Its been a slow Monday. I was able to drag myself out of bed for my fifty minute, 11 o'clock class. O'clock is a strange term which I think goes largely unnoticed in every day life. It turns out that it is a contraction of "of the clock." Sensible enough. Anyways, I have a long and uneventful day ahead of me. I could play some Tiger Woods or maybe do some in depth research about South Africa's nuclear history, or maybe even play chess against myself. We'll see what happens. I was surfing today's new stories for potential news for my Daily News Everyone/No One Should Care About and I happened upon a remarkable story which also happens to be today's Daily Topic: 5 U.S. CONGRESSMEN ARRESTED.
Yes you read that correctly. I too was astonished to find this headline hiding between the absurd amount of swine flu stories. Intrigued, I read on. This morning at a protest for Darfur at the Sudanese embassy in Washington D.C., three congressmen and two congresswomen crossed a police line in an act of defiance in hopes of raising awareness of this important world crisis. After repeated warnings from police, the lawmakers crossed the line and are being charged with misdemeanor trespassing. Congressman John Lewis of Georgia gave a statement while in handcuffs, "You have to find a way to dramatize the issue...this is another step toward helping to free the children of Darfur and put an end to the genocide, to the violence; crimes against humanity." Police then removed his shoelaces and belt so that the elected official would not kill himself or others in the transport van to county jail. Although some may find this act of defiance trivial, I applaud the efforts of these Representatives and have a deep admiration for elected officials standing up for a cause that they believe in.
But the question is, who will know. [insert rant about media here] Since the beginning of the Darfur conflict in 2003, there have been an estimated 450,000 deaths in that region and some source say that this could even be largely underestimated. That comes out to an average of 250 deaths PER DAY. Avian Flu and SARS combined since their outbreak have caused 556 deaths. Now swine flu has caused about 149 deaths. And what are the new source websites mobbed with headlines of? Certainly not the deaths in Darfur or even the protests of five U.S. Representatives, but swine flu. On the New York Times home page, there are NINE seperate headlines about swine flu and not one about the Darfur protest in Washington. To me, this is inexcusable. Our country, the world, and especially the media needs to get its priorities in order.
I'm out,
-ROF
Daily Food: Egg and Cheese Sandwich on an English Muffin
Daily Activity: Geology
Daily Song: Rush - Tom Sawyer
Daily Attire: LL Bean Slippers
Daily News Everyone Should Care About: U.S. Lawmakers Arrested in Darfur Protest at Sudan Embassy
Daily News No One Should Care About: Assessing the Danger of New Flu
Daily Life Goal: To Get 100 views on the Daily Routine before tomorrow
Daily Complaint: USC Wireless
Daily Drink: Red Bull Cola
Daily Studies: International Relations
Applause
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