PLN 20

While going through the articles today I found an interesting one that related to not only baseball, a well loved sport, but to steroids and usually when you think of baseball and steroids you think of Barry Bonds. Baseball star Barry Bonds charged was the name of the article on thee BBC news post. FACTS In the past Barry Bonds has been tested multiple times for taking anabolic steroids. He has tested negative every time since then. Many people have wondered whether he has taken steroids or not. In the past he has said that he has never knowingly taken anabolic steroids or performance enhancing drugs. This somewhat makes you wonder if he did take steroids saying he never knowingly took the steroids. Today he was convicted with four counts of perjury and one of obstructing justice, which together carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail. Federal police have found out that during the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes. CONNECTIONS TO OTHERS This connects too many other sports and raises many questions. Obviously Barry Bonds has been in the spot light for steroid abuse. But the WWE or the World Wrestling Entertainment has also been rumored to be run by anabolic drugs. Recently CNN conducted an interview with former WWE champion John Cena about the steroid issue. In the interview John told the news reporter “absolutely not” and then later went into detail on what others have said and how people have lied about it. CNN then decided to edit out John Cenas answer and replace it with him saying yes he has but they will never catch them. Taking this totally out of context from different parts of the interview CNN has showed that the media has played in a large role in steroids. Connections to myself and the classroom To myself I adore WWE and all of wrestling entertainment. Yes wrestlers have died because of steroids and yes it may promote violence and yes the famous Benoit killings have been linked to performance enhancing drugs. But to myself I love to wrestle. I am currently on Arapahoe High Schools wrestling team. But due to recent events it has become shaming talking about sports because in the end the conversations end up talking about steroids. In the classroom people have written PLN’s about sports and whether they support them or how good a certain player is. It is sad that one person has to always succumb to steroid abuse to do an amazing feat such as win a world championship or the World Series. In the end it’s not our decision if they will take steroids we will never be able to stop the will of a person. All I know is I will not harm myself by taking the easy way out and hopefully people will realize that to.

pln 19

I was going through the Denver Post articles today when I found a controversial headline saying Do schools have birth-control role?. This experiment would take place in six Denver High Schools. FACTS I personally believe that the schools should not interfere with the students. Yes, it is true that 54. 5% of teenagers in Denver High Schools become pregnant in High School. But they should learn to take the issue into their own hands and not have sexual intercourse or to practice safe sex methods. I don’t think its right that the school should interfere with personal affairs. A large step in a teenager’s life is to be responsibility. I think that schools should take it upon themselves to have sex-education courses that provide knowledge in safe sex practices and on sexually transmitted diseases. By providing these classes they can either stop kid’s from having sex at to early and age and prevent many kid from getting sexually transmitted diseases. Any information that can be given to youth is useful. But schools are here to educate not be doctors. CONNECTIONS TO OTHERS Even with the pills being shown as an easy get out option to not get pregnant could convince students they can have sex and not be involved in the commitment that having intercourse really represents. This is not only sending the wrong message to students but to their parents. One of my close personal friends who lives down in Aurora South Carolina has experienced intercourse. She says she did not use safe sex methods but luckily her peers had a “magic pill” to get rid of the “little problem” she made. She now uses safe sex methods. Her counselors help her cope with these issues and supply students with proper materials in case intercourse ever happens. CONNECTIONS TO OUR SCHOOL This is important to our school because if the program passes with the school boards we might be given pregnancy pills like they are skittles. I don’t want to promote sexual intercourse at such a young age. In the end the choice comes down to the students. What choices they make is up to them. How they act today will affect who they are tomorrow.

PLN 18

I was going through the articles today when I found one that caught my eye. Hollywood writers strike was the title of the article. The article talks about the Hollywood writers strike and the reason behind the strike. The strike is caused by the lack of money being given to the writers of television shows. Writer wages are not only extremely low but writers are not being compensated for residual income such as disks on tape that are being marketed by Hollywood that brings in a lot of income that is not being shared with the original writers of the shows. Twenty years ago Hollywood came out with the idea of the DVD and today writers gain no profit from the billion dollar industry. Furthermore writers are not being compensated for movies and shows on the internet. Writers are taking a stand to get fair compensation for their work and have refused to write any new scripts. The question now comes down to who can last longer, the writers or Hollywood. This definitely is a David vs. Goliath story David being the small writers unions and Goliath being the multi billion dollar giant. But this time there is no enchanted slingshot there is only picket signs and dedication. The strike has affected shows; the late night shows have already started run re-runs. Will this be the fate of other series such as Aliens in America or Scrubs? No one knows how long the strike will last. Americans will either have to enjoy reruns or sit down and enjoy a good book. Families may want to enjoy some quality time playing a board game or even wait out the strike and watch some reruns. Only time will tell who will win. Will Hollywood win this battle? Maybe it is time for the writers to get some Law & Order of their own.

PLN 17

One of the most dreaded news an oil investor can hear is Oil passes $98 on weaker dollar . This was the title of a BBC news article today talking about oil prices and the ever weakening dollar. As some have noticed the gas prices have recently risen to an unbelievable high of three dollars and are still going up. What does something like this mean for America? Soon oil prices will hit 100 dollars a barrel that is inevitable. This matters to me because I will get my drivers permit soon and soon gas prices will be a problem of my everyday life. With the war weakening the U.S. dollar many wonder if we should begin to focus more on the economy and stop spending billions on the war. I think we should not only because I want the soldier’s to come home but if we do not do something we might go into another depression. Which leads me into why this should matter to others? While in a recession the economy has been falling apart. Colorado homes themselves have been very hard to sell. Adding it up oil prices, home prices, stocks doing badly. This sounds like an ongoing depression. What do you think?

Pln 16

Musharraf imposes emergency rule . Oh no President Musharraf of Pakistan has just imposed an emergency rule in Pakistan. This means that he has just suspended the Pakistani constitution. For those not familiar with Pakistan and its world role I will explain a little about it. Pakistan is a country with nuclear arms its current president/general is Perez Musharraf.
Pakistan has been engulfed in political upheaval in recent months, and the security forces have suffered a series of blows from pro-Taliban militants opposed to Gen Musharraf's support for the US-led "war on terror".
Though being one of our so called allies in the war on terror Pakistan is still a very dangerous country. Being one of the countries that has nuclear weapons on ready they are considered world enemies.
The emergency rule which suspends the constitution is considered a grave threat. The president can only suspend the constitution if there is mounting military attacks on his country either from Taliban forces or from the judicial court itself!
The core and judicial parts of Islamabad have been shut down and are under security guard as of now. But the rest of the city is going through every day life.
This matters to the world because Pakistan is a country against terrorism. This matters to other countries around Europe because this is a very high tensioned situation involving multiple diplomats.
This matters to m because I am very interested in foreign affairs and how they play out. I like to see if it will involve minimal violence or the United States.

PLN 14

1 dead in Larimer car crash
Woman killed in Adams County accident
Police seek hit-and-run driver
E. HARLEM CAR CRASH KILLS GIRL, 2
8-month-old ejected from car in accident
2 DEAD IN GRAVE TRUCK ACCIDENT IN BROOKLYN

What does all this have in common? I will tell you what they are all car accidents and people have died. These are just some of the very many car accidents around the world. People have died in horrible accidents. There have been massive car pile ups, car bombs, children being thrown hundreds of feet out windows, people burned alive, crushed to death the list goes on and on.

Good decent people have been killed in car accidents. Many have taken life forgranted. But when deaths cold touch comes near them they realize how lucky they are to be alive. All of these people have had their life taken away. Because of what a drunk driver.
Think about these incidents this way. One day you wake up, you’re going to have a great day ahead of you. You don’t even think about the fact of death. You get up and do your usual routine. Shower, teeth, clothes. You hear the phone ring but decide to not pick up. It was your parents…they call to see how you are doing. You decide not to respond I mean you can see them any day right. You’re going over to see your friends. Today’s your brother’s birthday. You decide not to celebrate it because he is not as much fun as your friends are. You are tired and decide not to wear a seatbelt besides who thinks its cool anyways. You get out of your driveway and take the usual road. Your driving minding your own business. You see a hot girl walk by and decide to yell out ay bay bay. Right when you take your eyes off the road for a second you feel a great amount of pressure on your body. Things fade in and out. Your pants are hot from the freshly spilled coffee. The airbag suffocating you. Your right arm in an unimaginable amount of pain. Your radio still blasting music as you sit there helplessly. You cant help to think of your whole entire life. Your childhood, your first fishing trip, your friends, your family. Your family who you took for granted and decided is not important. Your first girlfriend, your first dog, your first Christmas, your first birthday. You remember all your mistakes everything that didn’t seem important now means the world to you. Things go black. In under 4 seconds your life has changed. You have been in a deadly car crash. You are lucky you survived you were hit by a driver. It was your fault, you ran the stop sign. Your now in the hospital waking up. Your family staring at you. Where are your friends did they decide not to show up. You want to get up and give your family a big hug. You try and move you cant. Your legs feel like they are weighed down by a ball of lead. Your paralyzed your spinal cord no longer giving messages to your legs. You will never walk again. Your right arm is in pain you see that it is bandaged up. Bloodstains seeping through the bandage. You feverishly move it to see if it was okay. You yelp out in pain when you move it but pleased it is in working condition. Your family sitting there crying over you it has been a day and a half in the hospital. All that you can do now is cry and pray you can be part of normally functioning society. You look at your dads eyes you missed him you missed everyone you are glad to be alive.

This article is very important to me. My sister when she was very young got in a car accident with a drunk driver at the wheel. She survived but is not the same around that person. She still somewhat has a fear that I will not delve into.
This matters around the world because people die in car accidents. People all around the world are dying because of them. Try and make a difference and buckle up.

Pln 13

Wild fires are very dangerous. They are considered a natural disaster. The most famous wild fire today is the Chicago wild fire. The Chicago fire spread through all of Chicago killing many people and burning down hundreds of thousands of homes. Today a new epidemic such as that one is happening. In southern California a horrible fire is going on. Now over 500,000 people have been affected by this tragedy. Yes even celebrities are affected by this incident. California fires affect 500,000 is the title of the article.

In the article it talks about how the government was slow to respond to the last crisis in the U.S. It talks about how poorly we handled hurricane Katrina. Can the U.S. handle this situation differently? It is very different from a hurricane unlike the hurricane that eventually stops a fire will go on and on until something puts the blaze out. Especially with all the tinder and dry wood on the ground due to California’s heat wave from last summer can we stop the fire before it goes to our of control.

This relates to me because I have about 6 myspace friends who live in California. This fire has Already affected one of them. John and his family were evacuated from their home in California. He did not tell me if any of his material possessions have been lost. This affects the world because it will obviously cost tax payers a lot of money to fix the damage that is done. This is horrible event that has destroyed so much beauty and nature.