What’s Going On?

Between a near trillion dollar stimulus bill which was over one thousand pages long, billion dollar corporate bailouts, and executives taking taxpayer funded multimillion dollar bonuses, there seems to be something fishy amiss. With all of these financial scandals going on it’s no wonder news organizations are reporting economic doom. What happened to “the new era of responsibility”, nothing seems to have changed. We are spending more, corporate thievery is afoot, and the American tax payer is footing the bill. The dollar is losing its value and fast, and inflation is very real, bread used to be fifty-nine cents. In all of this craziness it looks like Rush Limbaugh is getting his wish. What I don’t understand is how the spending of billions to corporations, petty state projects, and who knows what other nonsense that the government has planned for our money, is going to help. When will it stop? When will the era of fiscal responsibility begin, and when will the era of irresponsibility end?

It looks like what had been promised to the American people has taken a sideline to the usual bureaucratic nonsense that we had under the old administration. If indeed it is the time for change, then for crying out loud, make change, radical, swift change. This is what is needed in our government. Without this change we are doomed to repeat the last eight years and it seems that those who now hold office are not making sufficient effort to make this happen. Where is it, President Obama? America voted for change, now where is it?

Joe Cooper
Wilkes University 10'
19 March 2009

Sorry is Just a Word

Unless you have been living under a rock the last few weeks, you have heard something about the scandal involving Luzerne County’s Judge Mark Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan. Although it is difficult for an average citizen to understand the legal ramifications behind the situation, from a moral and ethical standpoint, what the judges did was wrong. It is expected that the judges, like all public figures who do wrong, should apologize for their wrong doings. Here is the question? Are they sorry for what they did, or are they sorry because they got caught?

They obviously are smart men, well, at least educated men, achieving such high ranks in the judicial court. They obviously were well aware that what they were doing was wrong. Where was the guilt when they were taking kickbacks totaling around 2.4 million dollars? Although, undoubtedly the judges will offer the public some form of apology, whether or not the apology is heart felt is questionable. In my opinion, I don’t believe these judges are sorry for their wrong doings; they’re merely sorry they got caught.

If the judges are to apologize, it is important for them to directly acknowledge and apologize to the innocent teenagers and families that were affected by their greed. They must own up to the fact that they did these kids wrong and these kids will be affected by this for the rest of their lives. As long as the judges don’t use excuses, admit that they were wrong and serve the punishment they are sentenced, the citizens of Luzerne County may be more willing for forgive and forget.

Mareen Iskra
Wilkes University 10'
16 February 2009

Obama’s Use of PMDs

President Barack Obama broke several barriers upon becoming the forty-fourth leader of the United States of America. Obamas’ triumphs have a wide range of significance but none more important than the fact that he managed to break down the barrier between American voters and their personal sending and receiving devices.

Before the 2008 presidential race between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, personal computers, cell phones, and personal media devices (PMDs) were used to maintain connections with peers, friends, and employerst. When Barack Obama ran for president, all of these devices were suddenly transformed into platforms for receiving political updates on his campaign affairs through e-mail, text messaging, and live video feeds.

I appreciated Obama’s campaign tactics as a first-time voter who is constantly on the go and does not have much time to sit down and read a news paper or watch television. If it was not for his constant use of interactive media outlets such as e-mail, text messaging, and video posting, it is quite possible he would have failed to get the attention of first-time voters across the nation since we have become so-well acquainted with hyperlink information that we sometimes do not pay attention to other media outlets that we do not have time for.

The issue which Barack Obama must realize is that some barriers which people
put up towards others, political figures in particular, are meant to keep some sentiments of personal property for non-public access. By invading our PMDs Obama may have created a tension which was not previously present. Although his use of interactive media keeps the American people abreast of his political activities, I am not so sure that the American people want continuous political updates every day on their PMDs.

People of twenty-first century who use cell phones, personal computers, and other forms of personal media are better-equipped to receive breaking news than those who still use the morning newspaper and evening news coverage from their local television networks may. Obama has revolutionized the position of President of The United States with this tactic, but I am skeptical about whether or not the American people want political updates on their PMDs. The key word is in the title of a “Personal Media Device” is “Personal.” When something is “personal” to someone, that usually entails notions of individuality within the object. If another person invades the object which was at one point personal and unique to the individual’s needs, then odds are that the invader of the other’s personal device will be looked upon with harsh eyes. My suggestion for President Obama is to ease up on how much you are contacting people through their PMDs if you don’t want them to get too annoyed with you.

David Lewis

Wilkes University 11'

23 March 2009

Spending Money un-Wisely

On March 9th, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced a $173,000 program to train state liquor store employees in what they call "Charm Training". According to the Pittsburg Tribune, over 4,000 employees from 600 states will be trained on how to be kind and courteous to their customers.

There's something wrong if we now have to give classes to salesmen on how to be nice to people. I think the training is a waste of the states money. I can think of a million other ways we can of spend Pennsylvania's tax payer money on other than teaching the local liquor store cashier how to say please and thank you. These workers are anywhere from eighteen years of age and older, and if they haven't learned manners by the age of eighteen, I highly doubt "charm training" is going to cause them to have an epiphany.

If you think about it wherever you shop and have to get checked out by a cashier, nine times out of ten that person is not the first to say "Hi, how are you today[?]" or "have a nice day." I've worked at the YMCA, Cinemark, and currently at Wal-Mart. During the training I received for every one of those jobs I was told customer courtesy is one of the most important things to remember. I've always made it my routine to greet customers and talk to them while I'm bagging their purchases; when working at Cinemark, I always said "enjoy the movie."

Now when I go to Cinemark or Movies 14, I'm the one doing the greeting, and the goodbyes. Most people behind the box office glass stare at you like you have two heads, all because you said "have a nice day!" When I go to Wal-Mart shopping, the cashiers never say "hi," "how you," "goodbye," or attempt to initiate any type of friendly conversation. Most of them are downright rude; in fact one girl went as far as to stop scanning my items so she could answer a text message.

The "Charm Training" of liquor store employees is a nice thought, but it's a waste of good money that could be going to something in more dire need. Why should I be paying for professionals to teach liquor store employees manners, when they could have learned it for free growing up eighteen years ago?

Ruth Whispell
17 March 2009

Youth + Economics = Don’t Know a Thing

A few weeks ago Wilkes hosted a viewing of an economic documentary called “IOU USA.” The film showed the economic struggle that our country is in. It turned out that it was a bit out dated when we saw it but the message was still clear. Another message that I got was that I don’t know all that much about the state of the economy.

I went to see this with three of my friends. Two of us were sitting there and contemplating what country we wanted to move to in order to get way from such bad situation that this country is in. That of course was just our fear talking because we have no idea what we are going to be in store for when we graduate. Right now I have about 15 months before I have to be in the real world and it is a lot more terrifying now because of the state of the economy and the unemployment rate that I will have to come and face. The odds that it is going to get better are slim. The other two people that I was with fell asleep during the movie. Maybe they had nightmares about what they saw. However I know these people and I know that isn’t the case. They found it to have no real interest to them. I found it very interesting and very scary.

The documentary isn’t the real focus of this the point is the fact that it made me open up my eyes and realize all the things that I don’t know. I can’t tell you anything about taxes and revenue. Everything that I saw that day made me wonder at what age do people start to not only understand but care about the economy. I hope the age isn’t 20 because that means that I am way behind my generation. But I don’t know if that’s realistic because I know people that range from 19-23 that don’t have the slightest clue about what’s going on. If you ask them about the state of the economy they won’t have an answer. To be fair they all do know that we are in bad shape and would go as far as to say that we are screwed if we continue down the path that we are heading. If you try to ask them how we got to this point they will blame Bush and that is as much as you will get from them. They have no other real knowledge of the situation that we are in or how we got there.

Maybe the key to knowing about the economy and other what I like to call “adult stuff,” is to officially be an adult. Just because my age says that I am, its hard to think of myself as one when I go home to my parents. Maybe its not at an age that you start to understand and care about the state of the country, it’s a stage in your life that makes you take notice. It could be after these next 15 months that I could potentially be on my own in this world that I will start to take notice to the things that are going on in it. Perhaps when the day comes that I move out of my parent’s house permanently it will be the day that I care about the situation that the economy is in because I will no longer have someone to depend on like I do with my parents.

Now I’m not trying to undersell my generation because there are people out there that do know about the economy and understand what is going on. Not because they feel the need to keep out on current issues but because they enjoy the fact that they have knowledge on things that there “superiors” know about. One day I hope to be one of those people it just doesn’t seem like I’m at the stage in my life that I want to have that type of fear keeping me up at night. The fear of where this economy is going to be in when I need it the most is something that can wait for a little bit longer even if that isn’t the logical thing to think.

Mary Turtschanow

22 March 2009

Wilkes University 10'

Wake up America

America, lets be serious; it’s not the war in Iraq, party discrepancies, or ideology that is our biggest threat.

In recent news the economy is surfacing as the most serious and difficult problem challenging America. It’s hard to fathom that in order for us to balance our national budget we would need 53 trillion dollars.

For most of us we will never know what 53 trillion dollars will look like.

In the documentary film I.O.U.S.A, producers outline what is contributing to this economic mess. The film identifies major problem areas that need to be addressed. There seems to be no easy solution to pay down the debt.

The film starts off by first discussing the national budget, and how every year it increases and we continue to borrow money from other countries that we will never be able to pay back.This will eventually lead us to our demise. Ultimately, the country we owe a debt to is in charge of this nation’s policy.

It’s really foolish to think that we can continue to receive tax cuts or even have our taxes lowered at a time like this.

Within less than ten years we will start paying out more in Social Security than we will receive from the working force. We won’t be able to take care of the people that took care of us.

I think a good start at solving some of our deficit would be to tighten up guidelines for who would qualify for Social Security. Let’s get the alcoholics and drug addicts off our government’s money and put them through a program based system instead.

We could continue to help these people trying to beat their addiction without making it easier for them to not work: and give them responsibility, like getting a job!

It makes me so mad to see some people sitting home on Social Security who really don’t need it or deserve it for that matter when others that have a legitimate disability, just don’t qualify for it.

If we could reform Social Security successfully it would decrease our deficit by $ 7 trillion.

Our saving deficit continues to cease to exist. This country exists by spending more than it makes. To put is simply we don’t live within our means.

Everyone wants to live comfortably and the leaders in this country have a tendency to make us believe that this is realistic.

What national officials fail to tell us is the truth. We shouldn’t be lied to anymore. Fiscal irresponsibility shouldn’t be allowed. It’s not fair to our children who will have to pay back such a large debt.

The ideas of sacrificing to make a better future, has been pushed aside. Our parents taught us to save our whole lives to be able to afford what we want in the future.

Politicians what happened to representing the values of your constituents!

We also need to change our trading habits. This country has a tendency to use more than we produce or export. Living with excess is not only bad for the economy but causing an even bigger environmental problem.

Everything that affects the economy can be connected to other serious problems that we face. Its way past time for our country to take the reins on this and not be foolish: one president is not the solution for this disaster we need so much more reform.

America we cannot sit aside and let our nation continue to destroy itself. As Americans we need to make sure that we are voting for those truly interested in the betterment of this nation and not let those that have been dishonest in the past get their hands on spending our dollars or lie to us about the severity of the problem.

Even if we ended the war in Iraq, ear marks and pork barrel spending was eliminated, and bush tax cuts expired we would still not be able to solve the national debt.

So, wake up America! The economy should be on everyone’s mind.

Melanie L Thomas

19 MArch 2009

A-Rod's steroid use hits close to home

With Spring Training just underway, you would think the big question this March would be who is the team to beat in 2009. Instead, it seems that all eyes are on one man. With the Yankees officially opening up camp on Tuesday, February 17th, the question isn’t about the team, but instead about Alex Rodriguez. This offseason has been nothing new for A-Rod, who is no stranger to the back pages of New York’s tabloids, making news everywhere when he was found to have tested positive for steroids in a 2003 “anonymous” test. A few days later, he admitted to taking steroids from 2001-2003, his 3 seasons with the Texas Rangers. This news sent a shockwave through the entire baseball world and may have officially put a damper on the MLB for this entire generation.

Being a baseball fan my whole life, I have seen some pretty good players come and go. As a die-hard Yankee fan, the late 90’s were good to me, getting to see them win 4 out of 5 seasons to end the decade. I saw the seasonal home run record broken twice and the all-time home run record, what some have considered the greatest record in sports, surpassed. I loved watching all those 450 foot home runs and 99 mph fastballs fly by. It seemed like I was lucky enough to be witnessing some of the greatest players of all-time. That was until the release of the Mitchell Report in 2007, naming 89 players who have been found to have used some sort of performance enhancing drugs during their careers. Some of the biggest names to have played during my childhood were on their, some of whom I had imagined being like while playing out in the streets or in little league. These long distant home runs and rocket fastballs had all been fake. These idols of mine had been cheaters. My whole childhood had been a lie.

Now, two years later, A-Rod seemed to be the last hope for baseball. Prominently stating he was clean his whole career in previous interviews, he was almost a “saving grace” to all baseball fans. Sitting at 553 career homeruns and being only 33 years old, he was supposed to clean up the record book and restore the all-time homerun record to the greatest record as it once was before Barry Bonds, who many see as an obvious steroid user, passed Hank Aaron. Now with his admission of using the very thing he was supposed to save baseball from between 2001-2003, a span in which he hit over 150 homeruns, it seems there is no hope for what has been dubbed “The Steroid Era”. Arguably the greatest player right now and one of the greatest players ever, it is hard to believe anything he says now or to look at him the same way. As a Yankee fan I hope the best for A-Rod; hopefully he helps the Yanks win it all this year, but as far as the past it will never be the same. In what seems to be the dawn of a new era in the MLB, with players being more lean and quick instead of bulky and abnormally strong, baseball fans can now only hope someone great does come along with pure talent gained from hard work and practice, without taking any shortcuts. Someone who can truly clean up the record books and allow the kids of today to see baseball played the way I thought I was, the way it should be. Clean.

Christopher Hopkins
Wilkes University '11
Communication Studies

Britney's Banned Single

Nowadays, we have grown accustomed to seeing Britney Spears do crazy things. Whether she’s shaving her head, driving with her children on her lap or lip synching at MTV’s Video Music Awards, nothing really seems to surprise us anymore. But when I heard that her newest single, “If You Seek Amy” was banned from the radio between 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., I have to admit I was shocked. If you say the name of her new single really slow, it spells out something. Say it. It spells out F-*-C-K-M-E. Of course, it was intentional because Britney wanted to say something that would cause a rise out of some people. A lot of artists say that word in their songs and we don’t ban it from the radio. So why do we become so offended when Britney Spears spells it out for us?

There are hundreds of artists who curse or have songs that could be offensive. For example, Black Eyed Peas came out with the song “My Humps”. The song was full of sexual innuendos but it was played on the radio nonstop. Eminem rapped about drugs and violence but we still keep his songs on the radio. Akon had a song entitled “Smack That”. The song was considered to be offensive to women but it was never banned from the radio.

So why is Britney Spears' song banned from the radio? Do we still like to imagine that she is that sweet, innocent virgin from the 1990’s? Do we not like to hear one of our Pop Music Queens spell out a bad word for us? We have to learn that she is grown up and we must accept that she is not the same Britney Spears that danced around in a Catholic School outfit singing “Hit Me Baby One More Time”. When you really think about it, any song on the radio today can send out the wrong message. Music can be influential, but it is not the only influence. And just because Britney spells out a curse word for us, does not mean we must take it off the air. If kids want to hear the song, they are going to find it somewhere else other than local radio stations. If someone is so offended by the song, than the simple answer is just do not listen to it.

Lora Kormos
Wilkes University '10
Communication Studies