Thousands Flock to the Oracle of Omaha

This upcoming weekend is the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting right here in Omaha, Nebraska. This year 44,000 people are expected to come from outside of Omaha to experience what is widely regarded as one of the most popular shareholder meetings in the world. This year is the 50th anniversary of Warren Buffett's ownership of the company, which reports over $200 million of annual revenue. This weekend provides a major boost to the local Omaha economy as shareholders spend large ammounts of money at stores and restaraunts owned by Berkshire such as Borsheims, Nebraska Fruniture Mart, and Dairy Queen. Others join Buffett at his favorite restaruants like Gorat's and Piccolo's. Other Omaha businesses will likely benefit from the mass influx of people coming into the area.

What makes Berkshire weekend so special for some many people is the company's leader and master of the weekend's ceremonies, Warren Buffett. Although he is a multi-billionaire, he lives a very humble lifestyle. He lives in a nice house, but not a mansion; he dines at local steakhouses, not five-star restaraunts; and he speaks with shareholders with a folksy demeanor as if they were friends. The weekend-long meeting (or party depending on how you look at it) is set apart from other shareholder meetings is the fact that Buffett is working to make a personal connection with every shareholder that attends the meeting whether this direct communication or by his personable mannerism in his public appearances.


http://www.omaha.com/money/up-to-expected-for-berkshire-hathaway-shareholders-weekend/article_1f2eb00a-b637-52f2-95f9-a986d2a32d71.html?mode=jqm

GET YOUR CHILD VACCINATED

The fact that I have to waste my time to write this blog is downright idiotic. No, not because I'm against the blogging project, Mrs. Hake, but the fact that vaccination has become such an issue that I am now compelled to write an entire blog over why parents should get their children vaccinated. The science behind vaccinations is clear: they are safe. The study that linked them to autism in the 90s has been debunked several times over, yet parents still cling to the outdated notion that vaccinating their child will result in a terrible mental illness. The anti-vaccination movement, which is particularly strong in California, is small, well funded, and clustered. This gives the group a political platform that makes them seem like they are much more than 3-8% of the population. By using personal belief clauses in state legislature, parents are able to opt their children out of vaccinations, even without holding a genuine religious belief against vaccines. Parents of vaccinated children have realized that unvaccinated are dangerous to their own kids, and they have petitioned to California State Legislature to end the personal belief exemption.

Vaccinations have become a victim of their own success. We rarely see disease like measles, whooping cough, or polio, because of the miracle of modern medicine that is vaccines. However, because parents do not see the disease around them, they do not think it poses an actual threat to the health of their children. In fact, in some states, such as California and Colorado, the vaccination rate is lower than many third world countries. Why? It is because only one generation ago in many of these third world countries disease such us measles and polio were very common and parents still remember the devastation of these terrible maladies. Furthermore, we as the people of the United States must realize that this is not an issue caused solely by conservative Christians who refuse to vaccinate their child due to religious beliefs, nor is it solely an issue of liberal conspiracy theorists. Too often I have seen this issue classified into one of the above categories, when it is really an equal combination. (See chart). I leave you with this statement on behalf of exasperated pediatricians: "Vaccinate your child!"

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/04/california_anti_vaccine_movement_politics_wealth_bob_sears_and_robert_f.html

Greece Making Demands of Germany?

For the past several years Germany has been making demands of severe financial austerity to both the Greek government and its citizenry as a part of the bailout program meant to assist Greece in recovering from its 2009 collapse. However, the Syriza party has won the most recent parliamentary elections, and their leader, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsiparas (a noted political firebrand), has promised to break free from German and European Union enforced austerity. Tsiparas and his Syriza party are part of a larger movement of ultra-leftist nationalist populist parties in Europe. Tsiparas and his regime have made calculations of what Germany owes them from World War II in hopes of receiving around 300 billion Euros from Germany. This amount is, not coincidentally, very close to the 240 billion Euros Greece received as a part of a bailout that saved Greece from bankruptcy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel insists that Germany made sufficient reparations in the 1960s and the 1990s, and it seems unlikely that Germany will make such reparation payments to Greece any time soon.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for Tsiparas and Syriza. I fully expect that Greece will begin the process of exiting the European Union bythe end of this year. While this might be empty demand from Greece, it is being used by Tsiparas to show the Greek people that the new regime is willing and able to stand up to Germany. This is especially disappointing as prior to Syriza's victory Greece was making progress towards making repayments on its bailout, and the E.U. had just introduced a quantitative easing program that was meant to stimulate the Greek economy. Furthermore, I worry that if Syriza is successful in breaking away from the E.U. they might encourage other nations to elect leftist nationalists, such as the Five Star Movement in Italy and Podemos in Spain, and in turn separate from the E.U. If multiple nations break from the E.U. the Union would collapse and lead to further economic uncertainty in Europe.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32202768

Chamber's Uncalled for Comments

Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers declared that "My ISIS is the police... if I carried a gun I would shoot him [the cop] first and asks questions later."  Mr. Chambers made these comments on the  floor of the Nebrask Unicameral. Several people, including Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts, have asked Mr. Chambers to apologize for conduct unbecoming of a state senator. However, Chambers refuses to apologize claiming, "I meant what I said."  Currently the Nebraska legislature is working to remove him from the Unicameral, which would require 33 of 49 votes.

Ernie Chambers has made a mockery of himself and our state. I understand that he may be upset with police brutality or other unfair policing policies, but comparing them to ISIS is completely uncalled for. Secondly, I believe Chabers should be tried for making a terroristic threat by claiming he would shoot police officers. The situation is very similar to the shooting of two Brooklyn police officers in November of 2014. The shooter stated he was going to kill the officers on his Instagram before he committed the act. Chambers should be tried and convicted, or at least he should be expelled from the  Unicameral.
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/27/ernie-chambers-nebraska-state-senator-i-meant-what/?page=all

Mom this doesn't concern you.

 Well, hello there. I wasn't expecting to see you here. Seriously, no one is supposed to see this. My mom said she wouldn't let me blog on the Internet  until age 18. I really love my mom. She gave birth to me and my two sisters, Maggie and Annie. My mom is married to my dad and we all live together in Eastern Omaha. Sometimes we do things together like charades, vacations to Washington D.C., and meals. I like to play soccer, and I'm a goalkeeper. You may think goalies are fat, lazy, and relatively unimportant. However, you are only right 90% of the time. For 10% of a soccer game goalies become important (they are still fat and lazy though). I also talk competitively in a little something called extemporaneous speaking. I get to go to Florida because I did well, so that is fun. I hope there are a lot of smoking hot barbecues in Florida as I will miss the family barbecue to go there. I talk about things such as oil, economics, politics, wars, "frat bros", threats to national security, and a lot of other things that people deem to be "current events".  Well, that’s all. Don't tell me mom. 

This is Oliver Kahn. He is the best goalie ever. I aspire to be like him.