I Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 Tin. D \I I \ Collegian Rossilvnne Skena Ediior-m-Chief Holly Colbo Bi isii i ess Man uger About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Collegian are pub lished by Collegian Inc., an independent, nonprofit corpo ration with a board of direc tors composed of students, faculty and professionals. Pennsylvania State University students write and edit both papers and solicit advertising for them. Dunng the fall and spnng semesters as well as the second six-week summer session. The Daily Collegian publishes Monday through Friday. Issues are distributed by mail to other Penn State campuses and individual subscnbers. Complaints: News and edito nal complaints should be pre sented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. Who we are The Daily Collegian's edito rial opinion is determined by its Board of Opinion. with the editor holding final responsibility. The letters and columns expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of The Daily Collegian, Collegian Inc. or The Pennsylvania State University. Collegian Inc., publishers of The Daily Collegian and related publi cations. is a separate cor porate institution from Penn State. Editorials are written by The Daily Collegian Board of Opinion. Members are: Lexi Belculfine, Matt Brown, Kevin Cirilli. Adam Clark, Rich Coleman. Matt Conte. Caitlin Cullerot. Abby Drey, Katherine Dvorak. Michael Felletter. Matt Fortuna, Mandy Flofmockel, Allison Jackovitz. Phenola Lawrence. Andrew McGill, Dave Miniaci. Nate Mink. Elizabeth Murphy. Dan Rorabaugh. Erin Rowley. Heather Schmelzlen. Caitlin Sellers, Shannon Simcox, Rossilynne Skena, Kevin Sullivan. Jacquie Tylka. Alex Weisler and Bill Wellock. Letters We want to hear your com ments on our coverage, edi torial decisions and the Penn State community. ■ E-mail collegianletters@psu.edu ■ Online www.psucollegian.com ■ Postal mail/ln person 123 S. Burrowes St. University Park, PA 16801 Letters should be about 200 words. Student letters should include class year, major and campus. Letters from alumni should include year of graduation. All writ ers should provide their address and phone number for verification. Letters should be signed by no more than two people. Members of organizations must include their titles if the topic they write about is connected with the aim of their groups. The Collegian reserves the right to edit letters. The Collegian can not guarantee publication of all letters it receives. Let ters chosen also run on The Daily Collegian Online and may be selected for publi cation in The Weekly Colle gian. All letters become property of Collegian Inc. Tax bill not ideal solution State College and other towns around the state have budget issues. While the proposed state non profit tax bill which would target non-profit organizations within municipalities may help alleviate some of the problems, it is not the right way to solve budget ary problems. As its name suggests, State College is a college town. Penn State sits sur rounded by the borough, and there is no doubt that students, faculty and staff help boost the area’s economy. Thousands of people are Obama must deliver on promises By Kevin Sullivan Barack Obama has been apologizing since his election. He apologized for asking Tom Daschle to join his cabinet, a man who, it turned out, failed to pay his taxes. He apologized for making a few lowbrow com ments about the Special MY OPINION Olympics on “The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. He asked for America's forgiveness when intelligence mistakes resulted in the failed “underwear bomber" terrorist attacks. In an interview on ABC last week he even stated, “I don’t think there’s been an interview in which I didn't talk about some mistakes." It’s refreshing when a politi cian can take responsibility for his shortcomings. The kind of honesty he is espousing is a sur real correlative to the “I am not a crook” and “I did not have sex ual relations with that woman" - isms Americans all but expect from those we choose to lead us. Except when it comes to actu al things he promised that have not come to fruition. True, the delay of the closing of Guantanamo and health care reform’s missed self-instated deadline can be overlooked with a smidgen of self-aware abash ment. But when campaign Obama states over and over that health care negotiations will not be held in an underground bunker far away from media coverage and President Obama denies C SPAN access, the honesty act is not what his constituents are looking for. drawn to the area by the university, and it’s hard to imagine what State Col lege would look like with out Penn State. The university even goes above and beyond to help the borough, giving $lB million in lieu of tax payments to Centre Coun ty schools and municipali ties between 1992 and 2008. Other local non-profits like churches and chari ties also contribute to the community through tradi tional and non-traditional ways. It is important to recog nize this would be a state issued bill and would not MORE BAILOUTS.'// This is not an isolated inci dent. Since being elected, Obama has been more silent than Milton Waddams' pitiable cru sade for his stapler in the movie "Office Space” on a number of key policy bromises, like his pro posed windfall profits tax on big oil companies. It would be very presumptu ous to argue that these inconsis tencies are why the president's poll numbers have been drop ping or the reason for Scott Brown's Massachusetts senato rial victory Of course, liberals will tell you this is the very reason for these events while conservatives will argue it's a tangible indication of a public fed up with Obama's Muslim-inspired Marxist poli cies. It should be pretty clear to anyone who wants to look at these instances rationally that it's a combination of disappoint ment on both sides, and if the president would like to see these things rationally, he should real ize he cannot assuage people of two completely different political ideologies and shouldn’t try. Last week, during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony, Obama admitted to a Washington, D.C., church con gregation the contents of his lay ered character and how the crit icism he faces affects him: "There are times when the words that are spoken about me hurt. There are times when the barbs sting.” Is there a point to this kind of honesty? The people who sup ported his presidency and donated a record amount of funding to his campaign didn’t ask for emotions. We have Dashboard Confessional and the Lifetime Network for our outlets of vicarious sympathy. America force municipalities to tax non-profit organizations. However, the bill, if passed, could make non profits more political. Many non-profits shy away from politics, but if taxes were in place, organizations could start swinging support behind certain candidates who act in their interest. Non-profit organizations are meant to help people and communities, and a tax levied against them would damage their indi vidual missions. And should Penn State be taxed, we worry that students would be shoul dered with the burden. WHY AM I MOT “SURPRISED THIS WOULD HAPPEN? needs a President who will put his head down and do the job he told us he would do. It is true that Obama’s detrac tors will do anything possible to cut his throat. People like Rush Limbaugh can turn anything into a politicized event and do so in front of millions of listeners and viewers. Limbaugh, for instance, after the earthquake in Haiti two weeks ago, urged his radio listeners not to donate to relief efforts and claimed the catastrophe would “play right into Obama’s hands ... it’s made to order for him.” This sort of thing happens every day. I wouldn't be able to take that kind of criticism either. However, I don’t lead a nation of 300 million people. There are so many people who don’t care what the presi dent does and will do whatever they can to destroy him. It’s called a democracy. As we have seen a year into his presidency, some believe in the deepest chambers of their hearts that Obama is a Muslim and convince themselves in a way that’s almost laudatory. No matter how much pork Obama allows into his bills, they still believe he must pray toward Mecca five times a day. You can’t please everyone. So Mr. President, when you go on air tomorrow night in the House of Representatives’ chamber, go knowing that we have been watching you and expect to hear what you are going to do to produce what you promised. That is, of course, unless we missed “Lost” and had to TiVo Kevin Sullivan Is a senior majoring in English and is the Collegian’s Tuesday columnist. His e-mail address is kjssoB9@psu.edu. The Daily Collegian Buying local food important in push for sustainability As a College of Agricultural Sciences stu dent, I would just like to thank Bill for his column about the Farm Show in * Monday 's Collegian. While it was meant to be humorous, it brought up a great point that many people seem to be ignorant of: Do you know where your food comes from? Pennsylvania is known for its rural lands and family farms, but thanks to sprawling development and large industrial farming, these lands are decreasing at an alarming rate. With the current push toward sustain ability, it's more important now than ever to understand how agriculture shapes our world. I encourage everyone to start thinking about how and where you buy your gro ceries, as well as ways you can become more sustainable yourself. Buy fresh pro duce at local farmer's markets, stick to foods that are in season when possible, visit the local dairy for your milk products, etc. One person may not make a large dif ference. But if we all do these fairly simple things, we could have a huge impact and ensure that our state’s agriculture will still be around for future generations. Krystal Beallng senior-soil science and environmental research management Contributions of City Lights will be missed by music fans After reading Kevin Doran’s letter “Loss of City Lights Records Damages Music Community," I must say that, as an alum nus and customer, my sentiments are echoed exactly. I wasn’t introduced to City Lights until my sophomore year when I made a few friends that were (and still are) involved in the local music scene. It was then that I learned City Lights wasn’t just a place to buy and trade in CDs. Later, when Mike's and Arboria shut their doors, City Lights became the only game in town. Every time I made a trip back to Happy Valley, I always had to stop by City Lights. Sometimes I had no intentions on even pur chasing anything, but after talking with Greg Gabbard or just looking around for a bit. I always seemed to walk out with some thing. Maybe I'm just upset my work sched ule will not allow for a trip to stop by and peruse the piles and piles of music one last time: but I know I'm not the only one. For those of you like me who can't make it back before the doors close, listen to “The Last Independent Record Store” by State College's own Ted McCloskey. If you do, you'll be able to visit City Lights whenever you w r ant in your heart and mind. Thank you. Greg, for what you’ve done for the State College music community and for the millions like me who've walked up and down those stairs over the years. You will be missed. Potential tuition increase unfair to students, families This letter is in response to the predicted 2.9 to 4.9 percent increase in tuition for the 2010-11 school vear. As the last child of three to go to college. I understand the dif ficulties my parents face to pay even a por tion of my tuition the rest of which must be paid through loans. Although both of my parents have a steady income and our fam ily is considered middle class, many of the federal loans do not take into consideration the increases in taxes, as well as the debt that some families may have to pay off. There are too many contributing factors to the inability to afford tuition as is. In a society where obtaining a bachelor’s degree is essential, stripping it from many who cannot afford it seems to be cruel and unusual punishment. For those students who slaved away in high school to be able to attend such an acclaimed university, increasing tuition demonstrates their efforts are unworthy of being noticed. I understand the increase in tuition is necessary for Penn State to continue its climb to excellence. However, this ascent also leaves deserving potential students behind, teaching them that wealth is the only important factor in our society. Washington’s Post The Lady Lions picked up a big victo ry against Illinois to keep their winning streak alive. However, the team and community picked up an even bigger vic tory in its effort to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Basketball takes a backseat now, as these are the statistics from today’s Pink Zone game. Read more from Washington's Post and the rest of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucolle gian.com. There is No Name on My Ballot Penn State students interested in watching President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address can do so in the comfort of Pattee Library. The News and Microforms Library, found on the ground floor, will show the live address Wednesday night at 9 p.m.. according to a press release. Read more from There Is No Name on My Ballot and the rest of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucolleglan.com. Michael White Class of 2003 Iris Guo freshman-biology
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers