Rider University College Republicans » Rants & Opinions

Obama Not So Sharp on Economics Either

Kyle Collins — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:56:45 +0000

Senator John McCain has stirred some new trouble with Senator Barack Obama, regarding lifting the 1981 Congressional ban on Off Shore drilling. McCain wisely opined that opening up new reserves to oil, even though it would likely take a few years before it can be pumped into your car, will have a “psychological impact that I think is beneficial”. Obama’s swift response to an economic truth was to disavow McCain’s stance as “Washington- Speak for it Polls well” claiming expanding our reserves will have no real impact.

However just a vague understanding in economics could makes McCain wise and Obama ignorant. The Associated Press reports that there is an estimated 18 Billion Barrels of oil in which could be extracted. While the annual production of that source will still be pitons compared to United States Annual 6 billion barrel a year thirst (which is predicted to double by 2025) it is certainly much more than the 700M in the strategic reserves Democrats are demanding to be released to the public.

If McCain’s Plan is implemented it would be beneficial in two “psychological” but beneficial ways:

First, it would send a message to OPEC which controls two thirds of the oil reserves, but only about one third of the oil production, along with other large oil producing nations, that if they fail to release more oil or reduce the oppression in which they inflict on their people, we will get it closer to home. Thus, America would send them a stern warning that the “consumer” will shop somewhere else! Furthermore, many nations, which are oil producers and not ran by brutal dictators or oppressive clowns such as in Venezuela, would rather produce more oil at a cheaper price instead of loosing business entirely. America would do what is has neglected for a long time to do, and that is take action against the dependency we are in rather than just talk about it.

Second, it would deflate the current price of oil that seem to rise every day. As with most of economics, oil is no exception to the law of supply and demand: The more available or to become available the cheaper the price. Moreover, the falsely accused “evil oil spectators” would not predict such grim futures on oil if it is actually being extracted rather than locked uselessly in the ground. Lower futures will help stem the rampant fear of $200 oil by the end of summer. Fear is indeed psychological and affects how we behave, but much of economics is rooted in behavior making “psychological impacts” much more than just “Washington- Speak”.

There is no doubt that an increase in oil production will not be the cure-all for our energy crunch, but reverting to cold showers, candles and Priuses are no the panacea ether. The proper innovation will need time and people should not suffer with such high gas prices. Few Vegetarians would choice to starve with a cheeseburger next to them; the American people should not be forced starve because Democrats refuse to drill for oil at home.

(http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/fuels/hydrogen/hydrogen-from-gas.html) .http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5juoNspsulD1ZE8LPtWQI_6JtIVqwD91CQFQ02

Oh Ann…

Sean Piotrowski — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:20:27 +0000

She made me smile this morning. I think she’ll do the same to you once you read her latest opus…

Click here to be entertained…

Who can Really Unite America?

Kyle Collins — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:01:56 +0000

Every political junkie knows that in order to win an election you need to appeal to the independents. Indeed over 30% of Americans call themselves independents. We often associate these independents who refuse to tie themselves to a party as political moderates. With high confidence, it can be assumed that Barack Obama will take the Democratic nomination and John McCain will be the Republican nominee.Now, Obama tends to beat McCain in head to head polls according to realclearpolitcs.com. Obama’s ability to garner more independents than John McCain has played a large part of this early lead. Obama makes the claim that America needs to be united and that he is the men to do just that. But is this uber liberal really the one to unite Americans?

Let us glean in on Obama’s past before we blindly follow his claim. Obama has been rated as one of the most liberal senators in the United States by both The National Review and CQ Politics. In fact, as a Illinois state Senator Obama received a 100% Liberal voter ranking. Any claim of non-partisanship by Sen. Obama is a farce with these statistics in hand. Obama mealy wishes for conservatives to abandon their beliefs and subscribe to his. It seems quite clear he has no interest in talking to Republicans, but is fine with talking to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Raul Castro.

John McCain however, is well known as a maverick and has made many friends with democrats. It should be noted that McCain has Joseph Lieberman , although himself an independent a democrat at heart, campaigning for him. Few liberals are afraid Obama is not liberal enough, but conservatives who fear McCain is not conservative enough are plentiful. Obama only faced democratic resistance because of a fear he was not electable, a claim which has now been deftly refuted if latest polls are accurate. Conservative on the other hand, have been furious over McCain’s stance on the environment, campaign finance reform, water boarding, immigration and other issues that are more inline with liberal ideology. Would it not seem to be, that John McCain would be the best candidate for uniting America?

Obama Mania

battagliak — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:28:57 +0000

Barack Obama mania is sweeping across the country for all the wrong reasons. People say that they are voting for Sen. Obama for president because he speaks well or because he is a sharp dresser. People say they are voting for Sen. Obama because he has an engaging personality and a beautiful family and has a great back story.

But when I ask these people about the policies Sen. Obama supports or the votes he has made as a U.S. Senator, they simply do not know. This is a scary thought: blind devotion. While Obama and the following kinds of men are worlds apart, people followed dictators in Germany and Italy for the same reasons. People are simply attracted to a “rock star” allure that emanates from him. People must remember that we are voting for a president, the leader of the free world - not a homecoming king.

Kyle J. Battaglia,

Hamilton

(Letter to the Editor, Trenton Times, 1/20/08)

Pass Jessica’s Law

Kyle Collins — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:53:34 +0000

NJ is one of 8 states that has failed to enact Jessica’s Law. Jessica’s law is named in memory of Jessica Lunsford, a child who was murdered by a repeat sex offender, John Couey. Couey received only a combined 7 years for prior molestations. he had his license revoked for 99 years because he liked to drive drunk but jailed for only 7 years because he raped children, until he murdered Jessica. Jessica’s law would better ensure our children’s safety by establishing harsher laws against vile child sex offenders and preventing them from re-offending. The key provisions to Jessica’s Law would guarantee a mandatory prison sentence for those who commit heinous sex crimes to children under 12 ,with a minimum sentence of 25 years to life and lifetime monitoring of the most sinister of those individuals.
Jessica’s law was brought up in both the State senate and assembly last year, but was never brought out of committee. Once more it has been brought up and this time needs to become law. Rider University College Republicans are asking for you to take a stand and write letters to your state representatives, urging them to pass this bill. Conservative philosopher Edmund Burke once said that “All that is necessary for evil to exist is for good men to do nothing”. Imagine what ills we can overcome if we join hands to finally revive justice in New Jersey.

Morning After Pill Law

Kyle Collins — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:27:56 +0000

Recently, Governor Corzine signed into law of S-1195/A-992 This act legally requires pharmacist-no matter what their moral convictions advise them-to distribute the controversial mourning after pill. This is an outrageous government interferences with businesses.Firstly, it should be noted that this is not a life saving medication. If a pharmacist feels that the “pill” is wrong and does not wish to distribute, what to them is like distributing cyanide pills, the government should not mandate that they do so. Would it be acceptable if the government enforced that all convenience stores to sell cigarettes or alcoholic beverages? What if it is not profitable, should they be forced to play in the red zone of economics? Why does the woman get a “choice” but not the pharmacist.To some religious individuals, distributing the “morning after pill”violates their moral convictions and they should not be forced to take part in such an act under government mandate.

CPAC

Joshua Hursa — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:07:36 +0000

So let me right this down before I forget. It is currently 3 am on Sunday, February 10, 2008. The past four days (travel time included) I spent at CPAC. CPAC stands for the Conservative Political Action Conference. For those of you who STILL don’t know what this is, it is basically the biggest national gathering of every segment of the Republican Party; there were conservatives, libertarians, neo-cons, paleo-cons, Hucksters, Paulites, Macheads and Mittheads. It was quite the event. The following is my journey through this wonderful convention

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

I drove down on Wednesday with 7 TCNJ College Republicans to CPAC. We stayed just a few blocks from the Omni Shoreham Hotel, where the conference was held. Little was done on Wed night, as we had a long day ahead of us.

Thursday, February 7^th, 2008

We woke up early Thursday, took the metro to the hotel, registered and sat down. First there was a conversation about Ronald Reagan, which included panelists and videos of Reagan himself. Then, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to the convention. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the vice president. Cheney was, surprisingly, pretty funny. Next was an interesting panel on conservative roots. Next, Governor Mitt Romney drops out in front of us. Of all the Romney bashing I have done, I have to say Romney is the classiest guy I have ever seen. He starts out with a stump speech, and then throws his support to the front runner, Senator McCain. I respect Gov. Romney a whole lot more hearing him sacrifice his chances for the white house this time, in order to help the party. I saw lemmings taking off their Romney shirts and immediately putting on McCain gear. What happened to standing for your principles? After he spoke, the buzz was constant. What could possibly top Romney’s withdrawal from the race? After Lunch, Senator McCain spoke to the gathered crowd. I was not able to get into the speech, however I saw him pull up in his car, and have two (very blurry) pictures of the senator at arm’s length away from me. It was exhilarating. When I finally made it back into the main room we saw Sec. Elaine Chao (wife of Sen. McConnell and current Bush labor secretary). She made Ralph Nader sound like Mike Huckabee; it was disastrous. The main reasons for returning to see Sec. Chao was to see my candidate for president Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul address the convention. He gave his usual stump speech. Paul was the only candidate; in fact, the only person who was of any note that spoke at CPAC, who walked into the crowd, took pictures, signed autographs or otherwise engaged the audience. At this point, it was a long day and the night was just getting started. Due to the President’s necessary time slot changes (he was going to survey the tornado damage in Tennessee) the president was scheduled to speak at 7 am the next day, with the doors opening at 5. Most people just stayed up all night. DC Fest, an annual gathering of the CRs from around the country at the Hawk n Dove, was a lot of fun. We danced the night away.

Friday, February 8^th 2008

I decided not to wake up early to see the president. The TCNJ group that went did not get in, so I was able to get some sleep in. Around noon, I got dressed and went back to the hotel, where I skipped the speakers and went right to the conservative political fair they had. It was an enormous room filled with every group imaginable, from the ACLU to the Young Americans Foundation. I spent four hours there. The SWAG was impressive: the CRNC gave out bottle openers (the irony haha), bumper stickers, books, bags, shirts, you name it. They had political buttons, blogging stations, radio shows set up, book signings, internship fairs; it was a lot to take in. I was able to gather a lot of information for the College Republicans, which we shall use to combat liberalism here at Rider. Around 5 we went back to the hotel and had another…memorable evening!

Saturday February 9^th, 2008

We woke up, packed, checked out of the hotel, packed the cars and went back to the conference. We arrived just in time to hear Governor Mike Huckabee speak. It was impressive. After Huckabee, there were a couple of panels speaking which we listened to. At noon, Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) spoke. His speech, which consisted of him mentioning his inexperience in Washington DC, his record as a tax cutting, deficit cutting, fiscal conservative and his unwavering support of the Boy Scouts of America (he was a former eagle scout) makes me believe the 2008 Republican presidential ticket will be McCain-Perry ’08. At one, Phyllis Schafly spoke. She was extremely well received and well respected. I got lunch and watched a portion of Newt Gingrich’s speech. He makes good points, but he just needs someone else to promote them. During the same time as Gingrich’s speech, Phyllis Schafly and her son held a panel on judicial activism. It was very educational and we were able to interact with the panelists, which was nice. At the conclusion of this panel, we went back into the main ballroom and heard the results of the straw poll. Even considering Governor Romney dropped out of the race on Thursday, he still won the straw poll. Tony Snow, former Fox News anchor and White House press secretary, gave one of the better speeches of the convention. At the conclusion of his speech the convention adjourned. We went back to our cars and went back to NJ.

CPAC was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I am literally exhausted, excited for this election cycle, ready to get started. I plan on attending next year and so should interested Rider republicans. It is an amazing opportunity that I hope we all take advantage of next year.

Highlights from “The Great Debate”

Sean Piotrowski — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:56:40 +0000

For some highlights on the “Great Debate” view my write up on the event over at RedGeneration.org.

Rush Feels Liberated

Sean Piotrowski — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:53:22 +0000

Some interesting words from Rush: I Feel Liberated