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(03/20/14 4:10am)
Prior to 2008, major party presidential nominees had customarily agreed to accept $84.1 million from the federal government. Their acceptance was contingent on an agreement, bound by law, not to exceed this figure in campaign spending towards the general election. But Barack Obama’s 2008 announcement that he would forgo federal funding of his presidential campaign reversed this long-standing campaign finance tradition, which dated back to the Watergate era. By declining federal funds, Obama was free to collect far over the customary $84.1 million, setting a new precedent for presidential candidates. In 2012, for instance, both Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney declined federal funding, opting instead to raise gargantuan sums via private fundraising.
(02/20/14 6:35am)
Last week, I focused my attention on individual heroin use, and possible solutions for treating drug abuse and overdoses. But the heroin problem in America is not limited to drug abuse. Widespread drug trafficking leads to larger societal problems, including crime (especially violent crime), unemployment, poverty and a vicious cycle that often entrenches those who partake in the drug trade into a maze of crime and incarceration.
(02/13/14 10:50pm)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s recent death from an apparent heroin overdose is indicative of a larger problem: the heroin trade seems to be on the rise. Heroin seizures are steadily increasing in New York State, up 67 percent in the last four years, as are heroin-related deaths, up 84 percent between 2010 and 2012. And the problem is not limited to New York. Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin devoted the entirety of his “State of the State Message” to the “full-blown heroin crisis” ravaging Vermont. Heroin deaths nearly doubled in Vermont between 2012 and 2013, and since the year 2000, Vermont has seen an increase of over 770 percent in treatment for opiate addictions.
(02/06/14 5:34am)
President Obama’s recent State of the Union address conveyed a sense of optimism in America. “Today in America,” he began, “a teacher spent extra time with a student who needed it…an entrepreneur flipped on the lights…and a farmer prepared for the spring.” The audience applauded in approval as President Obama went on to suggest that these idealistic pictures are, in fact, accurate representations of America in 2014. “America’s graduation rate,” President Obama announced, “is at its highest level in more than three decades.” The entrepreneur represents “the more than 8 million new jobs our businesses have created over the past four years.” And the farmer preparing for spring is a reminder that America just experienced “the strongest five-year stretch of farm exports in our history.”
(01/30/14 5:07am)
The friends I have made at the University of Virginia run the gamut of high school education. I have friends who attended boarding school, friends who attended private day schools, friends who attended charter schools and friends who attended public schools. And while they are all very bright, their educational experiences differ in several notable ways.
(01/23/14 1:45am)
Last Friday, the University held a meeting to discuss a draft proposal for a nascent global studies major. The proposed major aims to idea of the major is essentially to “bring together knowledge from across disciplines,” and to help students prepare for a “world where cultures, ideas, histories, vulnerabilities, environments, and human needs are increasingly interconnected,” according to the draft proposal. Students would be required to take classes on global culture, global history and global thought, in addition to classes on “global diagnostics,” or assessing “complex global phenomena.”
(01/16/14 4:19am)
Some who saw Martin Scorsese’s latest romp, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” might have dismissed it as a pornographic exaltation of hard drugs, an ode to excess, a glamorization of trophy wives and private jets and yachts and cocaine and the other trappings of wealth that Wall Street scammer Jordan Belfort (a brilliant Leonardo DiCaprio) so hedonistically relishes. Viewers with a more discerning eye, however, might find it a penetrating critique of the modern American dream, with the sobering implication that those who cheat are the ones who win.
(12/05/13 4:33am)
Through my involvement with the First Year Judiciary Committee, I run into many first-year students who are dead set on being lawyers. There is nothing ostensibly wrong with that. As a lawyer, you have the opportunity to do fulfilling work and make a comfortable living.
(12/02/13 4:38am)
When I told my parents that I would be going to Kanye West’s “Yeezus” tour, their reaction was predictable: “Um, what? Why?”
(11/21/13 5:58am)
Typhoon Haiyan, the recent mega-storm that struck the Philippines, has been an enormous tragedy. It has killed thousands of people, has left 4 million people displaced and has, according to the United Nations, affected 11 million people overall. The international aid community should rush to supply much-needed food, water, shelter and medical care. But to have a long-term impact on the Philippines’ well-being, these aid agencies must defer to local authorities, and should help establish stable institutions prepared to handle future disasters. If the aid agencies sidestep local authorities in their effort to bring help to those affected, they could be laying the groundwork for another potential disaster.
(11/14/13 2:30am)
Now that the dust has cleared from the Nov. 5 elections in Virginia, New Jersey, Alabama and New York, Republicans must consider the various successes of their candidates. Candidates with broad, mainstream appeal — Chris Christie in the New Jersey governor’s race and establishment candidate Bradley Byrne in a special election for an Alabama congressional seat — were victorious. Tea Party-backed candidates without appeal to independents and moderates — Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson in Virginia — were defeated. These races should indicate to Republicans that the path to electoral success, particularly the presidency, runs through the establishment candidates, not the Tea Party ultraconservatives.
(11/07/13 3:13am)
Around the time the second wave of midterms comes around, University students often start to focus less on their current classes and more on prospective classes for the upcoming semester. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, as it is good to be prepared and informed when selecting classes. There are, however, several pitfalls to avoid on the road to selecting classes. Avoiding these obstacles can make for a much more rewarding academic experience.
(10/31/13 5:01am)
A favorite argument of same-sex-marriage advocates is the idea that the gay-marriage movement is the intellectual heir to the Civil Rights movement of the mid-20th century. The implications of this argument are severe. The idea that people who oppose the legalization of gay marriage are morally equivalent to the blatant racists who supported segregation is both erroneous and harmful.
(10/24/13 3:20am)
Without a doubt, you know him by now. Baby-faced, Canada-born, Texas-raised, Ivy-educated, Tea Party-backed Ted Cruz is the talk of the nation. His attempt to tie the Affordable Care Act to the U.S. debt ceiling captivated the U.S. and the world. His efforts, which included a long-winded, 21-hour filibuster on the Senate floor, led to a 16-day government shutdown, a multibillion dollar hit to the American economy and a fresh wave of populist vitriol aimed at Congress. And yet, incredible though it may seem, despite the havoc Cruz has created — not to mention the civil war he has sparked within his own party — Cruz may profit politically from this fiasco.
(10/17/13 3:37am)
We have all seen them hundreds of times. We walk past them on the Corner every day. Sometimes, with a twinge of guilt, we avert our eyes.
(10/11/13 3:18am)
The University has come under fire in recent weeks because of its cost-cutting policies, especially with regard to the AccessUVa financial aid program. While hundreds of factors are associated with increasing the costs of running a university, many of these increasing costs are due to the nascent Affordable Care Act (ACA). While the ACA is, of course, not solely accountable for increasing the costs of operating a university, its implementation has the potential to cause many problems for the University and its employees because of the high costs associated with the law.