New York Times Reading Log - 9

More big news from the Supreme Court in today's Times.  It looks like Obama's health care law is on the route to being shut down by the Supreme Court justices.  This doesn't come as much surprise in my eyes, since this was a bill that was so controversial, and so roundly rejected by conservatives (despite the fat that it was modeled after a similar law that was instated in Massachusetts by Republican primary nominee Mitt Romney).  This could be a definite stumbling block for Obama entering campaign season, especially since the health care bill was one of his largest, if not most popular, accomplishments in office.  But hey, if he runs against Romney, I guess he could just blame it on him...it was kind of his idea, after all.

In other news: students cheat on the SATs and ACTs.  Wow.  That's a stunner.  So what's being done about it?  Photo verification for students is now a requirement to take the standardized tests.  That honestly does seem like an effective countermeasure, but I think the discussion needs to be made about moving away from standardized tests like these.  Colleges are already making moves toward not giving student's SAT or ACT scores as much weight as they once held in the application process, and I think that is the direction that we should be heading in more quickly.  What do these tests even prove anyways except for whether students can or cannot take tests effectively?  Not much. 

Another interesting story came on page A10 of today's paper:  Chloe Sang-Hun's article about North Korea's refusal to cancel plans to launch a satellite, even despite other world leaders' threats to withhold food aid and sanctions.  This just goes to show that North Korea is ready, willing, able, and committed to being the biggest pain in the ass to the rest of the world that it can be.  This should be an interesting storyline to follow.  Hopefully it doesn't end in some nuclear holocaust. I thought that maybe after Kim Jong-il died, that country would lay off on the craziness a little bit, but I guess not.