It was 2007 when the economy of the United States took a devastating turn for the worse, resulting in a stock market crash and record high unemployment levels. Bailouts were handed out and trillions of dollars spent on recovering the situation to a manageable state.

In the last few months, a great deal of attention has been spent on how to heal the open wound the United States received from the recession, but now, after three years, the attention has shifted on how to reform the current economic system to prevent a meltdown of this scale from happening again.

A massive economic reform bill is currently winding its way through Capitol Hill. This bill, which was spear-headed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, is open to debate in the Senate with hopes of passing the bill within the next week.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday last week, twenty-five people were killed in the long time conflict that has been blazing between Mexican Government officials and drug cartels; a conflict which is commonly known as the Mexican Drug War. The Mexican Drug War has been occurring for decades, but took its worst turning point in 2006, and it has been steadily heading down hill ever since. It started with Colombian cartels and traffickers having to use the land bridge that is Central America to transport cocaine, marijuana, and other controlled substances to the United States after officials in Southern Florida and the Caribbean tightened security. In order to get through Mexico, large Colombian Cartels, like the Sinaloa Cartel or the Gulf Cartel, made deals with Mexican traffickers to reach one of the best global markets: America. Along with the trafficking of drugs came the trafficking of weapons and human beings.

Health care in the United States seems to struggle in its endless fight to ensure and protect Americans. The United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. 47 million people in the U.S. have no health insurance (www.aflcio.org). Add the people who are not insured enough and that is a large portion who are not being fully protected. More money is spent per person on health care in the U.S. than in any other nation in the world; Two trillion dollars a year according to the Wall Street Journal. If we are spending so much money on health care, why is it that people are left uninsured? 14,000 people lose their health insurance every day due to job cuts according to the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Medical illnesses and jobs that do not support medical benefits are other reasons why some Americans are left uninsured, giving them no other choice but to pay the high medical expenses or ignore their medical issue.

When flying, people are requested to arrive at least two hours before their actual flight, to make sure there is plenty of time to make it through security. Airport security expects this from the travelers, so is it so much for the travelers to expect to be safe on their flight?

This sense of safety was once again shaken on Christmas Day, when Umar Farouq AbdulMutallab, a passenger on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam, Netherlands, attempted to detonate an explosive device just outside of Detroit, Michigan. This attempt was unsuccessful and resulted in a fire aboard the plane, which was quickly put out resulting in the apprehension of AbdulMutallab by the passengers and flight crew. He was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers after the plane landed in Detroit.

Pint for a Pound

"1 hour of time + 1 blood donation = your impact on the lives of 7 people in need."

Memorial Blood Centers partnered with Second Harvest Heartland this holiday season for the second annual pint for a pound fundraiser. For every pint of blood donated at Memorial Blood Centers and other blood drives throughout Minnesota they will donate a pound of food to Second Harvest Heartland food shelves in Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin. This promotion ran from November 11 to January 11th. Last year Memorial Blood Center donated more than 22,000 pounds of food last year and are hoping to beat that record this year. As of January second they have raised 13,006 pounds of food and are hoping for a lot more. The holiday season is tough especially on food banks and with the current economic standings it has only made things harder. One pound of food can be a life saving gift for any family in the area.

Donating blood is safe, convenient, and only takes about an hour. The blood itself can help three people and the pound of food can feed a family of four, so you can effect as many as seven people with one donation. To donate you must be at least seventeen years of age or sixteen with parental permission. You must weigh at least 110 pounds and be five feet tall. You should eat a good meal in the six hours before donating and have had adequate sleep in the past 24 hours.