Many Americans have financial needs. Of course, the Government is there to help. People might have money issues trying to paying bills or college. But what the Government might not know, and isn’t doing anything about, is when people abuse the welfare system by saying they need money when they really don’t for unnecessary reasons.

Nearly 15 percent of Americans receive food stamps, but how many do you think lie about needing them? The sad thing is that, that’s not the only frauds people commit. Medicaid and Medicare are also abused. “About 20% of federal health program budgets are consumed by fraud and abuse, which would be about $85 billion a year for Medicare”, makes a statement that explains that this is really happening. (http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/fraud-and-abuse)

So, if the Government knows this, why don’t they do something to stop it? There’s no real reason why they haven’t. What some people could guess is that they might not have enough evidence. Let’s say someone working for the government saw you paying with food stamp, wearing expensive clothes. Then see you go outside and saw you get on a car of the year. They don’t have enough proof that shows that you have enough money to buy yourself nice clothes and a wonderful car, and still pay with food stamps. Now that’s an example of why the Government doesn’t do anything. Even if they did have enough evidence, they could have their own people committing these scams. This could create a big scandal in the United States.

Not all people do this though, but for the ones that do, they’re wasting money that could be used for more important things. It could help out with college, medical issues and much more. If you ever see scams being done, you shouldn’t follow their examples. You could be helping many people out.

The fourth installment to the popular Twilight series premiered on November 18, 2011. “Breaking Dawn” opened with lukewarm to mixed reviews from critics. Despite the reviews, the film got a generally positive response from the fans.

Twilight has become a very popular franchise. Those who have read the books are the most eager to wait in line to watch the movie. “Breaking Dawn” will not disappoint those who are familiar with the books. This installment has got to be the most well directed film from the franchise. It is also the most graphic from the franchise. The last hour manages to catch your attention when Bella’s life becomes in danger. The film take a dark and graphic turn.

Keith Cohen from Entertainment Spectrum says, “The fourth book is so expansive that the filmmakers made the right call in splitting it into two parts. Stewart, Pattinson & Lautner have come to be genuine embodiments of the three major characters. The pacing is spot on..”

Many critics praised the Academy Award winning  director Bill Condon. Michael A. Smith from MediaMikes says, “TBD-1″ is smartly directed by Bill Condon (“Gods and Monsters,” “Dreamgirls”) in a straight forward manner that keeps the film from bogging down in its last act.”

“Breaking Dawn” only proved that “Twilight” still has something to bring to the table. Fan of the series or not, it is worth watching. And with a ending that leaves you thirsty for more. It is out now and go watch it in a theatre near you. And catch “Breaking Dawn Part 2” on November 16, 2012.

A Taste of Thanksgiving’s History:

In the September of 1620, a ship called the Mayflower carried 102 passengers from Plymouth, England who left to seek a place where they could freely practice their religions and own land. Though on the way to the “New World” the Pilgrims, as they were called, suffered a brutal winter and lost many people because of food shortages, diseases, etc.

In March of 1621, when the Pilgrims moved ashore, they were helped by the Wampanoag Indians. They showed the pilgrims how to produce their own food, shelter, and other necessities.

Later on, when the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians were friends, they held an autumn harvest feast on the November of 1621, where they dinned to celebrate the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest success.

It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War (1861-1865) that President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving into a national holiday to be held every November.

“The Traditional Thanksgiving” Description:

Turkey, stuffing, homemade mash potatoes, and other riches are placed on the dinner table by the hostess of the party.  As the food is being passed around you might just see a couple of faces just dying to sink their teeth into their food. After everyone has tasted a bit of everything on their plate, they occasionally laugh and some nearly choke which causes more laughter, but for some people everyone just sits and enjoys their meals in peace. These descriptions describe what is called “the traditional Thanksgiving”.

When the same o’ same o’ gets boring, the new Thanksgiving traditions begin.

EECHS’ Student’s Traditions:

“After having our thanksgiving meal we gather the bones from the turkey we ate and make a stack and the person with the highest stack gets $50.00.” – Ariana Ruiz 9^th grade

“I put duck and chicken inside of the turkey.”  Ivonn Gutierrez 11^th grade

“We put music and sometimes make tripe (menudo), tamales, or posole besides turkey.” Danielle Bracho 10^th grade

“We play charades in a weird family way.” Herminia Canas 10^th grade

“My family uses the Turkey bones to replace legos and build things with them.”  Anonymous 9^th grade

“Nothing. Thanksgiving is the same as every other day for me.” Maria Vasquez 11^th grade

“We give out tamales.” Maria Guzman 12^th grade

“My family makes BBQ instead of having turkey for dinner.” Estefani Ruiz 9^th grade

“Instead of turkey we eat chicken that’s stuffed with ham and cheese.” Alejandra Salinas 9^th grade

The Impossible Tradition:

“In my work we go inside the freezer and make a fire and cook chicken. The boss started this tradition.” –Pablo aka LALO 12 grade

Charlie Brown’s Tradition

Charlie Brown: I can’t cook a Thanksgiving dinner. All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast.
Linus van Pelt: That’s right. I’ve seen you make toast. You can’t butter it, but maybe we can help you.

Tablo in the group Epik High has announced that he will have his solo debut under new management. With two of the three members gone due to mandatory military services, they decided to suspend all activities until the services are completed.

Tablo’s background consists of graduating from Stanford University with a bachelor’s and masters in English, and also writing a book. The book, titled “Pieces of You,” consist of ten short stories written in his college years.

“I erase myself from my heart. ‘Cause a kind heart is a useless, it’s a flaw in this world. So I guess I want to become worse. Like the saying, lovers resemble each other. I guess this is my way to become like you.”

Above are the lyrics to the song “Bad”. The song that he will promote is titled “Bad.” The song is actually dedicated to people turning bad because of love, not for an already bad person.

In an interview he explained the meaning of his songs. The inspiration for “Bad” came from the people around him. This is his explanation “I don’t know if it was because they simply did and said thing to hurt me the most, or if I just had certain expectations of them, that they wouldn’t hurt me . . . therefore the disappointment was painful”

The album is planned to be separated into two parts. Both parts were released two different times. One on October 21^st and the other on November 1^st. They were released under YG Entertainment.

The Houston Texans have been suffering from a lot of problems this season, but have been able to overcome those problems. Will this continue to be the case now that they lost their leader, Matt Schaub?
The Houston Texans lost their best receiver in week four against the Steelers. Andre Johnson was a vital resource to the Houston offense and without him the team struggled to get as many yards in the air as they would have if he were to have been there in the first place.

Although the Texans are leading the AFC South, it is very possible that the team would have a much better lead if Andre Johnson wouldn’t have been gone for six weeks. The two games following Johnson’s injury were lost and you have to question whether his absence was the reason.
Soon after the team lost Andre, they suffered another loss when Mario Williams got injured. Williams was having an outstanding season and was proving to be a great defensive player for the Texans. He had five sacks in five games. Last year he only had eight sacks in 13 games. It looked like this was going to be the best season for him thus far, but then it all changed on week five. He got injured and was out for the whole season.
On week ten, the Texans suffered yet another loss. Starting quarterback, Matt Schaub, he suffered a leg injury and was out for the season.
On week 12, after the Texans’ bye week, they returned with their backup quarterback, Matt Leinart. Although Andre Johnson returned on week 12 and the Texans won, they suffered another loss. Leinart had to leave the game early due to a collar bone injury.
The Texans now have to rely on their third quarterback, TJ Yates, this season. Many people are concerned about how well they will be able to do with a less experienced quarterback starting.
The headlines after week twelve read “Another win, another loss”. The team has had to overcome a lot of obstacles but as fans, we can’t give up on them.

Nothing But the Beat, released August 26, 2011 through Virgin Records has been hitting the top of the charts! The record producer, David Guetta has been incredibly successful with this previously released album. He is one of the best Djs around, to some people it may just be a simple opinion but in the music industry, his perseverance has made him as strong as he is now. turning clubs all around the world into the place to be. There was no doubt about this album being one of the best, coming from the Dj who has been hitting the clubs since the 1980’s. He knows what it is all about and he keeps giving his fans what they want. He has all the top artists on his album, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida, Snoop Dog, Akon, Sia, Jessie J, Jennifer Hudson, Timbaland & Dev, Chris Brown & Lil Wayne, Will.I.Am, Taio Cruz & Ludacris, Usher, and Akon. David Guetta is like a live stereo, on fire all day, everyday!

In Chicago a study was made about almost two months ago, scientist researched to see if the television show Spongebob Squarepants was making children dumb. They randomly chose 60, four year old children and put on “the little kid shows”, Spongebob and Caillou.

            After the children had watched twenty-two minutes of the shows, the kids took random test. The study showed that the kids that had been watching Spongebob had made lower scores than the ones that had watched Caillou. They started to “debate” whether the show Spongebob was a bad cartoon that made kids’ attention spans shorter.

            Even though they had information that could support their theory, they were wrong. What they didn’t mention is that while a child is around the age of four, that’s when it’s the “heart of the period during which you see the most development”, Lilliard said. In www.upnorthlive.com they agree that while at that age, the mind isn’t fully developed yet, so as a child’s doesn’t process the fast moving objects coming out on the screen. Spongebob is an example of a fast paced show, which is why scientist supposed that it made children dumb.

            The television show  Caillou is slow paced and lets children process the images appearing better, which was the reason the result was higher than Spongebob, watching slow paced shows while being a kid lets your mind process things better than fast paced television shows. This is the reason kids sometimes have short term attention spans.

UFC gave a match in whom Dominick Cruz fought Demetrious Johnson aka “Mighty Mouse” which occurred on October 1^st at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C., Maryland. Cruz and Johnson are both experienced fighters which have fought more than 15 matches each. In this fight Cruz had to defend his Bantamweight title against Johnson.

The fight was later decided after the fifth round by a unanimous decision by judges in favor of Cruz. Although there was no technical knockout, Cruz had almost made “Mighty Mouse” lose by submission after a strike to the jaw in which he grappled him to the floor in the ring. It seems as though the fight was going in favor of Johnson for a while until the next round when Cruz took control as he speeded up.

Some characteristics that helped Cruz defeat Johnson was that he is taller in stature and specializes his style with grappling and has more striking force, while Johnson is more of a speed fighter who has techniques mainly include grappling, submission, and less striking force. With all these attributes, the best fighter was decided through a unanimous decision in which Cruz won. This gave Cruz a record of 19 wins and 1 loss while Johnson now has a record of 14 wins and 2 losses. This win gave Cruz the streak of 10 consecutive wins in a row. Not one challenger has defeated Cruz in the last 3 years.

The Texans offense had been struggling with the absence of their wide receiver, Andre Johnson.

The Texans were without him due to a The Texans were able to overcome his loss on week four after they lost him in the second quarter versus the Steelers and won the game even after he had to leave. The same cannot be said for their matchup against the Raiders on week five and the Ravens on week 6. It was quite obvious that he was crucially missed by the Texans. The offense was a lot weaker and it was evident that they missed Andre Johnson receiving for them.
One of the concerns for fans is that he won’t be able to return on time to face the Titans. Many people were looking forward to the matchup between Cortland Finnegan and Andre Johnson because of the incidence that occurred between the two of them last year. As many people recall, they “went at it” after they had pushed each other in the previously play. Everyone clearly remembers how Finnegan-thought to be one of the leagues dirtiest players-was aggravating Johnson and on a third an eight play Finnegan immediately thrust his hands into Johnson’s facemask after the snap and Johnson got sick of him. He took off Finnegan’s helmet and got his own thrown off soon before landing two blows to Finnegan’s head.
Neither player got suspended, only fined. The matchup between the two of them was what a lot of fans were looking forward to see, but since Andre might be out until week eight, it did not happen. All Texans fans are hoping for Andre to recover soon and be at his best for the weeks to come. He is a very crucial part of the Texans offense and without him on the field the team really struggles to get points on the board through the air.

It wasn’t until week eight that the Texans realized that since they were missing Andre that they would have to resort to gaining points on the ground and it helped Arian Foster and Ben Tate both gain over 100 yards rushing in one game. That was the first time it ever happened in the history of the franchise. Gaining yardage on the ground allowed the Texans to go home from Tennessee with a 41-7 win over the Ravens.

Luckily The Texans wont have to resort to only rushing yardage with the return of Andre Johnson this week for the game against Jacksonville. We hope he is back and ready to play

When you think about Halloween you probably think about costumes, haunted houses, and trick-or-treating. It has changed in many ways since it started.

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31^st. Originated over 2,000 years ago from a Celtic festival, Samhain. This marked the end of harvest and the beginning of a dark, cold winter (a time associated with death.) The Celts believed that on that night the boundary between the worlds, living and dead, the boundary was blurred, so they lighted bonfires and wore costumes to ward off the ghosts.

Trick-or-treating originated from “souling”. Souling was when the less fortunate went door to door on November 1^st, Hallowmas, asking for food and prayed for the dead on All Souls Day, November 2^nd.

Many Christians believe that Halloween encourages witchcraft and leads to Satanism, so to scare them from this tradition they hold “Hell Houses” and encourage them to come to church. But many people just have haunted houses to have fun and get scared.

Superstitions:

• A woman could find out who her future spouse would be by staring into a mirror while in a dark room or by peeling an apple in one long strip then throwing it over her shoulder.
• Ringing a bell scares evil spirits away.
• If you see a spider on this night, it could be the spirit of a loved one watching you.
• While a candle is burning, if the flame flickers then turns blue it means there is a spirit in the room.
• A person born on Halloween could have a greater chance of being able to talk to the dead.

If you feel a chill on your spine, someone is walking on your future grave