"'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' on its last legs"
Both Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, are supporting the president in a decision to repeal the military's policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Spectrum's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query.
1000 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
Both Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, are supporting the president in a decision to repeal the military's policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'
Iran is very good at the chess game that is international politics. Tehran has shown no change in course while trying to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program. Even after months of engagement by the United States, Iran still has no rebuttal for the United States overtures about its nuclear program. President Obama needs to start being proactive about the situation. Years after the United Nations Security Council first demanded that Iran stop its pursuit of enriching uranium, which can be used for nuclear fuel or weapons, Iran's response is to keep the centrifuges spinning. In turn, Washington plans to circulate a new round of sanctions to the rest of the international community. This would be the fourth set of sanctions in as many years. Many would argue that the UN Security Council has no right to try to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The five permanent members – the United States, England, France, China and Russia – are all nuclear powers. Many nations in the international community share the United States's concern. But Russia and China have strong economic ties to Iran, so each has tried to water down sanctions previously. Because of this, the Security Council has been rendered ineffective, allowing Iran to pursue its nuclear interests. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton issued a very public warning to China to accept the most recent sanctions or face diplomatic isolation from the United States. Let's not forget that it was only last fall that Iran was discovered to have a secret enrichment facility plant. The world powers proposed a deal with Tehran: open all nuclear facilities to international inspectors and send its stock of uranium abroad to be turned into nuclear reactor fuel. That wouldn't have solved any problems, but at least it would have bought more time for a long-term solution to be worked out. However, the political elite of Iran rejected that deal. This is where the international community has been for months. The situation is complex and it's a very sensitive time within Iran as well. Fallout from last June's presidential election is still being contested. The government has cracked down on any political protests and there have been accusations of political executions. The proposed sanctions must inflict maximum damage to a regime that is so repressive. But it will be tough to accomplish without hurting the average Iranian citizen, and negotiations must be continuous. Many Middle East experts have theorized that the government is in a weakened condition and that the United States is trying to improve relations and focus on regime change. The United States has a long history of regime change, going all the way back to overthrowing the queen of Hawaii in 1893. This country even played a major role in staging a coup d'état in Iran once already, in 1953. The world watched as the United States fell flat on its face with regime change in Iraq. Not shocking either is Iran's claim that the opposition is a tool of the West. The United States and its allies must be very conscious of the fact that the Iranian people are extremely prideful and independent. A solution must be found as soon as possible; after all, the centrifuges keep spinning.
It's safe to say that 2010 hasn't exactly started off the way the American people would have liked. Life for millions of Americans hasn't been particularly easy, considering unemployment is at an all-time high. The economy grew 5.7 percent, the best quarterly performance since 2003. This is obviously good news, yet there still aren't jobs to be found. Personal spending still remains very weak. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Without a steady income, Americans cannot spend. The fact remains that Americans need the Jobs Bill proposed by the president because the private sector can't do it alone. Employment leads to Americans getting income, which leads to spending. The problem is that the economy is missing about 10 million jobs. The House has passed a bill that gets the ball rolling on creating jobs, but the Senate is still dragging its feet. Republicans and a few Democrats who are more worried about the deficit are the reason for the hold up. The deficit is worth worrying about, but there is no way to get the American economy back online unless millions of jobs are created. President Obama called for cutting taxes on small businesses. This, along with the elimination of the capital gains tax, should encourage some investors to invest again. The biggest proposal for stimulating job creation is a tax credit for more than a million small businesses for the purpose of hiring new workers or raising wages. Results from this should be seen almost immediately. Tax relief for business has always been a major point in the platform of the GOP. But at first mention during the State of the Union, Republicans didn't even bat an eyelash. If this is a point of contention, then it would prove beyond any doubt that Republicans are more concerned with their party's interests rather than the American people's – at least until the election. A final job bill should be a collaboration of ideas from both the House and Senate. It should contain the House's proposal for extending unemployment benefits and providing more aid to states. Without the assistance, states would be forced into deeper budget holes. The end result would be laying off large portions of their work force. It should also include the Senate's plan to create jobs that create more energy efficiency. The president was correct for wanting to focus on expanding clean energy sources. It would provide an abundance of new jobs and also move this country away from dependence on foreign oil. There shouldn't be any debate about what needs to be done. Jobs need to be created; that isn't a political ideology. Americans want leadership and bold action. The time for debate is over. The country is in dire straits. Every American sees this hardship and is starting to grow tired of the bickering in Washington. Republicans and Democrats need to put their heads together and come up with an effective job bill.
College libraries – the thought evokes images of cathedral-like buildings housing row upon row of books and dimly lit tables full of students diligently studying.
To the editor,
In another announcement by a more assertive White House, President Barack Obama introduced initiatives to help fortify the struggling middle class of this country.
To the editor,
The UB School of Nursing caused quite a stir recently when it shut the program's doors on 300 undergraduates. As a result, many of these students must transfer to other schools or switch majors.
The goal is to limit concentration, which has increased greatly over the past two decades and even further accelerated during the crisis when healthy banks bought failing ones. For example, the four largest banks currently hold more then half of the financial industry's assets.
The alternative is to make Senator Dick Durbin's campaign reform bill a law.
For a state that was the proving ground of democracy, it sure threw the country for a loop with Tuesday's election results. Massachusetts, a place where Democrats greatly outnumber Republicans, filled Ted Kennedy's vacant Senate seat with Republican Scott Brown.
Paterson finally gets one right.
Nobody enjoys Tuesdays – they're the ultimate 'Jan Brady' day. To make it worse, New Yorkers got a gift from Governor David Paterson when he announced yet another plan to fight New York's pressing deficit issue. Honestly, residents statewide are just tired of hearing about the problems with the budget. Yes, it's bad, but the situation has been talked to death. Try doing something that will actually work for once. New York is looking at a deficit of 7.4 billion dollars for the next fiscal year, so the governor has taken out the treasure map and begun searching for new revenue streams. Here's what the 'geniuses' in Albany have come up with: legalize Ultimate Fighting, allow the sale of wine in grocery stores and tax cigarette sales on Indian Reservations. It would be even worse if it came from the income taxes of the hardworking citizens of New York, because the earlier plans involving utility taxes were just uncalled for. But there is a part of this budget that'll come as a bit of a shock. Paterson is going after school aid. Yes, that's right – school aid. The plan calls for a cut of 5 percent in a state that spends the most on funding education. New York ranks 6th in overall spending and 3rd in elementary and secondary spending. Under the plan, wealthier school districts would bear the larger portion of the cuts – a strategy that has long been fought by the state Senate, especially by senators from Long Island. Now, before the state gets up in arms over this, there needs to be more examination of this. For example, Eric Hanushek, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford with a Ph.D. from MIT in economics and an expert in educational policy, has found that there's no correlation between students doing better on standardized tests and increased funding for schools. So maybe, just maybe, the governor isn't mortgaging the children's futures with the tax plan. No one actually condones cutting education expenses, but if the debt crisis is that bad for New York, then the residents need to give it a shot. The plan in its entirety banks on the premise that a strapping economic recovery will take place in the state tax revenues and that a host of other proposals that haven't passed before will pass, such as a soda tax which charges $1.28 per gallon of bottled soft drinks. There are some cuts planned, such as slowing the growth of spending on Medicaid, reducing $1 billion from spending on state agencies and eliminating $300 million in annual aid to New York City. The governor's budget would also introduce fees to a state program that provides early intervention services for about 74,000 special-needs children. Families would be charged on a moveable scale, with fees starting at $180 a year for those with a household income of at least $55,126 and topping out at $2,160 a year for those earning at least $198,451 annually. At least 11 other states already charge such fees, including New Jersey and Connecticut. The exact numbers and where the money is coming from are almost irrelevant at this point. New York lacks a governor and legislature that can actually deal with problems in a swift, concise manner. If the plan is logical and effective, it shouldn't have come this late.
It feels like ages since the United States saw 2 million people fight the bitter cold and witness the swearing in of America's 44th President. Abroad, Barack Obama is still loved. But at home, his star is tarnished. His approval rating has fallen from almost 70 percent at the time of his inauguration a year ago to 50 percent currently, according to the latest NBC polls. The proportion of Americans who disapprove of the job he is doing has quadrupled, from 12 percent to 44 percent. More than half of voters think the country is on the wrong track. Americans are evenly divided as to which of the two political parties would do a better job of correcting that. The president promised to do a lot during his campaign, such as ending the war in Iraq, giving health insurance to all Americans, curtailing global warming and cleaning America's stained reputation by closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay. There have been some speed bumps in the road. None of this should be surprising. Governing is hard at the best of times, but it is even more difficult during an economic crisis. The American political system is loaded with checks and balances: a president cannot simply tell Congress what to do. Everything takes time and requires ugly compromises. Nonetheless, many of Obama's fans feel let down and some have even jumped ship. Sorry, but did America miss something? If anything, Obama has run a very disciplined and competent administration that is extremely centered on the political spectrum. Have there been some missteps? Of course. This isn't an easy job – does anyone remember how bad things were when he took office? The public only sees the steps he has taken, but how about the roads not taken? The president resisted the lure of the populists in the Democratic Party to saddle Wall Street with regulations that would strangle it in order to allow for an economic recovery. He sidestepped a tax on entrepreneurs who help jump-start the economy. He put into motion a very large job creation bill, from which a majority of the funds will begin to be dispersed this year. None of these problems are quick fixes; this isn't second grade math. Let's be really honest for a minute here. The responsibility of fixing a lot of the problems that face America doesn't lie on the president – it's the Republicans and Democrats in the United States Congress that are holding things up. The country is even more divided then ever. Neither side will cross the line and actually find common ground anymore. If there is any criticism of the president, it is certainly that Obama has to get tougher. He often refrained from throwing his hat into the tussle and, in acts to gain favor, was too ready to do the popular thing now and leave the awkward stuff for later. The health care fight is a prime example. The language of his inaugural speech promised a fierce fighter. He hasn't lived up to that promise yet. The dip in poll numbers doesn't suggest that Americans have fallen in love with the Republicans, who seem much keener to obstruct the president than offer a coherent alternative plan. In fact, Americans seem to be fed up with the whole lot in government and because Obama is the president, he gets the blame. Americans have spent the last year worrying about two wars, the possibility of losing their jobs, and how to pay for health care. If the president makes good choices, things can and will turn around. After all, 12 months is too short to say the man has failed. It's more realistic to say 'to be determined.'
The California-based search engine giant Google drew a line in the sand against China with its announcement to cease censoring its search results on Google's Chinese servers.
There's a unique opportunity presented with this desolation: the world can really improve the lives of the Haitian people. It can be accomplished.
He says he used performance-enhancing drugs to stay healthy, because he was not healthy enough to play the game. And so, in 1993, according to McGwire, he resumed the use of steroids – something he says he initially tried in 1989 and 1990 to help his body.
The holiday season is important this year. Regardless of which holiday Americans celebrate, the winter holidays hold special meaning. With the passage of time, the holiday lights get brighter, the shopping gets crazier, and the holiday music gets more familiar – if that can even happen.