Sunday, February 28, 2010

Patterson Resign? Heck No!

I am on a 3 train right now and reading a NY Post Article about Gov. David Patterson. If you all don't know what the Governor's latest scandal is, just go to Wikipedia, I don't care enough to explain it all.

The article that I have taken a sabbatical reading discusses how Democratic Party leaders are calling him to resign. I think that that is the absolute worst idea ever to do.

Let's rewind to when Patterson took office following Gov. Spitzer's escapades. Patterson, in his first week as Governor, admitted his own extramarital affairs. The press was buzzing about it for months.

It was more than obvious that the suspected turn of events in early 2008 was that Hillary would become President and Spitzer would appoint Patterson to fill out her seat. Well, we all know how well that went.

After Patterson chose Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Clinton's seat, everyone asked why. I knew exactly why: he was going to run for that seat. If Patterson's approval numbers hadn't fallen so low, he could have easily beaten her in the primary. Why didn't he just appoint himself? You ask. Remember the turmoil I mentioned 2 paragraphs ago? That's why. New York would have to have a special election for a Governor and Lieutenant Governor to fill out the term. How much disarray you bet the state would be in then?

Fast forward to last June with New York's State "Senate." Remember the uproar when Gov. Patterson appointed Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant Governor?

Now, consider Patterson Resigning. Ravitch (as today's New York Times put it, "the last honest man left in Albany") would become Governor. I will bet anyone that if he became Governor, every good government group would complain since the public never voted for him and he was never approved by the people's designated representatives. Albany would be more dysfunctional than anything we have ever seen. At the bare minimum, there would be another constitutional question the state Court of Appeals would have to address.

For, at a minimum, the state of New York's sake, Governor Patterson must not resign and must continue his term of service for the next year.
Seamus Campbell
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Debate canceled this evening


Hey guys,
  Just wanted to let you know if you don't already Fordham has canceled everything 4pm and beyond thus our debate scheduled for this evening has been canceled do to the weather. We will let you know asap when it has been rescheduled, thanks guys enjoy the snow, stay dry!
 
Best,
Andy L.
--
Secretary
College Democrats of Fordham University

http://www.fordham.edu/democrats




Monday, February 22, 2010

Events for the week

Hey guys,

  We have some exciting events planned for this week that I wanted to let you all know about. Tomorrow Sustainable South Bronx is coming to talk about 

Green Jobs and Environmental Justice in the Bronx tomorrow Tognino Hall in Duane library from 7pm-8:30pm here's the link to the facebook event for more information: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=301606112895

 

 Instead of having our regular meeting this week. We will instead meet at 9:30pm in Dealy 115 for debate prep, we will need your help to throw some ideas around so we can beat the College Republicans. And then of course on Thursday:

 

We will have our debate with College Republicans this coming Thursday: 

Date:

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Time:

8:00pm - 9:30pm

Location:

Keating 3rd Floor Auditorium

 

The topics will cover: -The Tax Structure 

-Cap and Trade

-The Supreme Court's recent decision on Campaign Financing

-An Evaluation of Obama's First Year as President

 

We will need as many progressive voices there to ask good questions to back us up. For more information on that you can also see the link to that facebook event as well: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=317112760996&ref=ts . Please feel free to email us back here if you have any questions and I encourage as many of you as possible to come to the event about green jobs tomorrow night and especially the debate, we need your support! The minutes from our last meeting are below, thanks so much for all your help and support. See you soon!

 

Best wishes,

Andy Laub 

Secretary 


--
College Democrats of Fordham University

http://www.fordham.edu/democrats
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

College Democrats Second Meeting Minutes—February 17, 2010

 

1) Video

Former Vice President Dick Cheney talking ABC's this week talking about the potential repeal of don't ask don't tell. He generally spoke out in favor of changing the policy and predicts it will change. Sean said he did not think that Cheney was being sincere given his past views on the issue and he's just trying to broaden the conservative base. DJ referenced a recent poll taken showing more support for the repeal of don't ask don't tell.

 

2) Debates

Kevin talked about the debate next Thursday in Keating 3rd, topics include campaign finance reform, cap and trade, flat tax/progressive tax, one year after Obama. Sean is covering campaign finance reform. Defending Obama and the jobs he has saved and created with the stimulus and bailout. We still need someone for the flat/progressive tax that will most likely be Sean Maquire. We will also need someone to cover campaign finance reform that will likely be Mark G.

 

 

3) Women's empowerment

Caroline Egen did a presentation about the women's empowerment speech by Jessica Valenteni tomorrow about feminism. She talked about the need for change in Fordham's sexual assault program and what women's empowerment is trying to do to change their policy. No campaigns or good preventative stuff about it.

 

 

4) Sustainable South Bronx

Next Tuesday coming to talk about green jobs and environmental justice, handing out of flyers around campus.

 

 

5) Discussion- More of a discussion about the uneven fundraising voices as a result of the current campaign finance laws. Matt will argue in favor of cap and trade will admit to some loss in jobs but that doing nothing is worse as a result for the long term environment and there is room for green jobs.

 

Date Recorded—Wednesday February 17th 2010. The next meeting of the Fordham College Democrats will be on Wednesday February 24, 2010 at 9:30pm. There will be an event the night before that on Tuesday February 23, 2010 with Sustainable South Bronx.

 

Very truly yours,

Andy Laub

Board Secretary 




Friday, February 19, 2010

A Liberal Arts Education

Just watch:



So, apparently, college makes you more liberal. Yay!

But, colleges don't teach simple U.S. Civics. Boo!

Hey Tucker, I hate to break it to you, but, last time that I checked, the GREs didn't test about proficiency in the U.S. Government. Also, neither does the (regular) SATs nor the ACTs. If only there was a place to learn about these fundamental things about our nation. If only there was a location of education where youngsters were forced to go in order to be taught these things. Wait.... It's coming to me.... Give me a second.... That's it! A penitentiary! Wait, no that's not it. Hold on... it's just about there... almost... Yes! HIGH SCHOOL!

Guess where I was taught about the Constitution (in grave detail) and forced to be able to recite the different Presidents, and name all of the states in the union? In my junior year of high school. My teacher made it a priority. In fact, when some students bombed a quiz on the Constitution, he tore them something new simply because some of my classmates and I would one day be called to defend it and, as he put it, "It may be a good idea to at least have caroused the document."

In my 2.5 years as a college student, I have not been required to list off facts about the Order of Presidential Succession. And, to be honest, based on most liberal arts core curriculums, it does not matter.

Most Liberal Art curriculums involves a combination of courses from: philosophy, history, modern languages, literature and rhetoric, mathematics, sciences, and the humanities.

When I applied to colleges and had my respective interviews with each of them, one of the questions I would always ask was if there was any particular requirements, in terms of courses taken in high school, in order to be accepted. You know what the answer I got every time I asked was? Just the requirements to graduate high school.

You see that Tucker Carlson?! It was, in essence, expected that I knew these things already. Interesting, then, how the politics, philosophy, and history courses were designed to have a modern tone and have the expectation that I knew my 1st Amendments rights.

Watching some of the CPAC coverage today, I heard an reverberating theme of insulting education. At one point, there was a criticism about various feminism-studying classes at different colleges; however, any educated person could tell you that in any social scientific study, researches CANNOT pass moral judgment on the subjects and must study the group personally (least, at a minimum, skew the data). I heard a criticisms of "socialized" education.

Okay, the Conservatives of the nation hate the Education Department and think that education should be left to a local level. Yeah, that has been great so far based on the said research. What do we have as a nation-wide academic achievement test? Well, de-facto, the SAT. I would like the people who want an end to DOE to look me in the eye and say that the SAT is an accurate test of knowing what is expected to be known after 12 (or so) years of education.

You want to solve this lack of civics education problem? Have a nationalized standardized test that measures the bare minimum of what is expected to be known after high school (i.e. what is the smallest Pythagorean triple?, How does a bill become a law?, What is the powerhouse of a biological cell? What sparked World War I? What two things are needed to make a complete sentence?). If a student fails to pass it, no degree for them. It is simple: make a high school degree something that is not given, but earned!

As for the liberal thing, please go here.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Special Event Tonight

Hey guys, Sorry for the last minute details, but there is a meeting of Students for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand tonight at 6pm at her campaign HQ on 15 West 26 street(http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=300478483105&ref=mf). I just wanted to let you guys know in case any of you were interested in getting involved with her campaign this is a great oppurtunity. The event is being sponsered by the College Democrats of New York and is the first statewide campaign event they are sponsering so it should be exciting. I plan on going tonight to represent the Fordham College Dems there, if anyone wants to go with me tonight you are more than welcome just shoot me an email at andydl321@verizon.net or call me at 914-960-0751, I plan on leaving campus at around 5pm and taking the D train down to 34th street and walking from there. If you can't make it don't worry about it there will be plenty of chances, I would be more than happy to take your information and give it to the campaign and/or bring materials back for you, so we can arrange that as well, just let me know. For all other details about this evening I am forwarding you an email from CDNY President Ian Rivera. Thanks guys, and sorry for all the emails. Best, Andy L. Secretary -------------------------------------------------- Friends - As most of you know, CDNY has endorsed Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's re-election campaign. I wanted to invite all of you to join us in attending the first Student Open House tomorrow night, from 6-8 pm at their campaign HQ - 15 W 26th street, 4th floor. I wanted to encourage all of you to come by tomorrow and meet the folks working for Senator Gillibrand's re-election - in attendance will be Senator Gillibrand's Campaign Manager, Outreach Director, and Women's Outreach Coordinator - Sarah Benzing, Shelly Horn, and Stef Goodsell, respectively. Sarah, Shelly, and Stef will be talking to us a bit about the campaign, how students and yp's have been working with them, and what the campaign going to look like between now and November. Senator Gillibrand is the only candidate that CDNY has endorsed thus far, and will be the priority for our state federation for 2010. This is the first time our organization has been reached out to by a state-wide campaign at this level, and this presents a very very good opportunity to get our students and friends involved in what will be the biggest race in NY in 2010. The campaign is providing free food and drinks, and I hope to see you all there tomorrow night. Please please please forward this information out to your friends. If for some reason the weather causes the meeting to be canceled, I will let you know! Thanks all, Ian -- Ian Rivera President, College Democrats of New York www.collegedemsny.com (646) 678-0055

--
College Democrats of Fordham University

http://www.fordham.edu/democrats




Wednesday, February 10, 2010

No Meeting Tonight

I am attaching the minutes from last week's meeting, Enjoy the snow!!!!!
 
 
Andy Laub
Secretary

--
College Democrats of Fordham University

http://www.fordham.edu/democrats




Tuesday, February 2, 2010

First Meeting

Hey Guys,
  Sorry to bother you again. I just wanted to send out a quick reminder that our first meeting is tomorrow night, Wednesday, February 3rd in Dealy 115 at 8:30 pm. We will be discussing the State of the Union and some of the exciting events we are planning for this semester. I am forwarding you a message for more detail on that from our President Matt Cashman. Please feel free to bring friends as new members are always welcome and we look forward to seeing and working with all of you towards a very successful and productive semester. Thanks!
 
Have a great day,
Andy Laub
Secretary

--
College Democrats of Fordham University

http://www.fordham.edu/democrats




Hey everyone! This will be our first meeting of the semester--at a NEW TIME!! We have a bunch of great events planned and we're already prepping for debates, so we'll be hitting the ground running.

This weeks discussion topic will be: What is YOUR state of the Union?

We want to hear what YOU have to about the State of the Union! Do you think we're headed on the right track? If not, why? Can the Dems do anything different? Is it impossible to reach out to the Republicans and get any semblance of bipartisanship? Was Friday's Q&A between Obama and the House Republicans good press, wasted time, or a small step in the right direction?

We want YOUR opinion! Be ready for some lively discussion!