Horse Meat in European Food Products

The article "Horse Meat Found in Ikea's Swedish Meatballs in 13 Countries, Authorities Say" by The Associated Press, is about how "The meatballs had gone out to Slovakia, Hungary, France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland, an Ikea spokeswoman said."

This pushed people to test other foods such as Ikea's hamburgers. Sure enough, horse meat was in that, too. Now, all over England there are people testing foods in supermarkets (and other places as well) searching for horse meat, and finding it, too. The author is trying to tell the reader to know what you are eating. Also, even if you think you know, you could be wrong.

The author wants us to feel very angry about what is happening. We should know what is being put into our foods, not lied to about it. "Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency," a German minister insisted. The author also wants us to stand up to these people that are lying to us and to stop them from doing it. The author used a lot of statistics and factual information to help get his point across. He was very specific about which countries were involved.

Although I live in the United States and the US is not one the countries involved, I am still disturbed by the thought of people I  don't know putting whatever they want into my food. I feel like I should know exactly what is in it. I know food labels say it all, but sometimes it may not be the truth. There should be a law stopping people from doing it. 

You can find this article at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/horse-meat-found-ikea-swedish-meatballs-article-1.1272594

The Testament

"The Testament" by John Grisham is about a old man named Troy Phelan who has made many mistakes and 1 success in his life. His mistakes were his marriages, which all ended in a divorce. But his success was owning the largest company in the world and having over 11 billion dollars. Troy was getting old and didn't know what to do with his money. Also, he was tired of life. So seconds before he jumps to his death, he signs a will giving all of his money to the only successful child he has. Her name is Rachel Lane. No one knew he had this daughter so the rest of the family fight for what they think is rightfully theirs: the money.

In the real world, no one is perfect. But they still have to try. In this book, Grisham introduces a family that is far in debt, spoiled, not so smart, know-it-all, and most of all, greedy. In the real world, there are people like this. But, if they try hard and do good deeds, they can redeem themselves. Personally, I don;t think there are lots of people like this. Most people are only like this a few times in their life. But they can try not to be.

The moral of this story is to not be greedy. Because if you are, you will get nothing. Good only comes to good people but bad goes to all. Unfortunately, this is the way it works. I wish that there was a way to change it. So try to be good, and when bad comes to you, don't change. Be good.

Twinkle

The song that I chose was Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I chose this song because, as a child, this song inspired me a lot. I think that this song was was an inspiration of hope. When it says Up above the world so high it inspires me to do my best. It reminds me that the sky is the limit. This line helps me to push myself and to do my best. Whenever I am doing a project or a homework, I push myself to do my best. This blog is an example. I could have gone and chosen a random song that meant nothing to me. But instead, I chose this deep and meaningful song.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is a little kid's song. Most little kids, when they hear this song, like it just because of the feel of it and the rhyming. Also, it grabs their attention. It calms them down, almost like it tells them to go to sleep. This is why I like this song. It calms people down and it is child-friendly. It rhymes and, at the same time, is slow and calming.

Most people don't stop and notice the small things in life. They are always in a rush and trying to get somewhere. Especially in New York City. In New York City, every hour is rush hour. I feel like the song I chose kind of slows things down and gives you the time to notice small things. Maybe, if everyone wasn't always in a rush, they would be able to notice the little things in life. They would, most likely, be happier and less frantic. But this will never happen in NYC. I mean, after all, it is the city that never sleeps.

The Street Lawyer

The book "The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham is about a lawyer named Michael Brock who worked for a large firm in D.C. One day, Michael and several other lawyers were taken hostage by a homeless man with a gun. The man did not kill anyone, but he did something worse. Before he was killed by the S.W.A.T. team, he reminded them how selfish they had been. Together, they made over three million dollars, and yet none of it had been given to help poor people, such as the attacker himself. The homeless man didn't kill anyone, but he scarred them.

John Grisham wrote his story in a unique way. First, he started writing as if the attack was just starting. But then, he writes as if it had already happened. Then he goes back again. He just keeps switching back and forth. I think John Grisham did this for a reason. I think he did it to emphasize his message. It really makes his story more interesting.

Grisham has a good message in his story. He shows how some people even make millions of dollars each year yet they don't give to those who make a lot less than that. He reveals a big social injustice in the world around us: greediness. If no person in the world was greedy and everybody shared what they had, the world would be a lot better place.

I think that Grisham did an amazing job with his story. He really made it interesting while he introduced a big issue in the world. He empowers people to give and not to be greedy. He showed people how they should help and what to do. He really changed my way of thinking.

An Eye For an Eye

The article "Is 'an Eye for an Eye' Ethical?" by Ariel Kaminer, published in the New York Times Upfront on November 5th, 2012, Kaminer explains a story about a man in New York named Anthony B. who chained his bike to a pole. Then, a delivery food person chains his bike to Anthony's bike. When Anthony comes back, he can't take his bike so he chains both of them to the pole. Later, after Anthony ate lunch, the delivery food person is angry.

What Anthony did to the delivery food person was like a small punishment for doing wrong things to the people around him. In the article, Kaminer wrote "The guy was asking for it. He knowingly inconvenienced a stranger, so he couldn't have been all that shocked when someone returned the favor." Ariel Kaminer wants you to think about the question in the title: Is an eye for an eye ethical? Although it might seem like the right thing to do, is it?

I completely agree with Kaminer. In his article, he wrote "Your solution seems so elegant: Use the very tools of this man's discourtesy to teach him a lesson about respect. But as satisfying as eye-for-an-eye justice can be, it's unlikely to cause him to reflect on how he wronged you. It will probably just make him hate you and therefore care that much less about inconveniencing you or anyone else he might proceed to lock up." Now that he has pointed out to me that not everyone agrees with the saying "an eye for an eye", I might have second thoughts about what I do.

The Pelican Brief

In this story, Grisham talks about a 19 year old girl who is on the run from a group of people who want to kill her. They want to kill her becaause she wrote a brief about who killed two Supreme Court justices and she guessed correctly. It was the same people that later on, killed anyone who tried to contact her. She was forced to escape her city, New Orleans, and flee around the country.

In other stories, Grisham usually talks about lawyers and about their lives. He has great examples, too. In his other books that I have read, he talks about a kid in law school, a very important case, and much more. He tells you real life things that would be very important in the world today. I think he does a great job in this.

Besides informing you about lawyers, he also teaches you other things. For example, in this book he teaches you about life on the run and the life of a reporter for a newspaper. In other stories, he also shows you the life down South and a lot more.

The Pelican Brief

In this book, John Grisham writes a story about how two Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. The assassin is extremely professional and did not leave behind any evidence for the FBI to track. There were no witnesses, either. Now, everyone is trying to find the assassin but there is no one to blame. But one law student from New Orleans has a far-fetched idea that somehow has gotten all the way to then president. It's a long-shot, but it is the best that they have to offer.

The way that the author writes the story, there is no single main character. He has the view of all of the important people. It skips form one person to another throughout the entire book. Also, he tells the reader who the assassin is through his own perspective but all of the other people have no idea who the assassin was. What this story is really showing you is the way that the government handles the situation.

I find it very interesting the way he wrote the book. It is a very advanced piece of writing. It is also a little confusing to read. But while making it confusing, he shoes a lot of other things that you normally wouldn't know about the story. I feel that Grisham is a great writer and he uses many ways to write his stories.