5-9-13 BR

It's an accurate stereotype. Every movie made about WV has stupid pill popping hicks in it. Even the show "Buckwild" portrayed things that most people in the state have never done before. That's where the money is made, supporting stereotypes.

5-7 BR

The chick looks like she just wants money from the school. The principal probably didn't even do anything. This is a terrible website. They can't even spell right. #ForrealDoe

10 event assignment

911- On September 11, 2001, a group of ignorant Muslim extremists, known as Al-Quada, decided to take over a few air planes. They flew them into the world trade center and the twin towers. Another plane was headed towards the Pentagon, but they couldn’t even do that right. Due to this, America went to war. War in Afghanistan- The Islamic terrorist group was going to be dismantled. Al-Quada got messed up. We Killed Osama and Sadam. ‘Merica came to the rescue of the little Iraqi children. We are still in the war on terror. It started in 2001. Recently there was a terrorist act in Boston. Sandy Hook- In the fall of 2012, a twenty year old, Adam, shot up an elementary school. The murder took place in the town Sandy Hook of Newtown, Conn. The only school shooting that was worse was the Va Tech shooting in 2007. Lanza killed over 20 children and workers of the school. He even shot his mother. Eventually, he shot himself in the head. There are some crazy people. First android- Android, the Linux-based operating system, was unveiled in 2007. The first Android phone was actually released in fall of 2008. Many phones have been released since 2008. The new Samsung Galaxy s4 is considered the best smartphone on the market right now. The previous version, the GS3, was considered better than the IPhone 5. Backed by Google, they successfully took over the cellular phone market. Hurricane Katrina- In 2005, one of the deadliest hurricanes ever rocked the United States. Hurricane Katrina barreled through New Orleans destroying everything in its path. At least 1,833 people died and over 80 billion dollars in damage were done to the nation. Nature is a very powerful thing. It ranked 6th of all time on the strength of hurricanes to hit our country. VA Tech Shooting- In Blacksburg Virginia, a shooting occurred that would change our nation forever. It was the all-time deadliest shooting in United States history by a single-gunman. Sandy hook ranks in at number 2. The all-time deadliest shooting by more than one person happened in 1927 at the Bath School Disaster. The kid who did it was obviously mentally unstable. Hurricane Sandy- Hurricane Sandy was a crazy storm during fall of 2012. It actually helped the economy some, but mostly destroyed everything. Crazy amounts of snow fell in North-Eastern United States. This allowed ski resorts to open in November, which is one of their earliest of the past 12 years. Snowshoe actually made a lot of money from this. However, the rest of Hurricane Sandy was awful. It cut off power to many cities and destroyed towns across the country. They are still trying to repair everything. Boston Bombing- In April 2013, crazy immigrants decided to commit some terrorist acts. They attacked the Boston Marathon. People could have stopped them, but they decided to keep quiet. Everyone involved with the killing should be instantly penalized with the death sentence. No one will even bury the idiots that committed the crime. The two brothers behind the bombings were both killed by police after the crazy chase that the police put on. Space Jump- Red Bull put on the Space Jump of 2012. A guy jumped from the out-most part of the atmosphere. He was extremely famous because he broke the record for the highest jump ever. Felix did a great job of being awesome. People do some pretty amazing thing, and with technology, it makes us even better.

5-6-13 BR

I don't think terrorists should have the ability to get buried. He was most certainly not concerned about anyone else's lives. Crazy people shouldn't get buried.

5-2-13 BR

I think that they should be punished to the full extent of the law. If they were a part of it in any way, they should be put in prison. It's crazy how people can assist psychotic people that easily. They should be put in prison for destroying evidence and assisting terrorism. I hope that they get in a ton of trouble. Most of the time, someone other than the bad people know about what is going to happen. They could have called the cops or even just told other people and the events would have been way different. Inaction is basically the same as helping so it should be a crime. I would have turned them in as soon as I heard about it, if I knew they were serious.

4-29-13 BR

You'd think that people would have integrated prom a long time ago. Racism is so last century. I mean come on gurl.

4-25-13 BR

I feel like this bellringer is inappropriate. Those young girls are showing way too much skin. Now that I'm 18, I can get in trouble for even clicking on the website. Shame on their parents.

4-18-13 BR

1) I guess it's legal for them to post that, but I do not think that it should be that easy to gain access to the content. It's pretty crazy that people can do things that easily. 2) It's scary to think that companies can gain that much access to you just through your zip code. I'll probably stop giving them a zip code from now on. 3) I think it's funny that the bill got shot down. It wouldn't have helped anything. Stricter background checks and a few other things should certainly be changed.

4-17-13 Assignment

PART ONE-----A possible sentence, since the terrorist(s) actually killed a few people, could be life imprisonment and a large fine. Because of the Geneva Conventions, both citizens and foreigners would get the same punishment. They can no longer be tortured. Yes, they follow the constitution. PART TWO----- local-http://www.wboy.com/story/21997787/local-runner-finishes-boston-marathon-40-minutes-before-explosions National- 1) http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/16/17784776-authorities-checking-cellphone-records-seek-man-seen-leaving-bag-near-boston-blast-site?lite 2) http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/17/us/boston-blasts/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 International- http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/17/fbi-boston-police-say-range-suspects-motives-remains-wide-open/ The local news was telling about a WV woman who ran in the the race and finished 40 minutes before the bombs went off. She was hanging out with her family when it happened. Both the national and international news talk about possible suspects for the bombing, which is what will get them the most views. Whichever news doesn't have this story is probably going to lose views. Local news won't because everyone still wants to know what's happening in their neighborhood.

4-16-13 BR

The bomb was pretty crazy. It makes you feel as if you aren't safe anywhere that you go. There are some really bad people in the world, and hopefully they all get shut down.

4-15-13 BR

I think that if you get your liscense, you should be able to carry a gun almost anywhere. They should probably make it a little harder to get it though. It's a dangerous world.

4-10-13 assignment

1) http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/f1f576fc-f41e-4a65-9fb3-62401c4e6def.html -jerk in a box This cartoon is pretty funny. It's about how North Korea is crazy. Kim Jong Un is an idiot. I think they did a good job portraying it. rating- A 2) http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/97da2aeb-ad57-4a21-a095-08c4824bbe7b.html -Baby kim Another cartoon about the big idiot in Korea. It's funny because North Korea has to throw fits if they can't get their way. He's such a baby about everything. rating- A- 3) http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/aec8a7ac-124f-4699-b748-1dc9ac17d75b.html -Lazy cat This cartoon is most likely about our government. It shows how they are lazy and have everything done for them. Obama just makes laws so people will like him. rating- B 4) http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/d599f5a7-46ae-439d-ad8b-8fb40ed4ca09.html -Air mail bomb The cartoon is pretty funny. It could be interpreted in a few different ways. I took it as the North Korean Government not even able to make a bomb capable of reaching us. rate- B 5) http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/0cb2b914-dfd0-4138-a76d-03b005efbc2c.html -Campaign strategy A guy is standing in front of a secret office saying how the oposing party shouldn't be able to use dirty tactics to expose their dirty tactics. It's basically how any election works. They don't like their own tricks. rate- A

text and drive bill

1. Texting is a major distraction. 2. You could be responsible for murder if you hit someone while texting and driving. 3. In 2011, 23% of wrecks involved cell phone usage. 4. Text messaging makes a wreck 23 times more likely. 5. Teens who text while driving are in the other lane during 10% of their driving time. 6. 1.6 million crashes a year are due to texting while driving. 7. It is the same as driving after drinking 4 beers. 8. Texting is the same as driving blind for five second intervals. 9. It slows your brake reaction speed by 18%. 10. At 55 mph, a single text takes your eyes off of the road for 100 yards, the same length as a football field. 11. Not just teens text and drive. 12. Adults text and drive more than teenagers. 13. Teens are more likely to text and drive if their parents do it. 14. Most people text and drive even after admitting that it's unsafe. 15. If you could get in trouble for texting while driving, less people would do it. 16. Texting is the largest driving distraction. 17. There should be strict laws put into place. 18. Wrecks would decrease significantly. 19. Steering capabilities are reduced by 91%. 20. It causes deaths. This bill should help reduce wrecks all over the United States. It creates a strict environment in which you can text and drive.

4-8-13 BR

I think that it's true that adults text and drive more than teens. They have jobs that sometimes require texting and emailing. If they were running behind and had to pick between their job or a ticket, it wouldn't be a hard choice.

3-28-13 BR

I think they need to redo their court system. It's pretty ridiculous that they have double jeopardy and stuff. She should not be in jail.

3-27-13 BR

I think people should be able to make their own decisions. People that can't should be in a hospital. It's a dumb topic.

3-11-13 assignment

The definition of a jury is: “A body of people (typically twelve in number) sworn to give a verdict in a legal case on the basis of evidence submitted to them in court” (Google search). Being a jury member today is a pretty hard job. There are many different courts to serve as well. So what exactly does a jury do? Well their main job is to decide whether a defendant is guilty or not based solely upon facts and evidence. Common sense, knowledge and experience are all allowed to help make a justified decision. Things that aren’t allowed are guessing and being prejudice. Making a decision can sometimes be quite difficult. What all courts are there in the U.S. of A? Different courts including the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court are all federal courts. Federal courts usually deal with cases that involve the federal law, bankruptcy, and disputes between states. Local and state courts include cases involving robberies, traffic violations, broken contracts, and family disputes. They deal with most criminals as well. Grand juries hear evidence in cases where a person has supposedly committed a crime and has to decide whether or not they should be going to court. They don’t decide guilt or innocence. In a petit jury, you will most likely hear about criminal or civil cases. They decide if the defendant is guilty or not by unanimous decision in a criminal case. During a civil case, a three quarters vote is required. In conclusion, being a member of the jury would not be very fun. You have to decide the fate of another person. Depending on which court you’re in and what type of juror you are, you could send an innocent person away for life if you make the wrong decision. There is no way to tell for sure sometimes. I personally wouldn't want to be a juror. It would be ridiculously hard for me to decide whether or not someone is innocent or guilty. I don't even like civics class, so why would I like being a part of the court system? It's not hard to think that it would be an unappetizing part of my day. I really wouldn't like it.

3-13-13 BR

The U.S. constitution in very important to everyday life in 'Merica. It was signed in 1787 by the founding fathers. The Constitution gives us all of our freedoms in the country. The Bill of Rights gives us most of those freedoms. The rights of all students trace all the way back to the Constitution. Everyone should be thankful for it.

3-11-13 BR

I do not think that knives should be allowed on planes. It's obvious from previous hijackings that people don't wanna get hurt, so they'll do what they're told. It's nonsense.

3-7-13 BR

I think he has some guts doing this. Talking for almost thirteen hours while standing would probably be the worst thing in the world. He definitely got his point across. 2- Fillibuster- a political delaying tactic cloture- to close a senate debate by calling for a vote 3. Filibusters have changed a lot in the past 100 years. In 1917, a rule was adopted by the senate to allow a cloture under the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. In the 1930s, a senator used filibusting was used to promote Huey Long's liberal policies. In 1957, a filibuster was over 24 hours long. The recent filibuster was almost 13 hours long. Post closure filibusting is no longer allowed as a tactic. The only event that cannot be filibustered is anything related to a budget bill. Before 1996, the rule only applied to the reduction of a budget bill. Since then, it has been modified to anything to do with the bills. 4: 1. Rand Paul's filibuster was the 9th longest 2. 60 members have to vote against the speech to stop it 3. 1841 introduced the first filibuster 4. The word filibuster comes from the Spanish, Dutch, and French languages 5. Senators don't have to address the issue at hand, they can address anything 6. The longest one was over a day long 7. The 21st century has brought a sharp increase in the use of the filibuster 8. Before 1949, 67 senators had to vote for cloture 9. Senator Huey P. Long effectively used the filibuster against any bill that he considered favoritism of the rich over the poor 10. A group of senators supposedly staged at 57-day filibuster to protest the Civil Rights Act of 1964

3-5-13 BR

I think that they shouldn't have nuclear weapons because they're nuts. I don't necessarily wanna die by radiation any time soon. South Korea is gonna win the war anyways.

3-4-13 BR

I think they should leave taxes alone and make cuts in other parts of the plan. It's crazy that if you make 1000 dollars, you would only get 700 after taxes. Maybe they should stop making billion dollar bombs every day for test purposes. 2- Hopefully they can figure out the tax mess. It's just hurting 'Merica as of right now. Hopefully Obama comes up with something.

3-1-13 BR

I think Dennis did it either for attention, or he wasn't thinking anything of it. Hey, maybe North Korea won't bomb us now that Kim has an American friend. If Rodman is away in Korea for a couple days any time soon, I'm headed for the bomb shelter.

5x5 about tolerance

Ian Smithson 2-28-13 Society has become too tolerant about a few different things. Television of today introduces too many ideas to the young people. Minority rights are also really ridiculous. Teen pregnancy is a third thing that comes to mind about society being too accepting. We're too accepting over a lot of things. Explicit television isn’t just at night any more. Grownups have to worry about their younger kids watching these ridiculous TV shows. It’s hard to tell what any kid has been watching the past couple of years. Family Guy and other versions of adult swim are no longer regulated to night time showings. South Park and Tosh.0 are also on television during the daytime. If you’ve ever watched these shows, you would know that no person under at least age fourteen should be in contact with them. Minority rights are another thing that society is too accepting over. Let’s say that there are two brothers, Mike and Tony. Mike is a red head and Tony is a brown haired man. Mike gets a scholarship because of his hair color and Tony doesn’t get any sort of help because he has brown hair. Why is that fair at all? It shouldn’t be about what you look like. Teen pregnancy is another big issue in today’s society. Why should a person who has a kid be able to get on a TV show and become the next superstar? It’s because people who aren’t smart like to watch things to make themselves feel better. Having a kid at age fifteen shouldn’t be the cool thing to do. It shouldn’t make you any type of money. You should have to deal with it yourself, and if you can’t then shouldn’t have been having sex. Why has society had a downfall in most people’s opinion? It’s because we care too much about stupid things that we shouldn’t care about at all. People shouldn’t be exposed to Family Guy at age ten and have a kid five years later to become a famous actress. Minorities should have to go through the same hard word as the average Caucasian male, but they don’t. It shouldn’t work that way.

2-28 BR

1) Deaths have been rising with teens driving. I'm not sure if it went down any this year, but last year, wrecks increased by 19%. It's probably due to an increase in girl birth rates around 16 years ago. Maybe it was those girls off of Buckwild. 2)West Virginians like to shoot guns. It's no surprise to me that they got together to shoot a bunch of guns and have fun. They like to shoot guns and ride four-wheelers. Woo! BuckWild! 3)Not very many people I know sext on a regular basis. There are a few, but I mean, what school doesn't have those girls/boys that like to show off their bodies. It's just Buckwild if you ask me. 4)This is ridiculous. They were just tryin' to be like the Buckwild crew. They shouldn't have been suspended for a harlem shake video. That school probably has way worse problems.

2-26-13 BR

Sleep texting is a weird topic. I don't know of ever doing it. I think people are just tired and not paying attention. I don't think it's real.

2-25-13 BR

Wv is a state full of guns. It's ridiculous that this is still the bellringer topic. We've had the same topic 400 times. It's about time everyone realized that crazy people are going to kill people no matter what their utensil.

People who made a difference

==Martin King Jr. aug 28, 1953, mlk jr made his I had a dream speech. he was shot apr 9, 1968 Day mlk jr was buried ==Harvy Milk Gay rights activist first gay city commissioner multiple job titles in the Navy football in highschool protected gay rights by passing laws killed 1978 by a man who shot him from NYC origionally ==Dorothy Hodgkins Scientist worked with crystalography x-ray like used it to find the structure of pinicillin and vitamin D English parents studied at Oxford and University of Cambridge Nobel prize in chemistry crowfoot was her nickname ==Einstien great thinker march 14 1879 born in germany jewish high school dropout had illegitament daughter E=MC2 1905 was his most successful year 1921 nobel prize ==Gandhi married at 14 arranged child birth studied law in London Civil rights for indians arranged 240mile march started mar 12 1940 to protest salt act got arrested created a type of protest called sadia ghaha (idk) assassinated on jan 40 1948 ==Churchhill one of the best known politicians in British history 2 time Prime Minister Lord of admirality refused to surrender against Germany ==Tubman suffered from something father was freed from slavery at 45 1849 Hariet escaped slavery one of the first women to lead people into war born as a slave in Maryland ==Nightengale may 12 1820 born youngest of 2 kids active in um...idk that word at a young age age 16 she wanted to be a nurse created the Red Cross tokk 250k and made an establishment to train nurses ==Jane Goodall apr 3 1934 born tanzania studied the history of chimps still alive had a cat at the age of 47 as first pet over 47 different awards for what she did Oxford University ==

2-22 BR

The mountain state is also a lot smaller and less populated than a bunch of other states. The mental health probably has a lot to do with stupid people being misdiagnosed and believing their doctors. If you go in and say you have a stomach ache in this state, you could come out with ADD or Pregnancy, even if you're a man.

2-22 BR

Gas shouldn't have any more ethanol that what is already in it. In specialty equipment like fourwheelers and other high output vehicles, this gas makes the engine way less reliable. It cannot be much different in a car or truck. The performance and gas mileage will decrease and engine failures will increase.

2-21-13 BR

That guy is an idiot. Racism shouldn't still be around in 2013. He needs to be sued or just punched in the face. Who cares what color the person is, as long as they're qualified.

2-20-13 BR

I do not think it's needed. Everyone will have their right to vote. The black community makes up a good portion of the United States. It's extremely unlikely that they will lose that right.

2-19-13 BR

I don't think you should absolutely have to go to war. It would create a socialistic environment. The rich people still wouldn't have to go.

2-14-13 BR

The birth rate is at an all time low. People don't need kids to help them on the farm, so they decide to save themselves headaches. Birth control has evolved a lot.

2-13-13 BR

I think that the word Obama should have been focused on would be debt or guns. It has a lot of America worrying what is going to happen in the future.

2-12-13 BR

I think that we should just take out any country's ability to produce nuclear weapons. There is no need for them as we saw in Hiroshima. We don't even need them except to prevent others from having them.

2-11-13 BR

I don't really think Obama is going to fix as much as what he put into the debt, but we will see. He alone doubled the debt. He's been the worst president as of debt. Maybe he should talk about why he shouldn't have been elected.

2-7-13 BR

I don't think they should take away everyone's guns. Tighter qualifications should be set in place to get more guns. Let them do what they want.

2-6-13 BR

I think that it's cool that they're trying to integrate technology into classrooms, but it's a pain to have to switch between computers and text books. It takes a while to just get the computers to boot up. Around ten minutes of class time is wasted by getting them out.

1-31-13 BR

I don't think gun control should be the argument, but instead: national debt. Maybe we should try to escape the route we've been taking for the past decade and turn it around. We've just been digging a deeper hole.

1-30-13 BR

I think that if you get a college degree you might as well try to find a job in the field. You would have a much better life than someone without one, so why would you waste time and money to not use it? That's not the smartest of ideas.

1-29-13 BR

It shouldn't really matter who joins the BSA. Girls and Boys can join a similar group called a "venture group" which is the same thing almost. They do a bunch of high adventure activities including rock climbing and canoeing.

1-16-13 BR

Who cares what he wants on his liscense plate? Do we care what goes down his toilet, because if not, this shouldn't matter either. The American people are way too nosey in a politician's personal life. A liscense plate isn't the end of the world.

1-15-13

West Virginia and a few other states didn't have anything to say about the gun control policy. I'm sure that some of the rednecks would make us have one less senator if he tried to do something like that. Tomblin did inquire how citizens don't need magazines with hundreds of rounds in them though. That is something that makes sense.

1-14-13 BR

I'm glad that they aren't going to pass a weapons ban. Why would you take away guns from people who register them rather than the ones who obtain them illegally? That's ignorant to think that it would stop a gunman.

1-28-13 BR

I don't think I'd vote for her as a president. Other countries probably wouldn't respect us because a man wouldn't be the "most powerful man in the world." It's hard to tell what all would happen to our country. It's not that she isn't as smart, but it would be awful.

1-22-13 assignment

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day along with the inauguration of the United States president, Barack Obama. He was sworn in on the 21st due to the fact that the 20th was a Sunday, which makes it so he couldn't be sworn into office. Many highlights included the day’s events. Everything from gay rights to climate change was addressed. Many people were skeptical as to his inclusion of gays into his speech, but it seemed to work out well. He basically said, “If everyone is created equal, why don’t we act like it?” I can agree with this statement, but everyone knows it’s hard to treat everyone exactly the same because we don’t have the same views about everything. Even if you don’t agree, you should still accept the fact that they’re human beings. Climate change was another topic during the inauguration. He explained how it is not a myth and why we should be worried. He furthered that he is going to do his best to fight back at nature so we do not “betray” the children and future generations. He is pushing for cars to get almost sixty miles per gallon by 2025. My Pontiac g6 gets around twenty-eight on a good day while driving on a long trip without many turns. It may be a big number, but they are already making cars with over forty miles per gallon engines. Hopefully the droughts and extraordinary heat will be silenced with all of the new climate restrictions.

12 2012 events

Top 12 News Stories of2012 1. Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting 2. U.S. Election 3. Super storm Sandy 4. Iphone 5 5. World Ending 6. Video Games 7. Gas Prices 8. WBC 9. Gay Marriage/ Chick-fil-a 10. Lance Armstrong 11. The Fall of Gen. David Petraeus 12. Mass Shooting at Aurora and Oak Creek 1. Sandy Hook Shooting December 14, 2012 is a date most of us will remember. It's the day that Adam Lanza killed twenty-six people in an elementary school. Twenty students and six adult members of the school were shot and killed with a semi-automatic assault weapon. It claims the title of second most deadly school shooting of all time and the second deadliest mass murder at an elementary school. The Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 is the deadliest shooting, and the 1927 Bath School bombing in Michigan was the deadliest elementary school mass murder. It's hard to fathom what the families and friends of the victims went through over the Christmas break this year with the Westboro Baptist Church extremist group pestering them in every way possible. It's hard enough when a family member passes away, let alone twenty-six children. The WBC decided that they would try and picket the funerals of them saying how they thank God for fulfilling his will against a country with gay marriage. Hundreds of firefighters and other members of the community made a wall so they couldn't get through. 2.U.S election This year's election was highly anticipated by many from racists to saints to coal-activists. Not a single county in the great state of West Virginia was an Obama county. In our own county, over 3800 voted for Romney while under 1800 voted for Obama. He won by such a big margin due to electoral votes. It should be the number of votes received rather than "electoral" votes in my opinion. Obama would have won either way, but not by near as much as he won by. Romney was an idiot, but he should have had a chance to try to change our nation since Obama didn't really do anything good for the nation in his past four years of office. He might as well have just drunk coffee all day long every day. At least he can't screw up much more in the next four years and probably less than Romney would have. 3. Super Storm Sandy Formed on October 22, 2012 and dissipated on October 31, 2012, Hurricane Sandy rocked North-Eastern America's world. Over $63 billion in damages were caused by good ol' Sandy and helped us escape school for a week. Only Katrina did more damage to the United States as a hurricane. A predicted 10 million Americans went without power for at least a few days. Sandy affected around 24 states including mostly all of the eastern side of America. Fifteen thousand homes were destroyed and hundreds of people died. With all of the snow it brought, ski resorts were able to open in November. This was the earliest opening of Snowshoe Mountain in over ten years. Their opening day was during Thanksgiving break from school and has opened almost every trail due to the super-storm. Many people from many different countries were affected due to the huge beast that started as a wave. 4. Iphone 5 Arguably the most anticipated phone of 2012, the touch screen Apple smartphone was quite a shocker on its day of release. Over two million devices were sold to patiently waiting, hungry customers in the first twenty-four hours of its debut. There aren't very many features that people don't like because it's basically the Iphone 4s 2. The only really big improvements are the bigger screen and the thinner profile. It also comes with 4G LTE and a faster processor. According to CNet, a couple things are unfinished on the handheld. One of these is that Apple Maps is glitchy and not as great as Google Maps. Another lacking feature is NFC. NFC or Near-Field-Communication is one of the upcoming features of all smartphones. It's already incorporated in Samsung's GS3 and Note2. We will have to wait and see which device will be the top selling. 5. The End of the World The "end of the world" occurred on December 21, 2012. According to the Mayan Calender, the Earth's cycle was supposed to start over. Many people interpreted this as being the end of the world and that Jesus would return to Earth. If you're a religious person to begin with, the Bible states that no one will know when God will end the world. Obviously they were wrong in every way possible. The only thing that we got on the 21st was a little bit of snow. Maybe that's what the conspiracy theorists were talking about, the end of the world for grass. Maybe the grass will re-sprout next year. I'm sure that people who believed in this day were quite disappointed when they woke up and it was sunny outside. I'm sure that there were people who went out and bought tons of canned food, milk, and some batteries to last a couple more months than everyone else. I, myself, bought some ski wax to get ready for Snowshoe. 6. Video Games There were a few new game releases this year that wowed the GameStop's around the world. Halo 4 was probably one of the most anticipated games of this year. Halo is based around aliens and big guns. You go around and kill everything in sight and hope to not get murdered by the Covenant or Forerunners. They are the two "bad guy" groups that try to take over Earth and mostly succeed. It's a pretty fun game. Another game of the year was Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Call of Duty, manufactured by two different video game companies, is a huge franchise that little kids everywhere anxiously wair until December 25 to receive. It is a war game based around many different wars that the U.S. has either been a part of or just made up. The new game is based around a futuristic type of warfare. They come out with a new one every November. 7. Gas Prices As all of us who drive know, gas prices have been quite ridiculous this past year. 2012 marked the highest national average in gas prices to date: $3.60. The next two most expensive driving years were second 2011 and third 2008. In 2011, gas prices were averaged at around $3.51 while 2008 averaged $3.25. These prices have made it difficult for anyone to go out and do what they have done in the past and just go out and drive. As a teen, it’s hard for me to even get enough money to drive to school and back every other week. Not only have the prices affected teens, but almost every adult around the country that tries to buy a vehicle in the country. The average cost per year of a vehicle has also increased. Not only do you have to pay for the vehicle which is pricier than in the past, you also have to spend more on tires and maintenance as well. Both of these have also increased. 8. The Westboro Baptist Church Tragedies happen around us every day. Some of these things include deaths of soldiers, or more recently, the Sandy Hook murders. Most of us could come to tears when thinking about all of the lives lost or have hatred towards the people behind the events. The Westboro Baptist Church extremist group is quite the opposite. They go to funerals of events such as Sandy Hook or passed away soldiers and picket the events. Signs are held high with sayings like “Thank you God,” “God hates Fags,” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.” Their website (www.GodHatesFags.com) has been their main attempt at converting others to hating anyone who is gay. They are one of the worst American hate groups of today. If you see their signature rainbow colored picket signs, you know there will soon be trouble to follow. They have been attacked by many including hacker group “Anonymous” and “The Jester” by having their websites taken down and causing many damages. 9. The Chick-Fil-A controversy. Everyone loves the delicious chicken brought to us every day by the fast food giant we call Chick-fil-A. They offer everything with options of chicken and pickles or just regular chicken breast on a bun. The controversy surrounding the company was about the owner’s traditional values when it comes to anything from recreation the marriage. For this reason, Chick-fil-A is not open on Sundays because Sunday is the day of rest in Christian society. In one interview, the chief operating officer, Dan Cathy, stated how he opposed same sex marriage. In fact, the family run business has donated millions of dollars towards ex-gay rehabilitation and other anti-gay foundations. As you can imagine, gay rights groups everywhere went into protest mode. A few cities including Chicago denied the company to open up any more stores without working with LGBT groups across the nation in terms of hiring. Many people still support the company because gay people work there. To me, it was a lot bigger than what it needed to be. 10. Lance Armstrong Lance Armstrong, the seven time Tour-de-France winner, had his medals completely stripped due to blood doping charges. Honestly, I think it’s quite stupid that he alone should be charged with all of these charges and be the center of attention for all of the cycling drug use in the huge race. Actually, the top 10 finishers in the tour also happened to be doping. Sorry, but he should be able to keep his medals if everyone else was doing the EXACT same thing. Since he’s an American favorite, he got in trouble while no one else did. If you go back and look at the history of cycling, it’s basically like the history of baseball. Everyone in baseball took steroids the same as everyone who rode a bike for distance added red blood cells to their blood stream. I mean heck, it might as well just be legal. He shouldn't get his medals stripped and will still be the best ever. It doesn't matter what the critics say. 11. the fall of gen. p General Petraeus, one of the most decorated generals of his generation, subdued Iraq and steered the course for exit in Afghanistan. His career began to unravel on Nov. 7, 2012 when his boss, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, confronted Petraeus about his affair with his 40-year-old biographer, Paula Broadwell. Clapper urged Petraeus to resign, and Petraeus agreed that he had no other choice. Soon after this day, the rest America would begin to learn about a different side of Petraeus. Petraeus and Broadwell met while both were stationed at Camp Cupcake, The headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. The two formed a bond. After his stint in Afghanistan, Patraeus was appointed director of the CIA and retired from the military. His life took a major turn. An old friend who remains in contact with Petraeus put it this way: “He didn’t realize how much retirement [from the military] affected him personally. As that sank in, he hit a low point. His affair with Broadwell began about two months into his CIA tenure. The affair would not have precipitated Petraeus’s downfall if the FBI hadn’t decided to investigate. It all began when the FBI fielded a complaint from a neighbor that she was being harassed via email by Broadwell. When agents began looking at these emails, they wondered if she posed a threat to Petraeus’ safety. When the affair was discovered, agents had to examine the possibility that she was extracting secrets from Petraeus for a foreign intelligence service.Iinvestigators also looked for evidence that Petraeus had disclosed classified information to Broadwell. No evidence supported that theory. The FBI also looked at whether Petraeus might have been involved in Broadwell’s alleged cyber-harassment of Kelley. All of these led to dead ends. There was no evidence of a crime, only the tell-tale emails of a love affair that had recently ended by mutual consent. The FBI interviewed both Petraeus and Broadwell. Both denied that the CIA director had leaked any classified information to Broadwell. As the investigation continued, more people were informed. In the end, General Petraeus resigned from his post of CIA director. 12. Mass Shootings at Oak Creek and Aurora Two mass shooting involving unarmed civilians occurred two weeks apart. These rocked America’s summer and raised new anxieties of gun violence. The first of these shooting took place on July 20th in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. During a screening of The Dark Knight Rises, a gunman carrying multiple firearms, grenades and combat armor burst in and opened fire. 12 people were killed and dozens more were injured. The randomness of this shooting was troubling and led to fear among many Americans. The next incident took place on august 5th in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. During this incident a shooter ran into a Sikh temple and killed six people before exchanging fire with a police officer and then shooting himself in the head. Both of these incidents crowded the front pages of national as well as local newspapers and were reported by all major news stations. Many questions arose such as the ability of the 24-year-old Aurora gunman acquiring such firepower very easily and the racism of the Oak Creek gunman. While the randomness of Aurora seemed like a threat to all, the incident at Oak Creek seemed too directed towards one religious group. Due to this, the Aurora shooting gained much more media attention.

1-3-13 BR

It's awful to think that someone had to come home to someone else all in their business. People should just mind their own and keep their hands to themselves. I feel sorry for the folks.

1-2-13 fiscal cliff assignment

Last night, President Barack Obama signed a "fiscal cliff" plan into effect. This plan made it so we wouldn't go into another recession. It does not look like it's making much of a difference when you read percentages, but when you look at real numbers, you see a totally different side of the plan. This plan was put into effect so that our economy would stay stable and keep the world economy stable in the process. Our nation has to buy stuff. Without us compiling our money to pay the deficit, the whole world would suffer. What is the fiscal cliff? Well, it's a 4.6% increase in taxes to the rich while keeping the middle class taxes from spiking. This will in total within ten years create over 600 billion dollars. It raises taxes from 35% to 39.6% with a maximum tax of 40%. It's a good thing that it only applies to individuals making over $400,000 and couples making over $450k a year. If this applied to the working class of Americans, they probably could not even afford the house that they currently live inside of. It's hard enough with the tax now. It saves over 30,000,000 homes from the tax raise. At least Obama knows that if you can live on $100,000 you can live on $400,000 easier. Another job of the bill was extending the payment of those without a job. Unemployment has been decently higher than what anyone wants. Now, unemployment can be received for up to one year instead of getting none at all if the plan wouldn't have passed. It saved our country for the better or worse.