Ex-cop faces 30 years over torture of suspects

 As a decorated Chicago police lieutenant, Jon Burge prided himself on sending bad guys to prison by getting them to confess to terrible crimes — and by committing terrible crimes himself in the process. Dozens of suspects, almost all of them black men, claimed for decades that Burge and his officers tortured them into confessing to crimes ranging from armed robbery to murder. Prosecutors argue that the nature of the violent acts Burge was convicted of lying about should lengthen his sentence, as should the cost his conduct has had on the city, his fellow officers and his victims.

I think that if this officer had been torturing  his suspects for decades, someone would have known about it. That person should have reported him to higher up authorities. And if his victims had been claiming that he tortured them, someone should have believed them, and then reported him. Just because he was a police officer does not make the things he did right. No one is above the law. He should have known that. He also led a bad example for his officers. As a lieutenant, he was a leader in his group, and teaching his officers that torturing people was a bad move on his part. Also, he sounds a bit racist for mainly torturing black suspects.  

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41169778

Woman can speak again after voice box transplant

 A woman is able to speak again after she had a rare operation to replace her voice box, she is only the second person in the world to have a successful larynx transplant. Jensen damaged her vocal cords more than a decade ago after she repeatedly pulled out her breathing tube while under sedation in the hospital. The operation last fall lasted 18 hours over two days. Doctors replaced her voice box, windpipe and thyroid gland with that of a donor who died in an accident.

 I am glad that technology has advanced so much that a woman is able to recieve a new voice box from another person. Before, this woman would have had to suffer through life never being able to speak again. Now, she can speak full sentences and is relearning how to properly talk again. Although, if she had never pulled out her breathing tube during her stay at the hospital, she never would have damaged her voicebox. I'm not sure that she knew what she was doing though.  I'm not sure why someone would pull out a breathing tube while they were knocked out. You would think that the doctors who were watching over her would make sure that she wouldn't pull out her breathing tube after she did it the first time.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41179634

Bombs kill at least 50 along pilgrim route to Shiite holy city of Karbala

 A pair of car bombs blasted through security checkpoints ringing the Iraqi holy city of Karbala Thursday and killed at least 51 people, most of whom were Shiite pilgrims headed to observe yearly religious rituals. The bombings bore the trademark of al-Qaida and other Sunni-dominated extremist groups that frequently target Shiite pilgrimages in hopes of re-igniting sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war just a few years ago. Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims are pouring into Karbala for Arbain, which marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

 The fact that races of people who I believe are similar in some ways still attempt to kill each other today is very sad. I know world peace sounds so optimistically simplistic, but its it too much to hope for? Car bombings are a terrible way to kill the general public. So many innocent lives are wasted all because a few people believe their cause is worth dying for. I believe people have the right to make whatever point they want, but it's wrong for them to kill others for a cause they may not even believe in.  The Shiites and Sunni people live in the same area but must learn to move past their differences because the world is big enough for both religions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41170998/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

Study: Babies may need more than breast milk

Feeding solid food earlier and not relying solely on breastfeeding for the first six months might be beneficial to babies. Waiting to wean a baby from breast milk could increase the occurrence of food allergies and iron deficiency. Also, keeping to the six months recommendation could "reduce the window for introducing new tastes. Bitter tastes, in particular, may be important in the later acceptance of green leafy vegetables, which may potentially affect later food preferences with influence on health outcomes such as obesity.
 I think that all parents should read this news article. It could be very beneficial to their baby. Parents do not want to be responsible for negatively affecting their child's taste buds or health. If babies will accept vegtables because they are weaned off milk earlier, parents should wean them. Most children do not like vegtables when they are younger, so changing their eating habits are important. Children have to be exposed to new tastes. If they are exposed from an early age, they are more likely to be accepting of those tastes. Breast milk alone can not help children learn to accept food. Babies need to be weaned from breast milk early so they do not obtain a food allergy or somehow have an iron deficiency.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41071734/ns/health/

Wobbly Earth means your horoscope is wrong

  Astrological signs are determined by the position of the sun relative to certain constellations on a person's day of birth. The problem is, the positions were determined more than 2,000 years ago. Nowadays, the stars have shifted in the night sky so much that horoscope signs are nearly a month off. The shift is caused by precession, the wobble in the Earth's axis caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon to the Earth's equator. This means that as the Earth rotates, its axis swings in a circle, pointing in different directions. As it's position shifts, so does our perspective of the night sky.

 I don't think that the horoscopes being off is such a surprise. I mean, they were determined about 2,000 years ago and no one thought they should try to update them? If the sun, and the earth, and the stars are constantly moving doesn't it make sense that our perspective will probably change in some way over the past 2,000 years? Our astrological signs may have been off for 1,500 years, but nobody thought to check to see how much the Earth's changed angle had effected them. People shouldn't be suprised that they are off. Our perception of the night sky is never the same position, no matter what people think. Granted, I am not happy with this new information. I have always been a Taurus, and now suddendly find myself to be an Aries. I'm not sure what to make of myself with my horoscope. Even if, I have never followed my horoscope day to day, it is still a shock to find out you may not be what you think you always have been.

    Here are the real signs:

• Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16.
• Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11.
• Pisces: March 11-April 18.
• Aries: April 18-May 13.
• Taurus: May 13-June 21.
• Gemini: June 21-July 20.
• Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10.
• Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.
• Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30.
• Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.
• Scorpio: Nov. 23-29.
• Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17.
• Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41062376/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Kidney-swap sisters released from jail

 Two sisters whose life sentences were suspended on the condition that one donate a kidney to the other were released from a Mississippi prison on Friday after serving 16 years for an armed robbery. The idea to donate the kidney was Gladys Scott's, the sister who is not in need of a kidney, and she volunteered to do it in her petition for early release. The Scotts were convicted in 1994 of an armed robbery in central Mississippi the year before. The robbery didn't amount to much; amounts were reported to have ranged from $11 to $200.
 I think that it is rediculous how long the women were in jail for a robbery. They only stole up to $200 and they go to jail for almost 16 years? Something is wrong with our justice system if two women go to jail for 16 years for robbery, and some guy who is a rapist is able to post bail or get out of jail in 6 months or less. In fact, it is worse for people who have to pay for all of the housing these women were jailed for. Why should the public be forced to pay for this woman's dialysis. If she had been released from prison, the government would not have been forced to cover her medical costs and she would have had to fight her own battles.

http://bltwy.msnbc.msn.com/politics/kidney-swap-sisters-released-from-jail-1671124.story

Report: Facebook deal values firm at $50 billion

 Mark Zuckerberg, the creater of Facebook is considered own of the worlds youngest billionaires. When Facebook was valued at $23 billion, Zuckerberg was worth about $6.9 billion. Now he's worth an estimated $14 billion. A $500 million investment from certain people show that Facebook has potential to make money in online social networking system. This $500 million dollar investment along with others makes Facebook worth about $50 billion. Yet with all of the money going into it, Facebook wants to keep its books private and not have to cater to the demands of the market.

I don't really understand how a website can be worth so much money. Sure millions upon millions of people use Facebook, but do we really need to make it worth $50 billion? We could invest our money in something to help the environment or to help end world hunger. Instead, we spend our money on a social networking site that doesn't really protect its users' privacy. Facebook needs to work harder to protect individual rights instead of worrying about keeping it's own books privacy. They want to work around laws so they do not have to show the public all of their dirty laundry. I am not sure about Facebook going public because with so many people using it, it could be dangerous to let information out.