Traditionally, professions that involve handling another person’s life have been highly regarded and valued by our society. So much so that professionals in those fields command high salaries for their work as a token of appreciation for the tremendous amount of responsibility they have to deal with daily.
After the fifth air traffic controller in a month was reported to be asleep on duty, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has set out to issue new scheduling guidelines aimed at reducing fatigue on the job for air traffic controllers.
A recent study of Duke’s admission data revealed that out of the 29,550 applicants this year, 3,416 are from California, which is by a large margin the highest number of any state. Additionally, the number of applications from California to Duke increased by 93 percent between 2008 and 2011, while total applications to Duke increased by 45 percent. Logic tells us that as more Californians apply to Duke, more will matriculate as well. In 2001, 74 California students enrolled at Duke, whereas last year, 149 or double, enrolled.
Being a native of Northern California, Disneyland was always a distant adventure yet to be undertaken for me and my family. We had always heard stories about what a happy and joyous place it was, the self-declared, “happiest place on earth.” Then one summer between sixth and seventh grade, we made the six-hour trip down to Anaheim. The trip proved to be more than worth the cost. Today, after living in Southern California for over three years, I understand really how much Disneyland means to the people here. My friends are constantly saying how they are heading over to Disneyland over the weekend (every weekend) and how much fun they are going to have.
Recently, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson ruled that forcing people to buy health insurance (or pay a fine) is unconstitutional. Although further judicial review is pending, and several courts have ruled differently, this decision just may be the death knell for President Obama’s plan to provide insurance for the nation’s uninsured. The judge’s ruling was as literal an interpretation of the Constitution as one can imagine. Had the health care bill used different words and levied a tax (of equal amount instead of the fine) on all Americans and provided a tax credit (also equal to the fine) for those with health insurance, nothing significant and of substance would have changed from the bill, and as a result the judge would have had no objection.
Of all the nations that have nuclear weapons, North Korea concerns our government the most for obvious reasons. Ever since the last international inspectors...
