C-SPAN Bus to Cover Upcoming Election

In light of recent experiences, I am doing my blog on the C-SPAN bus and the fact that they are going to cover the upcoming election. In the past year, they added a control room and HD camera to the bus which gives the bus the capability of acting as a studio. Since it tours to many places that might not have a studio, they can broadcast directly from the bus itself. As long as everything is staged correctly, the control panel in DC can control everything. The crew plans of visiting several BigTen schools as well as some Big12 School to get a fresh, young, student's perspective on the presidential election. The tour will take a few months and is set to end at Northwestern University in Illinois.

Obama to Visit Watertown

On April 13, the White House released a statement saying that President Obama would be making a visit to the only state left on his list, South Dakota. He plans to address graduating students at Lake Area Technical Institute. At first glance, Watertown seems like a weird place for the POTUS to visit. I've been to Watertown. It's lame. Who wants to visit a lake instead of the most magnificent rock sculpture in the world? But as the great Michael Hoffer once said, "Senior politicians don't make appearances that aren't politically motivated". As it turns out, Lake Area Technical Institute is one of the top community colleges in the nation. And in light of Obama's recent desires to make community college free, this seems like a prime opportunity for the president. I have a feeling this visit to SD wasn't a spur of the moment decision because it was the only state Obama hasn't visited. I think this visit was planned out a long time ago and was strategically placed in time with the president's political agenda. It's all a conspiracy maaaan.

Secret Shmervice

Today around 6:45, two secret service agents drove into a temporary barrier outside the white house. The two agents were suspected of intoxication, and the officers on the scene wanted to test their blood. An "authority from above" waived the blood test and sent the agents home. The current state of the two is uncertain as the event just happened. I just find the story humorous. It completely abolishes the old stereotype of the grim and serious secret service agent who shows no emotion. Try thinking of that character screaming drunk into a traffic barrier. I also find it so typical that the two agents were just cleared and sent home. There is so much that happens behind the scenes of the government that is not necessarily just. It is actually probably a serious issue that the people who are hired to protect the white house and the president are goofing around, but there is a small eliminate of humor in it that I find fascinating.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/11/politics/drunk-secret-service-agents-white-house/index.html

Can't Call Wrestling Gay Anymore

This weekend, at the South Dakota State Wrestling Tournament, there will be one wrestler who will capture more attention that anyone else. Ronna Heaton of Brookings will be the first ever female to take the mat in the state tournament. Her skills are unquestionably worthy of an appearance at the state level as she has won several national awards, and even though she is a girl, she has a right to equal opportunity of boys. Legally, there is nothing that says she can't wrestle with the boys. However, there are many legitimate reasons that reason against allowing girls to wrestle with boys. Let's be honest, most boys wouldn't turn down an opportunity to wrestle a girl... but not in a serious competition with people watching! Boys have been taught their who lives to not attack, hit, or physically abuse women. You can't expect a boy to be able to flip the switch on and try to beat the girl across the mat from him. It's weird. It's against his instincts. It isn't right. And in perhaps a more serious issue, wrestling is intense and scrappy. If the girl is fighting to get position on the boy and accidentally... uhh... nudges... a tender spot, there will be issues -- awkward issues. Im not saying girls shouldn't be allowed to wrestle, but many states have sanctioned girls only divisions. As a part of the heartland of wrestling in the United States, South Dakota should sanction a girls division in wrestling and allow boys to wrestle boys and girls to wrestle girls.






http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/female-high-school-wrestler-blazes-new-trail-in-south-dakota/article_0679bdc8-cd67-5e7e-a0d9-bac0306dbfbc.html

Little Leauge World Scandal

Any sports fan rememebrs the juggernaut that was the Jackie Robinson West Little League team that represented the Great Lakes Region in the Little League World Series. They were fast, hard hitting, and exciting to watch. There was a time that it seemed all they had to do was make contact with the ball and it would scream out of the stadium. These were the manliest 12 year olds I have ever laid eyes on. Needless to say the strutted through the tournament, dominating teams on a daily basis. They won the American Chanmpionship easily with a victory over Las Vegas, but lost to Japan in the International Championship. But alas, the team from Chicago had already won the biggest prize- the first all black little league team to win it all. They were instant super stars. The munchkins made appearances on Sports Center, gain tens of thousands of twitter followers and singed autographs whenever the felt like it. Unfortunately, yesterday the dream team was stripped of their title and all of their victories for violating Little League rules. It wasn't the typical violation- over aged players with beards who hand the ump a piece of paper that says "I am 12" written in crayon and paired with a 20$ bill. No. This issue was much more sophisticated. Apparently, the league commissioner redistricted the geographical boundaries of the league so that they could gain two more good players. The changing of the boundaries was illegal, so the team had 2 illegal players and in turn, an illegal team. Technically Las Vegas is the American Championship team, but no one will recognize them as such. I beleive these kids had no real advantage and deserved everything they won. They are the real Champions and they know it.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story/_/id/12308988/little-league-strips-chicago-team-us-championship-suspends-coachg

Pull Your Pants Up Doug

Who saw Doug Baldwin's touchdown celebration in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl last Sunday? Oh wait... that's right... no one saw it. The Seahawks' receiver caught a touchdown pass from Russel Wilson in a very important part of the game. After the referee signaled the score, ole Doug executed his celebration with grace and elegance... or maybe not. The celebration was cut from live feed by NBC because it was deemed inappropriate for television. Now, I happen to have seen the YouTube video of it , so let me fill you in. He walked to the corner of the endzone, spun the ball on the ground, then proceeded to squat over and and pretend to pull down his pants. In less proper terms, he pretended to crap out the ball. "It was the most inspiring touchdown dance of all time." said no one.. except maybe that guy at the party who had too many lil smokies. Now, to the real issue. Was the dance inappropriate? Probably. Should it have been shown on TV? I don't know. But please please please can the FCC start using this standard with shows currently on air? Just flipping through local channels trying to find American Idol (it's Hollywood Week booyah) I saw a lesbian kissing scene, and heard bitch and slut used multiple times. If a football player pretending to take a dump is cut from TV, then I think it's absurd that this other content is deemed "ok". TV shows are getting trashy. As a huge fan of television, I beg for some cleaned up content.

Journalism Frustrates Me

This week, we were tasked with finding an article regarding the Supreme Court, so I did. I found an article about a man in Georgia who was set be receive the death penalty even though he only has an IQ of 70 and is considered intellectually disabled. The article goes on to say that unless the court intervenes, this man's life will be taken regardless of the fact that it violates the cruel and unusual punishment segment of the Constitution. All of this is good and I agree with it. He should not be executed. However, this article on huffingtonpost.com was so one-sided and accusatory of the state government, that IT DIDN'T EVEN SAY HIS CRIME. Are you kidding me? You expect the courts to quickly intervene on a trial when you didn't even list the crime. I would think you would need details and circumstance to make a proper judgement on such a story but thats impossible when the journalist freaks out and gives no valuable information. Journalism should be about presenting the facts, and maybe injecting a light opinion to sway the reader a certain way. But telling one side of the story while leaving out critical info to the other side is almost like lying. Should this man be executed? I don't believe in the death penalty, so I say no, but its hard for anyone to make a legitimate judgement when they have no legitimate information. I realize this assignment was supposed to be about the Supreme Court... technically, mine says "court" three times... 5 if you include the two in this sentence. But it frustrates me that an established website can give such poopy information about a serious story. It's not just the huffingtonpost.com. Our Journal is starting to do the same thing. Journalism is dying and writers are desperately trying to save it, but are being idiots in the process.

www.huffingtonpost.com/cassy-stubbs