Amaya Zabala's Journal

Playing soccer is and always has been an integral part of my life. So has music, specifically punk and alternative music. Since getting my first punk cd in fourth grade (Rancid), I have always listened to punk and alternative bands when I am feeling angry or aggressive--mainly when I find out about injustices of the world. But I also HAVE to listen to this kind of music when I am preparing for soccer; whether it be practice, fitness tests, or games.

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In my On The Media segment titled "Hacks 'R' Us", New York Press journalist Matt Taibbi was appalled at the election coverage this year. Who was responsible for it? He and his cohorts decided that it was time to put the media who covered it in check. Taibbi created the First Quadrennial Election Hack Invitational, aka "Wimblehack". It is a tournament where 32 journalists covering the election were involuntarily entered.

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Upon reviewing the Ocean's 11 of 1960, and the Ocean's 11 of 2001, one theme seemed to keep coming up for me. This theme is how the remake of Ocean's 11 seems to have taken detailed notes on the blatant political incorrectness of the original movie, and made sure to steer clear of it for the second time around. The societies of 1960 and of 2001 are quite different. Due to civil rights movements and the feminist movement, the atmosphere of 2001 entails being careful of what one says or does as not to offend any race or gender.

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In this week's "On The Media" I covered a hilarious piece titled "When Buckeyes Attack". It deals with the very important upcoming presidential election. Britain's left-leaning newspaper, Guardian, has started a campaign in which it asked its readers to send letters to voters in Clark County, Ohio to vote Kerry. Why Clark County, Ohio??? It has a high number of registered independents. Among the concerned Britains were some "important" people, including spy novelist John Le Carre, historian Antonia Fraser, and eminent science writer Richard Dawkins. An example of the British pleas comes from Le Carre: "Please son't feel isolated from the Europe you twice saved. Give us back the America we loved, and your friends will be waiting for you. And here in Britain, for as long as we have Tony Blair singing the same lies as George Bush, your nightmares will be ours." People not only from Ohio, but from Texas (weird) weren't amused by the British "assistance". A very intelligent example comes from a man who was so cool simply states he is from the U.S. of A.: "Hey England, Scotland and Wales--mind your own business! We don't need weenie-spined Limeys meddling in our presidential election. If it wasn't for America, you'd all be speaking German. Butt out."

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I watched the documentary "Uncovered: the Whole Truth", which was quite a one sided attack on the current Bush administration. This documentary has been compared to Michael Moore's controversial "Fareinhiet 9/11". While they both have the agenda of making Bush look foolish, I think that "Uncovered" has more legit sources: former CIA operatives, former U.N. weapons inspectors, and former foreign service members.
Months before the war in Iraq started, I joined in the protests in San Francisco. However I truly didn't understand the magnitude of the lies generated that eventually would cause the terrible mess we are currently in. While I was watching a lot of news coverage, I wasn't exactly sure what to make of the claims of weapons of mass destruction. The documentary showed how Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Powell kept claiming over and over there was in fact "no doubt" that Iraq had WMD.

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