Mitch Leclair

For the past year, Americans have heard messages of change from now-President Barack Obama. If his recent budget proposals for 2010 are adopted, students across the country will see this mantra in action. The president and his advisers aimed four main proposals at college students – one of which is “originating all new loans in the direct-lending program.

According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, “stimulus” is a Latin word meaning “goad.” Goad’s first listed definition is, “A long pointed stick used to prod animals.” How appropriate. The United States Congress has unfortunately passed a compromise version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or the “stimulus” bill, and President Obama added his signature last week.

The New York Times is crumbling faster than Alex Rodriguez’s reputation, and the powers that be cannot figure it out. More and more consumers are dumping print media and getting involved with the edgy kid on the block: the Internet. Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at New York University, along with constitutional lawyer-turned-journalist Glenn Greenwald, discussed this transformation of our national media on “Bill Moyers Journal” on Feb.

Imagine Frank Zappa dressed as Odysseus, biceps extending off his sailing ship’s bow, screaming into a thunderstorm. Roger Waters descends on a mushroom cloud, and the pair begins to battle. Intense things are happening in the background – things that make an Oliver Stone flick look like a Wiggles concert.

The leading international news media seem to play Bingo with their reporting of conflicts and struggles around the world, making consumers wait patiently for a chance at victory – actually receiving the truth. Yet again, their coverage of the recent events transpiring in Gaza have been nothing short of a game of blackout.