Ever since the economic crisis of 2008 started, economists have been looking to determine the exact moment of complete recovery. This was never truer than the study published last September, which declared that the recession had ended in June 2009. This study was met with skepticism on both the left and the right.
It was 1996, and while many of the readers of this column were starting kindergarten, I was beginning the first year of my first attempt at college.
This article is satire.
For the past week now, the biggest news story has been the revolt in Egypt. Protestors have been gathering in the streets calling for the resignation of Egypt's longtime president, Hosni Mubarak. The story has taken many twists and turns.
Anyone who uses the Internet on a regular basis is aware of the bullying that can occur within its realms.
Americans are eating themselves to death, and cable television is inviting us to watch. Not that I am complaining. My roommate and I have about five shows that we regularly record on DVR.
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.
Solutions by The State News
