Maduro Replaces Chavez as Venezuela's President

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/15/world/americas/venezuela-elections/index.html?hpt=wo_c1

          In a VERY close election race that pitted Nicolas Maduro against Henrique Radonski, Nicolas Maduro achieved 50.8% of Venezuela's votes in Sunday's election, while opposing candidate Henrique Radonski won 49.0%. Venezuela's top election official agreed with the results, saying that the voting system that Venezuela used had worked perfectly. But did it really? 

          Recently, Radonski has said that the voting was not fair and there should be a recount of the votes. Also, Radonski called his supporters to protest as he called Maduro an "illegitimate" leader. He was saying that Maduro was only elected because Hugo Chavez said that Maduro should be the countries next leader. Radonski's basic claim is that Maduro is riding on Hugo's coattails. The Venezuelan's response to this was that they thoroughly counted each and every ballot to make sure the election was fair. However, if they say that they counted fairly, why is it that they won’t hold a recount? As the tension mounted on Monday night, the head of Maduro's campaign published a statement saying that Radonski did not know how to loose and that he was being childish.

          

         If the Venezuelan government has nothing to hide, then why won’t they hold a recount of the submitted ballots? What do you think? Should the government give another look at the votes?

The Money Behind March Madness

          Last year, the NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament made $750,000,000. The only sport that brought in more money was Men's Football, with a total profit of 2.2 billion dollars!

          What does the NCAA do with all of this money? You might ask. Well, after paying employees, fees, finances, and for the tournaments they put on, they are left with a substantial amount that they distribute to the colleges that participated in March Madness.

          When you tune into any even hosted by the NCAA, you are watching a student athlete play with passion and integrity. However, what does the player get in return for your attention and the years of hard work they have put into their sport or activity? Nothing. 

          Well, you can simply argue that players are receiving a free education! But when you do the math, an in-state education at a state university really only costs the college a few thousand dollars a year per student. Now, that is a lot of money and I understand it is a sacrifice for many to pay that, but compared to the amount that the companies and men who profit off of the student's athletic abilities while they receive absolutely nothing is atrocious. I think that student athletes should receive some sort of payment for the amount of time and hard work they put into their activity.

          What do you think? Should players get any payment for working as hard as they do? Or should they simply receive the scholarship? Or take a completely different view and say that players should do all of this for free? 

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/17/174542935/show-me-the-money-in-march-madness

Horse meat Scandal Spreads

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/09/world/europe/uk-horsemeat-probe/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

    

            Findus Beef Lasagna has recently been found to have contained horse meat. In 18 samples of the lasagna taken from random stores all over the UK, 11 of them were found to contain horse meat DNA. The cherry on top, however, is that one of Findus' slogans for their lasagna is 100% beef. Recently, the product was withdrawn from stores and it is very likely that some consumers of the product were eating horse meat considering 11 out of the 18 samples were found to contain it. 

            The Findus Lasagna is only a piece of a larger problem, however. In January, it was reported that Findus' beef burgers contained horse meat and after further observations, the United Kingdom Food Standards Association confirmed the suspicions. After the confirmation over 10 million suspected burgers were taken off of shelves in the UK and Ireland. Findus reported that it will sue the Romanian producer it traced the horse meat to and that "Fully compliant beef lasagna will be in stores soon."

            Shouldn't Findus be responsible for making sure that there lasagna only contains beef considering that is what it says on the package? After interviewing a few people passing by, it was determined that nobody was okay with it even though one man commented he wasn't very worried about it because it's "all meat". He continued to say that it shouldn't contain horse meat because the package says 100% beef.

            Personally, I would be very worried about it if I was a consumer of the Findus Lasagna meals. Because it says 100% beef on the package I would expect it to only contain beef and because of this debacle, I would not buy the meals again. Hopefully a few citizens in the affected areas will do the same and make Findus realize they need to change something in their products.

Gunman in 'Bama Takes Young Boy Hostage

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/31/us/alabama-child-hostage/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
            Three days ago a young, 5 year old kindergartner was taken hostage from his school bus and the stand-off still continues today. He was abducted by Jimmy Dykes, a Vietnam war veteran with anti-government views. Dykes took the boy to a homemade bunker in his back yard that he had been building on and off for a few years in the middle of the night. 
            The boy was kidnapped from his school bus that was taking him home. The bus driver, Charles Poland, was shot four times and killed by Dykes when he refused to let him take any children. Dykes the proceeded to grab one child and transport him to the bunker. The young boy suffers from Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit disorder, said State. Rep. Steve Clouse. 
            Jimmy Dykes, however, has been able to communicate with police through a plastic tune and the police have been able to give the child some comforting items. For example, a red hot wheels toy and a box of cheezits. Dykes has also told police that he as electricity in the bunker and he has an electric heater with blankets the keep the boy warm at night. In a press release the Sheriff has thanked Dykes for allowing the boy to be provided with these commodities
           There are a few things that people might find to be conflicting with their ideas. For example, do you think that the Sheriff should thank Dykes for meeting a few of the boys specific needs? And do you think that there could be a possible excuse for what is going on here? (Dykes suffers from PTSS). 
           Either way, when all of this is wrapped up Dykes should be treated for his psychological problems and be put in jail for a good amount of time.

Thai Court Sentences Activist to 10 years in Prison for Insulting King

In a very controversial call, a Thai activist, named Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, was put in prison for breaching Thailand's strict lese majeste laws. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/23/world/asia/thailand-activist-prison-sentence/index.html

Somyot Pruksakasemsuk was an editor for the magazine Voice of Thaksin when he was taken into custody for publishing two articles found to be critical of the monarchy. 

"The verdict seriously undermines the right to freedom of expression and press freedom," The European Union said in a statement. "At the same time, it affects Thailand's image as a free and democratic society."

The lese majeste laws prevent people from insulting or slandering members of the royal family and it allows courts to hand down lengthy prison times for attempting or committing this. Before Somyot's detention he was petitioning against these laws saying they were against basic human rights.

The first ammendment protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference. Which basically is the freedom of speech. In my opinion, all humans have a freedom to speech without being punished for it. 

However, some simple questions could arise from this story like: "Since they we royal family, should they be insulted?" or "Should the freedom of speech only go so far?". "Go so far?" is supposed to mean should a person have freedom of speech, but not if they will go around cussing at people and insulting them right and left.

The freedom of speech is a God-given right and when this man attempted to demonstrate it, he was unlawfully put in prison.