Garret Gilbert: Hero... nearly

Last night during the first drive for Texas during their championship game, Colt McCoy was knocked out of the game, during the most important of his college career. In comes a true freshman, Garret Gilbert, and almost everyone who was watching the game thought the game was over, that Alabama was now really going to run over Texas. During the first half Gilbert was exactly what everyone was expecting, awful and he even managed to throw an interception with 15 seconds left of what was an awful play calling situation putting Alabama up 18 points. Then all of a sudden Gilbert grew up and brought back Texas to within 3 points. I had gone from feeling awful for him, to predicting that he would be the hero of Texas fans everywhere, and drive Texas 90 yards to the win with 3:12 to go. As I was predicting this and feeling as if I was really smart, Gilbert was blindsided and lost the ball and along with it Texas' chances of winning the game. I sat dissapointed as I thought how great of a story it would have been if he hadn't fumbled the ball at that point. Gilbert however through the game grew noticeably more confident as he fought to keep his nerves down infront of the millions fans that he had never played before. In the end I am excited for what will come from Gilbert as in the next years he matures, even though he's a championship short of where he should be.

Don't tase me bro!

Stumbling through the internet today I found a video that I found very interesting and which some of you may already know. It's of a Florida student who was tased by the police at a forum for Senator John Kerry. The student who had waited in line to ask a question for 2 hours started yelling at Kerry to answer his question. In the video the police started escorting the student out as he protested, and then attempted to arrest the student. The student was resisiting arrest and this is when the police tasered him, while he was yelling, "Why am I being arrested?" and "I will escort myself out". After watching the video I was torn between whether the polices actions were justified or not. I think that arresting him was wrong and tasering him was also wrong, but that the student should have been made to leave the building. This is an interesting situation of whether free speech should be allowed in a forum like this when it against the interest of the forums directors. He had a right to his free speech and also to the police telling him why they were arresting him, which during the whole incident they did not once. It's a clear mistake on both parties involved in the incident, but do you the think the police had the right to taser the student? Were they restricting his right to free speech in this incident? Here is a link to the video

Targeting Kids

Today in class we talked all about advertisements and whether it is right to target them at kids. This reminded me of some videos that I had seen a couple of months ago by the Mormons in California. These commercials were about Proposition 8 in California back in 2008 and these commercials were not only targeted at kids but used them as an excuse to pass the Proposition. For those of you who don't know, Proposition 8 was initiated to ban same sex marriages in the state of California which had previously legalized the marriages. At the head of the support for the bill were the Mormons, all of which the bill didnt affect what so ever and many of the support coming from people who did not live in California. This is the video paid for by supporters of the proposition 8 legislator. I find this video and many others almost exactly like this disturbing. They are using kids to not only influence you but saying that the bill most directly affects them more then anyone else. Instead of stating their actual opinions they use a child to manipulate others into voting for what they want. What do you think about this advertisement? Do you think they should be allowed to show this?

Blackwater

Recently in the news a hot topic has been the dismissing of the Blackwater (a private military organization) murders in Iraq by a U.S judge. As stated in this article by CNN the five guards who were accused of the murders have been released after the prosecutors case was dismissed. Of course all around the world people are upset over the verdict from the trial. Especially the Iraq government who has issued a statement that they will be searching for any former employees of Blackwater in their country and if they find them they will be charged by the Iraq government. The five guards were released after mistakes made by the US Government and the federal prosecutors. I personally find it ridiculous that they can get away with murder because the prosecutors messed up. They get away with no legal punishment because they had ammunity in the country that they worked in which was Iraq. I agree with Iraq that these men deserve to be punished for their actions which cost almost two dozens lives after they killed them unprovoked. What I personally don't understand is how these men are granted ammunity from legal persecutions in the country that they are in, how can Iraq not charge them themselves for the crimes committed in their country. I would understand if Blackwater was part of the military but they are a seperate organization and thus should be liable for their actions in another country. Do you think that these men should get off with no punishment?

College Athletes

Nowadays our college athletes are becoming more of an athlete than ever before. Those who receive full scholarships are practically being paid to attend the universities (mainly basketball and football players) and it is becoming less and less about the academics. In basketball many top players choose their school based on the basketball or whether they can get into the school or not, such as the case with Derrick Rose and Memphis. The stars nowadays are being treated as the future NBA or NFL stars they will become, but they are not their yet. The NBA and NFL put in the age restrictions for players so they would not be hurt in the pros, but they are instead being paid for by colleges to attend for one year before they go to the pros. I love watching these athletes however you have to consider that they got into that school at the expense of another applicant. They also take lots of money out of the school and are treated as the schools number one priority students at many colleges. I realize that these athletes have worked very hard to get where they are and play at the Division I level but is it fair for others who worked just as hard if not harder in school to lose money and tons of perks in college because the athletes are being treated as if they are a higher social class. I'm not sure if the pros of treating these athletes as stars outweigh the cons, but as a society we are allowing it to happen and supporting it. What do you think? Do you think the treatment the college athletes get is fair?