Recap of Election 2008

This past election is one of the most important and influential elections in American History. Two key concepts to look at deal with the Youth Vote and how the United States is viewed on the global scene.

First off, the number of people who voted in this past election came out in record numbers, especially the youth voters.  Over 6.5 million young voters came out to the polls this year. This was a 103% increase from the 2004 presidential election. This had a major impact on the results. Nearly two out of every three young voters sided with Obama this election. What I believe was a major reason for this is that he promised Change. In our world today, we do need a lot of it. Now whether President Elect Obama can follow through with this is yet to be determined. 

The second thing I found interesting was the impact this election had around the world. All over, people were tuned in, trying to find out whom our next leader would be. And for Kenya it meant a little more. The day after Obama was elected, they had a "National Holiday", per say. All businesses were shut down. The reason for this was Obama's dad came from Kenya. Other impacts were the viewpoints of other countries, and whom they wished to have in office. What I came to realize was that Global superpowers felt it was time for change. Except for China because republicans have taken a lighter stance on trading. Most of Europe came to a liberal consensus meaning they thought it would be good to see either a Woman or African-American in office.

here is a clip of how they were trying to get the youth out to vote. Many commercials just like this were made, and guess what, they worked. Rock the Vote

Powell the enforcer, or Endorser?

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is apparently getting ready to announce who he supports in the race for the White House. The anticipate that he will make the announcement this weekend on Meet the Press. Colin Powell was secretary of state under Bush's administration and has known McCain for a long time. Which makes you think that he will side with John McCain. But, hes has said that having an African-American president "would be electrifying". His support for either candidate would help but I believe it is needed by McCain in order for him to have any chance at the presidency. Powell is revered, especially in the black community, for his work in politics and helping protect our country. Here is video of Powell talking about Oba-ma. Here is one on his views about McCain's handling of Russia.

CNN Article- skewed numbers from Biden

From CNN's Political ticker, I came across an article that dealt with the debate last thursday. During which, Biden took a stab at McCain and relating him with the Bush Administration. Well, Biden gave us numbers, but numbers that dealt with two separate issues. 

How much we spend in Iraq compared to how much in Afghanistan.

Well, the Afghanistan money dealt with obligation on International development, while the Iraq money dealt with combat operations.

The article shows that it was true we spent more in Iraq, according to this data, but it leaves out the money we give them through assistance in fighting terrorism and growing their economy.

The difference I believe in a professional blog and an ordinary one is that this professional one seems less bias and is willing to supply you with more facts. It analyzes topics that ordinary people might have taken to be true during the debate.  I liked also how they split it up. easy to read and understand, yet still gave out an opinion.

The Debate

On Thursday night, I was able to watch Palin and Biden "duke it out." Personally, I didn't think it was much of a fight. Both of the vice president nominees seemed to have their own agenda heading into the night. Neither of them seemed like they were answering the moderators questions, and were called out on it. Biden to me was trying to act too much like your neighbor, and Palin used the word "folk" such as "normal folks" too much. Average Joe six-pack. Even though Palin kept nudging Biden he stood his ground and did not retaliate. Instead of attacking Palin he went after McCain. This was smart, it made him seem a little softer and was not going after the woman. Palin, however also came across in a good way. She stood up and showed that she was the right choose for the job.

MLS Expanding!!!

From the New York Times I got this blog.
http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/mls-could-go-to-20-teams/

Here I found it a pretty interesting article about the MLS's plans to expand to 20 teams. Already, next year there will be a new team in Seattle, then for 2010 a new team in Philly. Another place they are trying to get a new team is in Montreal. To me, I feel that this is a bad idea. Already, the league is pretty much a joke. Players are not payed nearly enough to hold the interest of the US people. Why would someone like T.O. play soccer when he can make ten times the money in Football. Also, the MLS is not attracting enough fans and the franchises are making little profit because of it. The main reason though that I think the League is not going to succeed is because there are no penalties or rewards. No penalty for coming in last place like being relegated, and the reward for winning the cup is not a big enough bonus.

Sarah Palin's Glasses

On CNN I found this article. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/17/palin.glasses.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories#cnnSTCText


I thought this was interesting because of how popular the pair of glasses got because Palin has them. He has almost reached his yearly revenue from the glasses in just ten days time. I have to admit that if I had to wear glasses those would definitely be at the top of my list. They are however a little expensive but the design is modern and look very light.

dumbest generation

The thought that our generation is seen to be the dumbest generation in my opinion is absurd. There is no question that life has changed dramatically over the past sixty years, but that does not make us the dumbest generation. Generations are viewed not by the little everyday things, but problems that effect the majority. A guy named Mark Bauerlein, a college professor at Emory, wrote a book outlining points he thought made us the dumbest generation ever.

With our changing society comes change. These changes very from extremely minor to important. One important change is how information is gathered and viewed. Because of the internet, books have become a thing of the past. Bauerlein argues that information gathered on the internet is not stored, just passed along. While this might have some truth behind it, I believe that it is mostly fabricated. This is one of the reasons why plagiarism is frowned upon. Not being able to just copy and paste someone else's work make you have to read and understand the information well enough so that you can interpret and make your own conclusions. 

Another argument Bauerlein gave had to do with spelling. Because of IM and Text messaging, the youth is not able to spell properly and would be lost without spellcheck. I do beleive that this statement is one that Bauerlein might have the most support behind. There is no question that because of IM and Texting, people have lost some important features of writing. However, this just leads back to my earlier point that our world is changing. For better or worse, we are rewriting part of everyday life and this has to be accepted. As for spell check, it is just a nice luxury provided by change and technology. It makes editing a lot easier.

Someone that stuck curiosity in me were the college professors findings on how the youth lacks knowledge of national and international affairs. While the student can be held for some blame on this fact, a lot more goes on the educational system. Again, this issue deals with another change concept; how students are graded and whether strait information is more important than overall concepts and being able to have your own opinion. These days, more and more schooling is focused not on the dates and stats when certain events occurred, but the how and why's. Although I do believe in the concept that if you forget the past you are doomed to repeat it, it is also important to find alternatives so that these major issues do not arise in the future.

Though technology has taken away from traditional learning, it has improved peoples overall learning and understanding. Without the internet or television, the population would be ignorant to world happenings. Video games are too seen as a major reason our generation lacks what used to be common knowledge. But for kids, it can be helpful in stimulating the mind to solving problems going on in the game. It also increases hand eye coordination. 

Overall, I believe this College Professor is nothing more than a nutty one. He just seems to have a grudge on the youth and forgets what it was like to be young. A person has to find his or her self before they can become truly enlightened through learning.