The biggest political news to UT students this week had nothing to do with Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain. The biggest political headline for UT came from an entirely different set of presidential elections--the Student Government Association elections.
We want to build and better communication between the students, SGA and the administration. Jeff Wilcox, recently elected SGA presidentUT students elected Jeff Wilcox of the CONNECT campaign president of SGA with Meghan Blackwell as his vice president and Taylor Reynolds director of student services.
"Our main goal is to make SGA the support system it needs to be, and connect the entire campus," Wilcox said in an interview with Tennessee Journalist reporter Dustyn Winder. "We want to build and better communication between the students, SGA and the administration."
More information about CONNECT can be found in Winder's article entitled "CONNECT aims to provide a support system for UT students."
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Senator John McCain appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday night and after a not-so-funny round of joking, they talked about issues such as the war in Iraq, Gov. Mike Huckabee and questions about McCain not being conservative enough to win over all Republicans.
In my opinion McCain did well answering all the questions, calling Huckabee a "good man" and saying the war in Iraq had been mishandled for the past four years by Former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
However, my favorite quote of the night came from Letterman's comment that some think McCain is not conservative enough to unite the Republican Party. Letterman specifically mentioned talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who has been very vocal about not supporting McCain. The Senator's response was brilliant.
"I think maybe some people think that you ought to have exactly the same position they have on every issue," McCain said. "I'm proud to be a Republican in the Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan tradition. And I'm proud of that, and I'll present those credentials to the American people. You're just going to have people who disagree with you. I respect those disagreements."
Lincoln, Roosevelt and Re agan are some of the best presidents we have ever had, in my opinion, and I think in the opinion of many Americans. By putting himself in the same "tradition"as those presidents he shows how he can unite not only the Republican Party, but the contry.I found his response simply outstanding. Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan are some of the best presidents we have ever had, in my opinion, and I think in the opinion of many Americans. By putting himself in the same "tradition" as those presidents he shows how he can unite not only the Republican Party, but the country. That is what they did. They went over party lines and united a country. I think this quote might have appeased some conservatives, while at the same time gained him some respect from independents, a group that will prove vital in the general election.
More information on McCain's appearance on the Late Show can be found at the Tennessee Journalist article entitled "McCain goes head to head with Letterman."
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In other campaign news, Sen. Barack Obama released his fundraising estimates for the month of March; to the tune of more than $40 million.
During the last few months, Obama has consistently raised more money than Sen. Hillary Clinton. As of February, Obama had raised $194 million where as Clinton had raised $156 million according to CNN.com.
"We knew that he was going to out-raise us. He has out-raised us for the last several months," Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign said. "We will have the resources that we need to compete and be successful in the upcoming primary states."
To me, Obama's figures are looking pretty good. If money is power, then Obama certainly has a lot of power right now. I think fundraising money is crucial in an election. Not only does it help a candidate run a better campaign, but it shows that the candidate has people who back him/her enough to donate money. And in order to win an election, a candidate must have the support of the majority of the country.
More information on this story can be found at CNN.com.
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The Tennessee senate could make it more difficult for students to download their favorite music, at least to download it illegally that is.
The senate is considering a bill that would have UT and other state-funded schools monitor their networks for illegal downloading. If the schools did not apply, the state would then take away some of their funding.
I think there are several problems with this. The first being: how in the world is the university supposed to monitor the usage of all UT students? It could also raise privacy questions. Can the university monitor everything students do using university computers or the university wireless system? And finally, how is the university going to pay for the extra manpower it will take to do this?
I hope this bill doesn't pass into law.
More information on this story can be found in the article entitled "Copyright bill concerns students, university officials."
Comments
Carlie Williams commented, on April 4, 2008 at 12:17 p.m.:
Recently the London Times reported that Auchi had been a business partner of Rezko since 2003 and between April 2005 and 2007 loaned Rezko at least $18 million.
"A company related to Mr. Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr. Obama's bagman Antoin ‘Tony' Rezko on May, 23 2005. Mr. Auchi says the loan, through the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million.
These Funds from Auchi's loan helped finance a complex series of transactions between Rezko and Democratic Presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama involving the 2005 purchase of Obama's Chicago mansion and Rezko's purchase of an adjoining landlocked parcel.
Rezko claims he paid “full market price” and Obama apparently received a “discount” of several hundred thousand dollars for his parcel. Rezko then improved his parcel to benefit Obama.
Instead of handing cash to Obama, Rezko handed Obama a preferential price for property. This is the same form of “honest graft” and preferential treatment that sent former Illinois Governor Otto Kerner to jail over 30 years ago, see United States v. Isaacs, 493 F.2d 1124 (7th Cir. 1974).
The Chicago Sun-Times recently reported that Mr. Rezko, around the same general period he was wheeling with Obama, also provided a preferential price for a property purchase by U. S. Representative Luis Gutierrez.
Instead of transferring cash to buy influence, Rezko was engaging in structured property transactions and preferential treatment of public officials to confer significant financial benefits on them, far above the legal limits of any legitimate political contribution permitted by federal law.
Rezko was a key early-money fund raiser in Obama's state Senate campaigns. and Rezko's relationship with Barack Obama goes back to at least 1990, when Obama's law firm did work relating to a Rezko housing development.
Rezko as a major mob figure is not known for civic-mindedness or desire for good government.
At a March 3 news conference in San Antonio, Texas, Chicago-based reporters peppered Obama with some of the questions the national news corps has avoided for over a year. Obama claims he had already answered the questions in the Chicago media. He said: "These requests, I think, could just go on forever. At some point, what we need to try to do is respond to what's pertinent."
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote:
"Reporters, however, had a different idea of what was pertinent, and the questions about Rezko, NAFTA and other unpleasant subjects continued to come. An aide called out ‘last question,' and Obama made his move for the exit -- only for reporters to shout after him in protest. ‘C'mon, guys,' he pleaded. ‘I just answered, like, eight questions.'"