Gilbert Arenas Gun Scandal

If you are a NBA basketball fan, then you know who Gilbert Arenas is. Gilbert Arenas, a three-time NBA All Star has been the face of the Washington Wizard franchise since his rookie season in 2001. As a result, he has been a hero in the state of Washington because of his remarkable accomplishments on the Washington Wizards. Unfortunately, a dumb mistake by Arenas would cost him his sponsorship with a major company, the relationship with his teammates, and even worse, his image as a leader diminished.

So you may ask, what exactly did he do that consequently gave him such harsh punishments? The answer to this is rather mind-boggling considering the leadership icon that Arenas once was. On January 14, 2010 Arenas was charged with a single count of carrying a pistol without a license, a felony that carries a five-year sentence. However, Gilbert Arenas did agree to a plea agreement that could result in much less or even no jail time at all. Later on March 26, 2010 Arenas’s punishment was finalized. The NBA star was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and has to serve 30 days in a halfway house as well as serve 400 hours of community service and contribute $5,000 to a fund for victims of violence.

And THAT is what frustrates me.

If it weren’t for his career as an NBA basketball player, Gilbert Arenas would’ve been in jail for the standard 5 years just like everyone else. There is absolutely no reason why Gilbert should be treated any differently then everyone else. This is just one of many examples about the leniency that star athletes get when it comes to the law. Another example of this is Michael Vick and the dog fighting scandal. The star NFL quarterback was supposed to serve up to 6 years in prison for his crime but only ended up serving 23 months in prison instead. This frustrates me because athletes will only continue to abuse the law knowing the fact that they will end up serving far less then they actually deserve. I strongly believe that if the court were to be more black and white with these rules, then there would be far less problems that they would encounter in the future. With the way the court has been treating these sports icons, I wouldn’t be surprised if similar problems like these happened again in the future.

Despite receiving no jail time, Arenas still had other issues regarding his sponsorship with Adidas. Adidas, Arena’s major sponsorship had terminated its agreement with the Wizard’s star after he pleaded guilty of the gun scandal. Not only is Arenas losing thousands of dollars for this, but the Adidas Company is taking a big hit as well. Arenas not only created a bad image for him, but also created a bad image for Adidas. As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a decrease in sales for Adidas ever since the Gilbert Arena’s scandal occurred.

Gilbert Arenas Gun Scandal Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl9qjkV8bOI

Facebook gets drowned by law AND Users can too!

Do you use facebook? Do you feel unsafe on facebook?

Harassment online is called cyberbulling. Facebook publishes all your photos and wall conversations you have with other people. Facebook users need to be aware that can be stalked and be in danger.  For your safety, you need to be aware of what you publish and who you allow to view your information.

A case of how facebook got sued:
According to a report at ClickZ, the case stems from the idea that "encouraging children to “like” an ad, Facebook is, in effect, asking them to use peer pressure to get their friends to click and that’s exploitation of a minor for profit.” 
Don’t stress over being stalked by others or feeling unsafe, because you always have authority to sue the facebook headquarters who publish your information without you knowing it.
Parents tend to invade in their childs privacy by viewing your activity and posts and also making you deactivate your facebook account. Many incidents of how Facebook gets drowned by Law is mainly when murder/ rape happens when one individual meets another unknown on facebook user. Facebook allows others to request as friends even if there are no mutual friends. The people who usually add random people are known as the “Facebook stalkers” which is a scary thing of knowing.

German officials are taking legal actions against Facebook for accessing users’ personal information, as well as some information of those who are not using the site. Johannes Caspar, Head of Hamburg's Data Protection Authority, stated that he received many complaints from people who are not signed up to Facebook but their personal information added by their friends who are Facebook members.  The people that didn't know they were Facebook users are being used for “marketing purposes” without their permission.

This video shows how internet bullying and harassment statements can get you and Facebook sued from the individual who just “didn’t like the comment”. http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/14046/1500315?title=citybizlist_dallas Facebook shouldn’t allow messages/publishing that are inappropriate on news feeds. The video also shows how the inappropriate pictures where in public view - so anyone can see these illegal acts like underage drinking, smoking and nudity.

Be careful what you post on Facebook and what people post about you cause lawsuits can be happening faster than you would ever think about it! 

Firing Policies

When you get a job in the future, there will most likely be a boss. That "boss" has the power to take control of the business, make decisions for the business, and best of all, he can fire anyone that works under him. Most workers in the United States work "at will" which means that the manager can fire the person anytime for any reason unless it's illegal. So when you are a manager of a business and you really dislike this one employee, you have to be careful because there are policies on firing an employee. Even though you have the authority to fire anyone, you need to make sure that you follow the policies and know what is illegal before you actually fire someone.

Illegal Reasons For Firing Employees

1. Discrimination. It is illegal for a manager to fire an employee based on their race, gender, national origin, disability, religion, or age. It is also illegal to fire someone just because they are pregnant or has a medical condition related to pregnancy and childbirth. Everyone has the right to work anywhere without being discriminated.
2. Refusal to take a lie detector test. Just because an employee refuses to take a lie detector test, a manager does not have the right to fire an employee just because they refuse to take one. There are many states out there that don't allow businesses to take lie detector tests.
3. Complaining about OSHA violations. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) is the primary federal law which governs occupational health and safety in the private sector and federal government in the United States. Its main goal is to ensure that employers provide employees with an environment free from recognized hazards, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions. With all this said, it is illegal for employers to fire employees for complaining that their jobs aren't as safe as they should be. The employees have the freedom of speech and they can say whatever they would like. Plus, it could help out the business to fix certain safety rules to make a better work place.
4. Violations of Public Policy. These are considered to be morally or ethically wrong to the public. For example, you cannot fire an employee just because they refuse to commit an illegal act. You cannot fire an employee just because they were complaining about an employers illegal conduct. You also cannot fire an employee just because they exercised a legal right. An example would be voting or taking a family leave). The employees have the right to refuse and accept whatever they want without getting legally fired.
5. Alien Status. An employer cannot fire an employee because of their alien status. Just because an employee is an immigrant, the employee has the right to work wherever they want legally. This would only be enforced if the employee is eligible to work in the United States.

You may be wondering, what happens if you fire someone even with the legal right to, but they are very upset and they sue you? Did you know that every employer is protected in case a situation like that occurs? Here are some steps and processes of avoiding a lawsuit from an employee signing a release.

• You can ask the employee to sign a release which is an agreement for the employee not to sue. If the employee does sign the release, you will have to give something back to them. Usually it is money that is given to the employee for signing the release.
• Make sure the release is clear about the rights the employee is waiving. You need to be specific and clear in the release so that the employee knows what it covers.
• You need to give the employee time for them to decide whether or not to sign the release. It is reasonable to say to give the employee a good week or two to decide whether or not they should sign the release.
• Do not threaten or talk tough with your employees about signing the release. An employee's decision to sign a release must be voluntary, or courts will not enforce the release.

As you can see there are a lot of things in firing employees. The employees have a lot of rights and if you just fire them just because you hate their guts, you can get into trouble and a possible lawsuit. When running a business, it is important to trust your employees and to make sure that you go over all the policies given. So when you become a manager in a business in the future, make sure you know the policies of firing employees and also make sure that the employees sign the release form. It can help you in the future and protect you from a lawsuit.

The National Football League Collective Bargaining Agreement

In March of 2011, The National Football League's Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire. What is a CBA you ask. It is defined as a legally enforceable contract for a specified period between the management of an organization and its employees represented by an independent trade union. It sets down and defines conditions of employment (wages, working hours and conditions, overtime payments, holidays, vacations, benefits, etc.) and procedures for dispute resolution. Also called labor agreement, union agreement, or union contract. But this season, 2010, is the last season the CBA will cover. If the players Union and Owners are somehow unable to come to an agreement, this will be the first time since 1987 that the players were locked out. In this year, management created replacement teams and the union, after some of its most famous members crossed the picket line, suffered a humiliating defeat. In the 20 years afterward, it became sport to kick the longtime union boss, the late Gene Upshaw, as a man who negotiated a bad deal for the players. Apparently, his critics did Upshaw a disservice since it's the owners who now say that the players got the better of them, especially since 2006, and management needs a new deal. The chief of the players association at this time is Demaurice Smith.

Smith said that he and his team are preparing for war if they and the owners are unable to come to an agreement before the CBA expires. He and Commissioner Roger Goodell have had an off and on battle on who is correct when it comes to getting an agreement done. Smith has also stated that if necessary he would get the United States Congress involved, as he has worked in Washington previous and has connections with the Obama administration. The reason there have been many problems with these negotiations, is because the owners believe that the terms that are in place now have them getting a bad deal. They believe that it is unfair that the players receive 60 percent of the leagues total gross football revenue. Not only is he concerned about the players work stoppage and loss of pay, he more worried about all the little people that work within the league for teams that could lose all of their paychecks which may not be a lot to the players, but everything to those little people. Smith is trying to have the players best interest and back in September, he stated that he and the players would love to have it done by November. Well, I highly doubt that they will get it done in the next week due to the fact that there are so many issues between players and owners. The owners annual intake has dropped 200 million dollars since 2006. They believe that this number will continue to decrease, which is why they are not set on keeping the same terms from this CBA to the next. The players like the CBA the way it stands now, but the owners terms that they have discussed, take the share back decades where it was not very good for the players. The biggest losers of all may be the free agents of 2011.There are certain boundaries players have to stay in, in order to be restricted or unrestricted. Usually, under a cap they could be unrestricted after four years of service, but with none it would have to be six years instead. Smith has also claimed that the league is also demanding a 18 percent decrease in players salaries which doesn't sit well with them. In recent months it has been reported that Goodell and Smith were working on a 6 year deal for the new CBA that will run through the 2016 season. This deal is still being reworked due to many concerns from the players and owners that they are equal. Kevin Mawae, president of the players union as well as New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have all recently stated that they may be getting closer to wrapping up this deal at their next meeting in December. Mawae stressed that he wants this done not only for the players, but the fans that want to enjoy some good football for the rest of their lives. He also said that since 2006, the players have contributed 3 million dollars to new stadium construction and he says that even though the players are losing things like money and health care, the owners were the ones who opted out in 2008 by unanimous decision. The CBA expiration has also put off plans to build new stadiums. The San Francisco 49ers were hoping to be able to start construction on their new stadium. This has also put off plans to move a team to Los Angeles where a super stadium would be built. A team that has been mentioned frequently due to their smaller market and fan base is the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Take a look at it this way, the NFL is a business like any other. It takes in income and other things like that. If that business doesn't run the way it is supposed to between the bosses and the employees, then that business ceases to work. They cannot function if the two head groups are unable to able to agree on who gets what percent of income from each area they get income. For the NFL it is things like ticket sales, jersey sales, food sales, commercials, stadiums, etc. There are many expenses that they have to deal with, and they are unable to come to who gets what profit and who pays for this and how much do they pay. The Collective Bargaining Agreement is up in arms. Who will be the winner in the end? In the coming months, we should to hope to find out if we can watch football in 2011 with the regular players at the same level, as previous years.

 

Click Laundering

Those ads on the side of a website aren't there for decorations. Advertisements are there because they are needed for the website to make money. It's similar to television commercials but instead every time a person clicks on the internet ad the website makes some money. This seams to be a good way for both the website owner and the advertiser, although RedOrbit found a way to exploit this and gain more money.

Microsoft is suing the science news website RedOrbit and their president Eric Ralls, for engaging in a click laundering scheme to gain revenue from ads. Click laundering is an online advertising scam that occurs when a person or computer program imitates a user and clicks on an online ad to generate a "charge per click". This explains that RedOrbit was using a program to click on the Microsoft ad on their website in order for them to earn money from it. Every time any user clicks on the ad, Microsoft shares the profit with the publisher of the website.
Microsoft reported that between September and December 2008, RedOrbit received 75 clicks per day on ads placed there. The next year there was a drastic change from 75 to almost 10,000 clicks per day. This is obvious that something is not right, either 9,000 new people decided to click on an ad that month, or it was a program that clicked them.

How it Works
Click laundering is usually involved with the use of malware that delivers rogue search results to trick people into visiting websites where they click on an advertisement without them knowing they ever did it. This malware makes it seem like an actual website but instead when the link is opened up and the user clicks around they are actually clicking an ad. Some of these fake websites are IFRAMEs that causes people to click on ads. Click launderers can even disguise the fraudulent clicks to make it look like they wanted to visit the ad.

"Just like money laundering, in which the origins of ill-gotten gains are disguised as legitimate income, clicks from automated programs or virus-ridden computers are dressed up as real clicks by real customers, i.e., clicks that advertisers pay for," Cranton wrote. This quote explains how click laundering has the same concept of money laundering and it was interesting because I never would of expected it to be on the Internet.
Microsoft is seeking unspecified damages, and no court date has been set yet.

Jailbreaking Ipods, Legal or Illegal?

If you own an ipod touch or iphone you have probably tried or have talked about jailbreaking with someone. And one of the most asked question about jailbreaking is, whether jailbreaking is legal or not. Luckily for all of you with a jailbroken ipod/iphone, jailbreaking is legal. In July, the Library of Congress announced that it had made the controversial practice of “jailbreaking” your iPhone — or any other cell phone — legal. Before this jailbreaking was technically illegal but no one has been sued for this. After the Library of Congress announced that jailbreaking is perfectly legal, apple fought hard against the legalization, arguing that jailbreaking was a form of copyright violation. The FCC disagreed, saying that jailbreaking merely enhanced the inter-operability of the phone, and was thus legitimate under fair-use rules. Now if you Jailbreak your ipod/iphone its ok the only downfall is that you will lose your warranty, even with that, It is estimated that more than a million iphone users have jailbroken there device. Some people are saying that it’s still unfair that you lose your warranty since you bought the device and you should be able to do whatever you want with it. On the other hand some say this is perfectly acceptable since you are technically changing the interface and just about everything on the device. Some people even use the jailbreaking to use a different cell phone company with the iphone like T-mobile, Verizon, ect. As for me I disagree, I believe you should still have your warranty even if you break your device because in the end you still purchased the device from apple and still paid and most likely are paying for many of the things on your device. So taking away the warranty is like Apples way of fighting back at the legalization of Jailbreaking.

If your someone who has been wanting to jailbreak there device but has heard some rumors of why not to. You most likely have heard one of the five most common myths about jailbreaking which are,

Myth1- Jailbreaking will brick your device - First off to have a device bricked means that it freezes and is unusable. Fortunate for you it is impossible for your device to get bricked.

Myth2- Jailbreaking is Illegal. - This is 10000000% FALSE! Jailbreaking is perfectly legal.

Myth3- Once you have jailbroken your device you can never go back. - False again, if you ever jailbreak your device and later you decide you don’t want it jailbroken just put your ipod into DFU mode and restore it. This will always work.

Myth4- There is no point to Jailbreak your device, there are no benefits. - There are so many things you can do with your jailbroken device that you can't do with a non jailbroken device. From fully customizable themes, to SBSettings, to using other phone providers such as T-mobile, ect.

Myth5- Jailbreaking a device takes too much time and money. - Now a day's Jailbreaking takes less than 2 min, and all programs for jailbreaking your device are free. There are even hundreds of videos on youtube showing how to jailbreak your device.

So if you get a chance to Jailbreak your device take it its quick, very usfull, and fun.

How to Start a Business

Starting a business requires a great amount of work. There are several steps to starting a business. First you need to research and plan your business. What this means is you need to write a detailed business plan explaining, how you want your business to work and what you want to achieve from this business.
After you have your well-written business plan its a good idea to get business assistance and training. Basically these trainers and assistants will help and teach you everything about starting and running a business. They may also help you with getting loans, improving your business plan and marketing strategies. You may be able to even find some free training programs to help you start your business.
Next you will need to find the right business location. How do you know that it's the right location? Well, some of the factors you should look at that should help you with you decision are, do a lot of people come to this area? Is it a comfortable location for your customers? How much is the leasing on the building? Also tax credits offered by your local government. The right location can be crucial to helping your business succeed.
Your next step is to finance your business. To finance your business and help you get started you will most likely need to get a loan. In a loan you borrow money from a lender in which you are required to pay back the same amount of money plus interest at a later time.
You will then need to pick a legal structure for your business. This will determine what your job in the business is, how much you money you will make, and how much you have to pay for taxes and other finances. For example if you are working individually then you will work more and you don't have to share your profits. If you have a partnership you will make less money, but you will also reduce your costs. You may need to contact several federal agencies to help you with this. "The most common business structures are:

• Sole Proprietorship - A business owned and managed by one individual who is personally liable for all business debts and obligations.
• Partnership - A single business owned by two or more people.
• Corporation - A legal entity owned by shareholders.
• S Corporation - A special type of corporation created through a tax election. An eligible domestic corporation can avoid double taxation (once to the shareholders and again to the corporation) by electing to be treated as an S corporation.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) - A hybrid legal structure that provides the limited liability features of a corporation and the tax efficiencies and operational flexibility of a partnership.
• Non Profit - An organization engaged in activities of public or private interest where making a profit is not a primary mission. Some Non Profits are exempt from paying federal taxes. 
• Cooperative - A business or organization owned by and operated for the benefit of those using its services. Cooperatives are not a legal structure." (copied from www.business.gov)                               

 After that you will need a business name. if you are the solo owner of the business then the name of it is your first and last name. If your in a partnership then the name is either your last names or the name that both partners agreed on. If you would like a different name for your business then you will need to file a fictitious name registration form with your government agency. A fictitious name is just a name other then the official registered name of your business.                                                                   
     What you will need next is a tax identification number. Basically it is just used for identifying your business. All businesses are required to pay federal, state, and sometimes local taxes. Along with business taxes required by the federal government you will also have to pay for some state taxes which vary in every state. The most common ones are tax permit, income taxes, and employment taxes.    
   The final step to starting a business is getting the required licenses and permits for your business, some are basic and some may be very specific. You may only need one license or you may need several. This depends on what your business is, your state, location and what is required by federal, state and local Governments. If you don't have the required incenses and permits, you can get expensive fines.                   

What a Shame: Corrupt Governor Rob Blagojevich

Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois, is, in my opinion, one of the stupidest people on the planet. It really makes me mad when people are corrupt, especially if it’s something so essential in our everyday lives like government. Our tax dollars pay for their salaries, we elect them, and put all our trust in them to run our state, and then they betray us.
Since 2005, the FBI has been investigating him for corruption. He got impeached by the Illinois General Assembly in January of 2009 as a result of his corruption. He and his chief of staff John Harris were charged by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Investigation continued, and he was found guilty in April of 2009. He was only found guilty of one charge out of his 24 charges, which he made false statements during his trial (lied to the government). Some of those charges were mail fraud, wire fraud, and soliciting bribes.

Not just that, but Blagojevich said the most shocking thing: “The government threw everything but the kitchen sink at me … I did not lie to the FBI. I told the truth from the very beginning.” How could he say such a thing? We know, with unreasonable doubt that he did lie, and he still says that he didn’t? The government had tapes of him talking about selling Obama’s seat in the senate, and tons of evidence besides that. When is he just going to give up and tell the truth? Lying is a sin, and everybody knows very well that he’s going to hell.

Then he said something so insane and racist toward Obama, that I just couldn’t stand reading it. He said: “I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.” He just insulted the president! Not just that, but made a racist statement. He then stated that: “It’s a stupid metaphor to say I’m blacker than Barack Obama, that I apologize for,” he said. “It’s not appropriate for me, a white person, to stand out somehow and claim to be a black person, that’s just wrong … I was expressing frustration that the policies of this new administration still haven’t really been focusing on the great deal of inequities we have in our society.” He just claimed that Obama wasn’t focusing on inequities we have in our society, yet he had just made a racist statement the day before. This is completely nuts. If I I had the power to put him in jail for the rest of his life, I’d do it in a split second.
Something else I found interesting was, after all this happened, he appeared on Celebrity Apprentice, a show created by Donald Trump where people compete to gain a spot to work with Trump. Obviously he lost, but why would Trump want an idiot like Blagojevich on his show.





Can you believe he's still staying with his lie. Don't you think it's a little bit sketchy that they "wouldn't let the public listen to the phone conversations," as Blagojevich stated. He's got an excuse for everything, a tremendous liar, but you're always caught at one point, and he lied one to many times. I also found it interesting that so many government officials from Illinois are so corrupt. In my opinion, we should investigate a lot more than we are at this time.

Blagojevich, in my opinion, was beyond corrupt. He is a great liar, but was caught in the act with so much evidence that his lies didn't work anymore. In the video, he was stating that all of the government officials were corrupt except for him, which is almost impossible to believe, considering the word would've gotten out because someone would have found out and told. Blagojevich did do what he's saying he didn't, but it's an opinion of mine. What do you think?

FDA Recalls

Issues with the Food and Drug Administration

The FDA is an administration that should protect and promote public health through the supervision of food and drug production, but in recent years the FDA has failed to provide a high enough standard which protects US citizens. The FDA failed to regulate a non-sanitary farm that resulted in an egg recall of over half a billion eggs after contaminating several people with the salmonella virus. To be exact 1,500 people were infected with salmonella. After all of these people got sick, the F.D.A finally decided to take a walk through the farm where these eggs came from. They found that the farm, Wright County Egg in Iowa, had many sanitation problems. The farm contained an 8-foot tall pile of feces, rats, and maggots in the farm. This is absolutely disgusting and shouldn’t have been found AFTER the eggs were released into stores. Then again a few years ago there was a problem with contaminated spinach and again the F.D.A. hadn’t caught it before it happened. Many manufacturers were opposed to the F.D.A being given much authority but now that this has happened a few times they have come to support it. The F.D.A. aren’t even the ones to decide to issue a recall, recalls are voluntary. I read in the AAFP news article that congress is starting to consider ways to improve the authority of the F.D.A. because they haven’t been given enough authority to live up to their expectation of keeping the country safe from bad food and drug production. It states, “The legislation that Congress is currently considering would give us that authority and other critical tools, such as enhanced authorities to trace back products to the source, to require firms to implement preventive controls, and to provide FDA access to important records. It would also strengthen our abilities to ensure the safety of foods being imported into the United States." I don’t really understand why the F.D.A doesn’t have these authorities already if they’re the ones who are supposed to be protecting the country in general. But I guess since they don’t have the authority now, the only thing the country can do is give it to them for the future. I hope the F.D.A will start living up to their expectations because if they don’t there’s no point in having them at all.

Jonathan

OSHA Fines SeaWorld for Death

Imagine going to work every single day encountering a black and white, 21.7 foot mammal weighing about 9,570 pounds. Yes this mammal has 2 eyes, breaths through the top of its head, and has anywhere from 40-56 teeth ranging from 3 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. Just like a sprinter these mammals can swim up to 28 miles per hour, but only for short second increments; yet like long distance runner, the mammals can swim slowly, around 8 mph, for a long period of time. These mammals, the most powerful predators in the world, the largest of the dolphins, are Killer Whales



At the beloved SeaWorld, Dawn Brancheau’s life was going to work with these mammals. Apparently, Dawn was one of the most experienced trainers, and it makes sense she was since she was working with the most powerful predator. It was a normal day at work, Dawn and the whale were putting on the rehearsed show. However, Tilikum the whale, wasn’t necessarily taking direction to well that day. Dawn was working on the ledge, and Tilikum grabbed her ponytail and pulled her in.
Victoria Biniak told WKMG-TV , “The whale took off really fast in the tank, and then he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing around, and one of her shoes flew off.” Tilikum grabbed Dawn by her arms, starting playing or swimming around with her. The unfortunate result was Dawn drowning causing her death. Dawn always knew she wanted to work with marine mammals and said, “You can't put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you”. Brancheau’s sister said that Dawn would not have wanted anything to be done to the whale, since they have personalities too! Some days are good and some bad, I guess this one happened to be a bad day. Brancheau must have known the risks before as well, since SeaWorld Killer Whales have been in previous accidents; a trainer was bitten at the foot and held underwater several times yet luckily escaped with solely a broken foot.



Not only did this tragic event affect Dawn Brancheau and her family, but the people left in the audience were also traumatized. There was a story of a 10 year boy, Bobby Connell, going to SeaWorld for his birthday and witnessing this event happen. Bobby Connell, "saw the look of horror and desperation on Dawn's face as she was swimming for her life," the complaint reads. He then saw Tilikum violently yank her down again to the depths of the pool. Lasting affects have been with this boy, he has cried more than ever, has been having nightmares, his personality has shifted, and he has also lost his appetite.

As a result of her death and the affected audience, members of OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, sued SeaWorld for $75,000 in violations. There were three specific violations committed. One violation issued was willful, meaning it was intentional disregard for the employees health and safety. Another violation was the failure to install a stairway beside the stage stadium where the event took place. SeaWorld clearly knew of the risks of allowing an employee to work closely, on the ledge, shelves, and pool walls with a very dangerous animal. The last violation was that SeaWorld lacked weatherproof enclosures on outlets in the stadium. Two of the three violations don’t even have a direct relationship with the death of Brancheau. No trainer has been in the water since the accident and people have suggested that Killer Whales should be kept in their natural habitat. OSHA believes that no trainer should be allowed to work with whales unless there is a physical barrier.




Personally, I believe that animals should be kept wherever their natural habitat is. Humans obviously can’t handle the interaction between a 2 ton animal and themselves. Yet I do find it important to be aware of the types of animals that many of us aren’t able to experience. Whether it be a Gorilla, or a Lion, or a Killer Whale. There is a significance in being knowledgeable about wild animals in their natural habitat, just to know who we share the world with. Dawn Brancheau clearly loved what she did, but was it worth risking her life to feed an animal? I think that based on OSHA’s recommendations for SeaWorld there could be a compromise to having dangerous animals like the Killer Whale on display, but there must be strict rules, equipment, and processes for this to occur. An innocent person shouldn’t loose his or her life because an animal had a bad day.

Issues With Copyright When Using The World Wide Web

The internet is a giant gateway that connects people all around the world. It's a place where people can post a thought that they are thinking and other people can respond to those thoughts. It's a place for knowledge to be shared among people of all ages. On the internet, you have the power to publicly display your thoughts and opinions about whatever you'd like. A lot of freedom exists on the internet but when you have that much freedom, there has to be rules put in place so that the freedom can be maintained. Like everything else in society, we have rules put into place known as laws. These laws aren't there to make our lives miserable or to prevent us from achieving our goals in life. They are put in place in order to make sure our lives are healthy ones and that we can live in a peaceful community. In order for a thing as big as the internet to exist in our lives, there also has to be rules to make sure that the internet is maintained as a peaceful environment for people to use. A lot of laws exist on the internet that coincide with things we do daily. One of these things is called a copyright law. Copyright is a system put in place so that when someone comes up with any idea, it can be prevented from being stolen. It's a way someone can "put their name on" something. If a copyright law is broken (someone takes the idea and calls it their own) then the person who took that idea can be penalized. A lot of copyright issues occur on the internet and have to be dealt with. How would you feel if someone took your idea and put their name on it? They would take credit for all your hard work and that wouldn't be fair. Many websites would have to follow these copyright laws in order to stay online and avoid lawsuits. Different websites that follow these copyright laws are Google, Flickr, etc. In fact, these laws have been in question recently when a company known as Viacom sued Google for not penalizing their users for copyright infringement. Google owns a website we all know and love called YouTube where users are allowed to "Broadcast themselves." Users take advantage of this phrase and create their own videos that are personalized to their liking. Many huge companies such as Universal Music Group, Ultra Records, and Viacom upload their own copyrighted content onto YouTube as well for other users to enjoy. Viacom owns the rights to many media based ideas such as movie rights, music, tv shows, etc. Being such a huge company, they have been hitting YouTube with charges against these copyright laws being broken. According to Viacom, YouTube has not been putting their foot down towards the users of the website in order to stop copyright of Viacom's media. This is a big issue because it has been affecting the users of YouTube and making a lot of people angry. YouTube took this lawsuit into consideration and have been putting in place DMCA's against any video that may have material referencing copyrighted material. A DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It enforces US copyright laws and will force you to take any copyrighted material you have on YouTube to be taken down. YouTube employees have been taking down videos left and right without any show that users are even using copyrighted material. This is a huge issue that still is being sorted out as users are now "false-DMCAing" other users in order to show how YouTube doesn't care for it's users and will take any videos down in order to avoid being sued again.


*This picture shows that it really is important to be unique and not take other people's ideas. Do it yourself!



These copyright laws and DMCA's can show the significance of why having something that is under copyright shouldn't be used on a business' website or any other internet service. That business can get into a lot of trouble and even be forced to take down their website. These laws are something every person on the internet must know when they are publishing media that is not solely created by them.

Goldman Sachs Gender Decrimination

On September 15th, Goldman Sachs Inc. had a lawsuit brought against them by three former employees, all of women. The Plaintiffs are: Cristina Chen-Oster, who was a former vice president of the firm, Lisa Parisi, who was a former managing directer, and Shanna Orlich, a former associate.The three women are not only trying to get rewards for themselves, but all women with similar position titles at Goldman Sachs. This is a clear case of gender descrimination in the workplace. The women have a very strong case against the powerful company. The complaint filed states that there are few women with high level jobs at Goldman.

As the job level increases, the amount of women decreases. The lawsuit also claims that Goldman Sachs is biased against women when evaluating employee performance. Lisa Parisi, the former marketing director, claims that a senior marketing analyst gave her "demeaning and menial assignments," like making copies and answering phone calls from his wife. This is not the first time that something like this has happened in an office.In 2004, investment firm Morgan Stanley was sued for 54 million dollars by a woman with similar claims as this case. This is happening more and more these day and it is just unfair to make a salary lower and not have the same opportunities to get promoted or even get a job based on if you are a man or women. I believe that this was not fair for the former employees and Goldman Sachs has to change their ways. Times are changing, and even though there has never been a women in charge of a major Wall Street firm, they should not limit what people can do based on their gender. Goldman Sachs will hopefully have to pay for what they did and it will also teach them a lesson to avoid something like this in the future and will not only help out the three women that took the initiative to bring Goldman Sachs to justice, but to also help out all women at the company to increase their salary and job titles just as easily as men.

Are Harsh Immigration Laws Affecting Businesses?

Legislatures from the state of Arizona may think that passing harsh immigration laws is necessary, but in reality, it is making their businesses lose millions of dollars every year. They have proved both an example of both positive and negative consequences for the other twenty two copycat states that are considering passing immigration laws. A senator from the state of Arizona was trying to pass a law stating that if a child was born in the United States, and their parents were immigrants, the child would be denied citizenship. Not only if this affecting the immigrants, it is affecting businesses as well. The financial drawbacks are as clear as glass. An Arizona construction company lost a three million dollar contract bid with Santa Monica, California, and it is said that the state has lost at least forty conventions and over fifteen million dollars. Also, removing undocumented workers from the U.S. would total a loss of 1.8 trillion dollars a year in annual spending and $651.5 billion in annual economic output. All this for some stupid immigration laws that are harsh and unjust? C’mon America,you can do better than that.

American citizens need to realize that we wouldn’t be where we are right now without immigrants. After all, we are nicknamed "The Melting Pot", and I believe that we aren’t fully living up to our name. America has always been a place of different people and different cultures, which makes every thing so much more beautiful in this amazing nation, but when I start seeing news articles about how states are trying to pass such harsh and unjust laws, I start to question if America is really that beautiful, welcoming, strong nation everybody speaks of.

No one should be called Illegal upon this earth. If this country is really “free”, people should give the immigrants the same opportunity that our ancestor’s had when they came to our continent.The idea I am highly against is the fact that babies born to the undocumented are denied citizenship. The American Constitution states that anyone born within the borders of United States has American citizenship, and now we are trying to reverse that law? That is extremely “Un-American” in my opinion.

Some of the reasons that people are for the harsh immigration laws are that they are oblivious of the fact that it is making businesses lose millions of dollars a year. Immigration issues are emotional and complex. In a way, these laws are leading us to “political suicide”. Hispanic people make up a huge percentage of the United States. Even though America is having all this trouble now with passing their immigration laws, I advise for everyone to stay strong and believe, because as I said before, America is a place where all of us Americans with different nationalities are still learning to live together, but we remain “a melting pot” nonetheless.

-

Government Fraud

Once upon a time the United States Government was being bribed and controlled by Wall Street. That time has not yet ended. From your local town mayor all the way to President Obama, the financial sector are in complete control. How? Lets go back a few years and I'll show you.
The Financial Crisis of 2007-2010 started with what we all know as the collapse of the housing bubble. People could not afford to pay for their homes (which banks were well aware of when giving out the loans, AKA Mortgage Fraud), and so banks failed, over 300 of them since the crisis began. Economy was affected on the international level. Jobs were lost. People lost there houses. Live's were destroyed. And then there's Goldman Sachs, who grew bigger during the depression then they were before it. Even better than that, the only one of there competitors left was a very brittle Morgan and Stanley, while Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, Merril Lynch, and other major competitors were thrown into bankruptcy. Goldman Sachs then used a large portion of their bail-out money on bonus's for their own employee's! They were being given American Tax-Payer money as a bonus, when they were one of the banks responsible for the crisis to begin with! When it came to bailing out insurance companies, the government choose to focus most of its bailout money on AIG. Oh, by the way, AIG owed Goldman Sachs Billions of Dollars, and if they weren't bailed out, Goldman Sachs would have never received that money. Coincidence? I think not.

The U.S. Secretary of State and Chief Presidential Economic Adviser, Henry Paulson, used to be the Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs. He pretty much makes all of the financial decisions for our country. Three years before the crisis, Chris Swecker, the FBI Director, was already catching on to Insurance and Mortgage fraud, and even called for a new report to issue a warning. The government didn't begin his crackdown until Goldman had successfully removed all of its holding in the housing market. Our government was well aware of how banks and insurance companies were tricking Americans into expensive mortgage plans, and did absolutely nothing to stop it. Not only that, but after Goldman Sachs withdrew from the housing market, they even bet that it was going to crash! Obviously they were right.

When bail-out bills were in the process of being passed by congress, the makers of the bill gave only one hour before the vote to read the 1000+ page bill. They said they had no time to waste. Or did they have something to hide? These were the regulations printed on the bill "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this act are non-reviewable and committed to agency desecration, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." This means that Henry Paulson could do pretty much whatever he wanted to do with this money; and that no one in the world could have any say about where our tax-payer money went. What he did with the money is pretty much the reason why capitalism is thought to be an un-fair form of economy. Little companies just keep being eaten away by the bigger ones, and the fact that the government has it's own favorites make it even worse.

Now let me put something in perspective for all of you. The 2007-2010 Financial Crisis was started by none other than the banks, who were giving out mortgages to people that they knew wouldn't repay it. The government used an estimated 2 Trillion Tax-Payer dollars to bail them out. Now they are enjoying the bonus's while we are facing the consequences of what was their fault!

Henry Paulson, along with many, many other ex-Goldman Sachs employee's are still in our government. They are not here to help us, but are here to help there own wealth and business grow. They are criminals. Just recently an FBI Agent revealed papers which showed that Goldman Sachs was being given disclosed files of all stock orders headed to the exchange floor before they were even ordered! It's called High-Frequency Trading, and it's how Goldman Sachs and other huge business's have been making hundred's of millions of Dollars every day just by buying and selling stocks. They have super-fast computers positioned right on the Stock floor so they get everything first! Not only that, but it was a deal made with the runners of the Stock Exchange itself! This just goes to show the ill intentions of Goldman Sachs.

During President's Obama's campaign, he told voters he would not give donor's and lobbyists any positions in government. Not even 3 days after he was elected, dozens of his highest campaign donors (from Goldman Sachs), including Treasury Secretary Timothy Giethner (who was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, huge player on Wall Street), were given positions in Government.

The United States needs to wake up. Our Government needs to wake up; and the United States Citizens need to wake up and kick Wall Street out of our government.

Oxycontin Express

Today in the U.S., drug addicts are abusing prescriptions drugs more than ecstasy, heroin and cocaine combined. Their drug of choice is Oxycontin which is heroin created in a lab. Florida is distributing five times the national average of prescription drugs. The state is responsible and distributing eighty five percent of prescription narcotics. Pain clinics run by businessmen are hiring retired doctors who willingly prescribe pills to addicted patients for money.

These doctors are not concerned about the patient, they are signing prescriptions to get a paycheck for themselves. Due to the high supply and demand, doctors will prescribe thousands of pills to patients without reason. The doctors are legally pushing, they are drug dealers with medical degrees.

The high demand bring businessmen from across the country who are they are setting up pain clinics for financial gain in Florida. The pain clinics are very financial successful because they operate on a cash basis, and charge for an appointment, an MRI review and the prescription.

The drug addicts will “doctor shop” in order to get the most pills possible. This means they will go from doctor to doctor getting prescriptions for Oxycontin. Due to the fact there isn’t a prescription drug tracking system in Florida, there is no way to monitor how much a patient can get from multiple doctors. When a person is doctor shopping, they can get up to 1500 pills in the month. This quantity will provide them what they need for their addiction as well as revenue. They sell their excess supply on the street to earn enough money for the next prescription visit. Because of the lack of control on the distribution in Florida, people from across the country will travel to Florida to get large quantities of pills to use and sell.

The selling of Oxycontin on the street is a flagrant criminal activity. Depending on the quantity involved the person can be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony resulting in jail time. A person with 4 - 14 grams of Oxycontin in their possession can receive a sentence of three years of jail time, 14 - 28 grams can be 15 years, and 28 or more grams is a felony and can result in a sentence of 25 years in jail.

A far worse consequence of this drug business is the multiple overdoses that occur daily. In Florida alone, 11 people overdose from prescription drugs a day. Eighty five percent of drug related deaths in Florida are from prescription drugs.

In July a drug monitoring program was developed to attempt to cut down the distribution of prescription drugs. It will not take affect until 2011.

Here is a documentary on Oxycontin

Battles Over Net Neutrality Leave Internet In Chaos

Imagine that it is Monday morning and you are stuck in traffic on the highway. You notice that to the left, there is a lane that is completely free of traffic. In order to use this lane, you must pay $100 a month. This is a very similar situation to Network Neutrality. Network Neutrality, often referred to as Net Neutrality, is the current internet situation where everybody's data is treated equally. Internet providers like Comcast or AT&T want to have customers pay more for their bandwidth to be favored and to be handled first so they suggested a new system of data handling for the internet. There would be special

channels in the network that move select"Premium" data packets before the normal data packets. This can create "traffic jams" of data because normal users will have to wait extended periods of times in order to load their internet pages.

I feel that charging for this extra service is unfair because internet traffic has always been treated equally. If this service was provided, most users would pay for it rendering it ineffective for the most part and creating an extremely long loading time for users who do not pay. In April, the FCC was ruled to not have power of Comcast and was unable to stop their throttling of data. Recently, the FCC sided with the public on the decision that the Internet will remain neutral and has just ended a week of negotiating with different internet providers. Overall, I think that this issue can change the internet if the correct decision is not made. Data going through the internet needs to be treated equally so the Internet should remain neutral.

Effects of Shoplifting on a Business

What is Shoplifting?

What is shoplifting? Shoplifting is common crime that occurs when someone steals merchandise offered for sale from a retail store. In order to be charged with shoplifting, the person must intend to permanently take an item for sale.

Retail stores lose about 13 billion dollars per year due to shoplifting. The growth of shoplifting is on the rise. When the economy drops, shoplifting rises. Most shoplifters are amateurs, but more and more people are making a living being a professional shoplifter. Some shoplifters work in teams to distract the workers, and other just perform a “grab and run”. A “grab and run” is when a person takes merchandise and attempts to run away with it. There are so many techniques to shoplifting that many people use to make a living. Unfortunately it affects many businesses around the world because they are losing money and value.

Shoplifter’s Perspective

Many people say that shoplifting is wrong, and that it needs to stop. I do agree with that, but let’s face it; people aren’t going to stop shoplifting just because it is wrong. I am sure the shoplifters can distinguish right from wrong, but when they need to make a living, shoplifting is a necessity. Sometimes, people can’t get a job in this economy, so therefore they resort to stealing. In addition, the problem with preventing shoplifting is that it can be very easy. Therefore, the responsibility to prevent shoplifting needs to be placed in the hands of the business.

Business Owner’s Perspective

Shoplifting can be easy because businesses can’t afford to hire employees if their business is doing poorly, therefore there are fewer employees to monitor and keep track of customers coming in and out of stores. Another problem with shoplifting

Businesses need to find ways to make sure shoplifters can’t walk out of the store without paying. They could possibly add more cameras, or maybe push their budget for more employees. I know most businesses can’t afford to hire more employees, but in the long run, each business will be in good shape because they haven’t lost a lot of money to shoplifters.

One problem that may occur with hiring more employees could include the employees. One scary thought that hurts businesses is that employees steal eight times as much as a regular shoplifter would. Now this introduces another problem, do you hire more employees to protect your store? Doesn’t hiring more employees increase the risk of shoplifting? In a way hiring more employees could hurt your business even more since employees steal eight times as much as a shoplifter. But not all employees steal, therefore you have to be very careful when hiring and monitoring your employees.

My Perspective

There will never be a perfect solution to shoplifting prevention, but trying to keep your store from losing as much items as possible is the key. Here are some key points to prevent shoplifting from being a major problem in your business.

First you need to make sure that no outsiders can steal from your business. Therefore, you need to hire more employees and add more technology (i.e. cameras) to monitor customers. By doing this, a owner is eliminating the high risk of a professional shoplifting from stealing from their store. Now that no outsider can take from your business, it is time to monitor the other risk, the employees. A business owner needs to learn how to monitor the employees. Since employees are more likely to steal from a store, monitoring the employees is extremely vital to a business. I believe the owner should choose their employees wisely and then keep track of what employees do during a certain time. When interviewing an employee, it is important to make sure you are hiring a top quality worker. Now some employees may be misleading, so sometimes an employee a business hires might steal. In this case, here comes the importance of monitoring the employees. A business needs to have a system where the owner can know where and what every employee is doing at any given time while working. As long as the cameras are never off, an employee can be spotted at anytime throughout the store. This can prevent an employee from walking out of the store after work with items. Although money may be a issue, it is important to prevent customers from stealing from your business. In conclusion, a business is responsibility for preventing shoplifting, rather than hoping that shoplifters stop themselves.