Treat the world equally in
BY PARK BIERBOWER
STAFF WRITER
PPBSO22@PSU.EDU
Change is here and now seems to
be a time of reflection. Hopefully
an improvement in the mindset of
others has gotten us to the point
of this fevered expectant change.
Having a new president is grand
and all, but I'm thinking more of
the changes that we haven't been
hearing about on the news.
There is so much that has
polarized the nation of late, from
the beginning of the Former
President Bush's "election" to the
closing of Guantanamo Bay in
Cuba eight years later. Looking
back I have to ask myself, since
when have we been a nation of
fearful, sheepish bullies?
I remember learning in school
that America was the last great
bastion of freedom and liberty in
the world, but all I can see are the
Obama is no panacea
By CHRIS VARMECKY
STAFF WRITER
CJVSO43@PSU.EDU
A gargantuan crowd masses on the
footsteps of the Washington Mall.
Admits the frigid temperatures
synonymous with late January,
a diverse rabble of nearly 2.5
million people gather to share in
what was to be the preface to a
newfound era of hope, progress,
and Americanism. As the promise
of change lingered in the air along
with the pungent odor of sewage,
emanating from the largest
gathering of porta potties in
contemporary history, the gleeful
masses clamored anxiously
to hear the preordained orator
consummate his presidency.
Barack Obama's ascension to the
White House, culminating in his
long-awaited inaugural address
to the nation, was portrayed by
the media and perceived within
the minds of many Americans
as an end-all be-all to the dire
disposition of the tumultuous last
eight years.
negatives that have tarnished our
image.
It's funny how we're always
told that bullies in school are just
insecure and afraid, because when
it comes to the U.S., that's dead
on. I completely understand the
view of many around the world
that America has become a bully,
and a tyrant. We let our fear of
terrorism overcome what should
have been our better judgment.
I love when conservative
Americans say Barack Obama
is using our fear of the economy
to push his legislation through.
Where were the conservatives
when Bush used the fear of
weapons of mass destruction to
invade Iraq, a country with no
evident connection to terrorists?
How were we convinced that doing
something that illegal in America
would be okay somewhere else in
the world?
These are the questions this
With the evil George W. Bush
now disposed, the crowning
achievements ofhis presidency left
at the mercy of international scorn,
Obama's North Korean-esque
personality cult appropriated a full
scale onslaught of lefty celebrity
to partake in his triumphant
moment. Ranging froth the
androgynous Jonas Brothers to
the world's most infamous cougar
Demi Moore, an ungodly slew of
Hollywood royalty flocked upon
Washington DC for the historical
inauguration.
Obama's cult following,
comprised mostly of brain
dead celebrities, impressionable
college students, and race baiters,
is something unprecedented
amongst politicalfigures ofthis day
and age. Transcending ideology,
race, and most palpably, common
sense, Obama's election is seen by
many throughout the world as a
parting from the arrogant fascism
harbored by the warmongering
Bush administration. Instead of
hiding behind a façade of moral
exceptionalism in order to advance
"War on Terror" is raising. The
fact that there has not been
another attack on the U.S. and
there have been no reports of
imminent attacks being foiled- I
do not believe in the threat of
terrorism.
If the terrorists were truly
committed to the destruction of
the American way, there would
be nothing to stop them from
taking out Americans in the most
heinous of ways, yet we put that
thought out of mind and believe
what we are told. What is to stop
them from attacking some random
middle school in Anywhere,
America? Nothing.
There is no security. One random
school attack and every institution
of learning would be on guard,
costing millions in new security
and parents everywhere pulling
their children out of school!
We are no safer now, even as we
let foreign civilians rot away in
America's supremacy, Obama
intends to extend the olive branch
and initiate a massive public
relations campaign to revamp the
nation's ailing reputation.
No, America's extreme makeover
won't be through a series of
"make-nice" press releases or
arbitrary ceremonial gestures, but
it will come through a radical shift
in policy, hell bent on chipping
away at America's capitalistic
foundations and parlayed with
an ineffective, softball approach
toward combating Islamic
extremism.
Despite the naivety of some
conservative commentators
and/or authors who contend that
Pres. Obama will maintain Bush
era policies when dealing with
counterterrorism efforts and
curtail his massive increases in
government spending to coincide
with reality, Obama's constituents,
the newly emboldened left wing
of the country, demanded change
and elected Obama on the promise
of change.
Uproarious backlash would
foreign affairs
prison. Who are we to decide who
is an American hating terrorist
and who is defending their home
and family against an army from
around the world?
If America were occupied I
guarantee that we would not react
peacefully, yet we expect that
when we do the same? When did
we decide that the rights we as
Americans all hold dear do not
apply to non-Americans? There
seems to be debate over this and I
cannot understand why!
What has made America so
great is the fact that we have
laws we follow, even when they
get in the way, to ensure that all
people are treated the same way.
If we capture one of Americas
Most Wanted, we don't make
exception so we can torture them!
We follow due process, build
a case, and then they are tried
by their peers. It's incredibly
hypocritical to think that we
plague the newly elected president
if he simply were to neglect his
campaign rhetoric of change in
place of a pragmatic presidency
akin to that of Bush-like Policies.
Hinting at his divergence from
the policies of the last eight years
in his inaugural address and then
taking immediate action on them
during his first days in office,
Obama is sprinting to appease his
cohorts on the left.
During his address, Obama spoke
of "rejecting as false the choice
between our safety and ideals."
His disapproval of America's
interrogation tactics when dealing
with suspected terrorists and of the
need for secret CIA prisons and
facilities like Guantanamo Bay
were unequivocally the targets of
this statement. Within the coming
days, an executive order disbanded
Guantanamo and outlawed the
use of enhanced interrogation
techniques, including the practice
of waterboarding.
While there has yet to be an
investigative task force looking
into the matter, there is the
should do it any other way outside
of the United States.
These are just a few of the
questions that we need to ask
ourselves; are we really doing all
that we can to spread a positive
message to the world, or are we
acting selfishly and out of fear
with disregard for other people?
We seem to have forgotten that
individuals living in different
countries and cultures are just as
entitled as we are. Our actions
have spoken of arrogance and
indifference, and this is what I
hope changes the most.
We are all cosmopolitans, all
citizens of the universe. We are
all human and we are all equally
important (or unimportant).
To deny anyone the rights we
ourselves expect is to cast aside
all that will help us reach peace.
Peace- the thing we seem to
fight most for yet cannot seem to
find...
eerie possibility that habeas
corpus would apply to unlawful
combatants detained overseas
and their fates would be left at the
mercy of a criminal trial rather
than a military tribunal.
We are at war with a faceless
ideology whose sole objective
seeks to wipe Western civilization
off the face of the earth, and in
its place institute a great Islamic
empire governed under Sharia
Law. This is not a matter that
should be left up to our already
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