MTV has never been a haven of moral high ground. From Johnny Knoxville's painful antics on Jackass to the juiceheads of Jersey Shore, the network has a long history of glorifying behavior that would not be advised in real life. In spite of this, MTV never did anything that crossed the line of human decency.
For the past two years, health care has been one of the most volatile subjects in this country. As the Tea Party movement rose to prominence in 2009, many angry town hall meetings were held about the subject, during which shouting was the order of the day. Then, when the health care reform bill ? known by conservatives as "ObamaCare" ? was passed in March of 2010, it continued to be a lightning rod for political debate.
What could be more entertaining than watching the best players in the world team up in an all-star game? Anything. Every year, professional sports leagues hold all-star games to entertain the fans with what should be the best competition possible.
Last week saw the arrest of Dr. Pravin V. Mehta, a Niagara Falls doctor nicknamed "Dr. Feel Good," who was known to illegally prescribe substances. In a span of two-and-a-half years, Mehta prescribed over three million doses of powerful painkillers such as hydrocodone, and oxycodone.
In recent weeks, a lot of fuss has been made about data mining, in which popular websites like Facebook and Google sell off information about their users to corporations who are looking to gain information about potential consumers. The general idea of data mining is simply to give corporations an idea of what people on Facebook and other social networking sites are interested in.
Internships are useful. BOOM! (That was me blowing your mind.) Well, hopefully not, but I'm going to spend the next 2,000-something characters writing about how an internship I had can be used to generalize why working for free in a recovering economy isn't as backward as it may sound. This past summer, I was a Consumer Frauds Representative at the Attorney General's office in downtown Buffalo.
Most Americans agree: Our Federal Drug Prohibition, aka The War on Drugs, is an ongoing calamity, colossal failure, and a national disgrace.
Any student that has attended the University at Buffalo for more than a couple weeks and has heeded the call of nature at least once can agree that the bathrooms here are in a sorry state. I have been at this school for three semesters now, and I am appalled at how the flagship school of the SUNY system keeps up the places that every member of the student body, faculty and staff must visit. I can understand paper towels on the floor and occasional toilet over-flows.
In the wake of the overthrow of the Ben-Ali regime in Tunisia, and Yemen's calling for the exit of longtime president Ali Abdullah Saleh, revolution certainly seems to be in the air lately. In the past week, that sentiment also seemed to be true in Egypt.
In 2010, Uganda became established as a hotbed of homophobic sentiment. From the infamous YouTube video in which a Ugandan minister condemns and mocks homosexual acts, to the proposed legislation that would make homosexuality punishable by death, Uganda has to be considered one of the least gay-friendly countries on earth. That became even truer late last year, when a Ugandan publication calling itself Rolling Stone published a list of Uganda's "top homos," and called for them to be executed. Naturally, this list was met with outrage.
Playing a sport is a great way to relieve stress and keep those competitive juices flowing. That's why, every weekend, I play beer pong. Some people play for the glory, and some play for the buzz that comes with defeating an opponent.
A week ago today, I did the unthinkable: I deactivated my Facebook. I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes, I'm still breathing. The fact of the matter is, Facebook, while useful for some purposes, was quickly becoming a serious drain on my life.
On Friday, Tunisia's interim Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi announced that the country would be holding its first free elections since gaining independence from France in 1956. This announcement came a week after the overthrow of former President Zine al-Abidine Ben-Ali, who ruled the nation with an iron fist, and essentially acted as a dictator. Ghannouchi stated that in the aftermath of the elections, he would leave any political role even if he was elected, stating that he intended to retire once the new president was elected. He also stated that like all Tunisian residents, he lived "in pain and fear" under Ben-Ali.
We're less than a month into Andrew Cuomo's governorship, and there's already a major controversy brewing. Cuomo's recently announced budget cuts that would eliminate 10,000 jobs, include roughly 1,000 jobs in Western New York.
When the Dec. 26 storm hit New York City and I was home on winter break, my family and friends couldn't resist asking me, "You go to school in Buffalo.
Not that anyone has been paying attention, but the football team is currently in the hunt for a new offensive coordinator. As I am sure you are aware, the Bulls finished their 2010 campaign in poor fashion, posting a 2-10 record in the Mid-American Conference and finishing last in the conference in points per game.
As I'm sure many of you out there are aware, there's a particularly revolting rumor circulating around the Internet.
President Obama has taken a lot of heat from the left over the past year. Many liberals were dissatisfied with the health care bill, which looked a public option, and many argued that it compromised too much. Equally frustrating for the left was his compromise with the right on tax cuts for the top one percent of Americans.
Though I'm a huge sports fan, I've never been into college football. It's just a thing I have; I only like the ones with playoff systems. Even so, with all the hype surrounding the BCS National Championship Game between No.
Dear Editor of the Spectrum, Colin Knoer got an arrow splitting bull's eye (Marijuana Legalization: The NORML Perspective, Jan.
Solutions by The State News
