Here's a jazzy little number for the ladies of Lefty's Last Cry:
2010 is the 90th anniversary of our right to vote. Let's celebrate our anniversary by being as politically active as we can! College Democrats of Indiana is full of vivacious, passionate and brilliant women who have worked so hard to make positive change in their local communities, state and nation and will continue to do so throughout the course of their lives. I feel blessed to know such wonderful human beings.
Special shout out to Andrea Watts, Sara Bega, and Mariah Kick (and Colleen Lowry in spirit!) who will be representing College Democrats of Indiana at the national convention and showing the country that Indiana is a place that loves liberal lady leadership.
While in Atlanta for the first part of summer, I was chatting with a friend about 2012 and the prospects of the GOP. We discussed the regulars, who was a bit peculiar, who was tea party affiliated, who was moderate. Then he brought up Mitch Daniels and how excited he was to have a fiscally responsible man from middle America be in the running. I almost vomited.
“My Man Mitch” is hailed as the conservative superman whose budget cuts are “saving Indiana.” In a time of financial crisis, Daniels is seen by Republicans as the key to setting the country back on track. But what exactly is he cutting that is “helping” Indiana’s budget? He’s cutting state jobs, reducing Medicaid reimbursements, and perhaps the one that resonates with a lot of us, cutting public education funding significantly.
While Daniels is quick to announce that Hoosier employment is increasing, there are little to no facts to prove it. When asked to back up his claims, he stated that these records are private and cannot be disclosed to the public. So what exactly can we do, as Democrats, to ensure that we are progressing as a state and not adopting a practice of government secrecy with our money?
Enter State Auditor candidate Sam Locke. Sam Locke, alum of Indiana University (woot woot!), is a young candidate with incredibly noble intentions. The primary platform of his State Auditor campaign is transparency: something that Democrats and Republicans can agree on. With a background in nonprofit organizations, Locke is committed to keeping accessible and accurate public records.
Sam Locke’s energy makes him a champion for innovation in the office of State Auditor. Locke has two goals in mind: to have accessible records of how state agencies are using their funds and looking for ways to conserve tax dollars.
In the case of Mitch Daniels, having public records on how Daniels is not spending money may be even more crucial than how he is. When we see the disparities in our public programs, how can we not question the budget cutting and money hoarding of the Governor’s office?
So what can you do? Be a Locke Star. You have an opportunity to make a difference in 2010, and now, 2012 by ensuring that Sam Locke is elected to the Office of State Auditor. He’s loyal to Hoosiers and dedicated to transparency. Locke will ensure that we’re progressing forward as a state, not falling behind because of inappropriate spending or hoarding.
While you’re at it, campaign for Pete and Vop. This trio has the potential to revolutionize the state of Indiana, making it more accessible in many arenas of life.
One last thought: do you really want Daniels running your country, taking away your programs, and creating greater gaps in public education? Think about it and then go out and campaign for our state candidates.
Every once in a while the political news gets me down.
Sometimes, it's nice to mix things up with a little humor.
Here's a fun fact I wrote for OMG Facts today. It's not exactly political, but I think you might enjoy it. Those who followed the 2008 election closely, this one's for you.
You could shoot RUSSIA from your doorstep...
if you lived on Little Diomede Island in Alaska.
You could shoot a long range .408 Chey Tac sniper rifle
to Big Diomede Island in Russia, just 2.4 miles away.
Don't expect to hit your exact target, though.
The rifle is only accurate up to about 1.4 miles.
On the plus side, you'll send a bullet traveling through time across the International Date Line and into tomorrow.
I have to hand it to the British - they're definitely doing something right (or I'm an anglophile... It's both, really). The UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously that two gay men should be awarded asylum due to the threat of persecution in their home countries (Iran and Cameroon). I should mention the photo to the right is misleading - only five judges were assigned to the panel which ruled on the case.
When I say "due to the threat of persecution", what I actually mean is due to having already been persecuted in the extreme and facing even more down the road. The Iranian man was attacked and expelled from his school when his homosexuality was discovered. Like wise, the man from Cameroon was also attacked in his own home after being seen kissing his partner.
The men had previously been denied asylum in lower courts due to the fact that they could avoid persecution by simply hiding their homosexuality. They were told to relocate within their own countries and act "more discreetly" in the future. Clearly, that is crap, and thank goodness the British supreme court is made up of intelligent judges who knew it. Religious persecution has been a reason for asylum for years, and religion is definitely able to be hidden, yet it is awarded regularly by numerous countries.
The foolish judges in the Court of Appeals who previously ruled against the men justified their decision because if they can conceal their identity, their situations are "reasonably tolerable". I know I'm a hopeless romantic, but I think most would agree that not being able to be with the one you love without constant worry and fear of being discovered is far from tolerable. Even if it wasn't a moral issue (which I argue that it is), the previous decision also went against the Refugee Convention, which the UK is a party to.
When reading the Supreme Court's decision, Lord Hope (yes, that's actually his name) expressed so clearly exactly what I have been waiting to hear out of every politician's mouth:
"To compel a homosexual person to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or suppress the behavior by which to manifest itself is to deny his fundamental right to be who he is. Homosexuals are as much entitled to freedom of association with others who are of the same sexual orientation as people who are straight."
Lord Hope: What a Hero*
In the future, all applications to the UK on the basis of persecution of homosexuality will be reviewed based upon guidelines the supreme court intends to pass down to the lower courts once they are created. I hope this is only the beginning of such progress in the UK and around the world.
*Not actually Lord Hope, but better than any other Google results yielded.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of serving as a delegate for Delaware county at the state party convention. I was proud to see many college democrats in attendance, as well as interns and young staff working the Baron Hill, OFA & Joe Donnelly booths. Standing among 2,000 Indiana democrats was absolutely invigorating. I left convention Saturday night feeling energized and hopeful for the future of Indiana politics.
With two of the state wide candidates in their late twenties, 2010 is proving to be a fresh year for the Hoosier political scene. South Bend's Pete Buttigieg, 28, is a promising personality for the future of the Democratic Party. Buttigieg, a Rhodes Scholar, accepted his nomination for state treasurer. Sam Locke, 27, also accepted his nomination for state auditor. The secretary of state race was the only contested race with candidates Tom McKenna and Vop Osili. Osili came out on top and was elected to represent the Democratic Party for Secretary of State.
Let me elaborate on the Pete for Indiana campaign. I have been constantly impressed with this campaign since day one, but last week (June 24th) he blew me away with this refreshingly progressive statement:
Today I am announcing that my campaign will refuse all contributions from banks.
That means I will not accept corporate or political action committee (PAC) donations from any bank, including those doing business with the State Treasurer's office and those that accepted federal bailout money. Using federal limits as model, I am also imposing a cap on the amount individuals employed in the banking industry can donate to my campaign.
Despite whatever financial disadvantage it might create between my opponent and me, I decided to take this step publicly because it's the right thing to do. Hoosiers should never have to wonder whether decisions made in the Treasurer's Office about where their money is being placed are affected by campaign contributions - and when I am State Treasurer, they won't.
I am also pledging, once elected, to work with the Indiana General Assembly to introduce and pass legislation to prohibit all political contributions by banks to anyone running for the office of Treasurer, and to put contribution limits in place on individuals who work at banks.
Some advised me not to do this, because given the thousands of dollars the big banks and Wall Street firms are pumping into my opponent's campaign, I would be at a disadvantage.
I disagree.
Thanks to your help, this scrappy campaign has come out of nowhere in a matter of months and is now just hours away from securing the Democratic nomination. We've traveled the state introducing our ideas to voters and discussing the issues that matter most to Hoosier families. And, along the way, we've proven it doesn't take special interest backing to run an effective campaign - it just takes supporters like you.
Come November let's keep Indiana blue & push the Republican state wide leadership out of office!
I am up late in Nicaragua trying to stay informed on U.S. politics... if President Obama gets Wall Street reform as is he deserves a lot of respect for addressing 3 extremely important issues, the economy, health care, and wall street. However, his open ended commitment in Afghanistan is a large shadow over the accomplishments of his administration. We have replaced the State Department with soldiers in their 20's trained to accel in combat.. These soldiers are given the responsibility to persuade a population that could not be more culturally different. Practicing a different religion and having a different skin color cannot be overlooked in our attempts to use soldiers to convince people to shop at a certain market or to support a local government official. Not to mention, every civilian casuality alienates entire villages. It seems President Obama expects Afghan civilians to endorse a war when they have had friends or immediate family members killed by reckless drone attacks, or soldiers put in impossible positions (stay alive without killing civilians). Finally even if we eradicate the Taliban and Al Qaeda we have put our faith in an election fixing, thoroughly corrupt bureaucrat, Karzai, to lead Afghanistan to stability. Terrorism will not be eliminated through nation building of failed states, the war in Afghanistan must come to an end. I will have difficulty taking pride in our President, and his accomplishments while he continues to support a military presence in Afghanistan that is taking U.S. lives and dollars, while making no long term impact on the well being of the Afghan population.
Yesterday he decided to more than halve the U.S. deficit along with other major G20 leaders and their countries by 2013. A much needed move, unfortunately the funds will come from financially strapped regulators (BP disaster) and social programs instead of from the Pentagon (limitless budget) or the War in Afghanistan.
I would like to hear some real debate on strategy going forward. I understand the strategic desire of officials using the need to have bases to keep Pakistan in check, but why can't we discuss how to keep bases without having our soldiers across the country? Just a thought to start discussion.
On behalf of the College Democrats of Indiana, I would like to invite the college democrats from across the state to the CDA national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina! The CDA Convention is a rare opportunity to grow as a federation and as individual chapters. While at the 2009 national convention in Washington D.C., Indiana was humbled to receive the "Rising Star Federation" award. At last year's convention Indiana had 10 students represented from Ball State, Purdue, Notre Dame, IUSB, IU and the University of Indianapolis. We are hoping to have even more students and schools from Indiana at convention this year.
This year's convention will begin Thursday, July 29 and end on Sunday, August 1. It will be held on the campus of the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Bringing together College Democrats from campuses across the nation in the state where we had the highest youth vote margin for President Obama promises to be a very exciting experience!
Registration is $65. This includes meals, training guides, CDA materials and more! Check our website online for updates on convention. Any questions about registration should be directed to Executive Director, Tamia Booker at convention@collegedems.com. Any questions regarding transportation and housing should be directed to Andrea Watts at watts.andrea@gmail.com.
Follow the Indiana College Dems on twitter and facebook as well as the CDA convention updates on twitter @CDAConv2010
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that 50 days ago a British Petroleum offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, unleashing hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the waters. Since then, we have watched in horror as the oil crept towards our shores, ruining livelihoods and destroying wildlife. How does something like this happen?
It begins before the spill, in an astonishing tale of corporate greed and government deregulation. British Petroleum, like just about any company, has one priority: profits. However, the methods they use to maximize profits are borderline criminal. Take, for example, their Alaska program. A 2004 report determined that BP has "a pattern of the company intimidating workers who raised safety or environmental concerns" and that "managers shaved maintenance costs by using aging equipment for as long as possible." This use of old equipment without any sort of oversight, within or without the company, led to the Prudhoe Bay pipeline spill in 2000. A pipe was kept in use for so long without maintenance or replacement that it corroded to the point of complete failure, eventually spilling over 200,000 gallons into the bay.
Then, in 2005, a BP oil refinery in Texas exploded, killing 15 people. Naturally this caused a public relations fiasco, which led a BP spokesperson to promise an update in safety systems. A year later, BP was fined $87 million due to unimproved safety in the same plant. The Environmental Protection Agency attempted to bring criminal charges upon BP executives implicit in this mess, but they were denied by the Justice Department, part of a pattern of lax oversight likely influenced by the millions of dollars BP has spent on lobbying. Any actions that EPA agents have attempted to take since that time have been stopped by federal prosecutors.
This brings us to the Deepwater Horizon leak we are currently dealing with. Recently released records show that the Mineral Management Service authorized dozens of offshore drilling projects without obtaining environmental impact permits. The MMS has, apparently, been caving in to the lobbyists rather than doing its job, despite both external and internal pressure. The report quotes an anonymous scientist who stated “You simply are not allowed to conclude that the drilling will have an impact.” All of this was allowed to go on, while BP engineers reported that on Deepwater Horizon "sensors and their shutoff systems were not operating," and a "backstop mechanism that should have prevented the engines from running wild apparently failed—and so did the air-intake valves that were supposed to close if gas entered the engine room." A mechanic also testified that "the engine room wasn't equipped with a gas alarm system that could have shut off the power." These could have been fixed, but that would have been detrimental to BP's bottom line. So: kaboom.
What happens when a company increases profit by decreasing safety? What happens when, despite a horrific record of environmental and human destruction, the government sides with the oil corporation instead of those that it is supposed to protect? What happens when we are so addicted to oil that despite of all the warning signs, we look the other way?
Today is the 76th anniversary of the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy: D-Day. Instead of trying to write something new to commemorate the occasion, I wanted to share something I wrote a couple of years ago, because I don't think I can do any better now than I did then.
For spring break junior year, I got to go to London, Paris, and Normandy on a trip through the Indiana University journalism school. You may or may not know that Ernie Pyle, the famed war correspondent, was a student at IU, or that the j-school is named for him. Because of that, there's a yearly course on his life that includes a trip to trace his route through the European theater during World War II. I wrote this just after we visited Omaha Beach, the beachhead that saw probably the most ferocious fighting.
I know that this doesn't necessarily have a direct connection with politics, but I think that it is important for young people like us to make sure that things like this are not forgotten. I'm not in the military, but both of my grandfathers were career military men - one in the Army, one in the Navy - and I have friends who serve. It's important that no matter how we feel about the individual conflicts that our country enters into, we remember that our nation's soldiers are doing their damnedest to serve the United States and her people, and they deserve our gratitude and respect. I don't intend to glorify war - just the opposite. Memorial Day just passed, but this is a reminder of exactly what our soldiers have to go through, and just how brutal war always is. Don't forget it.
Watching Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers doesn’t fully communicate the true gravity of setting foot on the beaches of Normandy, but the experience definitely helps a guy to properly process the experience when it happens.
I’ve seen the movies, so I know in an incredibly watered-down way what it was like. I recognize the Czech hedgehogs. I know the names of the places the troops landed, died in, and liberated. And so when I stood on Pointe du Hoc, and on Omaha Beach, I had some understanding of what it was all about. I could see the German guns atop the cliffs, pumping anti-aircraft shells into the clouds as Americans dropped into the countryside by parachute. I could see the landing ships riding up through the surging tide, depositing their passengers in the middle of a hellish landscape, scarred by shells and machine gun rounds. I could hear the crashes, booms, cracks, and screams. Though I wasn’t there when it happened, when I stood on that beach I felt like it was happening around me.
It’s been almost 65 years since Allied forces began the great push for the freedom of Europe by invading Nazi-occupied France, and for many people, especially young people, the importance of that invasion may be starting to fade. The numbers of living veterans of World War II are dropping as time passes, and in today’s climate of government mistrust – especially in terms of war-making – it’s hard to comprehend what a war with popular support might be like.
But if you know anything at all about the war, standing on the beaches where it all happened cures all of that pretty quick. Because there’s nothing quite like standing in a place where people died for your sake to put things in perspective. People like Robert Seyler and Jimmie Monteith, people who answered their country’s call and rose to her defense. People like Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., who had to submit a written petition to make the landing, and stormed the beach with only his cane and a pistol and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on the Normandy beachhead. People who died serving their country, and serving each other.
The thing that makes it the most relatable is that most of the people who were landing on these beaches, and were fighting for their lives and the lives of their loved ones, weren’t particularly different from me and the rest of our group. They were young, almost exactly the age we are now. Most of them had never left the country, and this was the first time they’d seen England or France – heck, for some of them it was the first time they’d left the counties in which they were born. They were scared and homesick, much like some of us were, but probably for better reasons.
And that, I think, is the reason why when we walked that beach, we were silent, for the most part. I can speak only for myself, but I know that I was replaying the events of June 6, 1944, in my head and in my eyes, and imagining what it was like for the boys landing on the beach and dropping from the skies that day. Because I knew that but for the grace of my date of birth was I safe. If I’d been born January 11, 1923 rather than January 11, 1988, I would have been here that day, and so would many of my friends. So when my feet touched the sands of Omaha Beach, I thought of those who died here, and I mourned them. And I did my best to stand alongside them. We all did.
Hopefully summer has started well for all of you! I have noticed that the blogging has slowed due to summertime. Keep posting! But not to worry next school year and possibly before then the blog will be back to its normal intensity. I am looking forward to becoming a Lefty's editor in the fall and doing my best to keep the site growing. A lot has been accomplished, but we are only just getting started!
This summer I am in Masaya, Nicaragua following in the footsteps of Lefty's founder Henry Vasquez. While Henry worked in Microfinance, I am doing a "Youth and Education Internship" through the Foundation for Sustainable Development. FSD has placed me with an organization in Masaya named Asociación Masaya Sin Fronteras (MASINFA).
Notre Dame offers scholarships to various international internship programs through the Kellogg Institute (http://kellogg.nd.edu/students/internship/index.shtml).It is criminal to be a ND student and not take advantage of these kind of opportunities! Start looking into it.
I am keeping a blog to document my experiences, thoughts, and reflections as well as to stay in touch with friends and family while I am in Nicaragua. I will also be using the blog to raise awareness about international development and current problems in Nicaragua. I encourage you all to check it out! and keep up with it :) http://cprennicaragua.blogspot.com/
My first couple of posts will be more description based, but as I spend more time in the country I plan on getting much deeper into analysis of the country and my experiences.
Below is my first post since arriving in the country.
The six interns in my group, and one of our FSD directors.
Hola de Nicaragua!
It is Tuesday and I am finishing my 3rd day in Nicaragua. I am spending my first week in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua. There are a total of six interns in the Ciudad Sandino region of Nicaragua beginning their summer session this week. Each intern is a student, four from California (University of San Francisco), one from a school in Ohio. It is good to have company to share my experiences with for the first week. Out of this group I am the only one going to Masaya, but there are two college students from the U.S. interning there now.
I am writing this from the kitchen table of a wonderful family. It is a young couple with a 9 year old son. The hospitality here is truly on a different level. The family has been extraordinarily welcoming, and the food incredible! * I will do a future post about the food* It has been fun connecting with their son Jose Angel. We have played soccer in the back patio the last two nights. Both nights I have redefined sweating. While a thermostat may say 80-90, the humidity is more than I have ever felt before. The rainy season is generally from May to November, so there has been some rain, and I expect a lot more.
The street outside the house for my first week in the rain.
In my first night in Nicaragua I left Ciudad Sandino to have dinner with a very good friend from Notre Dame who is from Managua. It was a bit of an adventure finding her, an early indication of how different it is here than the U.S. Nicaragua does not have official addresses. So on fully paved streets an address is still given based on landmarks and descriptions of the general area. For example, my address in Masaya is “3 and a half blocks south of where the courts (judicial) used to be.” One of the FSD employees set me up with a cab and before we left I sat there and listened while my friend Alejandra kept giving different landmarks until he recognized one. The first song in the cab was “poker face” by Lady Gaga, oohhh how U.S. culture spreads to the world. Certainly provided for a moment of reflection, listening to a song I would hear in a cab in South Bend, while I am in such a foreign place. In conversation with my cab driver I discovered that soccer is extremely popular here, but baseball is the heart of Nicaragua!! I will be sure to catch a couple of games here during the summer, and hopefully I will be able to play once I get comfortable in Masaya. Seeing Alejandra in Managua was a blast. Unfortunately, she left on Monday for New York for the summer. But maybe it is a blessing that will keep me stretching my comfort zone! Her family was persistent in letting me know that if I ever needed ANYTHING to let them know. Thank you Notre Dame for allowing me to meet such quality people!
I can already tell that my experience with Spanish this summer will be an inexhaustible tug of war. In my first three days I have found myself all across the emotional spectrum with the language. Each day we have had a series of speakers explaining their expertise on a particular element of life and culture in Nicaragua. We have learned about the economy, the health care system, politics, and various elements of the culture. Today I was excited to have understood nearly all of the doctor’s explanation of the health care system here, only to be severely let down by my inability to comprehend a long and vivacious presentation on Nicaraguan politics, by a local (feminist) activist. I understood her passion and frustration, but failed to comprehend a lot of the details of her explanations -- missed opportunity. When I am talking with native speakers I find myself desperately searching for alternative ways to verbalize my thoughts, the struggle of a 21 year old brain and 1st grade vocabulary. My frustration motivates me to learn, but the incredible feeling of being able to successfully communicate at times is driving me to be persistent in learning vocabulary.
View from the pier in Managua.
The best experiences so far have been without a doubt our daily “habla nica” activities. We take breaks from presentations and get an assignment that we have to carry out in the “mercadito.” The market is made up of roughly 100 small shops and street vendors. Our assignments have been to discover elements of Nicaraguan life and culture, like Nica words that are different than traditional Spanish, or popular meals and drinks. Yesterday, we were given 2$ to represent the daily wage of a person at the poverty line according to the World Bank (roughly 40% of Nicaragua), and asked to buy food for a family and make economic choices based on hypothetical family needs. Lesson learned: 2$ a day is not enough for anyone to be able to break the cycle of poverty, the family can be fed but any other expenses mean little or no food for a day.
Good evening, friends. I've been kind of MIA from Lefty's lately... I was super overwhelmed during finals, and then had the excitement of senior week and graduation (woohoo!!!), and now I'm recovering from a hellish cold that I caught by partying until about 4 or 5 every night of senior week. Anyhow, I thought I'd make my return to Lefty's by getting up this video that I've been meaning to post for sometime now, for my favorite Lefty's feature: Sunday Evening Tunes.
As I'm sure you all know by now, the official motto of the College Democrats of Notre Dame (and I think this may be spreading throughout the state federation) is, "Do it live!"--inspired, of course, by the great Bill O'Reilly of Faux News.
I'm sure many of you have seen the original tape of Bill-O blowing his gasket, but I recently stumbled upon the following gem, which I now post for your listening and viewing pleasure. You can thank me later.
Well, according to a few disgusting neocons, such as Debbie Schlussel, she is. Recently crowned Rima Fakih, formerly Miss Michigan USA, is facing outrageous allegations suggesting she is a supporter of Hezbollah, based on the fact she was born in Srifa, Lebanon, raised as a Shi’a Muslim and has a Muslim sponsor with Muslim friends, which really has nothing to do with, well, anything. Fakih is the first Muslim, first Arab-American and first immigrant to ever be crowned Miss USA.
First of all, Fakih moved to the United States with her family when she was seven years old. Yes, this means she is an immigrant, but I think we can safely say she has grown up American enough to love our country as much as the next person. She was not raised amongst gun-toting, propaganda-shouting terrorists. In fact, for those right-winged idiots who think religion dictates anyone’s place in the world, here’s something to soothe your soul: Fakih attended a Catholic high school, and her family celebrates various elements of the Christian faith alongside their own Muslim traditions.
Fools such as Schlussel allege that “intelligence sources” have found “evidence” that Fakih has relatives who are some of Hezbollah’s top officials and make up the ranks of their terrorists. Now, this very well could be true - it is common among Lebanese Shi’ites to have large, extended families. However, Fakih has already acknowledged that some of her relatives are quite radical - in both directions. Fakih has said she has relatives that are supporters of Hezbollah, but she also has relatives who are secular Shi’ites and even communists.
Schlussel also expresses concern over Fakih’s attendance at a Henry Ford Community College’s conference entitled “The Many Faces of Arab Women.” The conference was held to educate the American public on many issues concerning women of the Islamic faith, such as “Why do some Arab women cover themselves while others do not?” Schlussel says that many Shi’ite extremists were in attendance and the conference was actually attempting to promote Islam using tax payers’ dollars. I don’t think I even need to comment on how ludicrous it is that Fakih, an HFCC alumna, is receiving criticism for fostering understanding and supporting education. I am certain that no pretty blonde-haired, blue-eyes Texas girl would receive the same backlash for attending a similar conference that examines Christianity instead.
Fakih’s sponsor, Farouk Shami, has also been dragged into the ordeal. Whether or not the slew of allegations against Shami are true (anti-Jewish, anti-white), I fail to see how it is entirely relevant. First of all, all information is embellished. That fact that Schlussel calls The American Task Force on Palestine a pro-terrorist organization should indicate just how skewed her interpretation is. Some people are pro-Palestine. I myself have significant empathy for Palestine and hope Israel is more cooperative in the coming years. Should I be pegged as a terrorist co-conspirator? Regardless, I bet a good portion of all Miss USA pageant sponsors have less-than-desirable views on politics and some shady ties to even more shady people that we could argue over. The fact that Shami's ties are to Arab-Americans who at times may be controversial how nothing to do with the crowning of Miss USA.
The idiocy is astounding. She is not going to reject her Lebanese heritage, as I’m sure many would have it. Honestly, she shouldn’t even have to defend it at this point. She is an American citizen, with some bad relatives. According to family lore, I have a relative in the mob... maybe it was the mafia. Either way, we all have idiots in the family. When Joseph Stack crashed a plane into an office building in a rage against the IRS, no one began investigating his daughter Samantha Bell (although she responded “yes” when asked whether she considers her father a hero, so maybe someone should).
Fakih is a smart and beautiful woman, and I think she will make a great Miss USA who can set an example for plenty of young girls. Better than former Miss USA Tara Conner, the famous wild child who went into rehab for cocaine use, which started after she won her title. Fakih has nothing to apologize for, and hopefully people like Schlussel will soon be silenced by those who recognize the identity of an American is evolving and becomes more diverse everyday.
Yesterday, the Senate passed legislation, by simple majority, to reform and better regulate Wall Street and the national financial system and avoid another financial meltdown such as occurred in 2008 by a vote of 59 for, 39 against. The restraints passed are said to have the most far-reaching effects on big banks since the Great Depression and also represent an important legislative victory for President Obama, fresh off the heels of the health care reform overhaul.
With 4 Republicans - Sens. Scott Brown (R-MA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) - defying their party and joining all but 2 Democrats - Sens. Maria Cantwell (R-WA) and Russ Feingold (R-WI) - in voting for the bill, it also represents a minor milestone in Obama’s attempt to foster a bipartisan Washington. It seems that legislators are slowly becoming more comfortable voting their conscience as opposed to the party caucus decision.
The only difficulty will be reconciling the House and Senate financial reform packages, with the Senate containing provisions that are actually stricter than those from the House, despite the balancing act required in the Senate to garner votes. The major goal is to incorporate many of the Senate’s stronger measures without losing the support of any swing voters in either the Senate or the House.
The most talked about point of contention will be the derivatives title, with the Senate’s essentially requiring financial firms to spin off their swaps desks into separate companies in order to create more transparency in the derivatives trading market. The House version barely addresses the issue of derivatives, thanks to a strong lobbying efforts which resulted in many loopholes for various industry players. The bill will also contain better measures for more easily liquidating ‘too big to fail’ firms when they actually do fail. Hopefully, the final bill will also contain the audit provision which calls for a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve along with the creation of a new government agency, charged with protecting consumers from financial malpractice.
As for complaints, there are plenty. Wall Street feels threatened, as would be expected, with JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon issuing the following statement:
“With the events in Europe and constantly changing proposals in Washington, global markets are in need of certainty. The U.S. should take the approach of passing sensible derivatives reforms based on facts and analysis.”
However, it seems that Wall Street is being a little selfish, as some would have the banks suffering much more. Cantwell and Feingold dissented from their party and voted against the bill because they felt the restraints did not go far enough to address the root causes of the prior financial meltdown. Feingold released the following statement addressing her concerns:
"The bill does not eliminate the risk to our economy posed by 'too big to fail' financial firms, nor does it restore the proven safeguards established after the Great Depression, which separated Main Street banks from big Wall Street firms and are essential to preventing another economic meltdown. The recent financial crisis triggered the nation's worst recession since the Great Depression. The bill should have included reforms to prevent another such crisis. Regrettably, it did not."
Despite what the bill is lacking, it represents important progress that has been needed for years. It is reversing years of legislative loosening that provided banks and other firms with so much freedom that the market began to resemble something close to anarchy. It is also a major accomplishment as midterms creep up, and provides Obama with an argument for why Democrats should stay in power in Congress. Finally, it is nice to see at least some delivery on the promise of bipartisanship on such major legislation. Hopefully, this legislation will be the fix everyone is looking for.
Or in the United Kingdom. That’s right, readers: the United Kingdom has a new coalition government, made up of the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties. For the first time in over thirty-five years, Parliament is hung, meaning there is no majority (a shocking concept, yes?). The Conservatives came out on top with 306 seats, while Labour lost its position as top dog and fell to 258 seats and the Liberal Democrats fared about the same as in the last election with 57 seats. This provides a perfect opportunity, or rather a necessity, for a coalition government and steps towards postpartisanship. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats aim to bring in a new era of government after thirteen years of Labour party rule.
Though the Liberal Democrats have the smallest place in politics among the three major British parties, they now find themselves with leader Nick Clegg in a position with quite the gravitas, serving as Deputy Prime Minister under Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who replaces Labour’s Gordon Brown. This new coalition seems shocking because of our polarized system here in the States, but it is even relatively ground breaking in the United Kingdom - it is the first coalition government in seventy years.
The Liberal Democrats, despite their apparent weakness in numbers, get their power from the fact that the Conservatives were forced to compromise in order to form a coalition government. Had negotiations failed between the two parties, Labour reserved the right to continue to govern by either forming its own coalition or attempting to pass laws by trying to win votes from individual MPs. Therefore, either the Conservatives had to concede on certain important issues or they could have lost their chance to govern. Because of this, the Liberal Democrats got quite a few changes guaranteed that they have been seeking and would have sacrificed had the elections yielded a majority, including a referendum on voting reform and the axe on a plan to raise the threshold on inheritance taxes. The Liberal Democrats had the ability to decide whether Labour stayed in power or the Conservatives got their chance, and by gently wielding their power have formed a historic coalition.
Now obviously I’m getting at the fact that maybe a two party system sucks, because maybe, just maybe, with more parties, then politicians will be forced to face one another and dare I say it, work together. One of the many things I learned from my political theory class this semester (props to Professor Kaplan) is that one of the strong points of a representative democracy is that it forces moderation, because people cannot get what they want without compromise, and therefore no particular faction can get what it desires and control the agenda of the entire nation on a certain issue.
However, the United States has somehow managed to become exactly what the founding fathers wanted to avoid. Factions often are able to get their way with little or no fight, because one of the large mechanisms to prevent such occurrences has failed due to a belief that might (or majority) makes right. This is the main lesson the British elections can teach us: the majority isn’t always right (okay, we knew that), and therefore possessing a majority should not serve as a right to rule. The threat of factions which make up minorities is lessened purely because it cannot, by rule of the institution of government, force its way on others entirely. Therefore, it seems a plurality of parties is much more logical.
I’m not proposing a solution - in fact, I don’t have one, and there is no guarantee the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition will even last. I guess Kaplan just instilled a political theory streak in me, and I think everyone should think a bit more about how our country works and how it could be better. Perhaps people shouldn’t be so afraid to break away from their party (maybe I have an idealistic streak, too). After all, it has only taken the small, underdog Liberal Democrats a little over twenty years (thirty if you count the Social Democratic Party - Liberal Alliance before 1988) to have a significant impact on the British Political system. I know I’m a bit of an anglophile, but seriously, can we go back to being British-ish for a little while?
*Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom are typically described as center-left, with Labour to the left and the Conservatives to the right.
You could shoot RUSSIA from your doorstep...
