Bright Hall

Former Space Man Talks Politics, Accomplishments

Joshua Chaney — 2009-04-23T17:28:00+00:00

Filed under: Politics, Culture, The Economy, Muskingum College

Perhaps one of the most distinguished and certainly one of the most recognizable people in American history spoke humbly of his life accomplishments and reviewed Obama's first 100 days earlier this month.

On April 9, 2009 - 50 years ago this month - John Glenn was named a member of the Mercury 7, the United States' first astronauts. Glenn grew up in the village of New Concord - a small, college town in southeastern Ohio. He was a member of the village band and eventually a student at Muskingum College.

Since those days, his name has been one that is familiar to most anyone. He was a fighter pilot, a test pilot, one of America's first astronauts, the first man to orbit earth in space, an Ohio senator, a presidential candidate and later the oldest man to fly in space.

"It's hard for me to believe it's been that long," he said. "Part of that is because it seems to vivid to me."

One thing made clear by speaking with Glenn is his keen interest in politics and history. In fact, Glenn, a former Ohio Senator from 1974 to 1999, ran for president in 1984 but was unsuccessful. A close friend of the Kennedy family, Glenn was with Robert Kennedy when President John Kennedy was assassinated in Texas.

Glenn campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004 and President Barack Obama in 2008. Glenn has said Obama is "doing an exceptional job" dealing with America's economic crisis.

"I can't speak with any certainty about the economy, because nobody knows what's going to happen, and I think we had to do something because this was the biggest drift down since the Great Depression."
Glenn's father was a plumber without work during those days. Eventually, Glenn explained, he found work through Roosevelt's Work Projects Administration program.

"There were things like that that really primed the pump and helped things and it took awhile," he said. "We didn't recover for many years after that"

Pundits have already started rating and reviewing Obama's first 100 days in office with mixed reviews.

"I think he had to do something and I certainly hope this works," Glenn said. "What he's doing to try and prime the pump now is running up an enormous national debt that we're going to have to deal with, but that's something I think he had to do. I don't think we could let this thing go the way it was. Even in just the last few weeks here I've noticed in the papers and magazines a lot of talk now about that this is a recovery that is starting and things like that and I certainly hope it's true."

Glenn's service was marked most notably for his work in foreign policy. While in office, Glenn was the chief author of the 1978 Nonproliferation Act and served as the chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs from 1987 until 1995, and sat on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees.

"I think his first foray into foreign policy in Europe and Turkey and those areas has been a big success from everything I can read," Glenn said.

Obama's effort to reduce the amount of nuclear weapons in the world "strikes a very responsive cord with me because that was one of the areas I worked very hard on all the time I was in the Senate, nuclear nonproliferation."

Glenn serves on Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, which he explained has met for more than a year, toured various nuclear development locations around the country, and is to decide whether or not the current military weaponry arsenal is adequate or can be adjusted.

Sen. Glenn is an adjunct professor of political science at the Ohio State University, where he helped establish the John Glenn School of Public Affairs, a wing he started in 1998 to encourage public service.

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Susan Boyle Becomes Internet Sensation

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-04-20T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Notre Dame

It is improbable that a homely, 47-year-old woman from a small village in Scotland could captivate the world, but somehow that is exactly what has happened this week.

Last Wednesday, a friend sent me a link to a YouTube video showing Susan Boyle, a woman of admittedly plain looks, with short, curly gray hair, a plump figure and bushy eyebrows. Boyle appeared on Britain's Got Talent, a television show similar to American Idol, where the perpetually tan Simon Cowell and another man and woman judge as regular Brits showcase their performance skills.

The video starts with an interview with Susan Boyle, who says she lives alone with her cat Pebbles, and has never been married, or even kissed. When she walks out on stage, you can hear the laughter from the audience, and see the doubt in the faces of the judges. This woman, everyone thought, would just be another dud, someone who thought she sounded good in the shower, but really struggled to carry a tune.

But everyone gets their chance on the show, even though many in the audience were rolling their eyes. The music for "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Miserables began, and the audience went from mockery to amazement as they heard Susan Boyle start singing the very difficult song beautifully. The shock registered on the judges' faces, and the audience stood up to cheer, while Susan Boyle calmly continued singing the song she had come to sing.

The YouTube video has, by Monday afternoon, received more than 33 million views. Boyle is one of the top trending topics on Twitter and has been for days. She has over a million fans on Facebook.

And I, for one, cannot stop thinking about her.

In a culture obsessed with youth and beauty, Susan Boyle is an outsider. Someone I sent the video to could not believe it was really Boyle singing. He asked me if Britain's Got Talent had done the reverse of China in the Olympics, playing a beautiful voice with a less than beautiful image.

Other people I know, as they were watching the video, joked that they wished they were just listening to the audio. The video is so stunning, and I believe has been viewed so many times, purely because of the great dichotomy between what we are hearing and what we are seeing.

Susan Boyle, according to an article in The Times of London, is a volunteer caring for elderly members of her local church and has spent much of her adult life caring for her mother. It wasn't until after her mother died that she finally decided to make a big try for a music career, and she did it as a tribute to her mother, who always told her she was a great singer.

Is the Susan Boyle video mesmerizing because we do not expect such a heavenly voice from someone who looks nothing like an angel? Or is it because Boyle reminds us that we too can rise up, even as others snicker at us and doubt our capabilities?

Or has the impossible truly happened?

Now that the 2008 election is over and the problems we knew existed before Nov. 4 loom even larger, in an economy whose bottom we may not yet have reached, with North Korea firing rockets and Iran imprisoning U.S. journalists, now that problems must actually be addressed, not just discussed in soaring rhetoric, have Americans found someone who embodies hope like Barack Obama did when he was a candidate?

Susan Boyle, if you really want to make it big, leave your little Scottish village and come to America, because here, hope sells.

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Actress: Tea Protestors Were Redneck Racists

Joshua Chaney — 2009-04-17T23:17:00+00:00

Filed under: Politics, Culture, Media, Muskingum College

Don't like high taxes or runaway government spending? You're a dumb, redneck racist.

That's essentially what liberal actor Janeane Garofalo said on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night. She was prompted to give a response on the Tea Party protests after Olbermann ranted on about the protesters "seething with hate." This from Olbermann, who essentially built an entire show around an hour-long, hate-filled rant about then president George W. Bush.

Olbermann still rants about Bush in a daily segment each on his show - 100 days after Bush left office, mind you. At what point is he forced to give it up? Still somehow - after Olbermann had finished his numerous immature references to male genitals, which he evidently thought were funny - Garofalo upstaged Olbermann on who could be the nuttiest hypocrite on stage.

"You know there is nothing more interesting than seeing a bunch of racists become confused and angry," she led off with. She went on to describe how none of the protesters could tell what the speakers were saying, or knew history at all.

"Let's be very honest about what this is about: It's not about bashing Democrats, it's not about taxes, they have no idea what the Boston Tea Party was about, they don't know their history at all. This was about hating a black man in the White House," she said pointing her finger. "This is racism straight up. That is nothing but a bunch of tea-bagging rednecks and there is no way around that."

She couldn't just leave it at that, no way! She had much more hate left before she would be ready to give up the floor.

"You can tell these type of right-wingers anything and they'll believe it except the truth. You tell them the truth and they become -- it's like showing Frankenstein's monster fire -- they become confused and angry and highly volatile...The limbic brain of a right-winger or Republican or conservative or your average white power activist. Their limbic brain is much larger in their head space than in a reasonable person and it's pushing against the frontal lobe so their synapses are misfiring."

There is nothing that can be done to fix conservatives -- or just people who think they pay too much in taxes, she said, because it's about racism.

If you are concerned about runaway government spending, you evidently are an uneducated, brain damaged, redneck, racist who is unable to decipher truth from fiction.

Paul Begala got a little worked up over the tea protests on Imus in the Morning Wednesday as well saying that Tax Day was "the proudest, most patriotic day for 99 percent of Americans, that we have all year."

Are 99 percent of Americans really going to think of tax day as the most patriotic day of the year? Not in this lifetime. What about real patriotic days like July 4th, Armistice Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, etc.?

Begala went on to a call tea partiers "Wimpy, whining weasels" who "don't love their country."

One thing is certain: Begala and Garofalo didn't seem to have a problem with whining throughout the past eight years.

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Tea Parties Planned for Tax Day

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-04-15T08:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Breaking News, News, Media, Notre Dame

The Internet has been buzzing lately all about parties happening on Tax Day. Tea Parties, to be exact.

I never got an invitation, but I'm more of a coffee drinker. It'd be a bit of a pain to purchase tea bags just to dump them in a body of water.

Like the great pre-Revolutionary War colonists who came before them, American taxpayers are up in arms and want to protest "higher taxes and out-of-control government spending," according to a column in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday. It's hard to tell who exactly started this movement, but the columnist asserted that this is not the work of a "right-wing conspiracy," but rather, average Americans who are using the expanding power of the Internet to organize an imitation of an event that took place in 1773.

According to the Wall Street Journal column, the protests began in mid-February with bloggers in Seattle, Wash., then grew when CNBC commentator Rick Santelli delivered his now famous rant against President Obama's policies, advocating that people organize a tea party in Chicago on July 4.

From that rant, a movement was born. Now these flash mob protests are apparently planned across the country on Tax Day. The Tea Party movement is one of the top trending topics on Twitter, and on Facebook a group called Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party has more than 35,000 members.

I'm always up for a party. And those are big numbers. I'd love to fly home to watch protesters dump a million tea bags in Lafayette Square in Washington D.C, as the protest organizers say they will, according to a Washington Post story.

Imagine if we took that tea and, provided it was caffeinated, gave it to American workers. Think of the productivity we'd see on Tax Day!

On second thought, the people organizing the Tax Day Tea Party probably don't need any more caffeine. This grass-roots movement has grown surprisingly quickly. A lot of people are comparing it to Obama's use of the Internet in 2008 to increase enthusiasm for his campaign. Except, with Obama, there were a lot fewer teabags. And fewer unfortunate inappropriate jokes. (I'm not explaining it. Look it up.)

A Web site called Tax Day Tea Party purports to be the online headquarters for the tea partiers. A "revolution is brewing at a city near you" they say. Besides being clever at wordplay, the site's creators have also done a good job of listing Tea Party events occurring in every state.

Over on her Web site, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin has a playlist of songs for the Tea Parties. I recommend the reader-suggested rendition of "American Pie."

If you cannot make it out to a local Tea Party, the Republican National Committee has a way for you to participate. Go to their Web site and you can mail a postcard to President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Harry Reid or Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Best of all, you can choose one of four varieties of tea bags to send along with your postcard.

At the White House briefing Tuesday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he is not sure if Obama knows about the planned parties, but Gibbs said he personally is not monitoring them.

If the Tea Parties don't work, perhaps some other famous event in American History can be re-staged? A flash mob to cry that the British are coming or a re-enactment of Washington crossing the Delaware?

If nothing else, all this flash-mobbing will improve our collective knowledge of this country's history.

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Brown University Faculty Votes To Hijack History

Joshua Chaney — 2009-04-14T21:50:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Breaking News, News, Brown University, Microtrends on Campus, American University, Muskingum College

An obsession with political correctness at American universities has rapidly become a national phenomenon in recent years. A few colleges have really taken it too far.

Brown University's faculty voted last week to rename Columbus Day "Fall Weekend" on the University's calendar, a move that apparently was in step with the wishes of students according to a poll by the college newspaper The Brown Daily Herald. The poll revealed a majority of students disapproved of continuing to call the holiday Columbus Day.

The decision came after weeks of pressure from student groups proposing change.

American University's Undergraduate Senate passed a similar resolution a few years ago declaring the holiday "Indigenous People's Day" instead.

Columbus Day is named of course after Christopher Columbus, the man incorrectly attributed with discovering North America. As we know today, Columbus was tied to the enslavement and abuse of native inhabitants of the West Indies. Columbus Day has been celebrated since 1971.
But really, Columbus Day? It seems strange that academics would be so willing to hijack history for the sake of an extremist obsession to purify it. Owning a history book doesn't give one the right to rewrite it, however. Columbus Day still exists as does U.S. history in its entirety - dark spots as well as bright.

The faculty might have instead used the day instead to ... oh, I dunno, teach? Since when is it an acceptable standard in American academia to ignore history instead of use its errors as a basis to teach and educate?

"Brown University made itself an example to the nation by carefully exploring its ties to the slave trade and using that process to promote greater understanding," Providence mayor David Cicilline, a 1983 graduate of Brown, said in a press release last week. But the decision to "simply erase the celebration of an incredibly significant moment in world history and Italian-American culture for the sake of political correctness does just the opposite," he added.

While Columbus might not be credited now with being the first person to discover America, many Italian-American organizations still credit Columbus, an Italian explorer, as a major historical influence on western civilization's introduction to a new part of the world.

Providence newspaper columnist Bob Kerr called the decision "detached," especially because of the large number of Italian descendants residing in Providence. Rush Limbaugh also opined on the decision, attacking the students who urged for the change.

One Brown student said Columbus is "undeserving of a holiday." Another said "what they teach us in elementary school is misleading - hero worshiping."

The decision was "a progressive step," he added.

I couldn't disagree more. The most feasible part of the students' argument is that Columbus wasn't deserving of the holiday in the first place. But what is certain is that the holiday is also is a yearly reminder of how far we've come. It provides a basis on which teachers can educate their students.

A much greater injustice is done in ignoring the sacrifices made at the hands of the ignorant. Their story deserves to be told, not swept under the rug and the best way to do that is for Columbus Day to remain untouched. It is not an elementary teacher's place to go all philosophical on an 8-year-old, and I don't think children are educated to idolize Columbus - at least I wasn't.

At a higher level of learning, the flaws of such individuals need to be observed and critiqued.

The decisions by both American University and Brown University were more accurately in step with those attempting to censor historical scars, and call it cliche, but those who ignore history are, indeed, destined to repeat it.

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Iowa Clears Way for Gay Marriage (Really? Iowa?)

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-04-03T22:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Breaking News, Local, Notre Dame

The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled Friday that a 1998 law which limited marriage to a man and a woman was unconstitutional, stating that same-sex marriages may begin in Iowa in as soon as three weeks.

Tonight I happened to attend a dinner with a professor from the University of Iowa. He told me that when he heard about the decision on CNN, he was more surprised that his state was making national news than to hear that gay marriages would soon be legalized.

A lot of people, he said, misjudge Iowa. So it's not a rural state with a lot of corn, wondered one of my dinner mates. Yes, it is, he said. But it's also the state that helped propel Barack Obama to the presidency. In January 2008, Obama won Iowa's Democratic caucus, and many political commentators saw his win in Iowa as a sign he could win the country. Obama won the state of Iowa 10 months later in the general election.

In this context, it's not as surprising that this state smack dab in the middle of the Midwest will become only the third state in the country, following Massachusetts and Connecticut, to permit gay marriage. (Of course, California's decision to allow gay marriage was overturned in November.) The full text of the Supreme Court's decision can be read here.

Lambda Legal, an organization that works to gain civil rights for lesbians, gay men and people with HIV/AIDS, filed a lawsuit in 2005 with Iowa's Polk County Court on behalf of six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in Iowa, with the argument that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates liberty and equality guarantees in the state's constitution.The Iowa Supreme Court opinion states that the legislature enacted a law that excluded gay and lesbian people from marriage, the executive branch of the state enforced the law by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and the judicial branch had the responsibility to determine if the law violates the Iowa Constitution. The Court decided that it did.

"A statute inconsistent with the Iowa Constitution must be declared void, even though it may be supported by strong and deep-seated beliefs and popular opinion," the court's opinion read.

A poll taken in February 2008 showed that 62 percent of Iowans believed marriage should only be between a man and a woman, while 32 percent said they believed same-sex marriage should be allowed, the Des Moines Register reported. Six percent were unsure.

Once gay marriages are allowed, 21 days following the Supreme Court's April 3 decision, it seems likely that gay marriage will remain a right in Iowa for several years, since a constitutional amendment banning it would require the state legislature to approve the ban during two consecutive sessions, and then the voters would be asked to weigh in, the New York Times reported. A CNN report stated that the earliest the issue could get on a ballot would be 2012.

Iowa has no residency requirement for getting a marriage license, so people from other parts of the country might be making their way to the Hawkeye State to get hitched.

In other Midwestern news this week, the University of Notre Dame rejected students' petition to add sexual orientation to the school's nondiscrimination clause.

Who knew there was so much diversity in the Heartland?

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FOX News Launches FOX Nation

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-04-01T01:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, National News, Media, Notre Dame

Conservative commentators on FOX News may have argued against the election of Barack Obama during the campaign, but they can't deny that four -- or eight -- years of an Obama administration will be good for their business.

FOX News Channel, which has long been the No. 1 cable news operation, extended its lead over CNN and MSNBC in recent months, the New York Times reported. Bill O'Reilly's show, The O'Reilly Factor, reached a milestone in March of 100 consecutive months as the most popular program on cable news.

FOX recently launched a new Web site, The FOX Nation, which the AP described as a "Huffington Post-style" site, a reference to Arianna Huffington's left-leaning blog site.

Though FOX is a leader on television, it falls behind on the Internet, the AP said, with 16 million unique visitors in February compared with MSNBC.com's 41 million viewers and CNN.com's 36 million.

The new Web site features one of the most grandiose introductory letters ever posted on a Web site. The letter lauds America as the "city on a hill," and says FOX Nation is dedicated to the people of America who have made it great.

And I thought FOX Nation was just a way to boost traffic to their online product at a time when the government, particularly Obama and Democrats in Congress, are doing a lot of things to irk conservatives.

Of course, these are hard times, FOX Nation says, but Americans have always risen up to face challenges and will again.

"How, exactly, should we assure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?" the letter says. "How do we perfect our union? How can we make certain that children of all races are fairly judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character?"

The answer to FOX Nation's questions is, of course, FOX Nation.

"FOX Nation will be a forum for Americans to speak out on important and controversial issues, and to act out their beliefs and values -- while always upholding the traditional American ideals of free speech, fair play and tolerance," the letter says.

The site is a more user-friendly version of FOX News' actual Web site. It features content from O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, and the AP reported that FOX Nation will be adding social networking components and encouraging visitors to post their opinions in response to the stories.

FOX Nation is also one of the few news organizations where Joe the Plumber remains a top news story. So now you know where to go to get your daily Joe.

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ShamPOW!: Pitchman Arrested For Punching Prostitute

Joshua Chaney — 2009-03-28T12:57:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Odd News, Muskingum College

I wonder if we'll have to suffer through those ShamWow commercials anymore with the we-can't-do-this-all-day guy with the stylish headset on.

I'm going to guess ShamWow will come up with a new pitchman after Vince Shlomi -- the guy made famous with his obnoxious yet amazingly successful commercials pitching the highly absorbent towels -- was arrested for punching a prostitute at a South Beach hotel last month.

According to thesmokinggun.com, Shlomi hired the woman for "straight sex" for a one-time special price of $1,000.

Shlomi met Sasha Harris, according to an arrest affidavit, at a Miami Beach nightclub and subsequently retired with her to his room at the Setai hotel.

Shlomi told cops he paid Harris after she "propositioned him for straight sex." During the the 4 a.m. fight, Harris sustained facial fractures and lacerations all over her face, according to the affidavit.

Shlomi evidently found out that kissing with tongue was not included in the offer when he gave it a try and the prostitute latched onto his tongue and didn't let go until after he had repeatedly punched her.

Shlomi ran into the lobby of the hotel where security called police, who later found him bleeding from the mouth.

Originally, both parties were charged with aggravated battery, but prosecutors decided not to pursue charges on either. It is still unclear whether ShamWow will consider making blood absorbent bandages for oral use.

If they do, they might have to wait until Shlomi's "moneymaker" is healed up so he can pitch us that idea next.

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'White People With Blue Eyes' Caused Economic Crisis?

Joshua Chaney — 2009-03-28T09:42:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, News, The Economy, Muskingum College

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently blamed the global economic crisis on "white people with blue eyes," and said it was wrong that black and indigenous people should pay for white people's mistakes, the Financial Times reported.

Standing next to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a joint press conference in Brasilia, Lula da Silva told reporters: "This crisis was caused by the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes, who before the crisis appeared to know everything and now demonstrate that they know nothing."

"I do not know any black or indigenous bankers so I can only say [it is wrong] that this part of mankind which is victimised more than any other should pay for the crisis," he added.

What a fun position Gordon Brown found himself in!

"I'm not going to attribute blame to any individuals," Brown said, probably wishing he would have skipped out on the Brazilian stop of his five-day tour of Europe, the United States and South America.

Brown's tour was in preparation for Thursday's G20 summit. Brown made a joint appeal for the world's biggest economies to pledge $100 billion to boost global trade.

Adding to his analysis of the economic crisis, Lula da Silva likened protectionism to addictive drugs.

"I compare protectionism to a drug," he said. "Why do people use drugs? Because they are in crisis and they think the drug will help them. But its effects pass quickly."

While not as shocking as the first pronouncement, this isn't winning a Nobel any time soon either. Such extreme statements also won't help Brazil's campaign for a bigger voice in international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Forum. At least until their president drastically alters his thinking.

And that might be the only positive development to come of all this.

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Can a 'Three Stooges' Movie Live Up To the Hype?

Rincey Abraham — 2009-03-27T13:10:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Movies, Pop Culture, Fiction, Marquette University

Variety has reported that the casting for the new Three Stooges film, which is to be directed by the Farrelly brothers, is finishing up casting. Sean Penn has been signed on to play Larry, Jim Carrey is in negotiations to play Curly and the brothers are looking to Benicio Del Toro to play Moe.

The movie got off to a rough start when Warner Bros. decided to drop the project, but it was later picked up by MGM. However, it's still unclear how the whole things is going to work.

The Farrelly brothers, known for such hits as There's Something About Mary, have already been quoted as saying that the film will not be a biopic, but will instead take place in the modern day with them still acting, dressing and looking like The Stooges.

"When the economy started turning, we felt like the world could use a Stooges slapfest," Peter Farrelly told Daily Variety. "Bobby and I haven't done a real physical comedy in a while, and it's the most exciting thing we could think of now, to have people go to the movie, see some great slapstick fun family humor."

I'm not going to pretend to be a Stooges aficionado, but now that there are actors attached to the film, it is much easier to see it all coming together. Carrey seems like the perfect fit for the movie since he is best known for his comedic roles (even though he proved his serious acting chops in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Penn, who just won an Academy Award for his role in Milk, and Del Toro seem to be odder fits, but you never know what range these guys will be able to show off if given the chance.

Because of the fact that the Stooges are beloved by so many around the world, this movie has quite the standard to live up to. Hopefully the Farrelly brothers will be able to create a movie that exceeds expectations.

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If I Hear One More Thing About Teenage Vampires ...

Matt Negrin — 2009-03-27T01:50:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Boston University, Fiction

The elite prep students at the prestigious Boston Latin school are evidently concerned that vampires are roaming their halls.

The gossip has seeped so much, in fact, that the academy's headmaster had to send a note to everyone Thursday to quash the "rumors involving 'vampires.' "

This moral panic, the Boston Globe reported, was started when a group of girls teased a "Goth" student for being a "would-be vampire," spreading the rumor that she had sucked someone's neck blood. More childish students freaked out when the police arrived at the school for a completely unrelated incident.

Apparently, teens have been sickly obsessed with vampires since the confusingly popular book/movie "Twilight" began romanticizing the night crawlers months ago. Girls across the country had Twilight sleepovers to celebrate the movie and Robert Pattinson's budding facial hair.

Why now? Vampire literature has stacked libraries for centuries, stemming from Heinrich August Ossenfelder's 1748 erotic poem "The Vampire" and thriving in the latter half of the 20th Century with Anne Rice's popular Vampire Chronicles. Clearly there's a market out there for readers interested in secretive bat-like characters sinking their teeth into the virgin flesh of sleeping women.

(I'm more of a classic movie buff myself, preferring the likes of Teen Wolf to silly unrealistic fantasies. But I digress.)

Just as we thought the fake-literature fad spurred by Harry Potter was finally ebbing, here comes another book about magic, or the undead, or something. Suddenly, thousands of teenage (and college) girls who hadn't had anything to read since the Deathly Hallows were racing to Borders to buy, of all things, a vampire romance story pretending to be a book.

And for some of them, it's gone too far. Vampires at school? Really? What, exactly, are the questions on the entrance exam for Boston Legal, and how do they not weed out the overly imaginative?

Here's a comment on the Globe story from what appears to be one of the girls who poked fun at the "would-be vampire:"

WE OBVIOUSLY DONT BELIEVE IN VAMPIRES
THE MEDIA IS MAKING US LOOK DUMB
THEY WERENT RUMORS, THEY WERE MAKING FUN OF THE KIDS
IM DISAPPOINTED IN THE GLOBE

Perhaps. And perhaps I'm not doing a great job of curbing this discussion, despite the headmaster's plea in his letter to "not sensationalize or discuss these rumors."

But another commenter on the story claims that the vampire hysteria at Boston Legal was in fact started by three freshmen who "call themselves vampires, who bite each other's necks and put band-aids over the hickies/bites." Further, they deny that Twilight inspired them because they say the movie "misrepresents vampires."

Imagine that. A fictional story misrepresenting a fictional being. Kind of makes you want to stab something with a silver cross.

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Obama Commencement Coverage Focuses on Protesters

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-03-26T02:01:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Religion, News, Local, Media, Notre Dame

Kaitlynn Riely, a student at the University of Notre Dame, is delivering the latest news and opinions on the growing Obama Commencement controversy from South Bend. See her coverage on the progression of this media event here, here and here.

I'm starting to feel like I'm living in an abortion debate-themed production of West Side Story.

Ever since Notre Dame announced that President Barack Obama would deliver the May 17 Commencement address, those against hosting Obama because of his pro-choice beliefs and actions have been rumbling, mostly on the Internet and in print, with those who want him to speak here.

I can almost hear the snapping.

The argument is taking place in the opinion pages of Notre Dame's student newspaper, The Observer. The national media has picked up the story. Catholic and pro-life blogs and Web sites are condemning the University for asking a pro-choice politician to speak at Notre Dame and deciding to give him an honorary doctor of laws degree.

But for all the Obama drama, I've only spoken to a few students who are against him speaking here in May. And back in October, Notre Dame's student government conducted a mock election and the results were 52.6 percent for Obama, 41.1 percent for McCain.

The reason it seems, from media coverage, like popular Notre Dame community sentiment is against having Obama speak is because the people opposed to Obama speaking are doing a very good job of organizing and getting their opinion out.

Case in point: Today, a coalition of Notre Dame student groups launched a Web site and issued a press release denouncing the University's choice of Obama as Commencement speaker, an objection, they said, that was not based on "political partisanship" but due to Obama's "hostility to the Catholic Church's teachings on the sanctity of human life at its earliest stages."

The coalition, made up of 11 Notre Dame student groups, asked that only members of the Notre Dame community lead protests against the University's decision.

"Over the next several weeks, in response to this scandal, our organizations will host various academic and religious events to engage the University community," the statement said. It was signed by the 11 student clubs, which include the Notre Dame chapters of Right to Life and the College Republicans.

A Notre Dame alum started an online petition for people who support having Obama on campus, but that petition has gotten little notice. Scan the Internet, and it would seem most Notre Dame people oppose Obama speaking and receiving an honorary degree. It is true that there are many, many people who are against him speaking, and their position has merit. But the media is ignoring the large numbers who are thrilled to have Obama speak at Commencement.

The White House responded to the controversy late Tuesday, reported ABC's Political Punch blog. Deputy White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Obama was "honored" to address the graduation class, but said he understands there are students, parents and alums who don't want him there.

"While he is honored to have the support of millions of people of all faiths, including Catholics with their rich tradition of recognizing the dignity of people, he does not govern with the expectation that everyone sees eye to eye with him on every position and the spirit of debate and healthy disagreement on important issues is part of what he loves about this country," Psaki said.

But the negative reaction has been so loud, and so widely covered, that there's been less coverage of the "healthy disagreement" and more coverage of the outrage by some about the choice. I cannot foresee Obama deciding not to come, or Notre Dame rescinding his invitation. When May 17 has passed, will the story of this controversy be that most Notre Dame people were against his coming? Or will it be clear that many students supported Obama speaking at graduation?

As I did yesterday, I'll end again with my favorite Obama Drama moment of the day. Two Notre Dame students were interviewed on Fox's Greta Van Susteren Wednesday night about their opposition to Obama. At the end of the interview, Van Susteren congratulated the girls on their upcoming graduation.

Her congrats came about a year too early. Both girls are juniors, so they cannot go to Commencement anyway. Greta ended the segment before they could make the correction.

Everyone has the right to have an opinion on Obama speaking at Commencement, but let's see the media seek the opinions of Notre Dame seniors, for whom this decision primarily affects.

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Bishop to Boycott Obama Commencement Speech at Notre Dame

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-03-25T00:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Politics, Small Campus, Big Story, Culture, Religion, News, Local, Media, Notre Dame

Bishop John M. D'Arcy, who presides over Indiana's Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, which includes Notre Dame, announced Tuesday he will not be attending Notre Dame's May 17 Commencement, since President Barack Obama will be speaking.

"Can I have the Bishop's ticket?" my friend posted on the Web site Twitter.com.

D'Arcy has clashed with Notre Dame in the past, most significantly when University President Fr. John Jenkins issued a statement in 2006 allowing The Vagina Monologues to be performed on campus. Now it's Obama's pro-choice stances and decisions, rather than vaginas, that have gotten D'Arcy's Irish up.

Notre Dame and the White House announced Friday that Obama would be speaking at Notre Dame's May 17 Commencement ceremony, with Jenkins following up Monday clarifying that asking Obama to speak, and awarding him with an honorary doctor of laws degree, does not signify support of his policies. Most students, from my observations on campus, seem to be supportive of and excited about hearing Obama speak. But a vocal student minority, as well as alumni and unaffiliated pro-life groups, have protested the decision vehemently.

In his statement Tuesday, D'Arcy said Jenkins informed him of Obama's acceptance shortly before the announcement was made. D'Arcy said it was the first time he'd been told about the invitation. This May is the 25th Notre Dame graduation since D'Arcy became bishop, and for the first time, he said, he will not attend.

"After much prayer, I have decided not to attend the graduation," he said. "I wish no disrespect to our president, I pray for him and wish him well. I have always revered the Office of the Presidency. But a bishop must teach the Catholic faith 'in season and out of season,' and he teaches not only by his words -- but by his actions."

He added: "My decision is not an attack on anyone, but is in defense of the truth about human life."

I understand that D'Arcy has major disagreements with Obama over abortion and stem cell issues. But isn't he giving up a unique opportunity to pull the president aside for a moment and voice his concerns? It may not make a difference in Obama's stances, but when else will D'Arcy have the ear of the president?

I'm unimpressed with D'Arcy's leadership. The pro-life movement's sign-carrying, march-making approach hasn't worked so far, and I doubt the Bishop's boycott will make any difference in abortion policy in the United States. It just distances the Catholic Church from the decision-making process.

Too bad. I wish D'Arcy had been a bit braver and seen the opportunity, rather than ask whether Notre Dame has "chosen prestige over truth."

D'Arcy's ticket won't go to waste. Notre Dame seniors, who are only guaranteed 3 tickets each for graduation, have been posting on Facebook asking those who don't want Obama to speak at Notre Dame to give away their tickets.

Security itself on graduation day promises to be intense. But already, with two months to go, life in the Notre Dame bubble is becoming surreal. Leaving the gym this afternoon, I stopped by a television because a woman from a local television station was delivering a report from my campus.

When I got back to my room, a friend told me Notre Dame was on CNN.

Does this controversy have the momentum to last two months? Pro-life groups will certainly try their best. Everyone here has a viewpoint on the Obama drama.

My favorite opinion of the day came in a letter to the editor published in Notre Dame's student newspaper, The Observer. The author of the letter is a student at Saint Mary's, the all-women college across the street from Notre Dame, who asked whether the Notre Dame "administration considered the impact such an important political figurehead will have on the travel plans of the other schools graduating that weekend."

I imagine potential traffic congestion is the last thing Jenkins is thinking about this week.

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Japan, Without Steroids, Is Baseball's Best

Matt Negrin — 2009-03-24T09:14:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, International News, Sports, Boston University

TOKYO -- At 6 feet 3 inches, and only 169 pounds, right-hander Hisashu Iwakuma kept the Koreans at the plate for most of the game.

On the offensive side of Japan's lineup and earning his spot as the championship's hero was Ichiro, who at 5 feet 9 inches and 160 pounds drove in two runs with an up-the-middle line drive after a patient, samurai-like at-bat.

There is no denying that Japan is likely the skinniest baseball team not only to win the World Baseball Classic (twice in a row), but probably to even play in it. Coming from a country whose main foods are noodles and fish, most of these players would probably scoff at the notion that injecting their bodies with steroids would make them better athletes.

As if somewhat proving this point, Japan firmly manhandled the United States in the semifinals, 9-4, like a horde of miniature players overtaking a country that boasts baseball as its national pastime. But in truth, there is no country that loves baseball more than Japan.

At the crack of Ichiro's swinging bat as it drove the ball into center field, bringing two runs home in the top of the 10th inning yesterday, the room full of some 40-odd Japanese students I was in erupted in riotous cheers. "Pressure's on, Korea!" one student yelled.

That scene was being repeated all across Japan, in ramen shops, bars, offices and even train stations with televisions tuned to the most important baseball game of the next four years. For the same reason that Japanese (and Korean) fans constantly chant and cheer during games despite the score, these citizens -- young and old, employed and retired -- were glued to the screen itching for a win for Japan. Call it a form of conformist nationalism if you want, but it sure sells ThunderStix.

The final score was 5-3, but it might as well have been 55-0.

Japan's history with Korea stems back much further than baseball, and emotions still broil from Japan's occupation of its Asian neighbor during World War II, when it forced thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery. A win for Japan in the WBC championship game means more than a trophy and an after party in the locker room, and more than bragging rights until 2013. It means asserting dominance over a country that may never get a true, genuine apology from the Japanese government for what happened more than 60 years ago.

But that history doesn't show on the surface. Yesterday, it was all about Yu Darvish's blown save and salvaged win, Ichiro's game-winning shot and the tears and champagne that flowed in both San Diego and Tokyo.

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Debate Over Obama Notre Dame Commencement Address Heats Up

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-03-24T01:03:00+00:00

Filed under: Politics, Small Campus, Big Story, Culture, Religion, Breaking News, News, Local, Notre Dame

The White House and Notre Dame announced last Friday that President Barack Obama would be the main speaker at the May 17 Commencement ceremony and would be awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree, a decision that has caused controversy among many in the Catholic community.

Though many students and alums of the University are pleased to have the president speak at Commencement, those opposed to the decision have been far more vocal, as students, alumni and people not affiliated with Notre Dame voiced their protestations loudly throughout the Internet and in Notre Dame's student newspaper.

Fr. John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, gave an interview to The Observer, the student newspaper, Sunday in which he responded to the criticism and said he did not "foresee" circumstances in which Notre Dame would rescind the invitation to the president. (Full disclosure: I work for The Observer.)

"We have invited the president and he's honored us by accepting," he told The Observer.

There's been an uproar about the decision, judging by letters to the editor, blog posts and petitions, due to Obama's pro-abortion stances. Jenkins defended his choice, saying the invitation to Obama does not signify an endorsement.

"The invitation of President Obama to be our Commencement speaker should in no way be taken as condoning or endorsing his positions on specific issues regarding the protection of life, such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research," Jenkins told The Observer.

The protestations against the choice of Obama have been very loud, especially in the opinion section of The Observer, but it should be noted that in a mock election held by Notre Dame's student government last October, Obama won 52.6 percent of the vote compared to McCain's 41.1 percent.

Not everyone is protesting Obama coming to campus; many are thrilled. A Facebook group titled "We Will Be Honored To Have President Obama at Notre Dame" has 1,389 members. Several Facebook groups, however, have been created to protest Obama as Commencement speaker.

All I wanted was a nice, quiet, peaceful graduation day, a time to celebrate with my family and friends, without posters of aborted fetuses. Such a simple request. But it won't be so.

Already, pro-life activists are making plans to come to South Bend to protest.

A Web site called notredamescandal.com has set up an online petition to ask Jenkins to rescind the invitation, saying it is in violation of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' 2004 document called "Catholics in Political Life," which states that "those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles" "should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions" by Catholic institutions.

The Web site, launched by the Cardinal Newman Society, claims it has nearly 48,000 signatures. The Cardinal Newman Society, established in 1993, is "dedicated to renewing and strengthening Catholic identity at America's 224 Catholic colleges and universities," according to its Web site.

National Review Online, the Web site of the conservative magazine, asked various commentators to give their views on Notre Dame's speaker choice.

It's become popular in American discourse to invoke Hitler when making a point about something one views as egregious. On National Review's Web site, Fr. George W. Rutler, a Catholic priest in New York, skipped that tiresome cliche and brought back an oldie:

"If a Midwestern school seeks attention by granting Obama an honorary doctorate in law, the next logical step would be to grant Judas Iscariot posthumously an honorary doctorate in business administration," he wrote.

This is only day three of the Great Obama Debate; there is no end in sight. Outside the Notre Dame bubble, I'm sure, no one is talking about the Obama Commencement speaker choice. But it's hard to see reality beyond the bubble while on campus. Here, it is the primary topic of conversation.

Anecdotally, I'd say most seniors I've talked to are excited about Obama coming to speak at graduation. But those who are against Obama speaking are making a lot more noise in the student paper and on the Internet.

My advice to Fr. Jenkins is to fire Charlie Weis and re-hire Ty Willingham. There's nothing like breaking football news to change the topic of conversation at Notre Dame.

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Sex Industry: What Recession?

Joshua Chaney — 2009-03-16T21:48:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, The Economy, Muskingum College

When times are tough, families are forced to buckle down and focus on the stuff they just can't live without. I'm talking the absolute essentials - food, shelter and, of course, sex.

In fact, some businesses in the skin industry say they do better in a bad economy. The owner of an Ohio-based condom manufacturer said business is better than ever.

"We're doing well," Brian Frank of Undercover Condoms told the Columbus Dispatch. "There's been some effect from the downturn, but overall we're still growing."

According to the Nielsen Co., sales of male contraceptives in food, drug and mass-merchandise stores increased 6.4 percent in the last 13 weeks of 2008 compared to 2007. The number of condoms also rose 2.4 percent during that same period. Sales in January followed the same trend, up 5.3 percent compared to the previous year.

Condom manufacturers attribute the correlation to people staying home and resorting to cheaper forms of "recreation," while also being reluctant to have more kids in uncertain times.Condoms aren't the only things selling strong. The porn industry made a whopping $12 billion in 2007 and some filmmakers attending the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas in January said sales were up in December and January.

Nicholas Steele, CEO of Bluebird America, told Fox 5 in Las Vegas that his company shoots about 100 videos a month due to a steadily strong demand.

Outside of sex, being a dentist still pays well, one doctor says. Toothaches aren't waiting for more economically convenient times, even though clients are tending to opt out of more preventative procedures.

Cell phones and video games can be checked on that essentials list as well, it seems.

The nation's largest wireless provider, Verizon Wireless, is still running strong as well. Verizon's revenues are growing as more and more of its over 80 million customers send more photos, videos and text messages and run web applications.

Many video game companies are thriving as well. Despite the retail industry projecting the slowest Christmas sales growth in six years, the video game industry was on track to increase revenues by 30 percent in 2008.

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Jon Stewart Brawls with Contrite Jim Cramer

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-03-13T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Local, Media, The Economy, Notre Dame

Last night, the "weeklong feud of the century" climaxed when the host of CNBC's "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

Atlantic writer James Fallows declared, in a blog post headline, that "Jon Stewart has become Edward R. Murrow," the famed father of broadcast journalism. I think the comparison is apt. In a 1958 speech to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, Murrow lectured listeners on the possibilities for the future of journalism:

"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire," he said. "But it can only do so to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful."

Cramer came on Stewart's show to argue that his network, CNBC, was not merely "wires and lights in a box." The "Mad Money" commentator was brave to come on Stewart's show, but the charge to defend his network and his show was a tall order. Stewart, well-prepared as always, came out far ahead.

Cramer, before his CNBC days, ran a hedge fund and also co-founded TheStreet.com. Stewart said he felt like Cramer, and other financial reporters on CNBC, were acting as though the ethically dubious, short-game market didn't exist. Stewart accused Cramer and CNBC of knowing what the top Wall Street CEOs were doing but not acknowledging it to their viewers.

"I understand you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a f***ing game," Stewart said.He questioned the role CNBC played leading up the collapse of Wall Street.

"Nobody's asking them to be a regulatory agency. But whose side are they on?" Stewart asked.

CNBC's reporters work very hard, Cramer said. But they were lied to by CEOs. Cramer said he never thought investment bank Bear Stearns would "evaporate overnight."

Stewart didn't buy Cramer's contrite answers to his questions. He played clips of Cramer from 2006 in which he admitted to taking part in some of the same techniques that he later criticized.

He criticized the "In Cramer We Trust" promo for "Mad Money" and told him that he and all the reporters at CNBC should go back to reporting fundamentals. Saying that CEOs lied to them in interviews is not an excuse, Stewart said.

"I'm under the assumption that you don't just take their word at face value, that you actually go around and try to figure it out," Stewart said.

The interview was incredibly uncomfortable; Cramer was a brave man to accept Stewart's challenge, and Stewart was brave to ask the questions he asked. Will CNBC adopt a more skeptical approach to big Wall Street figures in the future?

And has an entertainer, a man who calls his program a fake news show, become the Edward R. Murrow of the 21st century? If nothing else, he's embarrassed CNBC and made a statement about what responsibility financial journalists have to their viewers.

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Bristol to Levi/Levi to Bristol: It's Over!

Matt Negrin — 2009-03-12T23:53:00+00:00

Filed under: Politics, Culture, Boston University, Media

We should have known it was only a match made in politics.

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have called off their wedding and broken up more than two months after the birth of their first baby. According to Levi, who brought their relationship to the public outside his house, the breakup was mutual.

But if there was ever a universal truth, it is this: Rarely, if ever, is it truly mutual.

Take, for example, a statement from Bristol, in which she says she's devastated about the intentions of her ex-boyfriend's sister. Mercede Johnston says in a Star magazine story that Bristol "makes it nearly impossible" for Levi to visit their kid.

Bristol takes Mercede to task, via the statement from her mom's political action committee: "Unfortunately, my family has seen many people say and do many things to 'cash in' on the Palin name. Sometimes that greed clouds good judgment and the truth."

Were Bristol's words evidence of her motivation to dump Levi, or merely her reaction to an angry teenage boyfriend suddenly overcome with responsibility?

People magazine boasts a source who claims the breakup was, in fact, mutual. "It kind of just happened," the person said, adding that the couple broke it off "a few weeks ago."

Brevi was supposed to get married in the summer. What about all those old lovey-dovey quotes between the two while Bristol's mom was the Republican vice presidential nominee?

Last October, Levi told the Associated Press, "We both love each other. We both want to marry each other, and that's what we are going to do."

In February, Bristol told Fox News, "Eventually, we'd like to get married. We're focusing on, like, getting through school and just getting an education and stuff, getting a career going." She also called Levi a "hands-on" dad.

Oh well.

Perhaps Tina Fey did have it right when she impersonated Sarah Palin on SNL and quipped, "I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers."

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Does Your Hometown Paper Have Six Months to Live?

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-03-12T08:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Local, Media, Notre Dame

Newspapers are known for their love of naval gazing, and especially for predicting their own demise. They've made it through the competition posed by radio and television. The Internet and the slow economy, however, has newspapers nervous that the day the presses die could be imminent.

The Rocky Mountain News closed down at the end of February this year, leaving Denver a one-newspaper town. Earlier this week, Time magazine published a list of the 10 major daily newspapers that they think are most likely to fold or start publishing only online.

The 10 newspapers listed were chosen based on their parent companies' financial strength, the amount of direct competition they face in their market and estimates on how much money they are losing.

The list included the Philadelphia Daily News, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Detroit News, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times, the New York Daily News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Most other newspapers in the country are facing financial struggles and being forced to take severe steps to keep publishing.

The New York Times, which said it has managed to avoid serious newsroom cuts thus far, published an article Wednesday describing the impending probability that many major American cities will go from having two newspapers to just one.

The Times quoted Mike Simonton, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, who analyzes the newspaper industry, as saying the situation for American newspapers is more dire now than ever before.

"In 2009 and 2010, all the two-newspaper markets will become one-newspaper markets, and you will start to see one-newspaper markets became no-newspaper markets," he told the Times.

What will a city without a newspaper look like? Who will hold the government accountable, and how will the city record its history? The demise of a major newspaper in one American city is a problem for all Americans. And I'm not just saying this because I want to go into a career in newspaper writing.

An old newspaper adage says "if it bleeds, it leads." As American newspapers continue on to their slow death, the story will continue to appear on the front page, until there is no front page left.

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Michelle Obama's Arms in the Spotlight

Kaitlynn Riely — 2009-03-11T07:32:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Featured Stories, News, Notre Dame

I'm visiting friends in Los Angeles and just went window-shopping on Rodeo Drive, the famous Beverly Hills shopping district. High-end fashion is on my mind - though not in my shopping bags.

Right now there's no higher fashion icon than Michelle Obama. The new First Lady has been on the cover of several magazines since she moved into the White House. The consensus: she's looking good.

The Cold War had the arms race. Now we have the arms watch.

The First Lady appeared on the cover of the March issue of Vogue, her muscular arms bare. She was on the cover of People magazine in bare arms, talking about life in the White House. She was snapped in a sleeveless dress in the White House kitchen. And when President Obama gave his first address to a joint session of Congress, she was there to watch him, in bare arms in February.
Michelle's arms made an appearance in Maureen Dowd's Sunday New York Times column. "The only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle Obama's sculpted biceps," Dowd wrote.

Michelle is on the cover of the March issue of The New Yorker, depicted in three outfits as a model on a catwalk. She is wearing sleeves in all three outfits. It's a bit of a disconnect from all the bare arms pictures. Who knows? It's The New Yorker. Their cartoons don't make much sense either.

Robin Givhan, the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion editor, wrote in The New Yorker about the First Lady's preference for arms-baring outfits , even in the dead of winter. (Her husband chided Washingtonians for being winter-weather wimps, but he's not the one walking around in summer clothes.)

"The arms represent personal time," Givhan wrote. "...The arms imply vanity and power: two things that make many women uncomfortable and yet are fundamental to self-confidence."

Givhan wrote that Michelle Obama reminds women that they can make a place in their lives for vanity, and that "a little fashion can be supremely empowering."

Unfortunately, a little Rodeo Drive fashion would make me more impoverished than empowered.

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