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This site is pretty comprehensive and straightforward if you're interested in finding something out about the death penalty.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/

The assignment that was due Thursday but now Friday?

Jon Stewart speaks about biased media on Crossfire! Everybody, come see!

Part I
Part II

He also talks about stem cell research and media/political bias again here.

I love The Daily Show.

Does marijuana lead to the use of harder drugs? The Onion, a satirical spoof of the news, published an article not too long ago here that satirizes slippery slope arguments, marijuana being the "gateway drug" in particular.

That's right. Fruitcake, the delicioius harbringer of yuletide cheer. But several high-ranking fruitcake-producing businessmen feared that fruitcake was not enjoying the same popularity it did in ages past - could it possibly be going out of style? Fearing the worst, an advertising agency named [anonymous] (really - their name is [anonymous]) was recruited to help reverse this downward spiral in fruitcake consumption.

I thought this would be interesting because the route [anonymous] took to re-populify fruitcake was the same as the route taken by a lot of the adbusters we saw in class today. They even have an Absolut Fruitcake ad.

Violence in the media today is a problem, right? Sure. Nobody likes violence. So why are violent movies, television shows, and video games so incredibly popular?

The media gives us a variety of options. Not all forms of media entertainment are violent; the WB launed an entire "family friendly" programming lineup a few short years ago. One of the most addicting games I've ever come into contact with, The Sims, isn't violent at all. However, people still choose to watch the bloodiest, goriest, messiest media out there.

During an interview, director Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill part 1 & 2) explained that the reason he made such brutal films was that if done properly, a fight scene contains breathtakingly beautiful images. And he's right - how many kung fu movies bring in tons of cash solely becuase of the promise of an elaborate fight? All of the most memorable scenes of Tarantino's films (Ear-cutting, needle-jabbing, eye-plucking...) are almost sickeningly graphic. Judging from his popularity, though, people love it.

Even in New York, people are talking about the top 10 percent rule here at UT. There was an article in the New York Times about it, which can be viewed here. I thought it would be interesting to see what those not in Texas had to say.