"The buck stops with me"

Shortly after AIG was given over $170 billion, it gave each exectuive bonuses up to $2 million and less. The executives who recieved these are the very same that brought the company down the tubes. The President has addressed the issue today, and he stated that although no one in his office reviewed the papers for AIG, they will take responsibilty for it and make the company realize what it did wrong. President Obama said that, "The buck stops with me" meaning that the chairman of AIG will no longer go unwatched and has as much freedom, if he still has a job at the end of the week. The cheif executive asked the executives to give the bonuses back, and many have, but a few still hold back. Who do these people think they are? They have ruined a company and they believe that they deserve bonuses all above $100,00. These are the kind of people who need to be blamed for our countries financial problems, they do not deserve to have jobs anymore.

Moving Forward

President Obama announced today that he has lifted the ban on Stem Cell Research. He said that he will "vigorously support" the research and he hopes that it will bring the country much needed help. He lifted the ban which was put in place by President Bush, who based his reasoning on religion. However, President Obama wants to lead the projects forward based on intergrity. Many religious groups disapprove of this and think that it is terrible.

Stem cell research is something I completly support, one way to get these stem cells is to have men and women who have embryoes they do not use(for pregnancy) to donate them for research because many of the embryoes get thrown out as medical waste. Thinking about how many lives those little embryoes could save if they were only used to help, instead of being selfishly thrown away, makes me think about where our countries thoughts really are. Do they really want healthcare to move forward? Or are they letting their religious leaders scare them out of it?

I honestly do not know where the majority of the country stands, and if they do not like it and do not support it, I really hope for the welfare of the sick that they atleast learn to respect it.

Portrayal

Today in class we talked about how New Trier projects it self in the posters it puts up, the signs, flags and much more.  One thing we did not talk greatly about is what they do not put up.  One thing that shocks me is that New Trier refuses to put its statistics into magazines and newspapers about the best schools in the country.  The only justification I've heard for them not doing it was that all rankings do is sell.  I somewhat disagree with that, you never hear of colleges refusing to let their rankings be put up.  It makes me think that New Trier almost portrays themselves as better then the ranks.  That the ranks are only for schools who want attention, because after all, who doesn't know about NT?!  Am I the only person who thinks that this is weird?