NYC Teen Faces 2 Years

In NYC, a 19 year old choked and threw a sibling's 4 ounce hamster. She is facing a felony charge and was arrested Tuesday night. Msnbc reports;

The 19-year-old is accused of choking and squeezing the 4-ounce hamster and throwing it on the floor. It was then thrown across the street, though a necropsy concluded the animal was probably already dead by the time that happened.
Pentangelo says the charges include aggravated cruelty to animals and child endangerment. He says three children witnessed the hamster's demise.

The charges are outrageous, and I feel that our justice system has better things to worry about. Granted, the 19 year old probably needs some mental help, but killing a hamster of a 9 year old sibling and being charged is outrageous. I cant help but laugh and shake my head at the same time at this arrest.

Wisconsin Senate Separated

The Senate in Wisconsin has passed the bill to end state workers' collective bargaining rights. Even with all the democrats gone from the meeting, the republicans still managed to pass the bill, causing unrest and protests. Fox News reports on this;

All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker's so-called "budget repair bill" -- a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.. 

The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday split from the legislation the proposal to curtail union rights, and a special conference committee of state lawmakers approved that bill a short time later.

The republicans are strong to cut many measures that spend money. This bill was included in this quorum and has passes even with obvious opposition. The bill was passed hastily and completely ignored the democrats. I'm not sure if the democrats would do this if they were in the same position, but passing such a bill is quite shady. We will see how this goes when the democrats choose to come back.

Washington Spends Sloppily

Senator George Lemieux from Florida has a point here. He says that government spending is a problem, which is inefficiency. Tax payers money does go and should go necessary programs such as Medicare and Social Security, but a large sum is wasted in an unclear fashion. If taxes were raised after the recession and government spending was more efficient, wouldn't a grand sum of capital be available for paying off America's crippling amount of debt?