Questions on Abortion

Coming into the unit of abortion I was uncertain of where I stood in terms of my stance for pro-life or pro-choice, but after viewing the film Unborn in the USA it gave me a little more closure to my opinion on this controversial topic. When watching this film I believe my views on the topic seemed to be leaning towards the pro-life side over the pro-choice side, but with regulations going along with it. I do believe that the government should have involvement with this topic because without government control only more violence would occur, and the actions of keeping it legal is the right thing to do. Though I am a pro-choice advocate I think the law should still be legal because it several situations the parents just do not have the ability to be able to raise a child and may be forced to have an abortion, so I believe this option should still be available to people in today's society. On the pro-life side of it where my opinion is swayed to, people should not have abortions because they are brutally ending the lives of infants who have a chance to succeed in this world and are not given any opportunities by the parents. This is a difficult topic for me to grasp because I am not strongly opposed to one side, but I think that the parents should at least give the children a chance to live and if they cannot afford to raise the child they can put it up for adoption and allow it to move on in their lives with another family. From the video Unborn in the USA there were clinics where abortions where occurring in the second trimester of pregnancy which is just completely unacceptable because they are causing extreme pain to these infants at this point and if mothers are going to have an abortion they should be having them way before the second trimester so that the infant doesn't feel any pain in the process. Abortion laws have been legal for years and the government should maintain this process, but I think that they have to step in and make some more regulations to the laws. They should make it illegal to have an abortion in the second trimester or later because through many researches the fetus feels pain at this point in the pregnancy and doctors should not have the ability to cause pain to these unborn children. Some states in the U.S. have different opinions on this topic causing them to avoid or promote the process of abortion by having more or less abortion clinics and it seems like the government cannot really do much to make a change to this process. The government should not be able to control how many abortion clinics there are in each state, but they should eliminate any abortion clinics providing late abortions. Overall this topic has been hard for me to be strongly opinionated on one side, but I believe that abortions need to stop occurring especially in the process of having them late in the pregnancy where it causes fetal pain and at the same time the government should keep abortion legal with regulations to give everyone the freedoms that are available in this country.

Newtown Shooting

On Friday December 14, 2012, 20 year-old Adam Lanza stormed into a elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and killed the innocent lives of 20 children and 6 staff members making it the worse school shooting of all time. Prior to arriving to the school Lanza stole three guns from his mother's house where he shot her immediately. Lanza's mother was known for going target shooting with her sons on a regular basis which may have been one of the factors leading to Adam Lanza taking these guns and committing this terrible crime. This terrible tragedy can be compared to some of the shootings in the past such as the Columbine shooting, and Virginia Tech shooting, but this one involved the lives of several children that barely got a chance to live their life. There are many issues being discussed within this incident from gun control to mental illness, but I believe that the mental illness is the more important factor when dealing with these  problems. With the aspect of gun control people believe that since they have the right to bear arms from the Constitution that they have the ability to own these guns, but I think the restrictions for the people that own the guns needs to be much stricter and there needs to be an important reason for the owners to have the guns. Beyond the aspect of gun control is the problem of mental illness within the country that causes these psychos to act out and commit these unexplainable crimes. By some reporters on stations like ABC and NBC it was reported that Adam Lanza had a form of autism(aspergers) which may have been a factor into the choices that Lanza made in this crime. I did not see any full evidence yet that he had this condition, and I do not think this is the problem with his mental illness. I am not a doctor but Lanza must have had some mental illness going on in his head because people do not just go out and kill a bunch of innocent kids for no reason. There must something mentally wrong with him to go out and do this and there needs to be a change in this world so tragedies like this don't occur again. I believe President Obama should advocate to the world for people with any types of mental problems to go and see doctors/counselours to help solve their problems in some ways so this world could be much safer and can prevent these events from happening in the future.

Another Football Tragedy

On December 8, 2012 Dallas Cowboys Linebacker Jerry Brown was killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver. Early Saturday morning it was found that Josh Brent a close friend and teammate of Brown was intoxicated while driving his Mercedes-Benz on the highway at 2:30 in the morning where the car skidded off of the road, flipped at least one time and then went into burning flames. Brent who was driving the car was charged with intoxicated manslaughter after the incident and replied that he was "devastated with grief" as he was the man held responsible for the lost life of one of his best friends. Over the years there have been several incidents involving football players and their arrests of having DUI's and the numbers are only increasing. It is unbelievable of the stupid decisions that these players make as they work so hard to get to where they are in a successful position and then they throw it all away by choosing the make these decisions. The NFL has been cracking down of these players by suspending them indefinitely for their incidents with the law, but it doesn't seem as if they are making an impact on the decisions the players make. The NFL cannot do anything to make these players avoid these situations since they cannot tell them what to do, but I think the consequences should be more than a suspension of a few games. They should increase the amount of games the players are suspended and should fine them as well. The players are continuing to make these choices and a message needs to be sent by Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL Association to try and make a change to the culture of many of these players lives. Tragedies seem to occur every year involving players with arrests and deaths and this needs to come to a stop because it is causing hardships on the families of these players. The Cowboys were able to overcome the weekend tragedies and hit a game-winning field goal at the end of the game to get a win yesterday against the Bengals, and these teams try to use this as motivation to play better and dedicate their hard work to the ones affected. If found guilty on this incident Josh Brent could face up to 20 years in prison and these actions made may have ended his career as a NFL football player.

Hall of Fame Questions

As the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame approaches there are several questions to who should be voted in and the justifications for certain players as they are now eligible to be inducted. Players such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire are eligible to be inducted into to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but they definitely do not deserve to be voted in. All of these players were some of the best players to ever play in the game, but much of their success were due to the cheating involved in their success. These players were the start of the steroid era where a huge number of the players in the league at the time were using this drug to drastically increase their overall strength and give them an unfair advantage over the other players. These players were already having success in their careers, but in order to have an edge over the competition they decided to use steroids to have unbelievable statistics to help them in being recognized around the world and to receive long term contracts to be successful for life. Barry Bonds seems to have the best argument for being inducted into the Hall of Fame, not because he is the all-time home run leader, but because the success he had in his career before he started taking steroids. Early in his career when he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates he was known for his ability to have incredible speed and power and his abilities were vivid through his statistics. The part of his ability to making it in the Hall of Fame is the fact that it is unclear to when he starting taking the steroids and when they made an impact on his game. Even if all these players had great careers before being involved with steroids, it is not enough to overpower the unethical moves they made to cheat their way against the competition and they should never have a chance to make it to this honorary place. The questions for these players that took steroids is similar to Pete Rose's situation as he was one of the best players of all time, but was not voted into the Hall of Fame yet because of his involvement with gambling and betting on the games he was involved in. I strongly believe that Rose should be voted into the Hall of Fame because he never did anything to have an unfair advantage over the rest of the players in the league and never cheated the game as a whole just like these players mentioned above. Rose, the all-time hits leader deserves to receive this honor because he played the game the right way and clearly has the stats to prove he belongs to be with the rest of baseball's greats.

Add another tally to NCAA investigations

The University of California Los Angeles have recruited the number two player in the country Shabazz Muhammad over the past spring to come play for their basketball program. This basketball phenomenon was suspended for the first three games of the season due to a ineligibility when the NCAA student-athlete guidelines were violated. As several players in the past have been found to have accepted different benefits to come play for different programs, the same situation occurred here with Muhammad who was forced to pay back over $1,600 in imperishable benefits in order for him to become eligible for the season. The competition by all universities causes them to go out of the way and offer illegal benefits to the players to convince them into playing for their program. The college system is so corrupt as these type of investigations will continue as more players and coaches are found guilty of accepted certain benefits. For example, players such as Reggie Bush from USC and Terrel Pryor from Ohio State, received free merchandise such as houses, cars, and tattoo which swayed them into playing for those school programs. Now these schools are facing the consequences of not having the opportunity to play in bowl games because of the decisions made by the university and the players in a scewed way of recruiting. I think these universities have to stop crossing the lines in order to recruit these players because it will just create a bad reputation for the program and will eventually sway players in other directions. Though I think this should stop, these methods by the universities will always exist because the competition to get the best players to have the best team in the country will continue and some athletic departments will do anything in their willpower to have certain players attend their school. Luckily for Muhammad the benefits he received were not to significant and he became eligible to play in his first college game last night after serving a three game suspension and he dropped 15 points in his debut for UCLA.

5-hours of energy gone to waste

Over studies found by the federal government and the New York Attorney's office, through their investigation of 5-hour energy have found 13 linked deaths and 33 hospitalizations over the past for years from people using this product. In this quick and easy energy shot that is advertised worldwide by the company, they claim that it contains enough caffeine compared to 2 cups of coffee in each product. It was found by the investigations that these claims of the company are not valid as it was found that when customers consume a couple of these energy cans it is equal to up to 40 cups of coffee which is a completely dangerous amount for humans to consume. There are several health concerns with this product and the critics are worried about the underlying heart problems involved with it. I have managed to stay away from these energy products such as 5-hour energy, and other drinks such as Monster because of the experience of my brother. About 3 years ago me and my brother went to go to a basketball clinic and since he was very tired he decided to drink a can of 5-hour energy before our workout. As we started to do some ball handling drills he did a spin move and his nose started to bleed uncontrollably. He went to the bathroom to clean it up, but the blood kept pouring out and my dad had to take him to the hospital. As we went to the hospital we were optimistic to the reason for it, but the doctors said that it was due to the energy product that he took prior to basketball because I guess you are not suppose to do any activity immediately after taking the energy boost. Ever since this occurred, I have been swayed away from using the energy boosts because I think that they contain many health concerns within them and they are not worth the moment of caffeine that they contain. I believe that these companies need to make changes to their products immediately because their reputations will only get worse when more reports of injuries and deaths are linked to these products.  

iPhone No Longer on Top

As Apple has succeeded over the years with their monopoly-like business they have never experienced a stiff competition from any of its competitors to decrease the sales of their popular iPhone. As Apple saw some huge decreases in their stock during the middle part of last week it was partly linked to their iPhone Sales. The new Samsung Galaxy S3 has emerged as the number 1 phone according to their quarter 3 sales out-dueling both the iPhone 4S and the updated iPhone 5. After reading an article upon hearing this information I was completely shocked because when looking around in my community almost everyone has their hands full with an iPhone. This generation seems to be taken over with the new technology and with all the features in this Apple product, it has become a worldwide product that is becoming a part of citizens everyday lives as they can use many applications such as being updated on social media, and linked to music, games, and videos through the phone. One of the reasons that I believe the sales for this Samsung Galaxy to eclipse Apple's product for the quarter is because they have NBA superstar Lebron James endorsing the item and I believe this is linking many people to buying the product. If I ever see anybody with a Samsung phone or a different smartphone that looks like this product I and other people around me ask "is that the Lebron phone". This advertising is clearly linking to the public eye as people are attracted to the marketing strategies by Samsung and the commercials have stuck to many people. This is obviously not the only reason for the sales to be so high for this phone, but if it weren't for this endorsement of this superstar celebrity I believe the iPhone would definitely stay on top with the most sales for smart-phones.

The Death Penalty

The preliminary aspect of a capital case seemed to be designed to protect the rights of the accused because if the evidence is insufficient that could be the defendants first outlet to avoiding the death penalty as it can possibly avoid having to withstand the grand jury review. I believe the process in which is taken to determine the death penalty upon a person is sufficient in finding the guilty victims as they take several perspectives so find evidence in determining the outcome of the trial, however this system cannot guarantee anything as there are flaws in it where non-guilty vitcims are sentenced of certain crimes as some evidence may be slightly scewed as there may have not been enough scientific research done on the crime at hand to prove that all the evidence presented in the trial to be 100% true.

The new process to killing the victims by using lethal injections is the most humane way of executing the criminals as they are not putting these criminals in a long torturous death forcing them to suffer for the last part of their lives, as they inject them with the anesthetics to make a quick death that is the most humane compared to the other ones. I believe the "hanging" method is considered "cruel and unusual" because they are making these victims suffer pain for a long period of time lasting up to 45 minutes and though they should suffer for the crimes they committed, the death should be made quick and easy instead of torturing them in these cruel methods.

When looking at the data of the death penalty through the graph of the different states it is obvious that the men overpower the women in terms of death penalties. The black community has the highest number of criminals on death row followed by white, Latino, Asian and Native American. One conclusion that could be drawn from the high number of African-American criminals being sentenced to death is due to the environment that they grow up in. Many of them grow up through poor backgrounds that force them to being involved in drug dealing processes to try and make money for themselves and their families and these environments lead to involvement in gangs which lead to violence through shootings and can be a reasoning for the large number of sentences to this race. California and Florida have the most death penalty sentences, but that is also due to the size of their states. One trend that I see is that a majority of the population belongs to the southern states such as Texas, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, California, etc. which shows that these criminal acts occur more often on the southern region of the country and more murders occur in these states. As well as these states having the larger number of people on death row, many of the northern states do not have the death penalty showing a discrepancy in the values of different topics between the different regions of the United States. One of the issues that may have lead to the southern states could be the slavery involved in its history as many minorities were treated unfairly. As the African-American population has the largest number of citizens on death row, many coming from the south, could be due to the history of slavery being put in bad environments and situations and these could have led to these actions being taken as their values could be different than the rest of the society.

I believe that the policies of the Illinois Capital Murder Statue were fair as they did a good job of determining the death sentences based on the situations behind the killings and the litigating factors within the certain cases. One of the aggravating factors that I disagree with was when a person committed a murder for self-defense due to a hijacking because if they are trying to save their own life and they just act upon self-defense they should not be sentenced to death for trying to protect themselves.

One of the reasons why the Illinois death penalty is no longer in effect is because there were so many people found Innocent (20) and so many that were granted the Clemency to a new trial (187) so it seemed as the death penalty was inneffective as many were wrongly convicted.

After looking at these charts and reading all the different information it seems as if the white community has committed more murders, but blacks have more people on death row as a way higher percent of the blacks that committed their crimes were sentenced to death. This was a main factor that I did not realize in my first response, as I didn't realize how whites seemed to get out of death row more often than the blacks did. Over the years the death sentencing has dropped drastically over the years, which is most likely due to the new intellectual disabillities laws that were created in 2002 not allowing the court to put anybody on death row diagnosed with mental retardation. In the economics outlook it seems as if the death penalty cases are very costly as they are found to be way more expensive than non-capital cases due to all the trials, appeals, and studies involved to determine the outcome of the cases. I think the Death Penalty Information center is against the death penalty because they show all the redicoulous costs involved with it and all the innocent cases involved. They seem to try and convince the reader to be against the death penalty because of all the charts and information that they are giving to the reader. I would like to see information on the other side.

Yes I believe he should receive the death penalty if he is caught because though he is protecting many people by killing criminals and finishing these investigations, he also has killed innocent victims in his journey which is completely unacceptable and as he is a serial killer who has killed many people he should get the sentence even though he is trying to help out others in these tasks, he has murdered an innocent person where any other victim would as well get the death sentence.

Upcoming Election

With the election coming up soon I will finally get my first chance to participate in it as I will be able place a vote. With the competition between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney I have a hard decision to make as I believe both candidates would make a good fit to run the decisions being made in the country and I am still undecided on who to vote for. On Obama's side there are several things that I agree with him on on several different issues which makes it seem as if I am leaning towards him and his democratic views. But on the other side I like what Governor Romney has said with his policies in which he is trying to make different changes to improve this economy. In President Obama's four years as the leader of the United States he has not made many improvements to the economy even though he was put in a rough spot at the start of his presidency. The economy is the most important part of these candidates in the presidential race as I think it has the biggest impact on my personal life when it comes to jobs and the different opportunities which can get the economy going again and will increase the spending within individuals in the country when these opportunities are given. As I agree with more of the policies included in Obama's campaign this may not be enough as Governor Romney has many methods to improve the economy such as tax cuts so spending for individuals goes up and businesses have a better chance at economic growth. When the election time comes around I will decide which is more overpowering and as I continue to look at the candidates I will make my decision on what I think will be the best candidate for myself and the rest of the country.

Stocks Near Biggest 2 Day Slide Since June

Over the past few days the stock market has dropped at a vast rate as the DOW industrial has been slipping due to some terrible earning reports by several companies. This has effected me personally because I have become very involved in the stock market over the past year as I own several stocks and have invested a decent amount of my money in the market. On friday one of my stocks Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) reported their earnings and had a huge earings miss as the stock went down over 15%. Due to the increasing competition from other food stocks such as Taco Bell and Yum Brands, Chipotle seems to not be able to keep up with their high priced stock that is around 250 after the recent drop, as the competition within the restaurant industry is increasing. Though this stock has slipped from its earnings as well as the market overall in the past few days, I have done pretty well with my stocks as the stock market has increased over the past year and stocks such as Amazon and Polaris Industries that I own have done very well for me. I love investing in the stock market because everyday you do not know what will happen with your money and it is very interesting to see how different events around the world effect the market as a whole. I am so glad that my father introduced the market to me and gave me some prespective on it, as it has become a daily habit that I enjoy following and I get to see how the economy is progressing. I believe this is an important way to invest money as I would rather have a portion of it invested in the market then to have it all sitting in the bank, because even though it is risky it is another way to make money without having to put manual labor into it.

Pakistan Girl nearly killed by Taliban

A 14 year old girl named Malala Yousufzai was recently targeted and shot by the Taliban for supporting education for girls in the community. In the Pakistan culture the women are trained to be housewives and in the community the women are not seen to a freedom to their own education. Not only are they not allowed to have the freedom to their own education, but they almost have no freedoms. Many of the women in these Middle Eastern countries are forces to wear Burqa's in which all there skin is enclosed and not exposed to the rest of the population. The women in this culture are only expected to be housewives and take care of their familes, and if they try to expose out of this social norm and fight for their own rights such as this girl Malala they will end up with such consequences even if they are not trying to spark any violence. This just proves that America is such a safer country in which all citizens are given the ability to have several freedoms and are not faced with the adversity of being forced into certain situations. I feel very fortunate to be living in the United States because I do not have to face violence such as these citizens are facing everyday in the Middle Eastern countries like Pakistan where friends and family could be killed or injured on any given day for crossing such barriers that are part of the social mean. As this young girl was shot and nearly killed by the Taliban for fighting for a right to education, it is unfortunate that all the women in this society cannot explore their interests and strive in a succesful career and learn more things about themselves as an individual. This is the great thing about America where everyone has the oppurtunity to explore several interests and strive in success in different places.

A-Rod Struggling in Playoffs

Over the past decade Alex Rodriguez has been known as one of the best third baseman's in the game of baseball, but he has consistently had troubled hitting well when it counts, during the postseason. He was given the biggest contract of all time in 2007 when he agreed to a $275 million contract over 10 years as the Yankees went all in on this superstar. He has been great over the regular season, but as shown once again he has been struggling in the playoffs as he so far has been 1 for 9 in his at bats against the Orioles. In pressure situations he has had the most trouble as he has been a career hitter of .175 with runners in scoring position in the postseason and has ended several games striking out for the last out allowing the opponent to beat them out. In my opinion it seems like A-Rod just cannot handle the big pressure situations that are included in these postseason at-bats. When players are given these huge contracts like the one A-Rod got, it seems like the players never live up to the expectations because they are suppose to continue their vast success from the previous seasons as they continue to grow in age. I have had experiences with baseball as I played competitively for over 7 years and it is a game that takes over your mind mentally. Players must have a positive mental attitude everyday if they want to succeed, and I believe A-Rod's struggles in the postseason are due to a mental collapse in these pressure situations. I stopped playing baseball because the mental aspect was too much for me and I stopped enjoying the competitiveness as a whole. I give props to all the players that have been able to succeed in this mentally-filled sport by pushing through the negative thoughts in their minds and continuing to prosper in the sport to make a living for it as a career.

Jim Crow of Fraternity Row

After reading this article about some of the actions made by the students in different fraternities with racist remarks towards the black community I thought this was completely inappropriate and that there needs to be an end to it. When the Civil Rights Movement ended it was seen as if racism around the world had been eliminated, but these discriminatory acts are still active today and are nearly as powerful as the racist remarks made years ago. This behavior on these campuses should definitely be outlawed and banned on these campuses because when the African-American students are being abused through the students making fun of them by dressing up as a stereotypical black student when throwing "ghetto parties", they are being emotionally damaged and this can alter the ways they go about their studies at the schools. I believe the fraternities such as Beta Theta Pi should be erased from all universities because the discriminatory acts made have taken it way too far and a simple apology is not enough and a statement should be made by the university so that this stops immediately. As Auburn's Vice President of student affairs stated,  "there is no acceptable explanation for the appearance of students in Ku Klux Klan robes or blackface" makes the statement that the students have taken it way too far and that changes must be made in the university.

Indiana University Speech Codes

When reviewing the speech codes of Indiana University I found that they do a good job of protecting the students from being discriminated against as the policy of "fighting words" is enforced in their efforts to protect everyone from harassment. They have an area called Dunn Meadow where all students may excercise their freedoms of speech which allows everyone a chance to be able to express themselves. These speech codes do not change my opinions on this school because I believe that these policies by the administration are greate and they have created a great way to protect all students from discriminatory actions by others. I believe that these restrictions on their speech codes are legal because as they allow fighting words it may infringe on the First Amendment of freedom of speech, but it is one of the legal ways allowed to alter the freedom of speech and they are not fully taking away the freedom of expression or speech, they are just limiting it to an appropriate rate.

If a party such as the ones described in the article previously that occurred at the University of Auburn where present at an Indiana fraternity I believe disciplinary actions would be made immediatley. I think that they would suspend the students taking action in these harrasments and possibly eliminate the fraternity from being active on the campus. I would definitely agree with these actions because if the students are taking the discriminatory actions too far then changes should be made and a statement should be visible so that these events never occur again.

When exploring FIRE's website more I found that I agree with many of their perspectives when they express their meanings of the freedom of speech and the limitations allowed in the different universities.  The restrictions of the codes protect the students because when things such as fighting words are enforced in the speech codes it is protecting the students from being discriminated against and follows the policies of the speech code.

The Holidays

On a day like today all the non-Jewish kids in the school thank people like me for having today off of school. They get the whole day to do whatever they want, while on the other side I am forced to spend these days with my family. Not saying that this is a bad thing, but some of the things I have to do I feel as if I am being tortured. I had to go to services today for a couple of hours and it is probably some of the most boring hours in my life. I completely take pride in the fact that I have been blessed with the religion of Judaism, but I also am not very into the religion as a whole as I tend to keep my mind wondering during these services not wanting to be engaged in the services. I sometimes think about how I would rather be at school than have to go to these services because it is at least somewhat interesting to me. I love to see my family and have a great dinner with them during these holidays, but if  I could find a way to avoid the boring services then I would enjoy the holidays so much better. Overall I am still proud of my religion and would not replace it for any other religion because I am fortunate to be part of the small percentage of Jews in the world.

Amazon's New Kindle Let's Users Avoid Ads

In the new age of technology new products seem to be appearing all over the world causing the competition to rise every day. Amazon one of Apples main competitors has been very successful with their work on the new Kindle Fire trying to compete with Apple's popular iPad. Besides the fact that these competitors are making millions on the products they sell, they also are making a large portion of their income from the advertisements on the different applications within these tablets. With some complaints of all the advertisements appearing on the new Kindle, Amazon decided to make an adjustment to the product hoping to satisfy its customers. They are offering people with the option to pay an extra $15 to eliminate all advertisements from appearing on their tablet. In my opinion I would definitely not pay $15 to avoid these advertisements because even though they may be annoying to look at when using different applications, it is not enough for me to pay money to eliminate the advertisements. As I would not pay the extra money to eliminate these advertisements to also goes along with the decision I would make if I were to ever purchase a tablet. I do not believe the Apple iPad is not all of what it is hyped up to be, even though it is great to watch movies and play games, $600 is way too much to pay for a product like that. The Kindle is priced around $200 and I believe that is the better buy even though it may not endure some of the features of its competitors tablets. These tablets will play a huge role in both of these companies success and changes like the ones Amazon is making like giving customers the option to eliminate advertisements will help in maintaining this success in their products.

Strausburg Shenanigans

Phenom pitcher for the Washington Nationals Stephen Strausburg is starting to approach his innings limit for the season and questions surround Strausburg and the other decision makers in the clubhouse including coach Davey Johnson. This is Strausburg's first season after coming off a Tommy-John surgery  that he had last September to repair his elbow. Manager Johnson said that he plans on letting Strausburg pitch two more outings before shutting him down for the season and not allowing him to pitch throughout the playoffs. One of the most recognized agents Scott Boras was one of the reasons why this procedure is most likely going to be followed because he wants to prevent his client Strausburg from getting a career ending injury. Although the coaches and some doctors may say that this is the right thing to do for the Nationals ace pitcher for the long-term, I completely disagree with these actions. The Washington Nationals are currently in first place fighting for a playoff spot with one of the best teams in the National League. This may be one of the Nationals only chance to ever win a World Series and I think that they should go for the gold and keep Strausburg pitching if they want to achieve this goal. It is obvious his agent Scott Boras wants to shut him down so that he can stay healthy and later on get a long term contract with a team, but in the end it should be the players choice the end his season to protect himself or risk it in order to have the playoff experiences and a chance at receiving a ring.

Pledge Allegiance To The Swag

Over the past couple of days I have learned a lot more about the Pledge of Allegiance and the differences of importance that it serves around the country. It seems as if different rules are enforced around the United States and these rules have caused some disagreements with my opinions of this daily  pledge. In my experience with the pledge I believe that the only thing that should be enforced is having respect for the country. During homeroom everyday I try to make sure that I stay quiet during the pledge, and I feel comfortable as I am not forced to recite the words. My disagreement with this controversy comes in play when I read this article and discovered that students in different states had severe consequences for not reciting these words. For example, in West Virginia if students refused to recite the pledge it says, "The students could be expelled for insubordination, while their parents could face $50 fine and a 30-day jail term." This completely goes against my views on the pledge because no one should ever face a consequence for not reciting the pledge. We are giving the freedom of speech, which also gives us Americans the choice to not speak so if people are being to say the pledge then they are essentially taken away our rights. If I were to change anything about these laws, I would change it so that people are not forced to serve consequences if they do not recite the pledge because it should be our decision to decide our ways to respect the country. It should be our choice to create our own peace during the pledge which can be accomplished in our own swag.  

Steroids still playing a role

On August 22, 2012 Oakland Athletics pitcher Bartolo Colon was suspended 50 games for testing positive for violating the drug policy. The former Cy Young award winner has been having one of his best seasons since 2005 when he won the award, and is posting an era of 3.43 this season. As the Athletics are looking to make a playoff push and try and get one of those Wild Card spots in the American League, it will only make it harder for their low budget team to succeed in their goals to make the playoffs as they will be losing one of their best pitchers in Colon. This 50 game suspension for Colon came just a few weeks after Outfielder Melky Cabrera of the San Francisco Giants was also suspended 50 games for violating the MLB drug policy when he tested positive for testosterone as well. Cabrera the NL All-Star game MVP will also be very much missed from his team as he was leading the league in hits and trying to help the Giants with their division. Steroids are still playing a big role in the careers of several players throughout the league, and this just leads to more speculation around the league because no one knows when we will hear about another player being suspended for steroids. Hopefully these players can find a way to stay away from these performance-enhancing drugs because it is creating a bad image for the league the unfair advantages completely change the outcome of several situations.