Election Day!

Election Day is HERE! Go out and vote, people. No excuses. Your vote DOES count.

To my Iowa peeps: First Christian Church on the corner of University and 25th has voting today (registration on the spot!)

Perspectives

From blogs.babble.com

First things first: GO VOTE!

Politico has an interesting article today on the prospects and possibilities of Sarah Palin possibly picking up the GOP nomination for 2012. It is assumed that Palin, who is releasing her second book, America by Heart this month (on the 23rd), will run for president. I’ve heard numerous arguments that she won’t, but surely this non-stop campaign via her book tour for Going Rogue, her presumed book tour for America by Heart, daughter Bristol’s appearance on Dancing With the Stars, and her many speeches around the country, including Iowa, where caucuses will be held and the campaigns jumpstarted, means a run will soon be announced. I personally will be shocked if she doesn’t. Call me an old-fashioned spotlight-hater, but why would you spend that much time touring the country, enduring endless crowds and awkward questions and having to worry about every single thing you say, do, and wear because it’ll all be scrutinized by the press… if you’re NOT trying to gain something politically?

Politco’s article presents an interesting predicament though: GOPers love Sarah… but she won’t beat Obama. (Interestingly enough though, the consensus seems to be that Obama’s chances of winning reelection are pretty slim… that’s taken independently from the GOP nomination though.) Could her affiliation with the extremist tea partiers hurt her chances of getting the moderate GOP vote? Does she have any chance at all of getting general moderates (moderates between GOP and democrat, I mean) and independents to vote for her over Mr. President or any other democrat candidate? I don’t know what the conclusion is here, but there’s certainly a stir forming over Politico’s recent articles, and Palin has apparently denounced Politico as a source of “yellow journalism” in response to them. What do you guys think? I suspect presidential campaigns are going to go into full swing here after the midterm elections end this week. Yay for exciting campaign times in US history again! The beginning is always the best… at least in my opinion. This is when everything’s still up for grabs.

Arizona Immigration Law

Please read at least one of these. Inform yourself if you haven’t already:

San Francisco Chronicle: Senator Sylvia Allen (R-AZ) explains the law and its implications in her own terms

CNN: CNN Correspondent Tom Foreman writes a letter to Obama asking for alternative suggestions on how to handle the immigrant situation in border states

New York Times: lawmakers look to Federal government to respond to Arizona situation

What do you guys think? Arizona has passed new legislation that basically makes it against state law to be an illegal citizen. State officials can stop someone they suspect of being an illegal citizen (though supposedly they’re prohibited from doing so solely based on race or ethnicity). Both parties have a number of members against the legislation, though it was enacted by Arizona’s republican legislative body. I’m pretty staunchly liberal, but, as much as I hate to say it, I’m not sure I’m completely on one side or the other, though my party seems to be heavily against it. I worry about racial profiling. That’s my biggest concern here, and it seems to be the big concern for many people that are against it. I’m very against racial profiling. However, I’m also against lawbreaking and receiving benefits you don’t pay taxes for. I’m very sympathetic to the woes of immigrants–I understand that they come to America for a reason, and I am fully for making the citizenship process easier. But as it stands right now, the fact of the matter is, there’s a large population of people that doesn’t pay taxes yet is using our roads, our schools, our hospitals, our social services, etc, without paying for them. I’m so torn here on this law. I think these people deserve a chance at life the way I’ve lived it. I’ve been so lucky to live the life I’ve lived, and that’s what it’s been–pure luck and chance that I was born in this country. Some people don’t have that privilege… why should they suffer? But they are still here illegally. I have been wracking my brain for an easier solution than what Arizona has decided upon to solve the immigration problem but I can’t think of anything. What would you guys do?

 

Government to archive ALL tweets

THIS is not okay with me.

The United States government– the library of Congress specifically (it’s late, but I’m pretty sure that’s some sort of Federal governmental thing)–is archiving your twitter tweets. And MY twitter tweets. And EVERYONE’S twitter tweets. Multiple conerns on multiple levels that are majorly confusing me:

1. WHY do you care? While I believe Twitter is a ridiculously wonderful journalism tool, it’s being used largely for social purposes, and our government is seriously going to take the time to archive “I hate the world” and “GG is a slut” and all the other trash that hormonal teenage girls and boys tweet every five seconds because that’s the most awesome thing that happens in their lives?

2. You’re seriously going to spend MY money archiving tweets? There are SO many things wrong with that.

… I have to go do lamaze breathing and tweet my frustration now. I’m too appalled/annoyed/CONFUSED to blog.

Love always wins

The first amendment can make things tricky because it gives people the right to say hateful things with no consequences. The cool thing is, the lovers have the same rights as the haters. And we know how to use it better. 🙂 (this moment calls for a smiley face.)

Fred Phelps, you are no match for Drake University.

NO. HATE. AT. DRAKE.

4.10.2010.

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No vote

I have a confession to make. I, a self-proclaimed politics junkie who receives a gazillion emails every day from the New York Times and the Washington Post… on purpose… didn’t vote. No, I didn’t neglect my state or national polls, but my college senate elections? Yup. I didn’t attend. And this is in the days where “attending” means logging online and taking five minutes to click my mouse a few times and choose representatives.

But I have a good reason, I promise. I didn’t have time. Plus, it’s my senior year, and honestly, though I know this makes me sound like an ignorant citizen of Drake, I don’t feel as though many policies that would get passed would affect me for long. I’m out of here next May. But it got me thinking–what’s our duty as citizens? Our American government was created and structured so that politicians and citizens alike could be selfish–that’s how it works–you vote for what you want, and politicians act according to those wants, and the wants of the three branches either coincide or collide and the separation of powers deals with things from there. But is that how we should vote? Just according to our wants? So if I feel as though a certain election has no application to me, is it okay for me to simply abstain from voting? Or is my duty to vote for what I believe to be best for others, regardless of whether I think it affects me or not? Or should I let them vote for themselves?

What do you guys think? Our nation was founded on the principle of voting–but how important is it? Are you a horrible citizen if you abstain? Is that okay? How important a role does voting even play these days? Do citizens have any say or have politicians with celeb status taken matters into their own hands entirely without considering public opinion?

What are your thoughts?

KSU, Palin, and Power of the Press

I’m attempting to type this during the timeouts and breaks between overtimes of the KSU-Xavier game. So if a random GAH shows up in my post, I apologize.

March Madness just goes to show up how unpredictable things can be in this world. Some things, however, are not. For example: Sarah Palin has her own reality TV show. I mean really. Who didn’t see this coming? The gal has been beefed up to celebrity status, and frankly, America, I’m sick of it. As if yall didn’t already know how much her hype ticks me off, EVERYONE’s hype ticks me off. I studied British politics last semester, and I was intrigued. Because in Britain, politicians are held accountable. And I know that American politicians get plenty of crap, oftentimes undeserved crap, but we give them a hell of a pedestal to stand on, and that’s where the change needs to come in. We’re giving a governor a reality TV show to talk about Alaska. True, she was Alaska’s governor, but she essentially quit being governor so she could go on book tour in the lower 48, if I understand correctly. So I mean, you know, she REALLY cares about Alaska. But I’m sorry, I do NOT want a gal that turns down opportunities to lead and govern for opportunities to go on promotional book tours and host reality tv shows to be my president. No thank you. I admire book writers (reality TV show hosts, not as much, though it depends on the show). But that doesn’t mean that you’re qualified to be my president. Just sayin’.

That rant is over. Lo siento. (COME ON KSU!!!) But going with the we-put-our-politicians-on-a-pedestal-theme, I was thinking about it today when my professor brought up a local campus issue here. The student board of communications is at risk to lose a significant portion of funding due to the fact that it has lots of reserves saved up in case of emergency. Now, the Drake student senate isn’t some crazy governmental body on a power trip. BUT this motion was brought forward without any forewarning to the student board of communications, and this motion, were it to pass, has the potential to drastically affect the entire student body, as it is the budget reserved for newspaper, magazine, radio, and tv productions that serve the entire campus audience. How it will all play out is still to be determined, but it made me think about the power of the press and how so often we (we being us journalism folk) find ourselves unintentionally (and more often intentionally) directly battling government. But it is our job as the press to hold our politicians accountable for what they do. That is, partly, my purpose in this whole blog, and I hope that that’s evident. So, to all you journalists out there, keep trucking, and don’t let them take your funding. Once we lose our voice, the people lose their voice, and the government is no longer responsible to a people, but only to themselves.

Shpiel over. (AND KSU WON! THANK GOODNESS!)

Peace out.

Every thing concerning politicians is news

I consider myself deeply invested in the interests of journalism. But if this is journalism, we need to greatly evaluate our 4th branch of government. Politicians SHOULD be in the news everyday. They are public figures. Public figures that we trust with our country, our money, our lives. News reporting their political actions, campaign promises, and scandals are crucial to the survival of this country. Only by the press can we hope to effectively hold our representatives accountable–that’s our role as citizens… to hold our representatives accountable and make them answer to the constitution and the principles of America. But lately, as when Mitt Romney less than happily took a flight from somewhere to someplace, the media has made a laughingstock of itself by playing up celebrity status and reporting meaningless, trivial blabber.

As a journalist, I read and watch the news as a critic–as someone desperate to uphold standards of meticulous grammar, well-written sentences, and above all, accurate, meaningful, informational stories. I expect my president, congressmen, and senators to be trustworthy, and likewise, I expect the same from the 4th branch of government: the free press.

As a consumer, I expect to consume information–I expect to be able to believe what I read and know that what I read or watch in or on the daily news is something I surely need to know–otherwise these journalists certainly wouldn’t be wasting my time.

And last, but not least, as a student, I have learned that I know nothing. I respect and look up to journalists that have “made it.” Because I’m terrified of not making it myself.

It is our job as journalists, as consumers, and even as terrified students to hold our politicians’ feet to the fire. Modern media, the fourth branch of government, deserve that same treatment. We won’t sit idly by and read meaningless fluffy articles and pretend that our politicians are royalty. Stand up, America, and demand information. Demand truth, demand real stories, and demand change.

Palin for 2012?

I apologize if I talk about Sarah Palin more than anybody else in my blog, but what can I say, she’s a fascinating woman. She said in an interview with Fox News yesterday that she will run for president in 2012 if it is the “right thing” to do for her family and her country. While I applaud Sarah for leaving some sort of vagueness in her answer to protect her reputation as a family woman (in my opinion it is ridiculous to decide for sure 2 years in advance to uproot your entire family for the DC life), I am a little suspicious and honest-to-goodness annoyed that she’s being vague when it sounds like her mind is completely made up–she criticizes Obama endlessly (which I again applaud her for doing–politicians should hold each other accountable and she does a decent job of providing solid reasons rather than just mud-slinging), and claims to know better ways to solve the problems he’s currently dealing with… so wouldn’t that mean that she feels that she would be the “right thing” for our country? I’m not a mind-reader by any means, but Sarah is the only solid candidate from the last election, besides Obama, that we can almost guarantee to see on the campaign trail in a year or so. She’s one to keep an eye on. The Republican party as well, which has dug its heels into the ground (and will continue to do so especially in the upcoming month as Obama calls for a health care summit) and latched on tightly to Scott Brown when he was elected last month, is one to watch–will it accept Sarah Palin again or is it looking for a fresh face? As sad as it is in today’s society, I think the fact that she’s a woman will affect her chances at getting the GOP nomination, especially as it didn’t help John McCain as much as it was expected to in 2008.

Cindy McCain doesn’t H8?!

No doubt you’ve heard by now about the lovely Cindy McCain and her participation in the NoH8 campaign against Proposition 8 in California.

She’s being called the poster child of the campaign, and no doubt, that’s not only a bold statement, but a very true statement, because it symbolizes both the intensity and complexity of the issue of gay marriage. John McCain, former presidential hopeful, had to restate his position on gay marriage (against… in case by some miracle you somehow forgot). Read the articles. Know your stuff.

Times are a-changing, and this is an interesting bit of news, especially emerging at the same time that Scott Brown wins Ted Kennedy’s former senate seat for Massachusetts. However, the reaction and the failed attempts of Dems and GOPers alike to explain WHY the GOP won in Massachusetts bluntly show that the Democratic party isn’t losing as many supporters as the GOP would like to have America think, but also that the GOP isn’t quite as far behind as the Dems would like us to think. The truth is, our nation is facing complex issues on a number of fronts, among them, health care, civil rights (gay marriage, etc), and the never-ending crusades in the Middle East.

Obviously the Democrats and GOP are at odds with each other, especially in a time of particularly intense political turmoil, however, neither party is completely stable within itself, either.