Plane Crash

            A plane crashed into a house in a Mississippi neighborhood late Tuesday.  It killed all three people on the plane and injured a resident of the home.  The single engine plane had just taken off from the Hawkins Field Airport  when it began to falter.  One of the three men on the plane was a flight instructor, and another of the three was just 15 hours away from getting his pilot license.  They were going to a Federal Aviation Administration safety conference just 25 miles away.

            The owner of the plane described the plane as being in “mint condition”. Well, it obviously wasn’t.  I’m sure he did a standard safety check on the plane before they took off, but if I was flying, I would double, maybe even triple check the plane before I took off.  Once you’re in the air, and anything goes wrong, there is basically nothing you can do.  If you are in a plane, and something goes wrong, there is a good chance you’re not going to make it out alive.  This is one of those things that you can’t go lightly on.  You have to be 100% positive about every single little detail.

            Honestly, I don’t even see why they flew.  It was 25 miles away.  They spent way more money and probably went through way more trouble flying than driving.  It probably took more time to fly as well.  They had to get the plane out, do the inspections, be cleared to take off, actually fly there, land the plane, park the plane, and then somehow get to the place of the meeting.  It just makes no sense to me why they would go through more trouble and money than they would have to.

Toddler Dies after Falling into Wild Dog Exhibit at Pennsylvania Zoo

A two year old boy died today at the Pittsburgh Zoo today.  It was reported that he fell off the railing his mother had put him on.  He fell 11 feet into the exhibit and then was immediately pounced on by a pack of wild African dogs.  Zoo officials and police are not sure whether the boy died from the fall or from the mauling.

Fences and rails are put up for the reason not to go past them.  You’re not allowed to go above them,  you’re  not allowed to go below them.  They’re not meant to be keeping you from only passing the specific area that the fence or rail is at.  You just don’t go past a rail or fence, especially if there is an 11 foot drop and a pack of wild dogs on the other side.  The mother, who is 34 years old, should not have even put the toddler, who has no self-control, on the rail, much less take her hands off of him.  I think she should have kept him in a stroller the whole time or at least held his hand.  Even using one of those backpack “leashes” for kids would have been more beneficial.

In my opinion, parents are becoming less and less responsible for their kids every day.  You have to be extremely cautious with your kids, especially when they are as young as the boy in the story.  When they are as young as 2 years old, they have no control over themselves. So, as a parent, you have to control every aspect of their life or you could possibly lose them.

Child Soldiers

            Sara Morales, who is in her early 20s, said she has been to hell and back.  She stated she was forcibly recruited by the main guerilla group in her county of Columbia.  "When I was only 11 years-old I was raped by FARC guerrillas and for 11 years I was abused and exploited by them," Morale said.  FARC stands for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (a Spanish acronym).  FARC has been at war with the Columbian government for over fifty years.

                Some people are just insane.  I don’t understand why they would think it is smart to recruit children as soldiers.  The children will not be true followers, but followers out of fear.  Children are not meant to go to war.  By forcing children to go to war, you are ruining their generation and the future leaders.  You are not only hurting them, but you are also hurting your future when they are the leaders.  Children have no idea about anything when it comes to war.  They just don’t understand.

                Research has found about 18,000 children have been forced to join guerilla groups in the past four years.  Some were kidnapped, but most were lured in with promise of food and shelter.  According to Natalia Springer, about sixty-nine percent of the kids kidnapped were fourteen years old or younger.  The children are not doing normal jobs either.  They are being forced  to do the most dangerous jobs that the adult soldiers don’t want to do.  They were forced to plant land mines, transport explosives, and kidnap other children.

                In my opinion, and probably many, many others, it is definitely not okay to force children to be soldiers.  They don’t know what they are doing, and don’t know why they are doing it.  You are ruining  the future, and going through innocent lives like Americans go through gas.

Child Soldiers

            Sara Morales, who is in her early 20s, said she has been to hell and back.  She stated she was forcibly recruited by the main guerilla group in her county of Columbia.  "When I was only 11 years-old I was raped by FARC guerrillas and for 11 years I was abused and exploited by them," Morale said.  FARC stands for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (a Spanish acronym).  FARC has been at war with the Columbian government for over fifty years.

                Some people are just insane.  I don’t understand why they would think it is smart to recruit children as soldiers.  The children will not be true followers, but followers out of fear.  Children are not meant to go to war.  By forcing children to go to war, you are ruining their generation and the future leaders.  You are not only hurting them, but you are also hurting your future when they are the leaders.  Children have no idea about anything when it comes to war.  They just don’t understand.

                Research has found about 18,000 children have been forced to join guerilla groups in the past four years.  Some were kidnapped, but most were lured in with promise of food and shelter.  According to Natalia Springer, about sixty-nine percent of the kids kidnapped were fourteen years old or younger.  The children are not doing normal jobs either.  They are being forced  to do the most dangerous jobs that the adult soldiers don’t want to do.  They were forced to plant land mines, transport explosives, and kidnap other children.

                In my opinion, and probably many, many others, it is definitely not okay to force children to be soldiers.  They don’t know what they are doing, and don’t know why they are doing it.  You are ruining  the future, and going through innocent lives like Americans go through gas.

Homeless Millionaires

According to TMZ, since filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Michael Vick has spent around $29 million in the four years since he has been released from prison for his involvement in dog fighting.  Vick, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, signed a $100 million contract a few years ago.  Since then, he has made around $30 million.

I think that some people feel sympathy for him because the $29 million he spent, was on taxes, loans, to pay lawyers, and to pay for child support.  I feel absolutely no sympathy for him at all.  He did something illegal and has to pay the consequences for everything that comes with it.  However, I do respect the fact that he is living off of what is the average doctor’s salary, and making it work out pretty decent compared to what his old life style was like.

More in general, there are several former pro athletes who have filed for bankruptcy.  That list includes:  Tony Gwynn,  Mike Tyson, Johnny Unitas, Lawrence Taylor, Warren Sapp, Evander Holyfield, Dennis Rodman, and many more.  These people have all the money they could ever need.  They were simply extremely greedy.  They had the money to pay ten different accountants to tell them when they were spending too much money.  But, they all went through hundreds of millions of dollars like it was nothing.  A normal person, if they are lucky, makes roughly a few million dollars of net income in their life.  Take Charles Woodson.  He is a cornerback for the Green Bay Packers.  He makes millions of dollars.  Instead of spending it all, he invests  in the stock market like a genius, and develops real estate.   He has enough money to live off of for the rest of his life, that his kids can live off, and maybe grandkids too.

I think that professional athletes make too much money for their own good.  They get greedy, and spend it all thinking they deserve it and have unlimited money.   Although there are a few pros who are down to earth and extremely responsible, many make too much.  I feel no sympathy toward them if they spend it all.