Suicide Bombing Al Qaeda Members

Yemen has been having battles with Al Qaeda over southern Yemen cities, so a suicide bomber who disguised himself as yemeni soldier during a military parade rehearsal let his bomb go. There were at bare minimum 96 casualties and over 300 wounded. This was the first major insurgent violence to reach the capital. Due to situations such as this and the fighting the US has lent its assistance through "stepped up" military assistance and drone strikes. Tensions are rising in Yemen as this fighting continues. How many more innocent lives will be lost before these militant and power-hungry ******** have their fill or are killed?

Gays on Hold

Colorado rejected a bill allowing same sex civil unions.The legislation was voted down by Republican lawmakers on a 5-to-4 vote. There were many in the state hoping to pass this bill, including Mark Ferrandino of Denver, one of four openly gay state legislators. "The bill had cleared a number of committees and the full State Senate, but lawmakers reached an impasse last week and the bill was never brought to the House floor for a full vote before the legislative session concluded." Representative Don Coram (voting against the bill), a Republican from Montrose, said he was torn, because he has a gay son. “This is a situation that is very close to my heart,” he said. “But it’s very difficult because I also represent 75,000 people in southwest Colorado. What you are asking me to do here is to invalidate the vote of six years ago.”When he said this he was referring to a 2006 ammendment approved by the states voters that marriage was defined as being between a man and a woman.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/us/colorado-rejects-same-sex-civil-unions.html?_r=1&ref=us

Putin, Vladmir. Russia's Past Prez Returns

Vladmir Putin reclaimed the Russian presidency under the vaulted gold ceiling of a Kremlin palace on Monday. The police tried to stamp out the second day of protests in the city. An order was given for detaining anyone wearing a white ribbon (the opposition’s symbol). There are many in Russia who are less than thrilled with Putin's return to power. And they are even less thrilled with his announcement that he may run for a fourth six year term when this one is up. Putin gave a short address while seeming burdened and grave saying, “I will do my best to justify the trust of millions of our citizens,” Mr. Putin said. “I think it is the meaning of my whole life, and it is my duty to serve our country, serve our people. This support encourages me and inspires me and helps me address the most difficult tasks. We have passed a long and difficult road together.” Although the last six months have been peaceful protests, the first blood was spilled. A melee broke out after radical activists among the protesters tried to break through a column of riot police trying to reach the Kremlin, and riot police charged into the crowd, trying to drag out men suspected of belting them with smoke grenades and rocks. The police violently beat some with their nightsticks. After this shocking development,  Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov said that the police's response was too gentle. It seems that Russia is in a poor state of affairs, as more violence is expected by those opposing Putin.

Packers Draft

1st Round, 28th pick, LB Nick Perry. Perry is an effective pass rusher and is hopefully the next Clay Mathews.
2nd Round, 51st pick, DL Jerel Worthy. The Packers have signed a couple defensive lineman as well so the competition applied should bode well for improving the defensive line.
2nd Round, 62nd pick, Casey Hayward. "Hayward is a play-maker and one of the more instinctive corners in the draft class." He has had 13 interceptions in the past two years and is not afraid to tackle.
Fourth Round picks, 132 and 133 picks respectively, DL Mike Daniels and S Jerron McMillian. Daniels "Daniels is a tad undersized for a tackle, but he makes up for it in effort and technique. he keeps his pad level low, fires off the snap and uses his leverage to keep clean on the rush." He is classified as an over achiever and is expected to be full of surprises. McMillian has the opportunity to start with Nick Collins leaving and Peprah's struggle. He's not tall, but he's big, fast, and "very willing to tackle." Many picks are compensation to improve upon our statistically bad passing defense.
Fifth Round, 163rd pick, LB Terrell Manning. "Where he excels is on passing downs, most notably in coverage. He does a great job waiting for a play to form and not moving too early. He can easily bump a receiver or running back off his route and closes very quickly when the ball is delivered." Although he's very athletic he could struggle since he's not a large person, and gained muscle mass could take away from some of his speed. There are high hopes for this athletic guy.
Round seven, OL Andrew Datko. He is a tackle with long arms and a solid punch off the snap. Although it's not expected to see very much of him this year, his unpolished skills will see to it that he'll be competing for a spot on the starting line up down the road.
Round Seven, QB B.J. Coleman. "He has a strong arm and can make all the throws scouts want a QB to make. He has pretty good accuracy and is a very smart player." His main issues lie in the fact that he has poor footwork and that affects his accuracy. Under Aaron Rodgers and the staff at Green Bay they hope for him to learn and grow.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1168923-2012-green-bay-packers-draft-class-where-do-the-rest-of-day-2-3-fit

War Lord's Desserts

Charles G Taylor the former president of Liberia was convicted of 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes in Sierra Leone during the 90's. "The ruling, announced by Presiding Judge Richard Lussick, said Mr. Taylor was guilty of involvement in crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, rape, slavery and the use of child soldiers. The court, however, said the prosecution failed to prove that Mr. Taylor had direct command responsibility for the atrocities in the indictment." Taylor still claims he is innocent, and will hear his sentence in coming weeks. There is no death penalty, and any jail term will be served in a British prison. No african president has been convicted by an international "tribunal." Charles is not the first to be convicted of war crimes thankfully, eight others have already been sentenced for their atrocities. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/world/africa/charles-taylor-liberia-sierra-leone-war-crimes-court-verdict.html?ref=world

Harvard Sex Week

Sex week at Harvard is a student operated program of lectures about "...all things sexual." Even though contraception has been a debated topic recently, the students "...veered away from politics..." and revolved more around if the education received from school actually prepared them for the event."Unlike typical student-run college programs in the decades following the discovery of H.I.V./AIDS, the campus events go beyond instruction on safe sex, rape prevention and sexually transmitted diseases to giving advice on how to feel more comfortable and fulfilled sexually, all, at least in theory, in a judgment-free atmosphere that embraces all lifestyles." These lectures and discussions are dissipating perceptions and rumors about sex. Some of the topics discussed included "...the ethics of pornography; sex and religion; kinky practices like bondage; and gay and lesbian sex." These are normally awkward or touchy subjects which were discussed, and people were educated. "Organizers of these events say that college students today face a confusing reality: At a time when sexuality is more baldly and blatantly on display, young people are, paradoxically, having less sex than in generations past, surveys indicate." Where did this idea come from? Yale was the first college to have a Sex Week, although it started as a purely jewish event, but others wanted to be involved, and so it became a campus wide event and is still continued at some colleges such as Harvard, Brown, Northeastern, the University of Kentucky, Indiana University and Washington University. All of these have held some version of sex week in recent years. Although education about sex is something to be approved of, these Sex Weeks also have a different side which has caused protest wherever they've happened. As vibrators are raffled off, contraception is sold at stands, some believe that this week promotes sexual promiscuity and disagree with it.  “Education does not mean giving everybody every choice they could make, it’s giving people the right information on how they should be pursuing relationships and sexual choices. It’s not a buffet.”

Fuzzy Dinos

In north eastern China fossils were found of bus sized dinosaurs with feathers like chicks. There were three mostly complete 125-million-year-old fossils.The adult was at bare minimum 30 feet long and weighed 2500 lbs. The two smaller ones were only a half ton each. Paleontologists are saying it's “direct evidence for the presence of extensively feathered gigantic dinosaurs.” The species was named Yutyrannus huali, which means “beautiful feathered tyrant” because it's the largest dinosaur ever found with feathers. The feathers were like the feathers of a chick, not like the down feathers of an adult. the feathers could not be used for flight and were most likely used for insulation. This discovery has made scientists think that maybe more meat eating carnivores used to have feathers, more so than even in the past 20 years. 

Steve Jobs Imperfect Immortality

Steve Jobs AKA The Master

Many people have come to believe the lie that Steve Jobs passed away recently. LIES. Steve Jobs achieved immortality. He knew his time was up soon, so he put together a machine to give him immortality. He now lives in the game Soul Caliber V. Above is a picture of Steve Jobs AKA The Master. he has been undefeated since his debut in Soul Caliber V. Even though his opponents have magic powers and incredible physical abilities, he gave himself a few upgrades as well. His basic fighting style involves his ipod app which summons a lightsaber or fires lazers rapidly. But he also gave himself a few upgrades. Not only did he make himself the fastest most ranged and powerful character, his moves are unblockable and his critical strike is an instant 100% chance hit-kill. When he gets bored of slaughtering enemies he turns to his upgraded physical abilities and far superior intelligence to punch, kick, and smash his enemies to their feet. He is sure to win all the upcoming tournaments in this game as he is the only one smart enough or powerful enough to get into the game without requiring a player. In a recent  interview with the newly powered up and animated Steve Jobs he said that he had always dreamed of being the most powerful super god in a fighting game. The only regret he has is that he will most likely not be carries over into other installments of the game in the future, leading to a lonely eternity within the realm of Soul Caliber V.

Jack The Ripper

A new "Jack the Ripper" has surfaced in the UK. The name jack was written in blood on the downstairs wall of a butcher's shop. Over twenty pieces of choice meat were shredded and gnawed on. This terrible affront to the human race was committed in five butchers shops around the UK in just this last month. At every scenario the only clue left was "Jack" written in the blood of the ripped meat. But there is hope! The last attack on the butchers shop left a witness. The picture above is a sketch done by a professional veteran police sketch artist in accordance to the witness testimony. This person is apparently 10-12 feet tall, weighs between 750-1000 pounds, and has glowing green eyes. If you see this person do not be afraid, attack unarmed as one punch to the chest should be enough to take him down. If he does however manage to escape or kill you in the fight, feel free to then alert the police to his presence. 

$100 Billion

Apple reached 100 billion dollars in cash at the end of last year, an unprecedented amount of money. the nearest company is Microsoft floating around half of that amount. This led to the announcement Apple made stating that "it would at last return some of its cash pile to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, at a cost of more than $10 billion a year for the next three years." In history such a move is usually done by large companies running out of technology and expansion, but this is not so with Apple. Apple continues to ""pump out" new technological hits, the perfect example being "late Monday, Apple said it had sold three million of its new iPads since they were introduced on Friday." Apple said it would pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share beginning in its fiscal fourth quarter which starts July 1. Apple's board had authorized a $10 billion share buyback starting september 30th. Apple expects to spend about $45 billion over three years.This also opens doors for more investors as some could not or would not invest without a dividend being returned. In short, Apple is still growing like a new company.

Afghan Massacre

A veteran Army staff sergeant, a married father of two only recently deployed in Afghanistan, left his base to massacre at least 16 civilians, 9 of them children. He is 38 years old, has served 3 tours in in Iraq and was deployed in Afghanistan in December. He has served for eleven years. This decimation of defenseless people led to a "moment of unity to three major Afghan factions: civilians, insurgents and government officials." Villagers said aside from just killing them this man set fire to eleven bodies, four of them girls under the age of six. and at least five others were injured. He is to face charges under the military justice system and is currently suspended and in custody. The Afghan parliament stated, “We urge the United States government to punish the culprits and put them on trial in an open court so that the rest of those who want to shed our innocent people’s blood take a lesson from it.” Aside from just these horrible killings, five American soldiers were killed in the months of january and february.

Higgs Boson

All the physics models of today include the Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson is supposedly responsible for endowing other elementary particles with mass. Don't ask me what that means. "The Higgs boson is the key piece of the Standard Model, an ambitious suite of equations that has ruled the universe of high-energy physics for the last few decades, explaining how three of the four fundamental forces of nature work." Basically, if this theoretical particle does not exist, scientists have to come up with a whole new set of theories for how the universe functions. The data which eludes to this particle are bumps in data collected from the most powerful accelerator around 124 and 126 billion electron volts, which are numbers favored by physicists. Announcements from two independant groups in december also agree with these results. The most powerful accelerator, the Tevatron, also shut down in september. Does it exist? I don't care ^^

Syrian Rebels Crushed, at Least for the Moment

The Syrian Army overwhelmed the main rebel stronghold in the city of Homs on Thursday. The rebels claimed it was a “tactical withdrawal”, which it definately was not. They had reportedly taken a "pounding by artillery, tank and sniper fire for nearly a month." This type of enemy would no doubt force the rebels into a "tactical retreat." The rebels claimed the retreat was because they were " unable to justify keeping thousands of civilians marooned under dire humanitarian conditions." The Syrian govenment does not have enough elite soldiers to supress all of the uprisings around the country, but they have been fighting one at a time. The Syrian force is now expected to go farther north in order to suppress other "hot spots."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/world/middleeast/rebels-resisting-onslaught-in-syrian-city-activists-say.html?_r=1&hp

The last sixtyfour years have had armed fighting between Israelis and Palestinians. However, someone has finally come to the table with non-violent means of disagreement and protest. Khader Adnan who was held in a prison due to illeged affiliation with a violent group of palestinians went sixtysix days without eating, almost dying. and he stopped the hunger strike due to an agreement that he would be released as early as April 17th. His example is helping to unify palestinians and this example highlighted the power of peaceful protest. Over 300 Palestinians are currently being held in what's called “administrative detention.” Charges have not been brought against them because there is so called secret evidence and they will not get a trial in military court because it's secret evidence. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/opinion/peaceful-protest-can-free-palestine.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Obama unveiled his plan to increase taxes on wealthy individuals and deal with loop holes so that wealthy individuals can "...pay their fair share." with his plan Obama predicts that we'll have a deficit of under1 trillion dollars in 2017. He is however short of his goal to halve the deficit in 2013. The tax debate also plays to Obama's favor as republican candidate Mitt Romney is a very wealthy man paying a very small tax on his money. However if unemployment rates don't continue to go down he will be put on the defensive since he's trying to not define the 2012 election as a referendum on his record and instead wants to focus on the fact that the election is "..a choice between his priorities and those of Republicans."

For the second time in four years the Giants have ended the patriots victories in the Superbowl with yet another one of Eli Manning's fourth quarter comeback wins. The Giants were ridden with injuries early in the season, but this trouble also caused them to become the first team in history to be 9-7 and hold the Lombardi trophy. There were three momentum swings. One: Tom Brady's Safety under pressure from the Giants star filled D-line. Two: The patriots scoring to lead 17-9 and holding the Giants to two field goals instead of touchdowns. Three: The Giants scoring drive, and the bending but unbreaking defense the Giants possess negating Tom Brady's last drive as the ball harmlessly fell to the ground after a final seconds hail mary.  

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York had over one  million dollars stolen from then over a period of seven years. "Anita Collins, 67, had been previously convicted of grand larceny in one case and had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in another case, but the archdiocese said it did not know of those legal troubles when she was hired" (Par. 2). For some reason The Catholic Archdiocese did not practice running a background check on its employees which led to this occurrence. Checks of $2500 or less did not require approvement from superiors which also allowed Anita to accomplish this task. The case has not been settled yet. This event has also come at a time when the organization is closing churches and schools due to a lack of money and is requesting 15 Million a year in charity. Bad timing.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/nyregion/new-york-archdiocese-bookkeeper-charged-with-stealing-1-million.html?hp

Saudi Women Shatter the Lingerie Ceiling

In most parts of the world it would be a common thing for only women to work in places that sell items specifically for women. In Saudi Arabia, women are only recently allowed to work as it was illegal for women to work outside the home. Women are not allowed to interact with men in Saudi Arabia, and as only men were allowed to work in public, women couldn't buy undergarments unless they were in another country. Women are also now being publicly educated, which is means they will expect to work and be expected to work and aside from that, the country needs their economic output. The opposition of this movement are the members of Islam and their religious police , which act more as behavior police. The police have been ordered to cooperate with the order that all cosmetic shops and lingerie shops must replace all male workers with female workers by June. Although this may seem like a minor thing, this is a magnificent milestone for women in Saudi Arabia.