One Who Is Lost

Want to make your blood boil and have the urge to smack some people upside the head? Read this and this.

Ah yes, truly liberty and justice for all...

On the upside, the first idiot has been fired. Not because "she was a racist or an idiot,"cause for some reason her ex-editor erroneously believes otherwise, but because she apparently quoted people out of context and other journalistic taboos.

For anyone who is interested, here's a great article outlining the Plame/CIA exposure timeline and implications.

OK, so I'm taking a continuing ed class in writing feature articles. I'm trying to get my journalism side of science journalism beefed up a bit so next time I apply to BU I can get off the f$&#ing waiting list and actually get accepted.
ANYWAY, on to the point, for the class I am writing an article on religion and "the youth of America" or however you want to phrase it. Basically just how religion for young people has branched way beyond Judeo-Christian roots of the past. So I am interviewing some people face to face, but I figure the best way to get a really broad sampling would be to write my questions here as well.

Now, before I begin, there is a chance that this story could, beyond being a class assignment, get published in a local monthly paper so fair warning. If you want you can tell me to change your name...the little disclaimer "some pepole's named changed for their protection" etc.

First the basics:

Name?
Location (At least state, city would be prefered)?
Age?
Do you want your name changed for the article?

And now the real questions:

1. What faith were you raised with?
2. How did you feel about it at the time?
3. How do you feel about it now?
4. What is your current faith?
5. Why did you stay or change?
6. If you changed, what did you look for when choosing your new
faith?
7. What does your current faith hold for you? What does it mean to you? Why is it important in your life?
8. What does it entail? What are the common practices/beliefs of your religion?
9. How devout would you consider yourself?
10. How does it relate to your daily life?
11. How does religion affect your relationships? Does it affect
your choice in partners and if so, how?
12. How do you view religion in America (i.e. Freedom of...,
Separation of Church and State etc.)

So if you are interested in helping out here (please, please help out here), then you can either answer in the comments, or if you would like it to reamin private you can email me at taerowyn@hotmail.com.

Thanks a bunch!!

Just finished a presentation on Project Censored and my prof says..."Good Job! I'm seeing Carl Jensen [founder of the Project] tomorrow and will give him your paper." Um, please don't. I wrote that paper in all of three hours the day before it's due. It's a piece of crap and I REALLY don't want it to be the first bit of my work someone like Carl Jensen sees. Sigh.


OK on to less self-absorbed subjects and back to Project Censored. They recently released their latest top censored stories in the US media. It's at times like this that I wonder about my goal of becoming a journalist. Everybody knows reporters are scum, right? Well, I can at least try to either overcome the crap in the mainstream media (pshaw) or work for the alternative press. I know, I know I said LESS self-absorbed...OK so this years list:
1. World Bank and Multinational Corporations Seek to Privatize Water
2. OSHA Fails to Protect U.S. Workers
3. U.S. Army's Psychological OPerations Personnel Worked at CNN
4. Did the U.S. deliberately Bomb the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade?
5. U.S. Taxpayers Underwrite Global Nuclear Power Plant Sales
6. International Report Blames U.S. and others for Genocide in Rwanda
7. Independent Study Points to Dangers of Genetically Altered Foods (Dismissed by Media and Biotech Industry)
8. Drug Companies Influence Doctors and Health Organizations to Push Meds
9. EPA plans to Disburse Toxic/Radioactive Wastes into Denver's Sewage System
10. Silicon Valley Uses Immigrant Engineers to Keep Salaries Low

OK...so some nice commentary:
1. If you read the article it's all about how such fine, upstanding companies as Monsanto and Bechtel are trying to buy the water right's of entire city's and are then selling the water at for-profit prices. In other words those with the money, get a substance that is ESSENTIAL TO LIFE and those who are poor...don't. Tank Girl, anyone?

2. All I can say is, shocker. As the article points out, OSHA has 2,300 inspectors who are expected to cover the over 102 million workers in America. That's one inspector for every 45,000 worker or so. Yeah, that's going to work out well.

3. OK, now this one just makes my head want to explode. Can we say conflict of interest maybe? They even admit to controlling the coverage of the conflict in Kosovo (incidentally, whatever happened to the word war? People are blowing each other up, but if the U.S. gets involved it's a police action, a conflict, or some other lame code word for war.) And, they complained that they weren't able to limit as much information as they wanted to. So much for a free press and the people's right to know and all those archaic, out of place ideals that have no place in today's modern world.

4. YES!!!! Well, duh!

5. Hey guys, U.S. citizen's have taken NIMBY too far so we'll just use their money to destroy the world somewhere else *insert evil laughter here*

6. A reporter's decision...Bill Clinton lied about his sex life or he lied about the deaths of between 500,000 and 800,000 people. Hmmmm, tough call. It used to be "If it bleeds, it leads," which, shameful as it is, would at least have covered this story. Now it's "Sex sells best" or some other badly made rhyme (hey, I'm trying). Adultery in a President I can deal with, I don't care how the man got his rocks off, but turning a blind eye to genocide?

7. OK, as far as the second part of the headline, well duh! Of course the biotech industry is going to dismiss the research. But what's really interesting about this guy's research is that he was able to prove that it wasn't the trait that was engineered for that was causing the problem, it was the actual process of genetic alteration itself. Meaning ANYTHING that has been genetically altered using the same process (which is basically the process used everywhere) will cause the same damage.

8. Psssssstt! Hey buddy, want to buy some Prozac?

9. OK, CO native here. You want to do WHAT?!?!

10. This ones kind of anticlimactic after everything else. Immigrant labor has been in the news for years, how is it "censored?" But then, that's just me.

OK so that was a tirade to rival my brother's so I should probably shut-up now.