Classroom furloughs and thirty percent tuition hikes in California. Extreme budget cuts in South Carolina, Georgia, and Illinois. In the past, we've taken a college degree for granted. You went to school, got good grades, and applied to the best universities in the hopes that a loan, grant, scholarship, or financial aid package would be made readily available. But with the current credit crunch and recession weighing heavily on state and government budgets nationwide, fiscal "responsibility" could ultimately force hundreds and thousands of U.S. students to put off college in the interim, or ultimately drop out altogether.
Just how bad is it? We asked several of our student bloggers at UniversityChic.com to weigh in.
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March 12, 2010
Fearful and Scheming Republicans Are Playing into al-Qaida’s Strategy
You might have missed an AP article on al-Qaida that slipped nearly unnoticed through yesterday's news cycle. The piece reports that the terrorist operation is moving towards smaller-scale attacks like the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a flight to Detroit. Why? For a reason the Republicans will not like very much.
First, one thing that is important to consider, which is not addressed in the article, is that recent U.S. successes in counter-terrorism (under the administration of a president Republicans insist is endangering the country's security) have weakened al-Qaida's financial and operational power. As we learned today from Nicholas Sabloff and Nico Pitney, al-Qaida's declining strength, along with the Obama administration's effective anti-terrorism efforts, have led to the Taliban moving to distance itself from al-Qaida.
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First, one thing that is important to consider, which is not addressed in the article, is that recent U.S. successes in counter-terrorism (under the administration of a president Republicans insist is endangering the country's security) have weakened al-Qaida's financial and operational power. As we learned today from Nicholas Sabloff and Nico Pitney, al-Qaida's declining strength, along with the Obama administration's effective anti-terrorism efforts, have led to the Taliban moving to distance itself from al-Qaida.
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March 11, 2010
What Would Art Vandelay Do?
U.S. businesses and many in Congress have long complained that our export promotion and export enforcement efforts are not strategic, well-coordinated or well-funded. Increasing U.S. exports is a vital part of promoting economic growth that benefits all Americans, including the Middle Class. There is much work still to do to ensure that the United States has smart, progressive policies in support of trade. However, the Administration's new export agenda is an excellent start.
The Administration has proposed significant new funding for promoting U.S. goods and services exports to foreign markets, and the President's new Export Promotion Cabinet should help to bring more coherence and a more strategic vision to an export promotion process that is spread across many different agencies. "One-Stop Shops" for U.S. exporters - an idea that Third Way has also proposed for clean energy exporters -- should help the many U.S. firms that would like to expand to foreign markets but who don't know enough about export opportunities and the export process. This is especially important for small and medium businesses. Mobilizing our entire government in support of U.S. exports - from cabinet officers, embassy officials, ambassadors and the President himself - will help our companies and workers compete better against foreign competitors that are very often backed by their governments at the highest levels.
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The Administration has proposed significant new funding for promoting U.S. goods and services exports to foreign markets, and the President's new Export Promotion Cabinet should help to bring more coherence and a more strategic vision to an export promotion process that is spread across many different agencies. "One-Stop Shops" for U.S. exporters - an idea that Third Way has also proposed for clean energy exporters -- should help the many U.S. firms that would like to expand to foreign markets but who don't know enough about export opportunities and the export process. This is especially important for small and medium businesses. Mobilizing our entire government in support of U.S. exports - from cabinet officers, embassy officials, ambassadors and the President himself - will help our companies and workers compete better against foreign competitors that are very often backed by their governments at the highest levels.
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After Biden’s Israel Contretemps, Stepping Back
On some level, it couldn't have been worse. We have a situation where the most trusted member of the U.S. administration, Vice President Joe Biden, is in Israel seeking to win over the hearts and minds of the Israeli public which, according to the polls, is highly suspicious of the Obama government. And in his opening public remarks, the vice president shows he's cognizant of the need by the administration to state more clearly and vociferously than it had heretofore that the American-Israeli special relationship is as strong as ever.
Included in his comments was the important statement that when it comes to matters affecting Israel's security, there is no space whatsoever between the American and Israeli positions.
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Included in his comments was the important statement that when it comes to matters affecting Israel's security, there is no space whatsoever between the American and Israeli positions.
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House Afghanistan Debate: What Kucinich Accomplished
Yesterday, at long last, there was a vigorous debate about the war in Afghanistan on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. The legislative vehicle was a resolution introduced by Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich calling for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of the year. But House critics of the war have long been agitating for a real debate.
This is the debate that should have been held - at least - last fall when the Administration was considering sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, or - at least - when the Administration announced its plans to send more troops. If the House had held this debate while the Administration was mulling its decision, the Congressional airing of arguments against military escalation and in favor of political and diplomatic solutions would have attracted a lot more attention, and could have affected the decision. No doubt, the possibility that a Congressional debate then might have affected the policy was a key motivation for some in the House leadership not to allow this debate to occur then.
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This is the debate that should have been held - at least - last fall when the Administration was considering sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, or - at least - when the Administration announced its plans to send more troops. If the House had held this debate while the Administration was mulling its decision, the Congressional airing of arguments against military escalation and in favor of political and diplomatic solutions would have attracted a lot more attention, and could have affected the decision. No doubt, the possibility that a Congressional debate then might have affected the policy was a key motivation for some in the House leadership not to allow this debate to occur then.
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Monica Conyers, Wife To John Conyers, Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison For Detroit Bribes
DETROIT (AP) — A former Detroit city councilwoman was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for bribery after a federal judge refused to set aside her guilty plea during a stormy court hearing dominated by a dispute over evidence of other payoffs.
As guards cleared the packed courtroom, Monica Conyers yelled that she planned to appeal. The wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., wanted to withdraw her guilty plea, suggesting she was the victim of "badgering" last year when she admitted taking cash to support a Houston company's sludge contract with the city.
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As guards cleared the packed courtroom, Monica Conyers yelled that she planned to appeal. The wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., wanted to withdraw her guilty plea, suggesting she was the victim of "badgering" last year when she admitted taking cash to support a Houston company's sludge contract with the city.
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