What Now? Obama, Congress Faces New Budget Deadlines after Stopgap Deal

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/17/what-now-congress-faces-new-budget-deadlines-after-stopgap-deal/

 

SUMMARY

        This article (as with all my others) came from Fox News. It is, shall we say, the Republican view on the stopgap deal. It may be a half-win, half-loss, for the Republicans, and they're pointing out that this deal just delayed the issue. There are still the same issues that need to be resolved, we just are taking a little bit more time to do it so that it looks like we're making progress.

 

ANALYSIS

        I really just think that this deal was agreed upon was because the Republicans are beginning to realize that it really DOES look like an immature tantrum coming from them. They are not getting their way just because they're making a lot of noise, and they are starting to irate some, if not a lot, of people.

        The stopgap did nothing, really, except to keep the government going while they bicker about the same issues for an undisclosed amount of time. I wasn't in favor of the shutdown, but I wish something productive had come from it. By "productive" I don't mean that the Republicans got everything they fought for, rather, that we had learned the art of compromise.

        Issues like this make me sick inside. It seems so immature that we are so completely unable to compromise-- both sides are unwilling, for the most part, to differ in the slightest from their strict beliefs and ideals. We've got this mentality that it's "our way or the highway". This has got to change. 

Dr. Manny: America, Stop Turning to Social Media for Information on ObamaCare

 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/10/17/dr-manny-america-stop-turning-to-social-media-for-information-on-obamacare/

 

SUMMARY

        This tells about how many people are relying on social media not only to get their information on matters such as ObamaCare, but to express their opinions on it as well. There used to be a time when people would go to the experts in order to get the proper information. We relied on the people who knew something about it to gather information so that we could know about it. Instead of research however (oh, no! hard work!), people are relying on easy-access sources like Twitter and Instagram.

 

 

ANAYLSIS

        Ours is the generation of easy-access. Something that only years ago you would have to go to the library in order to figure out, you can have in your phone in seconds. With information this easy, we've gotten lazy. You wouldn't go to twitter for information on a fatal heart disease that you have, you'd go to a doctor. So why are we going to those places for political information? Maybe the threat isn't imminent enough for you. It's not staring you right in the face.

        What do we need to wake us up enough to go to the right sources? Hopefully not something as drastic as shutting down the entire government.... right?

        We've talked repetitively in class about being an informed voter. How do you become an informed voter? I'll give you a hint. It's not through Facebook. It's not through Vine. It's not through Pintrist, even. You need to put forth some effort to be able to be intelligent enough to discern what you believe is right.

        It's easy to be swayed to one belief or another when you don't know all the facts or you only get it from one source. Maybe this is why we such clusters of political beliefs (like maybe the huge herding of Republicans in Utah?), because you don't get much diversity in those areas, no room to learn to think. You go along with the popular belief because, for the most part, it's the only belief.

        As Dr. Manny put it quite profoundly, "Wake up America". 

 

Eating Bacon Lowers Sperm Quality, Study Shows

 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/10/16/eating-bacon-lowers-sperm-quality-study-shows/?intcmp=latestnews

 

SUMMARY

 

        This article was about how in a study presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s 2013 Annual Meeting in Boston, it was shown that men who consumed over half a portion of processed meat like bacon reduced the sperm quality. The study was done by researchers from Harvard University. There is some debate, still, as to whether or not this study is accurate.

 

 

ANAYALSIS

 

        The honest reason that I posted this article is to state that sometimes no news is good news. There comes a point where all the news is about political things, such as the much discussed government shutdown, or there isn't any news at all. We talk about the "uniformed masses" in class. Well, how is studies on sperm quality informing them? Media is such a major part of getting people to know what's going on, but all I've heard from the media lately is the exact same drabble about the shut down for a few minutes, some radical spiels, and then stuff like this. There is so much else going on in the world then things like this, but our greatest source of information is wasting it on radicals and garbage. 

 

Privacy Threat Found In ObamaCare Website

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/16/obamacare-website-poses-privacy-threat/

 

 

SUMMARY

 

        This article talks about some privacy threats that are believed to be in the website for ObamaCare. The statement of "You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system" does not appear in the terms and conditions, and this, among other things, has got people worried.

 

 

ANAYLYSIS

 

        This article was published after the government shut down. I think that little note is important to take into account before reading this article. The Republicans are already steamed up about this issue enough to shut down the government, and now an article comes out talking about privacy threats--another big issue for Republicans. This article also came from Fox news, and, as we all know and love, Fox news is a very biased news source (as, I am sure, there are plenty of equally biased liberal sites).

        I think this demonstrates how, as we've discussed in class, the more vocal few of the parties are, well, more vocally involved. I feel as though this article is almost justification towards the government shut down. I am sure that there are many Republicans who are thinking that the this is a very immature move, and this is their way of defending their actions.