News -- June 14, 2006

House Approves Another $66 Billion for War - "The House-Senate compromise bill contains $66 billion for the two wars, bringing the cost of the three-year-old war in Iraq to about $320 billion. Operations in Afghanistan have now tallied about $89 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service. The bill, which passed by a 351-67 vote, had only minimal debate Monday night."

Just a Small Child... - "Is human life worth nothing anymore?" -- Look closely.

The fluctuating value of life - "Why does a terrorist attack on the transport system in London that kills and injures dozens, draw utter condemnation and creates shock amongst us all, yet an attack by the Israeli military on a beach in Gaza killing and wounding dozens, including young children on a seaside outing, fails to register the same decibel levels? Shouldn't we be equally as horrified and as shocked when innocent commuters and bystanders are killed in a horrific terrorist attack on a Madrid train, as we are when hundreds are slain in a US air-raid on a village celebrating a wedding in the Afghani mountains?"

Your congressman just got a raise - "Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500." -- They should not be allowed to vote themselves a raise.

New poll shows US image sinking abroad - "The Iraq war and the leadership of President George W. Bush helped drag down the global image of the United States for the second year straight, according to a new released study."

God and gays: Churchgoers divided - "Gay or not, progressive or traditional, those who disagree with their denomination's stance wonder: Should they leave their church? Has their church left them? Is this any place to find God at all?"

Revealed: the lax laws that could allow assembly of deadly virus DNA - "DNA sequences from some of the most deadly pathogens known to man can be bought over the internet, the Guardian has discovered."

MySpace May Be Linked With Search Engines - "News Corp. could let one of the larger Web search engines, like Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. or Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, take over the search function on popular social networking site MySpace.com, a News Corp. executive said Tuesday."

Housing bubble correction could be severe - "Contrary to popular belief, the housing market hasn't cooled off that much. In fact, residential real estate prices continue to soar in a number of key metropolitan areas, according to a new study released this week. That's a good thing, right? Actually, no–because the froth building in housing prices raises the distinct possibility of significant corrections to come in many of those regions."

Housing boom will not end in a crash, says Harvard - "Markets seldom disappoint both bulls and bears for long. But over the coming years the US housing market looks likely to do just that, according to a study by Harvard University."

FEMA hurricane cards bought jewelry, erotica - "A $200 bottle of champagne from Hooters and $300 worth of "Girls Gone Wild" videos were among items bought with debit cards handed out by FEMA to help hurricane victims, auditors probing $1 billion in potential waste and fraud have found."

Hawking Says Space Colonies Needed - "The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday. Humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years, the British scientist told a news conference."

Cheating students using Web to buy coursework - "Cheating students are using outsourcing Web sites where bidders compete to write their coursework for them, researchers have found."

Students find ring tone adults can't hear - "Some students are downloading a ring tone off the Internet that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults. With it, high schoolers can receive text message alerts on their cell phones without the teacher knowing."

Flowers for Algernon -- A classic short story.




Quote of the Day
"What's important is getting ahead. The better grades you have, the better school you get into, the better you're going to do in life. And if you learn to cut corners to do that, you're going to be saving yourself time and energy. In the real world, that's what's going to be going on. The better you do, that's what shows. It's not how moral you were in getting there."
~ Alice Newhall, High School Senior