Bomb Scare in NYC-Time Square

Last Saturday, May 1st, Times Square in New York City got a big scare that no one had any idea what was going on. Everyone was told to get out and go find somewhere safe. An attempted suicide bomber left an SUV with "explosive elements" within the vehicle. A NYPD spokesman stated that the "explosive elements" included powder, gas, propane, and some weird looking wires hooked up to a clock. He stated that there were not any high explosive elements, in which they were happy considering the type of situation they were in. Until they knew what type of situation it was, they called in the bomb squad and used a robot in order to check out the surroundings and what all was included in the SUV. They didn't know what was going on many on-lookers stated. The people in the area stated that they hear a poof and then a bunch of smoke started coming out of the broken back window of the SUV. People were running everywhere, while officers tried to block off the street to keep people away from the scene.
Today, officials stated that Pakistani Taliban were the ones behind this whole attack that failed. With many conflicts and claims coming up with who was behind the problem and where, they believe they have the right person. White House counter terrorism advisor John Brennan said that we believe that Faisal Shahzad directed in behalf of the Taliban in Pakistan. They also believe that he funded the planned attack. Faisal and his group are tied tin and are very close with Al-Queda. "They train together, they plan together, they plot together, and they attack together. There almost indistinguishable, Brennan said."
They have now published this story on ABC's, "This Week," stating that they have developed evidence that the Pakistani Taliban were behind this failed attack. "We know that they helped get it finalized. They probably helped them finalize it and also figure out how to get away with it over here." Shahzad was arrested Monday with connection to the plot of bombing Times Square in New York City. Investigators said that they had no idea that Shahzad was involved or had any type of connection with the plot.
Do you think we have enough security and things here in the U.S. to stay and provide safety to us? It's really hard to say, because we do a pretty good job today. It is pretty easy to make bombs and they can get whatever they need in order to make them over here. But with this being so easy, what can we do to eliminate or decrease things like this? Stopping things like this will not be easy, but we need to find a way to keep the public safe.

Tonado hits Mississippi

Last Saturday, a horrible tornado hit and went through the rural countryside of Yazoo City, Mississippi. Those high winds from the tornado ripped many roofs and buildings away from the city of around 28,000. While hitting Mississippi, they tornado traveled over 150 miles in the state. From an updated report from today, they stated that over 100 homes had been torn away or had definite damage. Viewers of the storm said it was very enormous. Storm researchers said the heavy winded tornado was almost a mile wide. This tornado covered almost over 10 miles long and was just one of the many tornados that started and hit the southeast part of the country. This same exact storm went from Louisiana to Alabama and hit Mississippi very hard. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) stated that they had found and stated that they had found ten dead people. Over twelve other people had severely injured from the tornado. They don't know how many more people are injured or have died, but they definitely don't like what they have seen so far while working on the picking up stage of the storm. They also said that twelve different counties were hit in Mississippi from the tornado.
Many people say that they knew about the storm that was coming, but is upset that people were killed and severely hurt. They had some very goofy looking skies people said and the were getting pounded with rain before this tornado started. Many of the counties in the three states, mainly Mississippi, had many tornado warnings. We knew that the storm was coming, we just didnt know how bad it was going to get, people said. There was many broken trees over roads, downed power lines, and many homes destroyed. Many people want to go out and see the damage that happened. But there is many problems with people doing so. It slows down the research teams and the safety is very uncertain. Many wires are down, so electrical shock and other things can severely hurt people while they are looking around at the damages done.
A man said that the storm threw him almost fifteen feet into the air. He got trapped in an area and wanted to get out of his vehicle. Many people saw this and feel/think that you need to do whatever you can in order to stay alive. These people know the damages that tornadoes can cause and feel that you need to do right. They feel that you shouldn't just do what you think is right. Do what they tell you about getting to a safe area and wait until the storm has passed. Many people just try to run from these storms and they get caught in them.
This was just the beginning of the storm season down south. There are always storms that hit down there and people need to prepare for things to happen. Tornadoes are something that do happen, but keeping yourself safe is the number one thing that needs to happen in the threat of a storm.

WV Mines

Coal Mines have always been a dangerous thing. Working in them are a death waiting to happen. Last Monday in West Virginia, twenty-nine coal mine workers died. This happened when a devastating mine blew in the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia. This has been reported that this has been the worst explosion in a coal mine since 1970, when thirty-eight people were killed in Hyden, Kentucky.
They were able to pull seven dead miners out right away, but they had to pull out of the mine because of the dangerous gases that were in the mine. After pulling out, they figured out that they passed by four other miners when they pulled the other seven miners out. With the knowledge that they had on the four miners, they hoped that they were able to get to a safe refuge chamber that was stocked with water, food, and oxygen. Then the bad news came that they did not get to the chamber. When the rescue miners went in there right away, they were not able to locate the first four miners, because of all the smoke, dust, and debris in the air. Also, the rescue miners could not move around very well with all the boulders and other obstacles in their way.
They have not stated what had caused the blast, but they think that there was extremely high levels of methane gas located within the mine. This place has been fined before for having a high amount of methane gas located within the mines and made them pull their men out for a while. Obama stated that, "We can not bring back those men that we lost. We need to do a better job in taking precautionary steps so these explosions do not happen again." Miners that were able to escape from the mine said, "You'll never, ever forget, but you have to go on."
This really puts a toll on the families. Everyday these mine workers question themselves if they are doing the right thing by putting themselves in a dangerous condition all the time. Most of them do it for the great money, but is it really worth it for the dangerous conditions and the health problems that many of the workers get? I think that this is getting out of control with the amount of lives that we are losing and the amount of problems that we are having these mines. We need to find a better way in order to protect the people that are working for us in these mines.

Legalize Marijuana?

It has been officially set. California residents will now decide on whether or not that marijuana should be legalized in the state. If this would get passed on while voting upon, it would add another $1.4 billion to the state and its revenue. California Secretary confirmed last Wednesday that they had gotten and received enough signatures in order to have AB 390, legalizing marijuana, added to the November 2nd ballot. They received over 694,000 signatures, which surpassed they required signatures by over 259,000. This idea has changed a lot from when it first came out last year around this time. This bill is regulated and taxed almost like alcohol is today. People would have to be 21 years or older, in order to possess, cultivate, or transport marijuana for proper use. Also, they could only have or produce an ounce at a time.They would also make it necessary to have these people that use it to use it in a private place. People would get into severe trouble if they have this in public, around minors, or around school grounds.
Some people are extremely upset with this being put on the upcoming ballot. Many people state that this will start up an even more disastrous problems then before and will make a worse underground economy behind all of this. They also think that they we will start to see more impaired driving, fatalities, injuries, and crashes that would be caused from the legalization of marijuana. Although these people say this, when California did a pole in April of last year, over 56% of the population said that they would support the legalization of marijuana. But in April, it went down to 44%. With this happening, it is hard to tell what is going to happen in the November vote.
I agree with some of the people that disagree with the legalizing of marijuana. I think that we will see those crashes and fatalities go up if this does happen, because more people will think that they will be able to do it a lot more. People will think that they will be able to get away with everything a lot more and I think they will start to push things farther. This will make a negative effect on not only California, but also the whole economy. If this does happen, I don't see this turning into a good thing at all.

Late Night Buzz

As we all know, Jay Leno made his return back to late night television not too long ago. Many were questioning Jay Leno and NBC, because they were wondering if it was the right move. With the controversy happening, many people wanted Jay Leno back. Leno had the highest ratings and eventually gave them to fellow opponent, David Letterman, once Leno went to the earlier time slot. Leno then started to become the hit theme on Ferguson, Lettermen, and other peoples hit list for jokes. The biggest joke that is talked about was said by David Letterman. He said, "Jay is like a whack-a-mole. You think you have canceled him and he pops up on another time period." Jay Leno is not very happy with his image that he had received from leaving and also from his opponents on late night tv. He says that he will be working very hard to fix and overcome this image that has got placed on him. He states that it is a good feeling to be back at home. He says that this will be a big test for him, because many of his viewers were in a schedule to watch him at 11:30 and now they may have changed their viewing and their habits. It will be a test of what I can do in order to be on top.
Many people say that all Jay Leno has to do is be funnier. Reports have stated that Jay Leno has been funnier, but he has proved that he still has it with his viewers and rankings. Over the last few weeks, Jay Leno has been doing that. Just this past Thursday, Leno blew out all of the other late shows. Leno had over 5.1 million viewers, when Letterman was only able to draw in 3.9 million. With this happening, the late-late shows have been dying slowly. Ferguson and Fallon have both slipped under the 2 million viewer range.
Is Jay Leno doing the right thing in order to get back on top? Many people see his popularity as a person, but think his comedy and jokes are old and reoccurring. If you ever watch these late shows, look forward to seeing Jay Leno on top of the charts. Just because he had left and then has come back into the late night spotlight, doesn't mean it will come automatically. Jay Leno is great at what he does and will continue to be a big hit.

More Problems in the Winter Olympics.

More problems are currently happening with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Things went from bad to even worse in just a couple of days. If you guys are familiar with the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger, they are having problems with the same track in which he was killed. They felt that they had everything in check until that day Nodar did the unthinkable and went up and over the track and hit the steel pole and was killed instantly. The Luge track is used and just extended for the bobsled races. Many people are having a serious problem with this track, because of all of the crashes going on. Just on the first day of training, seven bobsled teams crashed while doing testing runs. In the first week, they had 14 crashes. Since that week, more crashes have happened. The safety and the speed concerns are constantly brought up. They have reported that the runs have been reported as over 90 miles per hour. Some of the participants have even been taken out of the races, because they received injuries like concussions, bruises, broken bones, etc. Crashes are very common especially in training runs, because the teams are trying to find the right tracks. By doing so, they will be able to have their best runs once the competition officially starts. Officials say that they have no intention on changing the course. They state that they have done everything so that the course is safe. The participants are the ones that are hurting themselves. Also, the psychological effects on the participants are the worst effect on them. Many coaches were constantly after the officals to make changes, but nothing got changed. This was very dissapointing to hear, because of hearing all of the injuries that were happening. After seeing and hearing about Nodar's death and maybe even crashing, they are holding back and causing their own injuries. Are officials taking this event way to serious, so they aren't putting the participants health into effect? I feel that they are not putting much thought into this. The speed is one of the biggest things that needs to be changed I feel. Going over 90 miles per hour down a track with only a helmet on is nuts. Although the adrenaline probably has a lot to do with it, throwing your body down that track is crazy!

Recruiting. Something getting out of control?

Every year around early February, there is always a big deal going on with College Football Recruiting. Whenever you turn on your television to a sports channel during this time, you always hear about the big time recruits and what offers they have been given to play football. Although you can give your commitment early to the college, February 3rd is national signing day for football. After all this hype got over on this day, a new recruit came onto the scene. David Sills, a 13-year-old quarterback from Delaware, already committed to the University of Southern California to play college football. Is this not crazy or is it just me? Offering a scholarship to a 13-year-old kid is outrageous. Many people are wondering what is this going to do to recruiting at the college level. Is it going to change it some, a lot, or definitely? The verdict is still out there, but many people don't understand this and why you would invest in someone so young. You hear about players getting offers maybe their junior year, but not when they're only a seventh grader. Recruits say that David has the potential to become another one of the great quarterbacks at USC. Although he goes down to California once a year and works out with the quarterback trainer, Steve Clarkson, that has worked with Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley. Does that make him that great of a player at the age of thirteen? He states that David is the most impressive thing he has seen from a kid that is that young. Players say that sometimes making a commitment early is better, because it takes the recruiting process off of their backs and they can just fully commit to the game of football. But how does a 13-year-old quarterback do that? That is over 5 years of playing football still. I think the pressure would be greater on him, because everyone knows where he is going and if he doesn't do well then it is a down effect on the program of USC. Although he does all of the football things well now, the real question is he going to develop fully into a college football player and make it at a HUGE Division 1 college like USC? In 5 years, many things can go wrong like severe injuries, grades, not developing fully, etc. I feel that colleges should focus on just a few years of their programs in developing or continuing their success, rather than worrying about someone that wont make an impact on your program for over 6 years.