2010: a year of news

2010: The year of Stains by Amanda Lopez

I’ve heard of a stain on a shirt, on pants and even shoes, but I’ve seen just about everything when I’ve seen a stain on…the ocean? April 20th 2010 marks the day that will forever burn the wallets of BP CEOs and sting the hearts of millions of nature lovers all over the world. The BP oil spill left 13 killed (not including animals and fish) and was named the largest oil spill in history. This horrendous spill is known as the Deepwa-ter Horizon oil spill and occurred when an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and opened up a valve that ended up leaking 205.8 million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean. Soon the spill grew from 287 miles to 320 miles in perimeter. This greatly impacted the fishing, shrimping, and marine life businesses. As well as tourist industries of the cities whose beaches were covered in tar that had washed up onshore. In the end, the oil spill ended up at 68,000 square miles and 206,000,000 gallons of crude oil. The ocean will probably not recover within our lifetime. And it will be probably more of a risk to eat any kind of fish (raw or cooked) for a while. As a na-ture lover myself I found it deeply saddening that this oil had taken such a toll on our planet. Anything short of burning all the oil would not have rid the ocean of its foul stain. However this would greatly compromise our air quality and greatly speed up global warming. This is why progressives have been greatly sup-porting green fuel, so perhaps in the near future or even the not so near future, we will cease our depen-dency on oil and perhaps help our planet recover.

Unprecedented National and Local Shootingsby Roxana Sierra

The nation was shocked with the shoot-ings at Gardena Highs School, followed by even more school violence in other southland schools, and the deadly shooting in Tucson. On January 8, just as the year began, Representative Gabriel Giffords, Democrat, was at a supermar-ket for an event and was then approached by a deranged man who then discharged an auto-matic weapon. The ratcheting and stray bul-lets hit people in the crowd. Among the crowd was a child born on September 11, 2001, only to die in another tragic incident. The country was in mourning and funerals were underway; the blame placed on Sarah Palin and other Tea Party members who displayed maps of Health Care Reform supporters with bull’s-eyes. Howev-er, Obama was well composed and addressed the Congress to relieve the antagonism amongst each other. Just a week after the incident an unexpected and accidental incident occurred at Gardena High School, forcing the school into a lockdown. Many of the community were in shock as a bullet fired from a gun and hit two students. Parents and students were left in shock, just as the nation was flabbergasted when the congress woman was shot. As news is made, it is recorded; in both cases technology proved important as the news was quickly transmitted for the nation and the world to see.

The Year of Intrigueby Jorthana Torres

The era of Big Brother made a big comeback in 2010. Just when we have to worry about terrorist attacks in the United States, we now have to worry about foreign spies reporting our every move back to their home-land. Not only did spies make news, but so did WikiLeaks, a website that put many governments to shame with embarrassing information. The news stunned the entire world in late June: a ring of Russian spies was exposed in the East Coast. To many who knew them, they were living normal lives, living as your everyday American family. Little did they know that their friends and neighbors were really undercover agents. Back in the 50’s, there was a similar case and the Rosenfeld’s, undercover Soviet spies, were executed. This time, the accused spies didn’t suffer such a punishment, instead they were deported back to Russia. However, it wouldn’t be a spy drama without a beautiful woman in the middle of it. The most prominent of the spies was a beautiful red-head named Anna Chapman. Little did anyone know, she was living an double life filled with espionage and mystery. The me-dia went crazy with Chapman and suddenly everyone wanted to know all about her. This case was resolved when the U.S. and Russia came to an agreement; in exchange for the 10 accused spies, the U.S. asked for the release of a Russian born spy working for the U.S. who was in a Russian prison. This agreement was eventu-ally settled, the Russians were deported, and crisis was averted, but it made everyone paranoid. Suddenly everyone became aware of whom they spoke to and watched out for any suspicious activity and making everyone ask: If we couldn’t tell they were spies, how safe are we from known enemies? After the spy drama cooled, the world was hit by another international bombshell: WikiLeaks. As a web-site, WikiLeaks releases classified government information to the public, but it was what was released on July 25th that caused uproar. Julian Assange, founder of the website, released secret information regarding the Afghanistan War. Such information, according to many U.S officials, was dangerous for national security. Amongst the information released was a video of an air raid which killed many civilians. Things got worse when secret documents about U.S diplomatic relations were released. Questions regarding who gave that information away were raised, but Assange never disclosed his sources. The general public began to side with WikiLeaks, mainly because they appreciated that WikiLeaks was exposing the truth about government. Whether it is a Russian spy ring or exposed governments, 2010 was a memorable year. Although the spy story isn’t relevant today in 2011, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange are still prominent in the news. As public sup-port grows for the website, many wonder what the future has in store for it, what new and controversial infor-mation will be released, and what will happen to its creator. All of that is still uncertain, so stay tuned this 2011.

2010: The Year in Politics(But Not the Year for Obama)by Neelema Ahmed

It is pretty clear that the most consequential political moment of 2010 came on Nov. 2 when Republicans picked up 63 House seats and majority status in the House for the upcoming 112th Congress. But aside from the climactic electoral outcome, there were significant political moments along the way that spoke to the larger truths at play in politics throughout 2010, including the following.

Scott Brown Wins Ted Kennedy’s Senate SeatDemocrats were served a stunning upset when a little-known state senator named Scott Brown won a special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy, who had died of cancer in August 2009. Brown’s January victory signaled not only the end of a Democratic supermajority in the Senate, but also a wake-up call for Democrats about the strength of opposition to the health care bill and other Democratic initiatives.

Health Care Bill: A “big f***ing deal”Vice President Biden christened the just-passed health care bill by whispering to President Obama at a news conference that the passage of the landmark legislation was a “big f***ing deal.” (The VP didn’t know, of course, that microphones had picked up the exchange.) It was also a big deal to many House Democrats, who had a hard time explaining their votes in favor of the bill to constituents who viewed it with a healthy dose of skepticism. Biden’s “big” slip cost the Democratic Congress a big political price on Election Day.

Bloomberg’s Ground Zero Mosque SpeechThe ground zero mosque was a highly charged issue all summer, and it seems likely to resurface. But in what has been an ugly debate, Mayor Bloomberg’s address in front of the Statue of Lib-erty, calling for calm and praising pluralism, was his best speech as mayor and an unforgettable moment.

Not a Witch (or the Other Thing)Tea partyers cheered when Christine O’Donnell took down moderate Rep. Mike Castle in the Dela-ware Senate primary. But embarrassing television appearances from her past surfaced, leading O’Donnell to release a defensive ad declaring, “I am not a witch.” She lost to Democrat Chris Coons.

Restoring honor…and sanity…and fearIn September, Comedy Central talk show hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert announced a joint rally on the nation’s capital. The event—a parody of conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally—was both a free piece of entertainment and an earnest plea for more civil discourse. Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” and

Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Fear” reflected a response to Glenn Beck’s rally in August as well as to what Stewart described as an over-the-top political and media environment.

Brewer signs S.B. 1070 Republican Gov. Jan Brewer became the face of the anti-illegal immigration movement when she signed Arizona’s controversial law, S.B. 1070, a stringent measure that has been blocked from implementation by court order, but nevertheless has proved highly popular in local and national polls. The new law invigorated Brewer’s campaign and made it clear that the governor — and many Republicans who support-ed the measure — was positioned as tough on border security, even if the enforcement provisions might lead to racial profiling.

Mid-term Elections Divide CongressThe 2010 mid-term elections resulted in one of the largest swings of the congressional power pendulum in modern political history, giving Republicans con-trol of the House and cutting down the Democrats’ near-super majority in the Senate. Scores of freshman Republicans arrived in D.C. for the first time after run-ning against “Washington insiders.”

A President in PrintFormer President George W. Bush released his mem-oir, “Decision Points,” almost immediately after the 2010 midterm elections. In the book, Bush admits that the Iraq war was based “in large part on intelligence that proved false,” and that he “took too long to de-cide” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Good for him. Maybe in his sequel he will admit to everything else he did wrong.

The Military Never Asks, a Soldier Never TellsSecretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen announced the release of the Pentagon’s long-awaited report on gays in the military. The report concluded that there was only a low risk in ending the 17-year old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which prevents homosexuals from serving openly.

The BP Oil SpillThe April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico set off a series of headaches

for the Obama administra-tion throughout the sum-mer of 2010. In the wake of multiple failed attempts to plug the leak, the administration faced wide-spread criticism not only for misjudging the scope of the problem (it was the largest accidental oil spill in American history) but also for a response some viewed as slow and error-filled. By July, the leak had finally been plugged, but the aftermath—political and environmental—may linger for years.

Speaking of Leaks…In, 2010, the website WikiLeaks caused a major international stir when it released to the public thousands of classified documents detailing U.S. government and military activity - including a 2007 video of Iraqis being killed by U.S. forces, over 75,000 documents from the Af-ghanistan war, and, most recently, a series of secret U.S. diplomatic cables. In December, after Swedish authorities issued a Euro-pean warrant for his arrest, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange turned himself in to London authorities and was arrested on sexual misconduct charges. A week later, Time Magazine named him a runner-up for its 2010 Person of the Year issue.