Blogcritics Author: Jake Porter

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Afraid Of Living

Jake Porter — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:10:02 EDT

You can quite smokin', but you're still gonna die. Cut out cokin', but you're still gonna die. Eliminate everything fatty or fried, And you get real healthy, but you're still gonna die.(Old Dogs, "Still Gonna Die", 1998)Americans appear to be more worried than ever before. Everyday, we hear more reports from the news media about cell phones that cause cancer, terrorism, bird flu, exploding lighters, and abducted children. All of these fears add to the worry Americans are currently suffering from. This fear is fed by the media, and while it may be real, is it justified?Now we will take a look at three popular myths that have been promoted by the news media. Terrorism, child abductions, and shark attacks have all received a great amount of coverage from the news media, and while these are important issues and people must have some concern over them, Americans should not live in complete fear of these potential threats.Terrorism: Americans are very concerned about terrorism, but is the stress over terrorism really justified? Your chances of being killed in a car accident are by far much greater than your chances of being killed in a terrorist attack. In fact, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, your chances of being killed in a terrorist attack while visiting a foreign country are 1 in 650,000. Compare this with the odds of being struck by lightning - 1 in 576,000 - and the odds of dying from a car accident - 1 in 18,585. Americans are concerned about terrorism, but perhaps they should be more concerned about driving to work than dying from a terrorist attack.Abductions: Listening to the news media one would think abductions are dramatically increasing, but perhaps the media has just increased its reporting of abductions. According to the Crime Library, “The most reliable research available indicates that there are only 100-130 cases of stranger abductions a year in the United States.” In addition to this information, the Crime Library has the following to report: “The F.B.I. handled 93 cases of stranger abductions cases in 2001. That figure is actually a decrease from years past, especially during the 1980s when the average per year hovered around 200 incidents a year.” Perhaps the news media has just dramatically increased its reporting of abductions. Shark Attacks: Back in 2001, we heard about the “Summer of the Shark,” but shark attacks were not as big of a threat as many in the media may have claimed. According to CNN, “The 76 unprovoked attacks recorded worldwide in 2001 was nine less than the 85 noted the previous year. Deaths also dropped to five in 2001 -- including three in the United States -- from 12 in 2000, according to the International Shark Attack File.” Could it be that the media was focused on the Presidential election in the year 2000 and forgot to report on shark attacks that year, or are shark attacks not as big of a threat as many in the media have claimed? Terrorism, child abductions, and shark attacks all have received a great amount of coverage from the news media, and while Americans should have some concern over them, Americans should never be afraid to live their lives because of these threats.Americans are more concerned than ever before because of the fear promoted by the American media. There are other important issues that the media could focus more time on such as the soaring national debt, but the national debt is not a sexy news story. Scaremongering makes money for the media and as long as it does, they will continue to feed the public fear and make Americans afraid to live. In reality, Americans are living longer than ever before. In fact, a recent CNN report has the following to say: “It's a plain fact that Americans are living longer than ever before. Life expectancy is now at a record 77.6 years. That's an incredible number when you consider that a baby born in 1900 could expect to live only 47.3 years. But by 1950, life expectancy had risen to 68.2 years.” Americans are living longer than ever before, but as long as scaring people generates revenue, Americans are very likely to be afraid to live.

Jake Porter is currently the National Mobilization Facilitator for the George Phillies 2008 Presidential campaign.

Is America Ready For President Hillary Clinton?

Jake Porter — Thu, 8 Mar 2007 04:38:25 EST

The media is great about asking questions such as, “Is America ready for a woman President.” America may very well be ready for a female President; however, America is not ready for a Hillary Clinton presidency. Hillary Clinton will very likely need to obtain many anti-war supporters to win the Democratic nomination for President. In fact, a CNN poll from September of 2006 found that sixty-one percent of Americans did not support the war in Iraq. That being said, Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war resolution in October of 2002 and in April of 2004, CNN reported that Hillary Clinton had no regret on the Iraq vote. By supporting the war in Iraq, Hillary Clinton could possibly anger potential anti-war supporters whose votes may prove to be essential to win the Democratic Presidential nomination. Recently, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama made news headlines by getting into a little argument over comments made by a Barack Obama supporter, David Geffen, regarding his views on Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama cannot be responsible for every comment his supporters make. In fact, if one of Hillary’s opponents wanted to, they could try to force her to apologize for every supporter that happens to says something negative. Failure to apologize for negative comments made by her supporters could very well make her look like a hypocrite. Additionally, by attacking Barack Obama on this issue, Hillary Clinton drew a great deal of attention to the negative comments made by Mr. Geffen. Many civil libertarians have become increasingly angry over the Patriot Act; however, Hillary Clinton voted for the Patriot Act in 2001 and in 2006 voted to renew the Patriot Act. Angry civil libertarians within the Democratic Party, who may be looking for the Democratic Party to end the Patriot Act, are unlikely to support a candidate that voted for the Patriot Act. In fact, civil libertarians may play a much larger political role in 2008 than they have in past elections and they may have a negative reaction to Hillary Clinton’s support of the Patriot Act and may look for another candidate to support. By supporting the war in Iraq, attacking other Democratic Presidential candidates, and supporting the Patriot Act, Hillary Clinton may find that America is ready for a female President, but not a President Hillary Clinton.

Jake Porter is currently the National Mobilization Facilitator for the George Phillies 2008 Presidential campaign.