I posted a while ago that Colin Powell was supposed to announce his support of Obama. That never happened, however whispers are circulating again that he is poised to announce his support soon.

Powell has made it clear that he has been thinking about an endorsement for a long time but wanted to hear more from the candidates before making his choice. It now seems beyond doubt that Colin Powell will endorse Barack Obama and thereby hammer the final nail in the coffin of the Republican campaign to hold onto the White House.

The reporter, Lawrence O’Donnell, seems to imply that there is no way the McCain campaign could respond to this.

Powell’s endorsement will be perfectly timed to dominate a news cycle or two. It will give Obama the one thing he still needs more of–credibility as Commander-In-Chief. And Sarah Palin’s speechwriters will be hard pressed to come up with a condescending quip about it.

While I do agree, it would give Obama more clout, and support his military stance against the stronger position of McCain, I can see the Palin spin.

She would be able to say that Obama is endorsed by someone from the Bush presidency. After attacking Bush on foreign policy, how could he be happy about Bush’s former Sec. of State. Is this really change? Etc.

I do further think that why this really helps Obama is that he is in the leader position now. The only way to go is down from here. He needs to ride out the last three weeks without incident. Having something in the news like a big endorsement allows that to dominate the news cycle instead of allowing Palin/McCain’s crazy ramblings to only entertain reporters.

Washington and Lee has created a YouTube channel.

My school is know for keeping traditions alive, but they also have an eye for the future. The school motto is “Not unmindful of the future” (in latin).

The school will post video news, and it allows a more visual way of keeping up with the current events in lexington. Perhaps this more attention grabbing method will encourage me to head back even sooner - the video of the new stadium is quite appealing!

The New York Times ran an article that described a common phenomenon about the often forgotten impact of a downturn in the economy.

“Every recession since the late ’50s has been associated with an increase in crime and, in particular, property crime and robbery, which would be most responsive to changes in economic conditions. Typically, there is a year lag between the economic change and crime rates.”

Nearly 80 police departments say that the subprime meltdown is already boosting crime rates. In Santa Anna, foreclosed homes have been converted to playgrounds for gangs and whores.

New York is enjoying record-low crime rates, even with 4,000 fewer officers than we had eight years ago. Of course, the police department is funded by tax revenue, and New York, more than most, depends on Wall Street for a double-digit chunk of budget grease.

This is indicative of a common social problem. When you are poor, you do more and more drastic things for the money you need to survive. This is why crime rates are so high in poor urban areas, and less so in rich affluent neighborhoods.

So, about this time next year, if the economy doesn’t recover, get ready to clutch your purse tighter and watch your wallet. Of course, I suppose if we all start stocking up on guns, security systems, mace, etc. to protect ourselves maybe that will help stir the economy a bit?

The Dolphins just beat the Chargers.

That makes back to back wins against the two teams from the AFC Championship game last year.

Quite the turnaround for the team who was very close to going winless last season.

What’s the difference?

Purcell?

Pennington?

Brown?

Long?

The wildcat formation?

Defense/Offense line revamps?

A man in New York sued several nightclubs, claiming that their “Ladies Night” drink specials were discriminatory against men.

The man (who is an attorney), who brought the suit, tried to link the clubs to the government by way of their liquor license.

A judge (a female judge!) just threw out the case. Those of you who have taken Con Law can probably see where this is going.

She said nightclubs can price their products as they wish because they’re not acting as representatives of the state.

The drink specials are probably beneficial to men, for well… the obvious reasons that women are more friendly after a few drinks, and more women probably show up to places that offer them deals.

I will be honest, I sympathize a bit with the guy. When I am out with a good female friend, I will definiately send her up to the bar to get me a drink at the reduced rate. Does that make me cheap or wise for gaming the system?

I still get the question of why I blog once in a while. Normally, the first time they find out I have a blog, and right after they ask me what I blog about.

I try to explain that I am a big believer in personal branding. In this age, we are no longer who we say we are on a resume. People can and will google you (either as an employee, or a potential date!). You need to get out and there and control what that image is, or trust me, someone else will.

Whether I am doing a good job or not is debateable. I will say this website comes up on the first page of google results when you type in “Jonathan Rogers”. That is pretty good considering I am only a law student, without any large acheivements, and I have such a common name.

However, I also fear I don’t do enough to establish exactly what I want to portray. Am I just using this to show my personal side? Trying to be professional and give off an air of legal expertise? I need to be more focused in this regard. Part of that probably has a large part to do with the fact that I don’t really know what I want to do in the future. Sure, I love the law. But I am not 100% sure I want to be an attorney for the rest of my life. I miss my business classes from undergrad. I am still fascinated by the advertising and psychology world as well.

Anyway, beyond that rant - someone I ran across online, Scott Monty, a social media expert, and personal branding guru posted a presentation and explanation he makes stressing why establishing your online persona is important. Go check it out.

If you haven’t already - don’t forget to register to vote!

In many states you must register by Oct. 4th to be able to vote on Nov. 4th.

The process is very quick and easy. To figure out what you need to do go to:

http://maps.google.com/vote

Type in your address and they will give you links on where to register to vote.

If you don’t want to listen to me, here are a bunch of beautiful people who you might listen to.

I have had quite a few people tell me they know more about me because of facebook than they have learned about me in real life.

I’m sure it could be annoying if I am the only person popping up consistently on your fbook news feed (Maybe you just need more interesting friends). I have a fix that will make me show up less often if you simply have too much J. Roget in your life.

All you have to do is change a setting in your news feed options. It actually is harder than you think to find, so here is the link: http://www.new.facebook.com/friends/#/feed_prefs.php

There you will see a section called “Less about these friends”. You can type my name in there - and I will pop my head/thoughts into your life less often.

Also, if you want to keep track of me, you can always go to my website - http://www.jonathanarogers.com. Further, if you want to keep a close eye on me - or maybe that person you have a huge crush on - you can enter their name in the “more about these friends” area.

Washington and Lee is a university enamored with tradition. It is a big part of the campus atmosphere.

One that I recently ran across is rather humorous. From the wikipedia entry on streaking:

The first recorded incident of streaking by a college student in the United States occurred in 1804 at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), when senior George William Crump was arrested for running nude through Lexington, Virginia, where the university is located. Robert E. Lee later sanctioned streaking as a rite of passage for young Washington and Lee gentlemen. Crump was suspended for the academic session, but would later go on to become a U.S. Congressman and Ambassador to Chile.

Last week, the media was talking about how this bailout plan was saving wall street- with the cost going to taxpayers. All the discussion centered around how unfair this “corporate socialism” was to the everyday person. No support and lots of criticism for the Bush Bailout Plan.

Now, this monday after the stock market crashed, and the bailout failed to pass the house - the media is reporting about how the failing of wall street will affect the common person on main street - affecting their access to loans, their jobs, etc.

It is interesting to see the corresponding influence from the media, to the citizen who expresses it to the political representative. Last week, people called their rep. telling them to not vote for the plan because it was not fair to the common person. Now, with the media reporting how this will affect “Main street”, I predict people will call their congressman demanding to know why he voted no.