At 7 p.m. tonight, PLU Webnews will be broadcasting its first ever live video feed: My capstone presentation!

My topic is how reality television is diminishing the communication skills of the younger generation.

PLU Webnews is able to broadcast this live video stream through mogulus.com. Since wordpress doesn’t allow mogulus’ embedded code to work, we had to go through Vodpod to get a embedded code that would work.

Since we figured out all this embedded mumbo-jumbo, we are proud to present you with this historical event!

I hope you are able to watch, and please leave comments on what you think!

Johanna Chase, singer/songwriter who graduated from Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, Wash., returns home to perform four shows in the Northwest. Check her out April 4 at the Mandolin Cafe in Tacoma.

Johanna Chase is a folk-love politician who brings pop-listeners and social critics together to join in on a rhythmic folk show of the soul. Johanna Chase is slated to perform in her home region of Seattle for the first time in 2009 on a small Pacific Northwest tour, playing shows in Tacoma, Wash. at the Mandolin Cafe on April 4, also in Portland on April 5 at Mississippi Pizza, also in Spokane, Wash. at Whitworth University on April 9 and other house shows in Bellingham, Wash. and Seattle. Johanna Chase will be sharing songs off her recent full-length album, “AZUSA,” released in June 2008. (her fourth studio album)

This last year for the month of October 2008 Johanna Chase booked out a 20 city national tour, playing at classic venues such as Ruta Maya’s and MoMo’s in Austin, Tex., the Rainbows Festival in Phoenix, Ariz., Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, Ga., Court Tavern in New Brunswick, N.J., Otto’s Shrunken Head in New York, Cafe Bella in Columbus, Ohio, the Noble Tree in Chicago and Wheaton College.  Johanna Chase is the founder of a small indie artist collective running out of Los Angeles called Shift Artists Collective. Shift exists to promote about 10 indie artists, poets and the power of collective.  Johanna Chase is seeking out indie publicity and any word that will increase the awareness of indie artists outside of the mainstream music network. Johanna Chase’s melding of pop, folk and rock choruses consume fraternity parties and coffee houses alike, and this time Johanna Chase will be bringing an hour and half long set to Tacoma to share these expressions.

The Mandolin Cafe features many local musicians at least three or four nights a week.  The Cafe is located at 3923 S. 12th St., Tacoma, Wash. 98405 and admission is free.

Distraught PLU Webnews staff member because of the lack of a logo. Help cheer him/us up by entering in PLU Webnews' logo design contest. Winner gets a $50 gift certificate!

PLU Webnews has been up and running for almost four months and still is without a logo. Well, now it is your turn to develop the first logo for the blog!
If you have any experience with design, drawing, writing, calligraphy, making of hieroglyphics, painting, water coloring, or anything that has to do with logo making, send in your ideas to pluwebnews@gmail.com by April 10 by 5 p.m.
The winner of the contest will receive a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant of his/her choice.
So get crackin’ Lutes! Help cheer up the PLU Webnews staff and give us your best logo!

ESPN report of Ryan Moats incident with Dallas Police Officer Robert Powell.

On March 25, Dallas police officer Robert Powell detained Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats in a hospital parking lot as his mother in law was dying inside. The officer had pulled over Moats as he and relatives were hurrying to see his dying mother-in-law. Powell drew his gun, threatened the NFL player and held him in the parking lot, officials said. By the time Moats got inside, the woman had died.

Powell has been placed on administrative leave. Police Chief David Kunkle said the department is “embarrassed and disappointed.”

I am not going to get on a soap box and rant about how police officers abuse their power, because that is a generalization that is not true. While Powell seems to fit this stereotype, many police officers would have done the right thing and allowed Moats to visit his mother in law.

However, Powell was not this officer. In a case such as this, Powell shouldn’t be placed on administrative leave, he should be let go. Not only is it absurd to detain someone while a relative is dying, it is morally wrong.

I cannot fathom what was going through Powell’s head. If he thought Moats was lying, why not go with him into the hospital. They were already in the parking lot. Powell would have had the ability to let Moats go visit his mother in law in her last moments, while being able to keep an eye on Moats. After Moats left he hospital, Powell could have made the decision to write Moats a ticket or let him go.

It frustrates me that incompetent people are placed in such powerful positions.

A Response:

After watching the footage I couldn’t help but feel for Moats and his family. I have lost several loved ones in my short 22 years of life, and having that final moment to say goodbye has meant more than words can describe. At the same time I have stood in the same shoes as the police officer, in a position of power while someone, a complete stranger to me, was forced to watch helplessly as their loved one died right in front of them.

Either way you slice it the situation is paralyzing, the “appropriate” reaction isn’t something you can practice or script, these types of moments come at you when you least expect it. That being said I’m still dumbfounded that the police officer reacted the way he did. It was obvious that something more important than a traffic violation was going on, the nurse came out and told him for crying out loud. In my opinion the Dallas Police Department owes the Moats family more than an apology and dropped ticket, the sad part is that the Moats family can never be compensated for the loss. My only hope is that the officer learns something from the experience and that next time his reaction will be more “appropriate”. – Peter Young

Fans unite is Seattle for its inaugural MLS game. Seattle Sounders FC beat the New York Red Bulls 3 - 0. Photo courtesy of soundersfc.com.

In one night the world’s game became Seattle’s.

The siege that started out as a luxury for soccer fans became a catalyst for uniting Seattle – giving light to the dark days that Seattle sports and its economy have faced in the last year.

Last Thursday, Seattle Sounders FC routed the New York Red Bulls 3 – 0, giving the Sounders and Seattle their first win in the MLS. However, it didn’t take until the final whistle blew for fans to erupt with joy.

Before the game, the atmosphere was electric. At noon, fans were walking around the stadium starting, sporting their scarves and green jersey’s that could only be described as Grinch green.

Bars were filled with Sounders fans talking about past Seattle soccer teams – Tacoma Stars, Seattle Seadogs, the Seattle Sounders of the NASL and A-League. Some of those teams former players were out as well, talking to fans about the emergence of soccer in Seattle and how they have made the transition from players to fans.

At 4:30 p.m., the doors to Qwest Field opened and Sounders fans began piling in. An hour and a half later, the festivities started. A video was played that showed the Sounders path into the MLS. Next, owner; band manager; and new Seattle native Drew Carey got on the stage that had been set up at mid-field and addressed the crowd. He thanked the fans for showing more support than any other MLS expansion franchise and assured that Sounders FC will be the Major League Soccer’s most successful franchise.

After Carey’s speech, the stage that was set-up at mid-field was removed, and a new stage was set as the players entered the field dubbed X-Box Pitch.

Player introductions took place, and then the national anthem was sung. Instead of bringing in a celebrity to do the Star Spangled Banner, an orchestra director led the entire crowd in song, giving fans even more of a hands-on experience.

After the national anthem ended, the captain’s met at mid-field, and then the players took their positions. The 32,000-plus, sold-out crowd stood on their feet and put their Sounders scarves in the air, shouting the teams name with rhythm in unison. The referee blew his whistle, the match began, and the stadium erupted louder than a Seahawks playoff game.

Professional soccer was back in Seattle – for good.

PLU Webnews Radio begins it's broadcast on KCCR, PLU studnet radio, Sunday, March 8 from 7 - 8 p.m.

This Sunday, PLU Webnews will have it’s first radio show in the history of the blog! Granted, the blog has only been around for close to six months, but the show plans to take PLU Webnews to the next level of student media at PLU.

The show will broadcast on KCCR, PLU student radio, from 7 – 8 p.m. Issues that are brought up on the blog as well as other news and events that are important to the PLU student body and the rest of PLU Webnews’ audience is what will be discussed on the air. The PLU Webnews audience is encouraged to drive the topics that are being discussed, so e-mail PLU Webnews a pluwebnews@gmail.com and submit your articles and story ideas!

Listeners will also be encouraged to call in and give their input on what topics are being debated.  Since students will be driving the content of the show, PLU Webnews wants it’s listeners to discuss the topics as well.

Make sure to set your alarms and tune into PLU Webnews’ inaugural broadcast this Sunday from 7 – 8 p.m!

If you are on campus, you can stream KCCR on your television through KCNS , PLU studnet television, on channel 28 0r 10, or you can stream it live at http://www.plu.edu/~kccr.

A graph of the top 25 social networking sites users and amount of visitation in January 2009. Graph courtesty of compete.com.

Social Networking sites are no doubt the future of communication. According to a study done by Nielsen/NetRatings, social networking sites users have increased by an average of 47 percent every year since 2005; with Facebook.com topping the charts with over 68 million users and over one billion site visits in January 2009.

With so many people turning to the world of social networking, advertising on these sites has become an eight-figure business. In 2006, Interpublic Group agreed to spend at least $10 million on advertising at Facebook.com.

But with advertising constantly increasing, it doesn’t seem as if there is anyone screening what ads are being put up.

Inappropriate content for dating sites, absurd engagement ring ads, as well as many other controversial ads are constantly popping up on users profile pages.

With the lack of ad screening, users, particularly younger users, are being exposed to ideas of inappropriate behavior that is being considered “popular” because of the exposure the ads receive on the websites.

For example, Facebook hosts dating websites advertisements from Like.com and Christian Singles that contain attractive women and men that are wearing t-shirts and shorts that appear to be from the toddlers department at Target. The women that are in these ads have cleavage that could be considered partial nudity, while the men have bulges that suggest they just finished with baseball practice. To accompany these pictures, phrases like “Meet new women” or “Meet Mrs. Right” are displayed to drive the desire for a long-lasting relationship. The messages that these ads display are not to build a relationship on factors like trust, personality and compatibility, the message displayed is that relationships should be primarily sex driven. The ads give the idea that the only thing that should be considered while deciding on a girl/boyfriend is how they look and what their dimensions are.

Not only do these ads give an incorrect perspective on dating, they are hypocritical from the sites own picture policy. When posting a profile picture on Facebook, they make you guarantee that the picture you are posting does not contain any inappropriate content. How can Facebook require someone to post appropriate pictures when creator Mark Zuckerberg cannot do so himself? The hypocrisy is another lesson that is being taught to the younger inhibitors of Facebook.

Another social networking site that has been displaying inappropriate advertisements is MySpace.com. MySpace is considered one of the original social networking sites, and as of last month it hosts over 58 million users and had over 810 million visits to its site in January of 2009.

In December of 2008, MySpace was running an ad from a jewelry company that advertised buying a ring and proposing to your new girlfriend to make her ex seem jealous. Is there any more decency in today’s world of advertising?

How can Tom (creator and ultimate stalker of MySpace) live with himself for allowing such an advertisement to grace the profile pages of MySpace? Not only does the ad degrade relationships, it degrades and lessens the importance of marriage; it tells people that it is important to want to make the ex-boyfriend jealous. It also says that it is important to try and make yourself look better than the former boyfriend because you bought this girl a ring. The worse part about the ad is its saying that making someone jealous is a legitimate reason to marry someone.

The thing that really upsets me is organizations are being formed to stop same sex marriages, but nothing is being done to stop the advertising of the degradation of marriage. Sure, I don’t want my little boy marrying another little boy, but if he wants to marry a girl just to make another boy jealous, go right ahead! Ridiculous.

Since then, ads have started to become worse. Facebook has begun to run an advertisement for students to make money using the computer in their dorm room without specifying what exactly the student will be doing. They say you can make $132 between classes just using this service. Sounds like a great deal, right? Wrong.

The picture that accompanies this ad is a brunette woman in a short green dress with a good portion of cleavage showing. She is staring at the user in a provocative manner, biting her teeth with a look of lust in her eyes, while holding up cash. The ad suggests that either you can use this woman to make $132 between classes, or a woman like this will present you the money, because the only reason someone should want to make cash is so he/she can get women.

Not only is this message completely inaccurate, it is inappropriate and sexist. The fact that anyone would relate making money with the accompaniment of women is stating that women are only attracted to people who make money. It is objectifying women while targeting men as a primary user of this service.

In a world where social networking sites are being used by almost everyone, especially teenagers, the sites need to include responsibility in their title when it comes to advertising. Social networking shouldn’t be about teaching people how to improperly perceive relationships; it should be a fun way for new people to meet each other.

By: Kelly Ryan

Saturday and Sunday the PLU Speech and Debate Team competed at the annual Hatfield Debates at Willamette University in preparation for upcoming national championships.

Willamette’s tournament is perceived by most collegiate debate teams as the pre-national championship tournament. Because it is the last tournament before the national championships this tournament has an unusually competitive draw.

At the end of the first day of competition senior Kelly Ryan and sophomore Bryce Danz held an accomplished record of 5-1. Ryan and Danz impressed their fellow Lutes and other teams when they defeated the defending national champions from Southern Illinois University on development of a UN standing military topic.

Ryan and Danz continued their success in elimination rounds when they defeated a team from the University of Oregon on a topic about NATO and a team from Western Washington University on a U.S. education resolution.

The Lutes’ winning came to an end when they lost their semifinals round on U.S. Forest Service reform against Willamette, ranked second in the nation.

Ryan and Danz received third place out of 42 teams.

Senior Nicolette Paso paired with a debater from Beijing Foreign Studies University in British Parliamentary (BP) style. The pair took fifth place at the tournament and Paso received a top speaker award.

The team will send four debaters, two teams, to compete at the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) Tournament held at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Cali. at the end of March.

In April the team will send competitors to the U.S. Universities British Parliamentary Debate National Championship in Vermont.

This years sick season has run wild at PLU. Photo courtesy of blueprintbroadcast.com.

This winter, it seems like everyone and their mom has gotten sick. Whether it is right here on campus or all the way up in Seattle, the bug that is either a cold, the flu or some other form of disease that causes people to become bed-ridden for days on end.

The sickness that is inhabiting most PLU students is a viral infection, said the PLU Health Center. The viral infection is more than just then common cold though.

What this viral infection does is develop flu like symptoms without the fever or other major flu effects.

It starts with an achy body. After that it continues on to the throat and then a cough develops. Soon after all three evils take over and the person finds themself bed-ridden.

“After the first day I was already stuck in bed,” Stacey Barber, PLU senior said. “I coughed so much that I almost vomitted.”

If you are one of the many that catches this infection, there is not much you can do besides take over the counter medication as well as eat as much soup as you can, said the Health Center.

So, the Health Center advises peope who haven’t caught this virus yet to keep away from people who have it and live a healthy lifestyle, even more than you would have in the past.

They encourage people who have the virus to avoid going to class and places where there are groups of people. If the  people with the virus stay away from healthy people, than less people will get the sickness.

People on the western coast of Colombia are taken from their homes due to massive flooding from the Mira River. Photo courtesy of http://www.laht.com/.

Since last Tuesday, eight people have died and over 8,000 families have been forced out their homes due to flooding from the Mira River in western Colombia. The flooding has been caused by torrential down pours that have not ceased through the week.

While the flooding is occurring over 8,100 miles away, no one is as effected as PLU senior Jake Taylor. Taylor is a native of Colombia and has many friends and family that still live in the area of the flood.

“As soon as I heard about the news, I went to the pay-phone to use my calling card to call my brother to make sure everyone was alright,” Taylor said.

Friends and family members of Taylor’s were not physical harmed by the flooding. However, many of them still lost their homes as well as the majority of their land.

The rain started due to a series of low pressure systems that swept in from the eastern Pacific. The rain fell on already saturated ground and caused several rain-swollen rivers to burst their banks (BBC.com).

The town of Tumaco, where Taylor’s family resides, on the Pacific Coast was the city that suffered the most damage. Colombia’s capital Bogotá also felt the impact of this week’s rain, as several streets were turned into raging torrents.

The damage to property has been extensive due to the makeshift nature of homes built on steep mudslide-prone hillsides (BBC.com).

More heavily showers are expected in Tumaco as well as along the Pacific Coast for the next five days, possibly meaning the worst is yet to come.

With situations bad and becoming worse, the president of Colombia has declared the situation a national emergency and is asking water companies all over the country to send water to the damaged coastal city.

Taylor has started to organize a mini-charity that would provide water for people from those damaged cities through donations. $1 is equivalent to two bags of water.

If you would like to donate to the cause, contact Taylor at (253) 225-3251 or via e-mail at taylorjl@plu.edu before Wednesday, Feb. 25.

“Any amount of money will help the people of Colombia through these troubled times,” Taylor said. “I sincerely thank everyone for all of your help.”