Where's the Cobra?

Earlier this week, the renowned bronx zoo mysteriously lost it's prized and deadly Egyptian Cobra. This specific loss is of significant importance because of the snake's deadly venom, which can reportedly kill a human within 15 minutes of a bite. While the Bronx zoo is clearly clambering to find it's missing 20 inch cobra, many New Yorkers have taken the comedic approach to the disappearance. The creation of a fictional twitter for the snake has garnered national media attention. The anonymous tweeter has been sending out comical updates about the snake's supposed journey through out New York City. The twitter has ever grabbed the attention of NYC mayor Bloomberg who recently tweeted "Today President Obama and I toured NYC's Museum of Natural History. We saw a 94 foot whale, but not @BronxZoosCobra" While the last month has produced headlines of deadly disasters and images of violent war, the light-heartedness of the missing Cobra story has brought an ease to the tensions of American media over the past several weeks. However, it is still important to understand that the missing snake is deadly and out of it's element, so those in the vicinity of the Bronx Zoo should keep a close eye out!As of today, the Cobra has still not been found, and so the reptile house at the Bronx zoo remains closed. Zoo officials have been confident that they would find the reptile within zoo grounds, however, as days pass that likelihood seems less and less. The loss of such a dangerous animal raises some speculation on how safe the Bronx Zoo truly is, and how responsible the keepers are about maintaining both the animal's and patron's safety.

 

Al Jazeera

Several weeks ago U.S. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton undertook heavy scrutiny from republicans and U.S. news sources after endorsing the Arab news outlet Al Jazeera. Clinton argued that the United States was falling short of providing the news that other foreign media outlets were capable of, specifically Al Jazeera.“Al Jazeera has been the leader in that are literally changing people’s minds and attitudes. And like it or hate it, it is really effective,” Clinton said in a congressional state department address last week. She continued to explain that Al Jazeera has started to gain popularity in the United States because it reports 'real news'. Clinton points out that while Americans deal with biased agenda pushing media sources like Fox or CNN, Al Jazeera reports internationally, with no political affiliation or outside influence. Furthermore, while American media interrupts important news with unnecessary commercial breaks and shows which portray "talking heads" Al Jazeera is finding ways to report in depth about situations across the globe. While Americans may be reluctant to accept the fact that an Arabic news source is the best outlet for uncovering true facts, the reality is undeniable. The United States has fallen behind in the true reporting aspect of the news. Al Jazeera and media networks such as BBC are breaking the international news quickly, more effectively, and without bias. While many republicans took Secretary Clinton's remarks as Anti-American, the fact remains that viewership of Al Jazeera online, and the utilization of their news website has gone up significantly in the United States. Al Jazeera is the primary news source for many areas of the world, having reporting offices through out the middle east, Asia, Africa, Russia, India, etc. Al Jazeera has even over taken BBC as the primary news source in Israel, a state which has been at odds with the Arab world for centuries. While Glenn Beck called Hillary Clinton's comments "insanity" he did to provide any support that she was wrong in his cynical and scornful comments on her remarks.

The Lockout

Many avid sports fans have been toughing it out the last several weeks as the NFL players Union negotiates a new collective bargaining agreement with the owners association. With these negotiations comes the looming possibility of a lockout, and the fear that as of September there will be no football to be played. The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was set to expire yesterday, March 4, however, the player's union and the owners recently agreed to a seven day extension in attempt to further negotiate the new CBA. The players and owners are in disagreement on several major issues pertaining to the new agreement. First the players are opposed to a new schedule which would endow a new 18 game regular season, a season in which many players are not happy about. Players believe that increasing the season to 18 games increases the risk of player injury. This all comes after a season filled with fines in the name of protecting the safety of athletes. The players also feel as if the owners are boxing them out of their fair share of monetary rights from television sponsors. The issue of how the NFL should divide up it's 9 Billion dollar revenue has become the main focus of the CBA negotiations. While most believe that the lock out is a serious possibility, there are those skeptics who say it's all a sham. Buzz Bissinger, a noted NFL writer and analyst believes that the NFL is pumping the possibility of a lockout to increase the NFL's ratings. Bissinger thinks that the actuality of a lockout would be devastating for the NFL, and crippling for the sporting industry. Whether or not there will be an NFL season this coming September is unseen; the negotiations continue almost non stop in attempt to avoid a lockout. It is important to note that the NBA's collective bargaining agreement is also set to expire following this season, which could lead to another whirlwind battle between owners of NBA teams and the NBA players union. It's hard to believe that in today's world there's an actual possibility that there will not be professional football or basketball next season. It is because of owners and players alike, haggling between millions and billions that the entire world hopes in angst that they will be able to see their favorite teams on the field (or court) come fall.