Huffington Post Reaction - - CNN in Third Place for First Time

I have just read the Huffington Post blog for the first time. I found its content to be very interesting and relevant to almost every genre of news that is reported. There is a handy side bar that refreshes itself every few seconds with the most up-to-date and frequently-visited Huffington Post blog posts. The whole website is arranged in a very organized and well-structured manner. It is easy to find posts about a wide array of hot issues, as they are laid out logically all throughout the page. There is even an extensive list of links to relevant news sources, columnists, and blogs at the bottom of the page. One blog post from the Huffington Post that I clicked on, I found to be most interesting and relevant to this class.

The Huffington Post reported that CNN has slipped to third place in prime time TV news ratings, for the first time since its establishment almost thirty years ago. CNN is trailing behind Fox News and MSNBC. This slight slip in CNN’s daily views has begun ever since the peak of the 2008 presidential election. Since Fox is very right-wing, conservative news, and MSNBC is obviously extremely liberal, it appears that perhaps the reason behind this recent slip has to do with people preferring very strong opinion-based news reports, rather than middle-of-the road, unbiased accounts of the news.

With the current state of the economy in shambles and a brand new face in the oval office making the nation’s most critical decisions, it seems that viewers are looking to strong viewpoints and opinions from which to base their own positions. Extremely opinionated news reporters, from either the right or left side, are setting the ground for viewers to reach conclusions by following their lead. Perhaps this lends itself to the notion that during the most uncertain and shaky of times, people by nature, form groups and need a leader to help make tough decisions for them—or in this case, make general stances and viewpoints that television viewers can then join.

CNN's ratings are only up 1% from March 2008, while Fox's ratings have jumped 30%, and MSNBC’s ratings have improved 24%. These cable news statistics, however, help CNN in a sense by showing that they really are the straight news with no bias, no bull. It shows that CNN news reports rely on fact, rather than opinion and ideological followings. CNN has always prided itself on being the real news network, and this is basically what these recent statistical findings are solidifying, despite the network’s slight slip in numbers due to the innate instincts of the human mind. When a story surfaces that is big or catastrophic, perhaps that is when CNN’s numbers will soar again, as viewers will turn to them for the most accurate and unbiased account of the news. What do you think?

Environmental Blog- - City Bicycle Lanes

The Environmentalblog.org posted a blog post entitled “City Bicycle Lanes” which describes the innovative new bicycle lanes set up on city streets throughout the Netherlands. As pictured above, these bicycle-only lanes are reddish-clay colored and are the same width as the regular car lanes which are parallel to them. There is plenty of room for bicyclists to park and lock up their bikes along the bike lanes, as well. This groundbreaking setup is a great idea both environmentally and economically. It allows individuals to hop on their bikes and ride wherever they like, at whatever speeds they like, without having to worry about filling up their cars with gasoline and waiting in traffic.

As more and more people in the Netherlands begin relying on their bicycles for daily commutes, instead of on traditional gas-guzzling means of transportation, the air quality in the region will certainly improve. Gasoline is full of pollutants which are released into the atmosphere through exhaust pipes on cars and trucks. Also, gasoline that is leaked onto paved roads flows into nearby grass and fields, and the result is polluted runoff flowing into our rivers and streams. Cutting down on the amount of cars and trucks on city roadways is an environmentally-friendly tactic, and the Netherlands has introduced their method in a profound, new way.

Of course, riding bicycles to work everyday also has a positive impact in the economic sense. It is much cheaper to ride a bike to work than it is to spend money on soaring gas prices, or pay public transportation fare. Not to mention, it is a great source of exercise and is healthy for the human body.

I think it would be very beneficial if this idea was brought home to the United States. Of course there are some county roads in the US with bicycle lanes; however they are nowhere near as well set-up as the ones found in the Netherlands. We need to bring this idea, or at least some of its positive attributes, to our own city roads. I researched the setup of county roads in New Jersey and found that quite a few of our most traveled county routes do in fact have bicycles lanes painted on the side, however they are not very safe, and are not very commonly traveled. In the Netherlands, they separate bicycle lanes altogether from the regular lanes for cars and trucks. Making a separate bicycle lane parallel to the regular roadway, with a median in-between, would prove to be the safest and most effective means of transportation for cyclists. This way, cars would not be able to hit bicyclists at all, even by a slight swerve or veer of the steering wheel.

Many of New Jersey’s roads don’t even have the abovementioned system of bicycle lanes being painted on roadways. A friend of mine was riding his bicycle down a crowded city street, and a woman who was parked in her car on the side of the road opened up her car door just as my friend was riding past. With no time to stop, his bike crashed into the woman’s car door and he flew over the car, landing himself in an ambulance ride to the hospital. It is very important for local and state governments to take the steps necessary to preventing this kind of bicycle accident, as well as all kinds, from taking place. Most bicycling accidents on city roads can be easily avoided by incorporating new and improved systems of bicycling lanes, such as the innovative new idea introduced overseas in the Netherlands.

Feminist Blog- - Womb Raiders

The feminist blog, Jezebel, wrote an interesting story today. The article addresses an issue that a group of infertile couples are now being faced with. Two major companies whose sole job it is to pair up couples who can’t have children with surrogate mothers, and to handle all financial payments dealing with the procedures, has recently stopped being able to pay both the surrogates and egg donors. The money that was originally paid to the companies was put into trusts that may soon cease to exist. One of these companies, SurroGenesis, extracted large sums of money from the infertile parents that has now been lost in the trusts. SurroGenesis’s starting fee is $12,000 and payment to surrogate mothers is at least an additional $18,000. All of this money has been lost, while countless surrogate mothers have already become pregnant from the medical procedure.

The major question here is what to do about the surrogates who are now pregnant with another couple’s child, and will not receive any payment for renting out their womb for nine months. It is a question of moral and ethics. Should these surrogates be able to get abortions now since they have lost their payment? Or should they still be forced to carry out the pregnancy without any sort of payment for their effort? Many hope that the surrogate women will act selflessly and still go through with the pregnancies without any sort of compensation. However, the main principle of the pro-choice school of thought is that it’s the woman’s body, and therefore the woman’s choice.

The author of this blog post is a pro-choicer and therefore concludes that it is the surrogate mother’s choice whether or not to get an abortion and terminate the pregnancy. According to an attorney involved in the case named Andrew Vozimer, it appears that, so far at least, none of the surrogate mothers who were screwed over by SurroGenesis have gotten abortions performed, or have indicated that they are planning to do so.

This is a very unfortunate incident. It is painful enough for couples to find out that they cannot procreate and bear children of their own, but to be brave enough to invest their faith and trust, along with huge sums of money, in a company to find them a surrogate, and then go bankrupt and lose everything, is far more troubling. I believe that SurroGenesis and the other major surrogate firm should be held accountable here and be forced to pay the surrogates and eggdonors. It should be their liability, as the couples and surrogates were nothing but innocent victims here. In regard to whether or not the surrogate mothers should be allowed to abort the babies and find a new job, I believe they should have this right—Just as an employee has a right to quit if their paychecks stop coming in the mail or their company is going bankrupt and is likely to fire them. However, I could only hope that the surrogate mothers are more thoughtful and compassionate than that and realize that the issue is far out the couple’s hands, and go along with the pregnancies anyway. Perhaps agreements could be worked on a case-to-case basis and the couples can find a way to help pay for the surrogate’s financial and medical needs in various ways.

YouTube video of Michael Crook on Hannity and Colmes

Have any of you heard of Michael Crook? Well if you haven’t you’re not missing much, but I thought it was worth sharing just to show that there are actually people like this out there. Michael Crook is a widely-known blogger and troll who prides himself on being one of the most hated people of the internet for speaking the “truth” about political and historical events. Often, he will write about devastating events taking place in the news, such as car crashes where teenagers have died, and makes fun of them for being “stupid children who can’t drive”. He is probably best known for his ridiculously negative views of the United States Army and his belief in the stupidity of all American soliders. He is also an avid denier of the Holocaust and claims that the death of 12 million people never even took place. Many people refer to him as the devil, which he may very well be—just look at those eyes.

Below is a you tube link of him getting schooled on Hannity and Colmes. Hannity tries to explain to him that if it weren’t for our troops fighting to defend the First Amendment, he wouldn’t even have the freedom of speech to write and say the ludicrous things he does. Crook started up a group called “Forsake Our Troops”, where he rejoices when a solider gets wounded. He claims that soldiers are overpaid and that they are “stupid scumbags” for ever joining the United States Army in the first place. On his own blog, Crook writes that “I briefly was in the US Army in 1999, but after getting to Fort Benning, it became apparent that we’d be expected to one day risk our lives for our country.” So he overplayed a minor heart condition and faked his way out of the army. Take a look for yourself at him getting blasted on Hannity and Colmes…

Is this Economic Slump Good for Marriage?

With this economic down slide, it is apparent that many businesses are closing, local stores are going bankrupt, and wallets are feeling much lighter than they have in previous months. However, there is one institution that is not feeling the backlash—marriage. Although a shaky economy could very well lead to more frustration in the household and act as a push-factor for divorce, CNN reports that 37% of recently polled attorneys have reported fewer claims for divorces being filed in the United States. Since divorce is such an expensive and money-guzzling process to go through, many couples are left with no choice but to remain in their current state of matrimony until the economy starts to shape up. With frustration and aggravation levels rising in many households, especially those who are struggling to make ends meet, divorce may be the most desired means as a way out. However, many couples cannot afford to go through the costly process, and thus are forced to remain together until some sort of economic upsurge.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Sure there’s the point that not automatically filing for divorce acts as a form of divorce mediation, and has the potential to prevent a significant percentage of divorces from ever taking place. However, this may not be entirely a good thing. What about all those households where domestic violence or abuse is taking place, and the women simply cannot afford to file for divorce and remove herself, and potentially her children, from the violent conditions? Yes, the current state of the economy is “good” for the divorce rate, as many cannot afford to go through the process, however; it has the potential to cause even more destruction in certain homes where divorce would normally be the best choice. Perhaps the Obama Administration should work on putting some sort of legislation into action which would lend struggling couples the money needed for divorce-- with very low interest rates built in so that the event the poorest of Americans could afford divorce in the most crucial of situations. What do you think?