End of the Week: 08/07/11- 08/13/11

END OF THE WEEK:

Oh, man, what a week! From the riots that took place across England to the Republicans battling out in Iowa to win a poll that has predicted the Republican presidential nominee only twice in the past thirty years, you could've described these past seven days in a thousand ways, none of which would include the word "boring." As with every weekend, here are my choices for the weeks bests and most memorable...

Pictures of the Week: Scenes From the London Riots
Because when you're feeling oppressed and angry by the government, you should do it by rioting, looting and destroying your own neighborhoods!

Video of the Week: "A. Samuels 'Livin De Life'"
How is it that I am embarrassed of this video?



Debate of the Week: The Ames, Iowa Republican Presidential Debate
The highlights:
-The usual stuff, I guess: Freedom good, taxes bad, spending cuts good, abortions bad, Reagan good, Obama bad, better protection of border good, gay marriage bad, etc. etc. etc.
- Michelle Bachmann being asked whether she would be submissive to her probably closeted-gay husband Marcus and then strangely leaving the stage for some reason (was it to go to the bathroom?). She also stated once again in her belief that the debt ceiling should not have been raised. That alone should have gotten her eliminated from the race, but whatever.
- Mitt Romney doesn't want to eat Obama's dog food...or continue to have less than three emotions. But he does think that corporations are people, too.
-Ron Paul, once again, wins when it comes to the defense portion of the questions.
-Tim Pawlenty was less of a pussy, actually criticizing his top opponents in the race (including Bachmann).
- FOX News...with gotcha questions? Newt Gingrich, are you sure you know what channel this debate was being broadcasted in? But, yeah, the questions they gave were pleasantly hard-hitting, which I do complement them on.
- Herman Cain promising to fix the economy within 90 days as President. What an awesome idea! Why couldn't Obama have thought of such things?
-Rick Santorum is apparently the hipster candidate of this debate, saying that he was into the Tea Party before it went mainstream. Can't wait to see him sporting those stereotypical glasses during the next debate.
- Jon Huntsman wants to leave those two years working for Obama in the past.
-Everyone raised their hands when asked if they would reject the idea of raising taxes as President. Expect that promise to be broken within a year of being elected.
-All of these people will probably lose to Rick Perry next year.

Stories of the Week:
-The Actual Story of the Week (Besides the Riots in England): This Week's Wacky Stock Market
On Monday, the Dow Jones fell 634 points (the 6th largest one day drop in history). Then, on Tuesday, Wall Street made a late comeback to increase it by 430 points. On Wednesday, it went back down by sliding 520 points. Finally, on Thursday and Friday it rose by a combined 548 points (423 on Thursday, 125 on Friday). The NYSE this past week was basically like a depressed person screwing with their Prozac consumption.
- The Tiger Woods Saga of '09 Memorial Story of the Week: 98 Year Old Woman Receives 10th Degree Black Belt
I bet I can still take her on.

People of the Week: The Rioters in England
for, well, making big headlines this week by rioting, of course! The riots began a week ago today in the blue collar North London town of Tottenham as a result of several factors, but more recently the local police officers shooting 29 year old alleged crack-cocaine dealer Mark Duggan while attempting to arrest him two days earlier. A protest was held led by Duggan's family in many local residents marched from Broadwater Farm to the Tottenham Police Station. The demonstration was initially peaceful, but by around 10 p.m. BST some people (allegedly not even part of the vigil) got so angry that they set a few nearly police cars on fire, and from then on a full blown riot was in moments. Thousands of individuals, most of whom were male and less than 40 years old, began a wide range of destruction from burning buildings, smashing windows, looting shops and overall just making it completely dangerous to be around in the street that night.

That initial act of rioting would then go on to last for days and expand across multiple areas around London and across the nation's cities, from Birmingham and West Bromwich to Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds and more (why in their neighborhoods, I still can't comprehend). The riots eventually resulted in over 2275 arrests, 1000 people charged with crime, the destruction of over 100 homes and businesses by arson and looting (most famously the Sony Music warehouse in Enfield which held a bunch of LPs and CDs for hundreds of independent labels), hundreds of millions of pounds in property damage and a potentially brutal recovery for the cities' local businesses, and a widespread panic across the British Isles. Now, obviously this was a very shameful act committed by the individuals involved, most of whom were probably just doing it for the looting than to actually send a message of some important (like how badly the country has treated its poor minority residents), and there really is no excuse for their behavior. However, I will give them this: at least with the riot it gives an increase in attentions to the immediate and long term riots involving the cities, albeit in a much extreme way. And that's something that the number of protests and demonstrations that occurred in the past really didn't do compared to what happened this past week.

-Runner-up: Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann
for winning the ever so notorious title of the winner in Ames, Iowa Republican straw poll that is held every year before the general election by a whopping 152 points over Ron Paul. She must be a very happy woman tonight. Also very happy tonight? Barack Obama, hearing the news that Michelle Bachmann won the Ames, Iowa Republican straw poll.

And that's the way it was! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15





If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.