worth mentioning is Obama's decline of an interview with Fox. "Fox did not broadcast Obama's health care speech to Congress on Sept. 9, so Mr. Obama did not speak to 'Fox News Sunday'" explains the writer, Alessandra Stanley. Obama's administration is the first presidency that I have been really paying attention to with close, comprehensive detail. I was born in the middle of President Sr. Bush's presidency followed by the Clinton term and finally George W. Bush's two consecutive terms. This past presidential election was my first time voting and like any responsible citizen of this country, I like to keep tabs on the people we have elected for offices of high power. Considering I don't know much about politics and even less about how politicians align their preferred biases with media broadcasters, my opinion may sound naive, but this rivalry payback seems ridiculously juvenile to me. That the Obama administration declines discussions with Fox assumes that they align themselves with media broadcasters that coincide with their partisan biases.

Called by some the most biased name in the media industry, Fox is openly conservative. Is Fox too biased to be credible? Is Obama honestly reaching out to all Americans and differing views by declining an interview with Fox? Who can tell?

LEAD EXERCISE: "Little Red Riding Hood"

Elisabeth, popularly known to locals as "Little Red Riding Hood" and her Grandmother were nearly killed earlier today when a Wolf swallowed them both alive in The Woods. A passing Huntsman who happened upon the scene managed to rescue them from the bowels of the beast. The Wolf was slaughtered and skinned by the Huntsman.

Earlier today, Elisabeth set out from her home on the outskirts of the village to visit her sickly Grandmother who resided alone in The Woods. Carrying a loaf of bread, butter, and a bottle of wine to deliver, "Little Red Riding Hood" was walking along the trail when she encountered a stranger: a devious Wolf skulking the forest. In chatting with the little girl, the starved Wolf was intrigued to hear of the sick and bedridden Grandmother living alone in her cottage.

LEAD EXERCISE: "Old Orchard Beach Incident"

SUMMARY:

An 80-year-old-man was barely saved earlier this morning, when he fell unconscious behind the wheel of his car, stalling it in the middel of a railroad crossing. Thanks to the quick thinking and quick action of a police officer and a local teenager, his car was pushed off the tracks seconds before the train barreled past. He was later sent to the hospital where he remains in stable condition.

Capt. Janet Paradiso with the Old Orchard Beach police force received the emergency call after a youth discovered the stalled car on the tracks. James Laboke, 17, gets up every morning at 5 a.m. to walk 4 miles to his job as a waiter at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant on East Grand Street. This morning, he came across an unconscious elderly driver behind the wheel of his locked car which had stalled over a set of train tracks.

When he was unresponsive to the boy's pounding on the window, Laboke ran to the local police station 100 yards away. Laboke later said, "I never thought about it. I just knew I could'nt let that man get crushed by a train."

Capt. Janet Paradiso was a mile from the scene when she received the emergency call from the station about a stranded car and an unconscious driver trapped inside.

She arrived on the scene at the train's whistle. She recalled, "I knew there was no time. I had to do something."

Paradiso rammed her police cruiser into the stalled car, pushing it and its helpless driver off the tracks moments before the Downeaster train barreled past. "It was that close," Chief of police Brian Paul said.

The man in the car was later identified as 80-year-old Francois Truffaut, a tourist from Quebec City, Canada. A police report indicated that Truffaut was a diabetic and most likely went into insulin shock just as he crossed the railroad tracks. "I don't remember a thing," said Truffaut rfom his hospital bed at Southern Maine Medical Center. He was listed in stable condition by a hospital official.

DELAYED:

Earlier this morning, an 80-year-old man fell unconscious behind the wheel of his car, stalling it over some train tracks and in the direct path of an incoming Amtrak passenger train.

Capt. Janet Paradiso with the Old Orchard Beach police force received the emergency call after 17-year-old James Laboke discovered the stalled car while on his morning route to work. Paradiso managed to ram her police cruiser into the stalled car, throwing it off the tracks moments before the Downeaster rumbled through. Thanks to the quick action of the police officer and a young passerby, Truffaut was saved in the nick of time. A police report indicated that the elderly man was a diabetic and most likely went into insulin shock. The driver, Francois Truffaut said later from his hospital bed at Southern Medical maine Center, "I don't remember a thing."