By Scott Tibbs, February 2, 2008
♣ Last week, the Student Alliance for National Security caused a stir when they decided that a speech by a former national security advisor to President Bush was "off the record" as far as the news media was concerned. While I think that this stipulation was just plain silly, I can't help but wonder what the critics of SANS and Meghan O'Sullivan think about similar behavior by Congressman Baron Hill? In September if 2006, Hill (then a three-term former Congressman and candidate for Congress) was giving a speech on the campus of a public university. That speech was announced on the front page of the second-largest newspaper in Monroe County, a newspaper that is distributed throughout downtown. Baron Hill's supporters acted to prevent registered voters in his district from even attending and listening to his speech. See previous articles:
♣ There was a glaring error in Wednesday's edition of the Indiana Daily Student, where Chelsea Merta wrote of a proposed amendment to the state Constitution to ban homosexual marriage: "Once the Constitution is amended, it may only be overturned by the Indiana State Supreme Court." The court does not have the authority to alter the Constitution. The court is (theoretically) bound by the Constitution. The courts interpret the Constitution, they do not alter or repeal parts of it. Indiana (like the nation as a whole) is a constitutional republic, not a judicial oligarchy. Also, unless Pat "the rug" Bauer has changed his position again, the amendment will not get a vote in the House. It must pass both the House and the Senate.
♣ With John McCain's win in Florida earlier this week, Hillary Clinton moves one step closer to becoming President. The only hope McCain has of becoming President if he wins the nomination is that Clinton is more likely to unite the Republican Party against her than anyone else the Democrats have. If Barack Hussein Obama wins the nomination, McCain is toast. Barack Hussein Obama may be no different than Hillary ideologically, but he's far more electable. But even having Clinton as an opponent may not be enough. Republicans were enthusiastic about getting rid of disgraced Ex-President Clinton in 1996, but a weak moderate nominee (Bob Dole) did not give Republicans something to vote for. It is not enough to give voters a reason to vote against the other party. A majority of voters chose someone other than the incumbent President, and Republicans still could not win. Will we see a repeat of 1996 in 2008?
♣ According to the Indiana Daily Student, Executive Vice President Karen Hanson is looking to improvise exceptions to the campus-wide smoking ban. It makes absolutely no sense to have a rule that those in authority are unwilling to enforce. How does this encourage students to respect the authority of the administration when they began waffling on the smoking ban as soon as it was implemented? The smoking ban should either be enforced or eliminated. Perhaps the university is taking lessons from the Bloomington City Council, which passed an ordinance in 1996 requiring anyone under 18 to wear a helmet while riding a bike. The council declared before the vote was even taken that the law would not be enforced.
