Autiello: Will True Christianity Please Stand Up?
Nick Autiello, Contributor
The notion that homosexuality is a sin and un-Christian is one that is less than a hundred years old. It is wrong, and has no basis in scriptural or historical reality.
SASSO: The Coming New Year
James Sasso, Associate Editor
As the tumultuous 2011 comes down to its final day, this column could contain an obnoxious summary of the year’s extraordinary events. Rather than once again discussing the protests around the world, the death of Osama Bin Laden, Fukushima, America’s political ineptitude, Europe’s demise or the increasingly frightful weather patterns, here I attempt to predict what 2012 holds in store.
SASSO: Kicking the Can
James Sasso, Associate Editor
For one of the first times in his tenure as Speaker, John Boehner has made a statement with which every American, Republican or Democrat, should fully agree; the two-month Senate bipartisan extension of the payroll tax cut fails to fix the nation’s problems sufficiently. Providing a short-term band-aid to a long-term dilemma contradicts what a responsible government should accomplish, but fits the pattern of contemporary American politicking.
CIOCCI: A Foolish Consistency
Mitt Romney is guilty of serial hypocrisy, Newt Gingrich is guilty of being a public intellectual constantly scrutinized by the media and others, and Ron Paul never ceases to remind me about one of my favorite quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essays: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
AKMAN: Jon Huntsman’s Meaningless Campaign
Josh Akman, Columnist
Jon Huntsman did not participate in the CNN Debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday night. Short of his family and small (and getting smaller) campaign staff, no one really noticed. In a bizarre and counterproductive effort to impress New Hampshire voters Huntsman skipped the debate to protest Nevada moving its caucus ahead of New Hampshire’s, which has always been the nation’s first primary. It’s bizarre because no one else skipped the debate. It’s counterproductive because right now, Jon Huntsman is polling 6% in New Hampshire.
SASSO: The 99% Rising
James Sasso
Associate Editor
For the past month a movement has grown out of Zuccoti Park in New York with the potential to grab at the very heart of America’s problems. “We are the 99%” is not simply a catchy phrase used by frustrated jobless Americans , but a commentary on the disgraceful economic inequality that has arisen in the United States since the 1970s.
WINN: The Battle Over Education Reform
Earlier this week President Obama delivered his State of the Union address and issued a clarion call for sweeping education reform. Giving an honest assessment of the challenge facing the United States of America, President Obama stated that public education simply isn’t making the grade. The major question is whether the needs of our nation’s students or of a 2012 reelection campaign will take center stage for President Obama.
McCAFFREY: Bubbles in the Quad
Peter Thiel has been making a splash lately by calling higher education “the next bubble” and claiming that “University administrators are the equivalent of subprime mortgage brokers, selling you a story that you should go into debt massively, that it’s not a consumption decision, it’s an investment decision. Actually, no, it’s a bad consumption decision. Most colleges are four-year parties.” And recent study from professors at NYU and UVA may have corroborated this theory.
STROSTER: No Bells and Whistles
All eyes will be on President Obama this Tuesday for the 2011 State of the Union Address. This will be President Obama’s first legislative speech in a while, allowing him to lay out new priorities for the 112th Congress. What exactly the President will say had been up for debate amongst operatives, until a few days ago when the DNC and OFA released a sneak peak of the SOTU from President Obama. What can we expect to hear on Tuesday?
SIEFF: The Vocation of the Modern University
Adam Sieff, Columnist
In a world where we are required to determine the meaning of a good life on our own, the mark of a good university is not the instillation of belief, but rather the requirement that every belief is satisfactorily challenged.
STORM: Are We The Problem?
A lot has changed in the last two years since the illustrious election of President Barack Obama. It was an historic election for a myriad of reasons, but perhaps most notable was the success of the get out to vote campaign among America’s youth. Then Senator Obama made great efforts to get the younger generation excited about the elections. Between Facebook campaigns and celebrity support, Obama made great use of this new age weapon, and as a result, 18-24 year olds turned out at record rates.
GLIDDEN: The Theory of Starcraft (and Value)
Andrew Glidden, Guest Columnist
The University of California at Berkeley raised eyebrows all over the world when it began offering a class in the 1998 real-time strategy game Starcraft. “They can get credit…for that!?” people asked, scoffing at the decline in American intellectual rigor. Still, as a third year Berkeley engineering student who took the class in Spring 2009, and lectured for it the following fall, I can say that The Theory of Starcraft has been the single most valuable class I have taken at Berkeley.
STORM: The New Op-Ed: An Opinionated Education
NYU has opened up a world of opportunities for me including writing for this blog and interning with Glenn Beck over the summer. All things considered, I am incredibly fortunate, and after suffering through my liberal arts requirements last year, I finally get to begin more concentrated classes, which include a core journalism class, as well as an introductory American politics course.