U.S. celebrates Wikileaks explosion

The U.S. this week celebrated the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange by announcing that the U.S. will host the World Press Freedom day in 2011. A slap on the face indeed. What ever happened to the freedom of press? Is it not valid if the U.S. is in the wrong end of the stick? “The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21^st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers.” that’s the tag line for the conference. Laughable indeed. After the tragedy that is wikileaks media and freedom of speech and press has all, but reversed direction.

Yahoo’s Most Searched List

Yahoo released its 2010 most searched list this past week and surprise, surprise a tragic/disastrous story leads the list. The BP spill that occurred in April leads the way. But this is also the first time(according to yahoo) that a news story has taken the number 1 spot. To me this is actually good news. The people actually used the internet to search a relevant news story instead of some irrelevant celebrity news/rumors(though celebrities still dominate the list). 

TSA going overboard?

The TSA are essentially breaking the fourth amendment. They use the term “random” searches, but that’s only to justify the pat downs and the screenings. The new rules are very intrusive. Sure the screenings and pat downs are unjustified, but the news media and others are really blowing everything out of proportion. It makes the holiday fliers just a bit more anxious.

I recently left for New York City for thanksgiving and I was sort of freaked out by the procedures that I’ve seen mentioned on TV. Shortly after arriving at LAX I was expecting a full strip search. As I approached the security checkpoint, I preemptively took my belt off in anticipation of the search. I closed my eyes and go through security. Just like that I was done with it. No pat down, cavity search, or screenings. I was fooled by the news outlets and angry travelers.

Ok maybe I’m not the profile that the TSA are targeting, but still the whole issue is blown out of proportion. The TSA are only doing this to better protect the fliers, but in the process they violate the fourth amendment. Would you rather be safe, but violated, or be in potential danger, but less intruded upon?

A woman leads.

Rachel Nicols a reporter for ESPN usually a field report led a panel full of men during NFL primetime in the past month. This was a huge surprise for me and my friends. We actually laughed at this. Most, if not all of the ESPN shows are led by men, and the women are usually relegated to field reporting. I maybe haven’t been desensitized from this, but this was extremely awkward to me. A woman leading a panel of men in a show about football!

A nice change of pace indeed, but still I don’t think I was ready for that. She was certainly capable of analyzing the NFL. Woman lead anchors are few and far between, but times are definitely changing. Women are more career oriented than before. ESPN took a chance to have Rachel lead the way. Did they make the right call? I don’t know but they had nothing to lose. Rachel is a well respected sports journalist and she proved her self further by leading NFL primetime.

Of course women journalist in sports are still objectified. Just ask Erin Andrews or Inez Sainz. Both basically serve as eye candy for the viewers. Woman journalist have definitely tried to break the mold, but I guess some still use their sex appeal to get ratings and whatnot. And in other news the world is round!

When youtube works

Youtube is big. People can use it to gain fame or infamy. But people can also use to ask for help. Media has succumb to the power of Youtube. Users control the content the rises to the top. For example, that video above what a heart warming story, but without Youtube it wouldn’t have been possible to help the child.

We’re in an A.D.D. induced age. No one has the attention span or time to watch everything the media throws at us. That’s why Youtube and any on demand service will be the future of media. No one reads newspapers or pays attention to the local news. The best way to get news across right now is the internet.

With that in mind users can really control what the whole world see’s. That can either be good or bad, but its what we’re heading to. But after seeing videos like the one posted I have a faith that people will look to their altruistic side and help each other out.

Meg Whitman

I’m so glad that Meg Whitman didn’t win! California is in deep debt and after a quick analysis of Meg Whitman’s campaign trail it’s clear that she can’t run California. She spent an unprecedented $140 million on her campaign and didn’t win! She clearly couldn’t budget her campaign. Her campaign spending is reminiscent of Nyc mayor, Michael Bloomberg. Except that Bloomberg actually won, by a slimmest of margin, but still won.

If Meg Whitman won I think I would actually believe in the 2012 myth. Okay maybe I’m too harsh, but I just don’t think she can handle the $12 billion dollar deficit that California is in. I think her faith was sealed when it was discovered that she employed an illegal alien. She paid so much for ads to paint a dark picture for her opponents, but in the end all she had to do was look in the mirror.

I get it politics is a dirty game, and usually the person with the most money will win because they can pay for ad space. For some the only way they know about candidates is through ads. That’s why media coverage is so vital for candidates, but instead she grabbed the wrong media attention with her spending and the employment of an illegal alien. I guess “true blue” California wouldn’t cross over to the dark side and I, for one am glad.

Wikileaks

Wikileaks just unearthed seceret Iraq War documents last week. Citing “truth” as its motivation for releasing the docs. The documents sheds a light on military abuses and civilian casualties during the Iraq War. It is just more evidence on the brutality of war whether its published or not.

Is it treason for these documents to be published? I don’t know but one thing it does is open the public’s eye on the abuses of power the military uses to get what they want. The leaks represent a violation of human rights. All this shows is that the arm chair generals control the war. All of this is really no surprise I think we all have known these types of abuses occur during war, its just a bleak subject matter that tends to be avoided because no one wants to see our troops deploying the type of brutality that is mentioned. Wikileaks is simply outing the military for their unjust treatment of the enemy and if you want truth well you got it right there.

France labor strikes

I don’t get what the big deal with the labor strike in France. Raising the retirement age by a year or two does not seem like a big deal. Seeing as how the economy around the world is crumbling I would think they would learn a thing or two. Rioting and essentially stopping the economy won’t help your cause.

If anything they should learn from our mistake. They should take precaution so their economy won’t crumble like ours. 1 or 2 years to get the full pension plan does not sound terrible, but the uproar is more than is warranted. Vandalizing and violence won’t get anywhere. It just garners negative attention.

It would be more tolerable if they just stopped working I have no qualms with that, but burning a middle school is crazy. The french government and it’s people need to patch this up quickly or it can really turn ugly. The government needs to appease its people and the people need to support its government.

FBI gets caught tracking a student

The FBI has been caught red handed with tracking Yasir Afifi. Yasir is a U.S. born citizen that has nothing to merit the investigation. Yasir is the son of a Islamic-American community leader who died a year ago in Egypt. The FBI tracking random people is a bit concerning to our right as human beings.

Record Breaking Ad Campaigns

Midterm elections time! That means useless tv ads displaying the dirty side of their opponents. And according to this the spending this year will be enormous. Do these ads really affect how you vote? If you’re neutral on a candidate will it sway you? For me personally these ads won’t work just because I don’t watch tv… but still ads that paints a dark picture on their opponents past or present are tasteless.

I would put these ads in the same category as those gossip websites and magazines. Nothing but filth. If you want to know about a certain issue or proposition why not just read about it? And if you’re a registered voter you get all that stuff in the mail anyway. Is it that hard to read or do people just choose the easy way out?

With so much money spent on campaign ads no wonder the US is in a recession. There are far greater needs for that sort of money than television ads. I guess it’s okay for the homeless to stay homeless as long as the public knows what Meg Whitman did before she was in the public eye.