Meet The Press

Just my two cents on some recent events in the news:

College Night Events Cancelled
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.college29mar29,0,1337226.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

I'm all for quelling underage drinking -- particularly by college students who tend to drink excessively -- but I don't think this is the solution. Baltimore is a college town. Kids who aren't 21 are going to drink. And if they don't do it in Power Plant, they'll do it in Fells Point or Federal Hill or on York Road. Or they'll do it in their dorm rooms.

Power Plant is fun -- it's a cool place to go. You're downtown, by the harbor. There are a bunch of different clubs. If you want to go out and dance and you don't want to go to Hammerjacks or Bohagers, it's one of the only places in the city to go.

I have many a good memory of college nights in Power Plant. Good memories of completely sober nights. So to take that option away from the kids who go to college in Baltimore seems kind of stupid. Not to mention fiscally depressing -- I'd venture to guess that most of the revenue generated by Power Plant is thanks to the college demographic.

Duke Suspends Lacrosse Team
http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5450234

This story makes me want to throw up. Not to stereotype, but it seems that the air of entitlement permeates the sport of lacrosse like is does no other sport. Maybe because lacrosse has traditionally only been played in the most affluent areas of the country: Connecticut, Long Island, New Jersey, Maryland. But I have seen too many rich white boys get away with murder because they are stars on the lacrosse field. I have seen the double standard of athletes being suspended for alcohol and/or drug use, insufficient GPAs and other violations of athletic training rules in sports like soccer, hockey, and volleyball while the lacrosse players get by scott free as everyone looks the other way.

Duke lacrosse is one of the top-ranked college lacrosse teams in the nation this year. To throw that away, and to do so by way of such a vicious, disgusting act is inexcusable. I hope, if these allegations prove true, they kick these kids out of school -- never mind off the lacrosse team.

Strike Sweeps France Over Youth Job Contract
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12045529/

I don't know about everybody else, but sometimes I get so caught up in the beauty and touristy nature of Paris that I forget that people actually live there all the time. Well I guess I was reminded yesterday. The protests in France over the youth job contract were some of the biggest I have ever heard of. It seems like the French are protesting a lot lately -- when my sister and I went to Paris in the fall, my mother was afraid we were going to get caught in riots then.

In my years of French class, I learned that the French are generally happy with their government because due to the socialist regime, they are largely taken care of. For example, the job security in France is ridiculously high.

But, this means that, unlike in the United States where we practice the "kill or be killed" mentality when it comes to advancing up the workplace ladder, merit in the workplace has little effect under current French law.

As a result, employers are reluctant to hire, resulting in an overall French unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. The proposed contract would allow employers to hire and fire workers who are 26 years old and younger any time within their first two years of employment for any reason.

The idea is to reduce youth unemployment, but the students and union workers contend that the measure merely encourages a generation of "throwaway workers" who will have to churn through jobs until they are older than 26.

I say most people churn through jobs until they are 26 anyway. And as long as you do a good job, your employment status should be pretty safe.

Who Are The Illegal Immigrants?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/29/who.are.immigrants.ap/index.html

I have had friends from college come back from Loyola's service immersion program to Tijuana -- Project Mexico -- and tell amazing stories about their experiences at the border. They have been transformed after seeing the trials of immigration from the otherside of the line.

I can remember hearing stories from people I've worked with -- mostly at the Market -- about how they left their wives and children back in Mexico, Central and South America to come to the United States in pursuit of a better life.

Could you imagine, a life so desperate that you would rather leave everyone you love, risk arrest or worse and work at a minimum wage job in a country where you may or may not speak the language than stay in your own country?

That is the reality for so many immigrants. I agree that there should be measures to keep track of the illegal immigrants in this country, but I don't agree in turning them away. There are jobs that Americans won't do that these people will do gladly -- line cooks, babysitters, landscapers -- the list goes on.

Everyone deserves a chance at a better life. But I think there can be a compromise where we can afford that better life to these people while still maintaining a degree of lawfulness and security.

Around And Out
http://www.courant.com/sports/college/husky/women/hc-ucwomen0329.artmar29,0,863796.story

Another UCONN team eliminated from the tournament in the Elite 8 -- what a game, though. Only like the sixth women's NCAA tournament game ever to go into overtime. I was so waiting for that last shot to fall, just because it seems like it always does for the UCONN women. But I guess it just wasn't their day.

I just think Strother and Turner and Crockett were an example of "too little, too late." You know, they decided, after playing mediocre basketball (by UCONN's standards) for most of the season, that they were seniors and they wanted to win a national title. And they had a nice little goal-setting meeting with Geno Auriemma. But champions aren't made in the postseason. They're made in those first few weeks of practice, where all you're doing is conditioning and drills and getting yelled at by your coaches. That's where leaders are cultivated. And UCONN just missed the boat on that with this group.