The Mitchell Report as a rhetorical situation

Happy viewing. This is the video I was unable to present in class.

If you all watch the video, you will notice that some effects were used for the first set of pictures. I used this to show everybody that these athletes were held in high esteem and well admired by children and adults alike. After George Mitchell came into the whole picture and released the Mitchell report, the face of the game would change forever. As a result of the Mitchell Report, the way in which baseball stars were viewed would change forever. The most important factor in changing the minds of people forever was the media. In the above video, we can see the various pictures used by the media and it is safe to say that these pictures have an effect on the way of thinking of fans. In all, the change occurs after the Mitchell REport is released and there is achange in the way athletes were viewed. I would have preferred presenting it in class but I hope I have been able to explain to everybody in clear words.If you all don't understand, just let me know.

Study well and good luck in your finals.

Old School, New School

Hi everybody. How are you all doing? Hope good. Because of my love for music, I want to make some comparisons between the music of the old school and that of the new school. Wow things have really changed. I know I might be young and not really know anything about old school music but I am definitely a follower of old school music. On the rap part, we had Public Enemy, Run DMC, Rakim, KRS One, just to name a few. These were artistes who rapped and talked about very sensible stuff. In the 90s, we had 2pac and Biggie, some of the finest rappers I think I have listened to in a while. Though sometimes they said some pretty dirty stuff in their songs, listening to songs like Thugz Mansion, Brenda's got a baby and other songs would blow your mind away because it is evident these guys were very good writers. The rappers of nowadays just talk about sex, money and drugs and it is unfortunate to see what rap has deteriorated to. The rappers of now I might give credit to include Talib Kweli, Common, Lupe Fiasco just to name a few. On the part of r n b, wow please there is no comparison whatsoever. We had the likes of Marvin Gaye, Barry White(with his baritone voice), Luther Vandross, Al Green, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Brian Mcknight. We had groups like the Temptations, Jackson 5, New Editon. Wow this was when rnb was rnb. Have you all heard the original version of the song "I am telling you I am not going." I bet the only version a lot of people have heard was that of Jennifer Hudson from American Idol but you all need to listen to the real version by Jennifer Holliday. Oh my God, these were the real rnb singers. The few artistes of today I admire include Chrisette Michelle, Corinne Bailey Rae, Lyfe Jennings, Alicia Keys just to name a few. In the past, we also had groups like the Bee Gees, the Beatles, Abba just to name a few. Personally, Abba was my favorite band. Right from elementary just before going to school, I would take out the tape from my Dad's collection. It became more of a ritual. Songs like Dancing Queen, Money money money. Those are some of my best songs(I know it sounds weird).

To show how good these old school songs were, they are still played in places today and we even find artistes of today using their beats or giving a different rendition to these classics. Those of you who are not impressed with the songs being played today, I want you to refer to some of the above listed artistes. I promise you you will enjoy their songs. Have a fun weekend. Peace

What is going on?

Hi everybody.How are you all doing?A lot of things have being going on for the past few weeks and the one I was concerned with was the video of girls beating another girl.Wow. For those of you who have seen the video, was that not a sight to behold?Six girls beating on another girl with two boys acting as lookouts(off topic, but my sister was one of the girls that was involved in the beating, I really cant say what I would do to her because I can't harm girls,that is the way I am. But if my brohter was one of the lookouts, I would have beaten the living daylights out of him. Trust me. I don't condone such stuff). The fact that the girl who was being beaten on fell unconscious and when she woke up, the beating started all over again.I pose the question what is going on because children seem to do whatever they feel like doing.I mean very stupid stuff and I will have to say parents should be responsible in part for some of the things their children do. Isn't it amazing that what a parent had to say about the beating was that the girl who was beaten provoked the attack by insulting the girls on MySpace?Common now are you kidding me?Was this really what a parent had to say?Why could the mother not reprimand her daughter for such a terrible thing?It is just so unfortunate to see that parents in some ways help their children do bad stuff.People might not have a problem with this incident but I definitely do, and that is why I am bringing this topic up. Thhe other amazing thing about this whole incident was that it was girls involved because such incidences are always linked to boys. I always thought girls were the decent ones and boys were the troublemakers. I am not a father yet, but for those of you who are parents, would you like your child(your daughter) doing such stuff? You would definitely feel embarassed.

All I have to say is that if you have all got young people who are close to you, you need to talk to them and enlighten them that some things are not just meant to be done.

Life's Worth

Hi everybody.Hope everybody had a fun spring break. Well I did.A break from school was definitely something I needed. This leads me to my topic for today. Do we value partying more than our lives? This is a question I definitely have to ask because people seem to live their lives without any care whatsoever. I hear statements like, "life is too short, live your life to the fullest." Agreed, life is short. But we have to be careful with the way we live our lives. Just the other day, I was watching a documentary about what students do during spring break and I will have to say, I was shocked. Students just basically get drunk and do pretty stupid stuff(sorry to say).There was the story about a couple of women who back in the day starved themselves so that they would be able to wear some bikini during spring break. Guess what? It actually led to these women having an eating disorder. This was what these women went through all because of spring break. The women had one piece of advice for girls trying to starve themselves in order to fit into a piece of clothing:don't try it because it is an action you would regret. This year, we had the case of a girl who got raped by a guard of the hotel she was staying at and almost got killed but amazingly she survived after surviving a fall from . The stories keep going on and on and it is so sad to see people risk their lives all in the name of having fun. I always used to think spring break was basically taking a break from school like the name suggests but it means something else entirely to other people.

I know a lot of people might not agree with my way of thinking but all I am trying to say is though life may be short and there is no harm in having fun, we need to be very CAREFUL with the way we live our lives.

Have a fun weekend

LAST WORD: Do we value having fun more than our lives?

Who is to blame?

Hi everybody. Hope everybody had a fun week. Wow. Let me start things off by saying I am not the biggest fan of someparts of the gun laws in the country. The proponents of gun laws in general argue that guns are used for self defense and other like reasons. Let me say the gun laws in this country are too "free" so to say. There has being a recent rise in widespread killings in the country and this makes people scared as hell. People came into the new year with high hopes and expectations but the hopes of these individuals have being cut short by certain individuals. This year alone, we have had like 3 large scale killings. This whole large scale killing started with Columbine shooting in which two young boys with an astounding collection of guns killed their fellow students and a couple of staff before killing themselves. Last year, we had the case of the South Korean man who went on a rampage in Virginia Tech and killed students as well as members of staff and ended up killing himself,a man went on a rampage in the NorthWestern University before taking his own life and just recently, a situation occurred in a Wendy's fast food joint in Florida in which a man killed people before taking his own life. Years back, I was watching Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore(one of the best documentaries I think I have ever watched). Whenever you all have time, I will encourage you to watch this movie and know how bad things really are in the country. How can a bank offer you a gun for opening an account with them? What has a gun got to do with an institution where money is kept? That is thecraziest thing I have ever heard. We have noticed a particular type of trend with all these killers: they all possessed a very wide variety of guns and they all ended up killing themselves. Who or what is to blame for the insanity that has being going on in the society for quite some time: the not so strict gun laws or the individuals themselves who commit these atrocities? This is a question I pose to everybody reading this posting.

PS: I am not putting the whole blame solely on the gun laws but I feel the laws should be made a bit stricter.

The Mitchell Report

The Mitchell Report: one of the most controversial documents ever released in sports. This report was basically the result of an investigation into the players who had used steroids at a particular time. When the report came out, there were complaints from corners concerning the fact that George Mitchell, the main person behind the whole thing, was in some way linked to the Boston Red Sox(the best baseball team in my opinion) and current World Series champions. Having names like the great Barry Bonds, the great Roger Clemens and other like players is just something that I still find incomprehensible. I tend to want to stand behind these players but who is a fan to believe, the well loved athlete or George Mitchell, the man some people have come to hate? Also, the issue that keep arising is the fact that the Congress keeps getting involved in the issues of baseball while they should be focusing on things more important. I chose this topic for my paper because it has a lot to do with rhetoric.

Bermuda Triangle

Bermuda Triangle, Bermuda Triangle(aka Devil's Triangle). I would have to say that the one thing that baffles me in this world today is the mystery behind the goings on at the Bermuda Triangle. Right from my days as a little kid, the issue of the Bermuda Triangle has always baffled me and it is still quite baffling till today. One the most memorable incidences tht occurred in the Bermuda Triangle was when a team of avenger bombers on a training mission, popularly known as Flight 19, vanished without a trace in 1945. There were also a host of other occurrences at the Bermuda Triangle including the dissaperance of pepole aboard the ship Mary Celeste and the disappearance of the battle ship USS Cyclops. I heard lots of crazy stories as a kid and these were the beleiefs I had until I became alittle bit older and started opening my mind to other theories. I will tell everybody one theory I heard as a little kid: The Bermuda Triangle is another world on its own in which aliens live and if planes or ships get to close to it, they would be sucked into the Bermuda Triangle and thet would be killed. That is one hell of a story and now that I think about it, that story sounds kinda silly but that was the belief that I had until I grew a bit older. Nobody has being able to come up with a convincing enough explanation to explain why both aircrafts and ships vanish without a trace. Basically, I am a big lover of science and a big beleiever in scientific explanations. So when scientists come up with their explanations about the things that that have being going on at the Bermuda Triangle, I would have to say that they have very reasonable theories as to why such things happen without making any reference to extraterrestrial activities(no disrespect to the people who attribute the goings on to extraterrestrial activities).

I do not know if people know a lot about the Bermuda Triangle, but after you have done a research about the Bermuda Triangle, do you believe the people saying the goings on are as a result of extraterrestials or do you belive the scientists who come up with scientific explanations? That is a simple question I pose to you all.

Have a good weekend.

Kenya

Kenya, a country located in the eastern part of Africa. A country known for its historical landmark, Mount Kenya and its activities in sports such as long distance running(in which they sweep a lot of gold medals at athletic events), rugby and soccer. Kenya is not a country known for fighting or any other such things but recently the country has being thrown into turmoil as a result of the recent elections that just took place. The opposition parties disagreed with the results of the recent election and as a result, there has being a lot of fighting in the once peaceful nation. To show how bad things were in Kenya, CNN showed a little video clip to viewers taken by a freelance journalist, who was scared as hell while shooting the whole thing that was happening and I will narrate the contents of the video in detail and it goes thus: A man on the run(to viewers, he was running for no apparent reason, but he was really trying to run away from the bloodshed behind him) is spotted by another man wielding a machete. The man with the machete pulls the innocent man from his hiding place, and he calls his other friends, they themselves wielding machete, to where the innocent man was. What was to follow was simply shocking and sickening to the stomach. The machete wielding men proceeded to hack this innocent man to death. CNN could not show the rest of the clip because it was just too gruesome to be broadcast on TV. What I saw got me thinking about how human beings would act like this towards each other. The most annoying thing about this whole story is the fact that this same opposition leaders kept encouraging their supporters in doing what they were doing, rather that telling them to stop killing and stop the bloodshed. The images posted above just goes onn to show how bad things are in Kenya. This bloodshed has led to a loss of thousands of innocent lives. Things are getting quiet as of recent thanks in part to other countries getting a whole lot more involved in everything that has being going on in Kenya.

Being where I am from, and knowing how bad things can really get, I would have to express my joy at the fact that things in this once volatile country are getting back to normal.

Cruelty in this World

NB: I OPTED TO PUT THIS PICTURES UP SO THAT PEOPLE CAN KNOW THE EXTENT OF THIS YOUNG BOY'S BURNS.

In this day and age, it is amazing to see that people still act like barbarians. It is so amazing when I hear some things going on in the world today. Just recently, we heard about Youssif, the 5year old Iraqi boy who was set ablaze by some men in Iraq. Such stories are stories you think will never happen in this precious world of ours.

Young Youssif was playing outside his house when he was doused with gas and set on fire. What would make anybody in his right frame of mind set a young, innocent boy on fire?Looking at a picture of the boy just before he was set on fire and pictures after, one will almost be moved to tears. If not for kind hearted people around, this boy who was born with no deformity whatsoever would have to live the rest of his life with the terrible scars of this callous act. I would have to commend the nongovernmental organization Children's Burn Foundation which paid for the family's trip to America and is also footing the bills of the operation. Also, not to forget the brilliant medical staff who took part in the complicated medical procedure.

A food for thought: Let us all live in peace with one another and not act callous towards one another. Let us not hold grudges toward one another.

Home

Hope everybody had a fun Christmas break. Well I did. Going back home(Nigeria) made it fun for me. The whole family went back to Nigeria for my uncle's 60th birthday and wow we had so much fun I could not believe it. Seeing my mum, all my high school friends, and every other person that mattered to me felt really good. There was so much freedom for every one of us because we were able to speak Pidgin English and yoruba(my native language) freely. On the day I was meant to come back to America, I did not really feel like because I wanted to spend more time with my family. But I am back in school and hopefully this semester will be as good as the last one(hoping to finish this semester with all As). In conclusion, all I have to say is that there is no better place than home. A word of advice: Keep your family close and dont fight with people who are dear to your heart.

PS: These people are not my wife and baby. They are family friends, this was at my uncle's party