Fake News Proves Once Again It’s Real

On Thursday October 28 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart did something it had never done in its entire run: interview a sitting United States President. Barack Obama realized that the Democratic Party was in trouble to lose all of Congress and putting his chips down on the popular satirical news program hoping that it would get the target demographic voters out to the polls tomorrow. My question was had he underestimated what Jon could do to him even though he was President? After watching the interview I found that the article: “President Obama skewered by Jon Stewart in ‘Daily Show’ interview” gave the best summary of what happened during this interview. This article showed us that “Fake News” as they call it is actually more real than the news we get from MSNBC or Fox. They spoke about how since he came into office all of the things that we promised were not delivered in the way we were promised and how the Democrats were running on the “Please baby one more chance” ticket and that President Obama’s slogan should have been “Yes we can…but.” I was pleasantly refreshed with the questions that were asked by Stewart and how despite President Obama trying to spin things as he is so good at doing Jon stayed the course and pushed the buttons that everyday Americans wanted pushed and he pushed about as hard as he could without making Obama angry. This was a good example of fake news becoming real news because they had an opportunity not many people had they could ask questions in a way that gave a slight sarcastic humor that would have offended a “real” newscaster but we got answers and saw Obama actually have to search for answers to questions he wouldn’t be asked in a normal setting. We saw something we don’t normally see someone taking what Barack Obama said and showing that it wasn’t anything of substance.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/turns_out_the_joke_on_obama_uo0uvZYYI8UzHMp09xngzM

Sarah Palin Rallies Democrats

The article that I read was called “Democrats’ Last Hope: Sarah Palin”. The article discusses how Sarah Palin can save the House of Democrats, and ho many of the party’s endangered incumbents are spending their final days campaigning as much against the former Alaska governor as against their Republican rivals. The article describes how Republicans tend to love her but Democrats and independents view her unfavorably with equal intensity. The numbers from the latest Bloomberg survey, conducted by Des Moines-based Seizer & Co, show these sentiments with just 38 percent of Americans view her favorably, while 54 percent see her unfavorably. Incumbents are trying to associate their republican rivals with the former governor. Palin has endorsed 56 candidates across the country, stretching from her home state of Alaska to Florida and New Hampshire. In Ohio, Mary Jo Kilroy, a democrat, has used on of these donations to paint her opponent, state Sen. Steve Stivers, as a Palin “protégé”, turning those non-Palin supporters against him. Some democrats feel bringing up ties to Palin will rally democratic voters and alienate independent voters, bringing a combination that democrat need to win the race. Republican however feel that bringing up or denying tells to Palin is irrelevant and ridiculous, “Sarah Palin’s not on the ballot. People aren’t thinking about her. They’re thinking about what’s been going on in Washington”. However, I feel people will care about this because it is gossip, and Sarah Palin now has celebrity tied to her, this brings attention from the media, whether good or bad, and will gain viewer interest.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclusive/20101031/pl_yblog_exclusive/democrats-last-hope-sarah-palin

Fox News cuts down Palin's claims...

The article, "Fox News cuts down Palin's claims about 'corrupt bastards' at CBS", is a good example of the media acting as a watchdog. In our book it says "...news media serve as a watchdog over government, checking the accuracy of people's statements and 'barking' to alert the public to issues of concern" (Bell 70). In this article Fox news is checking the accuracy of Sarah Palin's statements at a recent rally and "barking" to prove her wrong. Recently at a rally for Republican Joe Miller, Palin said that reporters from CBS affiliates were trying to "smear" his reputation for the up coming election. Palin's proof is a voice mail that was excidently left on one of Miller's aides phone suggesting how to smear his name. However, Fox news looked into the latest news reports and columns from the CBS affiliates and no bias news or reputation smearing articles were discovered. In fact they said they found the opposite and Palin was wrong about the whole situation. This reminded me of media watchdog and I think it is a good example as Fox has been "barking" about some of Palin's remarks.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/fox-cuts-palin-corrupt-cbs/

"electric cars are gay"

The line maybe be offensive and it may harm peoples feelings however famous and popular directer, Ron Howard is keep it in his up and coming new film. A character played by Vince Vaughn in his film that will release in January states that electric cars are "gay". Although Ron Howard does believe in being sensitive he tell the Los Angeles Times that he does not support censorship. This issue is an interesting one to me because I am very pro gay rights and have a close friend who is gay. However I am also a supporter of comedy. I do not believe that the line in the Ron Howard film is being said to intentionally bash on homosexuals. However not specifically talking talking about gay people the line in the has caused a public outcry about the issue of using language like this in films. GLAAD, the gay lesbian alliance believes that lines such as this being allowed in films is just perpetuating the problem of allowing this type of harsh and offensive language continue. I selected this article on CNN because I felt that this is an issue I truly find myself in the middle and sympathize with both sides of the argument. Having friends who identify with being gay, I would not want lines of films to offend them. Not being gay I truly can not comprehend the frustration of being discriminated in this way. I also support the art of comedy. My friends who are black make black jokes and even my friends who are gay make gay jokes. Jokes are meant to be funny and not always to offend and harm someones feelings. Issues such as the line is the movie are going to become in the headlines more as gay rights continues to be and main issue in our country. It will be interesting to see how film makers such as Ron Howard deal or do not deal with these situations.

Voting Inefficiencies

So I found this article on the “Columbus Dispatch”, my home newspaper’s webpage, and was disgusted especially. This may be me on a soap box or may just be personal opinion, but with situations such as described in this article where close to 5,000 election reminders have mistakes on them that have been sent out; it really makes me question is there a better way or more efficient way to run elections. In this day of age it seems that the way elections are run is almost outdated and completely inefficient. I began to think about this last spring when I went to vote for the various Levys on the ballot, only to find out I was not at the correct polling place thanks to a printed off book of names and pages that did not provide much more than an inconvenience and almost deterred me from voting. I think the archaic way we run elections currently needs to be looked at very closely and consulted in the near future because very soon the population will be our generation of learners, who don’t always seem to appreciate the systems of the past and could easily be turned off and made apathetic about the pace and end all value of the process. I think we need to look at better ways to make the process efficient and maybe more technologically advanced, such is the rest of the world, to persuade others out to the poll and voice their opinion, and use their civic duties.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/11/01/election-cards-have-errors.html?sid=101

Those who say things going poorly higher than 1994 or 2006

75 percent. Thats the percent of Americans who think that things are going bad for our country. That number, which is alarmingly high, is the highest it has ever been since the poll originated in the 1970's. Of those 75%, an astounding 52% think that the biggest concern for our country is the falling economy. Getting more specific, the part of the economy, according to the survey, that Americans find most upseting is the rising unemployment rate. According to the article, even when the nation heads from a repulican candidate as perisent to a demcratic, or vise versa, the percentage hasn't been this high. Surprisingly to me, even with these high numbers, most people agreed that things were getting better, or were happy with their personal lives. I feel like I can personally vouch for how hard the economy is hurting. I have to live with the reality that both my parents, even working at the same place for over 20 years each, are both at jeopardy to lose their jobs. My dad's factory is continually laying people off, and had has hours fluctuate weekly for over a year now. My mom's bank seems to be in jeopardy of being sold to another company each week, making her job security at question as well. Even for me, finding a simple part time job for last summer was a struggle.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/01/poll.election/index.html

Immigration and Latinos voting

The article I read today was from cnn.com. This article was all about the immigration laws that are in Arizona and other states and the laws that the Republicans are trying to pass. The article states that because of the Arizona law and many other copycat laws against the Latino immigrants, the GOP is in reality ruining their own campaign. With these laws on the forefront, the Latino population is beginning to keep the immigration laws on their mind and by doing so they are more likely to vote Democrat. The DREAM act, which stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, enables Latino immigrants to earn their citizenship by going to college or serving in the military. The GOP is against this act. By the GOP being against this act and being in support of the Arizona laws, the Latino population is beginning to turn their backs to the Republican Party and look more closely at the Democratic Party. Since Latinos are the single-largest ethnic minority in the United States, and that they are unhappy with the actions of the GOP, there is a large chance that there will be an increased turnout in support of Democrats. This could lessen the chance the Republicans have to gain the majority in the House and Senate. With this vote, the Republican Party could lose the Latino voters that they had to begin with and that could end up not only being a short term effect, but also being a long term effect.