In Paris Without Papers, and Seeking Visibility

This article can be found here.

October 10, 2009

The US isn't the only nation with immigration high on the political agenda, with thousands of African, Turks, Pakistanis, and Chinese inhabiting the camps in the outskirts of Paris. But, unlike the immigrants of America that try to keep their presence concealed, these immigrants march and protest for citizenship on a regular basis, disregarding the risk of deportation. The main reason for this difference lies in the fact that the Parisian police do not do regular checks in common immigrant settlements and perform subsequent deportations like they used to do in America. Event under President Obama's recent measures, deportations and direct attacks on common immigrant sites are also becoming less regular. In Paris, though, one or two residency permits are cranked out every day at a consistent rate, awarding 150,000 immigrants citizenship yearly, the second highest in Europe. Some believe that it is actually the prevalence of these immigrants that keeps them safe from government deportation, since common national opinion on the subject would lead to nation-wide resentment if this were to occur.

Surprise Nobel for Obama Stirs Praise and Doubts

This article can be found here.

October 9, 2009

When it was announced that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, I was confused as to how such a new president could already earn the great honor. But it became clear that the award was less about President Obama's accomplishments and more about the hope for his future success in limiting the stockpiling of nuclear weaponry around the globe. The committee noted specifically the president's increased emphasis on diplomacy. Republicans question if it is not Obama's charisma that has won the award, and Democrats too wonder if the president has really earned this award. Leaders of many Middle Eastern nations, most notable Iran, are fuming over the committees decision. The committee assured those confused by their decision by admitting when considering their nominees, they think about who has made the most effort in the past year to enhance world peace, and they came up with Barack Obama's name. The $1.4 million prize money will be donated to charity. Since the award is more of an expectation rather than a congratulatory award, a lot of pressure will be placed on Obama in the future years of his presidency to make global peace a reality.

Former UF Employee Arrested for Molesting

This article was written in the Alligator

October 7, 2009

When is an article's contents considered too obscene to be shown on the front page of a newspaper? This was one of the first questions I asked myself when I picked up the most recent Alligator newspaper. There on the front page was a short article about the UF engineering employee, 53-year-old David Blankenship, who was arrested for lewd and lascivious conduct involving a young girl. The topic is one that is not new to popular newspaper headlines. Rather, the specificity upon which this article took when describing the man's act was what I found to be obscene. In only the fourth sentence of the article on the front page of the newspaper, the author Katherine Bein explicitly lays out the finer details of the young girl's molestation. Bein outright describes how Blankenship "touched [the girl's] genitals under her clothes and penetrated her with his fingers". Something like this should be found in a newspaper, even on the front page. But details such as these which some may find offensive or traumatizing belong on the inside of the newspaper. A topic such as this is not being treated respectfully if the intimate details are being immediately put up front.

Guidelines in England for Assisted Suicide

This article can be found here.

October 6, 2009

Assisted suicide has been illegal in England for over 50 years, but recent guidelines have been cleared by the courts making it easier for friends or relatives to get away with doing such acts. One way this has been made easier is with the promise of courts to review and judge on these cases individually, and not by one generalized ruling. Some other provisions required that the person aiding a suicide to be motivated by compassion, that the deceased clearly wanted to die, and that the deceased being terminally ill, being severely physically disabled or suffering from an incurable degenerative disease. However, those who assisted in the suicide might be prosecuted if the deceased was under the age of 18, was mentally handicapped or not sure about his or her wishes, or was not being seriously disabled, terminally ill, or suffering from a degenerative disease. Also, if the person aiding in the suicide pressed someone into it or seemed to be motivated by some personal gain, they may also run the risk of prosecution. These measures were passed after Debbie Purdy successfully led a suit against the court on clarifying the law. Purdy wanted to have her husband try and aid in her suicide, but did not want him to go to jail.

Dancing Into the Evening, Brazil Celebrates Arrival on World Stage

This article can be found here.

October 4, 2009

After being recognized as the hosts of the 2016 Olympic games, Brazilians are beginning to view their country as an emerging power in global politics. Especially since this set of games will be the first to be held in South America. The author of the article purposefully takes a quote from a Brazilian electrical technician and cites him as saying, “We aren’t the United States, but we are getting there, and we will get there.” Using this source allows the author to convey not only the newfound sense of national pride found in the lower class sectors, but emphasize the reference point on which countries like Brazil base their global status: the United States. Brazil's emergence as a new world power can best be seen through the closing gap between the wealthiest few and the middle class. But economic success can be found mostly through luck. As the author points out pessimistically, the nation was just "lucky" enough to discover "huge troves of deep sea oil". The author repeatedly points out these 'lucky' instances as he describes the President da Silva's rise from poverty to leadership and Brazil's flourishing prosperity in the midst of a global economic crisis. Does all this talk of luck insinuate that their winning bid for host as host of the Olympics was just another one of these 'lucky' instances? Was Chicago just not lucky enough? In the end, the lack of 'sportsmanship', if you will, that the author expresses creates an overall jealous tone in the article.

Dialing for Answers Where Web Can’t Reach

This article can be found here.

October 1, 2009

Question Box is the African version of Google. It's a calling nonprofit service that provides answers to Ugandan citizens that live in remote areas in need of advice. Using the phone, a farmer who is confused on what to fertilize his crops with might call the hotline, who will then provide them with information. Simple enough. Since cell phones are already popular in Uganda, the service should not be difficult to supply. The California based creator, Rose Shuman, received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gaes Foundation, and first explored the program's success in the rural villages of India. Far from dial-up or wi-fi, the program primarily focuses on using cell phone support methods in providing information rather than the internet. Ultimately, Question Box seeks to increase the economic prosperity of the region by removing the obstacles involving lack of access to a technologically advanced world. In India, where cell phones were less pravalent, Question Box was simplified to a literal 'push-to-talk' metal box. It's all about outsourcing. The program connects local rural citizens to operators in cities that do have access to the internet. Of course, not all information can be found on the internet, and the internet is slow even in the Uganda's larger cities; so Question Box has turned to using Appfrica Labs, a database that documents information and all past questions and answers. Because the database is uniquely local, information would be more region specific and less tedious to use than popular American search engines.

Belatedly, Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs

This article can be found here.

September 30, 2009

Before last spring, pigs were often allowed to stroll the streets of Cairo, Egypt, eating all the discarded organic waste that littered their path. That is, before the country's leading experts advised the mass slaughter of these species in order to slow the spread of a certain sickness called the swine flu. No longer around to provide their waste reduction services, pigs are being replaced by sheep, who have struggled to keep up with the quality of their predecessors' work. Residents are reporting an increased stench in the city, and officials are beginning to wonder if the measures taken will reap any positive results. The author uses this humorous anecdote to lightly introduce the broader issue of an over-reactive and rash Egyptian government. As the article takes a more serious tone, the author Michael Slackman takes a broader prespective by acquainting the reader with Cairo's other service industry issues, like the prevalence of bribes. By supplying them with quotes from Cairo's suffering citizens and qualified experts from that region-- like the chief of the infectious disease department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Sabir Abdel Aziz Galal, who advised against the pig massacre-- Slackman brings the article above the level of a merely entertaining article to one that seriously explores the legitimacy of the Egyptian governement.