Number 3

The article in the Washington Post titled New Rules on Stem Cells Threaten Current Research was about how the new regulations on Stem Cell Research might hamper the work that has already been done in that field. During Bush’s Presidency, there were about twenty-one lines of stem cells that were aloud to be federally funded. Under the proposed changes, only two of those lines would be considered ethical to work on. Many scientists feel that the new policy would take away from all of the effort that was already put into the research.
I chose this article because stem cell research is still a controversial topic, and I prefer to know a little bit about controversial topics. For the most part, the passage was well written. Substantial background knowledge was given to help the uneducated reader, such as myself, better understand the subject. I would give it two thumbs up.

New Post, #2

The Washington Post article, Nuclear Cleanup Awards Questioned, covered the topic of nuclear waste and who is cleaning it up. In the past, many private companies had been hired by the federal government to dispose of nuclear waste. A few of these businesses were accused and found guilty of poor regulation of their nuclear sites as well as trying to cheat the government by skimping on taxes. The Energy Department was disappointed in how the waste situation was being handled and unsure of how to continue the challenging process of disposing of the contaminants. Now, however, President Obama’s stimulus plan is “opening a bountiful stream” of funding into cleaning up the mess that has been left behind. The issue with this new financial support is that a good chunk of the money is going back to those same companies that did not get the job done so many years ago. Politicians are questioning whether funding these companies is the right idea or not. Only time will tell.
I chose this article because the title caught my eye. Whenever the word “Nuclear” is in the first line or two of an article, I feel as though it should be read. Too many dangerous events could happen or be happening when something “Nuclear” is involved. The article itself was pretty well written. The author gave a good amount of background knowledge to the reader and gave her piece an easy flow by effectively using paragraphs. All in all, the article was a decent read.

It's been awhile...

It is a new quarter HHS, and means new blog posts. I chose to read an article titled An Iraqi Cleric’s Swift Rise and Swift Fall. This article was about how a wealthy businessman named Muthanna Youssef Hammoud was kidnapped in Thuluyah, Iraq. However, Hammoud was kidnapped back in October of 2006. The reason the article was in the Washington Post this week was because it was only recently that Iraqi and U.S. soldiers arrested the man who was believed to have been the mastermind behind the whole operation. His name is Nadhim Khalil, and he was a former insurgent leader and American ally. All of the controversy over this event was due to the vying of political power that went on in Iraq after Khalil’s arrest. The media blamed the departure of American Troops as a major factor in the recent event.
I chose this article because foreign policy interests me. There is always something going on overseas, and I feel somewhat responsible to know a tad about what is going on out side of the U.S. I honestly do not know that much, but by reading these articles I am hoping that some of the facts will stick. As a whole, the article was written fairly well. The author hit all of the main points left the reader wanting more. The only thing that I wish were different about it is that there was more background story. The author briefly discussed why the issue was important, but, as an uneducated reader, it left me wanting more.