1 in 100 American Adult is in Prison

There are 1.6 millions adults in American prisons, plus 723,000 in local jails says the latest Pew Report. (http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/One%20in%20100.pdf).

The report points out that ethnicity and gender seem to play a role with 1 in 36 Hispanic male is behind barres, while 1 in 15 African American male is in that same situation, and a choking 1 in 9 black men between the ages of 20 and 34. As for women: 1 in 355 white women between the ages of 35 and 39 is behind bars, compared with 1 in 100 black women.

We could hope that with that many people incarcerated the country's public safety would be better? But it is not, according to Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center, instead she says "We tend to be a country in which incarceration is an easy response to crime".
The problem is that it is the only answer, and that it should discriminate between the type of offenses, there should not be " 5,500 D.W.I offenders in prison" and other non violent offenders should be on parole doing community work for example. Something productive or educational, isn't it a correctional facility after all.

"The United States imprisons more people than any other nation in the world. China is second, with 1.5 million people behind bars."

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/us/29prison.html?ref=todayspaper)

1.52 Dollar = 1 Euro

on February 27, 2008

The Euro has reached new height on Wednesday, for the first time in its history has a value of 1.5225 dollars.

The Euro is not particularly strong, the dollar is weak because of the economic situation of the country. In a way, it will be beneficial for business as US might export a lot more than usual; on the other hand everything that needs to be bought abroad will be particularly expensive.
Europe is also concerned with the strength of the Euro because it reduces its competitiveness on the world market.

Some companies have decided to stipulate an exchange rate at the signature of contract, this is backed by banks who act as 'insurance companies', because by the time the delivery arrives the exchange rate might have fluctuate so much that the benefices are lost.

Some more of that delicious cloned meat?

The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the sale of meat from cloned animals on Jan. 18, 2008.

"The federal Food and Drug Administration has concluded that meat and milk from clones of cattle, swine, and goats, and the offspring of clones from any species traditionally consumed as food, are as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals, the agency announced.

The FDA says an animal clone is a genetic copy of a donor animal, "similar to an identical twin, but born at a different time."

Due to their cost and rarity, clones are intended to be used as elite breeding animals to introduce desirable traits into herds more rapidly than would be possible using conventional breeding."

Let's also remember that the meat will not be labeled as coloned meat, so there won't be any way for consumers to know that they actually are eating offsprings of cloned animals.

So many ethical questions come to mind:
1. Do I want to eat cloned meat?
2. Do I not want to know when I eat cloned meat?
3. Am I contemplating becoming a vegetarian?
4. Is it OK to eat cloned meat because the FDA says so?
5. ...

(thanks to: www.ens-newswire.com)

Here comes my first blog!!

Welcome to my blog!

Wow, who would have thought I'd ever have a blog? Not me.

I'll try to make it interesting.
Let's see...