Social Chat

I listened to an interesting PODCAST a couple of weeks ago on my way home from campus.  It was an interview with the new president of the Christian Science Monitor, which is a newspaper with daily circulation.  One interesting thing about CSM is that it is changing its paper’s distribution due to declining subscriptions (due to the Internet).  This trend is surfacing all over the U.S. and threatens to end the existence of print media.  Do you think we’ve seen the end of daily newspapers?

This also brings up another interesting question regarding whether or not individuals who read Internet news should be able to view this stuff for free or should have to pay? What do you think of these changes?

I’m assuming that most of the people posting to this blog are fairly congnizant of the latest “goings-on” in our government and economy.  President Obama is expected to sign an estimated 780 billion dollar stimulus plan this coming Tuesday (Feb 17, 2009).  The bill did pass the house and senate; however, it was anything but bi-partisan.  Republicans have been blasting the plan as including much too much “pork” and not much real stimulus, whereas Democrats have admitted that the bill isn’t perfect but includes much needed aide to the economy. 

Recently, Former U.S. SenatorJohn Sununu appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to chat about the Stimulus Plan.  I found this INTERVIEW to be quite heated and interesting.  I’m not really interested in hearing who you thought won the discussion (I had it with everyone trying be right instead of fixing the problems); rather I’m interested on what you thought of the topics brought up in the interview (there were several great points made by both individuals).  Let me know you’re thoughts…

Many of us here in the U.S. myay be starting to purchase beans to eat at the store in response to our economic woes that seem to be getting worse.  I like some beans and, hey, they’re cheap.  The “gummit” as Molly Ivens always referred to it, is voting on an 800 Billion dollar stimulus package this morning that is supposed to begin some much-needed healing process to our economy.  A recent ARTICLE posted by CNN addresses some of the “pork”, which means unnecessary spending that is included in this bill.  Take a look at the article and let me know what you think.  Remember, however, some of these supposed pork pieces may actually be connected to stimulus so think long and hard about how they might be used.

Good afternoon!  I’m sure many of you are at Superbowl parties right now.  May the best team win!  The ARTICLE for this week is focuses on the subject of cloning one’s pet.  Now I have two dogs that are getting pretty old and this sounds like a pretty good idea (if I had an extra $100,000 laying around).  However, I’m assuming prices would begin to come down if the idea cathes on.  That said what do you think? Is it a good idea for our society to begin cloning our pets? Moreover, should this continue into the realm of human beings? What do you think?