Capital Punishment, Equal Rights between Men and Women, and Mental Retardation

In Virginia recently, Teresa Lews was executed by way of lethal injection. This is important because she's the first woman since 1912 to be executed in Virginia. In October of 2002, Lewis hired two men to kill her husband and stepson in order to receive $250,000 in insurance money. Another part of this case is the fact that Lewis was on the borderline of being mentally retarded which of course strikes a nerve for being even more cruel. An interesting statistic at the end of the article states that ever since the U.S. reinstated capital punishment, 1,200 have been put to death an only 11 of them have been women.

For me, capital punishment is one of few political issues I have a very strong opinion towards. My opinion is that there shouldn't be a death sentence, who gave these people the right to kill others? No matter how cruel or nasty they may be they're still human and I consider it murder. I believe death is something for the hands of God. Also, many believe that it's more expensive to keep people in prison; however, when I did a research paper on this in 9th grade I found out the exact opposite is true. Lethal injection etc. isn't free! Also, I think that by looking at the statistic provided at the end it's pretty obvious that there have been gender biases towards executing men. Or maybe this is just because they're naturally more aggressive and get themselves into more trouble? Either way it's quite interesting. Another part of the article talked about how Lewis had changed as a person and was preaching and singing hymns in prison. It's so sad that people, if deemed "awful enough," don't get a second chance! Capital punishment just seems to me to be an incredibly old-fashioned and barbaric way to handle prisoners.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39338256

It's Ok, He's Ok!

Gore Otteson, also known as the 'Lazarus tot,' is one lucky little boy who has been blessed with a second chance at life. One summer evening, while Amy, Gore's mother, was preparing her other children for bed, Gore found his way outside the family cabin and was no where in sight. Panicking, they searched for 25 minutes before finding him trapped facedown underneath a log in an irrigation ditch. His heart had stopped beating and Gore's grandpa began CPR until he was taken by helicopter to the Children's Hospital in Denver. Desperate for a miracle, his parents were willing for Gore to be a subject in an experimental treatment called therapeutic hypothermia where the body's temp is dropped to let the brain heal itself. 48 hours later he was back to his normal temperature and Gore was back to being himself and immediately asked for food! Unexplainably, his brain didn't suffer any damage! Needless to say, his family is very grateful to be celebrating his two year birthday with him a couple weeks later!

The crazy thing about this therapeutic hypothermia thing is that the idea originated from something Hippocrates did quite a long time ago. Hippocrates put his patients in snow in order to lower their body temperatures and successfully healed people that way. It just seems like such a simple concept to be so successful and save so many lives. It reminds me of when doctors use leeches to help reduce swelling; such a seemingly simple yet quite effective method of bringing people back to health. On the page I read this article on there is also a MSNBC video that I watched where I got to see the Ottesons all alive and doing well! Little Gore was running around the set just like a typical two year old would; he was getting into everything and particularly took interest in the TV monitors. Anyway, it was definitely nice to read about a news story that has a happy ending!

















http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39215752/ns/today-today_people/

Fruits and Veggies!

A recent study done by a phone survey to hundreds of thousands of Americans shows that in an incredibly weight and diet conscious society, fruit and vegetable consumption has actually dropped. The percentage for people eating or drinking fruit at least twice a day has dropped not even a whole percent. Also, the national percentage for eating vegetables at least three times a day has stayed the same. Health officials are trying to promote healthy eating in order to stop the rise of obesity and diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. A new effort on the government's behalf to promote fruits and vegetables will hopefully show better numbers in another survey planned for 2011.

Considering how health and weight conscious America has become, I found it quite surprising that numbers hadn't really changed in the past ten years. It seems the nation has caught a little bug for eating right but apparently that doesn't include fruits and vegetables. I think it may be because people are relying on alternate foods for diets or perhaps just trying to get more exercise and not necessarily adding in the healthy food. I've also realized that when I'm online, especially sites like
Facebook or Hotmail, there are countless adds of a new diet plan or pill that hardly takes anything on your part in order to work. Pills have replaced the food? I don't know, maybe fruits and vegetables have just been forgotten since they've always been there and always been the same, no new and improved recipe to keep people buying! Which is sad and I really hope that the new campaigns remind people to eat more fruits and veggies rather than always going for the OJ or V8.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39096775/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/