Friday, April 17, 2009
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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.
By Jennifer Juncosa
perspectives editor
jdjso6l(y psu.edu
Two years ago,
Seung-Hui Cho
turned on his school
and spent April 16
shooting 32 of his
classmates and then
himself. The Virginia Tech (VT)
shooting has been seen as the most
devastating school shooting ever.
Two years later, unless you go to
VT, it's like it never happened.
On the anniversary last year I wore
my Penn State "We Remember" shirt
in honor of those who were in the
shooting. This year, I wore the same
shirt but instead of seeing students
Letter to the editor: This needs to stop
Response to: There is nothing wrong with a road block
My intent was not to criticize Mr.
Becker when I wrote my first letter,
but to point out the flaws in his theo
ry of why the police had a road block
at that specific location, during the
collegiate year. Yes, seniors are dan
gerous drivers, they have bad eye
sight, are occasionally forgetful
about where they are, and have poor
motor control. But when it comes to
morals and general obediance of the
law, they are better than the "whip
persnappers" that are here at
Behrend, myself included, at least in
the eyes of the police and the insur
ance companies. Hence the reason
why people under the age of 25, i.e.
born after 1984, have a higher car
insurance rate. You did know that,
Right Mr. Wittmershaus?
Totalitarianism: absolute control
by the state or a governing branch of
a highly centralized institution.
Somehow, I just don't think that fits
our situation here.
Mr. Wittmershaus, I don't laugh.
Nqt about politics. Not about privacy.
Not even when John Stewart makeS
a snappy remark on The Daily Show.
So don't EVER accuse me of having
"a good laugh about" totalitarianism.
When Mr. Becker used the term he
used it far out of context, and in
broad generalizations as YOU are
doing now.
Checking a drivers license at a
traffic stop is nothing compared to
the "checking of papers" that
occurred during WWII, the intern
ment camps that existed within our
own borders. Those are totalitarian
ism, not a traffic stop.
As for your accusation towards
Universal healthcare plan isn't the answer
SUBMISSIONS FROM PROFESSOR NESBIT'S PUBLIC ECONOMICS COURSE
By Zach Herd
economics student
zfhsoo2(a psu.edu
Over the past fifty years, the
amount of health care paid for by the
United States government has grown
at an alarming rate. In 1950 the gov
ernment only paid 25% of healthcare
expenses. Currently, the government
pays 46% of healthcare expenses.
There are several reasons this per-
centage has grown in the past half
century. One is that America has a
growing elderly population that
needs more medical attention. This
leads to increased costs for the gov
ernment through Medicare, which is
the public insurance program for the
elderly. While the elderly population
also needs more healthcare attention
than most people, the elderly popula
tion also has a stronger political
voice than most groups. When it
comes to Election Day the elderly
Beacon Thumbs Up
qk
414 AP
- Knitting
- Fighting Dr. Doom
- Greek Awards
- The All American Rejects
Do we remember?
wearing the same shirt or the VT col
ors, I saw nothing in remembrance
of the VT shooting.
Even online news sources and
newspapers have nothing referring
to the shooting; articles are more
focused on school safety during the
anniversary of the VT shooting and
the Columbine shooting, all within
four days of each other.
Even though we are not VT or
Columbine, we still need to remem
ber events like this. It's not some
thing to forget only two or ten years
later.
Most of the attackers had targets
in mind. In the Columbine shooting,
the attackers were thought to go for
their Christian classmates and the
"jocks" for mistreating them.
In the VT shooting, Cho walked
me, I have never given up my right
to privacy in exchange for security.
Unfortunately because of how this
democracy operates I was not
allowed a say in how the country
operates until four years ago. When I
came of voting age I made the choice
I felt was right. Only once, so far, did
the rest of America seem to feel the
same way I did.
I am also active in the fight against
not only government spying but cor
porate spying. Personal information
whether it is by stupidity or mali
cious intent is inexcusable.
As a side note, Mr. Wittmershaus, I
hope since you are so adamant about
privacy over security that when you
had the opportunity to vote you too
made a decision that would not have
put us back in the same eight year
cycle.
Mr. Wittmershaus, unlicensed driv
ers, where do I begin? How about
this, you say there is no "correlation
or causation." However, if a driver
was licensed at one point and accu
mulated citations and fines on their
license, they to have it suspended or
revoked. They then have only their
willpower and fear of getting caught
to stop them from driving. Using
random "road blocks", the police can
make sure the ones who are violat
ing the law for whatever the reason,
are stopped.
Out of date inspections: do you
realize what an inspection does?
They make sure your car isn't about
to fall apart. Basically, does it have
working brakes, headlights, tail
lights, turn signals, wipers, and an
engine? That kind of stuff, it also
population has the opportunity to
vote without many other inconven
iences holding them back, like kids
or a work schedule. The elderly pop
ulation continues to grow and they
remain politically organized, howev
er politicians continue to relax the
standards to qualify for Medicare.
While we may think politicians lower
these standards because they truly
care about the health of the
American public, it is more likely
that they care more about being
reelected, and to be elected they
have to keep their constituents satis
fied. This has led them to loosen the
standards to qualify as elderly or as
poor, and as a result, more and more
of the middle class qualify for these
benefits. With a greater number of
people qualifying, demand for med
ical services goes up, which also
leads to increased prices. The
increased prices combined with a
larger number of recipient's leads to
higher government expenditures.
Submission Guidelines.
Letters should be limited to 350 words and commentaries 700 words. The more
concise the submission, the less we will be forced to edit it for space concerns and the
more likely we are to run it.
The Beacon does not publish anonymous letters. Please include your major, faculty or
administration position, and semester standing. Deadline for any submission is 8 p.m.
Wednesday night for inclusion in the Friday issue.
The Behrend Beacon reserves the right to edit any submissions prior to publication.
Please keep complaints as specific as possible.
Email submissions to jdjso6l@psu.edu or drop them off at the Beacon office.
PERSPECTIVES
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
into a classroom, shot and killed the
professor, and then opened fire on
the class. After what he went across
the hall and did it to another class
room.
After the Columbine and VT shoot
ing, the media showed that there
were warning signs that people had
n't noticed prior to the shootings.
Don't ignore suspicious behavior
and if you need help, don't hesitate
to go to the personal counseling cen
ter in the basement of Reed.
Penn State Erie is considered a
safe campus. There has yet to be
serious safety threats to the campus
and hopefully we can keep it that
way.
Let's not forget the anniversaries
of Columbine and VT.
makes sure you aren't polluting the
environment too much. Keeping it up
to date lets them know you actually
maintain it to a degree. As to hasty
generalizations about sociopaths and
Ohio, that's all you my friend.
I don't think I "mocked" Mr.
Becker's suggestion that the state
police were trying to make a quick
buck off some college students. I did,
however point out that about 200
yards away is a "speedway" of sorts.
The Bayfront connector (sometimes
channels the Autobahn) and for
police it could be an easy week's
worth of tickets if they wanted to.
Mr. Wittmershaus, if you read Mr.
Becker's letter you'd remember that
it was a traffic stop/road block.
Meaning all or almost all cars were
being stopped on that stretch of
road. Now maybe Mr. Becker had
expired inspection stickers, out of
date tags, or they just picked him
because they liked his car.
I don't know, I wasn't there. I do
know this, all yours and Mr. Becker's
anger and frustration over a simple
traffic stop in Erie, Pennsylvania
could be put to much better use. You
both seem to dislike the "overbear
ing" Big Brother government. Well
then do something about it. Quit
complaining about a stupid traffic
stop and start looking at the big pic
ture.
Jeremy Korwek
10th semester communications major
jdksoo9o psu.edu
Whether we pay for these expendi
tures now or in the future, at some
point are taxes will have to rise to
cover these expenses and the people
will pay for it.
When the out of pocket price for a
consumer is reduced, they will con
sume more of that product. Imagine
you usually allocate $3O to go out to
eat at Texas Longhorn once a week.
If you received a coupon for half off
every one of your meals at Texas
Longhorn, you would be more likely
to go out to eat at Texas Longhorn
more than once a week and consume
more than you would if you were
paying the full price every time.
This same idea applies to health
care; if you don't have to pay the full
price of your check up visits, medi
cine, or surgery you will be much
more likely to consume more of
those items than if you had to pay
the full price yourself. The lowered
out of pocket prices will once again
increase the demand for medical
Letter from the editor
By Rachel Reeves
editor in chief
rcrsos7((/ psu.edu
Last week, the
Behrend Beacon
may have been a
victim of newspaper
theft. Entire stacks
of the newspaper
were emptied over
Easter weekend, and we estimate
that roughly 1000 copies disappeared
before Monday morning.
Many people do not know that
newspaper theft is actually a crime,
even if the publication is free. The
fact is, the profits of a newspaper do
not come from sales - they come
from advertisements. If a certain per
centage of newspapers never reaches
Letter to the editor:
Do we have too many police?
A slogan at the top of the
Pennsylvania State Police website
states that their goal is: "To seek jus
tice, preserve peace, and improve the
quality of life for all." However, some
of their activities have nothing what
soever to do with this goal.
I bring this up because recently it
seems that the police have nothing
better to do than cite college stu
dents for underage drinking and
harass students with "traffic safety
checks" on campus. I understand
that underage drinking is against the
law and that police are expected to
enforce the law. However, I cannot
believe that police do not have more
serious issues to address.
In places with high crime rates, the
police are too busy doing their job to
bother citing college students for
underage drinking. This leads me to
believe that police in Erie do not
have enough to do, so perhaps we
need a few less police officers.
According to a website encourn
ing people to join the state poliee, ""‘
the starting salary for a troopet is
$50,740 dollars. If we were to cut a
few of these jobs. we would save
quite a bit of tax payer's money
The Beacon is always looking for more writers
Have an opinion? Want to write about sports? Want to get a front
row . seat to an event? Want to write about movies or music? Like
All you have to do is email any of the editors, stop by the Beacon
office in the basement of Reed, or submit articles online at the
behrendbeacon. com
services and cause another increase
in the cost of medical care.
Over the past several years the
restrictions for Medicare have been
extremely relaxed, President
Obama's healthcare plan proposes
relaxing the restrictions to qualify
for Medicaid, the other public insur
ance program that is for the poor.
When a greater number of people
are included in the coverage, the
government will have to increase
their spending to pay the health
expenses the new recipients incur. I
think Americans deserve to be
healthy, but throwing government
dollars at all aspects of healthcare is
not the most efficient way to achieve
this. The government should not be
involved in areas of healthcare like
check-ups, surgery, and general med
ication. There are a large number of
people out there that consume these
products due to the reduced costs
who otherwise could get by without
them. This over-consumption leads
The Behrend Beacon 5
its readership, it is expected that the
newspaper offer reimbursements to
the advertisers. In a case like this,
the Beacon could lose hundreds of
dollars in one week. A free publica
tion is anything but cheap.
More importantly, newspaper theft
is a form of censorship. The Beacon
exists to provide an open forum for
communication throughout the cam
pus community. We encourage other
ideas and we even' welcome dis-
agreements with our decisions and
policies. Letters to the editor are
always an option, and anyone can
email one of the staff if they wish to
keep their complaints private. As
opposed to dumping or removing
hundreds of copies of our newspa
pers, we would hope that our readers
express their ideas in an appropriate
and effective way.
(which could be put towards teach
ing kids how to drink responsibly)
and it would encourage the remain
ing officers to spend their time fight
ing real crimes.
Underage drinking is a victimless
crime, and there are far better things
for police (who are paid by our tax
dollars) to be doing with their time
that do not involve harassing college
students. I realize that many people
believe underage drinking is danger
ous. However, by strictly penalizing
underage drinkers it is only pushed
underground making it less likely for
someone who has had too much to
drink to seek help. In the end, it
seems like if harassing college stu
dents for drinking underage is all the
police have to do, perhaps we do not
need quite as many police officers.
Adam Haber
4th Semester Political Science Major
aihsos 1 psu.edu
to take pictures?
to increased demand, which results
in increased prices. These increased
prices are felt by the rest of the
American public through either
increased out of pocket prices for
them, increased insurance prices, or
increased taxes.
The burden of a high amount of
unnecessary medical attention
should not fall on the American pub
lic. If the government focused its
money at medical research and con
tagious disease protection, our coun
try would be better off. The benefits
of medical research and contagious
disease protection aren't always felt
by a consumer so people tend to
spend less money on them. The ben
efits of a flu shot or cancer research
are never fully felt by the individual
consumer. With government inter-
vention in these two areas we could
see benefits that could lead to an
overall healthier and a more efficient
healthcare system.
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- April showers
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