Oc11's Blog

Pittsburg is thinking about taxing collages students. The argument is that the students are not paying anything for the city services they may get because the collages are tax-exempt. So Pittsburg wants to put up a 1% tax on all students living on campus. That little 1% alone will generate about 16 .2 million dollars. But as Mary Hines, the president of Carlow college, says “They call it a fair share tax, we call it an unfair tax.” Only 6% of students can pay the full tuition.

I say, why would you make students pay tax if they already can’t pay the money that they owe the collage. Students cannot afford to pay any extra money on anything. Most students are just starting to learn the world of saving money so they will not get into any financial trouble. This tax would just make them more likely to get into financial trouble at an early age. Some students will not be able to find a way out of it.

The tax would lose the school students. Students would not go to a school that only makes them pay extra money that isn’t even going to their schooling. Even if the tax would only cost them an extra 40 dollars a year, a student could use that money to get a little bit ahead on their tuition. Students should not have to pay tax on their tuition. 

Find the article here.

Harriet Barovick has always had a bad experience with bus systems between cities. Most of the time when she thinks of busses she thinks of wasting gas and money because the ride is so expensive. Then one day, she heard from her friend that she had a wonderful experience on a bus that Harriet had always had a bias against. As it turns out, the bus system had a total makeover. The seats are comfy, there is free wi-fi, it is a lot cheaper to ride the bus than it was before, and they are eco friendly. That new experience took away Harriet’s bias immediately.

This new bus system is amazing for people with not a lot of money who want to go visit family they don’t normally get to see. And now, not only people who don’t own cars ride them, but people who just don’t want to drive, or any other person use this bus system too. I think it is so cool that the bus system can be like this, so people can have a wonderful experience wherever they go.

Last saturday in Cleveland, FBI agents found eleven decomposing women. It was the house if a suspected serial killer. The police found the first two bodies and the killer fled the scene.  All of the women Sowell killed and raped were black. Two days later the police found him and arrested him. He is now on a 6 million dollar bond in jail.

Raping and killing people is wrong. Thankfully Sowell was arrested so he cannot murder people any more. I think Sowell got exactly what he deserved, living the rest of his life in jail. The women’s familys must be devistated and I am very glad that it will not happen to anyone else by the same man.

Fine the article here.

Kathryn Gurtland is a social worker and a therapist. She not only has learned much about cancer over the time she has been working in her job, but has had two deaths in the family due to cancer. Judi, her older sister found that she had melanoma and died within eight months. Kathryn’s younger sister, Peggy, got lung cancer and died 14 months later. They both died in their mid forty’s. One thing Kathryn says patients feel like they have been “thrown into foreign waters with no map, compass or directions in their native language.” The three rules included are: “Cancer is a diagnosis not an emergency,”"Make sure your doctor and others involved in your care get to know the person behind the diagnosis,” and “Ask for what you need when you need it.

This  article is developed by process analysis. It is giving instructions on how to be a better person with cancer. It also tells you, as a person who knows someone with cancer, how to treat them better. You should treat any person with cancer, the same as you would any other person you interact with. They don’t like to be treated any differently. Keep treating every one you know with the same respect as always, even if they have cancer.

Somali pirates are being held captive in Spain; they have been there since about a month ago. The pirates started threatening to take spanish captives. Recently the pirates have been holding true to their threats. They took captive 16 crew members. On the ship, there are only 20 crew members left. Last week friday the pirates have been threatening to kill three of their captives if their fellow pirates are allowed to leave.  “They have taken three of our crew and have given a deadline of two days,” said the captain of the hijacked ship. The Somalian pirates hijacked another ship and one day later the spanish special forces caught 2 more pirates and brought them to shore. no negotiators are able to help and the situation is a lot worse than it could have been if there had been more security on their waters.

The Somalian pirates are getting out of control. Spanish people are being tortured because of them. Also Spain isn’t helping much with the situation, they don’t have negotiators or anything else to help them along. If spain waits too long 3 people could die. I think spain should just let the pirates they are holding go free.

Find article here.

I ran across an interesting article title. It is  called Michigan Raid Reveals a Mysterious Islamic Sect. Wednesday there was a raid of an old warehouse, where they found a group of conspiring Islamic people. The Islamic people in the warehouse were planning on taking over American land independent based on Sharia law. Four of the members of this group were calmly arrested. They claim to be under the command of a “offensive jihad” that is making them act against their will to  carry weapons. The precise origins of these people are unclear to where they really are.

The weird thing is that something like this could be happening so close to home. it was only in detroit. I know that bad things happen, like the twin tower crashes, but it never seemed like anything would happen to me, or close to me. I’m just glad that the islamic people were caught before they could try to take over some American soil. That would just lead to unnecessary deaths, and other things.

Two suicide car bombs went off in the center of Bagdad last week sunday. These bombs killed more that 130 people and injured nearly 600, which is the worst suicide bomb in 2 years. The bombs were put off in what was said to be the most secure area of Iraq. The streets were just reopened up, showing all the people that  it is safer than before. So far, no claims on the bombs have been made. the bombings were not far from the foreign ministry, which is still rebuilding from bombings earlier in the year. People even got pictures of the bombings, they look like “massive flame balls.”

The two governments in Iraq are still fighting and probably will always be. the Sunnis and the Shiites. people think that the bombings were because of the election in january. the Shiites won the election, and the Sunnis want their government back. i think its crazy that these people would bomb their own country. It’s as if they are two different families that live under the same roof, not getting along.

Every time I see a sky splitting sunset, I know that God is out there, and he needs me to do his will. He put beauty to remind me that he needs me here, for what motive, I do not know. God cares about his earth and his people. He put me in this world for a reason, now I just have to wait for God to reveal his plan for me.
College is a big deal. I always thought I wanted to be a veterinarian. That dream crashed like the plane that crashed into the twin towers. I can’t deal with needles or gouging into skin with a scalpel, not even on animals. Then I thought “I am really good with my hands, I might want to be a mechanic,” but I’ve never tried it, I don’t even know the innards of the car. I need to know the road that is out there, somewhere in front of me, but I don’t. I just have to remember, God put me in this world for a reason, and I don’t have to know what the reason is yet.
I can touch the soft sand, smell the sweet aroma of the beautiful flowers and I know that I am alive. God must be keeping me alive for some reason, right? Then I start to doubt; I think: why am I here? Is there really a plan for me? God doesn’t need me, does he? He has so many other people, I’m only one person. And then I grasp the fact that God put me in this world and I don’t have to know the explanation.
The world is starting to look like the sun on a rainy day. Ever since my best friend left Christian High, it has started to penetrate into my skin how blessed I really am. That God has a plan for me, and for her. I’ve doubted that there was really a reason I was at Christian High for so long, and I finally have recognized, God has put me here for a reason; I just don’t have to know what it is yet.
I have started off this year running, achieving all my goals, nothing could stop me. Since I started high school, my grades went from B’s to C’s and in some classes C’s to D’s. My dad once told me that I could be smart if I only tried. At the time, I didn’t believe him, but as it all turns out, well, he was right. I got my heels kicking again, and I am making it. The ability to achieve goals is a life skill that I will need for God’s plan, and this will help. I don’t have to know what God’s plan is for me.
God’s talent will reveal itself. I’m only sixteen; God will make known his plan in time. I just have to be aware of God wherever I go. In the meantime I will just wait, listen and watch; and continue to do what I think is right in God’s eyes.

The choice of using God has a plan for me, was taken originally from “I can be what I want to be.” but after writing my whole paper I realized that it was not an apropriate title for my essay. Looking throughout the essay i found it had an essence of God’s Plan. So, my title and my introductory paragraph was changed. I had originally chosen that title because I believe that once I can get out of my house the world is at my fingertips, and God will guide me.

Brook Astor was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Her son, Anthony Marshall, took advantage of her failing mind and decided to live pretty on her money. Marshall took nearly $200 million dollars. Two years later, after many trials and his mother dying,  Marshall is facing up to twenty-five years in jail.

There is a passive voice in the story of Astor and her son. “Brooke Astor’s 85-year-old son was convicted Thursday…” It is passive because the sentence does not say who convicted Marshall. An active example of this would be: The court convicted Brook Astor’s 85-year-old son for taking $200 million dollars from Astor. The original is better in this situation because it says every thing it should say in a thesis, and when someone says convicted people always assume that he or she was convicted by a court.

Father Damien, a deticated Cathloic, has been long considered for sainthood. In 1873 he moved to Hawaii to help the lepers there. One woman claims that Father Damien cured her of her lung cancer just by praying to him, there was no medical explanation for her recovery. Father Damien lived and helped lepers for 16 faithful years. Then in 1889 the leprosy took over his body and he died. In 1995 his name was mentioned for sainthood, and finally in 2003 Damien was made a saint. Father Damien sacrificed his life on earth for the well being of others. He helped many people feel loved in the leper colony, and live happier lives.

Father Damien was a good man, but people got the wrong idea about him. The sick prayed to him, not to God. It was God that helped the woman with cancer recover, and God who put Father Damien into those leper’s lives. God made all the difference through Father Damien and we should be like him, help people. Maybe not to the extent he did, but in our every day lives to help with the little things. That alone could change a person’s life.