Victoria's Secret Fires Back at Ex-Model Kylie Bisutti's "Piece of Meat" Story: She Was No Angel!

by Natalie Finn

This news article is about how the Victoria Secret competition winner in 2009 has been slamming VS and fabricating stories about working there. She was modeling for the brand for a short period of time. She says that working there made her feel uncomfortable. But Vs says that Kylie Bisutti was never a Victoria Secret Angel. She says that she "Feels like a piece of meat."

 She is 23 and says that after a bad photo shoot she started to pray on her knees saying, "God, why did you have me win the Victoria's Secret Angel competition if it was going to make me feel this way? I'm not honoring my husband. I just want answers!"

She had made many fabrications, stories and false statements about working for VS. "Ms. Bisutti has made numerous fabrications and misstatements of fact regarding her brief association with Victoria's Secret," VS said in a statement." In 2009, Ms. Bisutti won an online amateur modeling competition and hasn't worked for us since that year. The prize for the winning contestant was the unique opportunity to a one-time walk in the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Ms. Bisutti also participated in a swim photo shoot in 2009. That was the extent of Ms. Bisutti's involvement with Victoria's Secret. She was never a Victoria's Secret ‘Angel' as defined by the terms of our Angel model contract."

Ms. Bisutti says on her twitter page that she is not slamming Victoria secret and that she shops there.

I think the Ms. Bisutti is wrong only if these stories are made up and if she's lying and have never worked for Victoria Secret a day in her life. I think she should stop because she is getting unwanted attention from people. And if she has worked for VS, I think that they should stop trying to disown her. It's very rude and disrespectful.

http://www.eonline.com/news/412044/victoria-s-secret-fires-back-at-ex-model-kylie-bisutti-s-piece-of-meat-story-she-was-no-angel 

Time for a Raise?

By Patricia Smith
This article is about how Barack Obama wants to change minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour. It would be the first increase in minimum wage since 2009. The first minimum wage boost was in 1938 during the Great Depression when President Franklin D. Roosevelt had made a deal to change minimum wage to 25 cents an hour. If this plan comes into play millions of people will no longer be making so little money.
"This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families," Obama said during the Union address in February. "It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank, rent or eviction, scraping by or finally getting ahead. For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets."
Some people agree with the new change and others do not. The people who don't agree with this is the people who are going to be kicking out more money to pay for employees and because they have to kick out more money to pay them they are going to hire less people, which would probably make it harder for people to keep their jobs or get one.
"Small employers often have to operate under very slim profit margins," says Randy Johnson of the U.S. chamber of Commerce, which represents business. "An increase has to be shouldered by the employer." If the law is passed, this plan will come into play in full effect by 2015.

I believe that this is a great idea. People won't really struggle like they have before. They will have more money and more income. but it will also be a bad one because people might be out of jobs, and some more than likely won't be able to get hired. I don't think it's a bad idea, i just hope it works out for everybody in the end.

Slaughter of the African Elephants

By Samantha Strindberg and Fiona Maisels

This article is about how African elephants are being slaughtered in central Africa and they may become extinct. Poachers are killing the elephants for their tusks. They sell them and make a great profit. 62% of elephants from central Africa vanished between 2002 and 2011. In China and in other countries "in the far east," there has been an astonishing rise in demand of ivory trinkets, that has really no use. They are buying these tusks and are not aware of the harm that it's causing not only the animals but the environment.

After they kill the elephants they cut the heads off and axe their tusks. Scientists say that elephants are very important to other animals. "The elephants are accomplished gardeners on a grand scale. As they move through their forest home, creating a network of trails used by other animals, they eat and scatter large quantities of seeds over many miles. Sprouting in countless piles of dung, new trees keep the forest healthy and contribute to the clean air we all like to breathe. Elephants also keep open salt-rich forest clearings that serve as giant salad bowls crucial for many animals, including gorillas."

"Poaching is big business, involving organized-crime cartels every bit as ruthless as those trafficking narcotics, arms and people. Existing international laws against money laundering should be used to follow the money trial and to prosecute these criminals."

I think that this is wrong. Killing animals for personal reasons, to use their body parts for unnecessary reasons. I think that this crime should be stopped now and to keep these animals from becoming extinct. they are very important to our society and very important to other animals around them.

Sisters In Arms

By James Dao

This article is about how the pentagon is now allowing the same equality for men in the army to women. Women are now being accepted in the army and have more rights in the army as men. They thought that having women i  the army would be different because they thought that having a woman die in the army would have people angry and that it would be more traumatic. But they found out that people react to a woman's death just the same as a man's.

The Navy, Air Force, and the Army has to make plans to carry out the policy. "Military officials say that more than 200,000 jobs could now open to women, including elite Special Operations commando units like the Navy SEALS and Delta Force. A high percentage of men fail to make the cut for those units."
All though the pentagon has allowed this new policy, they have vowed that "the standards will not be lowered to make it easier for women to join combat units."

Back in 1861, women used to disguise themselves as me just to join the army. In 1917, they were only allowed to become nurses, but never to fight in the Army. In the army or out at war, there are more men soldiers dying than women.

"When the military goes to full integration, it allows commanders to put the best person for the job, not just the best man," Greg Jacob says, whom is a former U.S Marine and is a supporter of this change. " If the best shot in the platoon is a woman, i can make her a sniper. But until now, i couldn't do that."

Some are skeptical about the change, questioning a woman's strength, and carrying out daily missions.
Duncan Hunter, a representative, and a Marine Corps Veteran, says that it's "incidental combat," he says that "the direct combat duties of our advanced and most elite ground operators."
"The question here is whether this change will actually make our military better at operating in combat, specifically finding and targeting the enemy." says Hunter.

I thought that women were already able to be in the army without a problem. A close friend of mine has been in the army for a long time and she works with guns and stuff. I never knew that it was a problem for women or that it was hard for women to get into the army until now. I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to serve their country. I'm happy about the change because it has made women and men fully equal in the situation and now women can be in the army and do what the do best. Serve their country.

Cyber War

By Patricia Smith
 This article is about how hackers attacked Saudi Arabia's oil company called Saudi Aramco. The state-owned company valued at $7 trillion. Last August 15, over 55,ooo Saudi Arabia Employees were at home getting ready to celebrate the Muslim holiday. A computer virus started to attack the system at exactly 11:o8. The computer virus started erasing 75% of the data the "Aramco's corporate PCs, documents, spreadsheets, e-mails, files, replacing everything with an image of a burning American flag."
"U.S officials say that Iran was behind the attack."
After the virus was stopped, more than 3o,ooo computers were useless.
"It proved you don't have to be sophisticated to do a lot of damage," said Richard Clarke, a former white house counterterrorism official. "There are lots of targets in the U.S. where they could do the same thing. The attacks were intended to say: 'If you mess with us, you can expect retaliation.' "
A defense secretary says that the United States is facing a "cyber Pearl Harbor," which is making  Washington worried.
The masterminds of the cyberwar are China and Iran.  They are the ones who are doing most of the attacking.  The United States don't start the war but will retaliate if need be. China's government has been trying to steal information the Pentagon. Intelligence officials think that Iran is responsible for the attacks on Wells Fargo and PNC bank.

I think that it's really stupid, these cyber attacks. I think that the U.S. should just try to create something to prevent these cyber attacks. They are easy to do, if your intelligent, and not much to prevent them. To protect their information, and to keep it from happening again.

Colorado school bars transgendered 1st-grader from using girls' restroom

By Edd Payne, CNN

A first grader by the name of Coy Mathis who is said to be transgendered, was told by the school district that she could no longer use the girls restroom. Coy was born with sex male organs but she calls herself a female. She dresses as a girl and all of her important information including her passport and her state identification says she's a girl. Coy's mother and father said that they were shocked at the news

"We were very confused because everything was going so well, and they had been so accepting, and all of a sudden it changed and it was very confusing and very upsetting because we knew that, by doing that, she was going to go back to being unhappy," Mrs. Mathis told CNN. "It was going to set her up for a lot of bad things."

Mrs. Mathis was scared that people would start picking with her son/daughter, she took her/him out of school during the winter break. The attorney Michael Silverman from "the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund" is representing Mathis.

 "For many transgender people, discrimination is a daily part of life. Unfortunately for Coy, it has started very early," Silverman said. "The world is going to be looking at the school, which can send a message to the world and teach tolerance, fair play and equal rights."

Mrs. Mathis said that she had got a call out of the clear blue and a letter saying that as Coy grows, his body is going to grow, and as his body starts to develop is going to make people uncomfortable and make the girls uncomfortable that he's using the restroom with. They are now filing a Civil Rights Complaint.

I think that it's so disturbing and so not normal for a first-grader to believe that he is a girl. The parents are allowing it and it's not cool. That's disrespectful, and I think that the reason for this boy to believe he's a girl has something to do with his parents. Coy i was born as a boy, and he should stay as a boy until he's old enough to understand what being transgendered and gay is. Right now, i don't believe that he knows what it is. I really think that the reason for him being a girl is because of family members, peers, or his parents. I definitely agree with the school district, he is a BOY, he was born with MALE ORGANS, and he should used the restroom with the rest of the BOYS.

  
 http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/27/us/colorado-transgender-girl-school/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Historically Incorrect Canoodling

By Stephanie Coontz

This article, "Historically Incorrect Canoodling," is about the history of valentine's day.Valentine's day was made by the Roman Catholic Church to limit sexual activities and love. They didn't want people to love each other, they believed that women were just for bearing children and that was all. You weren't allowed to love anyone back than. But later, people turned the holiday into a love fest. No one, back then, believed that love was real or that you should love someone or be in love with someone.

Valentine's day was named after a Christian priest who was "martyred in the third century." It is said that Valentine didn't follow a rule with conducting marriages for soldiers and he fell in love with his jailor's daughter. He wrote a letter to her before he died and said "From Your Valentine."

The church then made the February of 14, St. Valentine's day. It wasn't in favor of love, it was to honor a roman goddess of marriage and love.  A festival was created called Lupercalia on Feb. 15, and the night before was when boys drew a girls name from a jar to be their sexual partner for a year.

One-hundred years after the 17th century Europeans and Americans had agreed upon letting marriage be of love and letting women chose their own lovers.

I believe that how Valentine's day started was extremely crazy. First or all, they started it after some man who was executed for something that made absolutely no sense. He loved his jailors daughter and sent her a letter. And the fact that the day the Valentine's day used to be a day that  boys could pick girls names at random as a sex partner for the year??! That's ridiculous. I'm glad that the holiday changed and Americans and the Europeans had agreed upon the whole marriage ordeal. I'm happy for Valentine's day because that's the day that the person you're with can show you just how much she/or he loves you!

Belly Button Bacteria

By The New York Times

This article,"Belly Button Bacteria,"  is about how scientists found a new species in people's belly buttons. Scientist "swabbed five-hundred belly buttons and analyzed sixty samples with surprising results." They found over two-thousand species. Over a thousand are new to the science world.
"Some of the bacterial discoveries were downright strange."
A man had a species in his navel "common in soil in Japan." He had never been to Japan.
Someone else had held bacteria from "Polar ice caps."
Scientists and researches are hoping to collect more DNA from the navel bacteria. More research may lead to find that belly button bacteria may play a role in people's health.

I think that belly button dirt is so nasty. I believe that it is one of the worst the that can be on your body. I mean, they are getting swabbed for the tests but why do they have the dirt in their belly buttons anyway? It shouldn't be there. I remember a time when a girl had showed me the belly button dirt on her finger telling me that it's supposed to be there, and if you take it off, your belly button will fall off or fall apart. All i could do was laugh. It was one of the funniest and the stupidest thing i have ever heard. And what made it even funnier was that she was dead serious.

Give Lance Another Chance?

Cnn

This article,"Give Lance Another Chance?, is about how Lance Armstrong cheating his way to the top and everyone seeing him as a disgrace. He lied about cycling and for a very long time. He apologized to his charity, and will be interveiwed by Oprah. Some say that he still has a chance to redeem himself despite of what he has done and others say that he shouldn't be forgiven and he is no longer trustworthy.
Frida Ghitis said,"Lance Armstrong's story of triumph over adversity captured the imagination of millions around the world, including people like me, who don't usually spend a lot of time absorbed in following sports news. That's because Armstrong's achievements recovering from cancer and then breaking records in the cycling world made him a source of inspiration, an icon of hope."
"The important ethical question isn't wether Lance deserves a second chance. Chance to do what? Cheat in seven more tours? Lie about it seven more times? Bully seven more teammates into doping? He behaved badly and is rightly censured," said Randy Cohen. "But that should be the beginning, not the end, of this disheartening story."
"No, he gets no second chance from me," said Roxanne Jones. "There are too many reasons to question his apology."
"He's almost 42, forget about it." said Jeff Pearlman.

While others have their opinions about it, I have mine. I didn't really know anything about Lance Armstrong until I read this article. I've heard of him of course but i never knew what he was famous for. If he cheated his way to the top, who cares? Who says that this man shouldn't be given a second chance? Everybody makes mistakes and it may take a very long time for a person to learn from the same mistake. He more than likely lied about it because he didn't want to be viewed differently by the public eye as a bad role model. He wanted to be great and an encourager, so of course, he lied but people lie all the time. I believe that he should be forgiven because if the show was on the other foot, someone would probably want people to forgive them as well.

Civil War in Syria Raises Questions About When to Intervene

By Ja'anai Delaney for NewsHour Extra

This article, Civil War in Syria Raises Questions About When to Intervene, is about a war that is currently going on in Syria. It is a war between the military that is loyal to the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and protest fighters. "However, in an attempt to justify his brutal crackdown, Assad has blamed foreign actors and terrorists for the initial uprising and continued violence." The war is making it unsafe for innocent people who live in the country. They are fleeing from their homes to refugee camps in need of food, water, shelter, and for those who are sick, medicine. "(UNHCR) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that over 200,000 people have fled their homes for calmer parts of Syria or neighboring countries such as Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon."
"The united Nations estimates that as many as 2.5 million people have been affected by the crisis."
The other countries do accept the refugees but they don't have enough resources to care for other people outside of their community.
"The opposition is a patchwork of groups fighting to overthrow Assad and establish a democracy in his place. The opposition includes the Free Syrian Army, the Syrian Liberation Army and fighters across the region. Terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda have even joined the fight, worrying outside observers."
The United states is wondering wiether or not if they should intervene in this fight to see if they can help those "caught in the crossfire." The U.S and other peoples are seeming supporters of the "anti-regime groups, they said that they will not get in between the war unless Assad use Chemical Weapons."
Assad is also threatening that if the U.S gets involved that they would hurt them as well, so the U.s is trying to not have anymore people get hurt in the process for a fight that's not ours.
The armies in Syria have a lot of weapons and there have been reports of city massacres.

I do not think that United States should get involved because it would do more harm than good. The U.S is always seemingly to get into some nonsense that had nothing to do with us and then it backfires, like the reason for the 9/11 attacks. The war started over a fight for oil and it backfired and killed hundreds of people in the process. I think that the U.S should just wait it out and see what happens, weither the kill Assad or her kills his opposers, I believe that us intervening would make things worse putting innocent lives in danger and there could be another attack like the 9/11.

All work no play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed

By Esther Entin

This article,"All work and no play," is about how children are becoming more anxious when they have no free time to play. Children don't have as much free time now as they did when their parents were younger and it's because the interference of school and parents. School and school work is taking up much more time than it has before and giving the children no free time to play. Parents are not letting children go outside and play anymore because of safety issues. Their time are being regulated and only giving them little time to themselves, which can cause depression and anxiety.
"Since about 1955...children's free play has been continually declining, at least partly because adult's have exerted ever-increasing control over children's activities," says the author Peter Gray.
The article lists five ways that play benefits children. "Play gives children a chance to find and develop a connection to their own self identified and self-guided interests, It is through play that children first learn how to make decisisions, solve problems, exert self control, and follow rules, children learn to handle their emotions, including anger and fear, during play; play helps children make friends and learn to get along with each others as equals, and most importantly play is a source of happiness."
Each benefit of play describes why children need more free time.
I agree with this article. I think that children deserve more free time because of the simple fact that most of their time is dedicated to school. The children are still young and they have to get out and explore. take an adventure and play. And then at least every decade the time children play gets lower and lower because of things getting in their way. A child being cooped up in a house all his or her life isn't going to help the child grow. they'll have a lack of responsibility because they hadn't gotten the chance to be responsible.

Philadelphia superintendent identifies schools he intends to close

Kristen A. Graham, Inquirer Staff Writer

This article,"Philadelphia superintendent identifies schools he intends to close," is about how the Philadelphia superintendent is trying to shut down 37 schools to save money. 11 of them are high schools, 22 of them are elementary schools, and four of them are middle schools. Thirty-seven schools are closing to get back $28 million. They are using excuses like, the schools aren't being used, schools haven't met the academic standards, and they don't have to pay for a lot of teachers, etc.
"This is a historic moment for us," William R. Hite Jr. said at a news conference.
Not only will people lose their jobs, but the students will have to be moved and learn to adapt to the new environment. Some good schools are being moved in to bad schools and some bad schools are being moved to good schools. For example, Paul Robeson is moving to Sayre and Communications Technology is moving to Bartram.
"Officials believe very strongly that our public-school system is an institution worth saving," Hite said.
"Many superintendents chose to kick the can and continue to just kick it down and let someone else deal with it," Hite said."There's no more room to kick the can," he said.
They plan on selling the empty schools to people who wants to buy them.

I think that this proposal is a bad idea. A lot of these children are coming from different areas of Philadelphia, so for children to travel from their original school to go to a father school is not good and is actually costing more money to hand out transpass's. I also think that the increasing the number of kids in classrooms will take a toll on the child's learning. It can cause problems and violence as well, being in a new school and the anger of getting switched can help cause fights.