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(03/11/11 5:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU policy doesn’t allow the release of full records detailing where mandatory student fees are being spent. This includes the ledgers of the IU Student Association or any other student organization, so it is not clear if IUSA executives have given money to their own companies this year.Last year, however, the Indiana Daily Student obtained a non-redacted 2009-10 IUSA ledger, which revealed that two companies owned by members of the executive branch received IUSA funds.LiveArrive LLC, owned by then-Transportation Chief Ilya Rekhter, received $15,000 and Neil Kelty’s Thrive44 Strategy Group received two checks totaling more than $700.The document was used in an impeachment petition against Kelty, IUSA’s chief of staff, that recently went before the IUSA Congress and the Supreme Court.In October, when the IDS requested the ledger for the first time, Assistant Dean of Students Steve Veldkamp said, “All student government records are open to the public.”But when the IDS requested the 2010-11 ledger last month, IUSA Treasurer Sierra Hsieh said she must work with IU Legal, which concluded that some parts of the documents couldn’t be disclosed due to restrictions in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.FERPA is a federal law that sets requirements and guidelines for releasing student records and information. If a university is found to have routinely violated FERPA, it could lose federal funding.The full ledgers list recipients of money, how it’s distributed, its amount and when it’s mailed.The 2010-11 ledger did not list which students were reimbursed, nor which companies received checks. IUSA budgets show what category of money is being spent, but not where the money ends up.Beth Cate, IU’s associate general counsel, said IU can’t release records it believes could be used to identify a student.According to the state’s Access to Public Records Act, documents like these should be open record, but the statute also states releases can’t violate federal law such as FERPA.The IUSA documents not being released include some related to the GPS bus tracking debate, such as disclosures of conflict of interest or commitment.This means any student organization, including IUSA, could be using money without disclosing the details to the public.
(03/08/11 5:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This story originally ran in two parts. See Congress investigates below for the beginning of the second part.
(11/01/10 3:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Washington, D.C. — I’ve never seen so many signs. But of the hundreds on the National Mall on Saturday, one struck me as especially poignant: “When comedians are our Fourth Estate, we’re in trouble.”We picked our spot at 2 a.m. Saturday — 10 hours before the “Rally to Restore Sanity” started. About 50 people were there, most of them students from American University in Washington.The first thing I saw when I awoke at 7 a.m. were black Nike shoes with a red swoosh a few inches from my face.I readjusted my father’s 1970s American flag sleeping bag to block out the rising sun. I had nothing to eat, nothing to drink and couldn’t sit down. I was dehydrated, craving a cigarette, without a cell phone and had to stand for seven hours.It was about then that I tried to remember why I came. Why I made the 10-hour drive through five states to stand among tens of thousands of people.And then I saw the sign.I’ve been watching “The Daily Show” since I was in high school. When Jon Stewart announced the rally, my roommates and I agreed on the spot to go.It doesn’t take a sarcastic, late-night comedian to see that political dialogue is less about facts and the truth and more about opinions and spin.That’s tough for someone like me to admit. If I’ve dedicated my life to anything so far, it’s the idealistic belief that journalism can make a profound difference in the world. And it has — just not the way I hoped. Big news agencies are choking the moderate voice into submission, especially on TV. Everyone is either left-wing or right-wing. There’s no room — or ratings — for the middle ground.Moderates are deemed weak, passive and feeble-minded. Labels, overgeneralizations and name-calling ground debate at the lowest level.And our leaders in D.C. follow suit, letting politics and re-elections, not results, define the most important debates of our time.Journalists love the vocal extremes. It gives them the illusion of balance and fairness and all the other words they love to throw around as signs of their equity.These days on college campuses, it’s all about voting. Exercise your rights, they say, be a part of the solution.I’ve never bought it. I voted when I was 18 and young and optimistic. But last year I opted out — a protest vote if you will — and this year I will do the same.Political science classes say the cost of voting far outweighs the immediate benefits. I agree. To me, it’s the other, daily vote that we make with our remotes and mice that really matter.Because in a free market we can only blame ourselves — the consumers. Everyone casts a vote every day much more important than the one you’ll make tomorrow.Each time we reward lazy, newstertainment media we take one step away from a solution.It’s time to take back the country from our politicians and talking heads. It’s time to change the context of the conversation and the rules for discourse. It’s time for change you can believe.Maybe then comedians won’t have to be our Fourth Estate.
(09/27/10 11:29pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Since 1907, corporations have been restricted by how much they can give to political campaigns.That is, until now.The Supreme Court ruled in January that government can’t ban corporations’ political spending in elections, calling it an extension of free speech.The ruling had everyone from pundits to progressives to professors questioning how much money will be spent this election cycle now that the 103-year ban is overturned.As of last week, spending by outside organizations to influence congressional elections is up more than 60 percent compared to the same period in 2006, according to a report by the Sunlight Foundation.What’s more, some of those groups — called 501(c)4s — do not have to detail where their contributions come from.According to the Internal Revenue Service, these groups’ main purpose is not political but rather to enhance the social welfare. But unlike other recognized tax-free non-profits, 501(c)4s can lobby as much as they want.In response, Democrats tried to push the DISCLOSE Act, which would require these corporations and unions to release details of their donors, through Congress this summer.On Friday, Senate Republicans defeated the legislation for the second time by a vote of 59-39, leaving Democrats one vote short.So far, more than 30 groups have registered with the Federal Elections Commission since it gave the go-ahead this summer, opening up a window of uncapped political spending America has never seen. Unlimited spendingPreviously, if an organization wanted to influence an election, it did so through a Political Action Committee. There are thousands of PACs, but they face limits on how much they can give to candidates, parties or other PACs.Most importantly, they must detail their donations or expenses to the FEC, which makes them available to the public.Super PACs, as these new 501(c)4 groups are colloquially known, have few of those restrictions and can spend as much money for or against a candidate as they want.Officially, these groups are called independent expenditure-only committees by the FEC. Because their main purpose is progressing social welfare and not politics, they don’t have to detail contributors.Under the Supreme Court’s January ruling, corporations still cannot make direct contributions to candidates. They can, however, funnel as much money as they want through a super PAC aligned with their politics.Since the FEC allowed the formation of expenditure-only super PACs, right and left-wing organizations have taken advantage of the new loophole.Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategy is one of those organizations. Formed by ex-George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, it partnered with American Crossroads to raise almost $15 million in a one-month period this summer.But Crossroads GPS, unlike its sister organization American Crossroads, which is registered with the FEC, doesn’t have to list its donors. Moreover, as a nonprofit regulated by the IRS, it doesn’t even have to list its income until next spring, well after the Nov. 2 elections.Together, the two groups have pledged to spend more than $50 million this election cycle.Before super PACs, 527 groups were formed with the express purpose to affect political elections.The 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth up-ended the 2004 election by smearing Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, claiming he lied about his background in the Vietnam War and challenging the legitimacy of his Navy medals.But 527s, which have increased dramatically in the past decade, are regulated by the FEC and must file monthly reports detailing their expenditures and sources of income.In the 2008 election, spending by 527s declined to $244 million from $439 million in 2004 — a drop of 44 percent, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.As 527s decrease, 501(c)4s take their place. Existing groups have also made the move to unlimited spending status, such as the Club for Growth, which supports lower taxes and favors Republicans, and the League of Conservation Voters, which usually supports Democrats.Although no one can predict how much money will be spent this election cycle, the trend is already skyrocketing.From 2000 to 2008, the total cost of all federal elections increased 71 percent, while the cost of non-presidential elections increased by 30 percent from 2002 to 2006.But those numbers were under a different environment, with rules that began more than 100 years ago. This year, it’s a matter of wait and see.But while some may cry foul at the lack of restrictions on corporate giving, Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy defended the decision, saying the free speech issues are most important.“If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech,” Kennedy wrote.
(08/31/10 2:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Depending which experts you ask, these are the worst economic conditions since 1980, 1945 or 1937.Or ever. By sheer number of jobs lost, businesses have killed 7.7 million positions since December of 2007.The average unemployment rate for 2009 was the highest level in 26 years. And after the recession hit bottom last June, this year hasn’t been much better.Stimulus funds eked the trend up, but many factors unique to this recession are scaring businesses from hiring and forcing families to save more and spend less.Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis at IU’s Business Research Center, said that in a typical “vanilla” recession there might be overinvestment or overspending. The economy will slow but bounce back pretty quickly.But this is no vanilla recession — more like “rocky road,” Slaper said.Housing markets are still deflating the hot air out of a busted bubble. Fallout from the financial crisis has changed the game, frozen markets and crippled lending. Stimulus gains were real but small and temporary. Businesses are sitting on money, and consumers are paying off debts, at least those that can get jobs. Exports have fallen as most of the world’s biggest markets struggle.And most recently, talk of a double-dip recession has progressed from hypothetical to realistic.Researchers at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank published an Aug. 9 report stating the likelihood of a double-dip recession in the next two years is between 25 and 50 percent, depending on variables used. Last week, Thomas Hoenig, president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, called economic recovery “abnormally slow” and was concerned with a decline in bank lending.Slaper said the recovery was anemic and that a decrease in spending, exports and the financial crisis have all helped stall the comeback.Now, economists are wondering where the money will come from.Companies don’t want to hire until consumer confidence picks up and more money is injected into the economy. Consumers don’t want to spend money until they have job security. And Democrats don’t have the political power or popularity to push through another stimulus or unemployment extension plan.An historically high unemployment rate of 9.5 percent jumps to 16 percent if those who have quit looking for work or those working part time were added.Long-term unemployment — defined as those who have been jobless for at least six months — is at its highest level ever and will soon make up about half of all unemployed persons.All this means the recovery will be slow, especially compared with previous recessions when world markets or financial lending would have helped correct the market sooner.Still, not all news is bad. The number of initial unemployment insurance claims has dropped since the beginning of 2009. Industry production has picked up, and some businesses have taken advantage of one-time tax credits at the federal or state level. This summer, spending and personal income also made modest gains.But this hasn’t been enough to attain the projected growth estimates for the year, which were recently downgraded to about 1.6 percent, which Slaper said wasn’t enough.Eventually, he said, consumers will buy the products or goods they’ve been putting off or return to the services they cut. And as they do, businesses will respond.“They’re being cautious, just like businesses are being cautious,” Slaper said. “Everybody’s just kind of biding their time.”
(11/02/09 6:48pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>College is the time when students begin thinking about the rest of their lives. Degrees. Careers. Marriage. Kids. Golden retrievers. White picket fences.And as we all face the nagging questions of our future, it’s natural for many boyfriends and girlfriends to want to take the next step, which usually means moving in together.I know, because two years ago I was in this spot. Two years ago I couldn’t have been more excited to sign a one-bedroom lease with my girlfriend of more than a year.At the time it seemed like an obvious choice. We had been inseparable since we started dating our senior year of high school. That summer and our freshman year, we essentially lived together.I saw her every day for almost two years. She was my best friend, my roommate, my lover and my safety net whenever I needed someone to catch me.When we moved into our apartment last fall, it was one of the happiest times of my life.But someone once said that all good things must end, and for me they did. I don’t regret my decision to live with her. I regret a lot of things about how we broke up, but not that. And yes, if I knew how it was going to end, I wouldn’t have done it.But that’s the point really: You never know how it’s going to end until you try. We never talked about what would happen if we broke up. Neither one of us saw that as a possibility.Love is a beautiful and amazing feeling, and when you’re in it, you never think it will end. But it might. Only a fool (like me) would not be prepared for that. You must talk about who will move out, who gets what, what to do with the lease, the posters, the pots and pans and even the four seasons of “The Office.”Don’t wait until it’s too late to sort out all the details. Make sure you are both prepared to handle all the possible outcomes and have a plan in case the unthinkable happens.Fortunately, I was able to move back into the dorms, but don’t leave these things to chance. Talk about it, even if it seems out of the question now.And if you do move in together, my biggest advice is to talk. The biggest failure in my relationship was a lack of communication. Just because you live with someone doesn’t mean you will become closer or get enough time together. Don’t become complacent or stop working at growing your relationship.So if you’re ready, go ahead and take the plunge. You can’t live your entire life in a bubble afraid of getting hurt. And if you think he or she is the one, you owe it to yourself to fi nd out now, not later.
(09/11/09 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Less than 24 hours after a car accident on Fee Lane killed sophomore Peter Duong, IU announced Thursday that it would review the current traffic and pedestrian patterns to determine if any changes should be made.IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said these changes could come in the form of more crosswalks, stoplights, signs or altered speed limits.Safety experts in the IU Office of Risk Management have already started reviewing trends, he said.“Any time there’s an incident involving a student,” MacIntyre said, “the administration will conduct a thorough examination of all of the issues to determine if we need to put in place any additional safety measures.”Just hours after Duong was killed on Fee Lane, another accident happened at the 13th and Fee Lane intersection, said IU Police Department Lt. Craig Munroe.Around 10:30 p.m. a pizza delivery car was turning south off 13th Street when it bumped into a girl walking northbound. She was not injured in the incident, Munroe said.MacIntyre gave no timetable for when the review would be completed and sent to IU President Michael McRobbie.MacIntyre said, however, that under Indiana law, students do not have the right-of-way at crosswalks. He said cars only have to stop at crosswalks with flashing yellow lights. He said the committee will look into whether adding flashing lights would be beneficial.MacIntyre said the University has been reluctant in previous years to add more crosswalks to campus.“It’s always been our fear that if we have crosswalks all over campus we would inadvertently be giving them a false sense of security or expectation that they can step into the crosswalk and cars will stop,” MacIntyre said. The review will focus on Fee Lane, one of the busiest areas of campus, but may examine all IU streets.MacIntyre said that of the five accidents involving pedestrians on campus this calendar year, three were on Fee Lane and two occurred Wednesday.
(08/28/09 3:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU has reached a preliminary agreement with Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Ind., to make school more affordable for in-state students, said University spokesman Larry MacIntyre.While nothing is definite, MacIntyre said the University was pleased with talks between Kenley and IU President Michael McRobbie, and both parties said that an official agreement might be announced sometime next week.On Aug. 23, Kenley said he would not approve the building plans for IU or Purdue until the universities lower the tuition increases passed last month.But on Thursday, Kenley announced that he will put two of IU’s six building plans back on Friday’s agenda for approval by the State Budget Committee.The plans include a $18.5 million IU-Purdue University Indianapolis parking garage and a $1.5 million refurbishing of IU’s outdoor track, which Kenley said he added because the projects were time sensitive.Four projects, estimated at $7 million, still need to be added back to the agenda for approval before the University can begin work.Kenley, as chairman of the budget committee, has to approve all building projects proposed by state schools.The senator criticized IU and Purdue for tuition increases while Hoosier families are struggling to deal with the recession. Last month IU approved a 4.6 percent in-state tuition increase, and Purdue approved a 5 percent in-state tuition increase for the 2009-10 academic year.Although Kenley asked both schools to lower their increases, MacIntyre said that would require the board of trustees to meet again and revote.“The trustees have not indicated any desire to revisit their decision,” MacIntyre said.Rather, MacIntyre said the University was working on other options to help make school more affordable for in-state students, although he would not say what these options could include.Kenley said approval of the two plans on today’s agenda is not certain.“Right now we are going to look at priorities,” he said.Kenley said Thursday morning that he was still discussing his concerns with McRobbie. He said the outcome of the remaining plans depend on when Kenley and McRobbie can come to a consensus. Of the plans awaiting approval, MacIntyre said none are funded from state taxes or student tuition.In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Kenley said an announcement about a tuition solution could come as early as next week.As for Kenley’s suggestion of what IU’s tuition should be lowered to, he said he did not have an idea at the moment of what he would approve.“That is what is currently being discussed,” he said.MacIntyre meanwhile seemed optimistic about the ongoing talks, which he described as “complicated.”“We think there are some affordability measures that can be done to help in-state students and please Senator Kenley,” MacIntyre said.
(01/22/09 4:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Dean of Students Dick McKaig could teach a class on getting pied in the face.The self-proclaimed “expert” could lecture for hours on how the first three or four pies taste good, or how the Cool Whip eventually gets rancid, or how your clothes get stiff.“I’ve had many a T-shirt or hat that came out rather starched from having done a pie-in-the-face routine,” McKaig said.McKaig has done it all: dunk tanks, tattoos and earrings, Cat in the Hat and the Cowardly Lion.In his 38 years at IU, the last 18 of which he has been the dean of students, McKaig has undergone countless forms of self-humiliation for charities and student events, including the occasional pie in the face.This semester will be his last at IU. While McKaig called his retirement a “calendar thing” and points to his turning 65 this year, he said it will be a well-needed break.“The job is exciting enough and rewarding enough that one could keep doing it, and it’s also exhausting enough that one could really look forward to not doing it for a while,” he said.McKaig said during the school year he is often on campus from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., talking to students, staff and parents, fulfilling his duties as a dean and attending student activities.He makes it a point to be visible to students and appreciate the traditions at IU. He has attended every Little 500 since 1973. Attending events and meeting students is what keeps the ever-busy McKaig going.“You get to some of these student events, and they’re so much fun you really are re-energized to the process,” McKaig said.McKaig is IU’s fifth dean of students and will leave a legacy of someone who cared about the well-being of students and the University.“He’s probably one of the best deans of students in America,” said University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis, who has known McKaig for almost 30 years.Gros Louis said McKaig will be remembered by students for years to come.“Many of those students are going to pass on those things they’ve learned from Dick to others,” Gros Louis said, “so his legacy is going to be like all great teachers and mentors. He’s someone that’s going to be felt for several generations.”In his years at IU, McKaig has built lasting relationships with students that extend past their years at IU.Last fall the IU Student Association held its 60th-anniversary meeting. IUSA president Luke Fields was surprised by how many students still had strong bonds with the dean of students.“There were student body presidents and executives back before I was even born,” Fields said. “To see how the kind of relationships those people still had with Dean McKaig 20 years later was unbelievable, and how he continues his job even after they’re not students.”When students talk about McKaig, three words are consistently spoken: genuine, committed and caring.Senior Rachael Tunick, the Union Board’s vice president for membership, has worked closely with McKaig in her time at the Union Board.She has been in meetings with him, hung out at his house and played cornhole with him.“He really knows how to make students feel really comfortable,” Tunick said. “He’s just a really happy person. He loves IU. I love being around him.”Tunick said McKaig has an ability to relate to students seldom seen in administrators.“There’s always something to laugh about when you’re around him,” she said.Students appreciate how frank and down-to-earth McKaig is in a university system that can sometimes seem cold and formal.“He’s just so candid, and it’s so clear how much he cares,” Tunick said. “It’s just genuine care. It really just shines from him. It’s just genuine and there’s nothing shady and nothing masking his personality.”Gros Louis said McKaig’s evenhandedness, humor and patience have made him an extraordinary dean of students.“Many student leaders have told me over the years that what they admire most about Dick is that he guides them, but he never tells them what to do,” Gros Louis said.Students also appreciate McKaig’s knowledge of the University, both past and present. “I’m not sure we can ever put a value on it,” Fields said. “We’re losing a mainstay of the University. I sincerely hope whoever the University brings on next will be able to fill those huge shoes.”Fields is on a committee of faculty, students and staff charged with naming recommendations for the next dean of students. The committee will give their list to IU Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson, who will make the decision.Junior Andrew Hahn, IUSA vice president for congress, said no matter who IU hires, no one can completely replace what McKaig means to the University.“Dean McKaig has really lived it here at IU, and we’re really losing that intangible aspect that we won’t be able to replace,” Hahn said.Gros Louis said McKaig “stands head and shoulders above” other deans of students across the country. He said students are losing a true ally at the University.“They know Dick McKaig is a mentor, a friend and a guide,” Gros Louis said. “He’s an amazing guy.”
(12/15/08 2:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Lazy students or lazy teachers?While the reason isn’t clear, the effects are: One in five college students comes to class “often or very often” without completing required readings or assignments, according to a national survey of college students.The results were released last month in the National Survey of Student Engagement, an annual study of about 770 universities across the country.IU professor Alex McCormick, director of the survey, called the study “worrisome” and said it was hard to pinpoint from where the results come.“The reality is multi-faceted,” McCormick said. He likened the problem to a two-way street, with teachers and students sharing some of the responsibility.“There’s plenty of blame to go around,” McCormick said.He said students might not be prepared because of a heavy course load, working a job or only doing part of the homework. Still, he said there are some that just don’t complete the readings.He said teachers should also be held accountable for students not completing the readings.“In some cases,” McCormick said, “the faculty members are assigning work that is not required to succeed in the class or work that students aren’t being held accountable for.”Students’ reaction to the survey was mixed, but many agreed some assignments were just busy work.“I’ve had reading that had nothing to do with what we’re doing in class or won’t be on the test,” said freshman Alan Case.Case said students find little motivation to complete unnecessary requirements.“It’s kind of hard to justify doing something that you know isn’t going to pop up in class again,” Case said.For young students, being unprepared comes from the new freedom.“It’s college. You pay for it. If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to,” said sophomore Rashonda Brooks, who said students had more supervision in high school.“There’s a big separation between you not having an adult telling you what to do and you being able to do whatever you want,” she said.Junior Tiffany Chamberlain said 20 percent sounded low and estimated it was about half. She said most people she talks to in class don’t come prepared.Still, McCormick said students must be accountable for their learning. Although he acknowledged that teachers play a role in the process, he said it is still the students’ responsibility to complete the assignments.“I’m sure some students are lazy,” Chamberlain said. “I can’t speak for everybody. I just think there’s just too much other stuff to be doing to sit down and read about things that aren’t that interesting.”
(11/18/08 4:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sixty years ago, James Warren Jones wasn’t a cult leader or a radical preacher. “Jim” Jones was just a 16-year-old freshman living at what is now the Ashton Center at IU.Today marks the 30th anniversary of when Jones – one of IU’s most notorious former students – ordered a mass suicide and murder of more than 900 people in Guyana, South America. The Jonestown massacre is one of the most deadly mass murder-suicides to date.On Nov. 18, 1978, Jones ordered his followers in Jonestown to drink cyanide-laced Flavor Aid or be killed. This decree came just after Jonestown followers killed members of a congressional delegation that was investigating reports of human rights abuses.Californian congressman Leo Ryan was killed and remains the only member of Congress to be killed in the line of duty.Religious studies doctoral candidate Jeremy Rapport specializes in alternative religious movements such as Jonestown, which he said Jones believed was his path to eternal salvation.“Jonestown was his vision of a socialist paradise that he thought was necessary for salvation,” Rapport said, “so he taught that the only way human beings can achieve salvation was in this socialist paradise.”Although Jones is most well-known for his religious and political beliefs, most students who recognize his name have probably heard the rumor that he used to live in Collins.Student services assistant Kristen Murphy heard the rumor while she lived in Collins in 1998. She said most students don’t know who Jones is or that he once went to IU.“More students in Collins know about that than the rest of the University because of that rumor,” she said. The truth is a different James Jones – James K. Jones – lived in Collins during that time.Rapport said Jones is not well-known at the University because some people don’t like to mention that he went to IU.“A lot of people know that he went here, a lot of people from the state know he’s a Hoosier, and a lot of people would just like to leave it at that,” Rapport said.During the time he spent at IU, Jones was seen as a loner. He used to sit alone staring into the Jordan River, often for hours at a time. In an Indiana Daily Student article written only nine days after the mass suicide, Kenneth Lemons – Jones’ freshman roommate – said, “Everyone got along beautifully. But this man had not one friend in the dormitory from the time he moved in until he moved out. But he wanted it that way.”Lemons also said he wasn’t surprised by the news about Jones’ cult and said Jones viewed himself as somewhat of a messiah.In a Herald Times article written less than a week after the 1978 massacre, Lemons remembered a time when he was on the top bunk and Jones was on the bottom. Lemons said Jones stabbed him with a hatpin through the thin mattress.Lemons added that Jones showed radical religious and political views while at school.“He considered himself above everyone else and pored over the Bible, often rambling about his religious philosophies,” Lemon said in the Herald Times article.Rapport said Jones’ religious beliefs were shaped early in his life in a rural part of the state.Jones was born in Lynn, Ind. and attended IU as an undergraduate between February 1948 and May 1951. During that time, Jones never declared a major. He then moved to Indianapolis and resumed his schooling during the spring semester of 1953 at IU Indianapolis, never completing an undergraduate degree.He took another hiatus from school until 1959. During this period he founded what would become the People’s Temple Christian Church Full Gospel. While in Indianapolis, Jones eventually got an education degree from Butler University.In 1965 Jones moved his radical church to Ukiah, Calif., due to anti-minority feelings in Indianapolis.The utopian settlement was moved to Jonestown, Guyana, in 1973.An IDS article from Oct. 5, 1989, explains a movie made about a Jonestown survivor Hyacinth Thrash.“His strong preaching style, along with forms of blackmail, gave Jones control over people’s lives,” Thrash said in the movie. “He took everything. Our money, our homes, our minds and eventually our lives.”For now, Jones remains one of IU’s most unknown and sinister former students.“His legacy at Indiana is more or less the same as it is nation-wide,” Rapport said. “He is this infamous man who happened to be a Hoosier.”
(11/12/08 4:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Former Sen. John Edwards said Sen. John McCain had a weight around his neck in the final days of the presidential campaign.That weight, he said, was President Bush.Edwards spoke Tuesday at the IU Auditorium as a part of the Indiana Memorial Union Board’s speaker series. The talk was his first public appearance since August, when he admitted to having an extramarital affair with a campaign staff member when his wife was battling cancer. During that three month period, Edwards remained out of the public eye as Barack Obama campaigned for the presidency.But Tuesday, with the elections a week past, Edwards took the stage to talk about what an Obama administration would mean for America and the world.“The most important thing for President-elect Obama to provide is vision,” Edwards said.He called on a “new era” of American leadership in areas such as foreign policy, climate change, the economy, the Iraq War and health care.“That’s what the American people wanted to see, and at the top of the ticket they saw it in Barack Obama,” he said.Edwards also said the election outcomes showed that the American people are ready for something new in politics.“The result of last Tuesday was not an accident,” he said. He later added, “Americans want change, and they wanted something different.”The former North Carolina senator showed few signs of rust after months on the sideline of the election. He was his usual self: confident, relaxed, funny.At one point when talking about the elections, he said McCain “came back from the dead to win the Republican nomination.”Some in the crowd chuckled at the remark about McCain, who would have been the oldest president elected.“That was not a joke,” said a smiling Edwards, to which the crowd erupted in laughter.Edwards began the night talking about the election process and said Obama’s long primary battle with Sen. Hillary Clinton helped strengthen him as a candidate.Those familiar with Edwards probably recognized familiar pillars from his past stumps on the campaign trail.He said the central cause of his life was eliminating poverty and said he would work for the rest of his life to achieve it.He also hit on some of his typical campaign themes, such as universal health care and strengthening the economy.One of Edwards’ strongest messages was the need for America to be a world leader again. He sharply criticized the Bush foreign policy of the last eight years.“America cannot bully its way to making the world a safer place,” he said.Edwards said Obama will make the United States respected once again on foreign shores.He also said economic and energy problems are international as well as domestic issues.“Without global cooperation,” he said, “these problems cannot be solved, and America needs to lead the way.”He spoke for about 30 minutes and then fielded 13 questions for another half hour.Questions were selected from those written down before the speech, including some about Clinton and Sen. Joe Liebermen, a Democrat-turned-independent who is being heavily criticized by his former party for campaigning with McCain before the election.Edwards dodged any controversial remarks during questions and made no reference to his affair or his wife.He applauded grassroots organizational work done in cities like Bloomington during the elections. He said the youth brought a freshness and energy to the campaign this year.“We need you,” Edwards said. “America needs you, and I hope you stay involved.”
(11/12/08 3:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Tuesday night, former Sen. John Edwards said that Sen. John McCain had a weight around his neck in the final days of the presidential campaign.That weight, he said, was sitting President Bush.Edwards spoke at the IU Auditorium as a part of the Indiana Memorial Union Board’s speaker series. The talk was his first public appearance since August, when he admitted to having an extramarital affair with a campaign staff member when his wife was battling cancer. During that three month period, Edwards remained out of the public eye as Sen. Barack Obama campaigned for the presidency.But Tuesday, with the elections a week past, Edwards took the stage to talk about what an Obama administration would mean for America and the world.“The most important thing for the President-elect Obama to provide is vision,” Edwards said.He called on a “new era” of American leadership in areas such as foreign policy, climate change, the economy, the Iraq War and health care.“That’s what the American people wanted to see, and at the top of the ticket they saw it in Barack Obama,” he said.Edwards also said the election outcomes showed that the American people are ready for something new in politics.“The result of last Tuesday was not an accident,” he said. He later added, “Americans want change, and they wanted something different.”The former North Carolina senator showed few signs of rust after months on the sideline of the election. He was his usual self: confident, relaxed, funny.At one point when talking about the elections, he said McCain “came back from the dead to win the Republican nomination.”Some in the crowd chuckled at the remark about McCain, who would have been the oldest president elected.“That was not a joke,” said a smiling Edwards, to which the crowd erupted in laughter.Edwards began the night talking about the election process and said Sen. Hillary Clinton’s long primary battle with Obama helped strengthen him as a candidate.Those familiar with Edwards probably recognized familiar pillars from his past stumps on the campaign trail.He said the central cause of his life was eliminating poverty and said he would work for the rest of it to achieve it.He also hit on some of his typical campaign themes, such as the universal health care and strengthening the economy.One of Edwards’ strongest messages was the need for America to be a world leader again. He sharply criticized the Bush foreign policy of the last eight years.“America cannot bully its way to making the world a safer place,” he said.Edwards said Obama will make the United States respected once again on foreign shores.He also said economic and energy problems are international, as well as domestic issues.“Without global cooperation these problems cannot be solved and America needs to lead the way.”He spoke for about 30 minutes and then fielded 13 questions for another half hour.Questions were selected from those written down before the speech, including some about Clinton and Sen. Joe Liebermen, a Democrat who campaigned for McCain during the election.Edwards dodged any controversial remarks during questions and made no reference to his affair or his wife.He applauded grassroots organizational work done in cities like Bloomington during the elections. He said the youth brought a freshness and energy to the campaign this year.“We need you,” Edwards said. “America needs you, and I hope you stay involved.”
(11/11/08 5:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Former Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards will break almost three months of public silence when he speaks at 7 p.m. today at the IU Auditorium. Edwards admitted in August to having an extramarital affair with a campaign staff member while his wife battled cancer in 2006 and canceled all speaking events until after the election.Edwards’ speech, titled “The Land of Opportunity,” comes one week after Barack Obama won the presidential election. Union Board lectures director Andrew Dahlen said the former North Carolina senator will give his reaction to the election and brings a unique perspective to the race.“I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for students and the community, especially in such a tumultuous time,” he said.Dahlen said he expects Edwards to talk about the future of the country and hit upon key points in his platform as a senator.Edwards will speak for 45 minutes, which includes a 15-minute question-and-answer session, Dahlen said. Audience members will have a chance to write down questions, some of which will be asked, Dahlen said.Dahlen said the Union Board decided to not allow open-ended questions from the audience, but rather use written questions. He said it had little to do with protecting unwanted questions about Edwards’ affair.“It was mainly just insuring a different topic of questions can be brought up so not everyone’s asking about his stance on education or something like that,” Dahlen said.But the Union Boards’ decision to bring Edwards to speak – which cost $35,000 – has garnered criticism on whether it is appropriate to pay someone to speak who recently admitted his extramarital affair. The Union Board knocked off $15,000 from the proposal after Edwards admitted to his affair in August.Justin Hill, former chairman of Students for John McCain, said he prefers a speaker who is more involved in the presidential campaigns.“He campaigned as one person, and he turned out to be someone else,” Hill said. “I personally would prefer to hear from someone like a campaign manager who is really in the nitty-gritty and in the grind of the process.”Still, Dahlen said he believes people will see past Edwards’ mistake and will recognize the unique perspective he can bring to the race.“The perspective is really unrivaled,” Dahlen said, “as far as individuals that could comment on the presidential election, and I think students recognize that.”
(11/05/08 7:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>CHICAGO – Yes they did.The chant shouted Tuesday night was only a two-word modification of the one yelled throughout the previous 21 months of Barack Obama’s campaign.But the difference was enormous.Shortly before midnight, Obama took center stage in Grant Park and greeted thousands of screaming supporters as the next president of the United States.He sent them a message similar to one they’ve heard repeatedly throughout the campaign.“It’s been a long time coming,” Obama said, “but tonight because of what we did on this date, in this election, change has come to America.”The next president said that while they achieved something great, there is still an enormous task at hand.“For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime,” Obama said.He said now the country must move to focus on issues such as the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the recent financial crisis.But – just as he did throughout the campaign – Obama said together the people will rise to meet these challenges.“The road in the end will be long, the climb will be steep,” Obama said. “We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful that we will get there. I promise you we as a people will get there.”Obama said in the coming years as president, he will not lose sight of whom his victory is for.“Above all, I will never forget who this victory really belongs to – you,” he said.Obama thanked his campaign staff – which he called the best “campaign team ever assembled,” as well as his family and running mate, Sen. Joe Biden.Obama also praised his opponent Sen. John McCain – who minutes earlier had given his concession speech from Arizona – for his work in the campaign and years of service to the American people.Obama’s improbable campaign, which started last February in Springfield, Ill., came to a close Tuesday night in front of a crowd that had been gathering throughout the day, many since morning.Much of Obama’s speech was a refrain from what he has said during his campaign.Once again, like he did at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 in Boston, he called for a nation united as one people.“In this country, we rise and fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long,” Obama said.He also called for a nation that didn’t see divisions by party, race or any other distinction.Instead he called for a nation joined by a stronger bond.“We are and always will be the United States of America,” he said.But in the end, Obama’s message wasn’t about the past, but rather the future. He asked Americans to look forward to their children’s generation.“What change will they see?” Obama asked. “What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time.”
(11/04/08 5:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Regardless of the outcome in today’s elections, there will be a first in Washington next January.Either the first black man will be president or the first woman will be vice president, capping what might be the most ground-breaking election in America’s history.But these firsts don’t come without risks and challenges for each candidate’s constituents.While it will take a long time to know how race and gender affected the elections, once the results are tallied tonight – or Wednesday morning – at least one group will be left searching for answers. President Obama would ‘shake the world’ IU-Purdue University Indianapolis political science professor Brian Vargus said race was downplayed during the election for a host of reasons. He said polls indicate about 5 percent to 15 percent of voters are likely to make their decision based on race.He said a lot of the people who would not vote for Obama because he is black, but there are many people who will vote for him based on race.Vargus said there would not be a good indicator of what role race played until well after the election, when surveys and research polls ask people about how they voted.Even this presents a problem, said IU political science professor Marjorie Hershey.“The biggest challenge for a lot of us is trying to figure out how much of a role racial stereotyping and racial prejudice is playing in a campaign,” she said. “It’s difficult to measure. It’s not something most people feel comfortable talking about in polls.”Another problem, Hershey said, is voters might not even be aware how race affects their decision.For some Obama supporters, his candidacy is a tremendous milestone for civil rights, but his presidency would be one of the greatest.“It would shake the world, and it would be a triumph for freedom,” said Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, a professor of Afro-American Studies at IU.For Calloway-Thomas, a President Obama would rank alongside Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, the Brown v. Board of Education ruling and the 1963 march on Washington.“It has to be one of those moments,” Calloway-Thomas said. “It would shake the world because it would be so symbolic and salient and say so much about the beauty of humankind.”IU professor Ted Carmines, who teaches a class on the 2008 elections, said President Obama would be an important symbol.“That doesn’t mean that all of the racial differences will have suddenly disappeared,” Carmines said. “African-Americans are still and will continue to be poorer, less healthy, less educated, less advantaged in almost every way than the majority of the white population, but symbolically it will be very important, there’s no doubt about that.”While the presidential race looks like it will be close, Hershey said Democrats will increase their majorities in the House and the Senate, which could also indicate something about racial influences.“That suggests that there are different dynamics going on, and the different dynamic is that we have an African-American candidate,” Hershey said. “The likelihood is that if Senator Obama were not black, his vote totals would be substantially higher.”The Sarah Palin effect Zero times two is still zero.That’s how Hershey quantifies the Sarah Palin effect.Hershey said vice presidents have almost no impact on how people will vote. She acknowledged that Palin is a polarizing figure in the election but said people vote for the top of the ticket, not the bottom.The most any vice-presidential nominee has influenced a race was half a percentage point, Hershey said. So if Palin makes twice as much difference as any other running mate has, that’s still just 1 percent.Palin and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton made gender a key role in this election as two of the most serious female candidates for the executive office since Democrat Geraldine Ferraro ran as a Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 1984.But for Carmines, Palin and Clinton represent opposing forces.“They’re two different embodiments of the women’s movement,” he said.Carmines said Clinton represents the modern and cutting-edge women’s movement, and Palin represents the social conservative’s reaction to that.This affects how a Palin victory will change the women’s movement, he said.“She’s so antithetical to the women’s movement, so I don’t think there would be much impact there,” he said. “It’s almost like Clarence Thomas. ... He was not seen as this champion of African-Americans, and I don’t think she’s going to be seen as a champion of women.”This is one reason why gender is less of an issue than race. Another, Vargus said, is that women moved into higher positions in the government.For instance, while there have been 35 women senators, there have only been five black senators. Currently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is third in line to take the presidency. These indicate that – at least for the time being – women have achieved more in political advances than blacks.But that doesn’t mean work is over for the women’s movement. IU College Republican chairwoman Chelsea Kane said she is excited to see if Palin becomes the first female vice president.“It would be really exciting,” Kane said, “because it shows that women in the Republican party are not exceptions and not discounted from being viable leaders.”From here?Whichever first is realized, there will be many unanswered questions Wednesday, some of which include the effect gender and race had on the election.More than likely, both women and blacks will reevaluate their place – for better or worse – in American politics.If Obama loses, race relations will once again move under the public microscope.“If he does not win, it would create a sensitivity about who we are as a people, and it would also invite a serious discussion of civil rights and the meaning of race in America,” Calloway-Thomas said.Kane said if Palin were to be the first woman vice president, she would be a role model for conservative women across the country.“You can see a little bit of yourself in her,” Kane said.Kane said she hopes voters make their minds based on who’s best for the country, despite the importance race and gender have played in the elections. “That is a difference,” she said, “but I don’t think those are distinctions that make a candidate any more or less worthy.”
(11/03/08 6:40pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In 2004 Barack Obama was a little-known state senator from Illinois. The political newcomer had only been in politics for eight years, but was already making a name for himself in the party.And then came the speech.In what might be the best-remembered and most-talked-about speech this decade, a rising star in the Democratic Party addressed the Democratic National Convention with one message: hope.A political hero was born.The central theme of Obama’s speech, called “The Audacity of Hope,” was the story of his life, of his parents’ and grandparents’ lives, of race and riots, of ambition and – most importantly – of hope.Humble BeginningsThe story of how a poor, multiracial boy became a presidential nominee starts in the goat-herding fields of Kenya, where Obama’s father grew up. It travels west to America to a university in Hawaii and meets his white mother from Kansas. When Obama was 2 years old, the couple divorced, and Obama’s father moved back to Kenya. He would see his father only one more time in his life before being informed of his death when Obama was 21.Obama recalls the moment in his first book, “Dreams From My Father,” when his aunt in Nairobi called to give him the news one morning. “I sat down on the couch, smelling eggs burn in the kitchen, staring at cracks in the plaster, trying to measure my loss. At the time of his death, my father remained a myth to me, both more and less than a man.”Obama’s story also took him to Indonesia as a child, then Hawaii as a teenager and Los Angeles as a college student before he transferred to Columbia University in New York.He then went to Chicago as a community organizer for a non-profit organization. After a few years, he was accepted into Harvard Law School, where he worked for the Harvard Law Review and became its first black editor.Obama received a lot of attention for this appointment and was even approached to write a book after he graduated. “Dreams From My Father” was printed in 1995. One of the main themes in the book is how Obama dealt with his identity as a multiracial young man throughout his life, as well as the absence of his father.Not ‘beanbag politics’After Harvard, Obama returned to Chicago’s south side, where he began to contemplate a career in politics. In 1996 he was elected to the Illinois State Senate. He won easily after he challenged the petition signatures of his opponents, knocking many of them off the ballot.This sort of machine or dirty politics was what Chicago was known for. Brian Vargus, a political science professor at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, said that reputation can be either good or bad.“He survived through that world,” Vargus said. “It’s both a positive and a negative. It’s a place where you learn – in Chicago – that ‘politics ain’t beanbag.’”Four years after his victory, Obama set his sights on winning his local House seat. His opponent: four-term Democratic incumbent Bobby Rush.Obama lost the race handily by a 2-1 margin. By almost all accounts, Obama returned to the Illinois Senate humbled by his defeat. For one of the first times in his life, Obama’s ambition was met with overwhelming defeat.Soon after, Obama began eyeing a run for the U.S. Senate in 2004. In preparation for the race, Obama hired David Axelrod as one of his campaign strategists. Axelrod is now Obama’s chief political strategist and has been called the architect of Obama’s political message.Right-hand man sharpens Obama’s messageAxelrod has been called the greatest political adviser between the coasts, as well as the Democratic equivalent of Bush’s Karl Rove. Axelrod has proven to be one of Obama’s biggest strengths – helping to focus Obama’s “brand” of hope, idealism and change. In fact, it was in this 2004 Senate race that Obama began using his message of hope and change as a focal point of his campaign.It was also in 2004 that Obama got the biggest break of his life – a call from Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, offering Obama the keynote speech at the convention.“That really boosted him into the national spotlight in a way that had not happened before,” said Marjorie Hershey, a political science professor at IU.Riding his newfound celebrity and media spotlight, Obama won his Senate bid easily but was still an outsider in what Vargus called the “most exclusive club.”Vargus, an expert in election politics, said Obama’s appointment to the Senate subcommittee on foreign relations was very important. It enabled the relatively new Obama to gain quick international experience.A historic riseObama announced his candidacy in February 2006 and was one of the early underdogs to challenge frontrunner Hillary Clinton. That announcement began what would end as one of the longest and most intense primary battle in history.“She was anointed before the parties even started, like a year and a half ago,” said Vargus of Clinton’s big lead.Obama – with Axelrod by his side – brought his message of hope and change to every state, surprising pundits with his early victory in Iowa, and sealed his nomination when he rattled off nine straight wins after Super Tuesday.The convention in August – where Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president – capped one of the quickest rises to presidential nomination in American history.But this isn’t unusual, Hershey said, because many presidential candidates were unknowns to the American people before running for the office.She added that parties often use up-and-comers to highlight their conventions. She said Bill Clinton was also able to use a speech at the 1988 Convention as a path to the nomination – and eventually the presidency – four years later.Obama also rose at a time when the Democratic Party was looking for a new voice, Vargus said. “He was in the right place at the right time. He fell into a situation where the Democrats were a divided party,” Vargus said. “He could represent the constituency that felt it had been left out for a long time. He seized the moment.”
(11/03/08 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the final hours of the presidential election, Indiana voters find themselves in an unfamiliar position.Hoosier votes are being fought for by both major parties for the first time in more than four decades.In the past week alone, Gov. Sarah Palin visited Jeffersonville, Ind., on Wednesday, Sen. Barack Obama rallied in Lake County on Friday and Sen. Joe Biden stumped on Saturday in Evansville.Sen. John McCain’s rally in Indianapolis today will mark the eighth combined visit between the two parties since the beginning of October.For the first time in years, the traditionally Republican stronghold is garnering attention late in the election season and is one of a handful of states that will help decide the next president.“This is an incredible role,” said Justin Hill, chairman of IU Students for John McCain. “For the first time in a long time Indiana is in contention.”Indiana solidified itself as a swing state in October, when polls tightened and Obama, Biden and Palin began blitzing the state.Palin and Obama have each visited the state three times, and Biden and McCain have each visited once since Oct. 8.All of this new enthusiasm and focus on Indiana means great things for student involvement, Hill said.He said research shows that people who vote in their first election have a better chance of being lifetime voters than those who don’t.He said he’s excited to see so many students getting involved in the process.“The fact that it’s getting people involved now will get them involved in the future as well,” Hill said.Students working for both campaigns said Indiana’s battleground status gives them extra motivation to get students to vote for their candidate.“It’s given us that incentive to work that much harder, and getting students to the polls is that much more important,” said Anna Strand, president of the IU College Democrats.Strand said Indiana will play a pivotal role on election day.“Indiana could be a make-or-break for this campaign,” she said.
(10/31/08 3:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As senior Andrew Sharp drags his brown sneakers back and forth to clear leaves and seeds off the sidewalk, the cynicism in his voice is matched only by his frustration.“We used to do it every week last year,” he says, dropping to his knees and drawing a “D” with orange jumbo chalk.“Now we don’t do it as much because we don’t have as concentrated an effort,” he says, “and there’s not as much need to get the name out.”The “it” Sharp is referring to is sidewalk chalking. And the name is Ron Paul, an independent who ran for the Republican presidential nomination. Sharp is president of the IU Students for Liberty, a chapter of Paul’s national campaign, which began a spirited movement to raise awareness of Paul’s candidacy last spring.During last semester’s primaries, Sharp says he remembers a lot more excitement in the group. Sometimes a dozen people would come out to chalk the sidewalks of campus.But on this October afternoon – with the sun overhead and breeze kicking up the newly fallen leaves – it’s just he and freshman Sam Spaiser spreading the “Liberty” message.Finished with one writing, Sharp drops the chalk in the small opaque bin, grabbing the handle as he stands up. Below him it says “Don’t waste your vote on McBama! Vote 3rd party.”While Sharp is still looking down, Spaiser walks from where he was chalking a few yards away.“Hey, I just got done writing, ‘End the Fed. End Republocrats,’” Spaiser told Sharp. “Then this guy walked by and was like, ‘What’s the Fed?’”Both share a laugh at the other man’s expense. The Federal Reserve, or Fed, regulates America’s monetary policy and interest rates. For Libertarians, the Fed is one of the most despised parts of the government.The pair is standing on University Road, just south of the Indiana Memorial Union near Owen Hall. They split up, Sharp heading east on University Road toward Ballantine Hall and Spaiser heading west toward Indiana Avenue, each with a chalk bucket in tow.Sharp walks slowly, estimating the distance between each chalking.“Obama, McCain. More of the same. Vote 3rd Party.”With each block comes a new saying, each as harsh as the next.“Vote oppression, Vote Obama. Vote freedom, Vote 3rd Party.”Sharp is no rookie when it comes to chalking. He and four other people spent five hours writing out the Constitution last semester outside the Dave Matthews concert.“There’s not really as much excitement or drive to get involved,” he said. “Now it’s just all McCain and Obama, nothing else.”2-party strangleholdWith days remaining until the next president will be elected, America waits in limbo for the decision. But for members of IU Students for Liberty, the outcome has already been decided.The winner? Status quo, they say. Whether it’s Democrat or Republican, it’s still big government, and it’ll still demolish the little guys.“The two-party system has definitely tightened their stranglehold on the way the operation has run,” Sharp said. “It has been worse now than it has previously, but I think it’s been going on for a while.”Sharp points to organizations such as debate commissions – which are made up of Democrats and Republicans – that decide the rules of presidential debates – such as who can attend – as ways the “establishment” silences anyone on the outside.“It is really disgusting that we think we have this free and open process and democratic society,” Sharp said.Freshman John Bullock said just having two sides in a discussion is narrow-minded.“It just seems like a lot of people with different viewpoints don’t get their voices heard even though they might have a valid idea,” Bullock said. “But just because they don’t fall into those two parties they can’t be heard.”Bullock and his fellow Libertarians have been on the outside of the election cycle. Although Paul managed to win more votes in the Nevada caucuses than Republican candidate John McCain, Paul will serve as merely a footnote in this election, which has been dominated by McCain and Democratic nominee Barack Obama for the past three months.“I definitely feel like an outsider,” he said, “because a political discussion is between the two parties and those views, and anyone who’s a third party gets brushed off to the side because they support people the public says can’t win.”Sharp said he will likely vote for Chuck Baldwin, presidential nominee of the Constitution party. Spaiser said he voted early for Baldwin because Paul endorsed him. But when Bullock cast his absentee ballot for Illinois, he voted for every race except the president because he couldn’t find any candidate he fully supported.“Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil,” he said.More of the sameMcBama.Sharp couldn’t help but drop the newest buzzword.The hybrid surname sums up how Libertarians feel about the two major parties.Spaiser said there is a lot of talk about change in the election, but none of the candidates are offering any true difference.They support changes such as eliminating the Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service, reducing the national debt, balancing the budget, protecting civil liberties and using sound monetary policy and noninterventionist foreign policy.Spaiser likened the “democratic process” to a ping-pong ball being hit back and forth by the two main players, never going anywhere new.“I see more big government no matter which way you turn,” Spaiser said. “I don’t really see a real choice of fixing the problems right now. I think it’ll just get worse.”Libertarians want to return the government to the powers delegated to it under the Constitution, with a weaker central government and more state and local powers.But Spaiser doesn’t blame “McBama” supporters. To him they’re not ignorant, only a little misguided.“There’s a lot of really great people supporting Obama or McCain, but they may not realize what they’re supporting,” he said.Instead he blames a system that thwarts outside criticism and a media that ignores everyone else.Spaiser said he feels he has to try to enlighten people about how the system works and other ways of thinking about politics.“It’s part of my responsibility to spread the message and educate people who are open and willing to hear it,” he said.IU Students for Liberty members aren’t unrealistic about what they can accomplish. They don’t expect victories, just to spread the message and influence the public debate.But Spaiser said he believes one day people will support their “Liberty” message.“You just get enough angry people and enough people who aren’t happy with what’s going on to get onboard with a new movement,” he said, “and you can really effect some real serious change.”Getting people’s attentionSharp finishes his last chalking near the bicycle racks outside Ballantine and begins to walk back to the Union to meet Spaiser.He walks on the south sidewalk, slowly studying his writings as he passes over them.As he nears one chalking, he sees that someone has erased the words “McCain = Obama,” leaving the phrase “More war. More taxes. Less freedom.”“They erased both,” he said puzzled, staring at the clouds left from the names. He said one person probably erased McCain and another erased Obama.He drops to his knees and grabs the red chalk to rewrite McCain. He switches that for the blue chalk and again prints Obama’s name.“That was fast,” he says, pulling himself up and walking toward the Union again, seemingly pleased that people are noticing the chalkings.He walks the final leg to the green awning near the Union. About 10 seconds down the sidewalk, an old man who noticed him rewriting the chalkings walks over to see what he wrote.“I hate to tell you, but Nader will never win,” he yells over his shoulder at Sharp’s back.Not missing a stride, Sharp tilts his head toward the man.“Not if we don’t vote for him,” Sharp says, a wry smile spreading across his face. Though the effect might be small, for Sharp the real difference is symbolic.“That kind of makes me want to do more,” he said, continuing to walk away. “I’m getting people’s attention.”
(10/27/08 3:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>FORT WAYNE – Less than two weeks after John McCain made “Joe the Plumber” a household name in the 2008 elections, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin introduced Hoosiers on Saturday to two more average Joes.Palin singled out “Doug the Barber” and “Chris the Electrician” as two hard-working Americans from the crowd of about 10,000 at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.She used the pair to support her claim that “Barack the wealth-spreader” wasn’t representing average Americans. SLIDESHOW: Sarah PalinThe visit was the second in eight days to the Hoosier state for the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Palin will return Wednesday to Jeffersonville, Ind., where Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke last month. This will be her third visit to Indiana in two weeks.Palin’s recent Indiana blitz comes as she and McCain try to secure typical Republican strongholds like Indiana, which Biden and Sen. Barack Obama have made a push to turn blue.Palin spent most of her 40-minute speech drawing comparisons between Obama and McCain and criticizing Obama’s economic policies.“He says he’s for a tax credit, which is when the government takes more of your money to give it away to someone else according to that politicians’ priorities,” she said. “John McCain and I, we are for a real tax cut, which is when the government takes less of your earnings in the first place.”She called on attendees to explore Obama’s tax plans.“You have to really listen to our opponent’s words,” Palin said. “You have to hear what he is saying and even the nuances there in his answers because he’s hiding his real agenda of redistributing your hard-earned money.”She said a McCain-Palin administration would lower income taxes, double the child tax deduction for every family, cut the capital gains tax and cut the business tax so companies will stay in America rather than move overseas.Palin appeared with her husband Todd and two of her daughters, Piper and Willow. Several local Republicans spoke before her, and country music star Hank Williams Jr. played for about 15 minutes.Junior Pat Buschman, a member of the IU College Republicans, was selected to sit in the coveted seats just a few feet behind Palin.He said the presence of Palin’s family reaffirmed traditional conservative values. Buschman attended last week’s rally in Noblesville, Ind., at the Verizon Wireless Music Center. He said Verizon had a less intimate and personal atmosphere than the close quarters of the coliseum.At one point while the crowd erupted in cheers, Buschman saw Palin turn to Williams and say, “This is so amazing.”“I don’t think she was expecting it to be so crazy,” Buschman said of the energetic crowd.For Buschman, being so close to the possible next vice president was a unique experience.“The political stuff is cool, but some of the side things she said isn’t what you get to see on television, unless you get up close like I was.”Buschman said “Joe the Plumber” symbolizes how McCain and Palin can connect with everyday people.“She seems real down-to-earth and more like average Americans,” he said. “It’s her showing everybody ‘I’m not a Washington insider. I’m here to come to Washington to reform it.’”While “Joe the Plumber” might be the most talked about person in this election, Buschman said he feels that Joe underscores McCain’s and Palin’s message.“I think it’s working,” Buschman said. “He’s just a normal person with normal questions.I think it is reaching people. I think you’re seeing more and more people jump on McCain’s side.”Palin said when Americans go to the polls Nov. 4 they will be voting for a vision of the country. It’s a decision, she said, with two starkly different options.“This is a choice between a politician who believes in spreading the wealth,” she said, “and a leader in John McCain who believes in spreading opportunity.”