Andrew Reiff

National

Summary- Man sentenced in bizarre diagnosing scam

A man and woman in Louisiana was ordered to pay back more than $800,000 procured from a complicated scam. The scam was that his wife was a CIA agent, and for some money, she could arrange to have their bodies scanned by satellite for any medical diseases, and then during the night, while the "patient" was sleeping, secret agents would come and administer medicine. The couple is being charged with paying back the $873,786.94. The man is getting 51 months in prison, while the woman gets 63 months.

Opinion-

How dumb do you have to be... these poor southerners... they agreed to health care in which they never even had evidence it was working! Man if that is not a tip off that it is a scam then I don't know what is. This couple should be rewarded for exposing the stupidity of some Americans. I guess this satellite health care was just too good to be true.

International

Summary- Gates says secure Iraq within reach

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that the troops in Northern Iraq need reinforcement. He claims that the heavier troops in Bahgdad have pushed the terrorists north, and there needs to be more troops farther north. Right before he spoke, a large bomb went off across the Tigris, and 14 people died. He did not say how many more troops were needed. Gates says that he has learned a lot from his trips to Iraq. There were just 49 attacks on troops in November, compared to 553 a month early in the insurgency.

Opinion-

I don't know very much about Robert Gates, but from this he seems to be a pretty cool guy. I guess it would make sense that we need more troops in northern Iraq, because the oil pipelines run through there and they are a popular target for terrorists. I totally agree that the surge is working, I think if we just give it some time then the terrorists will at least leave until we leave, which after that point the Iraqis will be on their own. But to pull out now would be a total waste of all these years of trying to help the Iraqi people.

National

Summary- NASA delays Atlantis launch

A pair of faulty fuel gauges delyaed the launch of the Atlantis on Thursday. While technicians were filling up the main tank, two key fuel sensors failed to work properly, so the launch was posponed. The shuttle trip is due to carry a $2 billion dollar space lab that took 25 years to build by the European Space Agency. They were dissapointed at the postponment, but said that it is better to launch late and safe than on time and unsafe. This would have been the fourth shuttle launch this year. The fuel gauge problem had been popping up after the Columbia disaster, plus NASA techs are being much more careful.

Opinion-

Aren't these shuttles getting old already? Its getting to be like driving a 30 year old car with five hundred thousand miles on it, it just does not work as well as it used to. It is time for NASA to get serious about finding a replacement for the Shuttle because someday we might actually have to use them for something other than playing around in space. Stuff gets old, its just the second law of thermodynamics. I know the shuttles have been kept in good repair, but we only have like 2 left now, Discovery, the oldest, and Altantis.