Zain Nensey's Weblog

I work for Student Government now as the Assistant Comptroller of Travel. It’s a good job and I enjoy it, although it’s a bit complex. More details to come.

Why do people get so obsessed over stadiums? Why are they so beloved? It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense really. Just yesterday, Al Lang Field, a home for Spring Training, was closed down for the final time after the Rays lost to the Reds in their final spring training game of the season. What made it so sentimental? Why do people like retaining memories of stadiums? It’s just a stadium. The only thing that should matter there is how loud you can make it and how well your team does. The stadium itself should not mean a thing.

Reason is a great thing. It happens between rational people. It is designed to convince people.

Reason happens when you have the knowledge to make an argument. It is fair. It is just.

Reason does not occur when you don’t bring all your evidence forth. Without using your evidence properly, all you are is a talking point that anyone can ignore.

Reason does not occur when all you do is insist you are right. Evidence is paramount.

Patriotism is not reason. Patriotism is strong belief and pride that encourages you to do what you consider best for your country. Obviously, some things can never be patriotic (such as killing another citizen). Patriotism is best when combined with reason. When you have an argument to do something, your patriotism is strongest. However, patriotism ought not ever to be used alone. Otherwise, it will lead to simple blind belief in one’s country without considering any of the great debates of the day. That will lead to arrogance, and pride, and both arrogance and pride come before a fall.

So never use patriotism without your reason. Otherwise it could ruin you.

It seems to be a really common trend lately to believe only the first thing you hear and not listen to opposing viewpoints. For example, look at the case of Sami Al-Arian. After he was arrested on charges of helping fund terrorist groups in Palestine, people tended to automatically assume that he was a terrorist. This perception has continued even though he was not found guilty on any charge due to lack of evidence. yet people still want to assume that he did do something related to terrorism, which is inherently wrong. It’s one thing if you find people not guilty because there wasn’t enough evidence. It’s another thing entirely if you find them not guilty because there was no evidence.

This is not the only case where such a thing has happened. The same deal happened with the Holy Land Foundation trial- no evidence whatsoever.

So why do people want to believe otherwise? do they want to believe the worst in people? Do they see certain kinds of people as a threat to them even if it is a minority of that group who has performed such actions? Why should one person be criticized for the actions of another?

I’ve got an opinion as to why this is so. I believe it is not because people want to believe the worst in people, but because they have either not heard about the real story behind something or because they have not heard enough evidence to the contrary. Let’s take for example the al-Arian case.

People have not really heard the evidence that was used in the case. According to the movie “U.S.A. vs. Al-Arian”, most of the evidence was usage of imagery of suicide bombings and witnesses who had lost close friends or relatives in said blasts. That, whi le heart rending, isn’t really useful evidence. In addition, all of the tapes that were collected of phone calls did not indicate anything substantive in regards to evidence. So there really was no evidence against the defendants. People don’t believe that because they haven’t seen any hard proof to suggest that he was not involved in terrorist activities. So people will continue to believe the worst until they see otherwise.

Are you guys angry yet? Are you angry over the misuses of power that our adminstration has taken. Are you angry that no one is holding anyone accountable any more? Why is it that we elected the Democrats, yet the Democrats went on to just keep funding this war and refusing to put up a serious fight for a time table to withdraw from Iraq? I’ll tell you why. It’s because the vast majority of them are slimeballs who are as controlled by corporate interests in this country as the Republicans are. But there are a few spots of hope, and one of them shines brightly in my eyes. Who is this character, you ask? Who is this man who wants to hold the government accountable for actions undertaken that quite possibly are illegal? Who is this man who wants to ensure that all people have health care? Who is this man who is the true definition of PRO-LIFE? I’ll tell you who this man is. His name is Dennis Kucinich. I strongly suggest you vote for him in the primaries, and the caucuses. Oh, and if you have some money to spare, please donate this Friday so that VOICES OF TRUTH are heard.

Alright everyone, today is the day it all comes together. George Selvie. Pat White. The two players who will have to make plays to limit the other’s chances to win. Matt Grothe. The West Virginia Defense. The Indispensables for this. If Matt Grothe can run wild, the Bulls will win. Mike Jenkins. Darius Reynaud. One will have to shut down or blow up the other because WVU has no other decent WR. Ben Moffitt. Steve Slaton. Two of the best in the Big East go at it one more time for all the marbles. Noel Devine. Mike Ford. The future. Amarri Jackson. The WVU secondary. One man’s last chance to show he deserves a shot at the next level against one of the finest defenses the country has to offer. Bull Speed. Mountaineer Speed. One will have to contain the other when the WVU offense comes onto the field against the USF Defense. Jim Leavitt. Rich Rodriguez. Two of the coaches who have brought the Big East to new heights. Wally Burnham. The West Virginia offense. He is the only man who has managed to design a game plan that stopped this offense. Can he do it again? Greg Frey. Rod Smith. Two coaches who defected. Will they give WVU insight into how to stop the players on the USF offense? Bulls fans. Mountaineer fans. Who will be louder? Me. You. Everyone. Raymond James Stadium is sold out on a Friday night. Will you be here? I will.

The country lately has been talking a lot about the West Virginia vs. South Florida matchup. They have a right to, it’s a marquee game and it’s a big test for both teams. However, I don’t see it as just a big test for the teams. I see it as a test for both schools. Why? It will test the loyalty of students at both schools, to see how truly dedicated they are as fans of this team. I’ve personally followed USF since I was a high school student in 2004 and I enjoy reading about them. But this is different. How many people will jump off the USF bandwagon if they lose this week? How many people will jump onto the bandwagon if USF wins this week? It’s an honest concern. The stadium is sold out this week and the school itself designated 4000 more seats for the game. I don’t think I’ll doubt the student’s passion. I’ve been to a few games and they’re always the loudest fans in the stadium. The real question is everyone else. This could be a game where a large section of the stadium is WVU fans, and who wants to hear them cheering at a Bulls home game? Certainly no one who supports the Bulls. I want to be able to hear nothing but cheers when George Selvie puts Pat White on the ground. I want to hear boos when West Virginia scores a touchdown. The Bulls have come a long way. But a game like this will test how far the fans have come as well.

Hello anyone who follows this blog. It’s been a while since I last posted. That said, it’s the end of summer and I’ve decided to keep up a regular posting of once a week or so. Now the issue I’m going to talk about this week is pretty important to me. As it has happened, the primaries are going to start early on next year for both sides of the presidential election. I have joined the campaign of Dennis Kucinich, a guy who call far to the left, but is actually pretty mainstream for a Democrat. Now, some of his views I do not agree with, but the ones I do agree with are important. First, he wants a full withdrawal from Iraq. He would do this and then get a UN peacekeeping force in there. Other than Bill Richardson, no one has endorsed this view. Next up, He plans to take $75 Billion out of the bloated defense budget and use that money for education and healthcare. Third, he wants to create a department of peace. Now, I realize some of you might be confused as to what he plans to do with this. The Peace department would be intended as an instrument of social change that would engender helping people learn to find nonviolent solutions to situations rather than fighting. This would help reduce the amount of violent crimes and such. I believe that he is truly a remarkable man for doing this. Yes, so he’s a liberal. But he’s a liberal who has the right ideas. If anyone is reading this, I ask you to join with me. Thanks.

Week 4 Make Up Blog Entry 2

Seeing that one of my favorite games is Command&Conquer Generals: Zero Hour, had a lot of reviews, I decided to take one of the better known videogame reviewers, IGN.com. The prime fallacy that seemed to occur in the review was the lack of a main point. For example, the reviewer said in his opening comments that he didn’t think that Zero Hour was a very good game. What confuses me about this was that he went on to praise the game continually, making out that it was a great game, and then pointing out a few flaws at the end. However, that didn’t detract heavily from the review because he seemed more focused on what the review was about more than anything else. I do play the game a lot, like I said, so I felt that honesty was important here, and the reviewer lived up to that expectation of honesty. The review, for the most part, was very fair. However, the biggest failing point, like stated before, was the lack of an attempt at persuasion. The reviewer wanted to tell us what the game was about, rather than convincing us to get the game. It could be argued that he was trying to sell us on all the features the game had, which were pretty good, but unless it’s something new, people are not often convinced by a review. If it had not been for the fact that there had been new features to the game, I do not think that this game review would have convinced the reader to buy Zero hour.

Week 4 Make Up Entry 1

I, for one, have never had to worry about the problem of violence on USF’s campus. I personally feel safe while I am on campus. Of course, I don’t live on campus, so I can’t say for certain that I’m saying something true. I remember once last semester where we were visited by a campus police officer in our University Experience class. Violent crimes, according to the officer, were a problem on campus. However, one of the things she said to reassure us was that these crimes all usually occur in certain more abandoned areas of campus, like the area between Maple and 50th street. Hence, it doesn’t seem to be as much a problem to us provided we aren’t out there alone. I do know that there are a lot of people out there who might wish to harm people who venture into their areas. But this campus safety issue seems to more be an issue of staying in safe areas of campus during the night hours and not going out alone to secluded sections of campus. However, that doesn’t mean that improvements can’t be made. First off, I don’t see a lot of call boxes around anywhere. This seems most prevalent in the section of campus reserved for the dorms. Having been down to that area a few times with friends, I most certainly didn’t see a lot of emergency call boxes out there. Second, I don’t see the police around much. This could just be that I’m not where they are, but it doesn’t seem very often that I’ll see the USF police out in their cruisers patrolling. Third, the police need to consider moving their headquarters to a more central region of campus to increase their presence. Currently, they are stationed out on the outskirts of campus near Fletcher Avenue. It would do wonders for people if they knew that the police were in plain sight from most areas on campus, and we still have a lot of open ares to build a new building in.