A Loss in Presidential Presence?

Turn on your TV at some point in the day and you are likely to flip through a channel with the President's face on it. Good, bad or ugly - he's there. With health care reform taking front and center stage in today's mass media political coverage, our President has made strong efforts to use television to his advantage.

Say what you will about this tactic, there is one thing that it is causing: the diminishment of Presidential presence on TV.

But this isn't something that began with President Obama. He's only continuing this recent trend.

Bill Clinton enjoyed high popularity and approval ratings through most of his tenure in office. When the Lewinski scandal swarmed the air waves and found its way into daily news coverage, people began to tune out. It was too much for the average American to see the President on every other channel. Where once the full, undivided attention was there, it was then gone.

Then came George W. Bush, who had great presence on TV throughout the course of the 9/11 events. A long, unpopular war later and the value of Bush's appearance on TV began to dwindle away.

Now Obama finds himself in a similar situation. After being highly covered throughout the 2008 Presidential campaign, more Americans are now beginning to flip the channel at the sight of our President.

This is not about political preference, agenda or ideology. This is about the exposure of our President on television and how the once-important appearances are becoming white noise. And each modern-day President has lost that aura in his own way - mostly because of a drop in popularity, but partly because of the situations they were in.

Whether it's the President's fault or the media's fault, it's sad to see another President become "just another face" in the clutter of TV. When the Leader of the Free World becomes ignored by the general public things become dangerous - with the potential of hidden agendas and deceptive messages flying right over our heads.

Whoever the President may be, it's important to keep an eye on his/her rhetoric and the actions that follow them. Amidst the clutter we must keep a clear view of the issues at hand and how our government acts upon them.

Don't tune out on your country's future.

It's Been a While

I haven't written a blog post for quite a while - almost three months now. Why? Partly because I've been enjoying my summer and have been preoccupied with my internship. But it's also in part to the desensitized state I'm in with all the political events surrounding America.

Day by day we see billions, trillions in the headlines, taglines and scrolls of our TV screens when we turn on the news. I thought America was already "broke" before Bush left office, now there's more money being spent beyond that. Basically, I feel like I have no understanding, or control, of what's going on with this country's finances. A lesson in economics would help out right around now.

I've been very lenient on President Obama as he's entered into a difficult situation and will need time to prove himself as the Leader of the Free World. And I won't go into Obama-bashing as I didn't appreciate the Bush-bashers. There's still time to get things fixed, but Americans are impatient and approval ratings can fall quicker than the DOW any given week. Whether Obama or McCain would have entered the White House, I believe we would be in the same situation - that's the reality of a recession.

This post will serve as a primer to the stories I will be writing once I start my fall semester at the university. Its seems like when I step back into school I get all my intellectual juices flowing and start pondering the idealistic thoughts that many college students run through there heads. Whether its politics, social issues, philosophy, a bit of humor or something just darn interesting, you'll hear me talking about it here.

I appreciate discussions and debates because that's what gives me the best understanding possible on any given issue. I look forward to hearing from some of you in the near future.

Why I Never Stop Asking Questions

When's the last time you asked a question? Probably right before you opened this web page ("What should I do to get rid of my boredom?). If you think about it, you ask questions just about all the time.

Questions are an intricate part of my life because they allow me to explore beyond the simplicities of everyday life. What should I eat for lunch today? What plans do I have for the summer? Where will I be a year from now? It's much more than all that.

It's about finding meaning in my life and understanding the world around me as much as possible.

As bold as this may sound, the sole act of asking a question lets me know that humanity exists beyond the bubble that I call my life. Everyone has questions and the answers are what give our lives purpose and direction. Without our ancestors asking questions before us, we would not nearly have all the answers that we have today (i.e. how does gravity work? how can we transport ourselves? etc).

At the same time, we must realize that some questions may never be answered in our lifetimes - Who created life? Who created our creator? What came before the "Big Bang"? Am I reincarnated?

Either way, asking questions and using logic, rationality, and as much objectivity as possible to find answers should be a goal in everyone's life. It prevents people from living lives akin to robots and computers.

Sometimes it's good to ask yourself, "Why do I believe this?" or "Why am I behaving this way?" You will be surprised to find the underlying causes of your belief system and begin to see things in a new light.

Some may say that ignorance is bliss, but ignorance is also a life of fiction - where reality and truth is barely present or nonexistent. I would not want to die and realize that I carried my life entirely lived within a small, rigid box that sheltered me from all the realities life had to offer; good, bad and neutral.

I never stop asking because knowledge and education is never ending. With that said, I may never know the purpose of humankind's existence, but I will gain a greater understanding of how and why societies act in such ways.

What I hope to achieve by the end of my journey is a comprehensive base of facts and perspectives that create what is known as social reality. If we are the only species on Earth with the ability to use our minds in autonomous and creative manners, then why not explore our limits and ask what is not obvious.

So whenever you shut down this web page and unplug your computer, sit down and think about those unanswered questions you have. Dare to think outside the box and entertain the thought of uncommon ideas. It's your mind, now use it to its fullest.

Health in America: A Dangerous Cycle

Staying healthy is a prominent issue throughout the world today, especially in the United States of America. While there are great progressions in health science and medicine, there are other vital issues that burden the American public and need to be addressed at some point in our lifetime. 

Nutrition is a problem for a significant portion of Americans with today's emphasis on taste and flavor over the focus on nutritional value and sanitation. Your average American would rather take a stroll down a fast food drive-thru than take the time to shop for healthy food options and alternatives. This is a social issue that needs to be approached with consumer awareness on a full-scale level.

According to the EPA, there are 1055 ingredients registered as pesticides and most of the foods we eat have been grown with the use of pesticides. This isn't a new story to most of us, but is still a startling reality that we wish did not exist. It's common logic to protect your foods from pests that could potentially implant diseases in the produce. The problem is that in protecting the public we are harming ourselves at the same time - a double-edged sword of sorts. There needs to be more research done in the field of food preservation and sanitation in order to find the right balance. 

As natural consumers of food products, we must face the companies that mass produce our fruits, vegetables, meats, and grains and insure that our health is not compromised by production cost-benefit analyses. If we demand more from the companies, then they will have no other choice but to listen to their customers - their sole source of existence. 

A problem here is pricing of healthier (i.e. organic) products over conventional products and how it undoubtedly costs more to buy healthy. The irony is that we pay an extra buck to enjoy food that is not contaminated with chemicals, while all food products should be chemical-free or minimally exposed to these chemicals. In essence, we pay more for food that we should originally be provided with.

Now the biggest cog in this cycle happens to be healthcare and its necessity. Since 2006, we have had over 46.6 million people without health insurance in America. At the same time, our healthcare systems are some of the most sophisticated and advanced in the world. But what is all this sophistication worth if you can't afford it? There's obviously a dilemma with healthcare costs and affordability in the United States. This is something that definitely needs to be dealt with via the government, whether you like it or not because the industry has may be privately run and dependent on clients, but they know you can't hide from doctors, hospitals, etc. Thus, they basically have a stranglehold on the American public and can set the price at whatever they please. 

With all these things in mind - lack of nutrition in food choices, presence of chemicals in our foods and rising costs of healthcare - we have a comprehensive issue on our hands that will take a serious reassessment of our lifestyles, values and policies in order to correct. 

Should we choose multi-grain tuna sandwich over the chicken nuggets and fries?

Should we advocate for less-invasive pesticide use on our products?

Is it just for healthcare costs to continue to rise at alarming rates?

These are just some of the questions we must ask ourselves if we hope to right the ship and end this vicious cycle of issues that surround the topic of health in America. 

Sources: 

• http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/riskassess.htm
  
• http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/007419.html
  

Stadium Controversy in The Big Leagues

Since I haven't had the time to write on Life as (Un)usual for a while now. I decided to post a semi-related article on how controversial economic issues are swirling around professional sports in the US. This coming from my sports blog, MiamiSportsGeneration.com.

Although this is nothing new in the sports world, the issue of stadiums and ticket prices have caught my attention. In particular, the New York area happens to be the prime example for the latest wave of constructing brand new stadiums. The New York Giants (NFL), NY Yankees (MLB), and NY Mets (MLB) have all either began constructing or already erected the new sites where they hope to call home. The only problem is that the "Welcome Home" mats have been swept from under of some of their most loyal fans - leaving them in shock and creating a controversy.

PSLs. Personal Seat Licenses. I'm sure you've heard of them by now, especially if you are a Dallas Cowboys fan. A simple way to define it is: pay to have the right to buy season tickets in a specific seat. You can't just pay for a seat. No. You pay for the chance to pay for a seat. Unfair? That's not what the owners say.

Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, is placing a PSL price tag on exclusive seats ranging from $50,000 all the way to $150,000. Let's think about that for a second. $50,000 is the equivalent to buying a brand new car with all the bells and whistles. $150,000 is the equivalent to about five times an average American's salary (approx. $30,000).

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. Let's sit down and talk about this for just a moment and get this straight. You want people to pay that much money just so they can have a chance to buy a seat? You mean that paying that amount does NOT include the actual season tickets? Well that doesn't sound irrational at all now, does it? By the way, the US is still in an economic recession if you haven't checked.

And hold up, don't think that this only applies to luxury suite occupants and lower bowl season ticket holders. This is stadium-wide. Even upper deck seats have PSLs that start at $1,000 and go up to $5,000 - that coming from the New York Giants PSL calculator for their up-and-coming Meadowlands Stadium.

Besides the whole PSL issue, ticket prices have sky-rocketed. The NY Yankees' highest ticket price for a single game stands at a whopping $2,625. Not to single out the Yanks, the Mets have just about doubled their ticket prices, even after increases of 14% and 25% in the previous two seasons.

All of this comes under the justification that the teams "must stay competitive" in the league. Well the old Yankee stadium might have been outdated (to an extent), but it was still functional and the team still held the highest payroll in the MLB for quite a while now. You stay competitive by enhancing the product on the field, not the other way around.

The funniest case of "staying competitive" came from the NY Giants. One the eve of winning the Super Bowl, the Giants still want a new stadium. To coin the phrase from a third-generation Giants fan, "I don't know how much more competitive you can get than that."

I think it's time for owners to take a look at the situation and realize that we are not in an economic boom right now, and even if we were, those prices may still be considered a rip-off.

The Yankees did not need to spend $1.5 billion on their new stadium.

The Cowboys did not need to spend $1.3 billion on their new stadium.

The Mets did not need to spend $900 million on their new stadium.

Remember that spending billions on your house will not guarantee that it will become your home.

Source: Miami Sports Generation

Inspiring Ad About Education

I'm not sure if you've been able to see this ad, but it definitely captured my attention when I saw it on my TV screen. It's by Kaplan, which is known for its test prep courses for high school and college students, and is trying to promote a new dimension of their company known as "Kaplan University." The advertisement hits students at the heart of their emotions by appealing to their technological adeptness and digital media advancement. All I know is that it had good enough rhetoric for me to stare at the screen for the full thirty seconds. Take a look at it below and let me know what you think about it.

Whether Kaplan University is a worthy, credible institution that is not my concern. I'm just focusing on the content of the ad and how it drew my attention. That's a big part of creating an effective ad and this one did just that. On a lighter note, the professor in the ad looks just like "Uncle Phil" from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I can just imagine a young Will Smith with his flat top driving him nuts rights now.

A Call for Global Regulation

I thought I would never say this, but I actually agree with France on an issue. French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has proposed a global regulatory proposal at the G-20 Summit in London, England. I'm sure many "free market, pro-business Capitalists" are already steaming up at the fact that Sarkozy proposed such a thing and that I'm siding with government intervention.

Before I begin, I'd like to lay the ground for my argument by clearing the airs about my ideological beliefs. I'm not a conservative, nor a liberal. I'm not a neo-liberal capitalist, nor a modernized communist. That may leave some at a cross-roads because many people like to label others in order to understand their broader perspectives. Unfortunately, It's hard to narrow me down into a specific ideology. Call me a "Radical Moderate" if it makes you would like.

Getting back to the point, I believe that international corporate power has gotten out of control. Massive companies have been able to generate more GDP than some nation-states around the world. How do you control an entity that has no national binds? Through a global regulation system. Many free market Capitalists hate (with a capital H) the idea of regulation, mainly because the general perspective is that "the Market knows best." I refuse to belief that some intangible paradigm decides what's best for humankind. I believe in competition and open trade, but as long as there is oversight by a governing body. I'd rather the government watch over the wheel than take control of it themselves.

I compare "The Market" to a youthful prodigy - it has great potential, but allow it to get out of control and the genius within may lead to destructive consequences. We can't just accept corporate greed and monopolization as an "unchangeable reality" that comes from "The Market."

The issues with this global governing body lie within the simple questions of who, what, when, and how. Who will join? What exact business-related activities will be regulated? When is the right time to use this oversight? And how will this all materialize?

These are some of the many questions that must be discussed, but nonetheless we should consider some form of legitimate international oversight. I wish everyone could set economic ideological beliefs aside and take the time to ponder the thought, but I know that many will not let this see the light of day in their lives.

If we want to avoid a future economic catastrophe, in which more companies will be "too big to fail" and wall street determines whether the global economy floats or sinks, then we must look beyond isolated national regulation. We are part of a global economy and it's time to make a global effort to restructure and revive the world's economy.