Friday, October 3, 2008
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1 1 The First Amendment to the U.S. '
Constitution
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.
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PEK3PE CTI V'
Why I will vote for Obama
By Christopher Brown
contributing writer
cmbs3l3@psu.edu
Voters are a fickle breed, each sub
jecting the candidates to their own cri
teria, switching on a whim or deeply
entrenched. I write this not expecting to
necessarily sway many voters, realizing
that the reason I support Obama may
not translate very well to many others.
However, I hope to highlight something
overlooked in the main stream media.
A president’s personality and decision
making style is just as important as
their policies. It affects how they make
decisions and what those decisions will
be.
Over the length of this campaign
we've seen McCain's inability to con
trol his message or his advisors. And as
noted by The Washington Post, his
campaign is "now run largely by skilled
operatives who learned their crafts in
successive Bush campaigns and vari
ous jobs across the Bush government
over the past eight years." including
seven former lobbyists. McCain has
come across as irascible, testy and
erratic in the debates and on the cam
paign trail.
In contrast, Obama has no former
lobbyists on his payroll and has
pledged to never hire a former regis
tered lobbyist in his administration. His
policy team includes a smattering of
seasoned Democratic advisors, includ
ing Tony Lake. Susan Rice and
Samantha Sewall. co-author of The
U.S. Army/Marine Corps
Counterinsurgency Field Manual with
General Petraeus, in addition to a num
ber of outsiders including Austan
Goolsbee, an economics professor from
the University of Chicago, and retired
Air Force general Scott Gration.
Noam Scheiber, senior editor of The
New Republic , described Obama's
advisers in March "as decidedly non
ideological...just as comfortable with
ideological diversity as the candidate
they advise."
After the last eight years, 1 don’t
think our country could withstand
another president so driven and blinded
by ideology. I want a president willing
and able to listen to opposing views,
assess their merits and then make a
decision. So far. that president should
be Barack Obama.
Each candidate's reaction to the eco
nomic crisis has reaffirmed my feelings
on this subject. McCain seemed scat
tered and flustered, lacking a coherent
story about a subject that he admits to
know little about. He injected himself
into tenuous negotiations on the rescue
bill in Congress, hoping to score politi
cal points. Like a starfish, he was point
ed in every direction, carried by cur
rents out of his control.
An outsider’s opinion
By Jeff Kramer
staff writer
jsksl6l@psu.edu
I'm a freshman at Penn State
Behrend, but more importantly, I’m a
Vermonter at Penn State Behrend. Ido
“Vermont” things like hike, listen to
music, eat Ben & Jerry’s, burn incense,
support the political left and do assign
ments an hour before the deadline. This
column is here to inform you flat-lan
ders how good us woodchucks have it
back in the Green Mountain state.
How long have you gone without,
say, checking your Facebook? How
long can you go without looking at your
phone? What would you do if you had
to do everything by candlelight?
Here’s a story: I have a friend called
Rick. He graduated from Middlebury
College, a college so prestigious it
turned down Ivy League status, with a
degree in philosophy and religion.
After he graduated, he had this thought:
“ what can I do with a degree in philos
ophy and religion? Nothing. 1 can’t
In my Opinion:
We need to get rawfy for winter. Tbday the heat Imps by the “glass elevator were on all day which
means it Was cold enough...alt day. Also I saw my breath while walking to and from my dorm.
If $ hesseeere.
4, i .. r - ~ riV'-
Hasre an opinion? e*mail Jdjso6l ©psu.edu
i ',
Obama, on the other hand, stayed
calm. He called his advisors, congres
sional leaders, Treasury Secretary
Paulson and others. He knew that the
only way to come up with a good plan
was to first figure out how we got into
this mess, that assigning blame and
injecting presidential politics into
Washington at this time could only hurt
the country.
On Monday, Republicans in the
House of Representatives rejected the
economic rescue bill, despite McCain’s
“best” efforts. Then, after the stock
market dropped almost 800 points on
the previous day, George W. Bush
offered a meager speech to rally
Congress and the nation. I have never
seen a president look like Bush did
dejected and glum: it looked as if a stiff
breeze could send him tumbling from
the podium when his nation needed
him most.
On Wednesday, when the bill came to
the Senate floor. McCain couldn’t even
muster a few words in support of a bill
for which he “suspended” his cam
paign. Bush and McCain couldn't rally
their party, let alone the nation.
As the Senate debated the economic
rescue bill, Obama gave a speech.
Channeling his inner FDR, Obama
said, “let us unite in banishing fear.
Together we cannot fail. We cannot fail,
not now, not tomorrow, not next year.
This is a nation that's faced down war
and depression, great challenges and
great threats. And at each and every
moment, we have risen to meet up
these challenges, not as Democrats, not
as Republicans, but as Americans, with
resolve and with confidence, with that
fundamental belief that, here in
America, our destiny is not written for
us, it's written by us."
Some people say that these are only
words. But if convincing the American
people and Congress to pass a bill that
may prevent, or at worst, lessen our
impending economic doom, isn’t some
thing, then I don’t know what is.
The United States has been in crisis
mode since 9/11. Declining income
during an economic boom for the first
time since World War 11, Hurricane
Katrina, nuclear proliferation, econom
ic collapse wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq with no end in sight.
Unfortunatley, the list could go on.
Historians debate whether the times
make a leader or a leader makes the
time. Would Lincoln still be Lincoln
without the Civil War? FDR without
the Great Depression? Churchill with
out WWH? I don’t know the answer to
that, but if the United States has ever
needed a president to rise to the occa
sion, to inspire Americans to fulfill
their greatness, it is now. I believe that
President will be Barack Obama.
hang a slate on my door that says
‘philosopher,’ so what can I do?”
Here’s what Rick did. He purchased 23
acres in between Lincoln and Ritpon,
literally the middle of nowhere, so he
could be a
lumberjack.
As an
aside, Ripton
actually is in
the middle of
nowhere. It’s
a four-mile
drive over the
treacherous
Middlebury
Gap. It’s a
town lost in
the moun
tains. People
make jokes
hear about Ripton. They say, “oh friends and I went up there about twice
you’re from Ripton? I’m so sorry!” a week overnight, just to hang out.
The town consists of a convenience People here have their rooms, a certain
store and a church that doubles as a cof- friend’s house, or what have you—a
fee house. hangout place. We had the cabin. One
Why I will not vote for Obama
If elected. Obama plans to cut taxes,
create and abolish government-funded
programs and balance the budget,
which would hopefully help to lower
our $10.6 trillion debt.
Obama wants to lower the unem
ployment rate —honestly, who doesn't?
The unemployment rate measures the
proportion of the labor force 16 years
or older currently seeking a means of
employment. However, the rate can be
overstated or understated due to dis
couraged workers, part-time workers,
and unreported legal or illegal employ
ment. Even at 6.1 percent, the unem
ployment statistic is relatively low.
The census taken by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics isn't necessarily pre
cise nor is it wrong.
With every statistic, there are dis
crepancies. For example, take those
who are simply laid off because their
job is seasonal; or those who are in the
midst of switching jobs- a process that
can sometimes take much longer than
necessary—though often not longer
than the lasting duration of funds one
receives from unemployment pas.
Again, the numbers are skewed by
those who live in America illegally and
submit to the census anyway. There arc
also those who do not report their
employment status for the purpose of
tax-evasion and CPF-evasion.
Let's be serious though; Obama
wants to create more jobs, but he wants
to cut pork barrel spending (which
sometimes includes the dismantling of
a specific job market) and cut redun
dant government programs—basically,
"cut jobs."
Even worse is his idea to bail out
homeowners. While he's at it. should
n’t the government also bail out the
people who speculate on the stock mar
ket and lose money? The government
should provide an insurance policy to
gamblers —if you lose all of your
money, you can just gel it back through
a little "bailout" (paid for by the gov
ernment with funds provided by the
American tax payers). Is he prepared
to spend $5O billion a day to make up
for losses in the housing market?
Universal healthcare.’ Really?
Under a system like Canada's, just an
example of a universal plan, people are
often stuck in a waiting process. Do
you have any idea the implications that
could have for someone who might
need a cat scan ASAP, in the case of a
brain tumor that may or may not he
malignant? That's bad. People die con
stantly due to their unfortunate lack of
haste. Yes. they get the best coverage
Anyway, Rick purchased 23 acres
seven miles outside of Ripton so he
could become a lumberjack. On that
land he built a cabin, sauna, forge (for
layering steel, which he can do), a place
to bathe in a
Satellite image of the cabin
r.i i
linO
By Evan Koser
ails editor
emksllo (s'psu.edu
river and a
other things.
The thing
about this
land is that
you can be as
loud as you
anything and
nobody will
hear it. After
all. there's no
electricity or
phone service
The Behrend Beacon I
possible ami no one gels anything bet
ter. Yes. they're equal. But what does it
matter when equality lor all does not
ensure quality lor all'.’ If you have the
money to pay into our eapilalistie med
ical industry, then why shouldn't you'.’
You know how people get in debt from
medical insurance ’ They buy into plans
the\ know thev cannot afford.
Sure, it's bad that 47 million people
are uninsured. But let's take a look at
those numbers. figures from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that
around 45 percent id' those without
insurance will, within four months of
being uninsured, once again have
insurance after job transitions. The
census also includes 9.57 million peo
ple w ho aren't ev en legal citizens of the
United States: since when did they
qualifv tor anything the government
can provide (even if we did have a
socialistic healthcare policy) I .’ Nine
million of those uninsured are also chil
dren. most of whom are eligible for
Medicaid. Anil according to Cheryl
Hill Lee. co-author of the Census
Bureau studs, the census ''underreport
ed the number of people actually cov
ered" hv Medicaid. Medicare and pri
vati/ed health care.
According to the same census,
roughly 17 million of these people
make more than Ss()k a year, which
experts suggest is more than enough for
even the simplest of coverage. It's not
that we can't proside, on the contrary,
those who actually want some type of
insurance get it. Some don't even want
it. Some make enough money and just
choose not to bother svith it: some are
children who arc eligible for Medicaid
hut svhose patents refuse or don’t care
to sign them up. It’s not the system
that’s dssfunctional- it’s the people
ssho use it. That is the problem that
needs to be fixed.
So how do we fix our problem'.’ One
answer is to make generic drugs cheap
er. How .’ Allow U.S. citizens to buy
drugs from overseas. Obama's plan to
sociali/e healthcare will cause the
bankruptcy of the pharmaceutical
industry, which is bad. You can’t take
a free market, capitalistic system,
sociali/e it. and expect it to be just as
siood.
How can we keep the industry a free
market, capitalist industry if it doesn't
remain privatized'.’ Answer: we can't,
because what Obama’s talking about is
socialism. 1 don't know about you but I
don't want our next president to believe
in the "redistribution of wealth." or the
socialization of government programs.
This is America, and when I w ork hard
to earn something. I expect those
around me to do the same if they want
to experience a quality of life.
of my buddies wrote a poem about it:
iweilh the jorest is a place oj yreat winder
it holds many fond memories
oj yod. huddha. and jesus all colliding
to make the forest alive to the three of us
by lire liyht ire liyht tiny fires on slicks
and ire drink a special secret holy liquid,
and stumble round the forest floor
and other such lliinys and such
(The "special hols secret liquid" he refers to
is Coca-Cola. I
The cabin was (and is) our getaway
place. Crappy day at work? Oh well,
we're going to the cabin tonight.
There’s a party next Thursday? Oh.
sorry. Jim. Seth and 1 arc taking Noah
up to the cabin (that was a bad idea.
Noah wasted so much Jesus and he was
always wanting more of Seth’s
Buddha).
The cabin is our getaway place where
we didn't have to deal with the real
world, our parents, girlfriends, jobs, or
anything else. After all. there's no cell
phone reception.