2 U.S. Army pilots killed in Iraq helicopter accident

On Sunday, there was a military helicopter accident that ended up killing two U.S. Army pilots. The aircraft has said to have made a hard landing inside Contingency Operating Base Speicher in northern Iraq. It has also been said that no enemy forces or hostile fire was present in the accident. The names of the pilots have been withheld due to family notification. These soldiers were assigned to Task Force Marne, which takes care of operations in northern Iraq. The location of the base is also being withheld.

I feel very sorry for the families of soldiers that were killed in this tragic accident. I would not like to hear about this accident over the news and then later find out that it was your family member that was killed in the crash. It is very unfortunate that this had to happen to these brave persons that are fighting for our country. I am proud of our military for putting up with all of the attacks and stress they have to go through everyday to keep our country safe from harm. I am also very proud of every military family that has to go through the stress and worry that is involved with having a service member in the family. I hope that these two soldiers will be remembered for what they were doing to keep us safe and that their actions will never be forgotten.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/02/21/iraq.main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

Spending We Can Afford

The government issued a new way of being able to spend in 2007. They deemed it "paygo". It was a bill that allows Congress to participate in a pay-as-you-budgeting system. Paygo requires that any tax cuts or increase in entitlement spending be balanced with spending reductions in other areas. If they feel that they are spending an excessive amount in one area, they need to reduce spending another to balance out the total spending. Some say that Paygo will hold Congress to spend only what you can afford. It will help force Congress to eleminate wasteful spending and collect unpaid taxes, which will in turn, raise money to cover the National Debt. Others don't feel so warm to the idea. They believe that Paygo will result in tax hikes for Americans that will hurt them in the long run. They believe Paygo will be doing more hurt than good.

I feel that this "paygo" system could work. It makes sense that Congress can only be allowed to spend so much, and in turn they much spend less on one thing than another to achieve that goal of spending only what they can afford. Another plus of this system is that it can be suspended if in a recession or crisis, which is very good for out economy considering we are already in a recession. I believe that this system could actually help Congress get control over the crazy Nation Debt that is being added to by the second in our country. Another supporter of this bill is President Obama. He stated that we was very please that this bill was passed into law during his February Press Release.

For more issues relating to the national budget: Social Insecurity, War Dollars

Snowbound mid-Atlantic faces monumental shovel-out

Snowmageddon is what they are calling the 55 inches of snow that has fallen on the mid-Atlantic this past week. The major snowfall came in two days with record snow fall totals in many cities,
including, Washington, Baltimore, and Wilmington. And other cities, including, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Atlantic City, and New Jersey are on their way to setting records. In Washington, government workers were told to stay home for four days before the snow was cleared enough for them to get back to work. Not only did the government enjoy a holiday, but the students in Washington also enjoyed their three snow days in a row. Airports all over the region were closed with hundreds and sometimes thousands of flights cancelled due to the over whelming amounts of snow that fell. There were also multiple multiple car pile ups on Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania. One crash included 17 cars, and they other seven cars. Unfortunately one person did lose their life, but only one was seriously injured.

I love snow. I think it is a little funny how this amount of snow has literally shut down some cities to the point where they cannot even function. I believe that is this amount of snow had fallen say on our region here in Minnesota, that we would have had maybe a little trouble, but we would have still been able to go on with our lives. I would have loved the three day snow day that the children got to enjoy, but I do not believe that our workers and parents would have had too much trouble getting to work. I believe that we here in Minnesota are a little bit more adaptable to large amounts of snowfall. We ourselves have received large amounts of snow this winter, not quite as much as 55 inches in one sitting, but we did have a nice amount that fell last week with totals near 12 inches. I am a little surprised, but than again not quite so much at how long it took the regions to come back and get going after all of that snow that did fall. Yet, if you think about it 55 inches is almost as tall as I myself am. That would be a lot of snow to try and snowplow off of your driveway, sidewalks, and streets. I personally am jealous of all of the snow that region has received and wish that it was us here in Minnesota that was receiving the record snow totals versus the Capital that doesn't quite appreciated the beauty that causing them to miss work for four days.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/weather/02/11/winter.storm/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29