Sports and the real world

Roger Federer has finally done it. He has won 16 grand slam titles. After beating Andy Murray in the Australian open, Roger has reached yet another stop on his glorious rise to the top. (photo found here) We, here at Extra! Extra! applaud you Roger. Even if you may be a tidbit pretentious.

In other news there has been a big controversy around the NFL's copyright on the words: "Who dat". This phrase that apparently originated in New Orleans has even had some politicians up in arms. Louisiana Senator David Vitter has challenged the NFL's patent by printing t-shirts with "Who dat".

EVERYONE PANIC, FIRST CLASS WILL BE A THING OF THE PAST. The economic recession has affected everyone, even those lucky birds flying first class. I mean seriously, even the clowns are sad. (Picture found here)

Believe it or not, even clowns are having a tough time staying happy. The shortage of extravagant birthday parties has led to a decreased demand for clown services. That's some pretty sad stuff if you ask me (at least more so than no more 1st class).

The State of Our Union

America is going through a rough patch right now. People nationwide are showing their distress. People have been crying out at public forums, protesting, and even flying the American flag upside down. This couple has been flying their flag upside down to show their distress. In this direct quotation from the article embeded, the couple gives their reasoning, "In Section 8, Article A of the American Legion’s “code of flag etiquette,” it states that flying the flag upside down is recognized as a sign of distress, or as a threat to life or one’s personal property." (Photo from www.moveleft.org)
This may just be interesting hype that is ultimately meaningless, but this is one of many signs of a troubled America. Labels such as, "The Economy", "Health Care", and "The War" have become rich media fronts. While these problems are present and extremely important, the media seems to skim over the backstage events of the America we love. For example, I am willing to be that the Supreme Court case allowing corporations to "donate" unlimited funds to a political campaign has received significantly less attention than the late night talk show debacles. The President was right in saying that this case has opened the floodgate for political corruption. I don't want to sound like Johnny Raincloud over here but I have a bad feeling this will negatively, and (more importantly) SILENTLY, revolutionize corruption in our political system. It is clear that a candidate who is more enticing to corporate OR UNION (CAN'T FORGET THE UNIONS BECAUSE THEY HAVE SO MUCH INFLUENCE) will be funded and pressured to advance the interests of the "donor". (Photo from here) This is hogwash on all fronts and I urge the public to respond to this issue. This has nothing to do with "Republicans" or "Democrats", this actually has to do with the public and how our political power will be further diluted. If you require an authority to tell you what to do and what is wrong please listen to President Lincoln. (Photo found here)
If you dont want to hear this, here is some brain ice cream courtesy of Daily Mail.

"The incredible journey: How Baltic the mongrel drifted 20 miles out to sea on river ice and survived"

The crisis in Haiti has become a global concern as the body count climbs. More and more dead bodies are being found as the rubble that trapped so many is being removed. As this tragedy unfolds, I am disgusted to find that certain media outlets are taking advantage of such a horrific event. Rush Limbaugh was quick to jump on President Obama for reacting in order to better his political career. Fortunately Mr. Limbaugh's comments have no influence on the work going on to help Haitians. Unfortunately, as ridiculous of a personality Rush is, he has a broad fan base on radio stations because he is a crude source of entertainment. Former presidents Bush and Clinton held a press conference Sunday, dismissing Limbaugh's statements. Story here.

CNN chose to report on how IMA's CEO was trapped under a collapsed roof during the Haiti quake. Interesting. The title:

"Haiti quake survivor: Sharing hope, talk, and a Tootsie Pop"

I wonder if any native Haitians were trapped underneath the rubble. Its not news its... well I guess its news.

The man who tried to kill the pope in 1981 has been released. Now that the BBC has released his picture and name along with the article, I really wonder if he wasn't better off staying in jail. This guy is going to have some enemies.

Picture from BBC website.

WARNING CENSORED

This week one of the most powerful news tycoons met with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal about future investments in News Corp. Rupert Murdoch's office stated that the two parties might be seeking an "alliance" with each other.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alwaleed-meets-murdoch-to-discuss-alliances-2010-01-16

After reading the comments on this news story I have realized that this alliance may be able to give the middle east "better" news coverage because Prince Alwaleed might relate to the middle eastern market more than Murdoch does.

Speaking of the middle east, I found that Turkish law can censor the internet. Of course, human rights watchdog groups are calling for change because this limits people's access to information. After all, the internet is one of the loosest forms of news, giving it more independence and less of an agenda. Reuters has the full article here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60H2WJ20100118?type=technologyNews

Picture from Reuters.



Another interesting censorship story comes from our friends down under in Australia. Southern Australia has banned pictures or posters promoting "R" rated movies. This ban would require movies rated "R" to exclude pictures on the DVD case. Only the title would be visible.



Censorship has always been a hot topic, but the line between freedom of the press and acceptable use of media is still blury. The power of censorship is immense if the censored news shapes a person's outlook on the world. Think about it.

Newstime

A common thread linking news outlets this week has been President Obama's press conference about the failed Christmas day bombing. The President seems to have taken full responsibility for the security breach and is working with the National Security Council to strengthen homeland security. (Reuters) The new measures will include full body scans at airports and I'm sure the average non terrorist will be pestered more than they already are. At least someone is taking the blame and taking measures to prevent future attacks of wanna-be terrorists. I would hate to see another blame-off between the mysterious CIA and the cops at the FBI.


In sports, most of the U.S. news outlets have featured front page articles about Alabama beating Texas in the BCS Championship last night. The loss for Texas was even more devastating after star Texas quarterback Colt McCoy injured his arm on his first play. This snuffed out the dream of becoming college footballs most winning-est quarterback as Texas fell to Alabama. I felt horrible for Colt when interviewers insisted on asking him how he felt about not being able to set the record, being injured, and losing in the national championship in the space of a couple hours. Really? Take a guess.


In the scientific world, a preliminary study shows that cell phone radiation might actually be useful for something, other than killing sperm in males and apparently damaging ear tissue. On NPR, a scientist studied mice with Alzheimer's disease and subjected them to the same electromagnetic field given off by cell phones and found out that when the mice were subjected to the radiation, the rate at which they lost memory was sharply reduced and signs of memory recovery were also present. This study could help cure Alzheimer's by subjecting people diagnosed with the disease to undergo electromagnetic treatment similar to the radiation given off by a cell phone. Pretty cool stuff.

All three of these stories are pretty newsworthy and I found the scientific study especially amazing because of all the myths I've heard surrounding the waves given off by cell phones.

As far as entertainment goes I would like to show you the most entertaining clip I saw all break. Here it is, you're moment of zen.

My Media Exposure

Healthy skepticism of news outlet agendas drives and saturates my understanding of "the news". By diversifying my media sources I create an opportunity to understand current events and scholarly opinions. I watch CNN, NBC, ESPN, Czech TV1, and The Daily Show. I listen to National Public Radio a lot. I read Fark.com, Al Jazeera online, NHL.com and any newspaper that comes my way. This variety of news outlets does not only give me multiple angles on a single story, but sometimes a clearer and more complete story. When I find out about a major international story about the United States, I make sure to read foreign news outlets to complement what I read from the U.S. news corporations. Crises involving Americans are a regular occurrence in the middle east and because of distance, a language barrier, and bias the news I receive from U.S. news corporations often contrasts Al Jazeera and even European news outlets.
On a less serious note, I enjoy sports news, Fark's funny selection of real news, and even John Stewart's "fake news" on The Daily Show. These news sources are hilarious and give me a light and exciting view of the news.