Tag Archive for 'President Barack Obama'

Obama Rejects Keystone XL, Stands Up Against Hasty Republicans

By: alex.chrum, January 19, 2012 in Government, News and Politics. Closed Tags: , , .

President Obama has received a considerable amount of criticism during his time in office, from conservatives, liberals and independents alike. Many liberals and independents claim to feel betrayed by the president, because he has not followed through with many of the idealistic promises made during his campaign (as if a president of any party could follow through with promises in the face of our rigidly divided Congress, Senate and House of Representatives). Conservatives, on the other hand, have had a vendetta against Obama from the get-go, maintaining that his particular (liberal, communist) plan of action would be—and is now—detrimental rather than beneficial to the country’s future.

Protesters hold signs quoting President Obama at a rally against the Keystone pipeline in Washington

Regardless, there are several very momentous things Obama has done for the United States of America, both in policy changes and by simply being a primary figurehead that isn’t a blubbering idiot, which critics from either side cannot ignore. He has (somewhat) effectively ended the Iraq War and extended health care to millions by signing the Health Care Reform bill. He has improved the quality of life of marginalized groups by repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, increasing funding for the Violence Against Women Act, expanding U.S. hate crime laws to include sexual orientation and appointing more openly gay officials than any president in the country’s history.

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Victory for Students as Obama Unveils Loan Forgiveness Plan

By: alex.chrum, October 27, 2011 in Finance, Government, News and Politics. Closed Tags: , , , , .

When it comes to student loans, I’ve been luckier than most. Federal financial aid and academic scholarships paid for almost all of my college education. Even so, a majority of students in America today will earn their Bachelor’s degrees and consequently face roughly $25,000 in debt. For those who decide to go to graduate or law schools, that amount is often tripled.

An Occupy Wall Street protestor shows his dissatisfaction with the current student loan program

This leaves young people with an unrealistic burden to carry. After all, it is next to impossible to find a job without a college degree. Higher education has become almost as crucial to social survival as elementary and high schools. Yet with today’s economic climate, jobs have never been harder to come by. Those who graduate with a degree often cannot find careers until several years after they have completed their schooling. Without a legitimate income, how can they pay back the thousands of dollars it took for them to get their education in the first place?

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Osama Bin Laden, 9/11 Mastermind, Killed By American Forces in Pakistan

By: Zack Stovall, May 2, 2011 in Government and Passings. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Osama Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden, leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, FBI’s Most Wanted, mastermind behind the terrorist attacks of the September 11th attacks, has been killed by American forces within a compound 35 miles north of Islamabad, Pakistan.

The surprise announcement was made in the waning hours of Sunday night, when President Barack Obama scheduled an impromptu, late night press conference in the East Room of the White House, on an undisclosed topic. As speculation began to mount about what had transpired, news outlets began confirming the death of Public Enemy No. 1 before the President made a short address, announcing some of the specifics behind the military action taken, while also calling for the country to be as unified as it had been in the hours following the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and the plane crash in Shanksville, Penn.

According to Obama, intelligence had been gathered since the beginning of last fall about the compound in Abbottabad, an affluent suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. A team of highly trained Navy Seals infiltrated the base, killing five others along with Bin Laden. No Americans were injured in the operation.

As news began to spread on sundry social media outlets, celebrations began to spill out into the streets. Along Pennsylvania Avenue, a large crowd gathered at the gates of the White House, chanting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” and breaking into verses of the Star Spangled Banner. At Ground Zero, the site of the terrorist attacks in New York City, crowds were also embracing one another, celebrating the death of the man who had taken so much from them and the rest of the country nearly a decade ago.

President Obama called President George W. Bush, sitting President during the attacks in 2001, to give him the news personally. As Bush had promised at the rubble in New York City, and Obama declared almost ten years later, “justice has been done.”