... .267 with a whopping 15 homeruns and 58 RBIS. Ramos also replaced Ivan Rodriguez, the 14-time All-Star behind the plate. Because it was his first season in the major leagues, Ramos only raked in the league-minimum $414,500, although this amount allegedly provoked the kidnappers to target Ramos (Matuszewski). Unfortunately, the set of events surrounding Ramos' kidnapping is not all that unlikely in Venezuela, particularly for ... to Venezuela for work, and Venezuela also provides a huge selection of players for the MLB (Schmidt). According to Jose Grasso, the president of the Venezuelan ...

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... being aggressive in her interviews. In her lifetime, Thomas has been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists, as well as receiving over thirty honorary degrees. The Helen Thomas award was given out each year by Wayne State's Journalism Institute for Media Diversity to students whose work expresses diversity. The Anti-Defamation League asked that all institutions withdraw awards in Thomas' name (Collins). This is ... not the first time Thomas has expressed her prejudice against the Jews. A video dating back to June has record of Thomas saying that the Jews should "get the hell...

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... hanging out at town hall meetings, and those that are can be easily swayed into the fray with a couple of well placed phrases from highly paid lobbyists posing as the "trustworthy looking older gentleman/lady" from "down the street". The phrase "one bad apple spoils the bunch" is well known among crowd control experts. In fact, experts have known for a very long time that a few people in ... the right place can change the mood of an entire room. When Frank Sinatra first took to the stage, his handlers used crowd control ... and manipulated. While some pundits would have you believe tha...

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... one hand, military figures rarely ever step down from their positions. Instead, they would overthrow the government if they wanted change. On the other hand, the generals' resignations signified the end of the military's powerful reign over the civilian government. "Yesterday was a new phase, a sharp curve toward pushing the military to adapt to the current changes in Turkey," said Yavuz Baydar, a Turkish columnist. "It shows how toothless ... , they would not stir the waters as much as some believe. "Nobody should see this as a continuing crisis or problem in Turkey. Without a doubt, the...

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A landlord of a Philadelphian apartment discovered four mentally handicapped people chained in the basement when he went to investigate a short circuit on October 15th. Turgut Gozleveli discovered dogs locked inside of the boiler room and four adults hiding underneath a blanket. They were hunched together in a space not tall enough for an adult to stand, surrounded in human waste with only a jug of orange juice (Hoye). He unchained them while asking questions about their identity, but he didn't receive any answers. Believing them to be illegal immigrants, Gosleveli called in the police who qui...

• Word Count: 787
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, the personal physician of the late Michael Jackson, took a turn for the worse after the 911 call was played to jurors on September 29th. Murray chose not to call for an ambulance for nearly thirty minutes after he first realized that Jackson needed medical attention - a ... while Jackson was lying on his mattress, a soft surface. Murray then asked, "Does anybody know CPR?" although he was the doctor on hand. Murray then calmly told Alvarez that the singer had "a bad reaction" and needed to be taken to the hospital. However, instead of calling an ambulance righ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... our air. While that is good news for plants since they breathe in carbon dioxide, it's bad news for our children who are being deprived of oxygen. Plants, especially the weedier plants, are thriving and producing pollen out of proportion to their growth. Our children's respiratory systems, already struggling to take in oxygen are being forced to filter pollen heavy air as well ... . Perhaps it's no wonder that 250,000 asthma related deaths are reported to the World Health Organization each year. Urbanization is another culprit of the pollen flood. The baking effect of the concrete used i...

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• Grade Level: High School

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner was recently in America this week for the UN General Assembly being held in New York City. The problem with this is, that puts her right in the fire, so to speak. She and her country have defaulted on billions in debt owed to U.S. creditors. President Kirchner has repeatedly ignored the U.S. federal court system and supposedly removed any of her country's assets to outside the U.S. and away from collectors. With her being in New York this week for the UN talks, U.S. bondholders' have become more upset due this obvious slap in the face to the U.S. Justice s...

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• Grade Level: High School

... in a number of ways. There was the possibility of a female vice-president pitted against the possibility of an African-American president - both potential history-making moments. Voting turnouts broke some records, and with the election of Senator Barack Obama, the United States allowed a new era of American politics to be ushered in. And the way it all happened was revolutionary, too. The Internet has, it ... seems, forever changed the way Americans experience their political lives. The Internet has infiltrated our everyday lives in countless ways: We ... , and we form social relation...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... already hooked with heroin and their lives are ruined. History of Heroin The heroin comes from morphine which is a natural substance extracted from seedpod of opium poppy. The opium poppy was discovered and cultivated in Mesopotamia about 3400BC. It was until the 19th century that the chemical analysis of opium was revealed. Most of its content could be ascribed to two ingredients, codeine and morphine ... . An English chemist named C.R. Alder Wright was the first person who processed the heroin in 1874. He made an experiment mixing morphine with different acids. However, ... ". Bayer i...

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Believing himself to be a victim of a smear campaign, presidential candidate Herman Cain suddenly recalled the financial settlement he was a part of years before. In the late 1990's, as the head of the National Restaurant Association, Cain battled two sexual harassment claims involving two different women, although he later remembered the first accusation and denies remembering the second accusation altogether (Oliphant). "My general counsel said this started out where ( ... Cain told Fox News (Grinberg). Cain told Politico that he did not recall such an instance, but when pressed later by ra...

• Word Count: 530
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... year, predictions for holiday spending were very low, but analysts were surprised: Spending was actually even lower than expected. A division of MasterCard showed holiday spending this year was down by as much as 4% over the same period last year, making this year the worst holiday season for them in modern times. Even retail behemoths such as Gap experienced a drop in sales by close ... decrease in its workforce. Starting with part-time workers and trickling down to those in full-time employment, the risk of losing one`s job will be a very real threat to more and more of us. To help en...

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... heating and air conditioning systems initially but end up paying for themselves. The reduced cost of running and maintaining a geothermal pump, as opposed to traditional means of heating and cooling, saves money in the long run and are better for the environment. They provide clean running energy. By observing the positive results that those who have already implemented such systems have received, anyone ... increased interest in geothermal power sources and even plans to implement changes that will allow for easier access to them. The already functioning geothermal power plants in Germa...

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... no way this was suicide" (Grondahl). Also pointing to the fact that Jones' death could be more than a suicide is the cryptic message he left for his girlfriend. "I love you," he told her. "By the time you get this, I will be gone" (Bailey). The Department of Defense has yet to confirm his death because of a policy of a 72-hour waiting period after notifying family members (Grondahl ... ). Jones' death falls close to the one-year anniversary of the death of Staff Sergeant Amy Seyboth Tirador. Tirador was shot in the back of the head while walking to her evening shift ... on a US military ...

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• Grade Level: High School

We are a gadget-loving society. And with the recent launch of the iPhone onto the market, our addiction has only gotten worse. For true believers, the iPhone is much more than "just" a phone, however. This product is changing the way the world - or much of it - lives. The new 3G iPhone even has those non-techies among us are abuzz about this new toy, thanks to its user-friendly platform ... just a little bit smaller, too. In a successful effort to keep pace with the "trend to optimize geographic locations for [its] users", the iPhone features applications that are capable of putting your very...

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... Golf has also been used to generate funds. Visa has also supported the charity, and the charity is also ready to accept donations. "The foundation assists high school physical education departments with the purchase of new equipment, facility improvement, and the sponsorship of sporting events," according to the official website of the foundation, http://www.bryanclay.com/clay/foundation. "It is also dedicated ... to supporting other organizations that promote the advancement of underprivileged youth." In various online interviews, Bryan Clay says the most important ... before their su...

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... ' mission in Iraq on December 15th - nine years after US forces stepped foot on the foreign ground. US troops initially staged a war to rid Iraq of the weapons of mass destruction that they were thought to possess, but after almost a decade in the hostile country, no such weapons were found. Instead, the nine-year invasion revamped American politics and provided Muslims with a solid foundation for their ... who seek to divide, by economic and social issues, by the demands of democracy itself. Challenges remain, but the US will be there to stand by the Iraqi people as they navigate those ...

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... absolute living hell," Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., and Jason Baldwin were released from prison, where they were currently serving out their sentences for the murder of three second-graders in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993. Steven Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore were found dead in a ditch with their bodies mutilated and hog-tied by their ... that they were driven by satanic ritual, regardless of the extreme lack of evidence that they had to indict the boys. Echols and Baldwin entered an Alford plea on three counts of first degree murder, while Misskelley entered...

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... difficult to prove that banks had a criminal intent. However, in some cases, the lock changers themselves have helped themselves to some of the household items. In Florida, repo men were reported for stealing a laptop, an MP3 player, and six bottles of wine (Alden). The attorneys general in 40 states are launching a joint investigation of allegations that banks are cutting corners and using fraudulent paperwork to foreclose ... on some homes. Bank of America is putting the brakes on foreclosures in all 50 states while it reviews its foreclosure procedures. JPMorgan Chase ... this year (...

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... not been broken by Feminists and all scientific arguments for behavior deemed inappropriate for a child's sex is used a "back up" of sorts to explain so-called oddities in children. Parents swallow this hook, line, and sinker even if in the recesses of their consciousness, they know it is wrong to influence children to be anyone other than who they are. Without a change in ... attitude, this trend will continue, as the parents of today were the first recipients of equal rights and have not changed, because of it. Even if mothers and fathers hope that their daughters will grow up to shat...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... factors in everything, including financial advice, attorney's fees, counseling, and real estate costs involved in buying or renting separate homes. Yes, some of those expenses will be recovered when a couple sells the matrimonial home to divide up the proceeds, but in today's down market real estate isn't fetching top dollar, and often couples will end up owing more on their mortgages ... when times are tough divorce rates go up, such as during the 1997 recession. But this time is different because of the severity of the recession. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, divorce rates ...

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... people now own a cell phone, and that number is growing larger every day. The impact of cell phones on society has become huge. One reason that the cell phone has made such an impact on society today is because of the advances they have made with them through modern technology. When the cell phone first debuted, its only function was to make calls. That is not ... to watch live television no matter where you are. Some offer a GPS navigational system to help you find driving directions. Of course, many people would be lost without the option to text their friends and family, as well. Cel...

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• Grade Level: High School

... market and mortgage lender meltdowns, two-paycheck families are busting the budget on necessities. Even conservative spenders are growing weary. During a recent small group discussion, a mother of three held back tears as she described the effects of the dollar's weakening buying power. She and her husband both work and have been steadily employed for the last twenty years. Three years ago, they felt financially secure ... her husband looking for part-time work because he drives a daily 60-mile round trip to work. There's no talk of a summer vacation this year. She's not alone. Whether a ...

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... . Initially designed to give low and middle class taxpayers a little relief in light of real estate downturns, rising inflation and high gas and food prices, the act has been further expanded since that time and offers a variety of incentives for both businesses and individuals. The overall goal of the Act is to "jumpstart the economy." Individuals and couples filing Federal Income Tax Returns for 2007, even up ... above. In addition, after lobbying by groups supporting senior citizens, social security payments were added to the "eligible" income, so most seniors on fixed incomes who fil...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... little different was a visit by Brig. General Peter J. Talleri to Camp Taji. Talleri is the commander of the Defense Distribution Center and is stationed in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. While in the area, he also visited the Iraqi Army's General Truck Regiment. He met with Iraqi Colonel Muhammad and was given updates of their progress and discussed future improvements. "We are working together, in a partnership, to ... "By utilizing our subject matter experts we are able to establish an effective system together with them that is working well." The Iraqi military are gaining good knowle...

• Word Count: 444
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• Grade Level: High School