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.

Student with Gun within School Area

There has been an ongoing controversy at Willows High School in Willows, California. Gary Tudesko, a 17-year-old junior was on the verge of being kicked out of school, because of having two shotguns, shells, and a hunting knife within his pickup. Gary was coming back from an early morning hunt and did not want to be late for school. By doing so, Gary parked across the street near a tennis court, which was on a public street. By doing this, he thought it was much safer than parking in the school area, because of the searches they do. Although Gary thought he was safe and was not doing anything wrong, he was. School officials found out about the weapons and immediately called in Gary. He fessed up that they were his weapons and had parked off school grounds, because of the threat from the weapons. This situation started on October 26, 2009 and finally got figured out today (January 23, 2010). Willows principal stated, "We are just trying to keep our school systems safe. We take into consideration of what can happen and how fast these things really can happen." School officials state that they decided to kick Gary out, because of this action and other actions that he been involved in before this incident. Gary stated, "I had no intention of doing anything wrong or hurting anyone. I didn't want this to escalate into something like it did. I can't take anything for granted." By having this situation appealed, Willows are forced to take all expulsion records off and pay for the Tudesko's cost for the appeal. The investigation found that Gary had no effective actions that would have done actions with these weapons. Gary's attorney stated that "Gary was in class and never possessed the weapons as a threat towards the other students. The truck was parked off of school property and was not in a general area of getting searched." The school and others feel that they have covered this issue a very high importance and feel that this issue is very important. Gary plans on being a game warden or a park ranger.
I can see where this can be a problem. Although Gary had the weapons off of school property, it still puts a thought into school officials with all of the shootings that have happened throughout the last few years. Students are becoming smarter about how to do these things and how they can get it accomplished. Although this situation was blown out of proportion, we need to have that security for our students.