Does The Truth Hurt?

         As a citizen of the USA I believe that we are entitled to know everything that goes on.  This country is supposed to be for the people but a lot of things go on that never make it back to the public.  The US government officials believe that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is trying to corrupt people’s minds and even took it as far as to call him a high tech terrorist.  I do not feel that the government has the right keep secrets from people, because as a country we can only make decisions based on what we know thus if we are not properly informed our decisions are tainted.  In this new day and age technology is instant information the issue is that the government wants to regulate it, I feel as though if the government had nothing to hide us knowing everything would not be an issue.

People that are against Wikileaks are government officials that want information to stay private.  People who are against wikileaks would argue that Assange is stealing classified information and is a threat to the US army.  The US attorney general also has said that they are looking into pressing charges against Assange but refused to comment further. Government officials are against Assange although he is only exercising his right to freedom of speech.  People feel as though Assange and wikileaks is a threat to everyone’s security. 

Wikileaks is essential to us progressing as a people.  Freedom of speech is a part of our rights that we were born with, but it seems as though government officials are trying to limit what we can say or post online more and more.  Assange is breaking down the barrier between the government and its citizens and that is a good thing.  We should know what is going on to make fair decisions for example voting how we can’t pick fairly if we don’t have the facts.  The problem with the government is that they want you to know what they think that you should know instead of telling us the truth.   

Gellman, Barton. "Person of the Year 2010." Time. Time, 15 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037118_2037146-3,00.html>.

“  Last July, it turns out, as controversy erupted over its release of the Afghanistan war logs, WikiLeaks had posted, without explanation, a 1.4-gigabyte encrypted file called "insurance.aes256." Some 100,000 people around the world have downloaded it.”

“significant material from the U.S. and other countries." He added, "If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically."

Norman, Joshua. "Julian Assange's Lawyers Fear U.S. Spy Charges." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 10 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20025289-503543.html>.

“U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters earlier this week the Justice Department was "looking into" charges against WikiLeaks and Assange. He has provided no further public comment since then.”

United we Stand

A tragedy in America changed the lives of many men, woman and children. On September 11^th  2001 terrorist invaded planes and struck three of the most populated buildings in the United States  a state of shock spread around all citizens and everyone went into a panic mode. George Bush, the president at this tragic time, and the rest of the government were pushed to make instant decisions on how to retaliate. Some of their decisions may have been unjust but others may have been right on target.  We went to war in Afghanistan and soon after Iraq.

(war in Iraq)

                People who would say that America overreacted are wrong because when a countries safety is at stake you have to make swift decisions.   Going to look for Osama Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda members was exactly what necessary.  People who feel as though Bush was wrong or should have tried a different approach would probably argue that Bush had no business invading Iraq.  As far as invading Iraq goes Bush was wrong for that because there was never a clear reason as to why we went to war with them, although Bush stated they had weapons of mass destruction it was never proven.    

 I do not think America overreacted because we have not had a terrorist attack since September 11^th.  Although some decisions made were not the best on President Bush’s behalf Osama Bin Laden has been captured along with other high ranking Al-Qaeda members.  As an American citizen I do feel safer since these actions have been taken.  We have also stopped other terrorist from going through with their plans to destroy America, like the “Shoe Bomber” Richard Reed.  He is now in prison for life without the possibility of parole.  As a country since this attack we have come together and cracked down on people who want to hurt us, and made a example out of the people that attacked us on that devastating day.    

(2003, january 30). "Shoe Bomber" sentenced to life in prison. pbs.com retrieved Febuary 16, 2012, from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/reid_01-30-03.html

"A Boston judge handed down a life sentence Wednesday for Richard Reid, the alleged al-Qaida member who pleaded guilty to attempting to blow up a jetliner using explosives in his shoe."

(2011, September 3). The terrorist notches on Obama's belt. abcnews.go.com retrieved Febuary 16, 2012, from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/the-terrorist-notches-on-obamas-belt/


"The list of senior terrorists killed during the Obama presidency is fairly extensive.
There’s Osama Bin Laden, of course, killed in May..." 


 

Is The Media Liberal or Conservative?

Dwayne Edwards

Professor Jeglinski

How Current events shape the world

     The media’s ability to make viewers and readers express feelings when they report news, leaves me to feel that they are liberal.  When news is reported most of the time the truth is over exaggerated or certain facts are stressed more then others. Most importantly, may be some of the things they leave out. I ask myself, "Is half of the truth still the truth?"  In my eyes the media is liberal although they may leave out key facts, they never hide their emotions as in the Casey Anthony trial.  The general public had began to get fed up with Anthony's lies. The media began to unleash their wrath on this young lady, USA Today had a article titled "How the Casey Anthony case came apart".  Although I am not thoroughly educated on the specifics of the case I felt as though she was guilty. She happened to get off easy, but maybe thats what the media wanted it to be portrayed as.

      Another example of the media being liberal is Tmz's cover on the Kobe Bryant divorce.  In the article "Kobe Bryant's wife scores BIG in divorce" TMZ seems to disagree with how the courts rulled. They gave her 75 million and 3 houses of Kobe's.  Although Kobe has never spoke publicly on the issue, the media has portrayed it as Kobe taking a major loss. 75 million is an ample amount of money to give up, but maybe she deserves it.  From all of the articles I read on this topic including yahoo sports, it seemed they wanted you to feel as though it was Kobe that was losing out on a lot and not his ex wife or children who were losing out on a complete family. 

     In one of last years biggest stories, the Penn State child sex abuse scandal was highly publicized.  The media portrayed Jerry Sandusky, the alleged molester, to be an abomination of society and someone who prayed on the weak.  The pressure of the media was mostly applied to Joe Paterno, the head coach of the program at the time, because he was told what was occurring and did not do enough to stop it.  He was subsequently fired from his job. I believe the media had a part in Paterno being fired due to the heat they brought upon him and the program.  Liberals believe in the right to individual freedoms, the freedom of speech by the news stations may have been a detonating factor in the brash of firings.      

Cathy Lynn Grossman & the Associated press (2011, July 3). How the Casey Anthony case fell apart. usatoday.com retrieved Feb 3 2011 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-05-Casey-Anthony-Caylee-Anthony-acquittal-murder-case-Florida_n.htm

The Associated press (2011, September 9). Penn State scandal timeline. Huffingtonpost.com. retrieved Feb 3 2011 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/penn-state-scandal-timeline-jerry-sandusky_n_1084204.html

TMZ staff (2011 January 20). Kobe Bryants wife Vanessa scores BIG in divorce. TMZ.com. retrieved Feb 3 2011 from http://www.tmz.com/2012/01/20/kobe-vanessa-bryant-divorce-settlement/