Opinion/Editorial

With the current elections, the American people may have become familiar with interest groups who raise money to support specific policies and in some cases, candidates.

An interest group is an organization of people who share similar attitudes and try to influence the political system. Interest groups have made many contributions to American society. An example of a group that has worked to advance the cause of civil rights is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Military experience should not be considered the most significant factor, with regard to deciding who should be the next man to lead our nation. Being a good military commander or being a hero doesn't make you any more qualified at leading America than someone who has been a civilian all his life but strongly believes in our country's general welfare and prosperity.

Most of the issues our next president will be facing are going to be national disputes like the economy, which are not going to be dealt with in a military manner. As for the international disputes: military experience could perhaps come in handy from a levelheaded veteran who has a clear understanding of international relations, but this was clearly not the case with Bush Jr., and McCain could arguably be classified in the same group.

I felt the hard, cold steel of a gun against the back of my head. I spun around and saw my assailant’s finger shaking on the trigger: “Don’t run or I’ll shoot you,” he said. I was just 14 years old, and death was a stranger to me.

It was 1969, and Nigeria was embroiled in civil war. As a teenage refugee conscripted into the Biafran Army, I was forced at gunpoint to carry weapons to the Oguta front. It was a 24-hour, march through mosquito-infested mangroves flooded by the River Niger.

When the 30-month war ended on January 15, 1970, I was discharged and reunited with my parents. Together with one million returning refugees we walked for three days, avoiding landmines along fetid rainforest footpaths. Eventually, we reached our hometown of Onitsha. It was badly battered by the war.

With less than two months before the election, Republicans and Democrats are driving it home: this is the election of the century.

And they’re right: there is a lot at stake this year. This could be the year we change the lives of 47 million Americans by providing them with decent health care and millions more with a living wage. It could be the year that we listen to 68 percent of Americans and 84 percent of Iraqis and withdraw occupying forces. It could be the year that we cut the near-trillion dollar defense budget, repeal NAFTA, revoke the Patriot Act and the illegal wiretapping FISA bill, build a green energy infrastructure, discipline runaway corporations, and reign in the manic speculation driving the current food and housing crises.

That is Ralph Nader’s plan, anyway -- to offer Americans what the polls show they want.

“It’s a girl.” Those three words hold so much meaning. Right about now, your mind probably bounces immediately to images of baby showers you nobly suffered through in the past. If you cringe at the thought of baby showers and pink onesies, than be not alarmed, I’m not announcing the birth of a bouncing baby girl. The girl I’m referring to is Sarah Palin, and she is the Vice Presidential Candidate for the Republican Party. For the first time in our nation’s history, a female Republican is running for Vice Presidency.

The Alaskan governor made her stunning debut Wednesday, September 3rd when she delivered her speech at the Republican National Convention. If you haven’t seen the speech, look it up online; it’s worth watching. For those of us who watched the GOP Convention, we got a first time look into the personality of this Palin, whose name most of us would never have recognized six months ago.

Procrastination. It’s a word we are all familiar with. It causes stress, and generally speaking it is a poor learning process, yet we do it anyway. Why is this? I would assume that it is because we find great satisfaction in completing things last minute and earning that A grade. Knowing that you got the grade and had time to enjoy yourself is always a plus. I personally do not recommend procrastination and I will tell you specifically how I learned from my mistake.

It was during my senior year in high school that I learned to get my act together about procrastination. It was in a class I have never enjoyed: math. Near the end of the year, we had a research project due on correlation in Pre-Calculus. I was not all that excited about it, to say the least. I told myself that I would get it out of the way and that I would do it early. Of course, this never happened.

Beginning September 27th the American Library Association is hosting their annual Banned Books Week, celebrating the right to “read what you want.” Events are held all over the United States; book displays, readings from commonly banned books, as well as other types of festivities are being held at various libraries around the country.

It’s commonly thought that book burning is an obsolete tradition, yet in May 2008, copies of the New Testament of the Bible were burned in Israel for “conflicting” with local beliefs. Even here, in the land of freedom, the United States of America, Books are still banned today.

“Ultimately, it’s both unethical, immoral and un-American,” says Draconis Kenjishiya, a Hudson Valley student, “being both an infringement of freedom of speech and our right to read and look at what we want to.”

Welcome back to HVCC for those of you who are returning students, and welcome to all new students!

Congratulations to all high school graduates and our non-traditional students for taking yet another step towards fulfilling your life goals! On behalf of the Hudsonian, I would like to wish you all a successful start to the semester while providing you with a few tips.

Stay organized! The Student Activities office on the second floor of the Siek Campus Center knows the value of this advice and has already provided you with a table of free planners. Go grab one now! You’ll find all upcoming events listed in there as well as a list of important contacts, the Student Senate Constitution, a club listing if you missed the orientation issue of the Hudsonian, and a lot more!

We currently as Americans are caught up in the race for the next Presidential candidates and ultimately the next President of the United States of America. It is within this next year we, as Americans, need to wake up and put control back into our nation.
We have an economy that is continually falling apart. We have a society that is so disappointed in our current administration it seems to leave the chance of hope and change not achievable. It is within this next year we, as Americans, need to revive the hope and patriotism that defined our country for over 230 years.

I am very much still young and naive to many of the problems that face our society, our nation and our world. However, I am hopeful that we still can still unite as a generation of Americans that will be able to relight a torch that has been set dim to years of partisanship to a small select few.