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Show Courtesy of XKCD me Staff, Spring 2010 !' Dear Sony, Itotnuofr, leis me 0 deal Yo sfef am hd X phj if?' ,U' frrd wal croslr your hetnes under toy iie?onaUj Editor: of && StaffWriters: Laurel McLane David Patterson Krista Smith Business Manager: Eric Nielsen Production Manager: Kendra Black Jenni Stokes Contributing Writers: Walter Dennison Harry Cross Jr. Advisor: Kim Zarkin Jennifer Soto-Allr- ed The Forum is published every other Tuesday. Its circulation is 1,000 newspapers. The first copy is free of charge; additional copies may be purchased for 50 cents. We encourage students, all faculty, staff and other readers to provide feedback. letters to Krista Smith at forumeditor(westminstercollege. edu. Only signed letters will be accepted. The Forum reserves the right to edit all submissions. Views expressed are those of the writers and are not to be considered those of The Forum, the faculty, staff or administration. E-m- ail Take the pundits, leave the comedians Why I want talk shows out of my politics Letter to the Editor Thank you, Chinese students I Krista Smith Editor ! , Glenn Beck is welcome to flee to Costa Rica at any moment. I have full intentions of taking advantage of having consistent health insurance for the first time The last Rasmussen Report shows that 32.9 percent of the country falls into this group, thats more than the 32.1 percent Republicans and not too much less than the 35.1 percent in my life. Republican or Democrat, it doesnt matter. At this moment, your party isnt good enough for you. No one is realistically talking about whats wrong and what they are willing to do to fix it. All anyone will say in public is that they disagree. What happened to the idea of improving America through democracy? Its time for the citizens of America to stop counting on the pundits of the world to tell them what to think. Its time to turn off the TV. If we really want America to change, were going to have to do things the old fashioned way and read. Go to whitehouse.gov, visit washingtonpost.com, read The New York Times (they give it away for free in Shaw) and understand that the best decision you can make for you is going to come from your own knowledge, not from some guy in a suit on TV telling you what he wants you to think. Because that guy is just like you and doesnt know what is going on either. Political pundits shows should be cancelled, only the comedians can stay. The best news coverage isnt the person telling you why they think America has problems. The best news is telling you whats going on in America so you can decide if America has problems. We need to create an actual dialogue where we discuss real issues like poverty, homelessness, education and the economy. We need to figure out why one of the wealthiest countries in the world cant feed their children. We need to figure out how the country that started public education cant get everyone to learn about Thomas Jefferson. We need to figure out how to talk to each other so, we can make the United States of America a place where political discourse happens because thats what citizens do. Q Did you know that in 2014 you will be required to have insurance? Did you know that you can stay on your parents insurance until you are 26? Did you know that if you make less than $10,800 a year your insurance wont cost more than 4 percent of your total income? Thats what healthcare reform did. The weirdest thing that happened? Apparendy theres a new tax on tanning beds that goes into effect in 2014. If you decide to fake back, you may be charged an extra 2.5 percent tax for the experience of hot lights and goofy goggles. Im sure Heidi Montag is pissed. The explosion of anger this bill caused was unbelievable. I know of a nurse who disapproves of Obamacare because its socialist. And so is the federal grants and loans students receive to earn a B.S.N. I understand that in life you make compromises, but should American democracy be reduced to two extremist positions? Pundits and politicians only seem to agree to argue. My political beliefs actually dont make me scream incoherently about how progressivism is leading to China. I want someone at MSNBC to say, This is America and we can make this country better. Then I want them to stop complaining long enough to act like a journalist. Call a politician and ask them a goddamned question like, Why do you think Americans dont want easier access to healthcare? And if a politician can only respond with Thats the party line. We need to ask ourselves why. Why are politicians so afraid to disagree with their party? Why isnt there a third party of all those Independents, undeclared and disenchanted citizens? VOLUME XLIII: ISSUE 14 self-identifi- j 1 ar ed self-identifi- I ed Democrats. Dear Editor, This letter is to express appreciation for some extraordinary help my husband (age 85 with recent open-hesurgery) and I (age 69, arthritic with two hip replacements) received last month. We were in a mountain leading precarious situation on the slick-roc- k down from Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. We had both visited the site years ago and wished to return to this special spot together. Unfortunately we werent remembering the challenges of the trail, and we were unprepared for the icy condition we found near the arch itself. After traveling 1 Vi miles up a steep trail, it was difficult to accept defeat and return to safety without reaching our destination, even though it would have been prudent to do so. The struggle to reach the arch took more than time than we expected, so when we finally snapped the desired picture, we hurriedly began our descent, since it was already growing dark, The slick rock surface sometimes required sliding rather than walking, but we hurried as fast as we could, knowing that when all light was gone we would no longer be able to see the cairns marking the trail or the muddy stretches or the streams and uneven rocks we needed to navigate. Other people on the mountain passed us on their way down and commiserated about our dilemma, but eventually we were alone. Then we heard singing. It was a group of nine Westminster students from China, who thankfully took the time and effort to help us. One girl had a cell phone which let off barely enough light to illuminate the trail around our feet. Another girl took my arm and stayed with us all the way to the parking lot and safety. We dont know these students, but we wish to thank them again for their thoughtful assistance. Without their help and honest concern, we would have been In a dangerous situation. Perhaps this letter will reach them. j I ; . j ! J j j I ; ! 1 I j j 1 1 , ; : Sincerely, The Parkinsons Ogden , Utah . |