Parks & Rec.

The Greater Huntington Park and Recreation met last wednesday at the Ritter park rose garden to address upcoming projects and budget cuts.
First on the boards agenda included a grant program to preserve and repair the historic train station buildings at 210 11th Street.
The grant was approved with a unanimous vote to approve the one thousand dollar project.
Second the board approved repairs for a softball field backstop fence and field perimeter fence at St. Cloud Commons.
The project will be raising money through community participation and grant programs. The project was approved for three thousand, five hundred dollars.
Finally the board approved the 2013-2014 Parks and Cemeteries Fiscal Year Budgets.

March 25 City Council

March 25 City Council included a passing of ordinances and proposals which will clean up Huntington and give the youth an exciting new experience in the city.

The session started with Mayor Steve Williams who honored Huntington High senior Kelsi Burns for her academic and athletic merit and Burns acceptance to West Point on a soccer scholarship.

The Council first ordinance included a tougher code that would keep property owners from keeping couches outside of the house.

By a unanimous vote of 8-0, council members approved an ordinance that prohibits residents from keeping furniture, mattresses and another items not intended for outdoor use in front yards.

The city is allowing a transition period in order to allow citizens to comply with the ordinance. The city will be placing trash bins in neighborhoods beginning April 3. The locations of the bins has not been decided yet.

Huntington's youth have plenty to be excited about after this meeting with the approval of a Huntington skate park at the River Front Park. The Council approved the creation of a master plan that marks the start of designing a skate park that will be constructed in the West end of River Front Park.

The meeting concluded with the discussion of the cities first "Second Chance Prom" this Friday night which will give special needs and underprivileged citizens a prom just for them free of charge at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena

Faculty Senate

The Marshall University Faculty Senate meeting discussed the annual budget report, President Stephen Kopp, addressed included information on employee salaries and compensation.

Kopp's presentation, included at Powerpoint that described university expenditures of how it is divided among those in different faculty positions.

According to Kopp 62 percent of university funds go toward faculty salaries. Kopp said that professors at Marshall include more full ranked professors then other similar universities. 

Kopp also addressed the upcoming state wide budget cuts which would be a overall 8.9 percent budget cut. Kopp said these cuts will increase tuition for future students by a $730 increase. 

Kopp encouraged members of the senate to write to their congressmen to discourage some of the upcoming budget cuts that would be effecting the university.

At the end of Kopp's speech, he answered questions about the budget report from the senate and encouraged members to do research on the upcoming budget cuts. 

Extra Credit

Mayor Steve Williams gives State of the City address at Town Hall

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams gave his first State of the City address Friday to the city of Huntington.

The speech lasted about 50 minutes, and included keynotes such as the city budget, a beautification plan, the art community bringing more business to the area and lowering crime rates.

Williams also announced that Chief Randy Ellis would be relieved of his duties as Fire Chief. Carl Eastham, retired firefighter will take over Ellis duties.

Williams seemed nervous and eager at the beginning of his speech. With a few stumble Williams veered off of his planned script and spoke frankly.

State Of The Union

State of the Union

In President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Obama returned to some unfinished business from his first term as president.
Standing before the world and a joint session of Congress, Obama delivered his fourth State of the Union address.
In an earlier column, I predicted that immigration would be a key point during this year's address.
I also predicted the president would speak on gun control, gay rights, equal pay for women, climate change and the economy.
While the president hit on all the topics I predicted, there were a few shockers that the president will have on his agenda.
The president announced that American forces will move into a supporting role and more troops will come home.
“Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan,” Obama said.
By far, the surprise topic of this year's address is the growing threat of cyber attacks. Not many if any had this predicted as key point in the president's speech.
The president has called on Congress to face the rapidly-growing threat from cyber attacks.
Obama said that our enemies are seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems.
“We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy,” Obama said.
During the 2012 presidential election, in response to former Massachusetts Gov. Romney’s statement of the U.S. having less naval ships, Obama said, “Well Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets.”
During Tuesday's address, Obama seemed to focus on bringing America's defenses into a 21st century standard.
I made the prediction Obama would address the topic of immigration reform. For the past few months, immigration reform has been a hot topic. For example, during this year's presidential campaigns, both nominees considered vital to go on Telemundo. Romney even had a fake tan to appeal to a more Hispanic demographic.
Obama laid out a specific plan for how he would deal with immigration reform. Obama said he plans to strengthen border patrol and create a more responsible way for immigrants to earn citizenship. The president catchphrase on this key point was simple but infectious.
“Let’s get it done,” Obama said multiple times, which drew one of the largest ovations of the speech, from both sides of Congress.
Yet the emotional climax of this year speech came during gun control with Obama saying yet another catch phrase, “They deserve a vote.”
Obama used the examples of Gabby Giffords, the families of Newton and the families of Aurora to personalize the issue.
Yet for me, the strongest voice of this speech was Haidya Pendleton. Pendleton was a 15-year-old girl who lost her life during the shooting less then a mile away from Obama’s house.
Even Obama struggled with the emotion during this portion of his speech. His eyes glazed over as he said, “Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed.”
During the loudest standing ovation among Democrats, Obama repeated they deserve a vote. However, they deserve a vote only means to give gun control legislation a chance and that may be all the president will be able to do.
One thing is clear, it will not be easy for those who oppose the president's legislation on gun control.
Right now, Obama has time on his side, but the longer it takes to pass legislation, the less support he is going to find among a bipartisan bill.
While I predicted Immigration reform would be a significant topic, I was also surprised to find that the president touched upon reducing our nuclear arsenal and cyber hacking.

State of The Union

In his first speech before a joint session of Congress since his reelection, President Barack Obama is expected to tackle several major issues, including making immigration reform one of his top priorities.

            It seems illegal immigration has hit its political breaking point in Washington, D.C.; Obama will be proposing changes to the current immigration policy.

            During the last election, Obama forged a bond with a growing Hispanic population and has pledged to help solve immigration problems resulting from undocumented immigrants.

            We can expect the President to propose legislation to make clear paths for citizenship and to crack down on companies that employ illegal immigrants.

            According to the official White House website, Obama’s immigration reform includes four main themes.

            “Responsibility by the federal government to secure our boarders, accountability for businesses that break the law by undermining American workers and exploiting undocumented workers, strengthening our economic competiveness by creating a legal immigration system that reflects our values and diverse needs and responsibility from people who are living in the United States illegally.”

            Obama did not wait to emphasize the importance of immigration reform. On Jan. 29, Obama spoke to the media in Las Vegas and gave his full support to comprehensive immigration reform.

            “Now is the time to fix the nation’s broken immigration system,” Obama said.

            The U.S. Senate proposed plan for immigration reform highlights similar ideas as the president’s.

            The Senate would like to pass legislation that includes clear paths to citizenship, border-state security, enforce fines to illegals and provide current illegal citizens a chance to apply for permanent residency.

            The New York Times reported the proposed principles of the Senate were consistent with those in Obama’s 29-page blue print for immigration reform, which he issued during May 2011, and made a significant platform during his re-election campaign.

            The last significant reform to immigration was passed into law more than two decades ago.

            The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was signed during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

            In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Arizona governor, now Homeland Secretary, Janet Napolitano wrote on immigration.

“For 20 years, our country has done basically nothing to enforce the 1986 legislation against either the employers who hired illegal immigrants or those who crossed our borders illegally to work for them,” Napolitano said.

            The Boston Globe published a recent editorial that said the time is ripe for comprehensive immigration reform.

The Globe said business leaders and farmers are unified in demanding a system that meets 21st century economic needs, which recognizes more than 12 million illegal immigrants who are already inside our borders.

            In a time when U.S. farmers struggle to find work because of the cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants, Obama will be faced to address the growing issue of immigration. 

            Obama may change how the system works to legalize immigrants, but he needs to take a look at a bigger problem. He needs to secure the border from those who illegally come to our country.

            I have no personal dislike of immigrants, and I’m the son of Cuban political refugees. My family understands the need of escaping a bad situation in a foreign country.

            I am proud to say that my family did it the correct way. Even though it was a struggle, they waited until it was legal for them to move to Miami.

            With immigration reform, we do not need to help those immigrants who tried to avoid becoming a U.S. citizen, but those who plan on seeking it.

            Obama will also be speaking on the topics of women’s rights, climate change, gay rights and the economy.

            Equality in the work place will be an area Obama will be looking to push as he has campaigned for equal rights for woman in the work force.

            One think is sure tomorrow's speech is going to set the tone for the Obama’s presidency. 

State Of The Union Proposal

To: Professor Morris
From: Dwight Christopher Jorge
RE: Story Outline: State of the Union Address 
Date: 1/28/13
Subject: Prediction of issues during the Presidential State of the Union Address. 
Scope: I will be analyzing the campaign and promises Obama has made during his first four years in office. I will use those to predict the key points the president may use during his address. My predictions include that the president will speak on women rights, gay rights, gun control, climate change, immigration reform and the current economic debt. (This will also include Obama focus on creating more jobs for American workers.)
Need: Readers need to be better inform of the political agenda and the presidents views on the nation.
Methods: This story can be documented by using previous Obama previous state of the union and speech transcripts. Research can also be found on the official white house website, which states an outline of the presidents goals. I will also use the GOP website to gain the conservative view for my column. For official documents I will use academic databases.
Sources: Government databases (United States Senate website), Ebsco hos, encyclopedia Britannica for documents, records and other information will also be used to determine the importance of the speech. I will also explore news stories written by credible sources and organizations that serve the purpose of checking facts.
Presentation: I will have a 600 word NY Times Op-Ed style column. Which will contain a prediction to the presidents State of The Union Address. I will provide pictures of Barack Obama previous State of The Union Address's.
Follow-up: Will watch the presidential state of the union on February 12 to blog/tweet about how well the president followed my predictions.

Presidential Inauguration Revised

All eyes were on Capitol as the 57th presidential inauguration took center stage.
More then 800,000 people attended the ceremony and millions more tuned in to hear Barack Obamas plan for the next four years.
Whether you agree or disagree with him, you watched.
It must just be a ceremonial tradition or a glorified speech to motivate the country. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams said most inauguration speeches have been forgettable, comparing it to a graduation speech, but the nation still watched.
Except for this speech you have more then college graduates listening, you have American
Families looking for answers.

Officially, the president was sworn in Sunday within the White House, but this is not why we watch. We watch to hear the presidents words and to see if he will keep those campaign promises of gun control, immigration reform, climate change and gay rights.

Obama started by speaking on the most American topic he could have– the constitution. 

“We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional, what makes us American is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago,” Obama said.

Obama’s reference of the Constitution not only took it out of the history books, but made it a document in which all Americans could relate to. He was not done with the Constitution just yet; Obama has quite the agenda ahead of him.

On what was Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Obama began his speech of equality under the law.

“For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. For if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” Obama said.

The president has his work set up for him. A day after the Inauguration, Senator Mitch McConnell responded to the president's speech by saying it was partisan and ridiculous.

“The era of liberalism is back,” McConnell said. “If the president pursues that king of agenda, obviously it’s not designed to bring us together.”

Not designed to bring us together? How is the basic belief that all men and women no matter of sexual orientation of beliefs separating the country? In a country that prides itself in being first, why are we waiting to be the first to give all minorities equal rights?

It may be because we are not first; we’re seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, third in median household income, No. 4 in labor force and No. 4 in exports.

Yet we are still hesitant to change our laws to allow equal pay for women and equal rights for gays.

This is not acceptable for the president. In his speech on Monday, he set the tone that he is the president of the United States for the next four years. Except this time, Obama has no concern of any reelection. He simply has his agenda. Whether any legislation will happen is yet to be seen, but I would not bet against Obama.

Obama has made it a staple in his career of giving motivational speeches to America's minorities to gain support. The last thing Republicans need after the last election is to lose popularity among voters.

One thing I noticed that was unique about this inauguration was the amount of Spanish spoken and representation of Hispanics. Miami native Richard Blanco made history not only as the son of a Cuban exile but to be the first openly gay male to receive the honor of giving the presidential inauguration poem.

Maybe its because I relate to Blanco as we are both children of Cuban exiles who grew up in Miami. We were both used to a city of Catholic, Cuban exiles, but the truth of the matter is the United States is more than just our loving home town. 

I can only wonder at what point did Blanco notice he was different than the rest of what the United States. To add to his ethnicity, Blanco is also openly gay in a predominately socially conservative country. Maybe it was due to our shared hometown roots, but, when Blanco got up to the podium, I sat quiet and listened. I gave him the same respect as the president.

Blanco read his poem “One Day,” which imagined a future ideal United States where all were equal and happy.

“Like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop and every window, of one country all of us facing the stars hope  a new constellation waiting for us to map it, waiting for us to name it together,” Blanco said.

Blanco is saying America is ready for a change, ready to explore new ideas and to expand its rights. Blanco was not the only one who looked to the stars Monday morning.

“'We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths is that all of us are created equal'-is the star that guides us still,” Obama said. “Just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung.”

The president has set up a lofty agenda for the next four years, which include the deficit, equal pay for women, equal rights for gays, climate change, gun control and immigration reform.

The president did not speak of reaching across the aisle in his speech. He choose to speak the millions of Americans watching. It is becoming clear that Obama is tired of fighting with the House Republicans and wants to make a change in Americans' lives. 

For the next four years, it could be expected that Obama will be more of the people's president, using his charisma to win over voters in exchange of pressuring House Republicans to vote for his legislation. 

What we know for certain is, on Monday, Barack Obama became the first African American to be a two-term president. Obama's term as president is not over, but it is safe to say that this president will be remembered in the history books. 

The next four years will just add to Barack Obama's legacy as the first African American president and as the president when Osama bin Ladin was finally captured. Obama will be remembered for his charisma and for the next four years of his presidency. One thing is to be sure the next four years will define generations to come.

Sources

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/21/16626094-obamas-inaugural-speech-the-full-text?lite

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inauguration-2013-richard-blanco-recites-inaugural-poem/2013/01/21/098c2918-63f0-11e2-b84d-21c7b65985ee_video.html

http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/about/facts-and-firsts

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/21/3192582/cuban-exile-mother-of-poet-laureate.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/02/us/american-exceptionalism-other-countries-lessons/index.html

Inauguration Proposal

To: Professor Morris 

From: Dwight Jorge

Subject: President Barack Obama inauguration 2013

Scope: I will observe the presidential inauguration by doing research on the president’s political and personal career. I will reflect on his party’s platform and what it means for the democrats to have the presidency.

Need: Because of increased debt and unemployment, it is important to outline Obama’s and the democratic agenda. 

Methods: I will collect research from official political party websites and government sources. I will also collect information from different news websites. I will contact a political science expert.

Sources: I will first use my observation from the actual TV event. I will also use the official democratic website and whitehouse.gov. I will do research with the NY Times and CNN. I will also use ebscohost for academic research.

Presentation: This can be a series throughout Obamas term, starting with the preview of what his term will look like and what he promised. This can have follow ups to see if Obama is keeping his promises or breaking them. 

Follow-up: There will probably be follow up article on the presidents stance on gun control, Presidents update on promises and updates on what the president has accomplished or failed to accomplished.

Assignment #2

Revolutionary Language

Recently The New York Times columnist Charles Blow wrote the column "Revolutionary Language" discussing the debate on gun control. Blow establishes a humorous yet serious tone right away in his lead.

"That sound you hear of a cultural paranoia by people who have lost their grip on the reigns of poet, and on reality, and who fear the worst is coming,"Blow said.

In his second paragraph he begins to the address the issue of gun control. Blow conveys the extremists agenda is preventing the conversation about gun control.

Blow use of colorful quotes contributes to the tone of his column. The quotes he uses do a good job providing quotes that make you think about the subject. Blow does a good job of letting the quotes he chooses speak for themselves.

The column ends when Blow said, "Again, calling the patriots to arms is, I think, no accident. Chew on that." Leaving readers thinking more on the subject of gun control.


The Thinking Person's Entertainment

Alissa Quart recently published "The Thinking Person's Entertainment" in the New York Times by discussing the connection of entertainment in every day life. Quart starts off by listing a list of television shows which included golden globe winner "Girls." Quart said the appeal of television shows is that it pulls us away from twitter, texts, emails, pointless videos and all the other technological distractions.

"They provide relief from non narrative mobile messages, from different voices nattering away, all at once, on different subjects and the multiple, inconstant jobs that now fill so much of our lives," Quart said. Her tone expresses energy and a interesting in the topic she is writing about.

Quart calls shows with multiple timelines a "hyperlink television" which refers to the way the shows creator chooses to tell a story. Whether if its like "Lost" a flack back bases television show or "Heroes" which uses different characters with separate timelines. Quart said with day to day life being a bombardment of different sources of entertainment the television ward has adapted to telling stories in a way "Web-savvy" audiences are use to.

"Those shows made sense to Web-savvy audiences alive to the fun of skipping back and fourth from one thread to the next and to random-seeming series of nonlinear sequences directed mostly by whim, taste and mood," Quart said. Quart closes her column by saying viewers prefer these complex narrative bases programs because it provides an escape from their hectic day to day lives.

I have just successfully completed Assignment #1 for JMC 414. My beat for the remainder of the semester will be The Huntington Board of Zoning Appeals.

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