The Good: The call for accountability on social websites has been heard since the site’s origination. Finally now there will be a marked difference in security measures on Facebook. Facebook’s plan, which has been approved by every state but Texas, would call for increased identity verification measures. It would then be made harder for older users to contact those under 18. In addition to these rules, sex offenders would be banned from the site, comments and images that allude to incest, pedophilia, or any type of bullying would be removed. Alcohol and tobacco ads would not be shown to younger users, and would alert parents when a child is trying to contact an adult on Facebook.

The Bad: The worries of a food shortage in the world have be circling as of late. To combat this, scientists have designed better seeds that can produce more in less than ideal environments. While this will help to feed the world, the planting of these super seeds are destroying soil exponentially quicker than before. Scientists are now able to grow up to 9,000 pounds of corn in an acre, but because of declining soil conditions the world over, only about 1/18 of this amount can be produced. So dear people, seeds are not the answer, fertilizer is. If we can enhance the soil worldwide, our food production will in turn enhance.

The Good: The past few days, INTERPOL has posted photos of Wayne Nelson Corliss, a globetrotting American, on its website. Photos of Corliss from 2001 were found on a computer seized by Norwegian authorities. The photos, over a hundred in number, showed Corliss sexually abusing three boys, all under the age of 11. The photos were taken while Corliss was Southeast Asia, and 700 other photos of Corliss and the boys were found.

The photos of Corliss’ face were posted on the site on Monday, and since then, tips have been pouring in from concerned citizens. The tips led to INTERPOL authorities finding Corliss in his home in New Jersey this Wednesday. I for one am glad to see this man arrested. If you are going to abuse children, and especially if you are unintelligent enough to take photos of it, you deserve to be caught and punished to the highest extent of the law.

The Bad: For every child abuser we put away it seems like another one comes to our attention. In Idaho, a ten year old girl has given birth to a baby girl. The girl was brought into the hospital by 37-year-old Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez. When he and the girl came in the police were called and Gutierrez-Juarez was arrested. It is believed that the young girl was raped by Gutierrez-Juarez, hence the resulting pregnancy.

There is no word yet what will happen to the girl or her daughter. Living in an urban area, it doesn’t surprise me to see young teens with babies, but this story is heartbreaking. To know that this child was not given the option of not having this child is horrible. Having a child drastically changes your life and your body, it is not fair that this has happened to her.

 

INTERPOL Image of Corliss

The Progressive: Everything starts in California. Energy policy, new school systems, you name it, it starts somewhere in California. This is no surprise then than California would be the first to bring in a dietician to straighten out its police force. Rana Parker, a diet coach who used to work with the Head Start program, began working with the Los Angeles Police Department in July 2007. Parker taught officers about nutrition, gave presentation to the force, and counseled 90 recruits face to face. Now, almost a year later, Parker’s regimen has turned out a leaner, meaner police force in Los Angeles. Now let’s hope that other departments follow suit.

The Scary: How worried would you be if your 22 year old son was in Afghanistan fighting for his life? Now how about hearing him in a firefight on your voicemail? That is exactly what happened to Sandie and Jeff Petee when they came home one day from the flower shop. They played their messages to find a three minute recording of their son and his comrades fighting against insurgents. The call was made by accident, when Stephen Phillips’ phone was accidentally redialed by the side of his Humvee. The Petees were understandably shocked, but were relieved to find that the call was made by accident, and that their son had survived that battle.