Teen pregnancy rate lowest in two decades

      In 2009, around 410,000 teenage girls had children in the United States. That's a 37 percent decrease from the teen birth rate in 1991. Then, 61.8 births per every 1,000 females was a teen pregnancy. The rate has now dropped to 39.1 births per 1,000 women. Yet according to the United Nations, the rate of teen pregnancy in the United States is nearly nine times higher than in the majority of other developed nations. The Vital Signs report looked at data from 1991 to 2009 and found that in addition to the steady decrease in the rate of teen pregnancies, there's also been a decrease in the percentage of high school students even having sex. Combined, all teen pregnancies cost taxpayers about $9 billion a year.
     I was surprised that we had nine times as many teen pregnancies than other developed nations. It makes me start to believe that our teenage youth is ridiculously stupid. The nine billion dollars a year cost also didn't help to improve my mood. Its funny because one of the comments mentioned condom dispensers in European schools, which is very similar to what my group did for the satire project.

Ray slams woman on boat in Florida Keys

 Posted on CNN March 30, 2011

            An eagle ray weighing as much as 300 pounds landed on top of a woman on a boat in the Florida Keys The woman, Jenny Hausch, was on the chartered boat Friday with her husband and three children, taking pictures of a group of eagle rays as they flew out of the water. .Florida Fish and Wildlife Officers Aja Vickers and Bret Swensson were patrolling the water near the tour boat when they heard screams.Klein said the ray kept "slamming and slamming on top of (Hausch), trying to swim away." By the time officers made it to the boat Hausch had freed herself from under the ray.Klein said the animal measured 8-feet across, and probably weighed a good 300 pounds."It's just massive, it has a 10-foot tail," she added.
         After the seriousness of my earlier posts this one is quite a break from the mayhem in the Middle East and Japan. I choose this one because it was quite humorous, especially since no one got hurt. Most of the comments on CNN complained how the ray in the picture could not have weighed 300 ponds. This is most likely because the ray in the picture is not the ray that landed on top of the woman.

Gunfire, explosions heard in Tripoli

 Posted March 19, 2011

          American, French and British military forces, convinced that Gadhafi was not adhering to a United Nations-mandated cease-fire, fired at Libyan military positions with missiles and fighter jets in the first phase of an operation that will include enforcement of a no-fly zone. Gadhafi's  military claimed nearly 50 people, including, women, children and clerics, were killed in Saturday evening's attacks. There was no independent confirmation of that statement. More than 110 Tomahawk missiles fired from American and British ships and submarines hit about 20 Libyan air and missile defense targets in western portions of the country, U.S. Vice Adm. William Gortney said at a Pentagon briefing. An eyewitness in Misrata said Gadhafi's forces are targeting fuel and power stations in an effort to make citizens believe the damage is being done by coalition forces. The eyewitness, who was not identified for security reasons, said people celebrated allied airstrikes on loyalist positions in the city. CNN could not verify the account.
          This was at once an informative and uninformative article.  Many things stated in this article had no proof such as Gadhafi's allegations that 50 civilians died, and the eyewitness' account that the people celebrated the airstrikes. Personally, no matter how much I dislike a military position, an airstrike nearby would cause  me to increase my distance from the target rather than celebrating. Also Gadhafi's comment about civilian deaths is suspicious simply because the same guy who cried that the protesters were given hallucinogenic drugs and that it was a plot made by Osama Bin Ladin.

Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis

Posted on CNN March 12, 2011

        The morning after Japan was struck by the most powerful earthquake to hit the island nation in recorded history and the tsunami it unleashed. Some waves reached 10 kilometers inland. Japanese media reported that hundreds more people were missing. Tens of thousands of people were displaced, according to Japan's Kyodo News Agency. The quake, which struck at 2:46 p.m., prompted the U.S. National Weather Service to issue tsunami warnings for at least 50 countries and territories.

      Six million household were without electricity, said Japan's ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki. A leak occurred in an atomic power plant in northeast Japan. Cooling equipment stopped working when generators failed in the quake, and the temperature inside the plant in the Fukushima prefecture had risen; officials lowered the pressure inside the plant hangar by venting it. But high levels of radiation led officials to suspend the release. The quake also disrupted rail service and affected air travel and hundreds of flights were canceled. There was no immediate word of casualties, but the Defense Ministry said 1,800 homes were destroyed.
        This was a well written article, but I had to cut out a lot of facts because of long it was. Most of the comments on CNN were sympathetic, but there were quite a few people commenting on how this was humanity's fault, or seeing a pattern of natural disasters. Its strange how vocal paranoid people are.

Man allegedly karate chops air marshal

Posted on CNN March 8, 2011

       On a Delta Air Lines plane en route from Paris to Atlanta a woman was sleeping when the man behind her Brian Louis Pomykala, woke her up by "forcibly fondling and grabbing her face and head and then gesturing toward his crotch area indicating that he needed some sex." Two air marshals were alerted and when they told him to go to the back of the plane he hit one of the air marshals in the throat "with a bladed, karate-style thrust strike." They were able to restrain him and he spent the rest of the flight in the rear galley jump seat. Pomykala is accused of assault and interfering with a federal air marshal.
       I wished the article stated why Pomykala behaved in such a strange manner. Most the comments on CNN were jokes about the idiot, but one stated that this was why there should be no alcohol on planes. I find this comment ridiculous because there was no mention of alcohol in the article, and most people wouldn't act that way even drunk.

Alleged Tucson gunman indicted on 49 charges in shooting

 

Posted on CNN on March 4, 2011

         Accused Tucson gunman Jared Lee Loughner has been indicted on 49 counts including murder and attempted murder that stem from a shooting that left six people dead and critically wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The new indictment, returned by a federal grand jury Thursday March 3, includes those three charges and adds murder charges connected to the deaths of John M. Roll and Gabriel M. Zimmerman. He also faces charges in the deaths of Dorothy J. Morris, Phyllis C. Schneck, Dorwan C. Stoddard .Nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green was among those killed in the shooting. The indictment carries a potential death sentence if convicted, Burke added, although prosecutors have not said yet whether they will seek the death penalty.
        The article was somewhat confusing and unorganized. It repeated the same information twice and somewhat confusingly. Many of the comments were on the prospect if he should suffer the death penalty. Normally, I don't like the use of the death penalty because of the possibility of the accused being innocent, but this time this man is definitely guilty and I believe he should be put to death. Also there were some comments relating him to conservatives, namely the Tea Party. As little as I like the Tea Party, that isn't really fair I believe it is wrong to relate the two.
    

Yacht hijacked by pirates and four Americans killed

February 22, 2011
         While negotiations were under way gunfire erupted from the pirate on which the hostages were secured. According to U.S. Central Command, "As they responded to the gunfire, reaching and boarding the Quest, the forces discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors.  Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds." While boarding the ship the reaction force was attacked by the pirate, killed two of them, and captured thirteen others. Two other pirates were found already dead on the vessel.  Jean and Scott Adam and two other people on board, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, had been traveling with yachts participating in the Blue Water Rally. They had broken off from the group on February 15.
           While the article gave me most of the information needed, I believe that it should have explained or conjectured on why the pirates shot the hostages. The two already dead pirates suggest that either the hostages tried to fight back and managed to kill two of the pirates, or that there had been an internal struggle between the pirates.
           Many of the people commented that breaking away from the larger group was a foolish thing to do, which I would wholly agree with.  Many commentators also raved that the U.S. and other countries should engage the pirates with shoot on sight orders. While I think this a bit much, I think the reaction against the pirates should contain more lethal force.