POLITICS: If Mos Def were President

GOOD magazine presents... If Most Def were President



"High fives are at a all time high, I know they are."

What would you do if YOU were president?

NEWS: Veterans Day Tribute

Let us not forget what today is, because today is a day to honor the bravest Americans, the proudest Americans and the strongest Americans. An American soldier is like no other soldier. An American army is like no other army.

I have been around past and current U.S. soldiers, and I never know what to do. Never know what to say.

As a kid growing up, I didn't understand war or what it meant to be a soldier. I didn't know why my uncle was such a proud man when he tied up his boots and put on his camo uniform. I didn't know why my neighbors were concerned about their son joining the marines.

Now I understand.

To become a soldier is to become something great. When you become a soldier you sacrifice normal ways of life, you sacrifice the relationships of loved ones, you sacrifice your body, you sacrifice your mind and sometimes you sacrifice your life. Every person that becomes a soldier knows this, yet they have the strength and pride to defend this great country.

I will never know what it is like to be on the battlefield, and to be honest I don't want to. Friends die. Fear never sleeps. I will be the first to admit that I don't think I have what it takes to be a soldier.

So when a friend who is in the marines comes home, or when you see a soldier in uniform, what do you say? How can you express your thanks to a person that has more courage than you, a person that is willing to defend you and your rights, a person that is sacrificing so much while you sit at your comfortable home?

To this day, I still don't know what to say to an American soldier. The best that I've come up with is, "Thanks."

ENTERTAINMENT: The Who for your viewing pleasure

In light of the recent election, this is a perfect pick for another installment of "For Your Viewing Pleasure." Enjoy!



"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"

POLITICS: Racism in America

In J101 today, we saw iconic images of racism in America only 50 years ago. The focus was "Media spurred the civil rights movement." In a nutshell, whites were in denial of racism in the south until the media started covering it. I'd say overall the majority of people in America believe that there is little to no racism today, but are we missing something? What better test-case than the recent election?





With those two videos in mind from Ohio and Virginia, here is Barry Kay, Associate Professor Wilfrid Laurier, on his thoughts of racism in America and the elections.

NEWS: CNN goes 'Star Trek'

CNN was the choice for election coverage this year, whether it be because of Anderson Cooper's charisma or their cool technological gadgets.

CNN became famous originally for their interactive board that could zoom into states with a single touch, then could pull up elections stats for regions and then quickly back to the national picture to show which states were turning blue or red.

Viewers became fascinated during presidential debates while CNN used undecided voters to create an ongoing reaction bar while the candidates spoke.

Then they topped it all. CNN created something we haven't seen since Star Wars in 1977, an interactive hologram. Using multiple HD cameras, CNN created a live hologram picture of a person and put them in the studio. Check it out:



It serves no purpose besides the fact that it's awesome.

The hologram leaves me with one question: what's next for the 2010 and 2012 elections?

POLITICS: The Facebook reaction to the election

I was happy to hear that Obama won presidency tonight, yet I can't say the same about everyone. One aspect that our media class has focused on is the new technological advancement in media, so I'd like to share with you a collection of Facebook statuses I saw throughout the night:

"Nick is polishing his sniper rifle..."

"Ally is quiting her job, president Obama will take care of me."

"Bobby is bend over america. the terrorists are behind us.. and their pants are down. McCain was the only protection."

"Krista is so disappointed in america's bad decision. atleast when obama's change doesnt come, we can say "i told you so". ireland here i come."

"Kyle is go learn what socialism means...then change your status."

"Katie is our country is about to be a shit show."

"Maya is saying look republicans on fb with ur ignorant statuses we dealt with Bush's ish for 8 years...& now it's OUR TIME..get over yourselves OBAMA 08.'"

"Matt is OBAMA! WE DID IT!"

"Aaron has seen better days."

"Jenn is so excited for America. YES WE CAN!!"

"Sarah is soo moved. YAYY OBAMA :)"

"Eric says John McCain gave a great speech, but Obama will do America well."

"Stephen better see some damn change . . . for the good of america."

"Joey is really happy everyone is giving me some entertainment through these status updates. Keep em comin!!"

"Jaime is not looking forward to becoming a slave!"

"Dan is tentative about Obama... if he ends up touching my 401k or taxing my stock market gains, or rewarding people for being mediocre, i'll be against him."

"Caitlin is moving to australia w/nikki and catie..this country is royally screwed."

"Ashley: I love all the disappointed McCain voters. Real easy to vote for a man when you dnt have to worry about fighting his war."-Current Soldier

"Ronnie is feeling disappointed in his country."

"Alex is so happy right now that America (and OHIO!) finally decided to change from its dracionian ways of the past eight years and elected a true leader. OBAMA!!!!!"

"Amanda is not becoming a doctor thanks to universal healthcare! HOORAY OBAMA"

"Chris is oh well, it won't last long haha."

"Trevor is moving to canada cuz the american dream is over. i dont get why people wanted change and therefor elected a bunch of bullshit."

"Kiley can't believe socialism is the new democracy."

"Alicia is like all things are possible. It's official..BARACK OBAMA '08."

"David is hello socialism."

"Matt is OBAMA won. Get over it. Quit ripping on our new president. If you don't like it then you can get out."



It was a battle of words tonight when Obama was elected. I was entertained by the responses from the Facebook world, and I hope this entertained you. Incase you're wondering what my status read, here it is:

"Aaron is going to put up an election status too. Congrats Obama, go change the world!"

NEWS: Election

I voted today! So should you..

I don't have much else to say, besides the fact that I voted no on Issue 6 (I was surprised with myself, but I don't trust the guy that proposed it, who also has gone bankrupt and charged with fraud).

I'll be up all night watching the votes come in. Check out www.nytimes.com, they have a great link (Pop-up dashboard, center right of the page) to follow the states as they decide.

POLITICS: Palin Punk'd

Right before election day, Sarah Palin has reaffirmed my belief that this country needs Obama-Biden. Palin fell victim to a radio show prank when she agreed to speak to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. However, to her surprise it wasn't Sarkozy, it was the "Masked Avengers."

This is just a few things the phone conversation touched on:

"The seven-minute conversation touched on topics including politics to hunting by helicopter quoting 'Like we say in French', 'on pourrait tuer des bebe phoques aussi' [translation: We can kill baby seals also], but leaving Dick Cheney behind, as well as Palin's political future. When one of the duo suggested they saw her as President one day, she responded, 'Maybe in eight years.' During the prank, the duo identified Johnny Hallyday as Sarkozy's advisor on American relations, Stef Carse as the Prime Minister of Canada and their Les Cerveaux de l'info co-host Richard Z. Sirois as the 'prime minister' of Quebec. They also referred to the Hustler porn film 'Who's Nailin' Paylin?' as a documentary about Palin, to which the real Palin replied, 'Oh good, thank you.'"



I really hope the nation doesn't elect a politician this ignorant, a politician that thinks it's a good idea to go on SNL to counter its jokes or a politician that would have that phone conversation.

I can't wait to vote tomorrow, a vote against eight more years of stupidity.

SPORTS: Daugherty calls out Mike Brown

Who can save the Bengals?

The media...

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081102/COL03/811020446

Paul Daugherty is using his power to hopefully light a fire under Mike Brown. Someone needs to get to him and explain that the Bengals fans would love a winning team, that he should hire a GM and expand the scouting staff so that we don't waste six years of first round picks (the last successful pick was Carson...Rivers is still a question mark).

You'd be amazed by how many costumes in Athens were Bengals fans with bags over their faces.