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Show OPINION 2 200g DIXIE SUN S Nickmihalopolols if you have a home Dixle gage, you soon may have to Sim Staff Writer mort- spend money they don't have. Hypocrites! They have the nerve to give the American people financial at go :ver can just ere-- 9 conomic bailout: more harmful than helpful fe P'e -- bailout plan to save the tax payer will get to pay for this $700 billion bailout. to economy. According of Congress Web f The government must be crazy! They have a huge debt, our banks are failing, the stock market is free falling, and they think the answer is to spend even more money we dont have. Taxpayers have been advised by the government to save their money and not Library the at http:tliomas.loc.gov, e outlines plan pur-o- f banks financial institutions that ", been taken over by the assets from Other banks will also f their bad mortgage bought eniment. by the federal This means that advice while they hand a $700 billion blank check to Congress. Of course, the politicians dont mind spending this money; after all, they dont have to pay for any of it. In the end, the U.S. taxpayer will get to bail out all these evil bank CEOs and mortgage giants with every penny in his or her pocket. its time for a revolution. Why dont we drag all of these corrupt politicians out onto the steps of the Senate and ask them where all our money actually went? I say They are ruining our country, they have trashed our econo my, and now they have broken all of our wallets. These politicians need to be reminded who they work for. Their boss is the American citizen, not the almighty dol- words on every black plaque at your local bank, Backed by the full faith and good credit of the U.S. government." lar. As many people sit pondering what happened to There is a glimmer of light in this bailout. According to the Library of Congress Web site, the bill also authorizes an increase in FDIC deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000. This means your money is safe in your bank account, even if your bank fails, as long as you have $250,000 or less. Of course, this isnt much security if the federal government is in debt more than $10 trillion. After all, the only guarantee the FDIC really gives are the their retirement or their investment accounts, college students are w'ondering how to pay for school next semester. With the credit markets still frozen, it will be hard to get any form of private student loans next semester. Banks like Washington Mutual, Bank of America, U.S. Bank and many more lenders literally might not have any money to lend. If they do have the money, they surely wont be lending it to any high-ris- k students who will want low interest rates. We are set up right now, folks, right on the edge of financial meltdown. World markets are reeling as the U.S. economy spins out of control. It seams we have not learned from history, so we are doomed to repeat it. On every coin minted in the U.S. there appears four words, In God We Trust. Looking toward the future of the American economy, it seems that only an act of God will get us out of this global crisis. While we patiently wait for a divine miracle, U.S. citizens will be reaping what corrupt bankers and politicians have sown. ELECTION 08 hi the race for the next president of the United States, the two main candidates already have biases that go along with their names and faces. When choosing the next leader of our country, I think it is cmcial for voters to ignore the labels and focus on each candidates positions and policies that pertain to our countys issues. To eliminate the bias that comes with a candidates name, paily affiliation and face, let us simply look at where Candidate A and Candidate B stand on the issues. Keep track of which candidate you most align with and their names will be revealed the week before the November election. Whitney Phillips, Dixie Sun Opinion Editor -- Issue: Economy Candidate A Candidate B Voted for $700 billion bailout Advocates reform of financial regulations Proposes a financial freeze to stabilize economic Voted for $700 billion bailout Advocates reform of financial regulations Proposes a $50 billion economic stimulus that would go toward jobs and $25 billion to be invested in infrastructure Proposes a Homeowner and Financial Support Act situation Proposes a Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust to help companies avoid bankruptcy and protect customers Plans to veto all earmarks and tal naggot. Candidates compete for best in show m- - BY rm MARK GREEN Sun Staff Writer Dixie onger Have you ever watched ie Anti dog show? One of those a over-the-to- p snob fests here trained animals are out by their han-heand put through neir paces while a judge fggles to follow a very "lct format, and no one allowed to clap? If fought u rs just watch presidential havent, of the 11e eoates. They are essen- he same Tlie debates -' thing. arent real- -' debates. anson brou? Tough ques-IQn- s are avoided, and here is very little new formation or ideas we are reJ'ed to an hour and a f posturing, pander'pre-Inste- " atego- :tal. and d ancl smiles. candidates are trotted onto the stage dressed "heir finest somber lls heft oldt :oopt ht and groomed to They are all n,les. practiced gestures I'd Phrases. The moder-l- s not there to chal-"f- e " to artisfc per-ftio- them in any way, put them through Pdces iiado ;tion niab has ,11 cot n. on while strug-- m vain to keep topic and within The ques-ar- e simply an Prtunity for the candi- - c Pnie limit. usual, evidence of his dates to show the audience all of their ultimatemany years of obedience tricks. training in Congress. ly pointless The problem with the The candidates have debates is that the strucbeen coached repeatedly ture and questions are too by their dog I mean political handlers on the predictable' and concrete. The candidates respond correct way to smile and more like actors reciting stand. Their responses the perfect line than leghave been drilled into islators trying to sort them and practiced until through a difficult issue. they can be delivered We as voters dont get the from memory with any information that we appearance of not being couldnt already find on moderaThe memorized. candidates' Web sites. the a tor gives them question it's not surTherefore, show a the way dog prising that over the judge issues a command, years the debates havent and the expected perwith really affected the outfollows formance come of presidential little deviation. races. The candidates have In the article Do their little tricks that set Presidential Debates them apart. Gov. Sarah Sway Voters? published Palins practiced responsby the BBC on Sept. 24, es were interlaced with available at winks, slang terms, and k http:news.bbc.co.uk, references to Joe's polling analyst Nate that seemed just a Silver said, Voter preferlittle bit too practiced. tend to have ences Sen. John McCain threw a lot more stubbecome in the phrase my and even terrific or friends the way a trained born, terrible debate performcanine responds to a ances dont tend to alter over. command to roll them all that much. Sen. Barack Obamas There is also statistical disrepeated attempts to data that suggests the regard the format was debates are not very like watching a puppy effective at swaying votthe trying to get inside ers. Granted, the debates house after repeated nos. attract staggering numAnd of course, Sen. Joe bers of viewers, Biden was collected, According to Nielsen reserved and boring as . six-pac- Media Research in the Oct. 3 article Vice Presidential Debate Ratings: 69.9 Million Total, ABC, Fox News Win, MSNBC Tanks at www.huffingtonpost.com, almost 70 million people tuned in to watch the V.P. debate between Palin and Biden. However, even with extremely high viewership, the debates still have little effect on the outcome of elections. According to a study analyzing the impact of presidential debates on public opinion performed by Tom Holbrook, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwauke- e, and posted on Sept. 22 at http:election08data.blog across all 13 presidential debates the average absolute change in candidate support was percentage point. 1 The debates, like a dog show, are just an opportunity for people who share a similar passion to get together and overanalyze an arbitrary performance. These enthusiasts squabble on about winners and losers while the majority of Americans go about their daily lives without changing their opinion in the slightest. pork-barr- el spending pro- posals Proposes that an additional $300 billion for government to buy up bad mortgages from banks and homeowners Proposes a HOME plan to help people keep their homes Advocates suspending the requirement that investors over 70 12 years old have to liquidate their IRAs and Proposes giving a $3,000 tax credit to businesses for e each employee hired between 2009 and 2010 forecloProposes a y sure moratorium Proposes giving families full-tim- 90-da- access to up to $10,000 of their retirement funds Advocates suspending the requirement that investors over 70 12 years old have to liquidate their IRAs and 401(k)s. 401(k)s. Information compared between each candidates official Web site and www.cnn.comPOLITICS. Seeking perfection not worth agony BY CASIE MCNAUGHTON Dixie Sun Online Editor The phrase beauty is pain has been around for a long time, and so has the batwhether tle between beauty is created through procedures, or if it originates inside the person. I believe tire latter. The feeling of the need for a cosmetic procedure is quite common, and Ive heard it talked about here in town a lot. For example, I was getting my hah cut a couple of weeks ago and the young woman who was cutting my hair, who still looks like shes in her nnd-20- s to early 30s, commented that she needed Botox. I couldnt help but laugh at tire comment because in my view she didnt need it. However, she was convinced she needed the procedure to look younger and prettier. Something we as individuals need to remember is that we should feel good about having the body we have, especially if were healthy. Shows like How to Look Good Naked emphasize this point. Dont let the title of the show throw you off; if youve never seen the show I would recommend it. The show, hosted by Carson Kressley, takes women who are insecure about their bodies, have had procedures done, or are just unhappy with their appearance, and shows how they have distorted view of their body. In some cases, these women added up to 5 inches to their waist or extra weight to their bodies in their own minds. The problem arises from the universal view of wanting to have the perfect body, and both men and women alike can be found critiquing against measurements that have been through Photoshop and other professional alterations. Why do we then-bodie- see PERFECTION page 10 |