Teen Raped, Others Watch

This is a story that shocked me: a fifteen year old girl was raped at Richmond High School here in California by at least 10 gang members while another 10 watched and didn't do anything. These stories are repeated and, frankly, I am tired of all the violence, as I am sure all of us are. But how did the school not think about putting security guards outside? This little mistake cost a poor girl's innocence. The website I read this story from is CNN. com, and the writer of the article seems to agree with the family's statement that they have "had enough violence in this place", and chooses to focus on the more positive aspect, if you can call it that, which is trying to stop gang violence. 5 people have been arrested in suspicion of connection to the rape. I hope all the wrong-doers are caught soon.

And the prices just keep going up.

Recently the gas prices have gone up hefty 17.8 cents in the past two weeks, which makes me wonder, are the prices just going to keep rising? As seen in the article I read, the prices are different depending what state you are in, but it seems as though there will be a continuous rise in gas prices, partly due to the rising of oil barrels to 80 dollars. This sudden rise is not something that haas not happened before, but each time is still a sudden surprise that leaves people wondering what they will have to pay for gas next week. Maybe there won't be more of this price growth, but just maybe it might be a repeat of past years. Something has to be done, though, before the price of a gallon of gas grows to some ridiculous price.

Sorry, but blogger is not allowing me to copy and paste the url of where I found my story's information.

Balloon Boy Hoax

Last week this story caught my eye. It shocked me to find that people thought this young boy, Falcon Heene, was inside this flying saucer-esque balloon, when in fact he was "hiding in the garage". Now this story is all the media is talking about. I personally think it was all a hoax, as do most of the media stories I read. This story is of national importance because the military became involved, and thousands of dollars were wasted for a bogus emergency. It appalls me that anybody could make up such an incredible to attempt to get attention for a reality show. Where have our morals gone, people?

For more info on this story, visit: http://news.aol.com/article/parents-of-balloon-boy-falcon-heene-will/719681?icid=mainhp-laptopdl1link4http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fparents-of-balloon-boy-falcon-heene-will%2F719681

And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to... Obama?

For more info on this blog, visit http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/12/2711565.htm

A few days ago I found out something that kind of shocked me. The newest person to call a Nobel Prize theirs is our president, Mr. Barack Obama. I came across an article that agrees with what I believe. in this article, the author talks about how Alexander Downer, a former foreign minister, thinks that Obama's Nobel Prize shouldn't have been. He states "The peace prize has to be for actual achievement, not potential, and it also has to be achievement in promoting world peace..." I totally agree. Obama has only been in office for less than nine months and he already won a Nobel Peace Prize? For what exactly? I just don't see what he's done so far, maybe a lot of "we should do this, we should do that", but he he hasn't actually done anything. Like Mr. Downer said, the peace prize should be about achievement and not potential. As far as I'm concerned, there are still troops in Iraq. And it seems like they might be there for a while longer. If he won a peace prize, you'd think he'd be leading a war-free country and promoting it. Maybe we should rethink his prize and postpone it for another 4 years.

The new judge in the house?

There's a new judge in the courthouse. Her name is Sonia Sotomayor and she is the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. She was sworn in on August 9th and is now seated along with 7 males and one other female, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Sotomayor's has been a very controversial road to being elected as a justice. With her remarks about how one's ethnicity and sex "may and will make a difference in our judging", people think of her as a believer of stereotypes and whatnot. But her opinions do not stop there.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” is what Sotomayor said in a speech in 2001. I personally couldn't agree more with her. Really, most of the white justices have had to endure what? Nothing. Maybe I might be being stereotypical here, but c'mon, what has an upper-middle class man had to go through to get to become a Supreme Court Justice? Maybe beat out other white males to earn their spots. On the other hand, let's take a look at what Justice Sotomayor might, and probably had, to go through in order to get to her prestigious position. For one, stereotypes: a Latina in the Supreme Court? Oh no. Maybe a Latino, but surely not a woman. Secondly, economic struggles: her family was a low-income Puerto Rican family who struggled to send her to college, and, clearly, it paid off. Honestly, those two are the general things that created problems for Sotomayor.

Although maybe her statement was a bit stereotypical, my being Latina helps me see her point exactly. Her experiences are totally different than that of a white man, totally opposite in every aspect. But different is good. Different is what we need, especially in our leaders. Many different opinions can lead to one big compromise, making everyone happy in one way or another. One thing's for sure: Justice Sotomayor is a great role model not only for Latinas, but for white males, black females, any ethnicity, anywhere.

For more info on this story, check out:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/politics&id=7046528

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/06/sonia.sotomayor/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/15judge.html

Woah, baby!

So the other day I was in my car, driving to school, listening to the radio on a morning talk-show or whatever it'd be called, and I heard the following: 19.2 pound newborn baby!!! What the heck is that? It's like a monster baby, if you ask me. This baby was born in Indonesia and was delivered by Caeserean section, and considering what the mother would've had to go through to push that baby out, I'm glad for her. The mother named her big baby boy Muhammad Akbar Risuddin, "Akbar" being the Indonesian word for "big". Big as this baby might be, he sure isn't the biggest newborn in history. According to the Guiness Book of World Records, a baby born in Canada in 1879 weighed 23.12 pounds, but died 11 hours after birth. The biggest newborn to live longer was born in Italy in 1955 and weighed 22 pounds and 8 ounces. Wow. I have no idea how those ladies carried those monster babies in their bellies for so long. Nonetheless, the lady in Indonesia has a newborn baby who is now in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the biggest known newborn in Indonesia. How neat is that?