Yesterday morning, a gunman went on a chaotic shooting spree in Southern California, killing four people, including himself, and injuring two. How many of you know about this shooting? As I was perusing my daily news sources, it struck me by how casual the news story seemed, shoved between a beer brewery story and a piece about a British man dying from a SARS-like virus....
This week the Supreme Court will hear the case of farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman. The Indiana man faces over $70,000 in fines for planting soybeans containing genes belonging to megacorporation Monsanto without legally purchasing them. The company manufactures and subsequently patents soybean varieties known as Roundup Ready (weed and disease resistant), and farmers who use...
It’s campaign season on campus again. Some might say, “Again?” Yep, folks, the gigantic, colorful signs are back up in front of the Union. Once more we are to be accosted by people and their deluge of stickers and flyers and buttons and whatnot. Their pleas for us to support their particular candidate are shouted at us as we attempt to get through our day and attend...
In the past week, I’ve read news stories about Heidi Klum insuring her legs for millions of dollars, Rihanna not wearing makeup in her new video, Angelina Jolie’s kid’s acting career and how Kate Upton finds Antarctica’s weather to be not bikini-friendly. OK, great. There are two issues here I need to address. First, that these are actual news stories in our media...
President Obama delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday night, and since then many media outlets have fact-checked what he told the nation. Most sources found that Obama did quite a bit of cherry picking and provided some doctored numbers in his annual speech. Let’s look at one of his first claims of the evening: “After years of grueling recession, our...
As the passengers and crew of the marooned Carnival Cruise Lines ship Triumph are towed into the Port of Mobile, they are likely to be greeted by loved ones anxiously awaiting them, as well as reporters wanting to get the first scoop on what the conditions were really like aboard the Carnival Triumph. Alongside their loved ones and reporters will be another group that...
President Obama appeared before Congress Tuesday evening to deliver a State of the Union address reaffirming his commitment to a progressive second term. As Washington remains deeply divided, the president made it clear he is prepared to bring his proposals to the American people if Republicans continue to obstruct his agenda. The middle class was once again center stage...
“Where are you staying in the United States?” “Mississippi.” Every time I answer this question, people give me a dropped jaw. Especially when they see my Asian face. When I was buying a souvenir at Universal Studios’ gift shop in Los Angeles, the cashier saw my Mississippi driver’s license. He was so excited and said that it was one of the few state driver’s...
My brother got cut off while going to work yesterday by a car that was in the left lane and apparently needed to turn right. Normally, my brother would just slam on his brakes and lay on his horn. But my brother rides a motorcycle, so this was not a normal situation. This time, when he was cut off by a guy who wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing while operating...
