Problems from Across the Pond

I am spending my winter break this year in France and I am shocked every time I come back at how different Europe even feels to the States. This is generally attributed to the fact that cultures are in stark contrast in many aspects.

While driving to dinner in downtown Lyon, my grandparents ask me if I ever see burnt cars on the side of the road back home. I answer a little put off, that no I didn’t think that I ever have. Curious, I ask why they would pose this question. They told me that around Christmas time ever year, it is common for young people to burn cars on the street overnight. They told me that it wouldn’t be unheard of for over a thousand cars to be set aflame on the night after Christmas. Naturally, I was shocked to hear this because a crime of this nature I don’t think would ever be allowed in the states, let alone in mass. This has become a national occurrence across all of France, and is leaving a lot of people distressed. In my opinion it’s crazy that people have to fear getting their car razed in their sleep, during what is supposed to be a time of peace. This led me to wonder why something like this would ever come to be a tradition in the eyes of the youth. The answer lies in one of the biggest, and most unspoken problems in France today. Just like in the states, rampant immigration is an issue in France. The investigations have shown an overwhelming percentage of immigrants of North African descent as suspects of these cases of arson. This issue has become unspoken due in large part to consistent rioting and demonstrations from these immigrating communities have left government officials reluctant to attack the issue, but also France has intentionally created a haven for struggling immigrants. There have been little efforts to confront this issue of immigration in France, until recently. I have decided to make this topic a series of posts, in which I will elaborate on issue, explain differing viewpoints on the topic and the roll the government is playing in all of this.

Night League Blog

I have recently been taking advantage of my blogspot account, but not to contribute to this blog. I, along with American Studies alum Jimmy Slovitt are currently running a Night League blog, specific to the 2011 class. Slovitt, the founder, made the blog to follow in the foot steps of senior night league blogger Michael Hermanson, and also to share the wealth of night league with thoset that were not able to participate The blog covers the spectrum, with individual game reports and player highlights. We discuss every thrusday (Night League is held weekly on Weds.) the week's results and decide MVP rankings for individual players. All facets of the game contribute to MVP rankings, including points, assists, board, leadership and the general understanding of the sportsmanship associated with Night League. We also confer on weekly rankings of the teams and also analyze each week's matchups highlighting a couple games as the games of the week.

Most people would just wonder why I would ever want to spend time on something that really yeilds nothing in return. The answer lies in the aura of night league, something that can only be experienced by participating. It all comes from that half hour of competition. It all comes from knowing that every wednesday night during the winter, there is something to look forward to This energy that derives from Night League is what makes me want to spend my time contributing to this blog. This post doesn't really criticize the world around me and frankly doesn't really bring a lot to the table for most people that will read this. I honestly just wanted to share on my AIS blog, a somewhat relevant and interesting thing that I am doing at the moment. Check out the blog at http://ntjnl.blogspot.com/.

Obama's Empty Promises

President Obama ran on a platform designed entirely to do exactly the opposite thing that George Bush had done in his two terms. While the health care system sucked the money from the sick people's pockets, Obama promised to devise a health care system to fix that, which he has tried to do, however poorly. Obama promised a troop withdrawal from Iraq after five years of stagnant military action. He has, as of recently, announced troop withdrawal, only to have them shipped right next door to Afghanistan. But Obama also promised to stop the Constitution-shredding that took place during the Bush administration. This post was derived in largepart from a post I read online concering Obama's civil liberties track record. My dad directed me to a blogger he knew of on salon.com , named Glenn Greenwald, who blogged religiously about current civil liberties issues. Here is the quote that really inspired me to write this post:

"Of all the things for an incumbent President of the United States to take political risks fighting for, obviously reducing the power of the executive branch is going to be dead last on the list. If you want to see civil liberties championed, that’s going to have to come from congress."

There are several big ticket items that Obama had on his agenda coming into this term, but for me to think that enforcing the very constitution that he swore to uphold is last on it was very troublesome to me. I understand that fixing these issues takes time, so I will not pass any harsh judgement yet, but I think we're letting Barrack off the hook a little too easy. In my mind, filling the gaps of the consitution that had been drilled into by the Bush administration is a high profile issue, and has to be taken care off. Is it just me, or should civil liberties be taken more seriously by the president? What topics on Obama's agenda do you consider the most important? Consider what topics you should would like to see focused on in Washington. These are all important questions to wonder as we will all be eligible to vote in the 2012 elections.

Golf God Above the Law?

This past week, the world's only billion dollar athlete, Tiger Woods was involved in a slow moving one car accident outside of his home in Orlando. A neighbor called in the incident at approximately two twenty five on the morning after November. (quite strange that Woods' neighbor was so alert and ready to call incident in at such an hour, but thats beside the point). Woods, somehow ran into a fire hydrant just outside his driveway, and left himself unconcious. New information has divulged that he was badly bruised and had sustained many cuts in the incident, and for some reason barefoot. His wife then supposedly ran out of the house, golf club in hand. This is where the media takes hold of the story. One rumor is that Woods and his wife, Swedish supermodel Elin Nordegren had been having a dispute that evening and Woods left the house and she followed him out and proceeded to smash the windows of his car. The other rumor, one that I personally believe is that alcohol was involved, and he crashed his car. Those are the simplest and most believable circumstances I can see. The story for me takes a turn when the police attempted to assess the situation. Woods refused to comment or even subject himself to alcohol testing. He made no public statement for several days and had no apparent contact with the police either, despite their numerous visits to his home in the ultra exlusive gated community of Isleworth, FL. My only hesitation with this story is why was Woods allowed to defer any questioning from the police. He's a normal law obiding citizen just like me, but I think that if I crashed my car outside my house I couldn't just keep all the information to myself. This leads me to suspect that Woods, simply for being a celebrity was afforded different treatment. How could we justify this when every day people are arrested for very similar offenses, and Woods can just defer all the heat until he is ready?