"Dear Mommy. I hope you're alive. Are you okay?"

Four year old Manami Kon of Japan has been motherless now for 20 days since the earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan. Her mother, father, and a sister, are still unaccounted for. She wrote the words, "Dear Mommy. I hope you're alive. Are you okay?" in a letter written to her lost mother. It took her 20 minutes to write, but thats a short amount of time for a four year old to write that long of a note. A few days later, they had found the girls father and sister, they are now accounted for, but are no longer living on this earth. Her mother is still missing, and she sits above her old village everyday waiting for her mothers return. I think that this story is so sad, it's bad enough that the girl is missing her mother. But to find out that her father and her sister are no longer alive must be really tough. It is a very good thing that her grandmother is still alive and well and able to take care of her, if she wasn't alive she would just be one of the many faces lost in a sea of orphans. This story is almost a chilling reality that is now taking place in our world. Thousands of people have now been misplaced, radiation is billowing out of the Japanese nuclear plants, and their food and other products are not safe to eat. Something more should be done for these people but at the same time as Americans we should also take care of our own first. We have thousands of men, women, and children going hungry every single day, and nothing is done to help them. Sure, there are organizations to help them but they can only help so many people a day. I feel that it is our responsibility to help us first and then the other people around the world second. Maybe thats wrong, but at this point I dont really care. http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/31/6380113-dear-mommy-i-hope-youre-alive-are-you-okay-4-year-old-quake-survivor-writes

Top diplomats skip talk about arming Lybian rebels

The top diplomats of the world did not talk about arming Lybian rebels, earlier today in a London conference. The top 40 including United States representative Hilary Clinton and Great Britians representative William Hauge were in attendance. Hauge says that the weapons emabargo now includes all of Lybia. While at the same time Quatar has offered to sell the Lybian oil and the money will go through the United Nations council and be distributed throughout the Lybian people so that their basica humanitarian needs are met. Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. have taken actions towards freezing Gadhafi's accounts throughout the world. I believe that the UN has taken some very appropriate steps towards the goal of getting Gadhafi the heck out of Lybia. I think that the embargo on weapons will be a great help to everyon that is involved over there. Not having any new weapons coming in will help greatly with the cause as well as limiting the number of terrorists who are bent towards destruction. The freezing of someones assets i believe is taking it a bit far. Its not like he is going to be able to access those accounts without drawing some major attention to himself and his wereabouts. I think that maybe haveing a watch team looking after them would be a better plan than completely freezing them because then maybe they can track him to a certain area or country in the world. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42319658/ns/world_news-europe/

Pirates hijack oil tanker off east Africa

In Nairobi, Kenya pirates in two skiffs shot rocket propelled grenades and guns at an oil tanker off the East coast of Africa before boarding and hijacking the vessel. Their were a total of 29 crew members and their status of health was not available. The somalian hijackers had taken control of a vessel that was carrying 150 million dollars worth of crude oil. After a three hour long battle, India's navy and coastgaurd captured 16 of the pirates. The pirate trawler caught fire, after an intense battle was held, and all the leftover pirates were taken into custody and now are headed to Mumbai. I think that all of these pirate hijackings are getting very out of control. Its becoming quite ridiculous on how many of these type things happen per year. When is the UN going to notice that this is a mjor problem, and take some action. Innocent men and women who are just trying to do their jobs are constantly put under threats of being placed in not okay situtations. I believe that the country of Somalia, where most of the hijackers come from, should take some action and decide what the punishment would be if the perps were caught. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42302609/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

Medical pot ranks as a blockbuster drug

The new medical marijuana market that has been opened up is now a 1.7 billion dollar industry. To put that number in perspective, the Pfizer company sells 1.9 billion dollars worth of Viagra each year. New entrepenuers are coming into the world looking at this business in a new light, the projected growth rates for the medical marijuana are expected to rise at least fifty percent in the next two years in the fifteen states that it is legal. If another 20 states pass the medical marijuana the projected income is at least 8.9 billion by the year 2016.

I believe that this whole projection is a great thing. If they decide to legalize marjiuana throughout the United States, the massive amounts of money that will be coming into the governments coffers will be astronomical. This might even have the potential, in my opinion to get the United States out of debt. The medical benefits aside, marjiuana is a more healthy alternative compared to the other types of smoking. Tobacco. If you smoke cigarettes you have a much higher chance of getting cancer in many different parts of your body, while the marijuana is given to cancer patients to help them with their pain. I think that the Obama administration should seriously consider legalizing marjiuana throughout the whole United States.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42237531/ns/business-small_business/

Burn Victim recieves first full face transplant in United States

Dallas Weins, a 25 year old from Fort Worth, Texas recieved the first full face transplant in the United States this past week. He was injured in an electrical power line accident in November 2008, this left him disabled and disfigured. His injuries included being left blind, and he no longer had a nose, eyebrows, lips and could no longer feel sensation in his face. Dallas will not look like the donor of the new face, or his old self but he will look like something that is more imbetween. The surgery took more than 15 hours and involved over 30 nurses and doctors. The surgery was paid for by the Defense Department, and it cost around 3.4 million dollars which was given as a grant from the military for transplant research.

I believe that this is a miracle. An absolute miracle. This man who went from one day being a normal average everyday person, to in an instant becoming a victim of a freak accident and no longer able to see or feel his three year olds kisses on his cheek is just tragic. The family that donated this gift to this man should be rewarded. They helped improve his life, while at the same time improving and advancing medical research into the future of facial transplants. I believe in donating organs to others once you have passed on, but also at the same time it is a sacrafice for the family who is giving the ok for it to take place. The emtional scale for a person whos loved one has just died is immaculate, but then making the decision at the same time to give up that person in pieces to help someone else is just amazing to me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42192670/ns/health-health_care/

An issue that really grabbed my attention that i thought tied very well into the first background section was that the government spends beyond their means. When the government makes the budget for the year they tend to add in little spending bills that are not necessary, but are given to groups as pro-bono work for the people of congress. While they may increase taxes, they are not making the American people happy if they are only doing it because they cannot keep the budget within their own means. Also when they decide to use paygo as a rule of thumb for spending, they only end up hurting the economy while they cut taxes in certain areas so that they are able to make sure they get the money they need when they need it.

As current issues arise within the government, i believe that one thing that the american people need to push for in means of funding is education. I believe that in order for the American people to catch up to their forgein competitors they need to make a stand to have a more quality education. Having schools compete for vouchers in order to gain some more funding would be a great way to jump start this form of education. When the schools realize that they either a) bring their test scores up or b) lose some funding, i believe that they will work harder. The healthy competition that will be placed on the schools across the nation will only create a better environment for the children to learn in. On this issue I stand with the Republican party. I firmly believe that the education system in America has moved to far away from the core reading, writing, and mathematics that once helped build this country up. Obama's version may not be a republican way of doing things, but in the end I believe that his education plan will end up helping the country get back on it's feet.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/04/obama.education/index.html?iref=allsearch