6 BEHREND BEACON February 12, 2010 www.thebehrendbeacon.com THE PROFESSOR'S CORNER ED MISETA by turn in ri 1111(1111it According to a recent article on Politico, Democrats are looking for someone to blame for their electoral woes, and Democratic Senatorial Cam paign Committee (DSCC) Chairman Robert Menendez wants to make sure it is not him. In the aftermath of the earth shaking election in Massachu setts, the DSCC has distributed a memo that advises Democrats to try, to drive a wedge between moderate voters and Tea-Party style conservatives. The DSCC believes that many Republicans will he afraid of associating them selves with some of the views of the Tea Party and will therefore not garner that support. With out Tea Party support, some of these Republicans may fail in their election bids. Therefore, getting these Re publican candidates on the record is suddenly of para mount importance. The memo urges Democratic candidates to ask their oppo nents the questions below. A "no" answer on any of them may put an end to Tea Party support, while a "yes" answer will presumably scare away MY VOICE Teen pregnancy and TV In 2007, 4,317,119 people were born. This topped the 1950 s baby boom with the number still climbing. Among those 4,317,119 children were 435,436 babies born to women between the ages of 15 to 19- years-old. This is the largest increase in teen birth rates since 1990. Why are all women, young woman specifically, having chil- Maybe it's the lack of contra ception or lack of knowledge about proper contraception. Maybe it's because they want to be eco-friendly and help to re populate the Earth! Either way, when will it stop? While . alki• d thr KAMILLE WATSON staff u Wet Have Your Say: How do you feel about the reappearance of Erie snow after the region's brief warm respite? Ray Walken sophomore psychology I think it's kind of weird that Pittsburgh has more snow than we do, but I'm thankful that we don't have thier snow. Answering questions from Democrats more moderate voters. I have to admit that the first time I read the questions I laughed. However, since Menendez seems to be taking them seriously, I decided I would as well. In the 1980 s I was a Republi can and supporter of Ronald Reagan. In the 1990 s I became a Libertarian and today con sider myself a Tea Party patriot. I would certainly love to see both Democrats and Republi cans thrown out in November, so here is my advice to any can didate hoping to replace them: Simply answer the questions as I do below. You will maintain the Tea Party support, get the respect and votes of the moder ate voters and possibly even some Democrats, and allow in cumbents to be shown the door. Question 1: Do you believe that Barack Obama is a U.S. cit- Answer: "Yes." There are certainly some in sane people in the conservative movement who believe he is not and therefore shouldn't be president. But most Republi cans and Tea Partiers do not. This is the dumbest question of all and will be a non-issue. Question 2: Do you think the 10th Amendment bars Con gress from issuing regulations From personal experience, a little less than half of my grad uating class now have kids and my graduation was just two years ago. When does it stop? Television shows such as Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant, both of which are on MTV, de pict teenage mothers and all of the things they have to endure while being young parents. Some of the girls on these shows have a hard time raising their children on their own. They struggle with having to grow up and be a parent. Teens on the show have their parents and significant others there to help them with the child. What is the message being red here? The message is in a way to say, "while person has it hard, an person can have it easy parenthood isn't so bad." tgh this may be true in in cases, it would be a valid message if the Pws taught teens not to we children at such an Irly age. Maybe it could teach hem how to be abstinent mr the proper use of con traception because, awhile having a baby looks fun on television, it in't so fun in real life. ►stead of making these !nage moms pseudo- Pbrities, tell girls and ' couples to alter their of thought, and teach how to avoid the life of to be a parent while ,re children themselves. ' isn't the only television :k showing the abun of pregnant women pop tp all over the place. The etwork has two popular that follow large families around. 19 and Counting, where a Jess Scott sophomore psychology The Erie weather right now is kind of crazy, and I liked it a couple weeks ago when it was really warm. It was beginning to feel like summer. like minimum health care cov erage standards? Answer: "I would be of fended if the government came to me and forced me to buy an chovies, cauliflower, Wal-Mart clothing, pornography or any thing else I did not want. Do YOU believe Obama should be allowed to put on his commu nist dictator hat and tell people what they have to buy?" This should end all discus sion on that question. In fact, I'm not even sure why the DSCC is asking this question. I guess they assume that Tea Partiers do not want govern ment run health care, but that moderates do. The DSCC may want to look at some recent polling numbers. Question 3: Do you think programs like Social Security and Medicare represent social ism and should never have been created in the first place? Ahhhh...finally a question that actually gets somewhere. The thinking here is that Tea Party candidates are anti-Social Security, and by forcing them to take a stand against it they will alienate some moderate voters (i.e. old people). It's hard to believe that De mocrats would even want to broach this subject, being that most Americans know that So- woman and her husband have been having kids since 1990, 19 children in all. Jon and Kate Plus 8, a man and his wife have eight chil dren. While these shows do have high emphasis on family and the importance of love , they es sentially have the same mes sage: "Have babies!" Recently, on the show 19 and Counting, the woman had an other child, making this one her 20th child, and during the birth she almost died because the baby was severely premature and its blood pressure was too high. Simply put, this woman could have died from the effect that having 20 kids put on her body. These television shows pres ent the cuteness of the children and the happiness of the family, but in the real world they may be miserable. With so many kids, they may run risk of dying while giving birth, or infidelity may play a role in their rela tionships, such as Jon and Kate. Networks like Lifetime, show movies such as The Pregnancy Pact. This causes young woman to rethink the meaning of being a teenage mom. Net works that have more emphasis on the teen crowd, like that of MTV and TLC, have shows that relay the same message of irre sponsible sex. Networks such as MTV and TLC are extremely popular and hold strong emphasis on what teens do and what they believe in. Those networks should teach them how to protect themselves and be careful. Instead of glorifying these teen moms or a woman that has had an abundance of children, teach them how to avoid these situations and be young and healthy for as long as possible. Dan Kianica junior psychology I don't like walking to class be cause I live across the street in U-Gates. My socks get wet. cial Security and Medicare (and Medicaid) are heading head long into bankruptcy. So an swer the question firmly but fairly. Answer: "Both programs allow the government to take money from one person and give it to another, which by def inition is socialism. They were done to keep the elderly from living in poverty, a truly noble goal, which is why it's so sad that the Democrats saw fit to bankrupt them." 'Nuff said. Question 4: Do you think President Obama is Answer: "ABSOLU' I thought everyo: knew he was. Whei ernment redistribul come of workers, of insurance companig manufacturers, gives special favors 1 union workers IT not others, what el would you call it? By confidently swering this quest the affirmative, yg merely stating what already knows, and support of Republ Partiers and mode same time. Even socialists ki socialist, so who maybe you'll get a few of their MY VOICE Issues with Valentine's Day Valentine's Day. Two words that either make people giddy with excitement or cringe in disgust. I'm one of the cringers. What is it with this so-called "holiday" anyway? I've never understood why men feel the need to buy their special some one a dozen roses or chocolates specifically on this day when they could do it any day of the year. It's preposterous that guys even need a reason to buy their girlfriends or wives flowers to begin with. Why can't they be spontaneous for once in their lives and give flowers on a day that isn't a holiday, birthday or silly one-month anniversary? What also bothers me is that the male population always seems to go for the stereotypi cal red roses. Really, guys? You can't be a tiny bit more creative than that and go the extra mile? You can't aim a little higher and at least make an effort to try and per sonalize the flowers? Granted, showing up with red roses is a grand gesture since they are rather expensive, but that's an even better reason for trying something different. I really don't hate Valentine's Day that much, but I hate what it has become. What used to be a day for simply showing affection has turned into another gimmicky holiday, another reason to spend money. I won't deny that chocolates and flowers are very nice and I enjoy them. I seriously don't see the need to go all crazy with spending money on lavish gifts. Every year, though, there seems to be extra pressure to have someone to buy something for and spend the day with. If you don't have someone, Caleb Rodgers junior finance Unfortunately, it's hit us again, and I'm hoping that it goes away as soon as possible be cause I don't want to see it anymore. All profile photos taken by Daniel Smith / Behrend Beacon votes as well Question 5: Do you think America should return to a gold standard? Answer: "How would you de fine the term 'gold standard?'" If there is anything that any one should know about Democ rats, it's that they generally seem to know nothing about economics. Therefore, if they are asking a question about it, they most likely do not know the answer. By throwing it back in their face, they will be the ones look- gas and $lOO for a movie ticket the world makes you feel pretty shitty about yourself by over advertising for teddy bears and Hallmark cards. There are also those ridicu lous jewelry commercials with the melodramatic actors giving the actress some type of dia mond heart necklace. Maybe it's just me, but I can not stand the silver heart jew elry that is so popular around this time of year. This is not what pretty jew elry looks like to me. This is what "I was lazy and couldn't think of what else to buy" jew elry looks like. I'd like to see a guy go out and search for something original that no one else owns. This makes a gift rather special and important, to me at least. Even better, how about put ting forth some effort and make a gift? Homemade gifts are more memorable and meaning ful anyway. This doesn't just apply to guys either. Girls can just as easily create something nice, but I think that most of the time guys do not appreciate it or just refuse to show any ap preciation, so there is no point in taking the time to make it. I once saw a gift of 100 folded hearts that came with a note saying: "I folded a hundred paper hearts, a heart for each day my heart has belonged to yours." I would love to see a guy make an origami flower or, even better, an origami bou quet. A) It is free, and B) It will last longer than any real flower. There are maybe a million and two other things that guys could do for Valentine's Day, but it seems that they always take the easy way out by con forming to 'society's idea of Valentine's Day. Maybe another reason that I 13 To see video footage of the interviews on Have Your Say, go to www.thebehrendbeacon.com Samantha Wilcox sophomore political science I like the warm weather, and it Erie weather is bloody awful wouldn't be so bad if the drive- and, as a Cuban, I'm not ways, sidewalks and parking meant to survive this powdery lots were actually plowed stuff falling out of the sky. around campus. inion I think that is wrong, so yeah, maybe some standard other than worthless paper would be a good thing." dislike Valentine's Day so much is because I've lost hope that guys can do something out of the ordinary or creative for once. I don't want to general ize, because there probably are those guys out there, some where who know what they are doing, but I've yet to encounter one of them. I've come to learn that the best way to get through this day is to not have any expectations. My shell has grown hard fro all of the years that I've been lei down on this day, so no longe4 do I hope for anything. But I still feel like guys don't know what they are doing, and most girls expect more than they will get in the end. It's kind of absurd thinking about how much time people put into this holiday anyway. Gifts are not the only things that matter, and sometimes words can mean more than anything money can buy. What assistant culture editor Luis Fernandez senior psychology
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