Air Wars

As mentioned the other day, I will provide the opposite of the Republicans suing Obama. I left you with a video with the President saying his polices are on the ballot. This is perfect as to what we were discussing in class this week. All of the ads for the midterms are running like mad. Only a few days to decide who will control the Senate. With those words of Obama in the video in the last post, Republicans and SuperPacs have made commercials with those words against Obama and the Democrats, because a vote for Nunn is a vote for Obama.

I'll be honest. I absolutely love this! My blog is doing what it has been designed to do. Plus it goes along perfectly with class discussions.
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Tired of the same ole

I didn't notice anything much last week that I have already covered. Ebola, ISIS, campaign ads. Been there, done that. Still waiting on Dr. D to send my t-shirt! I started this blog to show how the media is a supplemental vitamin to politics. But what I'm finding are a lot of reruns. I was suppose to post last week. I wanted a story so interesting, so provocative, that it would blow you mind. It didn't come.

To fix last week I will mention old news and I will give a preview to what I will post Friday for this week...and it almost correlates the same meaning but with different parties.

Republicans to sue Obama. Republicans to impeach Obama. The Democrats are loving this one. Now, the lawsuit to this day has yet to be filed, and there are not mentions of any impeachment proceedings in the near future. What has been said is that Democrats are using those two ideas to rally their party for November.

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) insisted Tuesday there were “no plans” for impeachment, calling talk of the subject a “scam” designed by Democrats to raise money. But the specter of the nation’s first black president being accused in the House of “high crimes and misdemeanors” is something Democrats hope will energize core voters, particularly African Americans. That could be important as Democrats look for ways to guarantee a strong turnout of their supporters in the November election. http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-boehner-impeachment-fundraising-20140729-story.html

Although this is old news, it still shows that media attention may ignite the fire needed by Democrats to win seats in one week. Even if this does not work, I am still right because I know turn-out will be higher.

Preview for the next blog Friday. 

New generation muckraking?

Okay. This week in Graber and the lessons we learn about muckraking. These investigative journalist go out dig up dirt and expose. But is there any muckraking? Does that term really exist? With the internet and social media putting everything at fingertips, I don't think there is much of anything that needs investigating. Sound bytes, videos, and pictures tell all the story that you need. A random thing happened this week. You know how we heard that say it ain't so Joe (Biden) has mentioned before that he thought about running for president? Well, you should probably know that Hillary is wanting to run as well. Now, who do think that the Democratic Party and their PACs want to win? Why yes of course, Hillary! So,  guess what? Joe Biden's son was  from the Navy for failing a drug test. Yep, cocaine to be exact.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/17/biden-son-discharged-from-navy-after-reportedly-testing-positive-for-cocaine/

The Wall Street Journal reported this. I do think that this was a secret planned attack from camp Clinton. Trust me, in politics family members are the first to be attacked.

Race for November

By now, you have seen the campaign ads rolling away on print, TV, and social media. Its the midterms and apparently there is a lot at stake. The biggie is the control of the Senate. If the Republicans can score a majority, then they will have total control of Congress. Georgia is a player in that where David Perdue and Michelle Nunn battle for that US Senate seat. Georgia also has the gubernatorial race with incumbent Nathan Deal against Jason Carter. Both of these races are really big for Georgia. So with that comes the attack ads. These are not uncommon, in fact they are becoming the norm. Paint your opponent as the most unfit, unpleasant, and undeserving candidate and maybe that will get you a boost right? No so fast! A lot of voters find these negative ads as a turn off to a candidate. But you see, usually the candidate themselves do not put out those negative ads. Its usually a PAC of some sort, making their message clear but at the same time, somewhat hurting the candidate. Sometimes, it actually works out. But with so many ads out there, and so many spins on what the candidate says, who do you believe? People shouldn't have to toss a coin in the air just to choose a candidate. CBS 46 news along with KSU political science department sorts some of those ads out.

I am in a truth-testing class run by Dr. Pieper. Every week we get a political statement from a candidate and do crap tons of research and give it a grade. A-F, with A being undoubtably true and F flat out no truth or merit. We are doing week 5 at the moment and I can tell you that media is all politics. Just as Graber mentions about private surveillance, our truth-test can be unflattering news for a candidate. I have noticed that things aren't complete lies....they take the truth and stretch is as far as humanly possible. That spin, really is unfair to the voters. But thats what happens in politics.



Truth Test No. 3: Nathan Deal on education - CBS46 News

Ebola, media, and politics

By now everybody has heard of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. If you have been living under a rock then....find some Internet my friend! So why do we care about this disease? According to WHO; The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated.The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms is 2 to 21 days. Humans are not infectious until they develop symptoms. First symptoms are the sudden onset of fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding (e.g. oozing from the gums, blood in the stools). Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.No licensed vaccines are available yet, but 2 potential vaccines are undergoing human safety testing.
The media is on this like white on rice....oh man so cliche. Since the first American that contracted this disease, media has followed it around...hungry like the wolf. Heck, its a dang story that won't go away. It's the I told you so. Yes, when those infected Americans came back home to get treatment...some of the public were not too happy. They were afraid that this would bring the virus here. Do you blame them? Nobody wants to die...especially from a virus. But it was the media that fueled this fire. Everybody from the CDC and the president said we have nothing to worry about. Then it happened. That guy got on a plane....lied about his health and carried Ebola all the way to Texas. In that transit the guy had direct contact with 80 people. So apparently it won't spread with out body fluid contact. 
Back to the media. Citizens to lawmakers have addressed concerns about Ebola outbreak and taken to broadcast and social media to deliver their messages. But is the media way overblowing this whole thing? What about the media with an agenda? Both Fox and CNN have been decently critical of the CDC and the president to do something. Closing our borders was a suggestion....but that may be over the top. So with some pressure from the public through the media (once again supplements politics) the president has made a statement.

President Obama announced Monday, after meeting with top health and security officials about the Ebola outbreak in Africa, that the U.S. government is preparing additional measures to screen passengers in the U.S. and overseas as part of the expanding effort to contain the virus. 

"We're ... going to be working on protocols to do additional passenger screening both at the source and here in the United States," the president said. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/06/obama-advisers-weigh-extra-ebola-screening-for-travelers-at-us-airports/?intcmp=latestnews