In lieu of everything that is happening in the world (e.g. the flat-lined economy, the unemployment rate, the Swine flu, etc.), the following story brought a smile to my face.  I hope it does to yours too.

In case you haven’t heard this story, a 17-year-old marching band student beat up two guys who tried to mug her while she was walking to school.  It seems the two guys came up behind the girl, grabbed her coat and demanded money.  Oooooweee, what did they do that for?!  This girl went straight “Trinity” on these muggers (if any of our readers are fans of the movie The Matrix, you understand what I’m talking about when I say Trinity)!  She punched one of the men in the nose, kicked the other in the groin AND beat both of them with her large baton before she ran away!  What?!!  You Go Girl!  This is what I call JUSTICE!!!!! 

Deputies searched near the high school where this happened –  looking for a man who was holding his bloodied nose and the other limping.  This is classic!   Final score:  student:  2, muggers:  0!

A co-worker of mine read a funny story on an Internet forum.  Check it out:

So I went down to GMU tonight with my girlfriend to watch a lecture by Mikhail Gorbachev. It was a good speech, he made some excellent points, etc. During the talk, every audience member was invited to write down an anonymous question for Gorbachev on an index card they had been given at the entrance. The ushers collected them as the speech was wrapping up, and then a Q&A session was held, using the audience’s questions.

They only had time for 5 or 6 questions, and out of an audience of about 500 people, mine was one of the ones picked. And that’s how it came to be that President Mikhail Gorbachev, last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was asked:

“Can you see Sarah Palin from your house?”

He answered (through the translator, of course) something along the lines of “Oh, yes, I loved her performance, she’s a great actress”.

So either Gorbachev thinks that a) she could not possibly be that stupid or b) Tina Fey is the real Sarah Palin and really I am perfectly happy with either option.

Props to GMU actually, because they were screening the questions. The old moderator dude was chuckling his ass off when his assistant handed him that batch of cards while Gorbachev was replying to a previous one.

“I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary,” said Specter in a statement. “I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election.”

He added: “Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.”

That is what Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter had to say about his switch from the Republican party to the Democratic Party.  If nothing else, you have to consider this guy a survivor – he has been a Senator since 1980 and has survived cancer on more than one occasion.  But this still seems to be a cop out of sorts.

Specter is probably comfortable in his role as Senator and all the perks that go along with it.  Additionally, he wants to be on the ticket with the majority of voters in his state.  If not, he could find himself looking at retirement or another occupation after the next election.  He may say his philosophy is more in line with Democrats, but more than likely he is just smart enough to know where his bread is buttered.

He was behind in the polls and now he will have a better chance.  His victory would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next senator from Minnesota.  Again, Specter must be pretty smart because that possibility is probably enough for the Democrats to give him their full support.

President Obama has already welcomed him with open arms.  You gotta love (really hate) politics.

On the low side, the American tax payers were just hit with a $235,000 bill.  The actual costs are unknown and will probably remain that way, but the amount of money spent/wasted may be the least to worry about.  What about the fear or panic caused?

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, one of the 747s used by President Obama took a flight to New York to take a photo with the skyline as a backdrop.  Since President Obama was not on the plane it wasn’t really Air Force One, but that is neither here nor there.

When this plane takes a flight, it is accompanied by two fighter jets.  The pictures only show one accompanying the jumbo jet, but they are fighters so the other one could have been a heartbeat away.  It is safe to say that it costs quite a bit to operate fighter planes.  Add that to the bill.

With pilots, crew and fuel, it is probably more expensive to take a flight in one of these jumbo jets.  A Fox news show, which was obviously biased against the President, had the total cost of this flight right around $235,000 including the operating costs of all the planes involved.  Other news outlets have reported a higher cost.  Whether the news show is biased or not, they had a point when discussing how wrong this was during these economic times.

This whole thing could have been accomplished differently for a fraction of the cost.  If we (wrongly) assume that nobody in the Department of Defense has a copy of Photoshop on their computer, a copy could have been purchased for approximately $800.  Add in the hourly salaries of one or two people; for the sake of round numbers, let’s say $1,200.  Actually that salary isn’t a stretch for DC, but that is another subject.  If my math is correct, someone could have created a convincing Photoshop with the same result for at least $233,000 less.  That would have been nice.

President Obama called it a mistake.  Uh, you think?!

The Real Cost

OK, here is the real cost and something that would have really had me upset.  The citizens of New York, some of whom I’m sure were involved with 9/11, didn’t know about this prior to it happening.  Even the people who didn’t go through it before surely know or have heard stories about the horror that occurred that day.  Can you imagine how those people felt when they had to evacuate their building or saw the planes overhead?  Pure fear.

Even Mayor Bloomberg didn’t know this was going to happen and I’m sure he wasn’t happy about it either.

“First thing is I’m annoyed – furious is a better word – that I wasn’t told,” he said. “Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies imagination. Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase.”

Bloomberg said federal officials notified the NYPD and another city official, whom he declined to identify, of the flight plan.

“Had I known about it I would have called them right away and asked them not to,” he said. “The good news is it was nothing more than an ill considered, badly conceived, insensitive photo op – with the taxpayers’ money.”

I know President Obama is good with words and this is one time where I think a press conference is called for.  When our government does something like this, ignoring the sensitivities of so many citizens, a public apology is in order.  When people make mistakes that doesn’t mean they are bad people, but that doesn’t mean good people are above eating some crow and saying they are sorry.

If I worked in New York and got scared to death by this “______” (you fill in the blank), I would have jumped in my car and headed straight for Washington DC.

Come on Mr. President, speak on it!

There are some features and changes we would like to make to 7daybuzz.  These changes would make the site more user-friendly and a better overall experience – things I think would be a positive.  In order to make this happen, we need someone with WordPress and/or web page expertise.

Our understanding of the economy and business means we don’t expect something for nothing.  We are willing to pay for the services we are asking for; with our economy every little bit of income comes in handy.

If you know of anyone who could help us out, let us know.  We can be reached via the contact form on this site or I can be emailed at tsawyer(at)7daybuzz.com (isn’t it a shame that I have to put that in parenthesis so I don’t get spammed).

I would also like to know if you have ever tried to comment and received errors.  I don’t necessarily want to criticize someone who is trying to make money, but there are some businesses out there who have made commenting on site difficult as well as build things into websites which make functionality less than optimal.

I hope to hear from someone soon.

We all know how important computers are in our everyday lives. To a freshman in college, having access to a computer is extremely important. But, having a laptop, could easily become the difference between passing or failing a class (or classes).

We Embrace is a nonprofit that recognizes the importance of higher education as well as the importance of computers in a college-bound student’s life. The mission of the nonprofit states, “We Embrace is a nonprofit organization whose ultimate goal is to enrich and empower youth, as well as impoverished families, in our communities, via technology. We provide a variety of items to the community, ranging from computers for high school students (who maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average of 3.0 or above) …”

In this post, we are showcasing We Embrace’s generosity to high school students who maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or above.  Starting today, We Embrace is holding an essay contest for high school seniors who currently have a GPA of 3.0 or above and they have already been accepted into a four-year university.   The essay must address the following topic:  “My Contributions To Society Are…” and must be a minimum of 800 words.  The font-size should be 12, Times New Roman and the deadline for submission is August 15, 2009.  Submissions are accepted via email only.

The winner of the essay contest will receive a brand new laptop!  For those of you that are skeptical of this nonprofit, I can personally guarantee that it is on the up and up.  Thomas and I started We Embrace in 2004 because we are both IT professionals.  We realize and understand the importance of computers in one’s life, especially as a student, and we just want to help out as much as we can.  If you know a graduating high school senior, who is attending a four-year university this fall, please pass this information on to them.  If you like what we’re trying to do, please let us know, either here on 7DayBuzz or at weembrace@weembrace.com.  If you are interested in making a donation to We Embrace, please contact us so that we can tell you how to do that.

Just to recap, the deadline for the We Embrace essay contest is May 31, 2009 and the email address for students to submit their essays is:  seniors@weembrace.com.  NOTE:  The winner will have to submit proof of acceptance into the university and proof that their GPA is at least 3.0.

If you want to read up on We Embrace, please visit our website at www.weembrace.com

This is starting to get old, but this is the world we live in.  Another tragic situation, another life lost.  I couldn’t really think of anything to do except copy and paste part of this story.

Eleven-year-old Jaheem Herrera woke up on April 16 acting strangely. He wasn’t hungry and he didn’t want to go to school.

He came home much happier than when he left in the morning, smiling as he handed his mother, Masika Bermudez, a glowing report card full of A’s and B’s. She gave him a high-five and he went upstairs to his room as she prepared dinner.

A little later, when his younger sister called him to come down to eat, Jaheem didn’t answer.

So mother and daughter climbed the stairs to Jaheem’s room and opened the door.

Jaheem was hanging by his belt in the closet.

“I always used to see these things on TV, dead people on the news,” says Bermudez. “I saw somebody die and to see this dead person is your son, hanging there, a young boy. … To hang yourself like that, you’ve got to really be tired of something.”

Bermudez says bullies at school pushed Jaheem over the edge. He complained about being called gay, ugly and “the virgin” because he was from the Virgin Islands, she said.

“He used to say Mom they keep telling me this … this gay word, this gay, gay, gay. I’m tired of hearing it, they’re telling me the same thing over and over,” she told CNN, as she wiped away tears from her face.

But while she says her son complained about the bullying, she had no idea how bad it had gotten.

“He told me, but he just got to the point where he didn’t want me to get involved anymore because nothing was done,” she said.

Bermudez said she complained to the school about bullying seven or eight times, but it wasn’t enough to save him.

Unfortunately, a former co-worker of mine went through a similar situation.  In that situation, I actually asked him how his son was doing – a son that lived under his roof – and his response was, “I don’t know, I haven’t been able to get with him.  It was his son!  I can’t imagine having to “Get with” my daughter and I certainly can’t imagine the pain that followed his tragedy.  Sad.

6 separate suicide notes.  That is how many notes Christopher Woods left before shooting his 3 kids, his wife and then himself.  Woods left individual suicide notes to his wife and each of the three children, expressing his sorrow and love.  I don’t understand why he even wrote those notes since they will, unfortunately, never read them.  Why would someone do something like this?

Woods was apparently depressed due to debt – $460,000 of debt from mortgages and credit cards.  In fact, Woods worked as a salesman making $97,000 a year, which is great.  Again, what would cause someone to kill a 5-year-old, a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old?

Woods had no record of domestic violence, which I take to mean this was out of his character.  Unfortunately, Woods obviously thought his situation (debt) was beyond hope.  Look at the people across the street, next to you at work (if you are so fortunate) and at the grocery store.  If Woods’ acts are any indication, any of us could snap under the pressure of the recession and start a killing spree.

If a list was made up of things NOT to do when times are tough, I think number one could be to not commit murder and/or suicide.  I think a closer look around would have made Woods realize things are tough all over and most of us aren’t making $97,000 during these hard times.

This is just one example of what is going on with our society, but another reminder that we have to find hope somewhere.  We could look to God, we could look to our families or we could look within.  The main thing is to support each other somehow and try to reduce this kind of news.  I’ve often heard people talk about the tough times in our own backyard in protest to what we do abroad and I think recent events have shown that to be somewhat legitimate.  Sure, we have problems with enemies who are foreign, but we also have problems with enemies who are domestic and those enemies could be everyday people who think all hope is lost.

I don’t necessarily have an answer – it seems like we are throwing money at too many things – but something needs to happen positively.  We have got to stop all this senseless killing.

“I never had any idea that my government was wiretapping me at all,” said Rep. Jane Harman, A key Democrat who reportedly was overheard on a National Security Agency wiretap discussing a deal with a suspected Israeli agent. Rep. Harman has called the wiretap an “abuse of power.” Harman went on to say, “I, frankly, think my name is clear. My conscience is certainly clear. And I think the question is about … did our government abuse the rights of American citizens, including members of Congress, with legal or illegal wiretappings about things that were not appropriate and then selective leaking of the product of those wiretaps.”

With the danger of terrorist activities hanging over our heads, it is unfortunately necessary to watch people. As of May 2007 there were approximately 755,000 people, including aliases and different spellings of the same name, on the government’s watch list. I would like to think Rep. Harman isn’t on that list, but maybe the people on the other end were. There are specific steps that must occur to get put on the list.

An agent from the FBI, NSA or other federal agency nominates you before adding someone to the list. Then, that nomination moves on to the FBI’s Terrorist Review and Examination Unit. If the person checks out as a known or potential terrorist, it’s on to the Terrorist Screening Center and the watch list.

The process sounds like mechanisms are in place to ensure the correct people are put on this list, but a mispelling here or there and any of us could be watched. That being the case, I think it is a little unsettling to have someone like Rep. Harman involved in wiretapping. Unsettling, but given the reputation of our government officials, not surprising.

How do we draw the line – draw the line between protection of national security, obviously the government’s need to obtain intelligence data, and the protection of civil liberties, particularly the sanctity of my home? You’ve got no right to come into my home!  …. Larry King from the motion picture Enemy of the State (1998)

I don’t want my privacy invaded and you probably don’t either, but we must consider what is at stake.  Terrorists are real and they are making plans to commit murderous acts with no regard for their own lives.  What do you do to gain information about someone doing something who isn’t afraid to die?  I think you reluctantly cross out what used to be the old line, cross it and change the rules.  If a little of our privacy is compromised in the meantime at least we are alive to complain about it.

Do you drink water from the tap or do you buy bottled water?  Although it may seem ridiculous to have to pay for something that is free, it seems it may be the best thing for you.  According to an Associated Press investigation, U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water — contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked.

The Associated Press discovered federal and industry officials say they don’t know the extent to which pharmaceuticals are released by U.S. manufacturers because no one tracks them — as drugs. But a close analysis of 20 years of federal records found that, in fact, the government unintentionally keeps data on a few, allowing a glimpse of the pharmaceuticals coming from factories.  As part of its ongoing PharmaWater investigation about trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals in drinking water, AP identified 22 compounds that show up on two lists: the EPA monitors them as industrial chemicals that are released into rivers, lakes and other bodies of water under federal pollution laws, while the Food and Drug Administration classifies them as active pharmaceutical ingredients.  The data don’t show precisely how much of the 271 million pounds comes from drugmakers versus other manufacturers; also, the figure is a massive undercount because of the limited federal government tracking.

This is not the first investigation that the Associated Press has conducted on our drinking water.  Last year, they reported that trace amounts of a wide range of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in American drinking water supplies. Including recent findings in Dallas, Cleveland and Maryland’s Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, pharmaceuticals have been detected in the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans.  Most cities and water providers still do not test. Some scientists say that wherever researchers look, they will find pharma-tainted water.

Of course, our utility companies say the water is safe.  And scientists, doctors and the EPA say there are no confirmed human risks associated with consuming minute concentrations of drugs.  HOWEVER, those experts also agree that dangers cannot be ruled out, especially given the emerging research.

Well, at our home, we filter our water, but now I’m starting to wonder if that’s even enough!  I might have to start buying water again.  7DayBuzz readers, what do you think about this?