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....