Western troops join Russia's Victory Day parade

Troops from the United States, Britain and France marched in the annual Victory Day parade through Red Square for the first time ever on Sunday. The Victory Day parade celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union and its Western allies. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, "is indicative of our solidarity, and of the understanding that universal humanistic values are becoming increasingly important for the development of the modern world."Over 10,500 troops paraded through the capital this year. Many Russians watched the parade on television. More than half of Russians also approved the invitation of foreign troops, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center. And 20 percent of Russians they disapproved of inviting international troops to the parade, and 8 percent were strongly against it. During WWII, the Soviet Union suffered the most losses of any other country, with 7.5 million soldiers killed and 5 million wounded, and millions of civilian deaths.




I think that it is really interesting that Russia would invite so many countries to celebrate their Victory Day celebration. I was surprised that Russia is still pretty accepting of the United States and other countries as well. Looking at some pictures from the celebration, I could not believe how many soldiers were there from all of the different countries. It is nice how they can all come together to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany to this day. I like how we can all come together and celebrate with a big parade. I wonder if many of the Russians hated how America was there, and what their reactions were when we arrived. I hope that someday, all of the countries will accept each other and live in a world of peace.

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Ireland reopens airports after brief shutdown

On Friday, after shutting Irish airports down for several hours because of ash from an Icelandic volcano, Irish authorities reopened the airports. It had been the third time in four days that some airports in Ireland had to be shut down due to volcanic ash. The IAA said, "While the northerly winds are keeping the bulk of the cloud out in the Atlantic, the increased size of the cloud continues to pose a risk especially if the winds change." The Eyjafjallajokull volcano that had erupted last month had been expelling denser ash into the air since Tuesday afternoon. This ash is being carried form Iceland towards Ireland, causing many flight problems. Volcanic ash is a serious problem because it reduces visibility for air crafts and can damage flight controls which can cause the airplanes to crash. The volcanic ash ultimately stranded tens of thousands of passengers around the world.

I did not know that volcanic ash could be such a hazard for the airplanes. I was shocked to read that the ash could cause so many problems. Quiet honestly I did not even know that there were volcanoes in Ireland. It is crazy how ash can cause such problems and cause flights to be delayed. I wish I could see how thick the ash actually is, so I could understand how it effects the aircrafts. I also which the atricle gave more information about the size of the volcanoe and more numbers kind of information. Also, I was suprised that the volcanic ash can linger in the air for days and days. I did not know that it could be around for that long. It is crazy how thick the ash actually is and also how dangerous it can be.

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Issue #2: Boosting the Minimum

1. Many Americans argue that boosting the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour is a good thing for the economy and will help bring more people out of poverty. They think that with the help of food stamps, EITC, and the minimum wage at $7.25, many people will be able to rise above the poverty threshold. They also believe that raising the minimum wage will positively effect groups like single mothers, who are at a risk of ongoing poverty. Also, that by more people having more money, this will help the economy because those people will have money to spend. On the other hand, some people disagree with raising the minimum wage. They think that raising minimum wage is only affecting a small percentage of the workforce, and mostly targets teens, not necessarily people in poverty. They also say that this will lead to higher prices on business products will lead to more job cuts, which will hurt business and overall more low- income workers. Instead, they say that the EITC program should be extended, because this wouldn't interfere with the market.

2. I believe that the minimum wage hike is actually hurting more people that it is helping. With business' having to pay their employees more, they have to increase their prices on products on order to make a profitable income. With this, I think that Americans are actually buying less products, which leads to unnecessary employees, and therefore business's are firing more low- income employees. Overall, this is just hurting our economy, beacause less money is actually being spent by the low-income people. Professor Stiglitz also disagrees with raising minimum wage saying, "If government attempts to raise the miminum wage higher than the equilibrium wage, the demand for workers will be reduced and the supply increased. There will be an excess supply of labor."

Professor Stiglitz Link

Links:

Issue #1 All Things Being Equal : http://rachaelbeers951.blogspot.com/2010/04/issue-1-all-things-being-unequal.html

Issue #3 Welfare: http://tarynthompson.blogspot.com/2010/04/issue-3-putting-welfare-to-work.html

Report: 5 children injured in China school attack

State media reported on Friday, that a man attacked five preschool children with a hammer in east China, before setting himself on fire. The man poured gasoline over himself while holding two children in his arms. Teachers were able to pull the children away from the man. All five children were hospitalized, but will not die. Following this incident, there have been three other attacks similar to this in China. On Thursday, a man attacked 28 children with a knife in east China. Police have arrested a 47 year old suspect. The Chinease officials have are doing many things to ensure saftey. Some schools are now hiring guards to escort students to and from classes.



I think that the man who is attacking all of these school children is deffinitaly mad. What kind of crazy person attacks kids with knifes and hammers. I would be very scared if I were a student going to school in east China right now. However, it is good that the schools are increasing thier security to ensure the childrens saftey. I really hope that police can get a hold of this mad man. Im not really sure that I would even go to school in east China right now. That is a lot of attacks in a short period of time. I would be nervous that my school would be the next target. Overall I think that this crazy killer man needs to be caught and I think that he does not deserve to live anymore after these attacks on innocent children.



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Officials to discuss Census participation

The army of U.S. Census Bureau will be finding out how many doors they will be kocking on to complete the nationwide survey. Census Director Robert Groves will announce how well Americans have responded by mail to this census that comes out once a decade, and how many homes will need to be contacted in order to complete the census. The Census Bureau announced that 72% of all households nationwide, returned the completed census. Midwestern states have the highest participation rates, with Minnesota at 79%. It costs the government 42 cents for each response that comes back in the mail, and costs the government about $57 per household to get the responses in person. The bureau is now hiring an about 870,000 temporary workers to help complete the census.

I think that it is interesting to see the percentage of people that fill the cenus and mail it back in. It doesn't suprise me that Minnesota's return rate is at 79%, because most Minnesotans are pretty resposible with things like that, and truely care. It is a shame tht some people don't take a few minutes out of thier day to fill out the census. It would actually save people money in the long run because it would cost the government less money, and tax the taxpayers less. I can't belive how much effort is put into this once a decade census. It is pretty cool how serious the Census Bureae takes the census , and how they srtrive to have an accurate census. I honestly wish that everyone would just turn in their census, so that the bureae won't have to come after people. That would make things a lot easier for everyone.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/28/census.numbers/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Russia suspends U.S. adoptions

Russia has stoped the adoption of children by American families process until they work out a further agreement. The U.S Embassy in Moscow, Russia says that there is not too much to worry about. John Beyrle, U.S. ambassador to Russia, says , "We're working on this and we really don't think that this will have any long-term effect on the ability of American families to adopt here." This all started when an American family returned their adopted back to Russia, beacause they said that the child was violent and had pyschopathic issues, and that the child was a danger to the family. The Russian child was sent back to Russia, riding solo on the plane. Russian officials want to sign a treaty with Amerians allow monitoring of children after they are brought to the United States.


I think that Russia should let American's adopt the children in Russia still, because they will have a much better life in America, than they would have in Russia. I don't foresee this being a major problem. I think the Russians will let American families adopt again. I don't really think that what that American family did to their Russian child was the right thing to do, however, I don't think that Russia should stop the adoption process because of it. If American families wast to adopt the kids in Russia, they should deal with them, and not send them back. They really should try and work through the adversity and try to make the child better, if it is not what they expected.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/15/russia.adoptions/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Insurers agree to comply with intent of new health care law

Health Care Blog:

Insurers and providers of health care said that they would agree to comply with the new regulations that will prevent the denial of coverage for children due to pre-existing conditions. This is a key component for President Obama. The president of America's Health Insurance Plans, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, said the nation's insurance companies would not try to find loopholes in the new health care law. The industry would fully agree to regulations being drafted by Sebelius to follow the new law. Coverage for kids takes effect on September 23.

I think that it is a good thing that the health care insurers are saying that they will follow the new health care plan and whatever it entails. I'm mot really sure if the health care bill is the best idea, however. I think that with kids being on their parents health care plan is good because that way it will take a burden off of them after college so that they won' t have to worry about more debt. Also, kids can have time to regroup after college and save up more money for the future. But I also think that kids will become more dependent on their parents and maybe expect them to pay for more of their things. The health care bill will effect many people, and I hope that it will be for the better. I truly hope that it won't be a disaster and that everything will turn out okay.