News Feb 19

Lawmakers Worry Whether Obama Tax Cut Will Stimulate Consumer Spending
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/16/lawmakers-worry-obama-tax-cut/
Will $8 a week be enough? This is the question many individuals are asking about the tax cut for the individual in the upcoming economic recovery package. The stimulus plan would give $400 in tax cuts to the individual, and $800 in tax cuts to couples. That comes down to about $13 per week for most workers, starting in June, and only $8 per week by next January. According to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham “The average person will get $8 per week in their paycheck and they will pass on to their grandkids $1.1 trillion in debt.”
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Storms Pounds California With Rain and Snow
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29220403/
“This one (storm) here is hitting the entire state” said California National Weather Service forecaster Stan Wasowski, on Tuesday afternoon. A heavy winter rain and snow storm started on Monday, causing the closure of the major highway I-15 and the cancellation of a national golf tournament. The storm stretched from the Mexican border all the way up to Oregon and into parts of Washington.
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Man Charged Over Australian Bush Fires Named
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/16/australia.bushfire.accused.court/index.html?eref=rss_world
Information concerning a man arrested and charged for lighting some of the Australian bush fires has been released. 39-year-old Brendan Sokaluk reportedly lit the fire on February 7th. Sokaluk is not only charged for the lighting of the fire but also for the death of 21 people in Gippsland. Many people believe information about Sokaluk should have been released earlier. Hatred for the arsonists behind these fires is also very strong, as T-shirts proclaiming that these people should ‘burn in hell’ have been made. So far almost 189 people have died in these fires, while 1,800 homes have been destroyed and 7,000 people have been displaced.
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Cambodia Genocide Trial to Begin
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-16-cambodia_N.htm?csp=34
Almost 30 years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge its leaders are finally very close to being brought to justice. Their leader, Kaing Guek Eav or ‘Duch’, is finally going to trial for the 1.7 million lives that he took. "It's going to be a very big day for the Cambodian people because the justice that they have been waiting for 30 years is starting to get closer and closer," tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said. The Khmer Rouge’s notorious leader ‘Duch’, 66, is accused of committing or abetting various crimes such as murder, torture, or rape along with causing the torture and death of 16,000 men, women and children at the S-21 prison.
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