The new iPhone!! Oh yeah, and immigration, racism and the White House controversy

Can we take more of Mexico back? - border issues

A 1.5-mile section of the fence built along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2000 by U.S. crews was actually built in Mexico. The section goes 1 to 6 feet into Mexican territory. So when the illegal immigrants are sent to Mexico - and, of course, I mean all the Polish, Italian and Mexican immigrants a lot of Americans want to get out of the country - will the United States even know where that is? Of course, James Johnson, a farmer on the border, doesn't understand what the fuss is about.
"The markers are in the right place, and the fence is crooked," Johnson said. "But for 120-plus years it was agreed upon that that fence was the border."
I am certain Mr. Johnson would feel the same way if the fence was built on his land.

They just can't get along - White House subpoenas

Let's see if I get this straight: Congress says give us the papers behind the firings of several U.S. attorneys and wiretapping documents. They serve the White House with a subpoena, a LEGAL document that says "give us the information."
But the White House invokes executive privilege, another LEGAL strategy.
The reasoning is giving up documents might hinder other people in powerful positions from doing their job because they would fear being forced to testify or having their documents exposed. Can you be any more transparent??? Look, for full disclosure, I am a moderate that leans left. Let's make no mistake about that. But I don't think the reasoning is that good. If that was the case, why would Bush be offering up those same officials for off-the-record interviews. Something stinks about off-the-record. And that is the ease with which people can deny statements. And this administration doesn't exactly have a proven track record in the department of honesty.

Tumbling like a house of race cards - Vivica A. Fox

Racism exists. Everybody but the most idyllistic - or racist - person will acknowledge that. Sometimes it's blatant and nasty. Other times it's subtle and maybe even unintentional. But when somebody uses the race card when it hasn't been dealt, it pleases everybody out there who either believes minorities cry racism too often or want another justification of their racist thoughts.
That's what Vivica A. Fox did.
Granted, she was drunk. But that gives her no excuse to minimize what anybody who actually has dealt with racism has gone through.
Some might defend this and say that as a successful black woman, she goes through this and might have truly believed this was racism.
That is not convincing. She drank and drove. She got caught. In her unclear thoughts, she thought this would be a good way to get out of this. It wasn't. And she screwed up more than she even thinks.

Another technology craze - iPhone

Crazy. Insane. Ridiculous. Any other adjectives apply to iPhone people?
So the day is finally here and on the way home, I saw a line of people waiting for the latest coming of the VHS.
The thing looks amazing. It really does. But waiting in line from the early morning hours? I just don't see it. I would venture a guess that some of the people who waited in line this morning are the same people who make fun of nerds and geeks who wait in line for video games.

Transport entry No. 3

But don't tell them that. Yet another multi-million dollar athlete injured himself while doing an activity that most contracts say is off limits.
Free agent Lavar Arrington crashed his motorcycle Monday and was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
While Arrington is not under contract to any team and will probably recover, it does bring up the issue of athletes and motorcycles.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow and former Chicago Bulls guard Jay Williams all injured themselves on motorcycles, while under contract.
Why does this continue to happen? Because they think they are invincible. When you excel at something, you sign contracts that say "no motorcycle riding" without thinking because, you know, nothing horrible can happen to you. Throughout your life, you're being told you are great and there is nobody better than you.
But then, when you least expect it (maybe when you're a free agent trying to rehabilitate an injury and latch on to some team), fate comes around and reminds you that nobody can completely avoid injuries.
The phenomenon is pretty stupid.
If a contract was there, ready to pay me millions of dollars to play a sport, and the contract said "no walking," I'd use those millions of dollars to pay somebody to carry me around.

Transport entry No. 2

So there's Paris Hilton.
I heard she's kind of famous. I'll never figure out why, though. Anyway, apparently she was overcome with some mysterious illness in prison. Not only that, but apparently, God was sending a message. It was like 24 hours after she was dragged, kicking and screaming and sobbing, to her cell. And now God told her to be a role model. Yikes.
I don't blame her for the illness. If I were to go to prison, I'd probably get sick too. It's called "I don't want to be here syndrome."

Is this thing on?

I have transported the first few posts in The Journey because they belong more in this blog.


This is my blog.
What is going to happen in my blog?
I will at times talk about fun things (Sports, TV, Paris Hilton's latest sob session).
I will at times talk about things that make me wonder about society and where it's going (wars, politics, reality TV).
Sometimes, I will talk about things going on in my little necks of the woods (West Dundee, Ill., during the summer and Charleston, Ill., when school's in session).
Should you care what I think about these things? Absolutely not. But I'm hoping you comment on my blog ... even if it's just to tell me I think way too highly of myself.
A little bit about myself: I'm a 30-year-old college senior studying journalism at Eastern Illinois University. I took several years off after I graduated high school in 1995 to pursue other things ... namely, working at a dead-end job. I went back to school in August of 2003 at a community college and transferred to EIU in August of 2005. I'm active on the school's newspaper, The Daily Eastern News, and will be editor-in-chief in the fall. I am working on my second internship. This one at The Daily Herald, a paper in Chicago and the suburbs.
That's a little bit about myself. I have more, but will save it for another time. I hope at least one person out there reads this. But if not, hey, it's all for me.

Random thoughts need some loving too

As The Journey focuses on a specific field - journalism - this will be where the world's news is discussed.