Have we softened up on torture? (week 15)

Back in April of 2004, US soldiers were caught torturing prisoners in Abu Gharaib. President Bush came out and said he was sorry for these actions. In 2009, Barack Obama released memos saying other violent actions the Bush administration had taken against prisoners. They say it is hard to distinguish which case was worse, because of the lack of proof in images. Now that President Obama is in office, he is trying to improve our security without torturing prisoners. They have made many changes in Guantanamo Bay, like making wake boarding illegal.

I think since Obama has come into office, torturing methods have been getting better and it has made the United States look better. The Bush administration wanted to get information out of prisoners about other terrorists. Our world should stick to non-threatening techniques to protect our nation from terror. I think that the torturing that is going on in the Bush years was worse towards the end of his presidency.

New Indiana Driving Laws (week 15).

Governor Mitch Daniels passed a new set of laws creating limits on teenage drivers. Under a new bill passed by the house, teens  have to perform at least 50 hours of supervised driving before getting their driver’s license. This bill also calls for no cell phone usage for drivers under 18. They also set older ages for beginning drivers. One must be sixteen and a half with taking drivers ed, or sixteen and nine months without drivers ed.

I think these new laws are ridiculous. I don't think you are a better driver when you just months older than sixteen. In some people, age doesn't matter, they are a bad driver and it doesn't matter what age they are. But i do think the cell phone laws are justified, many of teen accidents are because they are using their phone in some way. The less distractions we have the better. So in some ways these laws are good and bad.

Franklin Documents (Week 14).

Some people’s personal documents were discovered Sunday along a rural Johnson County road. Gary Moody said that he was out on a bike ride when he found thousands of documents thrown in with wood chips and tree trimmings. He felt that these documents could be used for identity theft. Along with the documents, he found a folder containing loan information, social security numbers and address of this certain family. The company was based in Franklin Indiana but when news personnel went to contact this company, it was an abandoned house that was now up for sale.

I think this company should be sued for just leaving these documents out in the open for anyone to find. If my documents were stolen because of someone’s carelessness I would be extremely angry. The fact that the company isn't even around anymore seems even more suspicious and makes me wonder where else are these documents. This company just seemed to not be legit at all and probably shouldn't be trusted.

Wisconsin Nurse (Week 13)

The Dean Health System in Wisconsin laid off a nurse in the middle of a minor surgery. The hospital announced they needed to lay off 90 workers immediately and they took it to the extreme. The director of the program felt that the directions to lay this nurse off was clearly given, but the manager had an error in judgement. The director said that they should have waited till the surgery was completed to fire the nurse. But the patient wasn't harmed, or wasn't in any danger by this request.

I think the timing of the lay off was inappropriate. They should have waited until the surgery was over, if not even longer, until the day was over. Once she was told this, she wouldn't be able to complete the surgery and so someone else would have to fill in. I think this situation wasn't handled very good and the hospital should receive some grief for this. If anything goes wrong in the future with the person being operated on, then the hospital could face many problems.

What would you do? Week 12

This time they were trying to decide what people would do when the blind date they set up wasn't the same person they met online. They were trying to determine if these Internet dating sites could be trustworthy. They planned some dates where the person was extremely different than their picture online. Many people didn't say anything about having the wrong person on the date, while some people just was honest and told the other person they weren't expecting them.

I don't think i would go on a date with someone that i met on the internet. It just sounds dangerous and you could be tricked so easily. But if i were to go on a date, and the person i was expecting wasn't the one there, then i would say something. I wouldn't sit around because bad things could occur, if they lied about their picture, then they would probably lie about other more important things. Honesty is the best policy in my opinion.

What would you do? week 11

There was a man who appeared to be homeless and drunk, that was passed out on the street. Many people just walked right by him thinking that he was a mess and they did not want to help him out at all. Peoples reaction to this actor was extremely different than those of the girl actor. There was one lady who actually cared and tried to help him out. The others just walked by and glared at him like he was a disgrace because he was passed out on the sidewalk. There reactions were far different when he had a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

I felt bad that nobody offered the homeless man help when he needed it. It shows that people are judgemental and rude and do not care for those because of how they look. I would have stopped and asked him if he needed help or even called an ambulance for him. It was just a shame to see him passed out and nobody would help him out. I think even if he had a bottle of alcohol in his hand, I would still stop to help him out because everyone needs some help every once in awhile.

Iowa Labor Laws 10

In the past week it was reported that Iowa was starting to stricken their labor laws. This was because of the number of illegal immigrants working. There has been many labor raids over these illegals, causing problems in many big companies. These companies are facing many problems and the state is enforcing new policies.

I find it weird that Iowa is facing labor violation because of its northern location in the US. I think companies who are hiring these illegal immigrants should be punished and fined major amounts of money for trying to scam the system and pay these workers less. These companies are taking advantage of these illegals because they know they need jobs and so they will take any job they can get.