Lincoln Vs. Obama

In celebrating the bicentennial birthday of Abraham Lincoln, many comparisons have been made between our new president, Barack Obama, and Lincoln himself. One video i found on MSNBC listed similarities from their political backgrounds to their physical appearances, being tall and lanky. Another article i found had listed America's presidents from best to worst, based on the opinions of several historians. While this didn't didn't make any references to Obama, it did list Lincoln as the best president in history, Buchanan as the worst, and president Bush as 36th worst.

I found it interesting that the worst president, Buchanan, was directly preceding the best president in history, Lincoln. Seeing as president Bush didn't rank much higher than Buchanan, it's interesting to compare the situations that they were both in. Buchanan was faced with the problems of territorial expansion, the threat of the south succeeding, a failing economy, war, and a stalemate in the federal government. George Bush actually faced many of the same problems, though in a very different time.

In the case of both George Bush and James Buchanan, the problems arising in their presidencies were very possibly going to happen regardless of their actions, but were accentuated by decisions that they made.

If history is cyclical, lets hope that Obama's presidency resembles that of Lincolns, solving the problems arising in Bush's presidency as Lincoln did of the one's from Buchanan's. Hopefully the similaities pushed on us by the press are as close as they suggest.

How Much Do We Really Need In A Cell Phone?

I was recently browsing through CNN when i came across a couple videos regarding new "innovations" for cell phones. One of the videos was all about new motion sensing software that can be programmed into phones that allows the user to control it by tilting and moving it. While this may be cool, it does seem rather unnecessary. Since when is a cell phones primary function to play videogames and surf the web, not to actually make phone calls? It seems that as a society, Americans tend to romanticize their gadgets, especially their phones. All these new things that we can do with our phones are described as "groundbreaking" or "revolutionary", but in reality, most of them are just glorified ways for us to waste our time. The actual importance of these things seems to have been lost in an obsession for all things new and technological. This point is best said by the famous comedian George Carlin, who commented that “Nobody questions things in this country anymore, nobody questions things. Why? People are too fat and happy. People are way too f****** prosperous for their own good. Everybody’s got a cell phone that’ll make pancakes... now”. The other video that i found on CNN was showcasing a new phone that is a watch. The man showing the watch/phone to us compared it to gadgets from James Bond or Dick Tracy. Yeah, great, well as much as i want to talk into my wrist all day, i think i might leave the novelty factor for the movies. All i need in my phone is the ability to call people and send the occasional text message. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/podcasts/showandtell/site/2009/02/04/st.ces.eyeball.cnn,

Racism In America

Many have said that the election of an African American means that America is moving past its racist history, but does it really mean so? If we are so proud of the fact that we have reached a stage where enough people can look past the color of a man's skin and elect him to be president, why is it that Arabs and Muslims now receive many of the same oppressions. When a "random" security check at an airport is done, why is the man wearing a turban far more likely to be stopped than the white Florida native behind him? The point is that while America prides itself on being an inclusive society, the seemingly inescapable human tendency to oppress lingers. It seems that wherever we gain ground, we lose it somewhere else. You see it in all levels of society, from a boss to his workers, from a jail warden to its inmates, even within school systems and sports environments. When a person or group ends up in a position of power, they will more often than not use it against those around them to make sure that they remain on top. Look at how long it took for womens rights to come about. Men were in power and i'm sure they liked it that way. So before we begin to fantasize about a racism/oppression free America, lets remember that oppression doesn't just lie between blacks and whites, but between all groups and societies.