Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
by Mark Ciavola
I first met Herman Cain this past February when he addressed a Republican luncheon in Las Vegas, and spoke about his ideas as a potential candidate for president in 2012. Overall, I liked his frankness and some of his ideas to tackle some of the most serious issues our country is facing. If I had to describe Herman Cain in one way, it would be that he pulls no punches, tells it like it is, and has no patience for nonsense.
When I saw Cain for the second and third time, in early March and again in May, his speech was pretty much the same. He recited his sturdy one-liners like “not on our watch,” and his “immigration is four problems.” He didn’t offer too many specifics on foreign policy, but all three times he gave the audience some applause-worthy red meat. Herman Cain is an outsider, a different kind of presidential candidate. He’s not a politician, and he’ll tell you so.
However, is that what American wants? Or needs?
If you’re anything like me, you don’t like the typical career politician. You know the type: Always running for office, avoiding controversy once elected, putting on the fake smile, and never actually doing anything. Washington has too much of that. Too many people want to be something, rather than do something. There is a difference.
Now, suppose I need to have surgery to remove my appendix. Do I want the career doctor? Or would I prefer to have the receptionist operate on me? If my football team – the New England Patriots, if anyone cares – makes it to the Superbowl, do I want a career quarterback in the game? Or would I settle for the guy who runs the concession stand?
In the world of government and politics, it is important to understand how the system works. Regardless of how much a presidential candidate may want to change the system, he or she is just one cog in the machine. One could say that in order to change the system, you have to know the ins and outs first.
Herman Cain says he doesn’t want to know how Washington works. In fact, he said at the Right Online conference in Minneapolis this weekend that he doesn’t need to know how it works, because it doesn’t.
Wouldn’t fixing the problems of our country be more difficult, if our next president had no idea how the system works? Is Herman Cain ready to be president, simply because of his business credentials?
Some examples from the campaign trail may shed some light on the situation.
While being interviewed on Fox News Sunday last month, Mr. Cain was asked about the Palestinian concept of “right of return.” This refers back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs either fled or were expelled from their homes in what became Israel. Palestinians believe that these refugees, and their descendants, have the sacred right to return to their homes and property in Israel, or be compensated by Israel. This has become a major sticking point in the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Herman Cain was caught flat-footed, only able to demonstrate that he was not familiar with the concept. His answer was convoluted at best, first stating that it should be negotiated, and then claiming that Israel doesn’t have a big problem with people returning. This was after slamming President Obama for “throwing Israel under the bus.”
The previous day, when announcing his candidacy for president in Atlanta, Herman Cain said that Americans do not need to re-write the Constitution, they need to re-read the Constitution. This line grew great applause from the audience in attendance. However, Mr. Cain went on to quote the Constitution as including a line about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” which actually appears in the Declaration of Independence. Cain went on to talk about Americans’ right to “alter or to abolish” government – also found in the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. This prompted several pundits to suggest that it was Herman Cain who needed to re-read the Constitution, and with good reason.
On Afghanistan, Herman Cain refuses to put forward a plan, saying that he would defer to the experts – unnamed experts. While I certainly hope he would surround himself with knowledgeable experts as president, it is still concerning that he has no tentative plan with which to deduce how he would handle the issue as a whole if elected. Cain has used the “defer to experts” line so often, it became part of the Daily Caller’s New Hampshire GOP Debate drinking game, this past week.
Then there’s the 2nd Amendment. Herman Cain, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer earlier this month, stated that he supports the 2nd Amendment. That’s great! But when asked about gun control, and whether states or local governments should be allowed to control guns, he answered, “Yes.” Now perhaps this was yet another example of how Mr. Cain was unprepared for the question, but he’s not running for president of Wendy’s, he’s running for president of the United States. And if he truly wants to be the next president, he needs to know that these questions are coming, and have answers.
Finally, there is a problem of messaging. It’s a problem most Republicans have, so it’s hard to be too critical of Cain.
In one interview, Mr. Cain was asked about his position on homosexuality. He replied, “I believe homosexuality is a sin because I’m a Bible-believing Christian. I believe it’s a sin. But I know that some people make that choice. That’s their choice.” When asked to clarify his position that homosexuality was a choice, Cain replied, “I believe it is a choice.”
Now, having been raised Catholic, I understand that Herman Cain’s view of homosexuality being a sin is perfectly valid. It is what his faith teaches him, and he has a right to believe that. However, as president of the entire United States, Cain would have to represent all Americans – even homosexuals. Last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie answered the same question with the following:
“My religion says it’s a sin, but I’ve always believed that people are born with the predisposition to be homosexual. So I think if someone is born that way, it’s very difficult to say that’s a sin. My church says that, but I don’t look upon someone who is homosexual as a sinner.”
In speaking with young people daily about politics, both gay and straight, I can say that the “religious right” is one of the reasons many people leave or avoid the Republican Party. That is not to say that having a foundation of faith is a bad thing. I simply believe that most Americans do not want to get their moral advice from a political party.
As a gay man, I know I was born with a predisposition to be gay, as Governor Christie speculates. Much like heterosexual people develop an attraction for the opposite sex, gay people develop it for the same sex. It’s just that simple. And while the church would advise gays to not act on those attractions, the reality of life necessitates otherwise.
For Herman Cain to believe that homosexuality is a choice, not actually being homosexual himself, would be like me, as a Caucasian, believing Black people face no discrimination in America today. It is simply presumptuous. What it does do, is ensure that many homosexuals never hear his conservative vision for America – because he has already turned them off.
As a gay conservative, I know first-hand how hard it is to convince gays of the merits of conservatism – due in large part to the religious standards within the GOP.
Again, it all goes back to messaging.
This past week on the Alan Stock News Show in Las Vegas, Herman Cain stated that “all Muslims are not terrorists, but all terrorists have been Muslim – except a couple.”
This is up there with John McCain’s “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” song.
While conservatives will stand up and say “But he’s right! All terrorists ARE Muslim,” they are wrong. There are terrorists all over the world. Some are Black, some are white. Some are male, some are female. Some are right here in the United States, and aren’t Muslim at all.
It’s one thing to say that the radical Islamists who have attacked us look similar, come from similar places, etc. It’s another to make an insensitive statement that all terrorists are Muslim.
Herman Cain is a good guy, and he wants to get involved and help save his country. I get it. And I applaud his willingness to get out there, in front of the public, in front of the media, and be a candidate.
However, we elected a candidate with no experience in 2008, and look where it got us.
Up on stage with six other candidates for the 2012 nomination, Herman Cain, for the first time, looked to be outclassed. His answers were vague, he repeated his standby lines, and offered very little new information as to who he is, and what he would do as our next president.
Herman Cain might make a great CEO and even a great elected official some day. But he is not ready to be president of the United States.
We conservatives may like his no-nonsense attitude, but that and three F-bombs landed Donald Trump back on Celebrity Apprentice, if you know what I mean.
by Mark Ciavola
This week, a video surfaced on the Texas College Republicans Facebook page, of the newly-elected state chairman of the organization, Charlie McCaslin, endorsing College Republican National Committee chairman candidate Alex Schriver. The video was put up by an Alex Schriver supporter. The Texas College Republicans were proud of this endorsement, and Alex Schriver and his team were ecstatic about having the endorsement of the 30 College Republican chapters in Texas.
What the video showed, however, was a clearly intoxicated McCaslin giving an offensive endorsement of Schriver, including recalling hooking up with a girl on a desk, and calling Schriver’s opponents “nerds and fags.” The full unedited video also shows McCaslin say they’re going to “one-up them so hard on Monday, they’re gonna be recovering from pain in their asses for the next week.”
Again, this video was put on Facebook by an Alex Schriver supporter.
And this video feeds into every false stereotype of Republicans out there, from the southerner, to the sexist, to the homophobic bigot, etc.
Now this was a private event, but it ceased to be private when it was put on a Facebook page for the world to see. And the worst part?
Alex Schriver toasted Charlie McCaslin when he was finished embarrassing himself, by yelling “TO CHARLIE!”
See, Alex Schriver might be a great guy, but he has proven he is a bad leader. Schriver had no problem with what was said on that video, either at the time, or in the days following. It was not until his opponent issued a press release and put the video on his website, that Schriver felt the need to apologize.
Furthermore, while the apology contained all the usual tributes to disappointing family and friends, it did not urge Charlie McCaslin to resign for bringing shame on the Texas College Republicans, and the College Republican name. It was as weak of an apology as I’ve ever seen.
People naturally have a tendency to be sorry, only when they get caught. And when it comes to our political leaders, we should expect more.
The College Republicans are an integral part of the Republican Party, and they represent the future of the GOP. And as a Republican, and a College Republican, I expect more from the future leaders of my Party. McCaslin’s actions have given Democrats ammunition to use against Republicans for a long time to come, and Schriver’s tacit endorsement is simply unacceptable coming from someone who wants to lead the CRNC into the 2012 election.
Can you imagine if this happened in Summer 2012, while Alex Schriver was chairman of the College Republican National Committee?
That brings me to Mike Esteve.
Mike Esteve is the State Chairman of the Maryland Federation of College Republicans. He, like me, is an openly gay Republican. Like me, I am sure he faces enormous criticism from the Gay Left and all liberals for being a traitor, among other things. Yet every day he represents a growing segment of the GOP, and represents them well within the Republican Party in his state.
Today, he issued a statement via Facebook in which he stands by Alex Schriver. At first, I thought this was a poor attempt at an April Fools’ joke, but I was wrong.
Mike Esteve actually believes that those who condemn Alex Schriver and Charlie McCaslin publicly are the ones damaging the image of the College Republicans and Republican Party. He said as much when he called into my radio show, Zombie Nation (podcast will be up shortly), last night.
If Mike Esteve had his way, we would simply sweep this under the rug and “quietly taken it to the appropriate persons, ensuring that [the video] was removed.”
Is that how we want to build the future of the Republican Party? By sweeping these things under the rug? Should we wait until Congressmen must resign, because they were sending shirtless pictures of themselves to women on Craig’s List? Should we wait until the scandal is much larger, and a Governor is taking trips to Argentina on the taxpayers dime to “clear his mind” with his soul mate, who isn’t his wife?
This is completely unacceptable, and Mike Esteve has lost my respect as a Republican, a gay Republican, and a College Republican.
He believes this is nothing more than campaign tactics, but this is about leadership. This is about Schriver’s ability to lead the largest grassroots Republican organization in the country into the 2012 election. This is about Schriver’s ability to unite Republicans, gay and straight, male and female, black, white and Hispanic, under ONE unified banner to take on the liberal agenda of Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. This is about Schriver’s ability to raise money, from donors that don’t want to hear about banging chicks on a desk! This is about Shriver’s ability to overcome the false stereotypes placed on Republicans by liberals, who believe we are all old, white, racist, sexist, bigots.
This video clearly shows Alex Schriver can no longer do these things. And Mike Esteve’s defense of this video, and suggestion that we simply ignore it, shows that the future of the Republican Party will not be strong until we stop putting politics first.
That is the problem with politics.
We must remember the difference between right and wrong. Charlie McCaslin in Texas understood this, and resigned. He realized he could not effectively lead 30 chapters of College Republicans in Texas with this hanging over his head.
Alex Schriver has yet to realize the same.
And today, Mike Esteve has given gay Republicans all over America a bad name.
Demand better. I know I do.
by Mark Ciavola
One reason the U.S. military is the most powerful fighting force on the planet, is that leaders don’t tolerate excuses. You do the job, and you do it right, or you will be reprimanded, counseled, and instructed to not make the same mistake again. The Marines call it a “Page 11.”
The same mentality works in the NFL. Good coaches like Bill Belichick, for example, don’t accept excuses. He wants the job done right, or you hear about it – in terms that cannot be repeated here. But that leadership, combined with high expectations, has resulted in numerous playoff appearances, four Superbowl spots, and three championships (Damn you, Giants!). And when players sit out, waiting for a better contract, they end up on other teams (Deion Branch to Seattle, Asante Samuel to Philadelphia, etc.).
This level of accountability is missing from America’s education system, and it is one of the major obstacles to success. In the private sector, employees are expected to perform their tasks satisfactorily, or they will be written up. Verbal warning, written, final, termination: Taken with an appropriate amount of coaching, these are four easy steps to a better employee, or a new one. It’s really that simple, just not in academia.
As an example, this past Sunday the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s higher education reporter Richard Lake wrote an article titled: “Workload has picked up, faculty at UNLV say.” In it, Lake reports that the faculty at UNLV is working harder than they were two years ago according to statistics from the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE). But even Lake notes that gauging the faculty’s actual workload is difficult due to the many different functions they serve.
Greg Brown, the president of UNLV’s chapter of the Nevada Faculty Alliance said, “The workload has increased substantially,” in large part because, as Lake reported, “the university has 10 percent fewer full-time faculty than it did in 2006 and virtually the same number of students.” But it does not have the same number of programs and classes, which is why I’m happy Mr. Brown teaches history and not math.
Prior to returning to school at an older age, I would have believed this nonsense, as I’m sure many people who read the article do. But having first-hand knowledge of how higher education has changed since I was in college the first time, I find these claims to be ridiculous.
First, many of the classes at UNLV consist of a PowerPoint presentation, which is read to the class, and later posted online for download. In a class like this, 39 students may as well be 339 students, since the presentation does not change. Furthermore, in these classes, professors typically learn very few students’ names, and rarely deviate from the lesson plan. So where is the increased workload? Grading quizzes?
Quizzes are conducted primarily in two ways: In-class or online. Many professors utilize UNLV’s WebCampus system to administer quizzes, as they are automatically graded by the system. Other professors have in-class quizzes which are done on a ScanTron – a sheet with bubbles, which can either be purchased from the university bookstore or picked up “for free” courtesy of student government (actually paid for by student fees). ScanTrons are also automatically graded, so where is the increased workload? Scanning 339 quizzes may take longer than 39 quizzes, but nowhere near as much time as actually hand-grading quizzes in the past.
So it must be papers. Clearly there is increased workload in correcting 339 papers versus 39, right? Even I can agree with that. But what the article doesn’t point out is that most tenured professors have graduate assistants that help in grading papers and other assignments. And what about classes that assign very few papers, if any? (None of my classes this semester have assigned papers)
The article also points out that some professors don’t necessarily have to teach 3 classes per semester, as many other activities count toward this “requirement.” Waivers are given to 255 of 712 full-time professors at UNLV, to perform other functions toward their 3-class workload. Some professors focus on research, others serve as a department chair, some supervise internships, and one in particular hosts a radio show.
This article also does not discuss part-time instructors or adjuncts. Some part-time instructors teach three classes and make less than $50,000/year with no job security. Their tenured counterparts make six-figure salaries to teach one class, conduct some research – which may or may not be published or bring money into the university, and host a radio show – with the ultimate job security. That seems upside-down to me.
Richard Lake’s article includes comments from one professor, Pushkin Kachroo, who taught four classes last semester and still had time to supervise graduate student research and serve as the director of UNLV’s Transportation Research Center. His salary is $116,000, while Dina Titus makes $107,855 for teaching one class, restarting her research, and hosting a radio show.
Explain that.
How about supervising internships? I did an internship last fall. I met with the professor supervising the internships for that department, and he told me I would be required to write a 10-page paper on the actual work I was doing, plus a 5-page book report on a relevant book of my choosing, with his approval. Aside from two reminder emails for required updates, I did not interact with this professor again. I hand-delivered my assignments to an administrator in the department, and had to look up my grade in UNLV’s WebCampus system. I got an “A,” but so did the other 3 students that did the same internship. So, did he actually read the papers? Or just verify that the work was done?
In a traditional class, a professor might assign 3-4 papers throughout the semester, with a class of 40 students. That’s up to 160 papers. The professor who supervised my internship would have to be supervising 80 internships per semester, just to reach a portion of the workload of teaching a traditional class with several writing assignments. Does anyone really think he supervises 80 internships per semester, every semester?
Ultimately, these are all excuses not to teach students.
UNLV’s provost Michael Bowers may believe that other activities should count as classes, such as “counseling a doctoral student,” or “reading a dissertation, making edits on it, [and] helping the student revise it,” but this is absurd. Apparently the days of professors helping students because they want to are gone.
If a professor can get credit for teaching a 3-credit course by hosting a radio show, why do I not receive the same credit for hosting MY radio show? (SHAMELESS PLUG: Zombie Nation Radio airs live every Thursday at 5pm on www.vegasallnetradio.com, podcasts available at www.facebook.com/zombienationradio)
Instead, we are told that having former congresswoman Dina Titus at UNLV is beneficial because of the experience she brings. I could agree with that if she was actually teaching students. Instead, she is only teaching 39 students in an ELECTIVE – Women in Politics – a 400-level course that only certain students can even qualify for. Her other two class requirements are made up for by her radio show, and “restarting her research” – which is a futile effort, given that she will be leaving at the end of the year to run for office again.
Meanwhile, students wait to graduate because some classes aren’t offered this semester “due to budget cuts.”
And did I mention that UNLV’s 4-year graduation rate is 11%? (6-year: 36%; 8-year: 48%).
Excuses.
There are far too many excuses, and not enough accountability. Everyone is self-interested, and not focused on what matters: EDUCATION.
Maybe, if there is no 2011 NFL season, we should hire Bill Belichick to oversee an audit of Nevada’s System of Higher Education. At least then, taxpayers and students would be taken seriously, and we wouldn’t have to listen to the politically-driven hogwash.
