“The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office.

People are angry, and they’re frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.” – Barack Obama

In the latest saga of Barack Obama’s increasingly illogical comments, our President decided to blame Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts on… drumroll please… George W. Bush! Sure, it isn’t much of a surprise, given that this was Barack’s number one move in getting elected in the first place (followed closely by the hope-change two-step). But the logic behind this accusation is simply non-existent. A Republican doesn’t win, especially not in Massachusetts, due to anger against another Republican. Most democrats have figured this out, notably Senators Evan Bayh and Jim Webb, who have called for slowing down the process on the health care bill.

According to most polling, the health care bill was a primary reason why Scott Brown won. He won because he promised to vote against the bill which President Obama continues to push. By Barack’s logic, if a bill does get passed, George Bush should be blamed (or credited) for that as well.

A transcript of Barack Obama’s interview can be found here.

Additionally, Charles Krauthammer and Jonah Goldberg have some interesting, informative, and humorous things to say in reaction to Scott Brown’s election, and Barack’s subsequent interview.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZWZiZTdhNmU5NmQyNWY1YTJlOWFmZDllYzllMWVhNDY=

“In August, a man shot two people to death on a bridge near San Francisco. At the moment of the killings, two on-duty Marin County sheriff’s deputies were within 100 yards of the shooter. One was close enough to see the muzzle blast of the shotgun. The police officers, however, did not move against the culprit. One, stuck in traffic, called in a description of the killer’s vehicle as he fled. The other positioned her car to prevent traffic from entering the crime scene.”

This is even more egregious because, as the article continues to say, the shooting occurred in a county where citizens could not carry firearms unless they demonstrated a clear threat to their safety, such as the former district attorney. Instead, citizens of this particular county are at the mercy of the police force to “defend” them.

I believe all citizens should have the right to defend themselves from any act of aggression; entitlement to Life, Liberty and Property is a direct result of citizenry having the ability to maintain their rights, via violence if necessary.

On October 19th, the kickoff event for Green Week, a round-table discussion, was held in the basement of Maginnes. One quote in particular captured my ear by the end of the event.

Gary Falasca, director of facilities and services discussed what Lehigh was doing to become more “green” after receiving a “D” on our environmental report card. He disagreed with the “D” rating, and claimed that things other colleges were getting acclaim for Lehigh had done ten or fifteen years ago. These included replacing the lights in Stabler arena and an overall retrofit of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) and lighting within the university as a whole.

I applaud Lehigh’s efforts at following the societal movement towards general greenery. However, one thing was absent from the discussion at large: motive. The HVAC retrofit was done at a cost of 4.7 million dollars, and while that can be considered a tremendous expense, in actuality the University saved 4.7 million dollars over the following ten years in energy expenditures. The Stabler arena lighting project cost around $50,000 and would pay for itself in only four years. Projects such as these typically fall under “Performance Contracting” and are commonplace at Schools and public buildings throughout the country.

Profit, not a newfound sense of environmental consciousness was the driving force behind these changes. I have nothing against Lehigh taking active steps to become greener where feasible. However, I object when Green-correctness begins to cost students more than it saves the University.

Photo credits to Young Americans for Liberty
It seems that Obama still has the fan-boy crush he enjoyed while campaigning for presidency.  His latest admirers?  the Nobel Committee.  In their decision, they noted “Only rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given it better hope for the future.”  Obama’s broad campaign slogans of Hope and Change have become empty shells of their former meanings.

When Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Prizes, he specified a peace prize, based on “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.  Despite Obama’s overtures to foreign nations, he still posts two glaring failures in the Middle East.  Despite a draw-down in forces in Iraq, Afghanistan has seen increased troop levels over the past nine months.  Furthermore, our efforts in Afghanistan are futile; replacing one corrupt dictatorship with one corrupt puppet government does little to further peace in the world.

In addition to Obama’s continued nation-building abroad, he has done little to maintain peace at home. With the Patriot Act still in full effect, Guantanamo Bay getting little more than a name change, and an escalating police state the notion of “peace” is further away than it was nine months ago. In the wake of Governmental actions such as A woman facing jail time for buying cold medicine or People being charged with Obstruction of Justice for using Twitter to communicate poilce actions during the G20 protests, America has grown from land of the free home of the brave to land of the oppressed home of the cowards.

Was the Nobel Prize a consolation to Obama for not getting the Olympics in Chicago?  Maybe not, but his actions are hardly fitting of a Nobel-Prize winner; let alone a President who has been in office for only nine months. Only after a full term in office, where Obama’s overtures have been met with success should he have been awarded such a prize. The Nobel Peace Prize should have been given to a nominee who has actually accomplished tangible peace; or at the very least did more than do political grandstanding to accomplish “change.”
CNN

More sensationalist take on the subject

Abortion was popularized in the United States by Margaret Sanger, founder of the American Birth Control League, known today as Planned Parenthood. Though the name is more benign, the organization’s purpose remains the same. Interestingly enough, Margaret Sanger promoted abortion as a method of eugenics. Approximately 1.37 million abortions occur every year in the United States alone. [1]

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Since I’ve grown up in Bethlehem, I’ve come to understand that Lehigh University has always been on the back burner as far as the city is concerned. Now that I go to school at Lehigh, I can fully appreciate how disconnected it is from the city of Bethlehem. Over the years, it seems that the city and the university are growing as separate entities, but this was not always the intention. Some places in Bethlehem, especially on the south side, were designed to be integrated into Lehigh life. Godfrey Daniels is a prime example of a place that was designed for Lehigh students to interact with the community.

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The downturn of the American economy at the end of 2008 has left a series of worsening and continuing consequences. A disappointing holiday shopping season has necessitated the closure of various stores and unemployment is at 7.2 percent, up from 5 percent at the end of 2007. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen record amounts and is lower than it was even in 2002, in the aftermath of September 11th. The situation is expected to worsen, with unemployment predicted to reach 10 percent, before economists foresee any sort of recovery.

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