Dominic Riley

California wildfires don't take me by surprise anymore. Once the winds pick up and it gets abnormally hot outside, I know that a fire is sure to start blazing. Sadly, people can even predict when a fire is destined to start based on past incidents.

I usually don't watch the fire coverage on the local news because it's hard to watch as people's lives change in front of my eyes, usually not for good. Last Sunday, I ended up watching several hours of fire coverage. I couldn't believe how much ground both the Triangle Complex fire and Sayre fire made in just a few days.

When the Triangle Complex fire moved toward the 57 freeway, I started to get nervous. My parents live north of the threatened areas just off the 57. Even though everything turned out fine and they were never really in danger, it was the first time I took the "fire coverage" seriously. I watched as a few homes caught fire, burned, and then collapsed because there was no water pressure for firefighters to fight them.

 In Judy Muller's autobiography "Now This: Radio, Television...and the Real World," which focuses solely on her years as a journalist, she questions one of life's most desired achievements: happiness.

"Happiness is the 'Big Get.' It is the elusive exclusive that will rocket you to fame and fortune. And it is a fiction." Muller retells her own pursuit of happiness as she winds past life's bumps in the road and when she reaches the end, she realizes life isn't just about the pursuit of the grand finale, but the acknowledgement and appreciation of the smaller "gets," which are happening now.
  

Yes We Did!

"This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can."

--- President-Elect Barack Obama

Photo Credit: www.telegraph.co.uk

This Tuesday's debate was as miserable as hearing a ringtone made up of John McCain repeating the words "my friends" twelve times in a row ring during a live performance of Sarah Palin yodeling the Bush Doctrine.

Maybe I will attribute my boredom to the fact that I have made up my mind on who I feel is the best candidate and can no longer be convinced otherwise (oh wait, unless he lived in the same neighborhood as a terrorist). Or, my boredom was just a result of all the hype that surrounds the debates and then the candidates don't deliver or live up to that hype. Whatever it was, I was definitely disinterested until about three-quarters of the way through.

Don't forget to VOTE on November 4, 2008!!

The moment I saw Barack Obama take the stage, then shake John McCain's hand, I got a slight chill. I knew I was witnessing another historic event; fortunately, a pleasant historic event, one to distract me from the unpleasant historic events of the past week and a half. I watched the debate live on CNN, but once the debate ended I switched between CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. I knew what station would cater to what I wanted to hear and I knew what station wouldn't, but that's not media bias is it?

I spent most of my time on MSNBC watching their post debate coverage. Keith Olbermann, one of my new journalist heroes, kicked off the coverage and I figured he would bring McCain's mishaps to the fore front. While he personally attacked McCain, he was fair in providing commentary from two political analysts, Pat Buchanan and Eugene Robinson, who represented both political views and argued in favor of their party's respective candidate. Both analysts gave the edge to their favored candidate, but weren't too shy to claim that it was close to a draw.

No one overwhelmingly claimed a victor...until I turned to Fox News in between commercial breaks.

Photo Credit: Alex Brandon - AP

Newstrust.net

When I first opened the newstrust.net site, I was a little unimpressed. But, once I realized why I was unimpressed, I actually became very impressed. The reason I was unimpressed was because I wasn't bombarded with the donate here buttons or blinking Viagra ads or rate the hottie/nottie ad or the I wonder what my former exhibitionist classmate is doing now banner or the guess the celebretard ad or the click here for real news ad or the squash the spider ad game or the you just won a million Swedish Fish pop-up or the don't you wish your sister's mother's son's girlfriend looked like this banner or finally, the can you guess which school out of these twelve did Palin actually graduate from ad. For some reason my eyes immediately go to those ads and banners and it's probably because all I can do is stare at them while a particular website takes 30 seconds to load all 237 of them on the home page. Thankfully, something was different about this site. There were NO ads or banners on the homepage. Oh! So this is real journalism and not citizen journalism? I think I like.