4 I The Behrend Beacon Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution The hush on global warming By Jessica Samol staff writer A recent report by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee revealed that federal scientists have been pressured by the White House to downplay global warming. Apparently, the Bush administration delayed and altered the findings of federal climate scientists, deleting terms such as "rapid warming" and in many cases avoiding the term "global warming" completely. According to NASA scientist Drew Shindell, the Bush administration brushed off research findings that suggested Antarctica might warm rap idly in the future, causing melting ice and a sharp rise in sea-level. In addi tion, Shindell said that climate scien tists had been urged not to talk about their research findings with the media. For decades, the topic of global Submission Guidelines The Beacon welcomes readers to share their views on this page. Letters and commentary pieces can be submitted by email to jan2l9@psu.edu or directly to the Beacon office, located in the Reed Building. Letters should be limited to 350 words and commentaries should be lim ited to 700 words. The more concise the submission, the less we will be forted to edit it for space concerns and the more likely we are to run the submission, All submissions must include the writer's year in school, major and name as The *woe does not publish anonymous letters. Deadline for any sub missios p,m, Tuesday afternoon for inclusion in the Friday issue. All übrattelerke Ore tonstaerea, but because of space limitations, some may not be publdhed, The Behrend Beacon reserves the right to edit any submissions prior to warming has been an issue of contro versy, when it should be an issue of concern. Perhaps most of the contro versy on global warming revolves around how to deal with it. But even so, the Bush administration has made no effort to deal with future effects of global warming. The U.S. is not a member of the Kyoto Treaty, which is a treaty dedicated to reducing carbon emissions which scientists believe to be a major contributor to global warming. The irony is that the United States has the highest carbon emission rate. Yet, the public is constantly hearing from the media that scientists cannot directly link human activity or the current climate change to global warming. A major U.N. climate report to be released within the next week, may confirm that global warming is hap pening and that humans are to blame. Perhaps then the Bush administration will make the public more aware of the threat of global warming, and take action to reduce future threats. Ph\f [CJIA This week in politics Imagine a world where a news publi cation not only doesn't reveal its anonymous sources, its reporters remain anonymous, and other news organizations repeat their rumors and tell them as fact. Well, that world isn't too far off; in fact, it's already here. On Jan. 30, The New York Times ran an article detailing the controversy sur rounding a conservative on-line news publication that does just that. Insight Magazine (insightmag.com) ran a story that reported Hillary Clinton's cam paign was seeking evidence that proved Barak Obama attended a fanat ical Muslim school in Indonesia. Turns out it was a secular school and Obama went there for a few years as a young ster. That didn't stop CNN, Fox News, other news organizations, and Clinton's campaign from running with the story. When journalism is reduced to repeating rumors as fact, with reporters that can't be held accountable nonetheless, then the line between reporting the news and spreading gos sip becomes increasingly blurred. With conservatives already trying to breed ill will between Democratic can didates, I am not looking forward to a Presidential race that is beginning to I want YOU to give your opinions. Don't be afraid to`speak If something really bothers you, or makes you happy, Send letters and articles to jan2l9@psu.edu and they'll be printed right here. That's right; you can be heard! • So don't be shy-- submit something today. up! let me know. 0 0•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • - Superbowl is on Sunday! - Finding money in random pockets - Aqua Teen's "bomb scare" in Boston - Lewis Black coming to campus - Fake newscasters •••••••••••••••••••••••••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • U. MIN I- MI MIN MN OM =II lIMI MIN NM NMI MN OM NMI M-= NM 111 I I I I I 'Submit it to the "Thumbs up-Thumbs Down" box at the RUB desk. I I I By Chris Brown copy editor Beacon Thumbs Up Beacon Thumbs Down • 4k. A' 41 / 4 ft ft tiftiOdie ebtpie v. - 7 -F S. look and sound more like a high-school popularity contest and less like a seri ous competition to determine who our leader is for the next four years. President George Bush has recently made some confusing statements on public policies. The same good ole' Texas boy that long supported energy policies that increased our reliance on oil through more exploration and increased trade with overseas suppliers made an about face, sort of. in his State of the Union Address. Bush said, "we must increase the supply of alternative fuels, by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017... five times the cur- • rent target." He went on to speak about "the serious challenge of global cli mate change," an issue Bush has avoided acknowledging throughout his administration. But the most recent shocker came the other day, when he scolded corporate execu tives on Wall Street for accepting millions of dol lars in bonuses while their companies are failing. 111111111111 What is going on?! Maybe he has finally accepted that people dis agree with him for good reason. Or, maybe he is trying to give a signal to his fellow Republicans on how they can win in next year's elections. Whatever the rationale is for his shift ing views, I can't help but wonder, what happened to the George W. Bush that I didn't vote for? Over the past few days, questions concerning Iran's involvement in Iraq have been raised as reports surface that Iranian agents have been behind attacks on coalition soldiers. Undersecretary of State for Political Have a Thumbs Up Thumbs Down? ...what hap pened to the George W. Bush that I didn't vote for? 'fit 'IEIII - People who text in class - Salt stains on the bottoms of pants - Leaky windows - Slush - People who can't drive in the snow (check a box ) Friday, February 2, 2007 Affairs, Nicholas Burns, stressed, "...we can have a diplomatic solution to these problems," in an interview on National Public Radio. But, that is becoming hard to believe with the deployment of another carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf and Bush vowing, "We will do what it takes to protect our troops." The worst thing the administration can do now is pro voke the Iranians and unite them behind President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when his grip is slipping in the country. Just last month, his rad ical party lost in local elections across Iran and he was recently jeered at by students at an Iranian university while speaking. The populace in Iran is growing increas ingly discontent with his anti-west stance and failed economic policies. Now is our chance to stand back and let the populace dispose of their maniacal leader instead of allowing him to unite Iran against an aggres sive United States. In last week's issue, I wrote about the Erie County Council's public smoking ban. Since then I was able to get in touch with Doug Smith, Council Clerk, who confirmed my suspicions about its effect on private clubs and its ambiguity. According to Smith, smok ing would be banned in private clubs if employees were present. As for its ambiguity, he went on to say, "it is legally unexplored as to whether or not a member-bartender would be different than an employee. Certain areas will remain open to interpretation for some time." 0 4 : 1 NI
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers