Cheap Funerals

I read an article in Newsweek about funerals, and how people are starting to cut the costs. There are always people dying, despite the economy, so funeral homes are always making pretty good money. An older lady wanted to have her husband cremated instead of an official burial because of the costs. She said her husband would have wanted it that way, but is she doing it for the right reasons? She also used her mini van to move the body instead of buying a hearse because of the expenses. I think everyone deserves a burial of their choosing. If he wanted to be cremated, I don't see what the big deal is. Funeral homes are just trying to make as much money as they can, but some people truly can't afford a 3,000 funeral bill.

Rhianna and Chris Brown

I read an article in Newsweek about domestic abuse, and the story on Rhianna and Chris Brown. This article makes a good point about how people all over are hearing about this and making "myths" about why Rhianna is staying with Chris after he beat her. People try to justify Rhianna's reasoning for going back to him, but what does that teach teenagers about relationships they are in? It let's people believe that abusive relationships are okay, because maybe I provoked it, or he's getting help now and he said he was sorry. If stars are making excuses for why they don't leave someone who abuses them, how many viewers are going to do the exact same thing Rhianna is doing?

Slumdog Millionaire

This weekend I saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and I recommend everyone to see it! It was truly the best movie I have ever saw. I read an article on Mother Jones about the lives of the children actors that were in the movie, and I find it somewhat sad that these children are still living in the same conditions they were before ever being asked to be in this movie. The child actors are paid not with cash, but guaranteed an education until they are 18, and health care/emergencies are covered. They also decided to provide apartments for the child and their families, but only if the child finishes their 18 years of schooling. I think it was smart not to give the children cash, but I think the kids deserve more than to still live in the same conditions. I was touched by this movie and I really hope many people realize how bad some people have it and work to change the lives for some of these people, especially the actors in this movie.

Saving Trash

I read a story on the Mother Jones website about a Hollywood cameraman, Dave Chameides, who is storing trash in his basement for a year. He started in January and sorts through his trash to see what can be reused, recycled or fed to worms. It's said that the average person disposes of 4.6 pounds of trash a day, but Chamdides thinks one can live happily with only disposing one pound a day. I think he makes a good point. I think we all dispose of so much garbage that we don't realize what it is doing to our planet. I think it would be hard to only dispose one pound of garbage a day, but I think its due able. I think people are just to lazy to try to make the planet better by recycling and reusing items, so they just throw everything away without thinking of its consequences.

How should we honor our fallen soldiers?

This week i read an article from Newsweek Magazine about how we should honor our fallen soldiers when bringing them back to the U.S. We send our soldiers home to a base called Dover, and then the soldiers are carried away in herses with very little recognition by anyone other than close family. Canadians are flown to Trenton air base, and are then driven 107 miles to the mortuary in Toronto. The highway traveled is known as the Highway of Heros and all other traffic is stopped by police, firemen and flashing lights as they wait for the fallen soldiers to pass. I think this is a very honorable thing to do to recognize the fallen soldiers, and I think the U.S. should do something like this to honor our fallen soldiers. I think we honor our soldiers respectively but I think what this author was trying to say was, we only hear about the fallen soldier but we never really honor what they did for us. Driving them on a highway not only shows respect but people actually get to see the fallen soldiers and hopefully realize how much they mean to us, to have died fighting for our country.

A Fighting Chance

I watched a News Video on The New York Times Website about a young Native American girl, Cheryl, who overcame many struggles to follow her dream of boxing. Her community was very poor and her parents were both imprisoned for selling drugs. In 2007 she did time in juvenile detention and alcohol rehab. Before she was sent off she found out she was 2 months pregnant. After she had her kid she decided to turn her life around and box. Cheryl's goal is to become a pro, and her coach, Remus, was glad to help and knew she had what it would take to go pro. Her inspiration to fight comes from her daughter, Brooklyn, and she hopes to continue fighting and train to fight at the pro level.

Phelps Smokes?

I read in Newsweek magazine that Micheal Phelps was caught smoking marijuana by a picture taken at a party. He promises he will never do it again and he knows his responsibilities as a role model but isn't that what he said 4 years ago when he was caught for drunk driving after the Olympics in Athens? I think Phelps is a good person he just made a wrong decision that he will have to live with and hopefully learn from it.

Couple charged with starving their baby..

I read in the Kansas City Star about a couple who supposedly starved their baby to death. The dad, Nicholas, took the child, Jeremiah into a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. The boy weighed less than he did when he was born and was examined and said to have died from chronic malnutrition and dehydration. I think it's sad when couples can't take care of their own child and not be smart enough to do something about it. There are many hospitals, foster homes, orphanages that provide a home for children who are not wanted by their parents or those who can't support their child, so why didn't this couple seek help? Just because they couldn't afford to go to a doctor or supply nourishment for their child, you would think they would be smart enough to know the kid needs a proper diet in order to live, especially a young child of 4 months. I agree this couple should be charged for second-degree murder because the death of their baby should never of happened. They needed to be responsible for their child life and they weren't which is sad because there are many people who would have helped if they had only asked.

January 18th -