Page 2 The Lion’s Eye Eye on CAmMmpus October 10, 2005 Lion’s Eye Featured Columnist: Philip Freda O Ever wonder where all that money you pay in taxes winds up? Wouldn't you like to see that money go to a worthy cause of some kind, for example: Education? Better yet, wouldn't you like to see some of that money go to your financial aid, or to Penn State itself so that the tuition doesn't climb anymore than it already has? According to Barbara Chasin's book, "Inequality and Violence in the United States," the average stu- dent debt in 2003 was over $27,000 (up more than triple from 1993) and it's still rising. This article might offend, startle, or even make you extremely livid. If this article does just that, I have accomplished my mission for increasing political liter- acy. Let's take a look at the average tax dollar. Out of the one hundred pennies in that dollar, seventy-five of them go to the U.S. military. But that's good, right? Wrong. Chasin said that we Americans constitute only 5 percent of the entire world's population and at the same time account for over 48 per- cent of the world's military spend- Traram—— ing. On average, the normal American family "contributes" $3,000 dollars annually to the mili- tary budget and the total spending of the American military is over $450 billion per year. Want more? In his book, other navies in the world combined, and U.S. bomber squadrons that have the capability to destroy the infrastructures of entire countries. Are we spreading freedom through- out the world or fear? "Killing Hope," William Blum offers a better per- spective: "In one year, the United States spends on the military more than $17,000 per hour, for every hour, since Jesus Christ was born." : There is something a lit- This all looks like impe- rialism to me. Let's talk about our fear- ful (err... fearless?) leader, whom I call, "Emperor Cowboy." Emperor Cowboy has increased our national debt to over $5.7 trillion, created hundreds of tax cuts to rich individuals and tle Romanesque about all this if you ask me. Some might argue that we need such a grandiose armada to combat the minuscule amount of terrorists that are out there trying to, as some say, "kill us all" and "destroy freedom." We currently have 360 military bases in 40 foreign countries, with one-third of the U.S. military per- sonnel stationed overseas. America spends more on the military ever year than the entire world does combined, and we spend almost triple the amount of the next high- est spender, Russia. The United States literally has a military force of planetary magni- tude unmatched in human history, including over 30,000 nuclear weapons, a navy greater in total tonnage and firepower than all the STUDENT Coming back to terrorize campus for her second year, Solomiya Solomiya Kral Kral is a sophomore nursing major on campus. She's often seen lurking around the anterior book- shelves of the library, cursing her difficult classes such as Chemistry and Biology. Unfortunately, we'll have to spend as much time with her there as possible, because she'll be leaving us at the end of this year due to her major. Her hobbies include water tubing, shopping, and going to the shore. However, this lifestyle is largely offset by her grueling work and study habits. "It's very hard[at Penn State Delco] if you are a nursing major." Solomiya, howev- er, does it with flying colors bal- ancing her classes here on cam- pus with her job working at Express Men in the Granite Run mall. Her only complaint is that she wished the library was open later everyday (including week- ends), as she frequently extends her study and homework hours to late weeknights and Saturdays. 1 organizations, and has spent most of the Social Security surplus fund. All of this spending is due to two reasons: Tax breaks and cuts are given to large corporations so that the government borrows from the wealthy creditors they should be taxing; Secondly, our enormous mil- itary budget. Emperor Cowboy has created a private war on terrorism (really just gaining easier access to oil) so he can make himself and his fellow jingoists even more opulent. We cannot forget that Bush and company "duped" an entire nation to give him absolute power as seen in his "War Powers Resolution Authorization Act" so he can now go into any small defenseless country he wants to and steal their resources. And let us not forget the U.S. Patriot Act, which destroyed our civil rights by allowing the gov- ernment to monitor and censor our everyday activities with no probable cause. We need to open up our eyes to the empire they are building. The constant attacks on small defenseless nations with our spon- sored surrogate militaries and our corporate missions around the world spell EMPIRE not freedom. The money that should be given to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for our college funding is being spent on direct imperialism. To clarify, I am as pro-military as the next person. I have many friends serving in our country's mili- tary and promote their work; how- ever, I do not promote the absorbent amount of money wasted on one person's greed. Being a patriot is not about mindlessly following an oppressive leader, patriotism is about loving one's country for its internal beauty and history. Our country was founded on basic humanitarian principles that were once considered revolutionary to another imperialistic country. If you wish to debate Mr. Freda feel free to email him all hours of the night at pjf155@psu.edu mene——E. Dr. Alita Kelly TEACHER Dr. Alita Kelly, friend, brilliant linguist, sophisticated multiculturist, is definitely one of the finest untapped resources on campus. Born many moons ago in Bradford Yorkshire, England; She's been a focal point on campus since 1992. Fluent in several languages, Dr. Kelly's fondest memories include time spent teaching herself French, Spanish, and German through song. After receiving her Doctorate in Spanish from the University of Arizona, she became a technical linguistic translator and married her husband Alec. Now she can be found in the annals of the library toiling away at our Spanish and French essay's hoping to instill some sense of linguistic competency among her students. When asking her to delve deeper into her life, she remarked, "Like everyone else, I'm pretty dull." Contrary to this, when asked what she does in her spare time, Dr. Kelly responded, "What's that?" She has several books on poetry published and is constantly immersed in studying transla- tion theory and traveling to other coun- tries; The most recent of which being a trip to Costa Rica just two weeks ago.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers