LAST BLOG!!!!!!!

Doing blogs was definitely an interesting way to do assignments this semester. I learned a lot from doing blogs because before hand I really knew nothing much about them. As for my favorite topics there were several. First I loved talking about all the specific cases we did and how the media could shape and influence people on them. Such as the Scopes Monkey Trail, the Mendez Brothers, Peterson and etc. It was very interesting to me the power the media has that I never realized. I also liked the discussion and readings on Satanism and the Satanic Day Cares. It was insane some of the rituals that were mentioned and just mind jogging. Those were some of my favorite discussions but again I really liked them all. It is hard to pick one I didn't like but if I had to I would have to say it was the discussion on the Disney movies where they were saying the movies were racist and sexist. To me this is ridiculous. I think this is people with nothing better to do than whine and complain about nothing. Just people wanting to make a fuss. THESE ARE JUST KIDS MOVIES! Like Dr. Castle said her dad did he didn't agree with the whole Disney thing so he just kept his child away. He didn't go out publicly bashing it. Other people should do the same, if you don't like it than don't watch it and don't ruin it for the rest. This whole topic blew me away. A topic I would like to see expanded is how the media can shape how we see certain ethnic groups. Such as making every muslim a terrorist. This is a touchly subject because on the one hand its not really fair to think of all muslims as terrorist, but on the other they have been a majority and doesn't the government need to make us aware to protect their citizens? I think this is something worth discussing more. Other than that I thought everything was covered sufficiently. Now if I were to have a class such as ours I would think I would focus it on every media outlet like we did. Whether its radio, movies, tv, newspapers, magazines, and etc. To show how the media can really influence justice. I would picture it like our class and the way we did it. I guess I would also used a lot of big cases and see how the media greatly influenced them in one way or another. Thats it for the last blog, this was an interesting way to do assignments but I must say im glad its done!

Bad Boys 2

 One of my all time favorite movies is Bad Boys 2. I think it is hilarious and action packed. In this movie and the first Bad Boys there is a lot of justice issues present. However, I believe that in the second movie is focused around drug smuggling and money laundering. The movie takes place in Miami and South Beach, Florida, as well as some surrounding areas. The main boss in this drug ring is Cuban and that is where he is smuggling his drugs and money to and from. The drug he is running is Ecstasy. This Cuban mobster smuggles the drugs and money in and out of the country by using a funeral home and service. He hides the drugs and money in the coffins and in the dead human bodies. The two main law enforcement officers on this case have made their goal to dismantle this drug ring. This is no easy task for the officers, the drug ring is tremendously well thought out and has a lot of people involved to help keep it under radar. Think how you want to but to me this way of smuggling drugs and money is extremely interesting to me. If you haven't seen this money I highly recommend it. It has everything you could think of in it and is hands down at the top of my list.

Here is the movie trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzO1IOjhMBY

This is a funny scene-WATCH THIS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4pIJtt48g4

Eminem ft. Rihanna-Love The Way You Lie

Right away when I read this assignment the first thing I thought of were songs by one of my all time favorite artist, Eminem. Most of his songs are about all kinds of justice issues, but one particular stood out more than all the others. This song is off his newest album Recovery, its with Rihanna and called Love The Way You Lie. It has to do domestic violence/abuse. Its lyrics are as follows:

Just gonna stand there
And watch me burn
But that's alright
Because I like
The way it hurts
Just gonna stand there
And hear me cry
But that's alright
Because I love
The way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

I can't tell you what it really is
I can only tell you what it feels like
And right now there's a steel knife
In my windpipe
I can't breathe
But I still fight
While I can fight
As long as the wrong feels right
It's like I'm in flight
High of a love
Drunk from the hate
It's like I'm huffing paint
And I love it the more that I suffer
I sufficate
And right before im about to drown
She resuscitates me
She fucking hates me
And I love it
Wait
Where you going
I'm leaving you
No you ain't
Come back
We're running right back
Here we go again
It's so insane
Cause when it's going good
It's going great
I'm Superman
With the wind in his bag
She's Lois Lane
But when it's bad
It's awful
I feel so ashamed
I snap
Who's that dude
I don't even know his name
I laid hands on her
I'll never stoop so low again
I guess I don't know my own strength

Just gonna stand there
And watch me burn
But that's alright
Because I like
The way it hurts
Just gonna stand there
And hear me cry
But that's alright
Because I love
The way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

You ever love somebody so much
You can barely breathe
When you're with them
You meet
And neither one of you
Even know what hit 'em
Got that warm fuzzy feeling
Yeah them chills
Used to get 'em
Now you're getting fucking sick
Of looking at 'em
You swore you've never hit 'em
Never do nothing to hurt 'em
Now you're in each other's face
Spewing venom
And these words
When you spit 'em
You push
Pull each other's hair
Scratch, claw, bit 'em
Throw 'em down
Pin 'em
So lost in the moments
When you're in 'em
It's the rage that took over
It controls you both
So they say it's best
To go your separate ways
Guess that they don't know ya
Cause today
That was yesterday
Yesterday is over
It's a different day
Sound like broken records
Playin' over
But you promised her
Next time you'll show restraint
You don't get another chance
Life is no Nintendo game
But you lied again
Now you get to watch her leave
Out the window
Guess that's why they call it window pane

Just gonna stand there
And watch me burn
But that's alright
Because I like
The way it hurts
Just gonna stand there
And hear me cry
But that's alright
Because I love
The way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

Now I know we said things
Did things
That we didn't mean
And we fall back
Into the same patterns
Same routine
But your temper's just as bad
As mine is
You're the same as me
But when it comes to love
You're just as blinded
Baby please come back
It wasn't you
Baby it was me
Maybe our relationship
Isn't as crazy as it seems
Maybe that's what happens
When a tornado meets a volcano
All I know is
I love you too much
To walk away though
Come inside
Pick up your bags off the sidewalk
Don't you hear sincerity
In my voice when I talk
Told you this is my fault
Look me in the eyeball
Next time I'm pissed
I'll aim my fist
At the dry wall
Next time
There will be no next time
I apologize
Even though I know it's lies
I'm tired of the games
I just want her back
I know I'm a liar
If she ever tries to fucking leave again
I'mma tie her to the bed
And set the house on fire

Just gonna stand there
And watch me burn
But that's alright
Because I like
The way it hurts
Just gonna stand there
And hear me cry
But that's alright
Because I love
The way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

 The reason I picked this song is one because I believe it is a great music video and very powerful. Two the fact that Rihanna sings in it I believe is also powerful after the domestic abuse she suffered in the hands of Chris Brown. Finally I think this song holds a lot of truth in it about domestic violence. In the lyrics you can see where after a fights the man says he is sorry and that it will never happen again. The woman wants to leave but can't, she becomes trapped and never gets out. Hearing the words from him sounds great, but in reality she knows its a lie and it is just a vicious cycle that the couple lives in. I feel that this is a huge problem in our society woman get in extremely abusive relationships and they become trapped in them. They realized its a bad situation, and no matter who tries to reach out to help more often than not it doesn't help until something terribly bad happens. By then it is very possible it's too late. Watch the video below and listen to the lyrics and hopefully you too will see how this song reveals in a powerful way how abusive/violent domestic relationships occur in our society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U&ob=av3e

Suicide

I thought this presentation brought a lot of attention to me about suicide. To be honest it something that I never really ever thought about. To me, the most important thing of the whole presentation was all the statistics and facts she gave us on suicide. Several stood out to me, such as 80% of people think about suicide at one point in their lifetime. This clearly shows that this is something that crosses majority of people's minds and is a topic people should be aware of and know about. Also I found it amazing that at any given time 5% of people are considering suicide. Finally, the fact that our age group 18-25 has the most suicides out of any other group. With all these facts I find it extremely important that we all be conscious of suicides and everything that comes along with it. I think we should all know how to spot a suicidal person, and how to respond to it and what to do. Her presentation had a lot of helpful information in all of these areas. Overall I thought it was a great presentation on something we should all know and acknowledge as something that is prevalent in our societies. However, do to the fact that is was so full with information it got to be a little much. At the same time this is a subject that should to covered to the fullest so I guess there is just no way to shorten or sweeten it. Besides this is information that will never go bad and you never know maybe some day one of us will be able to put it to use. Hopefully not on ourselves but instead to help someone else in a time of need.

Sex Offenders on Halloween

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-10-30/news/os-halloween-sex-offenders-20101029_1_offenders-state-probation-officers-law-enforcement

 I am sure most people would think sex offenders (especially pedophiles and people of that status) go crazy on the night of Halloween. All these little kids running around in costumes asking for candy probably drives them crazy. As sick and disgusting as this is in reality it is a fact and happens. This article I found is about what Florida police officials are doing to keep sex offenders under wrap during this fun night for young children. The article starts by saying that this year's trick-or-treaters will have some company this Halloween. As a state-wide crackdown Florida police forces are going to be going door to door to register sex offenders houses making sure they are following their specific rules for this given night. Among the rules are: sex offenders are prohibited from passing out candy, decorating their homes or even having their porch lights on, and they are not even allowed to open their doors to children. In the article it is stated that if anything of these rules are violated the sex offender will be arrested immediately on the spot. The author states that police will be visible and present in neighborhoods. There is said to be over 55,000 registered sexual predators and offenders in the state of Florida. This operation is targeting around 10,000 of them especially. These 10,000 are the ones who are still under supervision of the state. They advise parents to look up registered offenders and predators in their local areas and be aware. Police will keep their eye on all the registered houses in their specific zones of patrol, but in the end it comes down to responsible parents watching after their kids. I believe that this is necessary actions that need to be taken on this holiday given that children are out everywhere. It would be a pedophiles field day otherwise. So I am glad that Florida police are making this effort. By doing this hopefully they stop something that may have happened previously.

Beyond Sorry

 Again this week I went to the Wednesday night movie were we watched the documentary of "Beyond Sorry." This movie took place an a extremely rural area in Australia. You could think of these people almost as like Native Americans here in the United States. One day a white man came to their villages and acted as though he was asking the adults about something. When in reality he was counting all the children. He later returned with other men and took all the children from these villages. Once taken these children were sent away and basically had their previous culture literally beaten out of them. Every single piece of their culture from the past they were forced to forget. Finally, decades later these children that were taken wanted to come back home. I want to say it was about 43 years later. Not all of the children did because it was their forgotten past and they had their own families now. However the ones that did had an emotional ride in front of them. When they returned they were not welcomed back with open arms. Their real blood mothers were told that all their children were dead, and in this particular culture mothers and families are forbidden to talk about deceased children. So the families were in shock and denial. However, they families would finally come along but it was not an easy process. This documentary features a group of children from this awful time period and situation. Mainly it focuses on this one woman Zita and her story. She wanted to actually come back and embrace her past family and culture. It really shows the struggles she went through in being accepted back in. In the end she was able to gain relationships back and even moved back into her original homeland with her husband, even though she already had a family of her own. During the discussion we talked about and compared how here in the United States we had the same events happen with the Native Americans. The Native Americans children were taken and had their culture beat out of them until they had completely forgotten. Over all this was a very interesting documentary. 

In the Wake of the Bounty

 Instead of the actual Blog Assignment I am writing about the film I watched last Wednesday called, "In the Wake of the Bounty." It was an interesting story and I had a hard time following at points but I will try to summarize the best I can. I may also butcher some spelling but I will try. Basically the "Bounty" is a ship that was sailing to Tahiti. The captain of the ship was very ruthless and not liked. Once the ship reached Tahiti they docked for a few days their with a local tribe. While there the crew fell in love with the girls on the island. So when they left the crew was extremely sad leaving the girls behind. However, shortly after leaving the angry sailors led by Fletcher Christian had a mutiny and rose up against the hated captain and overthrew him. The crew now running the ship returned to Tahiti where some stayed and some continued on with Christian until they reached an island south of Tahiti called Pictarn Island. They stayed on Pictarn Island from there on. This was the interesting part. The movie had actual documentary footage from 1933 on Pictarn Island. They even had descendants of the crew members from the Bounty in the footage. They describe the island as like an Utopia, where things were almost perfect. One day a steamer boat comes dropping more people off onto the island. Here on the island people shared everything from work, to chores, and food in order to survive. Kids only attended school for 2 hours before breakfast, and played the rest of the day. The society was a strong believer in being in good shape and healthy. Boats were a very important part of the culture. The society had goats and horses for various reasons. They also had marriage in their culture. The movie ends with a newborn baby becoming ill and slowly dying away. They need help from an outside ship and begin calling. Unfortunately, that ship never arrives. With the actual footage from the island this was an compelling movie to watch from its time. I also learned how these people were able to start their own society and were able to uphold it on their beliefs.

Copycat "The Goonies"

 When I was way younger my friends and I watched the movie, "The Goonies." After, we all fell in love with this movie. I cannot even try to tell you how many times we watched it. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, a quick over view is that these groups of friends and their families are about to get evicted from their houses for an expansion of a nearby country club because they do not have enough money to stay. The kids take matters into their own hands when they find a Spanish treasure map in the attic. They follow the map through these caves to a old hidden pirate ship of One-Eyed Willie. Of course along the way there is all kinds of events, including the whole time they are being chased by the Fratellis, which was a criminal family. Basically that's the movie, it may seem bad but still to this day I love it and it one of my favorites. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to ASAP! Finally one day after the probably 50th time watching the movie my friends and I come to a conclusion that if we follow the creek behind all of our houses we too we find a hidden treasure. No we weren't in desperate need of money like the Goonies but we wanted to treasure hunt. Keep in mind we are very young and our imaginations are on high. So we embrace on this journey. We left early in the morning, and stayed out all day long until after night fall, when we were found by our frantic parents miles away. Needless to say we all got grounded for quite some time because we told no one of our plans, and never checked in. Hiking that creek for miles we never reached a treasure, but had a blast doing it and would do it again looking back. We got our inspiration from the movie because they made treasure hunting look like an awesome time with your friends. My friends and I definitely had the time of our lives, even though we paid for it later. If only back then we as kids had cell phones like we do now this all could of been avoided, we could of called and checked in.

Homecoming Tailgate and Game

http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/JMU_Homecoming_Wraps_Up_105115169.html

 I found this article on the WHSV website for local Harrisonburg news. Basically the article is about increased security at JMU during tailgates and football games. However, as we all know they have really boosted policing in every aspect all thanks to the Spring Fest incident. In the article they have quotes from students talking about the beefed up policing and in result making for calmer crowds. I attended the game and I too could visually notice that there was more security located throughout the tailgates and stadium. Honestly, after last years events I can't say I blame the school for the increased security, but how long will it last? After all, this increased police staff at events is not free. These cops are not volunteering for these events. So what will grow in price for the community or students? Will tuition continue to go up or will taxes around the area? Either way someone will not be happy, but I do not see this increased staff lasting but for so long. Once they believe the point is made or the result that authorities and the university are looking for is reached I believe this extra help will back off. Right now law enforcement along with the university is just flexing their muscle showing they can control the situation. I believe it gets better every weekend and before long will be back to normal.

(Mis)Information

First off, I really like this article we had to run for the blog. I would like to see the "Department of Information" put into place, whether it works or not I do believe something should be done. Our country needs something of the sorts, and I think the author is on to a great start with his ideas. Even if it needs some work, just tweek it here and there, I really liked it. I also thought there was a lot of truth and compelling arguments to the piece. As far as all these concepts go such as the Bandwagon effect, confirmation bias, base rate fallacy, and cognitive dissonance, I believe that in most scenarios there are more than one of these concepts influencing someone at a time. For an example of this in my life the one main instance I can think of was when I was a sophomore in high school. In class one day over the intercom someone said, "code blue, code blue." That was it, nothing more. My teacher went and cut off the lights, locked the door, and demanded all of us to get on the floor under our desks. Everyone one was pretty uneasy because the whole school did this and was completely dark. All you could see through the windows of the room leading to the hallways were cops walking around with flash lights, guns drawn, and the k9 dogs. Right away rumors started. The one I held on to was that there was a shoot out across the street and the gun man ran into our school. I believed this one so strongly because I heard it so many times, hence the Bandwagon effect. However, then I started only listening or looking for information that said what I believed to be correct, which you could say was confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance. Come to find out some one had used the pay phone in our school and called the police saying they were gonna blow up the school, shoot and kill as many as possible. So my belief which I would have fought for, in the end, was completely wrong. Overall, I think that when people start to believe a certain piece of information that it may begin because of one of these concepts, but in the end it involves several of the concepts.

Crazy Marijuana Story

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/08/colorado.dad.pot.arrest/index.html

 This story first caught my attention because the title reads, "Father arrested for allegedly smoking marijuana with young daughters." Right away I started reading and chose this article for my blog. Basically in Colorado Jack Duke, a 27 year old father, was arrested for smoking marijuana with his 6 and 7 year old daughters. If that is not odd enough for 6 and 7 year olds to be smoking marijuana, one of the daughters also informed police that her father smokes marijuana in front of her and blows smoke into her face when she doesn't feel well. Both of these two young girls continue to go on and describe in such detail to authorities about smoking marijuana that the authorities then stated they know more about the topic than most adults. Even better, one daughter drew pictures of smoking with her father and commented saying she did not like smoking the seeds. When searching the residence police found a pipe, several bongs, a digital scale, and a small amount of the substance. The father faces charges of marijuana possession, distributing marijuana to a minor, and child abuse. The chilldren have been removed to the custody of the grandparents for now. Of course these kids could be making this all up, because as we all know there has been many cases where children with their creative minds and imaginary thoughts have come up with bizzar stories. None the less I personally thought this was a crazy story to find and share with everyone.

Shenandoah Hate Crime Trial

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/04/pennsylvania.immigrant.beating.death/index.html?iref=allsearch

This crime is about two young men who beat an illegal Mexican immigrant to death while yelling racial slurs over a year ago. It was said that Brandon Piekarsky(age 18) and Derrick Donchak(age 20) starting figthing with Luis Ramirez(age 25) after having some drinks in the small, rural mining town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. The two men were convicted of misdemeanor simple assault, but acquitted of felony counts including aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and hindering apprehension. Jurors found Piekarsky not guilty of third-degree murder. Prosecutors alleged he delivered a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after Ramirez was knocked to the ground in the alcohol-fueled brawl on a residential Shenandoah street. After last year's trial, the two were sentenced to up to 23 months in the county jail. Now if convicted on the federal hate crime charges, Donchak and Piekarsky face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Donchak also faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of obstruction, and an additional five years for conspiring to obstruct justice.

This is where I believe the media takes over with the way they show the story. Clearly two men beat another man to death, so everyone knows there should be a pretty harsh punishment somewhere down the line. However, the two men have only so far been charged with 23 months in county jail. The writer of the story states that this is a rural town and the jury was made of all "whites," hinting that this was a slanted jury. The author mentions many times throughout the piece that this is a rural area, which I believe is getting their point across. The article also states this is not the first time Piekarsky and Donchak to have physically confronted Ramirez, again hinting that this happened before yet they got off pretty easy in their first trial. Finally, ending the article the writers states, "A medical examiner ruled Ramirez died from blunt-force trauma to the head, according to the indictment." I believe this is the best part of the whole story because here the author is calling out the slanted jury basically saying how can you say not guilt from the charge mentioned earlier when you have this evidence right infront of you? I definitely do not think this is for entertainment, do to the verdict of the first trial this case in now getting national attention. Hopefully justice will be served in the new trial thats about to begin.

Suspected U.S. Missile Attack

 I found this one article on all of the three websites CNN, FOX, and MSNBC. This article is about suspected U.S. drone missile attacks that killed seven people in northwest region of Pakistan. The story was basically breaking down the missile attacks saying that three missiles were fired from a drone at a house in Lwara Mandi village in Datta Khel, killing three suspected militants. Then minutes later, a drone fired two missiles at a vehicle in the same area, killing four suspected militants. The identities of the seven people killed were not known. However, the article states most of this month's strikes have targeted forces led by Jalaluddin Haqqani. Also written is that the U.S. wanted the Pakistani military to invade the village but they would not pursue. This month has had the most missile strikes since the strikes began in 2004.

 This article seems to just be trying to get the information out to the public. It really is just filling people in on what has been happening. The most interesting point I saw was that FOX and MSNBC both used the same exact article written by the Associated Press. They were identical, word for word. The CNN article says that only three people were killed. With that being said though they seemed to only account for three missiles being fired where the other article states that five were fired. So CNN didn't cover the story in as much detail as FOX and MSNBC. I do think that this is a story that should be reported to the public in the U.S. because I believe citizens should know and be up to date with what is happening in the war over seas. Overall, I still found it most interesting that FOX and MSNBC both use the same article, I guess due to the fact that I have never seem this, it baffles me the most.



http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/26/suspected-missile-attacks-kill-people-nw-pakistan-say-intelligence-officials/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39367595
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/26/pakistan.suspected.drone/index.html?iref=allsearch

11 Year Old Murderer?

I found this case on the CNN.com website. This article caught my attention immediately when I read, "11 year old baby sitter charged in death of 2 year old." The 11 year old's name was not given, but the 2 year old in which she is charged with the death of is Zyda White. The baby sitter was watching after Zyda Saturday night while Zyda's mother, Ashlea Collier, went out for a bit. The baby sitter is the daughter of one of Ashlea's co-workers. When Ashlea returned to pick up her daughter late Saurday night Zyda's eyes were reportedly wide open. Right away the baby sitter's mother started CPR. The 11 year old baby sitter then told the mothers that Zyda had fallen out of bed, and that she put her back in bed and gave her some apple juice. Zyda was rushed to Scottish Rite Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy indicated she suffered blunt-force trauma to her head, torso, and buttocks. The 11 year old baby sitter was then taken into custody and charged as of right now with felony murder and cruelty to children. The Sandy Springs Police are conducting interviews and examining the evidence from the autopsy. It is still unclear whether the case will be handled by juvenile authorities. This case is an interesting one. While yes, the injuries Zyda suffered are not likely to have happened from just falling out of a bed, but at the same time it's not impossible. However, even with that being said, the article did not give any background on the 11 year old, so without that information you can not say whether this child is capable of such acts of cruelty to Zyda. In my opinion, due to how quickly the Sandy Springs Police have taken the 11 year old baby sitter in they must know and have some information that is not provided in this article, so I would say the child is guilty. Finally, all the questions come in about can a 11 year old really be charge with such crimes? Does a child know what their actions cause in these situations? Or should an 11 year old even be baby sitting a 2 year old? There are tons of questions to answer with this crime. Very interesting case.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/21/georgia.baby.sitter/index.html

Serial Murder Story

 The serial murder article I found takes place in Tanjung Sepat, Malaysia. It's about two lawyer brothers who were arrested as suspects in a case involving the murder of a cosmetics millionaire, however now they are believed to be serial killers with up the eight victims. The article tends to give more information on the case, but it does give a little background on the brothers. It states that the brothers have had run-ins with legal authorities, and even stating that the brothers were recently disbarred in last November. The article also provides quotes from people who knew the brothers, where they basically say that the brothers were seen locally as pillars of the community and helped those who needed assistance financially and from authorities. A lot of the local people are in shock by their brutality. The brothers were first suspects in the crime of the disappearance of the cosmetics millionaire, her driver, her lawyer, and her bank officer. These four people went missing after going to discuss a land deal with the accused brothers. Later, they found the murder bodies in a river, they had been burned and the ashes thrown in the water. Due to the similarities in this case to other missing persons cases, they are prime suspects in these cases as well, which involves four more people. It seems that this case is being handled by the local police officials in this part of Malaysia.

 I think this is a very interesting case due to how people see these two brothers as prominent members of society. Although, you hear about cases like this too often. Where there are people who everyone sees as good standing citizens yet secretly they are mass murders, rapist, and worse. There was no statistics of serial murders or murderers, but I feel that since the brothers are still in the process of being convicted they didn't get too deep into that. Clearly, from all the signs stated in the article it is a matter of time before the brothers are announced as serial murderers.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gUmII52qQWRG7NU6oJ7gFLSIIATQ

US-Iraq Raid in Fallujah

The breaking news that I found on three different news websites was about the joint US-Iraqi military operation that took place today(Wednesday, Sept. 15) in Fallujah. The three news websites are CNN.com, gulfnews.com, and news.yahoo.com. For the most part all of the stories were basically the same. All three said that now since Sept. 1, U.S. troops are now in an "advise-and-assist role". This meaning that our military is not planning these operations, however, we are helping the Iraq military in their operations. The sites also acknowledged that this village was said to house rebel insurgents and Al-Qaida linked militants, which was the reason for the raid. Also, the deadly shooting broke out from the US-Iraqi troops in response to the members of the village fighting back against the raid. This is where the news sites very from one another. The one main difference between these sites is the estimated death toll of this firefight. CNN.com writes that seven people were killed and a woman was wounded on this early Wednesday morning. Gulfnews.com states that at least seven civilians and two Iraqi soldiers were killed during the shootout, totaling nine. Yahoo.com writes that at least six people were killed. Clearly there is a bit of a discrepancy in the death toll. Now, as to which one is correct I do not know. I looked on a few other sites and they all were a bit different, but they consistently hovered around those three numbers, and a couple at seven. All three numbers could be right given on the time when the news came out. For example, if Yahoo got there news first, may be at that time only six were confirmed dead, then CNN got theirs second when the seventh had died, and finally Gulfnews getting the news last when nine had passed. That can be a stretch(and probably is), but you never know. Over time I am sure they will get to the exact number, until then I don't think anyone but actual witnesses will know, if even them.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/15/iraq.falluja.unrest/index.html
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iraq/joint-us-iraq-raid-kills-nine-in-fallujah-1.682379
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100915/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

MADD

I chose to use the site http://www.madd.org/, which is for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. This website is for activism, victim services, and education, as stated on the main page of MADD. It is a very informational site as well. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers is just as it sounds, its basically a stand against drunk driving and underage drinking. The main webpage is filled with all kinds of links including laws, statistics, law enforcement, media center, underage drinking, victim services, and way to many more to list. All these links in some way or another have to do with dunk driving and underage drinking. I had never been to this site before doing this assignment. I was very surprised to go through all the different links and see all the information and statistics. It was definitely an eye opener. Drunk driving is something I think our society should take a stand against. Not only does it put the lives of the drunk drivers in jepopardy, but it also endangers everyone around them. To me this an extremely serious crime and one of the most dangerous. Drunk driving occurs all the time and I am pretty sure most people would say that at some point they have drove while under the influence of alcohol. This is a very preventable crime and I cannot say enough to how informational and important this MADD organization and website is in our society to try to prevent it. This organization has made huge strides in fighting for their cause and I know they will continue to do so. Drunk driving is a horrible act but we all know it will continue to happen, the only hope is that organizations such as MADD and people in our areas continue to try to put a stop it with the help of law enforcement.

This is a MADD comercial I found that carries a strong message. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qL6UAlBuUU

Media Article

http://www.theonion.com/articles/media-criticized-for-biased-hometown-sports-report,962/

In this article the writers are criticizing the American media for severely biased local sports coverage. They write that local sports media act as though their athletic teams are the ultimate best, when in reality only one team can be the best every year. Basically, local sports media put their teams on a throne, and do nothing but bash and put down the other teams. The writers also say that the local media will up-play their teams victories and down-play the loses. The writers overall concern is that with sports media being this biased, how long until all of the news is this way?

I completely agree with the writers of this article. I mean after all who can honestly say that this isn't true? That local sports media isn't biased. So in that aspect they are 100% correct. On the other hand, I feel as though local media in a way needs to be biased. Sports are a huge part now days in the American life and society. A lot of people are huge sports fanatics and support their teams to the extreme. Also most of these extreme fans are local to their teams, which means they probably see the local sport news. No sports fan wants to turn on the TV and see their local news bashing their team, or even seeing the teams as even, they think of their team as superior. With a society where sports have such an impact, if the local news didn't act as though they support/favor their local teams the news station would more than likely not have as high of ratings or followers. You could even consider sports fans like a family, they have the same passion. News stations want to make people feel as though they are apart of them so they tune in everyday. Favoring the local sport teams is just one way to do that.

No, I do not think this bias will continue into the regular news. I think this is just sports and will stay that way. Sports are about competition anyway, so I see this as just natural. The way to fix this is to just not be as biased in local sports news, but who would wanna watch that and where's the fun in that?

Media Fast(Saturday, Sep.4)

Saturday seemed to be the best day to try to attempt a media fast. I chose this day for several reasons. The first and main reason was because I knew I would be tailgating for most of the day, and I thought that would keep me away from a lot. The second reason was because its a weekend day, so I wouldn't have to really worry about emails and stuff like that, like I would during the week when classes are in session. This was actually a lot harder than I thought it was gonna be.

I kept myself pretty busy but in the little spare time I would have, I found myself trying to cut on the TV. As I said I knew most of the day I would be tailgating, hanging out with friends, and playing games, but even with that there is more spare time than I would have thought. Still I gave it my best shot. However, I did cheat while tailgating because the whole time we had music playing, and I would use my phone from time to time. I tried to stay true, but music was a necessity for the day.

On the other hand, it was very weird having this media fast. Everyday I stay up to date on sport's scores, stats, and games. With this fast I felt as though I was out of the loop all day, like I had no clue what was going on in the world. It was a very awkward feeling, and I did not like it. I also felt this way in regards to just the regular news as well.

Overall, this media fast was quite an experience. It was very strange not doing and using some parts of media that I am use to using everyday without thinking. On the same note, it was also nice not being glued to a TV, cell phone, computer, or ps3. It ended up being a fun day with no regrets!

Media Log(Wednesday, Sep. 1)

I got up at about 7:30, and watched and listened to Sportscenter the whole time while I ate and got ready.

After class I went to the ECL computer lab from about 10:15 till 12:10, in there I was on a computer using websites such as pandora radio, facebook, espn, youtube, email, and really just surfing the web for any other website that came to mind when I wasn't doing work(haha its a lot of time to kill).

Then at about 4:15 I was back at home, I played an online game of NCAA 11(college football) on my ps3, where I got destroyed, so I cut it off.

From 5:30 till 7 I just laid around watching TV.

At 8:30 to 10:15 I was at the gym and listening to music.

Getting back home I watched a little bit of TV while I ate a snack, then homework and bed.

Also throughout the day I am on my cell phone, whether its texting, making calls, emails, or various apps I have.

The media fast will be interesting....